THE
HISTORY
OF THE REIGN OF THE
E PEROR CHARLES V.,
WITH
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.1.,
PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY AT EDINBURGH, ETC., ETC.
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.
NEW YORK:
HARPER  & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN  SQUARE.
1864.








SIR,
I PREsinM to lay before Your Majesty the History of a Period
which, if the abilities of the Writer were equal to the dignity of the
subject, would not be unworthy the attention of a Monarch who is no
less a Judge than a Patron of Literary Merit.
History claims it as her prerogative to offer instruction to Kings,
as well as to their People.  What reflections the reign of the Emperor CHARLES V. may suggest to Your Majesty it becomes not me
to conjecture. But your subjects cannot observe the various calamities which that Monarch's ambition to be distinguished as a Conqueror
brought upon his dominions, without recollecting the felicity of their
own times, and looking up with gratitude to their Sovereign, who
during the fervour of youth, and amidst the career of victory, posessed such self-command, and maturity of judgment, as to set bounds
to his own triumphs, and prefer the blessings of peace to the splendor
of military glory.
Posterity will not only celebrate the wisdom of Your Majesty s
choice, but will enumerate the many virtues which render Your Reign
conspicuous for a sacred regard to all the duties incumbent-on the
Sovereign of a Free People.
It is our happiness to feel the influence of these Virtues; and to
live under the dominion of a Prince, who delights more in promoting
the Public Welfare than in receiving the just Praise of his Roya,
beneficence.
I am, Sir,
YOUR MAJESTY'S
Most faithful Subject
And most dutiful Servant,
WIIJ,1AM  ROBERTSON








PREFACE.
No period in the history of one's own country can be cc:.idered as
altogether uninteresting. Such transactions as tend to illustrate the progress of its constitution, laws, or manners  merit the utmost attention. Even
remote and minute events are objects of a curiosity, which, being natural
to the human mind, the gratification of it is attended with pleasure.
But with respect to the history of foreign States, we must Pet other
bounds to our desire of information. The universal progress of science,
during the two last centuries, the art of printing, and other obvious causes
have filled Europe with such a multiplicity of histories, and with such
vast collections of historical materials, that the term of human life is tee
short for the study or even the perusal of them. It is necessary, then, not
only for those who are called to conduct the affairs of nations, but for such
as inquire and reason concerning them, to remain satisfied with a general
knowledge of distant events, and-to confine their study of nistory in detail
chiefly to that period, in which the several States of Europe having become
intimately connected, the operations of one power are so felt by a as to
influence their councils, and to regulate their measures.
Some boundary, then, ought to be fixed in order to separate these
periods. An era should be pointed out, prior to which each country, little
connected with those around it, may trace its own history apart; after
which, transactions of every considerable nation in Europe become inte
resting and instructive to all.  With this intention I undertook to write the
history of the Emperor CHARLES V. It was during his administration that
the powers of Europe were formed into one great political system, in which
each took a station, wherein it has since remained with less variation, than
could have been expected after the shocks occasioned by so many internal
revolutions, and so many foreign wars. The great events which happened
then have not hitherto spent their force.  The political principles and
maxims, then established, still continue to operate. The ideas concerning
the balance of power, then introduced or rendered general, still influence
the councils of nations.
The age of CHARLES V. may therefore be considered as the period at
which the political state of Europe began to assume a new form. I have
endeavoured to render my account of it, an introduction to the history of
Europe subsequent to his reign.  While his numerous biographers describe
his personal qualities and actions; while the historians of different countries
relate occurrences the consequences of which were local or transient, it
hath been my purpose to record only those great transactions in his reign,
the effects of which were universal, or continue to be permanent.
As my readers could derive little instruction from such a history of the
re-ign of CHARLES V. without some information concerning the state of
Europe previous to the sixteenth century, my desire of supplying this has
produced a preliminary volume, in which I have attempted to point out
and to explain the great causes and events, to whose operation all the
improvements in the political state of Europe, from the subversion of the
Roman Empire to the beginning of the sixteenth century, must be ascribed.
I have exhibited a view of the progress of society in Europe, not only with
respect to interior government, laws, and manners, but with respect to the,~,.rnul ncl tf re natiotJ] force Q-quvIte:n iforeign operations; and I have




v1                          PREFACE.
described the political constitution of the principal states in Europe at the
time when Charles V. began his reign.
In this part of my work I have been led into several critical disquisitions,.vhich belong more properly to the province of the lawyer or antiquary,
than to that of the historian.  These I have placed at the end of the history,
u'lder the title of Proofs and Illustrations. Many of my readers will, probably, give little attention to such researches.  To some they may, perhaps, appear the most curious and interesting part of the work. I have
carefully pointed out the sources from which I have derived informaticn,
and have cited the writers on whose authority I rely, with a minute exactness, which might appear to border upon ostentation, if it were possible
to be vain of having read books, many of which nothing but the duty ol
examining with accuracy whatever I laid before the Public, would have
induced me to open. As my inquiries conducted me often into paths
which were obscure or little frequented, such constant references to the
authors who have been my guides, were not only necessary for authenticating the facts which are the foundations of my reasonings, but may be
useful in pointing out the way to such as shall hereafter hold the same
course, and in enabling them  to carry on their researches with greater
facility and success.
Every intelligent reader will observe one omission in my work, the
reason of which it is necessary to explain. I have given no account of the
conquests of Mexico and Peru, or of the establishment of the Spanish colonies in the continent and islands of America.  The history of these events
I originally intended to have related at considerable length. But upon a
nearer and more attentive consideration of this part of my plan, I found tha
the discovery of the new world; the state of society among its ancieni
inhabitants; their character, manners, and arts; the genius of the European
settlements in its various provinces, together with the influence of these
upon the systems of policy, or commerce of Europe, were subjects so
splendid and important, that a superficial view of them could afford little
satisfaction; and, on the other hand, to treat of them as extensively as they
merited, must produce an episode, disproportionate to the principal work.
I have therefore reserved these for a separate history; which, if the performance now offered to the Public shall receive its approbation, I purpose
to undertake.
Though, by omitting such considerable but detached articles in the reign
of Charles y. I have circumscribed my narration within more narrow
limits, I am yet persuaded, from this view of the intention and nature of
the work which I thought it necessary to lay before my readers, that the
plan must still appear to them too extensive, and the undertaking too
arduous. I have often felt them to be so. But my conviction of the utility
of such a history prompted me to persevere. With what success I have
executed it, the Public must now judge.  I wait, not without solicitude
for its decision; to which I shall submit with a respectful silence




VIEW
OF THE
PROGRESS OF SOCIETY IN EUROPE, t.
SECTION 1.
Sie, of the Progress of Society in Europe, with respect to 2nteior Gvtem".
ment, Laws, and Janners.
Two great revolutions have happened in the political state, and in the
manners of the European nations. The first was occasioned by the pro
gress of the Roman power; the second by the subversion of it.  When
the spirit of conquest led the armies of Rome beyond the Alps, they found
all the countries which they invaded, inhabited by people whom they
denominated barbarians, but who were nevertheless brave and independent
These defended their ancient possessions with obstinate valour. It was by
the superiority of their discipline, rather than that of their courage, that the
Romans gained any advantage over them. A single battle did not, as
among the effeminate inhabitants of Asia, decide the fate of a state. The
vanquished people resumed their arms with fresh spirit, and their undisciplined valour, animated by the love of liberty, supplied the want of
conduct as well as of union. During those long and fierce struggles for
dominion or independence, the countries of Europe were successively laid
waste, a great part of their inhabitants perished in the field, many were
carried into slavery, and a feeble remnant, incapable of further resistance,
submitted to the Roman power.
The Romans having thus desolated Europe, set themselves to civilize it
The form of government which they established in the conquered provinces, though severe, was regular, and preserved public tranquillity. As
a consolation for the loss of liberty, they communicated their arts, sciences'
language, and manners, to their new subjects. Europe began to breathes
and to recover strength after the calamities which it had undergone; agriculture was encouraged; population increased; the ruined cities were
rebuilt; new  towns were founded; an appearance of prosperity succeeded, and repaired, in some degree, the havoc of war.
This state, however, was far from being happy or favourable to the improvement of the human mind. The vanquished nations were disarmed
by their conquerors, and overawed by soldiers kept in pay to restrain them.
They were given up as a prey to rapacious governors, who plundered them
with impunity; and were drained of their wealth by exorbitant taxes,
levied with so little attention to the situation of the provinces, that the
impositions were often increased in proportion to their inability to support
them. They were deprived of their most enterprising citizens, who
resorted to a distant capital in quest of preferment, or of riches; and were
accustomed in all their actions to look up to a superior, and tamely to
receive his commands. Under so many depressing circumstances, it was




8                      A  VIEW  OF  THE                      [SECT. I.
hardly possible that they could retain vigour or generosity of mind.  The
martial and independent spirit, which had distinguished their ancestors,
became, in a great measure, extinct among all the people subjected to the
Roman yoke; they lost not only the habit, but even the capacity of deciding for themselves, or of acting from the impulse of their own minds;
and the dominions of the Romans, like that of all great empires, degraded
and debased the human species [1].
A society in such a state could not subsist long.  There were defects in
the Roman government, even in its most perfect form, which threatened
its dissolution.  Time ripened these original seeds of corruption, and gave
birth to many new disorders. A constitution, unsound and worn out, must
have fallen into pieces of itself, without any external shock.  The violent
irruption of the Goths, Vandals, Huns, and other barbarians, hastened this
event, and precipitated the downfall of the empire.  New nations seemed
to arise and to rush from unknown regions, in order to' take vengeance o.n
the Romans for the calamities which they had inflicted on mankind.
Fhese fierce tribes either inhabited the various provinces in Germany
which had never been subdued by the Romans, or were scattered over
those vast countries in the north of Europe, and north-west of Asia, which
are now occupied by the Danes, the Swedes, the Poles, the subjects of the
Russian empire, and the Tartars.  Their condition and transactions, previous to their invasion of the empire, are but little known. Almost all our
information with respect to these is derived from the Romans; and as they
did not penetrate far into countries, which were at that time uncultivated
and uninviting, the accounts of their original state given by the Roman
historians are extremely imperfect.  The rude inhabitants themselves,
destitute of science as well as of records, and without leisure or curiosity
to inquire into remote events, retained, perhaps, some indistinct nmemory
of recent occurrences; but beyond these, all was buried in oblivion, or
involved in darkness and in fable  2].
The prodigious swarms which poured in upon the empire from  the
beginning of the fourth century to the final extinction of the Roman power,
have given rise to an opinion that the countries whence they issued were
crowded with inhabitants; and various theories have been formed to
account for such an extraordinary degree of population as hath produced
these countries the appellation of The Storehouse of Nations. But if we
consider, that the countries possessed by the people who invaded the
empire were of vast extent; that a great part of these was covered with
woods and marshes; that some of the most considerable of the  abarbarous
nations subsisted entirely by hunting or pasturage, in both which states of
society large tracts of land are required for maintaining a few inhabitants;
and that all of them were strangers to the arts and industry, without which
population cannot increase to any great degree, we must conclude, that
these countries could not be so populous in ancient times as they are in the
plresent, when they still continue to be less peopled than any other part oI
Europe or of Asia.
But the same circumstances that prevented the barbarous nations from
becoming populous, contributed to inspire, or to strengthen, the martial
spirit by which they were distinguished.  Inured by the rigour of their
climate, or the poverty of their soil, to hardships which rendered their
bodies firm, and their minds vigorous; accustomed to a course of life which
was a continual preparation for action; and disdaining every occupation
but that of war or of hunting; they undertook, and prosecuted their
military enterprises with an ardour and impetuosity of which men softened
by the refinements of more polished times can scarcely form any idea'[3].
Their first inroads into the empire proceeded rather from  the love o6
plunder than from  the desire of new  settlements.  Roused to arms by
some enterprising or popular leader, they sallied out of their forests; broke




STATE OF EUROPE.                                  9
in upon the frontier provinces with irresistible violence; put all who
opposed them to the sword; carried off the most valuable effects of the
inhabitants; dragged along multitudes of captives in chains; wasted all
before them with fire or sword; and returned in triumph to their wilds
and fastnesses. Their success, together with the accounts which they gave
of the unknown conveniences and luxuries that abounded in countries better
cultivated, or blessed with a milder climate than their own, excited new
adventurers, and exposed the frontier to new devastations.
When nothing was left to plunder in the adjacent provinces, ravaged by
frequent excursions, they marched farther from home, and finding it difficult,
or dangerous to return, they began to settle in the countries which they
had subdued. The sudden and short excursions in quest of booty which
had alarmed and disquieted the empire, ceased; a more dreadful calamity
impended. Great bodies of armed men, with their wives and children,
and slaves and flocks, issued forth, like regular colonies, in quest of new
settlements. People who had no cities, and seldom any fixed habitation,
were so little attached to their native soil, that they migrated without
reluctance from  one place to another.  New adventurers followed them.
The lands which they deserted were occupied by more remote tribes of
barbarians. These, in their turn, pushed forward into more fertile countries
and, like a torrent continually increasing, rolled on, and swept every thing
before them. In less than two centuries from their first eruption, barbarians
of various names and lineage plundered and took possession of Thrace,
Pannonia, Gaul, Spain, Africa, and at last of Italy, and Rome itself.  The
vast fabric of the Roman power, which it had been the work of ages to
perfect, was in that short period overturned from the foundation.
Miany concurring causes prepared the way for this great revolution, and
ensured success to the nations which invaded the empire.  The Roman
commonwealth had conquered the world by the wisdom of its civil maxims,
and the rigour of its military discipline.  But, under the emperors, the
former were forgotten or despised, and the latter were gradually relaxed.
The armies of the empire in the fourth and fifth centuries bore scarcely any
resemblance to those invincible legions which had been victorious wherever
they marched. Instead of freemen, who voluntarily took arms from the
love of glory, or of their country, provincials and barbarians were bribed
or forced]into service.  These were too feeble, or too proud to submit to
the fatigue of military duty.  They even complained of the weight of
their defensive armour as intolerable, and laid it aside. Infantry, from
which the armies of ancient Rome derived their vigour and stability, fell
into contempt; the effeminate and undisciplined soldiers of later times
could hardly be brought to venture into the field but on horseback.  These
wretched troops, however, were the only guardians of the empire.  The
jealousy of despotism had deprived the people of the use of arms; and
subjects, oppressed and rendered incapable of defending themselves, had
either spirit nor inclination to resist their invaders, from whom they had
lttle to fear, because their condition could hardly be rendered more unhappy.  At the same time th'at the martial spirit became extinct, the
revenues of the empire gradually diminished. The taste for the luxuries
of the East increased to such a pitch in the Imperial court, that great sums
were carried into India, from which, in the channel of commerce, money
never returns.  By the large subsidies paid to the barbarous nations, a still
greater quantity of specie was withdrawn from circulation. The frontier
provinces, wasted by fiequent incursions, became unable to pay the customary tribute, and the wealth of the world, which had long centred in
the capital of the empire, ceased to flow thither in the same abundance,
or was diverted into other channels.  The limits of the empire continued
to be as extensive as ever, while the spirit requisite for its defence declined,
and its resources were exhausted.  A vast body, languid, and almost
VOL. II.-2




10                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                    LSECT. 1.
unanimated, became incapable of any effort to save itself, and was easily
overpowered.  The emperors, who had the absolute direction of this
disordered system, sunk in the softness of Eastern luxury, shut up within
the walls of a palace, ignorant of war, unacquainted with affairs, and
governed entirely by women and eunuchs, or by ministers equally effeminate, trembled at the approach of danger, and, under circumstances which
called for the utmost vigour in council as well as in action, discovered all
the impotent irresolution of fear and of folly.
In every respect the condition of the barbarous nations was the reverse
of that of the Romans. Among the former, the martial spirit was in full
vigour; their leaders were hardy and enterprising; the arts which had
enervated the Romans were unknown; and such was the nature of their
military institutions, that they brought forces into the field without any
trouble, and supported them  at little expense   The mercenary and
effeminate troops stationed on the frontier, astonished at their' fierceness,
either fled at their approach, or were routed on the first onset.  The feeble
expedient to which the emperors had recourse, of taking large bodies of
the barbarians into pay, and of employing them to repel new invaders,
instead of retarding, hastened the destruction of the empire. These mercenaries soon turned their arms against their masters, and with greater
advantage than ever, for, by serving in the Roman armies, they had acquired
all the discipline, or skill in war, which the Romans still retained; and,
upon adding these to their native ferocity, they became altogether irresistible.
But though, from  these and many other causes, the progress and conquests of the nations which overran the empire became so extremely
rapid, they were accompanied with horrible devastations, and an incredible
destruction of the human species. Civilized nations, which take arms
upon cool reflection, from motives of policy or prudence, with a view to
guard against some distant danger, or toprevent some remote contingency,
carry on their hostilities with so little rancour or animosity, that war among
them is disarmed of half its terrors. Barbarians are strangers to such
refinements.  They rush into war with impetuosity, and prosecute it with
violence. Their sole object is to make their enemies feel the weight of
their vengeance; nor does their rage subside until it be satiated with
inflicting on them every possible calamity. It is with such a spirit that
the savage tribes in America carry on their petty wars. It was with the
same spirit that the more powerful and no less fierce barbarians in the north
of Europe, and of Asia, fell upon the Roman empire.
Wherever they marched, their route was marked with blood.  They
ravaged or destroyed all around them.  They made no distinction-between
what was sacred and what was profane.  They respected no age, or sex,
or rank. What escaped the fury of the first inundation, perished in those
which followed it. The most fertile and populous provinces were converted into deserts, in which were scattered the ruins of villages and cities,
that afforded, shelter to a few miserable inhabitants whom  chance hia
preserved, or the sword of the enemy, wearied with destroying, had
spared.  The conquerors who first settled in the countries which they had
wasted, were expelled or exterminated by new  invaders, who, coming
from regions farther removed from the civilized parts of the world, were
still more fierce and rapacious. This brought fresh calamities upon mankind, which did not cease until the north, by pouring forth successive
swarms, was drained of people,-and could no longer furnish instruments
of destruction. Famine and pestilence, which always march in the train
of war, when it ravages with such inconsiderate cruelty, raged in very
part of Europe, and completed its sufferings. If a man were called to fix
upon the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of
the human race was most calamitous and afflicted, he would, wifeout




STATE OF; EUROPE.                                11
hesitation, name that which elapsed from  the death of Theodosius the
Great, to the establishment of the Lombards in Italy.? The contemporary
authors, who beheld that scene of desolation, labour and are at a loss for
expressions to describe the horror of it. The Scourge of God, the Destroyer
oJ Xations, are the dreadful epithets by which they distinguish the most
noted of the barbarous leaders; and they compare the ruin which they
had brought on the world, to the havoc occasioned by earthquakes, conflagrations, or deluges, the most formidable and fatal calamities which the
imiagination of man can conceive.
But no expressions can convey so perfect an idea of the destructive
progress of the barbarians as that which must strike an attentive observes
when he contemplates the total change which he will discover in the state
of Europe, after it began to recover some degree of tranquillity, towards
che close of the sixth century. The Saxons were by that time masters of
the southern and more fertile provinces of Britain; the Franks of Gaul;
the Hluns of Pannonia; the Goths of Spain; the Goths and Lombards of
Italy and the adjacent provinces. Very faint vestiges of the Roman
policy, jurisprudence, arts, or literature remained. New forms of governinent, new laws, new manners, new dresses, new languages, and new narnes
of men and countries, were every where introduced.  To make a great
or sudden alteration with respect to any of these, unless where the ancient
irnhabitants of a country have been almost totally exterminated, has proved
an undertaking beyond the power of the greatest conquerors [4]. The
great change which the settlement of the barbarous nations occasioned in
the state of Europe, may therefore be considered as a more decisive proof
than even the testimony of contemporary historians, of the destructive
violence with which these invaders carried on their conquests, and of the
havoc which they had made from  one extremity of this quarter of the
globe to the other [5].
In the obscurity of the chaos occasioned by this general wreck of nations, we
must search for the seeds of order, and endeavour to discover the first rudiments of the policy and laws now established in Europe. To this source the
historians of its different kingdoms have attempted, thoughwithless attention
and industry than the importance of the inquiry merits, to trace back the
institutions and customs peculiar to their countrymen. It is not my province
to give a minute detail of the progress of government and manners in each
particular nation, whose transactions are the object of the following history.
But, in order to exhibit a just view of the state of Europe at the opening
of the sixteenth century, it is necessary to look back, and to contemplate
the condition of the northern nations upon their first settlement in those
countries which they occupied. It is necessary to mark the great steps
by which they advanced from  barbarism  to refinement, and to point out
those general principles and events which, by their uniform  as well as
extensive operation, conducted all of them to that degree of improvement
in policy and in manners which they had attained at the period when
Charles V. began his reign.
When nations subject to despotic government make conquests, these
serve only to extend the dominion and the power of their master.  But
armies composed of freemen conquer for themselves, not for their leaders
The people who overturned the Roman empire, and settled in its various
provinces, were of the latter class. Not only the different nations that
issued from the north of Europe, which has always been considered as the
state of liberty, but the Huns and Alans who inhabited part of those
countries, which have been marked out as the peculiar region of servitudes
enjoyed freedom and independence in such a high degree as seems to be
* Theodosius died A. D. 395, the reign of Alboinus in Lornbardy began A. D. 571; so that tha
"riod war 176 years.    t De l'Esprit des Loix, liv. 17. ch. 3.




I2                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                    [SECT. I.
scarcely compatible with a state of social union, or with the subordination
necessary to maintain it. They followed the chieftain who led them forth
in quest of new settlements, not by constraint, but from choice; not as
soldiers whom he could, order to march, but as volunteers who offered to
accompany him [6].  They considered their conquests as a common property, in which all had a title to share, as all had contributed to acquire
them [7].  In what manner or by what principles, they divided among
them  the lands which they seized we cannot now determine with any
certainty.  There is no nation in Europe whose records reach back to this
remote period; and there is little information to be got from the uninstructive
and meagre chronicles compiled by writers ignorant of the true end, and
unacquainted with the proper objects of history.
This new division of property, however, together with the maxims and
manners to which it gave rise, gradually introduced a species of government formerly unknown.  This singular institution is now distinguished
by the name of the Feudal System; and though the barbarous nations
which framed it, settled in their new territories at different times, came
from  different countries, spoke various languages, and were under the
command of separate leaders, the feudal policy and laws were established,
with little variation, in every kingdom of Europe. This amazing uniformity
had induced some authors' to believe that all these nations, notwithstanding so many apparent circumstances of distinction, were originally the
same people. But it may be ascribed with greater probability, to the
similar state of society and of manners to which they were accustomed in
their native countries, and to the similar situation in which they found
themselves on taking possession of their new domains.
As the conquerors of Europe had their acquisitions to maintain, not only
against such, of the ancient inhabitants as they had spared, but against the
more formidable inroads of new invaders, self-defence was their chiet
care, and seems to have been the chief object of their first institutions and
policy.  Instead of those loose associations, which, though they scarcely
diminished their personal independence, had been sufficientt for their secu
rity while they remained in their original countries, they saw the necessity
of uniting in more close confederacy, and of relinquishing some of theil
private rights in order to attain public safety. Every freeman, upon receiving a portion of the lands which were divided, bound himself to appear in
arms against the enemies of the community.  This military service was
the condition upon which he received and held his lands; and as they
were exempted from every other burden, that tenure, among a warlike
people, was deemed both easy and honourable.  The king or general who
led them to conquest, continuing still to be the head of the colony, had, ol
course, the largest portion allotted to him. Having thus acquired the means
of rewarding past services, as well as of gaining new adherents, he parcelled out his lands with this view, binding those on whom they were
bestowed to resort to his standard with a number of men in proportion tc
the extent of the territory which they received, and to bear arms in hil
defence. His chief officers imitated the example of the sovereign, and, it
distributing portions of their lands among their dependents, annexed the.
same condition to the grant. Thus a feudal kingdoin resembled a militarj
establishment, rather than a civil institution. The victorious army, cantoned out in the country which it had seized, continued' ranged under its
proper officers, and subordinate to military command. The names of a
soldier and of a freeman were synonylnous.'t Every proprietor of land
girt with a sword, was ready to march at the summons of his superior, and
to take the field against the commnon enemy.
* Procop. de Bello Vandal. ap. Script. Byz. edit. Ven, vol. i. p. 345.   t Du Cange Glossal
Voe. Miles.




STATE OF EUROPE                                  13
But though the feudal policy seems to be so admirably calculated for
defence against the assaults of any foreign power, its provisions for the
interior order and tranquillity of society were extremely defective. The
principles of disorder and corruption are discernible in that constitution
under its best and most perfect form. They soon unfolded themselves,
and, spreading with rapidity through every part of the system, produced
the most fatal effects.  The bond of political union was extremely feeble;
the sources of anarchy were innumerable.  The monarchical and aristocratical parts of the constitution, having no intermediate power to balance
them, were perpetually at variance, and justling with each other.  The
powerful vassals of the crown soon extorted a confirmation for life of those
grants of land, which being at first purely gratuitous, had been bestowed
only during pleasure.  Not satisfied with this, they prevailed to have thenl
converted into hereditary possessions.  One step more completed their
usurpations, and rendered them unalienable [81.  With an ambition no less
enterprising,'and more preposterous, they appropriated to themselves titles
of honour, as well as offices of power or trust.  These personal marks of
distinction, which the public admiration bestows on illustrious merit, or
which the public confidence confers on extraordinary abilities, were
annexed to certain families, and transmitted like fiefs, from father to son,
by hereditary right.  The crown vassals having thus secured the possession of their lands and dignities, the nature of the feudal institutiops, which
though founded on subordination verged to independence, led them to new,
and still more dangerous encroachments on the prerogatives of the sovereign.  They obtained the power of supreme jurisdiction, both civil and
criminal, within their own territories; the right of coining money; together
with the privilege of carrying on war against their private enemies, in
their own name, and by their own authority.  The ideas of political subiection were almost entirely lost, and frequently scarce any appearance of
feudal subordination remained.  Nobles who had acquired such enormous
power, scorned to consider themselves as subjects. They aspired openly
at being independent: the bonds which connected the principal members
of the constitution with the crown, were dissolved. A kingdom, considerable in name and in extent, was broken into as many separate principalities
as it contained powerful barons. A thousand causes of jealousy and discord subsisted among them, and gave rise to as many wars.  Every country in Europe, wasted or kept in continual alarm during these endless contests, was filled with castles and places of strength erected for the security
of the inhabitants; not against foreign force, but against internal hostilities.
A universal anarchy, destructive, in a great measure, of all the advantages
which men expect to derive from society, prevailed.  The people, the
most numerous as well as the most useful part of the community, were
either reduced to a state of actual servitude, or treated with the same insolence and rigour as if they had been degraded into that wretched condition [9j. The king, stripped of almost every prerogative, and without
authority to enact or to execute salutary laws, could neither protect the
innocent, nor punish the guilty.  The nobles, superior to all restraint,
harassed each other with perpetual wars, oppressed their fellow-subjects,
and humbled or insulted their sovereign. To crown all, time gradually
fixed, and rendered venerable this pernicious system, which violence ha'd
established.
Such was the state of Europe with respect to the interior administration
of government from the seventh to the eleventh century.  All the external
operations of its various states, during this period, were of course extremely
feeble.  A kingdom  dismembered, and torn with dissension, without any
common interest to rouse, or any common head to conduct its force, was
incapable of acting with vigour.  Almost all the wars in Europe, during
the ages which'I have mentioned, were trifling, indecisive, and productive




14                     A  VIEW  OF  THRa                    [SECT I.
of no considerable event. They resembled the short incursions of pirates
or banditti, rather than the steady operations of a regular army. Every
baron, at the head of his vassals, carried on some petty enterprise, to which
he was prompted by his own ambition or revenge.  The state itself, destitute of union, either remained altogether inactive, or if it attempted tc
make any effort, that served only to discover its impotence.  The superior
genius of Charlemagne, it is true, united all these disjointed and discordant
members, and forming them  again into one body, restored to government
that degree of activity which distinguishes his reign, and renders the transactions of it, objects not only of attention but of admiration to more enlightened times. But this state of union and vigour, not being natural to
the feudal government, was of short duration.  Immediately upon his
death, the spirit which animated and sustained the vast system which he
had established, being withdrawn, it broke into pieces. All the calamities
which flow from  anarchy and discord, returning with additional force,
afflicted the different kingdoms into which his empire was split. From
that time to the eleventh century, a succession of uninteresting events; a
series of wars, the motives as well as the consequences of which were
unimportant, fill and deform the annals of all the nations in Europe.
To these pernicious effects of the feudal anarchy may be added its fatal
influence on the character and improvement of the human mind. If men
do not enjoy the protection of regular government, together with the
expectation of personal security, which naturally flows from it, they never
attempt to make progress in science, nor aim at attaining refinement in
taste or in manners.  That period of turbulence, oppression, and rapine,'vhich I have described, was ill suited to favour improvement in any of
these. In less than a century after the barbarous nations settled in their
new conquests, almost all the effects of the knowledge and civility, which
the Romans had spread through Europe, disappeared.  Not only the arts
of elegance, which minister to luxury, and are supported by it, but many
of the useful arts, without which life can scarcely be considered as comfortable, were neglected or lost. Literature, science, taste, were words
little in use during the ages which we are contemplating; or, if they occur
at any time, eminence in them is ascribed to persons and productions so
contemptible, that it appears their true import was little understood.  Persons of the highest rank, and in the most eminent stations, could not read
or write. Many of the clergy did not understand the breviary which they
were obliged daily to recite; some of them could scarcaly read it [10].
The memory of past transactions was, in a great degree, lost, or preserved
in annals filled with trifling events, or legendary tales. Even the codes of
laws, published by the several nations which established themselves in the
different countries of Europe, fell into disuse, while, in their place, custonms, vague and capricious, were substituted. The human mind, neglected,
uncultivated, and depressed, continued in the most profound ignorance.
Europe, during four centuries, produced few authors who merit to be read,
either on account of the elegance of their composition, or the justness and
novelty of their sentiments. There are few inventions, useful or ornamental to society, of which that long period can boast.
Even the Christian religion, though its precepts are delivered, and its
institutions are fixed in scripture, with a precision which should have exempted them from being misinterpreted or corrupted, degenerated, during
those ages of darkness, into an illiberal superstition.  The barbarous
nations, when co-nerted to Christianity, changed the object, not the spirit
of their religious worship. They endeavoured to conciliate the favour of
the true God by means not unlike to those with which they had employed
in order to appease their false deities. Instead of aspiring to sanctity and
virtue, which alone can render men acceptable to the great Author of
order and of excellence, they imagined that they satisfied every obligation




STATE OF EUROPE.                               15
of duty by a scrupulous observance of external ceremonies [11]. Religion, according to their conception of it, comprehended nothing else; and
the rites by which they persuaded themselves that they should gain the
favour of Heaven, were of such a nature as might have been expected
from the rude ideas of the ages which devised and introduced them.
They were either so unmeaning as to be altogether unworthy of the Being
to whose honour they were consecrated; or so absurd as to be -a disgrace
to reason and humanity [12]. Charlemagne in France, and Alfred the
Great in England, endeavoured to dispel this darkness, and gave their subjects a short glimpse of light and knowledge. But the ignorance of the
age was too powerful for their efforts and institutions. The darkness
returned, and settled over Europe, more thick and heavy than before.
As the inhabitants of Europe, during these centuries, were strangers to
the arts which embellished a polished age, they were destitute uf the
virtues which abound among people who continue in a simple state.
Force of mind, a sense of personal dignity, gallantry in enterprise, invincible perseverance in execution, contempt of danger and death, are the
characteristic virtues of uncivilized nations. But these are all the offspring
of equality and independence, both which the feudal institutions had
destroyed. The spirit of domination corrupted the nobles; the yoke of
servitude depressed the people; the generous sentiments inspired by a
sense of equality were extinguished, and hardly any thing remained to be
a check on ferocity and violence. Human society is in its most corrupted
state. at that period when men have lost their original independence and
simplicity of manners, but have not attained that degree of refinement
which introduces a sense of decorum  and of propriety in conduct, as a
restraint on those passions which lead to heinous crimes. Accordingly, a
greater number of those atrocious actions, which fill the mind of man with
astonishment and horror, occur in the history of the centuries under review,
than in that of any period of the same extent in the annals of Europe.
If we open the history of Gregory of Tours, or of any contemporary
author, we meet with a series of deeds of cruelty, perfidy, and revenge,
so wild and enormous as almost to exceed belief.
But, according to the observation of an elegant and profound historian,*
there is an ultimate point of depressicn, as well as of exaltation, from
which human affairs naturally return in a contrary progress, and beyond
which they never pass either in their advancement or decline. When
defects, either in the form or in the administration of government, occasion
such disorders in society as are excessive and intolerable, it becomes the
common interest to discover' and to apply such remedies as will most
effectually remove them. Slight inconveniences may be long overlooked
or endured; but when abuses grow to a certain pitch, the society must
go to ruin, or must attempt to reform them. The disorders in the feudal
system, together with the corruption of taste and manners consequent upon
these, which had gone on increasing during a long course of years, seemed
to have attained their utmost point of excess towards the close of the
eleventh century. From that era, we may date the return of government
and manners in a contrary direction, and can trace a succession of causes
and events which contributed, some with a nearer and more conspicuous,
others with a more remote and less perceptible influence, to abolish con.
fusion and barbarism, and to introduce order, regularity, and refinement.
In pointing out and explaining these causes and events, it is not necessary
to observe the order of time with a chronological accuracy; it is of more
importance to keep in view their mutual connection and dependence, and
to show how the operation of one event, or one cause, prepared the way
for another, and augmented its influence. We have hitherto been contem
* Hume's History of England, vol. ii. p. 441.




16                      A  VIEW  01O   THE                   [SECT..
plating the progress of that darkness, which spread over Europe, from its
first approach, to the period of greatest obscuration; a more pleasant
exercise begins here; to observe the first dawnings of returning light, to
mark the various accessions by which it gradually increased and advanced
towards the full splendour of day.
I. The Crusades, or expeditions in order to rescue the Holy Land out
of the hands of infidels, seem to be the first event that roused Europe froi
the lethargy in which it had been long sunk, and that tended to introduce
any considerable change in government or in manners.  It is natural to the
human mind to view those places which have been distinguished by being
the residence of any illustrious personage, or the scene of any great trans
action, with some degree of delight and veneration.  To this principle
must be ascribed the superstitious devotion with which Christians, from
the earliest ages of the church, were accustomed to visit that country
which the Almighty had selected as the inheritance of his favourite people,
and in which the Son of God had accomplished the redemption of mankind.  As this distant pilgrimage could not be performed without considerable expense, fatigue, and danger, it appeared the more meritorious, and
came to be considered as an expiation for almost every crime.  An opinion
which spread with rapidity over Europe about the close of the tenth and
beginning of the eleventh century, and which gained universal credit,
wonderfully augmented the number of credulous pilgrims, and increased
the ardour with which they undertook this useless voyage. The thousand
years, mentioned by St. John,? were supposed to be accomplished, and
the end of the world to be at hand.  A general consternation seized mankind; many relinquished their possessions; and, abandoning their friends
and families, hurried with precipitation to the Holy Land, where they
imagined that Christ would quickly appear to judge the world.t
While Palestine continued subject to the Caliphs, they had encouraged
the resort of pilgrims to Jerusalem; and considered this as a beneficial
species of commerce, which brought into their dominions gold  and
silver, and carried nothing out of them but relics and consecrated trinkets.
But the Turks having conquered Syria about the middle of the eleventh
century, pilgrims were exposed to outrages of every kind from these
fierce barbarians.$   This change happening precisely at the juncture
when the panic terror, which I have mentioned, rendered pilgrimages most
frequent, filled Europe with alarm  and indignation.  Every person who
returned from Palestine related the dangers which he had encountered, in
visiting the holy city, and described with exaggeration the cruelty and
vexations of the Turks.
When the minds of men were thus prepared, the zeal of a fanatical
monk, who conceived the idea of leading all the forces of Christendom
against the infidels, and of driving them out of the Holy Land by violence,
was sufficient to give a beginning to that wild enterprise.  Peter the
hermit, for that was the name of this martial apostle, ran from province to
province with a crucifix in his hand, exciting princes and people to this
Holy War, and wherever he came kindled the same enthusiastic ardour
or it with which he himself was animated.  The council of Placentia,
where upwards of thirty thousand persons were assembled, pronounced
the scheme to have been suggested by the immediate inspiration of heaven..In the council of Clermont, still more numerous, as soon as the measure
was proposed, all cried out with one voice, "It is the will of God."
Persons of all ranks catched the contagion; not only the gallant nobles of
that age, with their martial followers, whom we may suppose apt to be
* Revel. xx, 2, 3, 4.   t Chronic. Will. Godelli ap. Bouquet Recueil des Historiens de France,
orm. x. p. 262. Vita Abbonis, ibid. p. 332. Chronic. S. Pantaleonis ap. Eccard. Corp. Script
iledii mvi, vol. i. p. 909. Annalista Saxo, ibid. 576.   + Jo. Dan. Schoepflini de sacris Galloruin
i- orientem expeditionibus, p, 4. Argent. 1726. 4to,




STATE OF EUROPE                               17
allured by the boldness of a romantic enterprise, but men in the more
humble and pacific stations of life; ecclesiastics of every order, and even
women and children, engaged with emulation in an undertaking, which was
deemed sacred and meritorious. If we may believe the concurring testimony of contemporary authors, sxx millions of persons assumed the cross,?
vhich was the badge that distinguished such as devoted themselves to
this holy warfare. All Europe, says the Princess Anna Comnena, torn up
from the foundation, seemed ready to precipitate itself in one united body
upon Asia.t  Nor did the fumes of this enthusiastic zeal evaporate a4
once; the frenzy was as lasting as it was extravagant. During two centuries, Europe seems to have had no object but to recover, or keep possession of, the Holy Land; and through that period vast armies continued
to march thither [13].
The first efforts of valour, animated by enthusiasm, were irresistible:
part of the Lesser Asia, all Syria and Palestine, were wrested from the
infidels; the banner of the cross was displayed on Mount Sion; Constantinople, the capital of the Christian empire in the East, was afterwards
seized by a body of those adventurers, who had taken arms against the
Mahometans; and an earl of Flanders, and his descendants, kept possessron
of the imperial throne during half a century. But though the first mlpression of the Crusaders was so unexpected that they made their conquests
with great ease, they found infinite difficulty in preserving them. Establishments so distant from Europe, surrounded by warlike nations animated
with fanatical zeal scarcely inferior to that of the Crusaders themselves,
were perpetually in danger of being overturned. Before the expiration
of the thirteenth century [1291], the Christians were driven out of all their
Asiatic possessions, in acquiring of which incredible numbers of men had
perished, and immense sums of money had been wasted. The only common enterprise in which the European nations ever engaged, and which
they all undertook with equal ardour, remains a singular monument of
human folly.
But from these expeditions, extravagant as they were, beneficial consequences followed, which had neither been foreseen nor expected. In
their progress towards the Holy Land, the followers of the cross marched
through countries better cultivated, and more civilized than their own.
Their first rendezvous was commonly in Italy, in which Venice, Genoa,
Pisa, and other cities, had begun to apply themselves to commerce, and
had made considerable advances towards wealth as well as refinement.
They embarked there, and, landing in Dalmatia, pursued their route by
land to Constantinople. Though the military spirit had been long extinct
in the eastern Empire, and a despotism of the worst species had annihilated
almost every public virtue, yet Constantinople, having never felt the
destructive rage of the barbarous nations, was the greatest, as well as the
most beautiful city in Europe, and the only one in which there remained
any image of the ancient elegance in manners and arts. The naval power
of the eastern Empire was considerable.  Manufactures of the most
curious fabric were carried on in its dominions. Constantinople was the
chief mart in Europe, for the commodities of the East Indies. Although
the Saracens and Turks had torn from the Empire many of its richest
provinces, and had reduced it within very narrow bounds, yet great wealth
t wed into the capital from these various sources, which not only cherished
such a taste for magnificence, but kept alive such a relish for the sciences,
as appears considerable, when compared with what was known in other
parts of Europe. Even in Asia, the Europeans, who had assumed the
cross, found the remains of the knowledge and arts which the example and
* Fulcherius Carnotensis ap. Bongarsii Gesta Dei per Francos, vol. l 387. edit Han 1611
t Alexias lib. x. ap Byz. script. vol. xi. p. 224.
VOL. II.-3




I&                      A  ViEW'  OF  THE                    [SECT. 1.
encouragement of the Caliphs had diffused through their empire. Although
the attention of the historians of the Crusades was fixed on other objects
than the state of society and manners amolg the nations, which they
invaded, although most of them had neither taste nor discernment enough
to describe these, they relate, however, such signal acts of humanity and
generosity in the conduct of Saladin, as well as some other leaders of the
Vahometans, as give us a very high idea of their manners. It was not
possible forthe Crusaders to travel through so many countries, and to behold
the various customs and institutions, without acquiring information and improvement.  Their views enlarged; their prejudices wore off; new ideas
crowded into their minds; and they must have been sensible, on many
occasions, of the rusticity of their own manners, when compared with
those of a more polished people. These impressions were not so slight
as to be effaced upon their return to their native countries. A close intercourse subsisted between the east and west during two centuries; new
armies were continually marching from  Europe to Asia, while former
adventurers returned honme and imported many of the customs to which
they had been familiarized by a long residence abroad. Accordingly,
we discover, soon after the commencement of the Crusades, greater
splendour in the courts of princes, greater pomp in public ceremonies, a
more refined taste in pleasures and amusements, together with a more
romantic spirit of enterprise spreading gradually over Europe; and to
these wild expeditions, the effect of superstition or folly, we owe the first
gleams of light which tended to dispel barbarism and ignorance.
But these beneficial consequences of the Crusades took place slowly;
their influence upon the state of property, and consequently of power, in
the different kingdoms of Europe, was more immediate as well as discernible.  The nobles who assumed the cross, and bound themselves to
march to the Holy Land, soon perceived that great sums were necessary
towards defraying the expenses of such a distant expedition, and enabling
them to appear with suitable dignity at the head of their vassals.  But the
genius of the feudal system was averse to the imposition of extraordinary
taxes; and subjects in that age were unaccustomed to pay them. No
expedient remained for levying the sums requisite, but the sale of their
possessions.  As men were inflamed with romantic expectations of the
splendid conquests which they hoped to make in Asia, and possessed with
such zeal for, recovering the Holy Land as swallowed'up every other passion, they relinquished their ancient inheritances without any reluctance,
and for prices far below their value, that they might sally forth as adventurers in quest of new settlements in unknown countries. The monarchs of
the great kingdoms in the west, none of whom had engaged in the first
Crusade, eagerly seized this opportunity of annexing considerable territories to their crowns at small expense.*  Besides this, several great barons,
who perished in the Holy War, having left no heirs, their fiefs reverted of
course to their respective sovereigns; and by these accessions of properly,
as well as power taken from the one scale and thrown into the other, tht
regal authority rose in proportion as that of the aristocracy declined.  The
absence, too, of many potent vassals, accustomed to control and give law
to their sovereigns, afforded them  an opportunity of extending their prerogative, and of acquiring a degree of weight in the constitution which
taey did not formerly possess.  To these circumstances we may add, that
as all who assumed the cross were taken under the immediate protection
of the church, and its heaviest anathemas were denounced against such as
should disquiet or annoy those who had devoted themselves to this service;
the private quarrels and hostilities which banished tranquillity from a.eudal kingdom, were suspended or extinguished; a more general and
* Wilhelin. Malmsbur. Guibert. Abbas ap. Bonrars. vol. i. 481.




STATE OF EUROPE.                                 19
steady administration of justice began to be introduced, and some advances
were made towards the establishment of regular government in the several
kingdoms of Europe* [14].
The commercial effects of the Crusades were not less considerab'e than
those which I have already mentioned.  The first armies under the standard of the cross, which Peter the hermit and Godfrey of Bouillon led
through Germany and Hungary to Constantinople, suffered so much by the
length of the march, as well as by the fierceness of the barbarous people
who inhabited those countries, that it deterred others from taking the same
route; and rather than encounter so many dangers they chose to go by
sea.  Venice, Genoa, and Pisa furnished the transports on which they
embarked. The sum which these cities received merely for freight from
such numerous armies was immense.t  This, however, was but, a small
part of what they gained by the expeditions to the Holy Land; the Crusaders contracted with them for military stores and provisions; their fleets
kept on the coast as the armies advanced by land; and supplying them
with whatever was wanting, engrossed all the profits of a branch of commerce which, in every age, has been extremely lucrative. The success
which attended the arms of the Crusaders was productive of advantages
still more permanent. There are charters yet extant, containing grants
to the Venetians, Pisans, and Genoese of the most extensive immunities in
the several settlements which the Christians made in Asia. All the com
modities which they imported or exported are thereby exempted fiom
every imposition; the property of entire suburbs in some of the maritime
towns, and of large streets in others, is vested in them; and all questions,
arising among persons settled within their precincts, or who traded under
their protection, are appointed to be tried by their own laws, and by judges
of their own appoinntment.   When the Crusaders seized Constantinople,
and placed one of their own leaders on the imperial throne, the Italian
States were likewise gainers by that event. The Venetians, who had
planned the enterprise, and took a considerable part in carrying it into
execution, did not neglect to secure to themselves the chief advantages
redounding from  its success. They made themselves masters of part ot
the ancient Peloponnesus in Greece, together with some of the most fertile
islands in the Archipelago. Many valuable branches of the commerce,
which formerly centred in Constantinople, were transferred to Venice,
Genoa, or Pisa.  Thus a succession of events, occasioned by the Holy
War, opened various sources, from which wealth flowed in such abundance
into these cities,~ as enabled them, in concurrence witb another institution,
which shall be immediately mentioned, to secure their own liberty and
independence.
II. The institution to which I alluded was the forming of cities into
communities, corporations, or bodies politic, and granting them the privilege of municipal jurisdiction, which contributed more, perhaps, than any
other cause, to introduce regular government, police, and arts, and to diffuse
them over Europe. The feudal government had degenerated into a system
of oppression. The usurpations of the nobles were become unbounded
and intolerable; they had reduced the great body of the people into a state
of actual servitude: the condition of those dignified with the.name of freemen, was often little preferable to that of the other. Nor was such
oppression the portion of those alone who dwelt in the country, and were
employed in cultivating the estate of their master. Cities and villages
found it necessary to hold of some great lord, on whom they might depend
for protection, and became no less subject to his arbitrary jurisdiction.
* Du Cange Glossar. voc. Cruce signatus. Gull. Abbas ap. Bongare vol. i. 480. 489.
t Muratori Antiquit. Italic. medii revi, vol. ii. 905.  l ib 906, &c    0 Villehardouin llit
de Constant sous l'Empereur Francois, 105, &c.




20                      A  VIEW   OF  THE                    [SECT. I
The inhabitants were deprived of those rights, which, in social life, are
deemed most natural and inalienable.  They could not dispose of the
effects which their own industry had acquired, either by a latter will, or by
any deed executed during their life.* They had no right to appoint guardians for their children during their minority.  They were not permitted to
marry without purchasing the consent of the lord on whom they depended t
If once they had commenced a law-suit, they durst not terminate it by an
accommodation, because that would have deprived the lord, in whose court
they pleaded, of the perquisites due to him on passing sentence.j  Services
of various kinds, no less' disgraceful than oppressive, were exacted from
them without mercy or moderation.  The spirit of industry was checked
in some cities by absurd regulations, and in others by unreasonable exactions; nor would the narrow and oppressive maxims of a military ariss
tocracy have permitted it ever to rise to any degree of height or vigour.~
But as soon as the cities of Italy began to turn their attention. towards
commerce, and to conceive some idea of the advantages which they might
derive from it, they became impatient to shake off the yoke of their insolent
lords, and to establish among themselves such a free and equal government,
as would render property secure, and industry flourishing. The German
emperors, especially those of the Franconian and Suabian lines, as the seat
of their government was far distant from Italy, possessed a feeble and
imperfect jurisdiction in that country.  Their perpetual quarrels, either
with the popes or with their own turbulent vassals, diverted their attention
from the interior police of Italy, and gave constant employment to their
arms.  These circumstances encouraged the inhabitants of some of the'Italian cities, towards the beginning of the eleventh century, to assume new
privileges, to unite together more closely, and to form themselves into
bodies politic under the government of laws established by common consent.ll The rights which many cities acquired by bold or fortunate usurpations, others purchased from  the emperors, who deemed themselves
gainers when they received large sums for immunities which they were
no longer able to withhold; and some cities obtained them gratuitously,
from the generosity or facility of the princes on whom they depended.
The great increase of wealth which the Crusades brought into Italy occasioned a new kind of fermentation and activity in the minds of the people,
and excited such a general passion for liberty and independence, that,
before the conclusion of the last Crusade, all the considerable cities in that
country had either purchased or had extorted large immunities from the
emperors [15].
This innovation was not long known in Italy before it made its way into
France. Louis le Gros, in order to create some power that might counterbalance those potent vassals who controlled, or gave law to the crown,
first adopted the plan of conferring new privileges on the towns situated
within his own domain.  These privileges were called charters of commninity, by which he enfranchised the inhabitants, abolished all marks of servitude, and formed them into corporations or bodies politic, to be governed
by a council and magistrates of their own nomination.  These magistrates
had the right of administering justice within their own precincts, of levying taxes, of embodying and training to arms the militia of the town, which
took the field when required by the sovereign, under the command of
officers appointed by the community. The great barons imitated the exam
pile of their monarch, and granted like immunities to the towns within
their territories. They had wasted such great sums in their expeditions to
the Holy Land, that they were eager to lay hold on this new expedient
* Dacherii Spiceleg. torn. xi. 374, 375; edit. in 4to. Ordonances des Rois de France, torn. iii.
204. No. 2. 6.    t Ordonances des Rois de France, torn. i. p. 22, tom. iii. 203. No. 1. MuraL.
Antiq. Ital. vol. iv. p. 20. Dacher. Spicel. vol. xi. 325. 341.  $ Dacler, Spicel. vol. ix 182
~ M. l'Abb6 Mably observat, sur ihist. de France, tomn. ii. p. 2 96 1I Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. iv p 5




STATE OF EUROPE.                              21
mor raising money, by the sale of those charters of liberty. Though the
institution of communities was as repugnant to their maxims of policy, as
it was adverse to their power, they disregarded remote consequences, in
order to obtain present relief. In less than two centuries, servitude was
abolished in most of the towns in France, and they became free corporations, instead of dependent villages, without jurisdiction or privileges [16]
Much about the same period, the great cities in Germany began to acquire
like immunities, and laid the foundation of their present liberty and independence [17].  The practice spread quickly over Europe, and was
adopted in Spain, England, Scotland, and all the other feudal kingdoms [18].
The good effects of this new-institution were immediately felt, and its
influence on government as well as manners was no less extensive than
salutary. A great body of the people was released from servitude, and
froln all the arbitrary and grievous impositions to which that wretched
condition had subjected them. Towns, upon acquiring the right of community, became so many little republics, governed by known and equal
laws. Liberty was deemed such an essential and characteristic part in
their constitution, that if any slave took refuge in one of them, and resided
there during a year without being claimed, he was instantly declared a
freeman, and admitted as a member of the community.2
As one part of the people owed their liberty to the erection of communities, another was indebted to them  for their security. Such had been
the state of Europe during several centuries, that self-preServation obliged
every man to court the patronage of some powerful baron, and in times ot
danger his castle was the place to which all resorted for safety. But towns
surrounded with walls, whose inhabitants were regularly trained to arms,
and bound by interest, as well as by the most solemn engagements, reciprocally to defend each other, afforded a more commodious and secure
retreat.  The nobles began to be considered as of less importance when
they ceased to be the sole guardians to whom the people could look up for
protection against violence.
If the nobility suffered some diminution of their credit and power by the
privileges granted to the cities, the crown acquired an increase of both.
As there were no regular troops kept on foot in any of the feudal kingdoms, the monarch could bring no army into the field, but what was composed of soldiers furnished by the crown vassals, always jealous of the
regal authority; nor had he any funds for carrying on the public service
but such as they granted him with a very sparing hand. But when the
members of communities were permitted to bear arms, and were trained
to the use of them, this in some degree supplied the first defect, and gave
the'crown the command of a body of men, independent of its great vassals. The attachment of the cities to their sovereigns, whom they respected
as the first authors of their liberties, and whom they were obliged to
court as the protectors of their immunities against the domineering spirit
of the nobles, contributed somewhat towards removing the second evil, as,
on many occasions, it procured the crown supplies of money, which added
new force to government.I
The acquisition of liberty made such a happy change in the condition
of all the members of communities, as roused them from that inaction into
which they had been sunk by the wretchedness of their former state.
The spirit of industry revived. Commerce became an object of attention,
and began to flourish. Population increased. Independence was established; and wealth flowed into cities which had long been the seat ol
poverty and oppression. Wealth was accompanied by its usual attendants,
* Statut. Humberti Bellojoci Daclier. Spicel. vol. ix. o32. 185. Charta Comit Forens ibid. 193
t Ordon. des Rois de France, torn. i. 602.' 85; ton. ii. 318. 422




22                    A  VIEW   OF  1 HE                    [SECr. L.
ostentation and luxury; and thougn the former was formal and cumber
some, and the latter inelegant, they led gradually to greater refinement in
manners, and in the habits of life. Together with this improvement in
manners, a more regular species of government and police was introduced.
As cities grew to be more populous, and the occasions of intercourse among
men increased, statutes and regulations multiplied of course, and all became
sensible that their common safety depended on observing them with exactness, and on punishing such as violated them, with promptitude and rigour.
Laws and subordination, as well as polished manners, taking their rise in
cities, diffused themselves insensibly through the rest of the society.
III. The inhabitants of cities, having obtained personal fieecdom  and
municipal jurisdiction, soon acquired civileliberty and political power.  It
was a fundamental principle in the feudal system of policy, that no freeman could be subjected to new laws or taxes unless by his own consent.
In consequence of this, the vassals of every baron were called to his court,
in which they established, by mutual consent, such regulations as they
deemed most beneficial to their small society, and granted their superiors
such supplles of money, as were proportioned to their abilities, or to his
wants. The barons {hemselves, conformably to the same maxim, were
admitted into the supreme assembly of the nation, and concurred with the
sovereign in enacting laws, or in imposing taxes. As the superior lord,
according to the original plan of feudal policy, retained the direct property
of those lands which he granted, in temporary possession, to his vassals,
the law, even after fiefs became hereditary, still supposed this original
practice to subsist. T he great council of each nation, whether distinguished by the name of a Parliament, a Diet, the Cortes, or the Statesgeneral, was composed entirely of such barons, and dignified ecclesiastics,
as held immediately of the crown. Towns, whether situated within the
royal domain, or on the lands of a subject, depended originally for protection on the lord of whom they held. They had no legal name, no political existence, which could entitle them to be admitted into the legislative
assembly, or could give them any authority there. But as soon as they
were enfranchised, and formed into bodies corporate, they became legal
and independent members of the constitution, and acquired all the rights
essential to freemen. Among these, the most valuable was, the privilege
of a decisive voice in enacting public laws, and granting national subsidies. It was natural for cities, accustomed to a form of municipal government, according to which no regulation could be established within the
community, and no money could be raised but by their own consent, to
claim this privilege.  The wealth, the power, and consideration, which
they acquired on recovering their liberty, added weight to their claim
and favourable events happened, or fortunate conjunctures occurred, in the
different kingdoms of Europe, which facilitated their obtaining possessior
of this important right. In England, one of the first countries in which the
representatives of boroughs were admitted into the great council of the
nation, the barons who took arms against Henry IlI. [A. D. 1265] summoned them  to attend parliament, in order to add greater popularity to
their party, and to strengthen the barrier against the encroachments of regal
power. In France, Philip the Fair, a monarch no less sagacious than enterprising, considered them as instruments which might be employed with
equal advantage to extend the royal prerogative, to counterbalance the
exorbitant power of the nobles, and to facilitate the imposition of newv
taxes.  With these views, he introduced the deputies of such towns as
were formed into communities, into the States-general of the nation.* In
the empire, the wealth and immunities of the imperial cities placed them
on a level with the most considerable members of the Germanic body.
* Pasquier Rechurches de la Frn.ce, p. 81. edit Par. 1633.




STATE OF EUROPE.                                  3
Conscious of their own power and dignity, they pretended to the privilege
of forming a separate bench in the diet [A. D. 1293]; and made good
their pretensions.
But in what way soever the representatives of cities first gained a place
in the legislature, that event had great influence on the form and genius oi
government.  It tempered the rigour of aristocratical oppression with a
proper mixture of popular liberty: it secured to the great body of the
people, who had formerly no representatives, active and powerful guardians of their rights and privileges: it established an intermediate power
between the king and the nobles, to which each had recourse alternately,
and which at some times opposed the usurpations of the former, on other
occasions checked the encroachments of the latter. As soon as the representatives of communities gained any degree of credit and influence in the
legislature, the spirit of laws became different from what it had formerly
been; it flowed from  new  principles; it was directed towards new
objects; equality, order, the public good, and the redress of grievances,
were phrases and ideas brought into use, and which grew to be familiar
in the statutes and jurisprudence of the European nations. Almost all the
efforts in favour of liberty in every country of Europe, have been made
by this new power in the legislature.  In proportion as it rose to consideration and influence, the severity of the aristocratical spirit decreased;
and the privileges of the people became gradually more extensive, as
the ancient and exorbitant jurisdiction of the nobles was abridged [19].
IV. The inhabitants of towns having been declared free by the charters
of communities, that part of the people which resided in the country, and
was employed in agriculture, began to recover liberty by enfranchisement.
During the rigour of feudal government, as hath been already observed, the
great body of the lower people was reduced to servitude.  They were
slaves fixed to the soil which they cultivated, and together with it were
transferred from one proprietor to another, by sale, or by conveyance.  The
spirit of feudal policy did not favour the enfranchisement of that order of
men. It was an established maxim, that no vassal could legally diminish
the value of a fief, to the detriment of the lord from whom he had received
it.  In consequence of this, manumission by the authority of the immediate master was not valid; and unless it was confirmed by the superior
lord of whom he held, slaves belonging to the fief did not acquire a complete right to their liberty. Thus it became necessary to ascend through
all the gradations of feudal holding to the king, the lord paramount.t  A
form of procedure so tedious and troublesome, discouraged the practice of
manumission.  Domestic or personal slaves often obtained liberty from the
humanity or beneficence of their masters, to whom they belonged in absolute property. The condition of slaves fixed to the soil, was much more
unalterable.
But the freedom and independence which one part of the people had
obtained by the institution of communities, inspired the other with the
most ardent desire of acquiring the same privileges; and their superiors,
sensible of the various advantages which they had derived from  their
former concessions to their dependents, were less unwilling to gratify them
by the grant of new immunities.  The enfranchisement of slaves became
more frequent; and the monarchs of France, prompted by necessity no
less than by their inclination to reduce the power of the nobles, endeavoured
to render it general [A. D. 1315 and 1318].  Louis X. and Philip the Long
issued ordinances, declaring, " That as all men were by nature freeborn.
and as their kingdom was called the kingdom of Franks, they determined
that It should be so in reality as well as in name; therefore they appointe.d
* Pfessel Abrege de l'histoire et droit d'Allemagne, p 408 451.  t E.siblisselnens de St. Lomus,
iv. ii. ch. 34. Ordon. tom. i. 283. not. C(a




24                    A  VIEW  OF  THE                    [SECT. 1.
that enfranchisements should be granted throughout the whole kingdom,
upon just and reasonable conditions."t  These edicts were carried into
immediate execution within the royal domain. The example kof their
sovereigns, together with the expectation of considerable sums which they
might raise by this expedient, led many of the nobles to set their dependents
at liberty - and servitude was gradually abolished in almost every province
of the kingdom [20]. In Italy, the establishment of republican government in their great cities, the genius and maxims of which were extremely
different from those of the feudal policy, together with the ideas of equality,
which the progress of commerce had rendered familiar, gradually introduced the practice of enfranchising the ancient predial slaves. In some
provinces of Germany, the persons who had been subject to this species of
bondage were released; in others, the rigour of their state was mitigated.
In England, as the spirit of liberty gained ground, the very name and idea
of personal servitude, without any formal interposition of the legislature
to prohibit it, was totally banished.
The effects of such a remarkable change in tne condition of so great a
part of the people, could not fail of being considerable and extensive.
The husbandman, master of his own industry, and secure of reaping for
himself the fruits of his labour, became the farmer of the same fields
where he had formerly been compelled to toil for the benefit of another.
The odious names of master and of slave, the most mortifying and depressing of all distinctions to human nature, were abolished. New prospects opened, and new incitements to ingenuity and enterprise presented
themselves to those who were emancipated. The expectation of bettering
their fortune, as well as that of raising themselves to a more honourable
condition, concurred in calling forth their activity and genius; and a
numerous class of men, who formerly had no political existence, and were
employed merely as instruments of labour, became useful citizens, and
contributed towards augmenting the force or riches of the society which
adopted them as members.
V. The various expedients which were employed in order to introduce
a more regular, equal, and vigorous administration of justice, contributed
greatly towards the improvement of society. What were the particular
modes of dispensing justice, in their several countries, among the various
barbarous nations, which overran the Roman Empire, and took possession
of its different provinces, cannot now be determined with certainty. We
may conclude, from the form of government established among them, as
well as from their ideas concerning the nature of society, that the authority
of the magistrate was extremely limited, and the independence of indi
viduals proportionally great  History and records, as far as these reach
back, justify this conclusion, and represent the ideas and exercise ol
justice in all the countries of Europe, as little different from those which
must take place in the most simple state of civil life. To maintain the
order and tranquillity of society by the regular execution of known laws;
to inflict vengeance on crimes destructive of the peace and safety of
individuals, by a prosecution carried on in the name and by the authority
of the community; to consider the punishment of criminals as a public
example to deter others from violating the laws; were objects of government little understood in theory, and less regarded in practice. The magistrate could hardly be said to hold the sword of justice; it was left in
the hands of private persons. Resentment was almost the sole motive for
prosecuting crimes; and to gratify that passion, was considered as the
chief end in punishing them. He who suffered the wrong, was the only
person who had a right to pursue the aggressor, and to exact or remit the
punishment. From a system of judicial procedure, so crude and defective,
* Ordon. torn. i. p. 583 653.




STATE OF EUROPE                                  -~
that it seems to be scarcely compatible with the subsistence of civil
society, disorder and anarchy flowed. Superstition concurred with this
ignorance concerning the nature of government, in obstructing the adminis
tration of justice, or in rendering it capricious and unequal.  To provide
remedies for these evils, so as to give a more regular course to justice, was,
during several centuries, one great object of political wisdom.  The
regulations for this purpose may be reduced to three general heads: To
explain these, and to point out the manner in which they operated, is an
nmportant article in the history of society among the nations of Europe.
1. The first considerable step towards establishing an equal administration
of justice, was the abolishment of the right which individuals claimed of
waging war with each other, in their own name, and -by their own authority.  To repel injuries, and to revenge wrongs, is no less natural to
man, than to cultivate friendship; and while society remains in its most
simple state, the former is considered as a personal right no less alienable
than the latter. Nor do men in this situation deem that they have a title
to redress their own wrongs alone; they are touched with the injuries done
o those with whom  they are connected, or in whose honour they are
iterested, and are no less prompt to avenge them.  The savage, how
mperfectly soever he may comprehend the principles of political union,
eels warmly the sentiments of social affection, and the obligations arising
rom the ties of blood.  On the appearance of an injury or affront offered.o his family or tribe, he kindles into rage, and pursues the authors of it
with the keenest resentment. He considers it as cowardly to expect
edress from any arm  but his own, and as infamous to give up to another,he right of determining what reparation he should accept, or with what
vengeance he should rest satisfied.
The maxims and practice of all uncivilized nations, with respect to the
prosecution and punishment of.offenders, particularly those of the ancient
Germans, and other barbarians who invaded the Roman Empire, are perfectly conformable to these ideas." While they retained their native simplicity of manners, and continued to be divided into small tribes or societies,
the defects in this imperfect system of criminal jurisprudence (if it merits
that name) were less sensibly felt. When they came to settle in the extensive provinces which they had conquered, and to form themselves into
great monarchies; when new objects of ambition presenting themselves,
increased both the number and the violence of their dissensions; they ought
to have adopted new maxims concerning the redress of injuries, and to
have regulated, by general and equal laws, that which they formerly left
to be directed by the caprice of private passion. But fierce and haughty
chieftains, accustomed to avenge themselves on such as had injured them,
did not think of relinquishing a right which they considered as a privilege
of their order, and a mark of their independence.  Laws enforced by the
authority of princes and magistrates, who possessed little power, commanded no great degree of reverence. The administration of justice among
rude illiterate -people, was not so accurate, or decisive, or uniform,- as to
induce men to submit implicitly to its determinations.  Every offended
baron buckled on his armour, and sought redress at the head of his vassals.
His adversary met him in like hostile array. Neither of them appealed
to impotent laws, which could afford them  no protection. Neither ol
them would submit points, in which their honour and their passions were
warmly interested, to the slow determination of a judicial inquiry. Both
trusted to their swords for the decision of the contest.  The kindred and
dependents of the aggressor, as well as of the defender, were involved in
the quarrel. They had not even the liberty of remaining neutral. Such
* Tacit de Mor, German. cap. 21. Veil. Paterc. lib. ii. c. 118.
VOL. II.-4




26                     A  VIEW  OF  THE                      [SECT. I.
as refused to act in concert with the party to which they belonged, wers
not only exposed to infamy, but subjected to legal penalties.
The different kingdoms of Europe were torn and afflicted, during several
centuries, by intestine wars, excited by private animosities, and carried on
with all the rage natural to men of fierce manners, and of violent passions.
The estate of every baron was a kind of independent territory, disjoined
from those ar)und it, and the hostilities between them seldom ceased.  The
evil became so inveterate and deep-rooted, that the form  and laws of
private war were ascertained, and regulations concerning it made a part
in the system of jurisprudence,? in the same manner as if this practice
had been founded in some natural right of humanity, or in the original
constitution of civil society.
So great was the disorder, and such the calamities, which these perpetual
hostilities occasioned, that various efforts were made to wrest from the
nobles this pernicious privilege. It was the interest of every sovereign to
abolish a practice which almost annihilated his authority. Charlemagne
prohibited it by an express law, as an invention of the devil to destroy the
order and happiness of society;t but the reign of one monarch,. however
vigorous and active, was too short to extirpate a custom so firmly established. Instead of enforcing this prohibition, his feeble successors durst
venture on nothing more than to apply palliatives. They declared it unlawful for any person to commence war until he had sent a formal defiance
to the kindred and dependants of his adversary; they ordained that, after
the commission of the trespass or crime which gave rise to a private war,
forty days must elapse before the person injured should attack the vassals
of his adversary; they enjoined all persons to suspend their private animosities, and to cease from hostilities, when the king was engaged in any war
against the enemies of the nation.  The church co-operated with the civil
magistrate, and interposed its authority in order to extirpate a practice so
repugnant to the spirit of Christianity.  Various councils issued decrees,
prohibiting all private wars; and denounced the heaviest anathemas
against such as should disturb the tranquillity of society, by claiming or
exercising that barbarous right. The aid of religion was called in to
combat and subdue the ferocity of the times.  The Almighty was said to
nave manifested, by visions and revelations to different persons, his disapprobation of that spirit of revenge, which armed one part of his creatures
against the other.  Men were required, in the name of God, to sheathe
their swords, and to remember the sacred ties which united them  as
Christians, and as members of the same society. But this junction of civil
and ecclesiastical authority, though strengthened by every thing most apt
to alarm and to overawe the credulous spirit of those ages, produced no
other effect than some temporary suspensions of hostilities, and a cessation
from war on certain days and seasons consecrated to the more solemn acts
of devotion.  The nobles continued to assert this dangerous privilege 
they refused to obey some of the laws calculated to annul and circumscribe
it; they eluded others; they petitioned; they remonstrated; they strlggled for the right of private war as the highest and most honourable
distinction of their order. Even so late as the fourteenth century, we find
the nobles, in several provinces of France, contending for their ancient
method of terminating their differences by the sword, in preference to that
If submitting them  to the decision of any judge.  The final abolition
if this practice in that kingdom, and the other countries in which it prevailed, is not to be ascribed so much to the force of statutes and decrees
as to the gradual increase of the royal authority, and to the imperceptible
* Beaumanoir Coustumes de Beauvoisis, ch. 59, et les notes de Thaumassiere, p. 447. t Cap}
ml. A. D. 801. Edit. Baluz. vol. i. p. 371.




STATE OF EUROPE.                                 27
progress ofjuster sentiments concerning government, order, and public
security [21].                                                         -
2. The prohibition of the form of trial by judicial combat, was another
considerable step towards the introduction of such regular government, as
secured public order and private tranquillity. As the right of private war
left many of the quarrels among individuals to be decided, like those between nations, by arms; the form of trial by judicial combat, which was
established. in every country of Europe, banished equity from  courts of
justice, and rendered chance or force the arbiter of their determinations.
In civilized nations, all transactions of any importance are concluded in
writing. The exhibition of the deed or instrument is full evidence of the
fact, and ascertains With precision what each party has stipulated to perform   But among a rude people, when the arts of reading and writing
were such uncommon attainments, that to be master of either entitled a
person to the appellation of a clerk or learned man, scarcely any thing
was committed to writing but treaties between princes, their grants and
charters to their subjects, or such transactions between private parties as
were of extraordinary consequence, or had an extensive effect.  The
greater part of affairs in common life and business were carried on by
verbal contracts or promises. This, in many civil questions, not only made
it difficult to bring proof sufficient to establish any claim, but encouraged
falsehood and fraud, by rendering them extremely easy. Even in criminal
cases, where a particular fact must be ascertained, or an accusation must
be disproved, the nature and effect of legal evidence were little understood by barbarous nations.  To define with accuracy that species of
evidence which a court had reason to expect; to determine when it ought
to insist on positive proof, and when it should be satisfied with a proof
from  circumstances; to compare the testimony of discordant witnesses,
and to fix the degree of credit due to each; were discussions too intricate
and subtile for the jurisprudence of ignorant ages. In order to avoid
encumbering themselves with these, a more simple form of procedure was
introduced into courts as well civil as criminal.  In all cases where the
notoriety of the fact did not furnish the clearest and most direct evidence,
the person accused, or he against whom an action was brought, was called
legally, or offered voluntarily, to purge himself by oath; and upon his
declaring his innocence, he was instantly acquitted.* This absurd practice
effectually screened guilt and fraud from detection and punishment, by
rendering the temptation to perjury so powerful, that it was not easy to
resist it. The pernicious effects of it'were sensibly felt; and in order to
guard against them, the laws ordained, that oaths should be administered
with great solemnity, and accompanied with every circumstance which
cou'd inspire religious reverence, or superstitious terror.t  This, however,
proved a feeble remedy; these ceremonious rites became familiar, and
their impression on the imagination gradually diminished; men who could
venture to disregard truth, were not apt to startle at the solemnities of an
oath. Their observation of this, put legislators upon devising a new expedient for rendering the purgation by oath more certain and satisfactory.
They required the person accused to appear with a certain number oi
freemen, his neighbours or relations, who corroborated the oath which he
took, by swearing that they believed all that he uttered to be true..  Theme
were called Compurgalors, and their number varied according to tne importance of the subject in dispute, or the nature of the crime with which
a person was charged.+  In some cases, the concurrence of no less than
three hundred of these auxiliary witnesses was requisite to acquit the
* Leg. Burgund. tit. 8, and 45. Leg. Aleman. tit. 89. Leg. Baiwar. tit. 8. sect. 5. 2, &c.
1 Du Cange Glossar. voc. Juramcntun, vol. iii. p. 1607. Edit. Bonedict.  I Ibid. v li,
p.159,




28                    A  VIEW   OF  THE                    [SECT. 1.
person accused.*  But even this device was found to be ineffectual. It
was a point of honour with every man in Europe, during several ages, not
to desert the chief on whom he depended, and to stand by those with
whom the ties of blood connected him. Whoever then was bold enough
to violate the laws, was sure of devoted adherents, willing to abet, and
eager to serve him in whatever manner he required. The formality of
calling compurgators proved an apparent, not a real security, against false
hood and perjury; and the sentences of courts, while they continued to
refer every point in question to the oath of the defendant, became so
flagrantly iniquitous, as excited universal indignation against this method
of procedure.t
Sensible of these defects, but strangers to the manner of correcting
them, or of introducing a more proper form, our ancestors, as an infallible
method of discovering truth, and of guarding against deception, appealed
to Heaven, and referred every point in dispute to be determined, as they
imagined, by the decisions of unerring wisdom  and impartial justice.
The person accused, in order to prove his innocence, submitted to trial, in
certain cases, either by plunging his arm in boiling water; or by lifting a
red-hot iron with his naked hand; or by walking barefoot over burning
ploughshares; or by other experiments equally perilous and formidable
On other occasions, he challenged his accuser to fight him in single combat.
All these various forms of trial were conducted with many devout ceremonies; the ministers of religion were employed, the Almighty was called
upon to interpose for the manifestation of guilt, and for the pIotection of
innocence; and whoever escaped unhurt, or came off victorious, was pronounced to be acquitted by the Judgment of God.t
Among all the whimsical and absurd institutions which owe their exist
ence to the weakness of human reason, this, which submitted questions that
affected the property, the reputation, and the lives of men, to the determination of chance, or of bodily strength and address, appears to be the most
extravagant and preposterous. There were circumstances, however, which
led the nations of Europe to consider this equivocal mode of deciding any
point in contest, as a direct appeal to Heaven, and a certain method of
discovering its will. As men are unable to comprehend the manner in which
the Almighty carries on the government of the universe, by equal, fixed,
and general laws, they are apt to imagine, that in every case which their
passions or interest render important in their own eyes, the Supreme Ruler
of all ought visibly to display his power in vindicating innocence and punishing guilt. It requires no inconsiderable degree of science and philosophy to correct this popular error. But the sentiments prevalent in Europe
during the dark ages, instead of correcting, strengthened it. Religion, for
several centuries, consisted chiefly in believing the legendary history of
those saints whose names crowd and disgrace the Romish calendar.  The
fabulous tales concerning their miracles, had been declared authentic by
the bulls of popes, and the decrees of councils: they made the great subject of the instructions which the clergy offered to the people, and were
received by them with implicit credulity and admiration. By attending
to these, men were accustomed to believe that the established laws of
nature might be violated on the most frivolous occasions, and were taught
to look rather for particular and extraordinary acts of power under the
divine administration, than to contemplate the regular progress and execu
tion of a general plan. One superstition prepared the way for another
and whoever believed that the Supreme Being had interposed miraculously
on those trivial occasions mentioned in legends, could not but expect his
* Spelman Glossar. voc. R.ssath. Gregor. Turon. Hist. lib. viii. c. 9.  t Leg.
Langobard. lib ii. tit. 55, sect. 34.;  Murat. dissertatio de judiciis Dei Antiquit. Ital. vol.
iii. p. 612.




STATE OF EUROPE.                                22
intervention in matters of greater importance, when solemr.y referred to
his decision.
With this superstitious opinion, the martial spirit of Europe, during the
middle ages, concurred in establishing the mode of trial byjudicial combat
To be ready to maintain with his sword whatever his lips had uttered,
was the first maxim of honour with every gentleman.  To assert their
own rights by force of arms, to inflict vengeance on those who had injured
or affronted them, were the distinction and pride of high-spirited nobles
The form of trial by combat coinciding with this maxim, flattered and
gratified these passions.  Every man was the guardian of his own
honour, and of his own life; the justice of his cause, as well as his future
reputation, depended on his own courage and prowess.  This mode of
decision was considered, accordingly, as one of the happiest efforts of wise
policy; and as soon as it was introduced, all the forms of trial by fire or
water, and. other superstitious experiments, fell into disuse, or were employed only in controversies between persons of inferior rank. As it was
the privilege of a gentleman to claim the trial by combat, it was quickly
authorized over all Europe, and received in every country with equal
satisfaction.  Not only questions concerning uncertain or contested facts,
but general and abstract points in law, were determined by the issue of a
combat; and the latter was deemed a method of discovering truth more
liberal, as well as more satisfactory, than that by investigation and argument.
Not only might parties, whose minds were exasperated by the eagerness
and the hostility of opposition, defy their antagonists, and require him to
make good his charge, or to prove his innocence with his sword, but
witnesses who had no interest in the issue of the question, though called
to declare the truth by laws which ought to have affbrded them protection,
were equally exposed to the danger of a challenge, and equally bound to
assert the veracity of their evidence by dint of arms. To complete the
absurdities of this military jurisprudence, even the character of a judge
was not sacred from its violence. Any one of the parties might interrupt
a judge when about to deliver his opinion; might accuse him of iniquity
and corruption in the most reproachful terms, and throwing down the
gauntlet, might challenge him to defend his integrity in the field; nor could
he, without infamy refuse to accept the defiance, or decline to enter the
lists against such an adversary.
Thus the form of trial by combat, like other abuses, spread gradually,
and extended to all persons, and almost to all cases. Ecclesiastics, women,
minors, superannuated and infirm persons, who could not with decency or
justice be compelled to take arms, or to maintaih..;eir own cause, were
obliged to produce champions, who offered from affection, or were engaged
by rewards, to fight their battles.  The solemnities of a judicial combat
were such as were natural in an action, which was considered both as a
formal appeal to God, and as the final decision of questions of the highest
moment. Every circumstance relating to them was regulated by the edicts
of princes, and explained in the comments of lawyers, with a minute and
even superstitious accuracy. Skill in these laws and rights was frequently
the only science of which warlike nobles boasted, or which they were
ambitious to attain.*
By this barbarous custom, the natural course of proceeding, both in civil
and criminal questions, was entirely perverted.  Force usurped the place ol
equity in courts of judicature, andj ustice was banished from her proper man
sion.  Discernment, learning, integrity, were qualities less necessary to a
judge, than bodilystrength and dexterity in the use of arms. Daring courage
and superior vigour of address, were of more moment towards securing
* See a curious discourse concerning the laws of judicial combat, by Thomas of Woodstock duke
of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II. in Spelman's Glossar. voc. Campus.




So                     A  VIEW  OF  THE                     [SECT. 1.
the favourable issue of a suit, than the equity of a cause, or the clearness
of the evidence.  Men, of course, applied themselves to cultivate the
talents which they found to be of greatest utility. As strength of body and
address in arms were no less requisite in those lists which they were
obliged to enter in defence of their private rights, than in the field of
battle, where they met the enemies of their country, it became the great
object of their education, as well as the chief employment of lif, to
acquire these martial accomplishments. The administration of justice,
instead of accustoming men to listen to the voice of equity, or to reverence
the decisions of law, added to the ferocity of their manners, and taught
them to consider force as the great arbiter of right and wrong.
These pernicious effects of the trial by combat were so obvious, tha
they did not altogether escape the view of the unobserving age in whicl
it was introduced. The clergy, from the beginning, remonstrated againsL
it as repugnant to the spirit of Christianity, and subversive of justice
and order.    But the maxims and passions which favoured it, had taken
such hold of the minds of men, that they disregarded admonitions and
censures, which, on other occasions, would have struck them with terror.
The evil was too great and inveterate to yield to that remedy, and continuing to increase, the civil power at length found it necessary to interpose.  Conscious, however, of their own limited authority, monarchs
proceeded with caution, and their first attempts to restrain, or to set any
bounds to this practice, were extremely feeble.  One of the earliest
restrictions of this practice which occurs In the history of Europe, is that
of Henry I. of England. It extended no farther than to prohibit the trial
by combat in questions concerning property of small value.t  Louis VII. of
France imitated his example, and issued an edict to the same effect.A
St. Louis, whose ideas as a legislator were far superior to those of his age,
endeavoured to introduce a more perfect jurisprudence, and to substitute
the trial by evidence, in place of that by combat. But his regulations,
with respect to this, were confined to his own domains; for the great
vassals of the crown possessed such independent authority, and were so
fondly attached to the ancient practice, that he had not power to extend
it to the whole kingdom. Some barons voluntarily adopted his regulations.
The spirit of courts of justice became averse to the mode of decision by
combat, and discouraged it on every occasion. The nobles, nevertheless,
thought it so honourable to depend for the security of their lives and
fortunes on their own courage alone, and contended with so much vehemence
for the preservation of this favourite privilege of their order, that the successors of St. Louis, unable to oppose, and afraid of offending such powerful
subjects, were obliged not only to tolerate, but to authorize the practice
which he had attempted to abolish.~ In other countries of Europe, efforts
equally zealous were employed to maintain the established custom; and
similar concessions were extorted from  their respective sovereigns.  It
continued, however, to be an object of policy with every monarch of
abilities or vigour to explode the trial by combat; and various edicts were
issued for this purpose. But the observation which was made concerning
the right of private war, is equally applicable to the mode of trial under
review. No custom, how absurd soever it may be, if it has subsisted
long, or derives its force from the manners and prejudices of the age in
which it prevails, was ever abolished by the bare promulgation of laws
and statutes. The sentiments of the people must change, or some new
power, sufficient to counteract the prevalent custom, must be introduced.
Such a change accordingly took place in Europe, as science gradually
increased, and society advanced towards more perfect order. In propor* Du Cange Glossar. voc. Duellum, vol. ii. p. 1675.  t Brussel Usage des Fiefs, vol. ii
p  962. 6.     Ordon. tuni. 1. p. 1(i.    Ibid. tom. i. p. 328, 390. 435.




STATE OF EUROPE..3
tion as the prerogative of princes extended, and came to acquire new
force, a power, interested in suppressing every practice favourable to the
independence of the nobles, was introduced. The struggle, nevertheless,
subsisted for several centuries; sometimes the new regulations and ideas
seemed to gain ground; sometimes ancient habits recurred: and though,
upon the whole, the trial by combat went more and more into disuse, yet
instances of it occur, as late as the sixteenth century, in the history both
of France and of England.  In proportion as it declined, the regular
administration of justice was restored, the proceedings of courts were
directed by known laws, the study of these became an object of attention
to judges, and the people of Europe advanced fast towards civility, when:his great cause of the ferocity of their manners was removed [22].
3. By authorizing the right of appeal from the courts of the barons to
those of the king, and subjecting the decisions of the former to the review
of the latter, a new step, not less considerable than those which I have
already mentioned, was taken towards establishing the regular, consistent,
and vigorous administration of justice. Among all the encroachments of
the feudal nobles on the prerogative of their monarchs, their usurping the
administration of justice with supreme authority, both in civil and criminal
causes, within the precincts of their own estates, was the most singular.
In other nations, subjects have contended with their sovereigns, and have
endeavoured to extend their own power and privileges; but in the history
of their struggles and pretensions, we discover nothing similar to this right
which the feudal barons claimed and obtained. It must have been something peculiar in their genius and manners that suggested this idea, and
prompted them  to insist on such a claim. Among the rude people who
conquered the various provinces of the Roman Empire, and established
new  kingdoms there, the passion of resentment, too impetuous to bear
control, was permitted to remain almost unrestrained by the authority of
laws.  The person offended, as has been observed, retained not only the
right of prosecuting, but of punishing his adversary. To him it belonged
to inflict such vengeance as satiated his rage, or to accept of such satisfaction as appeased it. But while fierce barbarians continued to be the sole
judges in their own cause, their enmities were implacable and immortal;
they set no bounds either to the degree of their vengeance, or to the duration of their resentment.  The excesses which this occasioned, proved so
destructive of peace and order in society, as to render it necessary to devise
some remedy.  At first, recourse was had to arbitrators, who by persuasion
or entreaty prevailed on the party offended to accept of a fine or composition from the aggressor, and to drop all farther prosecution. But as submission to persons who had no legal or magisterial authority was altogether
voluntary, it became necessary to establish judges, with power sufficient
to enforce their own decisions.  The leader whom they were accustomed
to follow and to obey, whose courage they respected, and in whose integrity
they placed confidence, was the person to whom a martial people naturally
committed this important prerogative. Every chieftain was the commander
of his tribe in war, and their judge in peace. Every baron led his vassals
to the field, and administered justice to them in his hall. Their high-spirited
dependants would not have recognised any other authority, or have submitted to any other jurisdiction.  But in times of turbulence and violence,
the exercise of this new function was attended not only with trouble, but
with danger. No person could assume the character of a judge, if he did
not possess power sufficient to protect the one party from the violence of
private revenge, and to compel the other to accept of such reparation as
he enjoined. In consideration of the extraordinary efforts which this office
required, judges, besides the fine which they appointed to be paid as a
compensation to the person or family who had been injured, levied an
additional sum as a recompense for their own labour; and in all the feudal




32                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                  [SECT. I
Kingdoms the latter wad not only as precisely ascertained, but as regularly
exacted, as the former.
Thus, by the natural operation of circumstances peculiar to the manners
or political state of the feudal nations, separate and territorial jurisdictions
came not only to be established in every kingdom, but were established in
such a way, that the interest of the barons concurred with their ambition
in maintaining and extending them. It was not merely a point of honour
with the feudal nobles to dispense justice to their vassals; but from  the
exercise of that power arose one capital branch of their revenue; and the
emoluments of their courts were frequently the main support of their dignity.
It was with infinite zeal that they asserted and defended this high privilege of their order. By this institution, however, every kingdom in Europe
was split into as many separate principalities as it contained powerful
barons. Their vassals, whether in peace or in war, were hardly sensible
of any authority, but that of their immediate superior lord. They felt
themselves subject to no other command. They were amenable to no
other jurisdiction.  The ties which linked together these smaller confede
racies became close and firm; the bonds of public union relaxed, or were
dissolved. The nobles strained their invention in devising regulations
which tended to ascertain and perpetuate this distinction. In order to
guard against any appearance of subordination in their courts to those of
the crown, they frequently constrained their monarchs to prohibit the royal
iudges from entering their territories, or from claiming any jurisdiction
there; and if, either through mistake, or from the spirit of encroachment,
any royal judge ventured to extend his authority to the vassals of a baron,
they might plead their right of exemption, and the lord of whom they held
could not only rescue them out of his hands, but was entitled to legal
reparation for the injury and affront offered to him. The jurisdiction of
the royal judges scarcely leached beyond the narrow limits of the king's
demesnes. Instead of a regular gradation of courts, all acknowledging the
authority of the same general laws, and looking up to these as the guides
of their decisions, there were in every feudal kingdom a number of independent tribunals, the proceedings of which were directed by local customs and contradictory forms. The collision of jurisdiction among these
different courts often retarded the execution of justice. The variety and
caprice of their modes of procedure must have for ever kept the administration of it from attaining any degree of uniformity or perfection.
All the monarchs of Europe perceived these encroachments on theirjuris
diction, and bore them with impatience. But the usurpations of the nobles
were so firmly established, and the danger of endeavouring to overturn
them by open force was so manifest, that kings were obliged to remain
satisfied with attempts to undermine them. Various expedients were
employed for this purpose; each of which merits attention as they mark
the progress of law and equity in the several kingdoms of Europe. At first,
princes endeavoured to circumscribe the jurisdiction of the barons, by
contending that they ought to take cognizance only of smaller offences,
reserving those of greater moment, under the appellation of Pleas of the
Crown, and Royal Caurses, to be tried in the king's courts. This, however,
affected only the barons of inferior note; the more powerful nobles
scorned such a distinction, and not only claimed unlimited jurisdiction, but
obliged their sovereigns to grant them charters, conveying or recognising
this privilege in the most ample form. The attempt, nevertheless, was
productive of some good consequences, and paved the way for more.
It turned the attention of men towards a jurisdiction distinct from that of
the baron whose vassals they were; it accustomed them to the pretensions
of superiority which the crown claimed over territorial judges; and taught
them, when oppressed by their own superior lord, to look up to their
sovereign as their protector. This facilitated the introduction of appeals,
by which princes brought the decisions of the narons' courts under the




STATE OF EUROPE.                               33
review of the royal judges. While trial by combat subsisted in full vigour
no point decided according to that mode could be brought under the review
of another court.  It had beenoreferred to the judgment of God; the issue
of battle had declared his will; and it would have been impious to have
called in question the equity of  the divine decision. But as soon as the
barbarous custom began to fall into disuse, princes encouraged the vassals
of the barons to, sue for redress, by appealing to the royal courts. The
progress of this practice, however, was slow  and gradual. The first
instances of appeals were on account of the delay or refusal of justice in
the baron's court; and as these were countenanced by the ideas of subordination in the feudal constitution, the nobles allowed them to be introduced without much opposition.  But when these were followed by
appeals on account of the injustice or iniquity of the sentence, the nobles then
began to be sensible, that if this innovation became general, the shadow ot
power alone would remain in their hands, and all real authority and jurisdiction would centre in those courts which possessed the right of review.
They instantly took the alarm, remonstrated against the encroachment, and
contended boldly for their ancient privileges. But the monarchs in the
different kingdoms of Europe pursued their plan with steadiness and prudence. Though forced to suspend their operations on some occasions, and
seemingly to yield when any formidable confederacy of their vassals united
against them, they resumed their measures as soon as they observed the
nobles to be remiss or feeble, and pushed them  with vigour. They
appointed the royal courts, which originally were ambulatory, and irregular
with respect to their times of meeting, to be held in a fixed place, and at
stated seasons. They were solicitous to name judges of more distinguished
abilities than such as usually presided in the courts of the barons. They
added dignity to their character, and splendour to their assemblies. They
laboured to render their forms regular and their decrees consistent. Such
judicatories became, of course, the objects of public confidence as well as
veneration. The people, relinquishing the partial tribunals of their lords,
were eager to bring every subject of contest under the more equal and
discerning eye of those whom their sovereign had chosen to give judgment
in his name. Thus kings became once more the heads of the community,
and the dispensers of justice to their subjects. The barons, in some kingdoms, ceased to exercise their right of jurisdiction, because it sunk into
contempt; in others, it was circumscribed by such regulations as rendered
it innocent, or it was entirely abolished by express statutes. Thus the
administration of justice taking its rise from one source, and following one
direction, held its course in every state with more uniformity, and w'ith
greater force [23].
V1. The forms and maxims of the canon law, which were become
universally respectable from their authority in the spiritual courts, contributed not a little towards those improvements in jurisprudence which I
have enumerated. If we consider the canon law politically, and view it
either as a system framed on purpose to assist the clergy in usurping
powers and jurisdiction no less repugnant to the nature of their function,
than inconsistent with the order of government; or as the chief instrument in establishing the dominion of the popes, which shook the throne, and
endangered the liberties of every kingdom in Europe, we must pronounce it
one of the most formidable engines ever formed against the happiness of civil
society. But if we contemplate it merely as a code of laws respecting the
rights and property of individuals, and attend only to the civil effects of its
decisions concerning these, it will appear in a different, and a much more
favourable light. In ages of ignorance and credulity, the ministers of reli
gion are the objects of superstitious'veneration. When the barbarians whq
overran the Roman Empire first embraced the Christian faith, they foui
the clergy in possession of considerable power; and they naturally trans
VOL. I. 5




34                     A  VI EW  OF  rTH l                   [SECT. I.
ferred to those new guides the profound submission and reverence which
they were accustomed to yield to the priests of that religion which they
had forsaken.  They deemed their person to be equally sacred with then
function; and would have considered it as impious to subject them to the
profane jurisdiction of the laity. The clergy were not blind to these
advantages which the weakness of mankind afforded them.  They established courts in which every question relating to their own character, their
function, or their property, was tried.  They pleaded and obtained an
almost total exemption from the authority of civil judges.  Upon different
pretexts, and by a multiplicity of artifices, they communicated this privilege
to so many persons, and extended their jurisdiction to such a variety of
cases, that the greater part of those affairs which gave rise to contest and
litigation, was drawn under the cognizance of the spiritual courts.
But, in order to dispose the laity to suffer these usurpations without
murmur or opposition, it was necessary to convince them, that the administration of justice would be rendered more perfect by the establishment
of this new jurisdiction.  This was not a difficult undertaking at that
period, when ecclesiastics carried on their encroachments with the greatest
success.  That scanty portion of science which served to guide men in
the ages of darkness, was almost entirely engrossed by the clergy.  They
alone were accustomed to read, to inquire, and to reason. Whatever
knowledge of ancientjurisprudence had been preserved, either by tradition,
or in such books as had escaped the destructive rage of barbarians, was
possessed by them. Upon the maxims of that excellent system, they
founded a code of laws consonant to the great principles of equity. Being
directed by fixed and known rules, the forms of their courts were ascertained, and their decisions became uniform and consistent  Nor did they
want authority sufficient to enforce their sentences. Excommunication and
other ecclesiastical censures, were punishments more formidable than any
that civil judges could inflict in support of their decrees.
It is not surprising, then, that ecclesiastical jurisprudence should become
such an object of admiration and respect, that exemption from civil jurisdiction was courted as a privilege, and conferred as a reward. It is not
surprising, that, even to rude people, the maxims of the canon law should
appear more equal and just than those of the ill-digested jurisprudence
which directed all proceedings in civil courts. According to the latter,
the differences between contending barons were terminated, as in a state
of nature, by the sword; according to the former, every matter was subjected to the decision of laws. The one, by permitting judicial combats,
left chance and force to be arbiters of right or wrong, of truth or falsehood;
the other passedjudgment with respect to these, by the maxims of equity,
and the testimony of witnesses. Any error or iniquity in a sentence pronounced by a baron to whom feudal jurisdiction belonged, was irremedial,
because, originally it was subject to the review of no superior tribunal;
the ecclesiastical law established a regular gradation of courts, through all
which a cause might be carried by appeal, until it was determined by
that authority which was held to be supreme in the church. Thus the
genius and principles of the canon law prepared men for approving those
three great alterations in the feudal jurisprudence which I have mentioned.
But it was not with respect to these points alone that the canon law suggested improvements beneficial to society. Many of the regulations, now
deemed the barriers of personal security,.or the safeguards of private
property, are contrary to the spirit, and repugnant to the maxims of the
civil jurisprudence known in Europe during several centuries, and were
borrowed from the rules and practice of the ecclesiastical courts. By
observing the wisdom and equity of the decisions in these courts, men
began to perceive the necessity either of deserting the martial tribunals of
he barons, or of attemrting to reform them [241.




STATE OF EUROPE                                3s
VII. The revival of the knowledge and study of the Roman law
co-operated with the causes which I have mentioned, in introducing more
just and liberal ideas concerning the nature of government, and the administration of justice. Among the calamities' which the devastations of the
barbarians, who broke in upon the empire, brought upon mankind, one of
the greatest was their overturning the system of Roman jurisprudence, the
noblest monument of the wisdom of that great people, formed to subdue
and to govern the world. The laws and regulations of a civilized community were altogether repugnant to the manners and ideas of these fierce
invaders. They had respect to objects of which a'rude people had no
conception; and were adapted to a state of society with which they were
entirely unacquainted. For this reason, wherever they settled, the Roman
jurisprudence soon sunk into oblivion, and lay buried for some centuries
under the load of those institutions which the inhabitants of Europe dignified with the name of laws. But towards the middle of the twelfth
century, a copy of Justinian's Pandects was accidentally discovered in Italy
By that time, the state of society was so far advanced, and the ideas of
men so much enlarged and improved by the occurrences of several centuries, during which they had continued in political union, that they were
struck with admiration of a system which their ancestors could not comprehend. Though they had not hitherto attained such a degree of refinement, as to acquire from the ancients a relish for true philosophy or speculative science; though they were still insensible, in a great degree, to the
beauty and elegance of classical composition; they were sufficiently qualified
to judge with respect to the merit of their system of laws, in which the
many points most interesting to mankind were settled with discernment,
precision, and equity. All men of letters studied this new science with
eagerness; and within a few years after the discovery of the Pandects,
professors of civil law were appointed, who taught it publicly in most
countries of Europe.
The effects of having such an excellent model to study and to imitate
were immediately perceived.  Men, as soon as they were acquainted with
fixed and general laws, perceived the advantage of them, and became
impatient to ascertain the principles and forms by which judges should
regulate their decisions. Such was the ardour with which they carried on
an undertaking of so great importance to society, that, before the close of
the twelfth century, the feudal law was reduced into a regular system; the
code of canon law was enlarged and methodised; and the loose uncertain
customs of different provinces or kingdoms were collected and arranged
with an order and accuracy acquired from the knowledge of Roman jurisprudence. In some countries of Europe the Roman law was adopted as
subsidiary to their own municipal law; and all cases to which the latter did
not extend, were decided according to the principles of the former. In
others, the maxims as well as forms of Roman jurisprudence mingled im
perceptibly with the laws of the country, and had a powerful, though less
sensible, influence, in improving and perfecting them [25].
These various improvements in the system of jurisprudence, and administration of justice, occasioned a change in manners, of great importance,
and of extensive effect. They gave rise to a distinction of professions;
they obliged men to cultivate different talents, and to aim at different
accomplishments, in order to qualify themselves for the various departments
and functions which became necessary in society.* Among uncivilized
nations, there is but one profession honourable, that of arms. All the
ingenuity and vigour of the human mind are exerted in acquiring military
skill or address. The functions of peace are few and simple; and require:o particular course of education or of study, as a preparation for dis* Dr, Ferguson's Essay on the IHistolr of Civil Society, part iv. sect.




':t                   A  VIEW   OF  THE                   [SECT. L,
charging them. This was the state of Europe during several centuries
Every gentleman, born a soldier, scorned any other occupation; he was
taught no science but that of,war; even his exercises and pastimes were
feats of martial prowess. Nor did the judicial character, which persons of
noble birth were alone entitled to assume, demand any degree of knowledge
beyond that which such. untutored soldiers possessed. To recollect a few
traditionary customs which time had confirmed, and rendered respectable;
to mark out the lists of battle with due formality; to observe the issue of the
combat; and to pronounce whether it had been conducted according to
the laws of arms; included every thing that a baron, who acted as ajudge,
found it necessary to understand.
But when the forms of legal proceedings were fixed, when the rules of
decision were committed to writing, and collected into a body, law became
a science, the knowledge of which required a regular course of study,
together with long attention to the practice of courts. Martial and illiterate
nobles had neither leisure nor inclination to undertake a task so laborious,
as well as so foreign from all the occupations which they deemed entertaining, or suitable to their rank. They gradually relinquished their places
in courts of justice, where their ignorance exposed them to contempt.
-hey became weary of attending to the discussion of cases, which grew
too intricate for them to comprehend. Not only the judicial determination
of points which were the subject of controversy, but the conduct of all
legal business and transactions, was committed to persons trained by
previous study and application to the knowledge of law. An order of men,
to whom their fellow citizens had daily recourse for advice, and to whom
they looked up for decision in their most important concerns, naturally
acquired consideration and influence in society. They were advanced to
honours which had been considered hitherto as the peculiar rewards of
military virtue. They were intrusted with offices of the highest dignity
and most extensive power. Thus, another profession than that of arms
came to be introduced among the laity, and was reputed honourable. The
functions of civil life were attended to. The talents requisite for discharging them were cultivated. A new road was opened to wealth and
eminence.  The arts and virtues of peace were placed in their proper
rank, and received their due recompense [26].
VIII. While improvements, so important with respect to the state of
society and the administration of justice, gradually made progress in Europe,
sentiments more liberal and generous had begun to animate the nobles.
These were inspired by the spirit of chivaly, which, though considered,
commonly, as a wild institution, the effect of caprice, and the source of
extravagance, arose naturally from the state of society at that period, and
had a very serious influence in refining the manners of the European
nations. The feudal state was a state of almost perpetual war, rapine,
and anarchy; during which the weak and unarmed were exposed to
insults or injuries. rhe power of the sovereign was too limited to prevent
these wrongs; and the administration of justice too feeble to redress them
The most effectual protection against violence and oppression was often
found to be that which the valour and. generosity of private persons
afforded.  The same spirit of enterprise which had prompted so many
gentlemen to take arms in defence of the oppressed pilgrims in Palestine,
incited others to declare themselves the patrons and avengers of injured
innocence at home.  When the final reduction of the Holy Land under the
dominion of infidels put an end to these foreign expeditions, the latter was
the only employment left for the activity and courage of adventurers. To
check the insolence of over-grown oppressors; to rescue the helpless
from captivity; to protect, or to avenge women, orphans, and ecclesiastics
who could not bear arms in their own defence; to redress wrongs and
remove ormevances; were deemed acts of the highest prowess and merit.




STATE OF EUROPE.                              37
Valour, humanity, courtesy,justice, honour, were the characteristic qualities
of chivalry. To these were'added religion, which mingled itself with
every passion and institution during the middle ages, and by infusing a
large proportion of enthusiastic zeal, gave them such force, as carried them
to romantic excess. Men were trained to knighthood by a long previous
discipline; they were admitted into the order by solemnities no less devout
than pompous; every person of noble birth courted that honour; it was
deemed a distinction superior to royalty; and monarchs were proud to
receive it from the hands of private gentlemen.
This singular institution, in which valour, gallantry, and religion, were
so strangely blended, was wonderfully adapted to the taste and genius of
martial nobles; and its effects were soon visible in their manners.  War
was carried on with less ferocity, when humanity came to be deemed the
ornament of knighthood no less than courage. More gentle and polished
manners were introduced, when courtesy was recommended as the most
amiable of knightly virtues. Violence and oppression decreased, when it
was reckoned meritorious to check and to punish them. A scrupulous
adherence to truth, with the most religious attention to fulfil every engagement, became the distinguishing characteristic of a gentleman, because
chivalry was regarded as the school of honour, and inculcated the most
delicate sensibility with respect to those points. The admiration of these
qualitiestjogether. with the high distinctions and prerogatives confDred on
knighthood in every part of Europe, inspired persons of noble birth on
some occasions with a species of military fanaticism, and led them to extravagant enterprises. But they deeply imprinted on their minds the principles of generosity and honour. These were strengthened by every thing
that can affect the senses or touch the heart. The wild exploits of those
romantic knights who sallied forth in quest of adventures, are well known,
and have been treated with proper ridicule.  The political and permanent
effects of the spirit of chivalry have been less observed. Perhaps, the
humanity which accompanies all the operations of war, the refinements of
gallantry, and the point of honour, the three chief circumstances which
distinguish modern from ancient manners, may be ascribed in a great measure to this institution, which has appeared whimsical to superficial observers, but by its effects has proved of great benefit to mankind. The sentiments which chivalry inspired had a wonderful influence on manners and
conduct during the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.
They were so deeply rooted, that they continued to operate after the
vigour and reputation of the institution itself began to decline. Some
considerable transactions, recorded in the following history, resemble the
adventurous exploits of chivalry, rather than the well-regulated operations
of sound policy. Some of the most eminent personages, whose characters will be delineated, were strongly tinctured with this romantic spirit.
Francis I. was ambitious to distinguish himself by all the qualities of an
accomplished knight, and endeavoured to imitate the enterprising genius
of chivalry in war, as well as its pomp and courtesy during peace.  The
fame which the French monarch acquired by these splendid actions, so
far dazzled his more temperate rival, that he departed on some occasions
from his usual prudence and moderation, and emulated Francis in deeds of
prowess or of gallantry [27].
IX. The progress of science, and the cultivation of literature, had a
considerable effect in changing the manners of the European nations, and
introducing that civility and refinement by which they are now distinguished.  At the time when their empire was overturned, the Romans,
though they had lost that correct taste which has rendered the productions
of their ancestors standards of excellence, and models of imitation for succeeding ages, still preserved their love of letters, and cultivated the arts
with great ardour. But rude barbarians were so far from being struck




36                     A  VIEW  OF  THE                      [SETr. i
with any admv:ation of these unknown accomplishments, that they despised
them.  They were not arrived at that state of society, when those faculties of the humanr mind, which have beauty and elegance for their objects,
begin to vuifold themselves.  They were strangers to most of those wants
and desires which are the parents of ingenious invention; and as they did
uot comprehend either the merit or utility of the Roman arts. they destroyed
the monuments of them, with an industry not inferior to that with which
their posterity have since studied to preserve or to recover them.  The
convulsions occasioned by the settlement of so many unpolished tribes in
the empire; the frequent as well as violent revolutions in every kingdom
which they established; together with the interior defects in the form of
government which they introduced, banished security and leisure; prevented the growth of taste, or the culture of science; and kept Europe,
during several centuries, in that state of ignorance which has been already
described. But the events and institutions which I have enumerated, pro
duced great alterations in society. As soon as their operation, in restoring
liberty and independence to one part of the community, began to be felt
as soon as they began to communicate to all the members of society, some
taste of the advantages arising from  commerce, from  public order, and
from personal security, the human mind became conscious of powers which
it did rtot formerly perceive, and fond of occupations or pursuits of which
it was flormerly incapable.  Towards the beginning of the twelfth century,
we discern the first symptoms of its awakening from that lethargy in which
it had been long sunk, and observe it turning with curiosity and attention
towards new objects.
The first literary efforts, however, of the European nations in the middle
ages, were extremely ill-directed.  Among nations, as well as individuals,
the powers of imagination attained some degree of vigour before the intellectual faculties are much exercised in speculative or abstract disquisition
Men are poets before they are philosophers.  They feel with sensibility,
and describe with force, when they have made but little progress in investigation or reasoning. The age of Homer and of Hesiod long preceded
that of Thales or of Socrates.  But, unhappily for literature, our ancestors, deviating from this course which nature points out, plunged at once
into the depths of abstruse and metaphysical inquiry.  They had been
converted to the Christian faith, soon after they settled in their new conquests.  But they did not receive it pure.  The presumption of men had
added to the simple and instructive doctrines of Christianity the theories
of a vain philosophy, that attempted to penetrate into mysteries, and tc
decide questions which the limited faculties of the human mind are un
able to comprehend or to resolve. These over-curious speculations were
incorporated with the system of religion, and came to be considered as the
most essential part of it. As soon, then, as curiosity prompted men to
inquire and to reason, these were the subjects which first presented them
selves, and engaged their attention. The scholastic theology, with its infi
nite train of bold disquisitions and subtile distinctions concerning points
which are not the object of human reason, was the first production of the
spirit of inquiry after it began to resume some degree of activity and vigour
in Europe.  It was not, however, this circumstance alone that gave such a
wrong turn to the minds of men, when they began again to exercise talents
which they had so long neglected. Most of the persons who attempted tt
revive literature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had receiver
instruction, or derived their principles of science, from the Greeks in the
eastern empire, or from  the Arabians in Spain and Africa.  Both these
people, acute and inquisitive to excess, had corrupted those sciences which
they cultivated.  The former rendered theology a system of speculative
refinement, or of endless controversy. The latter communicated to phi
losophy a spirit of metaphysical and frivolous sultlety. Misled by these




STATE  OF  EUROPE.:39
guides, the persons who first applied to science were involved in a maze
of intricate inquiries. Instead of allowing their fancy to take its natural
range, and to produce such works of invention as might have improved
their taste, and refined their sentiments; instead of cultivating those arts
which embellish human life, and render it comfortable; they were fettered
by authority, they were led astray by example, and wasted the whole
force of their genius in speculations as unavailing as they were difficult.
But fruitless and ill-directed as these speculations were, their novelty
roused, and their boldness interested the human mind. The ardour with
which men pursued those uninviting studies, was astonishing. Genuine
philosophy was never cultivated, in any enlightened age, with more zeal.
Schools, upon the model of those instituted by Charlemagne, were opened
in every cathedral, and almost in every nonastery of note. Colleges and
universities were erected and formed into communities or corporations,
governed by their own laws, and iivested with separate and extensive
jurisdiction over their own members. A regular course of studies was
planned. Privileges of great value were conferred on masters and scholars. Academical titles and honours of various kinds were invented as a
recompense for both. Nor was it in the schools alone that superiority in
science led to reputation and authority; it became an object of respect in
life, and advanced such as acquired it to a rank of no inconsiderable eminence. Allured by all these advantages, an incredible number of students
resorted to those new seats of learning, and crowded with eagerness into
that new path which was opened to fame and distinction.
But how considerable soever these first efforts may appear, there was
one circumstance which prevented the effects of them from being as extensive as they naturally ought to have been. All the languages in Europe,
during the period under review, were barbarous.  They were destitute
of elegance, of force, and even of perspicuity.  No attempt had been
hitherto made to improve or to polish them. The Latin tongue was consecrated by the church to religion. Custom, with authority scarcely less
sacred, had appropriated it to literature. All the sciences cultivated in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries were taught in Latin. All books with respect to them were written in that language. It would have been deemed
a degradation of any important subject, to have treated of it in a modern
language.  This confined science within a very narrow  circle.  The
learned alone were admitted into the temple of knowledge; the gate was
shut against all others, who were suffered to remain involved in their former
darkness and ignorance.
But though science was thus prevented, during several ages, from diffusing itself through society, and its influence was much circumscribed;
the progress which it made may be mentioned, nevertheless, among the.great causes which contributed to introduce a change of manners into
Europe.  The ardent, though ill-judged spirit of inquiry which I have
described, occasioned a fermentation of mind that put ingenuity and invention in motion, and gave them vigour. It led men to a new employment
of their faculties, which they found to be agreeable as well as interesting.
It accustomed them to exercises and occupations which tended to soften
their manners, and to give them some relish for the gentle virtues, peculiar
to people among whom science has been cultivated with success [28].
X. The progress of commerce had considerable influence in polishing
the manners of the European nations, and in establishing among them
order, equal laws, and humanity.  The wants of men, in the original and
most simple state of society, are so few, and their desires so limited, that
they rest contented with the natural productions of their climate and soil.
or with what they can add to these by their own rude industry. They
have no superfluities to dispose of, and few necessities that demand a
suDply. Every V.ttle crnmmuniity subsisting on it_,an domestic flock, and




40                    A  VIEW  OF  THE                    [SECT. I.
satisfied with it, is either ittle acquainted with the states around it, or at
variance with them. Society and manners must be considerably improved,
and many provisions must be made for public order and personal security
before a liberal intercourse can take place between different nations. We
find, accordingly, that the first effect of the settlement of the barbarians in
the Empire, was to divide those nations which the Roman power had united.
Europe was broken i: to many separate communities. The intercourse
between these divided states, ceased almost entirely during several centuries. Navigation was dangerous in seas infested by pirates; nor could
strangers trust to a friendly reception in the ports of uncivilized nations.
Even between distant parts of the same kingdom, the communication was
rare and difficult. The lawless rapine of banditti, together with the avowed
exactions of the nobles, scarcely fss formidable than oppressive, rendered
ajourney of any length a perilous enterprise. Fixed to the spot in which
they resided, the greater part of the inhabitants of Europe lost, in a great
measure, the knowledge of remote regions, and were unacquainted with
their names, their situations, their climates, and their commodities [29].
Various causes, however, contributed to revive the spirit of commerce,
and to renew, in some degree, the intercourse between different nations.
The Italians, by their connection with Constantinople, and other cities ol
the Greek empire, had preserved in their own country considerable relish
for the precious commodities and curious, manufactures of the East. They
communicated some knowledge of these to the countries contiguous to
Italy. But this commerce being extremely limited, the intercourse which
it occasioned between different nations was not considerable.  The Crusades, by leading multitudes from every corner of Europe into Asia, opened
a more extensive communication between the East and West, which sub
sisted for two centuries; and though the object of these expeditions was
conquest and not commerce; though the issue of them proved as unfortu
nate, as the motives for undertaking them were wild and enthusiastic;
their commercial effects, as hath been shown, were both beneficial and
permanent. During the continuance of the Crusades, the great cities in
Italy, and in other countries of Europe, acquired liberty, and together
with it such privileges as rendered them respectable and independent
communities.  Thus, in every state, there was formed a new order ol
citizens, to whom  commerce presented itself as their proper object, and
opened to them a certain path to wealth and consideration. Soon after
the close of the Holy War, the mariner's compass was invented, which,
by rendering navigation more secure, encouraged it to become more adventurous, facilitated the communication between remote nations, and brought
themn nearer to each other.
The Italian States, during the same period, established a regular commerce with the East in the ports of Egypt, and drew from thence all the
rich products of the Indies. They introduced into their own territories
manufactures of various kinds, and carried them on with great.ingenuity
and vigour. They attempted new arts; and transplanted from warmer
climates, to which they had been hitherto deemed peculiar, several natural
productions which now furnish the materials of a lucrative and extended
commerce. All these commodities, whether imported from Asia, or pro
duced by their own skill, they disposed of to great advantage among the
other people of Europe, who began to acquire some taste for an elegance
in living unknown to their ancestors, or despised by them. During the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries the commerce of Europe was almost
entirely in the hands of the Italians, more commonly known in those ages
by the name of Lombards. Companies or societies of Lombard mer
chants settled in every different kingdom.  They were taken under the
immediate protection of the several government3. They enjoyed extensive
privileges and immunities. The operation of the ancient barbarous law'




STATE OF EUROPE.                              41
conoerning strangers, was suspended with respect to them. They became
the carriers, the manufacturers, and the bankers of all Europe.
While the Italians, in the South of Europe, were cultivating trade with
such industry and success, the commercial spirit awakened in the North
towards the middle of the thirteenth century. As the nations around the
Baltic were, at that time, extremely barbarous, and infested that sea with
their piracies, the cities of Lubec and Hamburgh, soon after they began to
open some trade with these people, found it necessary to enter into a league
of mutual' defence. They derived such advantages from this union, that
other towns acceded to their confederacy, and in a short time, eighty of
the most considerable cities scattered through those extensive countries
which stretch from the bottom of the Baltic to Cologne on the Rhine, joined
in the famous Hanseatic league, which became so formidable, that its
alliance was courted, and its enmity was dreaded by the greatest monarchs.
The members of this powerful association formed the first systematic plan
of commerce known in the middle ages, and conducted it by common
laws enacted in their general assemblies. They supplied the rest of Europe
with naval stores, and pitched on different towns, the most eminent oi
which was Bruges in Flanders, where they established staples in which
their commerce was regularly carried on. Thither the Lombards brought
the productions of India, together with the manufactures of Italy, and
exchanged them for the more bulky, but not less useful commodities of the
North. The Hanseatic merchants disposed of the cargoes which they
received from the Lombards, in the ports of the Baltic, or carried them up
the great rivers into the interior parts of Germany.
This regular intercourse opened between the nations in the north and
south of Europe, made them sensible of their mutual wants, and created
such new and increasing demands for commodities of every kind, that it
excited among the inhabitants of the Netherlands a more vigorous spirit
in carrying on the two great manufactures of wool and flax, which seem to
have been considerable in that country as early as the age of Charlemagne.
As Bruges became the centre of communication between the Lombard and
Hanseatic merchants, the Flemings traded with both in that city to such
extent as well as advantage, as spread among them a general habit of industry, which long rendered Flanders and the adjacent provinces the most
opulent, the most populous, and best cultivated countries in Europe.
Struck with the flourishing state of these provinces, of which he discerned
the true cause, Edward III. of England endeavoured to excite a spirit ot
industry among his own subjects, who, blind to the advantages of their
situation, and ignorant of the source from which opulence was destined to
flow into their country, were so little attentive to their commercial interests,
as hai'dly to attempt those manufactures, the materials of which they
furnished to foreigners.   By alluring Flemish artisans to settle in his
dominions, as well as by many wise laws for the encouragement and
regulation of trade, Edward gave a beginning to the woollen manufactures
of England, and first turned the active and enterprising genius of his people
towards those arts which have raised the English to the highest rank
among commercial nations.
This increase of commerce, and of intercourse between nations, how
inconsiderable soever it may appear in respect of their rapid and extensive
progress during the last and present age. seems wonderfully great, when
we compare it with the state of both in Europe previous to the twelfth
century. It did not fail of producing great effects. Commerce tends to
wear off those prejudices which maintain distinction and animosity between
nations. It softens and polishes the manners of men. It unites them by
one of the strongest of all ties, the desire of supplying their mutual wants.
It disposes them to peace, by establishing in every state an order of
citizens bound by their interest to be the guardians of public tranquillity.
VOL. II.-6




42                     A  VIEW   OF ETHE                    [SECT. II.
As soon as the commercial spirit acquires vigour, and begins to gain an
ascendant in any society, we discover a new genius in its policy, its
alliances, its wars, and its negotiations.  Conspicuous proofs of this occur
in the history of the Italian states, of the Hanseatic league, and the cities
of the Netherlands during the period under review. In proportion as commerce made its way into the different countries of Europe, they successively turned their attention to those objects, and adopted those manners,
which occupy and distinguish polished nations [30].
SECTION  II.
View of the Progress of Society in Europe, writh respect to the Command
of the National Force requisite in Foreign Operations.
SUCH are the events and institutions which, by their powerful operation,
contributed gradually to introduce regular,government and polished manners into the various nations of Europe.  When we survey the state of
society, or the character of individuals, at the opening of the fifteenth
century, and then turn back to view the condition of both at the time
when the barbarous tribes, which overturned the Roman power, completed
their settlement in their new conquests, the progress which mankind had
aiade towards order and refinement will appear immense.
Government, however, was still far from having attained that state, in
which extensive monarchies act with the united vigour of the whole community, or carry on great undertakings with perseverance and success.
Small tribes or communities, even in lheir rudest state, may operate in
concert, and exert their utmost force. They are excited to act not by the
distant objects or the refined speculations which interest or affect men in
polished societies, but by their present feelings. The insults of an enemy
Kindle resentment; the success of a rival tribe awakens emulation; these
passions communicate from breast to breast, and all the members of the
community, with united ardour, rush into the field in order to gratify their
revenge, or to acquire distinction.  But in widely extended states, such as
the great kingdoms of Europe at the beginning of the fifteenth century,
where there is little intercourse between the distant members of the community, and where every great enterprise requires previous concert and
long preparation, nothing can rouse and call forth their united strength, but
the absolute command of a despot, or the powerful influence of regular
policy.  Of the former, the vast empires in the East are an example; the
irresistible mandate of the sovereign reaches the most remote provinces of
his dominions, and compels whatever number of his subiects he is pleased
to summon, to follow his standard.  The kingdoms of turope, in the present age, are an instance of the latter; the prince, by the less violent, but
no less effectual operation of laws and a well-regulated government, is
enabled to avail himself of the whole force of his state, and to employ't
in enterprises which require strenuous and persevering efforts.
But, at the openingof the fifteenth century, the political constitution in
all the kingdoms of Europe was very different from either of these states
of government.  The several monarchs, though they had somewhat enlarged the boundaries of prerogative by successful encroachments on thb
immunities and privileges of the nobility, were possessed of an authoriry
extremely limited.  The laws and interior police of kingdoms, though
much improved by the various events and regulations which I have enumerated, were still feeble and imperfect. In every country, a numerous
body of nobles, who continued to be formidable notwithstanding:hq various




STATE OF EUROPE.                                 43
expedients employed to depress them, watched all the motions of thei"
sovereign with a jealous attention, which set bounds to his ambition, and
either prevented his forming schemes of extensive enterprise, or obstructed
the execution of them.
The ordinary revenues of every prince were so extremely small as to
be inadequate to any great undertaking. He depended for extraordinary
supplies on the good-will of his subjects, who granted them often with a
reluctant, and always with a sparing hand.
As the revenues of princes were inconsiderable, the armies which they
could bring into the field were unfit for long and effectual service. Instead
of being able to employ troops trained to skill in arms, and to military subordination, by regular discipline, monarchs were obliged to depend on such
forces as their vassals conducted to their standard in consequence of their
military tenures.  These, as they were bound to.remain under arms only
for a short time, could not march far from their usual place of residence,
and being more attached to the lord of whom they hWeld, than to the sovereign whom they served, were often as much disposed to counteract as to
forward his schemes. Nor were they, even if they had been more subject to the command of the monarch, proper instruments to carry into execution any great and arduous enterprise.  The strength of an army, formed
either for conquest or defence, lies in infantry.  To the stability and discipline of their legions, consisting chiefly of infantry, the Romans, during
the times of the republic, were indebted for their victories; and when their
descendants, forgetting the institutions which had led them  to universal
dominion, so far altered their military system as to place their principal
confidence in a numerous cavalry, the undisciplined impetuosity of the
barbarous nations, who fought mostly on foot, was sufficient, as I have
already observed, to overcome them. These nations, sooni after they settled in their new conquests, uninstructed by the fatal error of the Romans,
relinquished the customs of their ancestors, and converted the chief force
of their armies into cavalry. Among the Romans this change was occasioned by the effeminacy of their troops, who could not endure the fatigues
of service, which their more virtuous and hardy ancestors had sustained'with ease. Among the people who established the new monarchies into
which Europe was divided, this innovation in military discipline seems to
have flowed from  the pride of the nobles, who, scorning to mingle with
persons of inferior rank, aimed at being distinguished from  them  in the
field, as well as during peace. The institution of chivalry, and the
frequency of tournaments, in which knights, in complete armour, entered
the lists on horseback with extraordinary splendour, displaying amazing
address, force, and valour, brought cavalry into still greater esteem.
The fondness for that service increased to such a degree, that during
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the armies of Europe were
composed  almost entirely of cavalry.  No gentleman would appear
in the field but on horseback.  To serve in any other manner, he would
have deemed derogatory to his rank. The cavalry, by way of distinction.
was called The Battle, and on it alone depended the fate of every action.
The infantry, collected from the dregs and refuse of the people, ill armed
and worse disciplined, was almost of no account.
As these circumstances rendered the operations of particular kingdoms
less considerable and less vigorous, so they long kept the princes of Europe
from giving such attention to the schemes and transactions of their neighbours, as might lead them  to form any regular system of public security.
They were, of consequence, prevented from uniting in confederacy, or
from acting with concert, in order to establish such a distribution and
balance of power, as should hinder any state from rising to a superiority,
which might endanger the general liberty and independence.  During
several centuries, the nations of Europe appear to have considered them




44                    A  VIEW   OF  TIlE                 [SECT. It.
selves as separate societies, scarcely connected together by any common
interest, and little concerned in each other's affairs or operations. An extensive commerce did not afford them an opportunity of observing and penetrating into the schemes of every different state. They had not ambassadors residing constantly in every court to watch and give early intelligence
of all its motions. The expectation of remote advantages, or the prospect
of distant and contingent evils, were not sufficient to excite nations to take
arms. Such only as were within the sphere of immediate danger, and
unavoidably exposed to injury or insult, thought themselves interested in
any contest, or bound to take precautions for their own safety.
Whoever records the transactions of any of the more considerable European states, during the two last centuries, must write the history of Europe.
Its various kingdoms throughout that period, have been formed into one
great system, so closely united, that each holding a determinate station,
the operations of one are so felt by all, as to influence their counsels and
regulate their measures. But previous to the fifteenth century, unless
when vicinity of territory rendered the occasions of discord frequent and
unavoidable, or when national emulation fomented or embittered the spirit
of hostility, the affairs of different countries are seldom interwoven with
each other. In each kingdom of Europe great events and revolutions happened, which the other powers beheld with almost the same indifference
as if they had been uninterested spectators, to whom the effect of these
transactions could never extend.
During the violent struggles between France and England, and notwithstanding the alarming progress which was mtade towards rendering one
prince the master of both these kingdoms, hardly one measure, which can
be considered as the result of a sagacious and prudent policy, was formed
in order to guard against an event so fatal to Europe. The Dukes of
Burgundy and Bretagne, whom their situation would not permit to remain
neutral, engaged, it is true, in the contest; but in taking their part, they
seem rather to have followed the impulse of their passions, than to have
been guided by any just discernment of the danger which threatened
themselves and the tranquillity of Europe. The other princes, seemingly
unaffected by the alternate successes of the contending parties, left them
to decide the quarrel by themselves, or interposed only by feeble and ineffectual negotiations.
Notwithstanding the perpetual hostilities in which the various kingdoms
of Spain were engaged during several centuries, and the successive occurrences which visibly tended to unite that part of the continent into one
great monarchy, the princes of Europe hardly took any step from which
we may conclude that they gave a proper attention to that important event.
They permitted a power to rise imperceptibly, and to acquire strength
there, which soon became formidable to all its neighbours.
Amidst the violent convulsions with which the spirit of domination in the
see of Rome, and the turbulent ambition of the German nobles, agitated
the empire, neither the authority of the popes, seconded by all their artifices and intrigues, nor the solicitations of the emperors, could induce any
of the powerful monarchs of Europe to engage in their quarrel, or to avail
themselves of many favourable opportunities of interposing with effect and
advantage.
This amazing inactivity, during transactions so interesting, is not to be
imputed to any incapacity of discerning their political consequences.
The power of judging with sagacity, and of acting with vigour, is the
portion of men in every age. The monarchs who reigned in the different
kingdoms of Europe during several centuries, were not blind to their particular interest, negligent of the public safety, or strangers to the method
of securing both. If they did not adopt that salutary system, which teaches
modern politicians to take the alarm at the prospect of distant.dangers,




STATE OF EUROPE.                              4b
which prompts them to check the first encroachments of any fcxmidable
power, and which renders each state the guardian, in some degree, of the
rights and independence of all its neighbours, this was owing entirely to
such imperfections and disorders in the civil government of each country,
as made it impossible for sovereigns to act suitably to those ideas which
the posture of affairs, and their own observation, must have suggested.
But during the course of the fifteenth century, various events happened,
which, by giving princes more entire command of the force in their respective dominions, rendered their operations more vigorous and extensive
In consequence of this, the affairs of different kingdoms becoming more
frequently as well as more intimately connected, they were graduallaccustomed to act in concert and confederacy, and were insensibly pr:
pared for forming a system of policy, in order to establish or to preserve
such a balance of power as was most consistent with the general security.
It was during the reign of Charles the Fifth, that the ideas, on which this
system is founded, first came to be fully understood. It was then, that the
maxims by which it has been uniformly maintained since that era, were
universally adopted. On this account, a view of the causes and events
which contributed to establish a plan of policy, more salutary and extensive than any that has taken place in the conduct of human affairs, is not
only a necessary introduction to the following work, but is a capital object;n the history of Europe.
The first event that occasioned any considerable alteration in the
arrangement of affairs in Europe, was the annexation of the extensive ter.
ritories, which England possessed on the continent, to the crown of France.
While the English were masters of several of the most fertile and opulent
provinces in France, and a great part of its most martial inhabitants was
bound to follow their standard, an English monarch considered himself
rather as the rival, than as the vassal of the sovereign of whom he held.
The kings of France, circumscribed and thwarted in their schemes and
operations by an adversary no less jealous than formidable, durst not enter
upon any enterprise of inportance or cf difficulty. The English were
always at hand, ready to oppose them. They disputed even their right
to their crown, and being able to penetrate, with ease, into the heart of the
kingdom, could arm against them those very hands which ought to have
been employed in their defence. Timid counsels and feeble efforts were
natural to monarchs in such a situation. France, dismembered and over
awed, could not attain its proper station in the system of Europe. But the
death of Henry V. of England, happily for France, and not unfortunately
for his own country, delivered the French from the calamity of having a
foreign master seated on their throne. The weakness of a long minority,
the dissensions in the English court, together with the unsteady and languid
conduct which these occasioned, afforded the French a favourable opportunity of recovering the territories which they had lost. The native valour
of the French nobility heightened to an enthusiastic confidence by a supposed interposition of Heaven in their behalf; conducted in the field by
skilful leaders; and directed in the cabinet by a prudent monarch; was
exerted with such vigour and success, during this favourable juncture, as
not only wrested from the English their new conquests, but stripped them
of their ancient possessions in France, and reduced them within the narrow
precincts of Calais, and its petty territory.
As soon as so many considerable provinces were reunited to their
dominions, the kings of France, conscious of this acquisition of strength,
began to form bolder schemes of interior policy, as well as of foreign operations. They immediately became formidable to their neighbours, who
began to fix their attention on their measures and motions, the importance
of which they fully perceived. From this era, France, possessed of the
advantages which it derives from the situation and contiguity of its territories,




46                    A  V IEW   OF  THE                 [SECT. It.
as well as from the number and valour of its people, rose to new influence
in Europe, and was the first power in a condition to give alarm  to the
jealousy or fears of the states around it.
Nor was France indebted for this increase of importance merely to the
reunion of the provinces which had been torn from  it. A circumstance
attended the recovery of these, which, though less considerable, and less
observed, contributed not a little to give additional vigour and decision to
all the efforts of that monarchy. During the obstinate struggles between
France and England, all the defects of the military system under tne feudal
government were sensibly felt. A war of long continuance languished,
when carried on by troops bound and accustomed to keep the field for a
short time. Armies, composed chiefly of heavy-armed cavalry, were unfit
either for the defence or the attack of the many towns and castles, which
it became necessary to guard or to reduce. In order to obtain such permanent and effective force, as became requisite during these lengthened
contests, the kings of France took into their pay considerable bands of
mercenary soldiers, levied sometimes among their own subjects, and sometimes in foreign countries. But as the feudal policy provided no sufficient
fund for such extraordinary service, these adventurers were dismissed at
the close of every campaign, or upon any prospect of accommodation; and
having been little accustomed to the restraints of discipline, they frequently
turned their arms against the country which they had been hired to defend,
and desolated it with cruelty not inferior to that of its foreign enemies.
A body of troops kept constantly on foot, and regularly trained to military
subordination, would have supplied what was wanting in the feudal constitution, and have furnished princes with the means of executing enterprises to which they were then unequal. Such an establishment, however,
was so repugnant to the genius of feudal policy, and so incompatible with
the privileges and pretensions of the nobility, that during several centuries
no monarch was either so bold, or so powerful, as to venture on any step
towards introducing it. At last, Charles VII. availing himself of the reputation which he had acquired by his successes against the English, and
taking advantage of the impressions of terror which such a formidable
enemy had left upon the minds of his subjects, executed that which his
predecessors durst not attempt. Under pretence of having always ready
a force sufficient to defend the kingdom against any sudden invasion of the
English, he, at the time when he disbanded his other troops [A. D. 1445],
retained under arms a body of nine thousand cavalry, and of sixteen thousand infantry. He appropriated funds for the regular payment of these;
he stationed them  in different places of the kingdom, according to his
pleasure; and appointed the officers who commanded and disciplined them.
The prime nobility courted this service, in which they were taught to
depend on their sovereign, to execute his orders, and to look up to him as
the judge and rewarder of their merit. The feudal militia, composed of
the vassals whom the nobles could call out to follow their standard, as it
was in no degree comparable to a body of soldiers regularly trained to war,
sunk gradually in reputation.  The strength of an army was no longer
estimated solely by the number of cavalry which served in it. From the
time that gunpowder was invented, and the use of cannon in the field
became general, horsemen cased in complete armour lost all the advantages
which gave them  the pre-eminence over other soldiers. The helmet,
ihe shield, and the breastplate, which resisted the arrow or the spear, no
longer afforded them security against these new instruments of destruction.
The service of infantry rose again into esteem, and victories were gained,
and conquests made, chiefly by their efforts. The nobles and their mill
tary tenants, though sometimes summoned to the field, according to ancient
form, were considered as an incumbrance upon the troops with which they




6TAT], OF EUROPE                              47
acted; and were viewed with contempt by soldiers accustomed to the
vigorous and steady operations of regular service.
Thus the regulations of Charles VII., by establishing the first standing
army known in Europe, occasioned an important revolution in its affairs
and policy.  By taking from the nobles the sole direction of the national
military force, which had raised them  to such high authority and irrportance, a deep wound was given to the feudal aristocracy, in that part where
its power seemed to be most complete.
France, by forming this body of regular troops at a time when there
was hardly a squadron or company kept in constant pay in any other part
of Europe, acquired such advantages over its neighbours, either in attack
or defence, that self-preservation made it necessary for them to imitate its
example. Mercenary troops were introduced into all the considerable
kingdoms on the continent. They gradually became the only military
borce that was employed or trusted. It has long been the chief object of
policy to increase and to support them. It has long been the great aim of
princes and ministers to discredit and to annihilate all other means of
national activity or defence.
As the kings of France got the start of other powers in establishing a
military force in their dominions, which enabled them to carry on foreign
operations with more vigour, and to greater extent, so they were the first
who effectually broke the feudal aristocracy, and humbled the great vassals
of the crown, who by their exorbitant power had long circumscribed the
royal prerogative within very narrow limits, and had rendered all the
efforts of the monarchs of Europe inconsiderable. Many things concurred
to undermine, gradually, the power of the feudal aristocracy in France
The wealth and property of the nobility were greatly impaired during the
long wars which the kingdom was obliged to maintain with the English.
The extraordinary zeal with which they exerted themselves in defence
of their country against its ancient enemies, exhausted entirely the for
tunes of some great families. As almost every province in the kingdom
was, in its turn, the seat of war, the lands of others wert exposed to the
depredations of the enemy, were ravaged by the mercenary troops which
their sovereigns hired occasionally, but could not pay, or were desolated
with rage still more destructive, by the peasants, in different insurrections.
At the same time, the necessities of government having forced their kings
upon the desperate expedient of making great and sudden alterations in the
current coin of the kingdom, the fines, quit-rents, and other payments fixed
by ancient custom, sunk much in value, and the revenues of a fief were
reduced far below the sum which it had once yielded.  During their contests with the English, in which a generous nobility courted every station
where danger appeared, or honour could be gained, many families of note
became extinct, and their fiefs were reunited to the crown. Other fiefs,
in a long course of years, fell to female heirs, and were divided among
them; were diminished by profuse donations to the church, or were broken
and split by the succession of remote collateral heirs.*
Encouraged by these manifest symptoms of decline in that body which
he wished to depress, Charles VII. during the first interval of peace with
England, made several efforts towards establishing the regal prerogative on
the ruins of the aristocracy. But his obligations to the nobles were so
many, as well as recent, and their services in recovering the kingdom so
splendid, as rendered it necessary for him to proceed with moderation and
caution. Such, however, was the authority which the crown had acquired
by the progress of its arms against the English, and so much was the power
of the nobility diminished, that, without any opposition, he soon made
innovations of great consequence in the constitution. He not only estab.
*Boulainvilliers Histoire de Gouvernement de France, Lett-e xii.




Os                     A  VIEW   OF'THE                    [SECT. II.
lished that formidable body of regular troops, which has been mentioned,
but he was the first monarch of France, who, by his royal edict [A. D.
1440], without the concurrence of the States-general of the kingdom, levied
an extraordinary subsidy on his people. He prevailed likewise with his
subjects, to render several taxes perpetual, which had formerly been
imposed occasionally and exacted during a short time. By means of all
these innovations, he acquired such an increase of power, and extended his
prerogative so far beyond its ancient limits, that, from being the most
dependent prince who had ever sat upon the throne of France, he came to
possess, during the latter years of his reign, a degree of authority which
none of his predecessors had enjoyed for several ages.w
The plan of humbling the nobility which Charles began to execute, his
son Louis XI. carried on with a bolder spirit, and with greater success.
Louis was formed by nature to be a tyrant; and at whatever period he
had been called to ascend the throne, his reign must have abounded with
schemes to oppress his people, and to render his own power absolute.
Subtle, unfeeling, cruel; a stranger to every principle of integrity, and
regardless of decency, he scorned all the restraints which a sense of honour,
or the desire of fame, impose even upon ambitiousmen. Sagacious, at the
same time, to discern what he deemed his true interest, and influenced by
that alone, he was capable of pursuing it with a persevering industry, and of
adhering to it with a systematic spirit, from which no object could divert,
and no danger could deter him.
The maxims of his administration were as profound as they were fatal
to the privileges of the nobility. He filled all the departments of government with new men, and often with persons whom  he called from  the
lowest as well as most despised functions of life, and raised at pleasure to
stations of great power or trust. These were his only confidents, whom
he consulted in for[ning his plans, and to whom he committed the execution of them: while the nobles, accustomed to be the companions, the
favourites, and the ministers of their sovereigns, were treated with such
studied and mortifying neglect, that if they would not submit to follow
a court in which they appeared without any shadow of their ancient power,
they were obliged to retire to their castles, where they remained unemployed and forgotten. Not satisfied with having rendered the nobles of
less consideration, by taking out of their hands the sole direction of affairs,
Louis added insult to neglect; and by violating their most valuable privileges, endeavoured to degrade the order, and to reduce the members of it to
the same level with other subjects. Persons of the highest rank among them,
if so bold as to oppose his schemes, or so unfortunate as to awaken the
jealousy of his capricious temper, were persecuted with rigour, from
which all who belonged to the order of nobility had hitherto been
exempted; they were tried by judges who had no right to take cognizance
of their actions; and were subject to torture, or condemned to an ignominious death, without regard to their birth or condition. The people,
accustomed to see the blood of the most illustrious personages shed by the
hands of the common executioner, to behold them  shut up in dungeons,
and carried about in cages of iron, began to view the nobility with less
reverence than formerly, and looked up with terror to the royal authority,
which seemed to have humbled or annihilated every other power in the
kingdom.
At the same time, Louis, being afraid that oppression might rouse the
nobles, whom the rigour of his government had intimidated, or that self-preservation might at last teach them to unite, dexterously scattered among them
the seeds of discord; and industriously fomented those ancient animosities
* Histoire de France par Velly et Villaret, tom, xv, 331, &c. 339. tom. xvi. 324, Variations do.a Monarchie Francoise, tonm iii. 162.




STATE OF EUROPE..                                 9
between the great families, which the spirit of jealousy and emulation,
natural to the feudal government, had originally kindled and still keptalive.
To accomplish this, all the arts of intrigue, all the mysteries and refinements-of his fraudulent policy were employed, and with such success, tba
at a juncture which req.uired the most strenuous efforts, as well as the most
perfect union, the nobles never acted, except during one short sally oi
resentment at the beginning of his reign, either with vigour or in concert,
As he stripped the nobility of their privileges, he added to the power
and prerogative of the crown. In order to have at command such a body
of soldiers as might be sufficient to crush any force that his disaffected
subjects qcold draw together, he not only kept on foot the regular troops
which his father had raised, but, besides augmenting their number considerably, he took into his pay six thousand Swiss, at that time the best
disciplined and most formidable infantry in Europe.* From the jealousy
natural to tyrants, he confided in these foreign mercenaries, as the most
devoted instruments of oppression, and the most faithful guardians of the
power which he had usurped.  That they might be ready to act on the
shortest warning, he, during the latter years of his reign, kept a considerable body of them encamped in one place. 
Great funds were requisite, not only to defray the expense of this additional establishment, but to supply the sums employed in the various
enterprises which the restless activity of his genius prompted him to
undertake.  But the prerogative that his father had assumed, of levying
taxes without the concurrence of the States-general, which he was carefu
not only to retain but to extend, enabled him to provide in some measure
for the increasing charges of government.
What his prerogative, enlarged as it was, could not furnish, his address
procured. He was the first monarch in Europe who discovered the method
of managing those great assemblies, in which the feudal policy had vested
the power of granting subsidies and of imposing taxes. He first taught
other princes the fatal art of beginning their attack on public liberty, by
corrupting the source from which it should flow. By exerting all his
power and address in influencing the election of representatives, by bribing
or overawing the members, and by various changes which he artfully made
in the form of their deliberations, Louis acquired such entire direction of
these assemblies, that, from being the vigilant guardians of the privilege
and property of the people, he rendered them tamely subservient towards
promoting the most odious measures of his reign.4 As no power remained
to set bounds to his exactions, he not only continued all the taxes imposed
by his father, but made great additions to them, which amounted to a sum
that appeared astonishing to his contemporaries.~
Nor was it the power alone or wealth of the crown that Louis increased;
he extended its territories by acquisitions of various kinds. He got possession of Roussillon by purchase; Provence was conveyed to him by the
will of Charles d'Anjou; and upon the death of Charles the Bold, he
seized with a strong hand Burgundy and Artois, which had belonged to
that prince. Thus, during, the course of a single reign, France was formed
into one compact kingdom, and the steady unrelenting policy of Louis XI
not only subdued the haughty spirit of the feudal nobles, but established
a species of government, scarely less absolute, or less terrible than eastern
despotism.
But fatal as his administration was to the liberties of his subjects, the
* Mem de Comines, tom. i. 367. Dan. Hist. de la Milice Francoise, tom. i. 182.   t Mem. de
Com. tom. i. 381.  i Ibid. tom. i. 136, Chron. Scandal. ibid. tom. ii. p. 71.  Q Mem. de Copn
tom. i. 334. Charles VII. levied taxes to the amount of 1,800,000 francs; Louis XI. raised 4,700,000
The former had in pay 9000 cavalry and 16,000 infantry. The latter augmented the cavalry to
15,000, and the infantry to 25,000. Mem. de Comines, i. 384.
VOL. II-7




50                     A  VIEW  Ok' TH-1E                [SECT. 11.
authority which he had acquired, the resources of which he became
master, and his freedom from restraint in concerting his plans as well as in
executing them, rendered his reign active and enteirpising. Louis negotiated in all the courts of Europe; he observed the motions of all his
neighbours; he engaged, either as principal, or as an auxiliary, in every
great transaction; his resolutions were prompt, his operations vigorous 
and upon every emergence he could call forth into action the whole force
of his kingdom. From the era of his reign, the kings of France, no longer
fettered and circumscribed at home by a jealous nobility, have exerted
themselves more abroad, have formed more extensive schemes of foreign
conquests, and have carried on war with a spirit and vigour long unknown
in Europe.
The example which Louis set was too inviting not to be imitated by
other princes. Henry VII., as soon as he was seated on the throne oi
England, formed the plan of enlarging his own prerogative, by breaking
the power of the nobility.  The circumstances under which he undertook
to execute it, were less favourable than those which induced Charles VII.
to make the same attempt; and the spirit with which he conducted it,
was very different from that of Louis XI. Charles, by the success of his
arms against the English, by the merit of having expelled them out of so
many provinces, had established himself so firmly in the confidence of his
people, as encouraged him  to make bold encroachments on the ancient
constitution. The daring genius of Louis broke through every barrier,
and endeavoured to surmount or to remove every obstacle that stood in his
way. But Henry held the sceptre by a disputed title; a popular faction
was ready every moment to take arms against him; and after long civil
wars, during which the nobility had often displayed their power in creating
and deposing kings, he felt that the legal authority had been so much
relaxed, and that he entered into possession of a prerogative so much
abridged, as rendered it necessary to carry on his measures deliberately,
and without any violent exertion.  He endeavoured to undermine that
formidable structure, which he durst not attack by open force. His
schemes, though cautious and slow in their operation, were well concerted,
and productive in the end of great effects. By his laws, permitting the
barons to break the entails of their estates, and expose them to sale; bJ
his regulations to prevent the nobility from keeping in their service thost
numerous bands of retainers, which rendered them formidable and turbu
lent; by favouring the rising power of the commons; by encouraging
population, agriculture, and commerce; by securing to his subjects, during
a long reign, the enjoyment of the blessings which flow from the arts ol
peace; by accustoming them  to an administration of government, under
which the laws were executed with steadiness and vigour; he made
imperceptibly considerable alterations in the English constitution, and
tranismitted to his successor authority so extensive, as rendered him one of
the most absolute monarchs in Europe, and capable of the greatest and
most vigorous efforts.
In Spain, the union of all its crowns by the marriage of Ferdinand and
Isabella; the glory that they acquired by the conquest of Granada, which
brought the odious dominion of the Moors to a period; the command of
the great armies which it had been necessary to keep long on foot, in
order to accomplish this; the wisdom and steadiness of their administration;
and the address with which they availed themselves of every incident that
occurred to humble the nobility, and to extend their own prerogative, conspired in raising these monarchs to such eminence and authority, as none
of their predecessors had ever enjoyed. Though several causes, which
shall be explained in another place, prevented their attaining the same
powers with the kings of France and England, and preserved the feudal
constitution longer entire in Spain, their great abilities surolied the defects




STATE OF EUROPE.                               51,f their prerogative, and improved with such dexterity all the advantages
vhich they possessed, that Ferdinand carried on his foreign operations,
which were very extensive, with extraordinary vigour and effect.
Vhile these princes were thus enlarging the boundaries of prerogative,
and taking such steps towards rendering their kingdoms capable of acting
with union and force, events occurred, which called them forth to exert
the new powers which they had acquired. These engaged them in such
a series of enterprises and negotiations, that the affairs of all the considerable
nations in Europe came to be insensibly interwoven with each other; and
a great political system was gradually formed, which grew to be an object
of universal attention.
The first event which merits notice, on account of its influence, in producing this change in the state of Europe, was the marriage of the
daughter of Charles the Bold, the sole heiress of the house of Burgundy
For some years before her father's death, she had been considered as the
apparent successor to his territories, and Charles had made proposals of
marrying her to several different princes, with a view of alluring them, by
that offer, to favour the schemes which his restless ambition was continually
forming.
This rendered the alliance with her an object of general attention; and
all the advantages of acquiring possession of her territories, the most
opulent at that time, and the best cultivated of any on this side of the Alps,
were perfectly understood. As soon, then, as the untimely death of Charles
opened the succession [A. D. 1477, Jan. 5], the eyes of all the princes in
Europe were turned towards Mary, and they felt themselves deeply interested in the choice which she was about to make of the person on whom
she would bestow that rich inheritance.
Louis XI. from whose kingdom several of the provinces which she possessed had been dismembered, and whose dominions stretched along the
frontiers of her territories, had every inducement to court her alliance.
He had, likewise, a good title to expect the favourable reception of any
reasonable proposition he should make, with respect to the disposal of a
princess, who was the vassal of his crown, and descended from the royal
blood of France. There were only two propositions, however, which he
could make with propriety.  The one was the marriage of the dauphin,
the other that of the count of Angouleme, a prince of the blood, with the
heiress of Burgundy. By the former, he would have annexed all her
territories to his crown, and have rendered France at once the most re
spectable monarchy in Europe. But the great disparity of ages between
the two parties, Mary being twenty and the dauphin only eight years old;
the avowed resolution of the Flemings, not to choose a master possessed
of such power as might enable him to form schemes dangerous to their
liberties; together with their dread of falling under the odious and
oppressive government of Louis, were obstacles in the way of executing
this plan which it was vain to think of surmounting. By the latter, the
accomplishment of which might have been attained with ease, Mary having
discovered some inclination to a match with the count of Angoulemle,1
Louis would have prevented the dominions of the house of Burgundy from
being conveyed to a rival power, and in return for such a splendid establishment for the count of Angouleme, he must have obtained, or would
nave extorted from him, concessions highly beneficial to the crown o,
France. But Louis had been accustomed so long to the intricacies of a
crooked and insidious policy, that he could not be satisfied with what wa.?
obvious and simple; and was so fond of artifice and refinement, that lih
came to consider these rather as an ultimate object, than merely as the
means of conducting affairs. From this principle, no less than from his
*Mem e    ~~.ijante? i  58.




5R                      A  VIEW   OF  THE                  ISECT. I1.
unwillingness to aggrandize any of his own subjects, or from his, desire of
oppressing the house of Burgundy, which he hated, he neglected the
course which a prince less able and artful would have taken, and followed
one more suited to his own genius.
He proposed to render himself, by force of arms, master of those pro
vinces which Mary held of the crown of France, and even to push his
conquests into her other -territories, while he amused her with insisting
continually on the impracticable match with the dauphin. In prosecuting
this plan, he displayed wonderful talents and industry, and exhibited such
scenes of treachery, falsehood, and cruelty, as are amazing even in the
history bf Louis X.' Immediately upon the death of Charles, he put his
troops in motion, and advanced towards the Netherlands. He corrupted
the leading men in the provinces of Burgundy and Artois, and seduced
them to desert their sovereign. He got admission into some of the frontier
towns by bribing the governors; the gates of others were opened to him
in consequence of his intrigues with the inhabitants.  He negotiated with
Mary; and, in order to render her odious to her subjects, he betrayed to
them her most important secrets. He carried on a private correspondence
with the two ministers whom she chiefly trusted, and then communicated
the letters which he had received from them to the states of Flanders, who,
enraged at their perfidy, brought them immediately to trial, tortured them
with extreme cruelty, and, unmoved by the tears and entreaties of their
sovereign, who knew and approved of all that the ministers had done,
they beheaded them in her presence.'
While Louis, by this conduct, unworthy of a great monarch, was
securing the possession of Burgundy, Artois, and the towns on the Somme,
the states of Flanders carried on a negotiation with the Emperor Frederic
III., and concluded a treaty of marriage between their sovereign and his
son Maximilian, archduke of Austria rA. D. 1477]. The illustrious birth
of that prince, as well as the high dignity of which he had the prospect,
rendered the alliance honourable for Mary, while, from the distance of his
hereditary territories, and the scantiness of his revenues, his power was so
inconsiderable, as did not excite the jealousy or fear of the Flemings.
Thus Louis. by the caprice of his temper, and the excess of his refinements, put the house of Austria in possession of this noble inheritance. By
this acquisition, the foundation of the future grandeur of Charles V  was
laid; and he became master of those territories, which enabled' hiin to
carry on his most,.mnidable and decisive operations against France.
Thus, too, the same monarch who first united the interior force of France
and established it on such a footing, as to render it formidable to the rest
of Europe, contributed, far contrary to his intention, to raise up a rival
power, which, during two centuries, has thwarted the measures, opposed
the arms, and checked the progress of his successors.
The next event of consequence in the fifteenth century, was the expe
dition of Charles VIII. into Italy [A. D. 1494]. This occasioned revolutions no less memorable; produced alterations, both in the military and
political system, which were more immediately perceived; roused the
states of Europe to bolder efforts; and blended their affairs and interests
more closely together.'The mild administration of Charles, a weak but
generous prince, seems to have revived the spirit and genius of the French
nation, which the rigid despotism of Louis XI. his father, had depressed
and almost extinguished.  The ardour for military service, natural to the
French nobility, returned, and their young monarch was impatient to distinguish his reign by some splendid enterprise.  While he was uncertain
towards what quarter he should turn his arms, the solicitations and intrigues
of an Italian politician, no less infamous on account of his crimes, than
AT "r,  la,l(n,.noi liV. V. chap. 15. p. 309, &c.




STATE OF EUROPE.                               53
eminent for his abilities, determined his choice. Ludovico Sforza, having
formed the design of deposing his nephew the duke of Milan, and of
placing himself on the ducal throne, was so much afraid of a combination
of the Italian powers to oppose this measure, and to support the injured
prince, with whom most of them were connected by blood or alliance, that
he saw the necessity of securing the aid of some able protector. The
king of France was the person to whom he applied; and without disclosing
his own intentions, he laboured to prevail with him to march into.Italy, at
the head of a powerful army, in order to seize the crown of Naples, to
which Charles had pretensions as heir of the house of Anjou. The right
to that kingdom claimed by the Angevin family, had been conveyed to
Louis XI. by Charles of Anjou, count of Maine and Provence.  But that
sagacious monarch, though he took immediate possession of those territories
of which Charles was really master, totally disregarded his ideal title to a
kingdom, over which another prince reigned in tranquillity; and uniformly
declined involving himself in the labyrinth of Italian politics. His son,
more adventurous, or more inconsiderate, embarked eagerly in this enterprise; and contemning all the remonstrances of his most experienced counsellors, prepared to carry it on with the utmost vigour.
The.power which Charles possessed was so great, that he reckoned
himself equal to this arduous undertaking. His father had transmitted to
him such an ample prerogative, as gave him the en-tire command of his
kingdom. He himself had added considerably to the extent of his don)inions, by his prudent marriage with the heiress of Bretagne, which
rendered him  master of that province, the last of the great fiefs that
remained to be annexed to the crown. He soon assembled forces which
he thought sufficient; and so impatient was he to enter on his career as a
conqueror, that sacrificing what was real, for what was chimerical, he
restored Roussillon to Ferdinand, and gave up part of his father's acquisitions
in Artois to Maximilian, with a view of inducing these princes not to
molest France, while he was carrying on his operations in Italy.
But so different were the efforts of the states of Europe in the fifteenth
century, from those which we shall behold in the course of this history,
that the army with which Charles undertook this great enterprise, did not
exceed twenty thousand men. The train of artillery, however, the ammunition, and warlike stores of every kind provided for its use, were so considerable, as to bear some resemblance to the immense apparatus of modern
war.
When the French entered Italy, they met with nothing able to resist
them. The Italian powers having remained, during a long period, undisturbed by the invasion of any foreign enemy, had formed a system with
respect to their affairs, both in peace and war, peculiar to themselves.
In order to adjust the interests, and balance the power of the different
states into which Italy was divided, they were engaged in perpetual and
endless negotiations with each other, which they conducted with all the
subtlety of a refining and deceitful policy. Their contests in the field,
when they had recourse to arms, were decided in mock battles, by innocent
and bloodless victories. Upon the first appearance of the danger which
now impended, they had recourse to the arts which they had studied, and
employed their utmost skill in intrigue in order to avert it. But this
proving ineffectual, their bands of effeminate mercenaries, the only rilitarv
force that remained in the country, being fit only for the parade of service
were terrified at the aspect of real war, and shrunk at its approach. The
impetuosity of the French valour appeared to them irresistible.  Florence,
Pisa, and' Rome, opened their gates as the French army advanced. The
prospect':' this dreadful invasion struck one king of Naples with such
* Iezeray Iist tom. ii. 7T.




,it                    A  VIEW   OF  THE                   [SECT. 11
panic terror, that he died (if we may believe historians) of the frighut.
Another abdicated his throne from the same pusillanimous spirit. A third
fled out of his dominions, as soon as the enemy appeared on the Neapolitan
frontiers. Charles, after marching thither from the bottom of the Alps,
with as much rapidity, and almost as little opposition, as if he had been
on a progress through his own dominions, took quiet possession of the
throne of Naples, and intimidated or gave law to every power in Italy.
Such was the conclusion of an expedition, that must be considered as
the first great exertion of those new powers which the princes of Europe
had acquired, and now began to exercise. Its effects were no less con
siderable, than its success had been astonishing. The Italians, unable to
resist the impression of the enemy who broke in upon them, permitted him
to hold on his course undisturbed. They quickly perceived that no single
power, which they could rouse to action, was an equal match for a monarch
who ruled over such extensive territories, and was at the head of such a
martial people; but that a confederacy might accomplish what the separate
members of it durst not attempt. To this expedient, the only one that
remained to deliver or to preserve them from the yoke, they had recourse.
While Charles inconsiderately wasted his time at Naples in festivals and
triumphs on account of his past successes, or was fondly dreaming of future
conquests in the East, to the empire of which he now aspired, they'fermed
against him a powerful combination of almost all the Italian states, supported by the emperor Maximilian, and Ferdinand king of Aragon. The
union of so many powers, who suspended or forgot all their particular
animosities, that they might act in concert against an enemy who had
become formidable to them all, awakened Charles from his thoughtless
security. He saw now no prospect of safety but in returning to'rance.
An army of thirty thousand men, assembled by the allies, was ready
to obstruct his march; and though the French, with a daring courage,
which more than countervailed their inferiority in number, broke through
that great body and gained a victory, which opened to their monarch
a safe passage into his own territories, he was stripped of all his conquests
n Italy in nas short a time as it had taken to acquire them; and the
political system in that country resumed the same appearance as before his
invasion.
The sudden and decisive effect of this confederacy seems to have
instructed the princes and statesmen of Italy as much as the irruption oi
the French had disconcerted and alarmed them. They had extended, on
this occasion, to the affairs of Europe, the maxims of that political science
which had hitherto been applied only to regulate the operations of the
petty states in their own country.  They had discovered the method of
preventing any monarch from  rising to such a degree of power, as was
inconsistent with the general liberty; and had manifested the importance
of attending to that great secret in modern policy, the preservation of a
proper distribution of power among all the members of the system into
which the states of Europe are formed. During all the wars of which
Italy from that time was the theatre, and amidst the hostile operations
which the imprudence of Louis XII. and the ambition of Ferdinand of
Aragon, carried on in that country, with little interruption, from the close
of the fifteenth century, to that period at which the subsequent history
commences, the maintaining a proper balance of power between tne contending parties, became the great object of attention to the statesmen of
Italy. Nor was the idea confined to them. Self-preservation taught other
powers to adopt it. It grew to be fashionable and universal. From this
era we can trace the progress of that intercourse between nations, which has
linked the powers of Europe so closely together  and can discern the
(perations of that provident policy, which, during peace, guards against




STATE OF EUROPE.                              55
remote and contingent dangers; and, in war, has prevented rapid and
destructive conquests.
This was not the only effect of the operations which the great powers of
Europe carried on in Italy. They contributed to render general such a
change, as the French had begun to make in the state of their troops  and
obliged all the princes who appeared on this new theatre of action, to put
the military force of their kingdoms on an establishment similar to that of
France.  When the seat of war came to be remote from the countries
which maintained the contest, the service of the feudal vassals ceased to
be of any use; and the necessity of employing soldiers regularly trained
to arms, and kept in constant pay, came at once to be evident. When
Charles VIII. marched into Italy, his cavalry was entirely composed of.hose companies of gendarmes, embodied by Charles VII. and continued
Dy Louis XI.; his infantry consisted partly of Swiss, hired of the Cantons,
ind partly of Gascons, armed and disciplined after the Swiss model. To
these Louis XII. added a body of Germans, well known in the wars of
Italy by the name of the Black Bands. But neither of these monarchs
made any account of the feudal militia, or ever had recourse to that
military force which they might have commanded, in virtue of the ancient
institutions in their kingdom. Maximilian and Ferdinand, as soon as they
began to act in Italy, employed similar instruments, and trusted the
execution of their plans entirely to mercenary troops.
This innovation in the military system was quickly followed by another,
which the custom of employing Swiss in the Italian wars was the occasion
of introducing.  The arms and discipline of the Swiss were different from
those of other European nations. During their long and violent struggles
in defence of their liberties against the house of Austria, whose armies,
like those of other considerable princes, consisted chiefly of heavy-armed
cavalry, the Swiss found that their poverty, and the small number of gen
tlemen residing in their country, at that time barren and ill cultivated, put
it out of their power to bring into the field any body of horse capable of
facing the enemy. Necessity compelled them to place all their confidence
in infantry; and in order to render it capable of withstanding the shock of
cavalry, they gave the soldiers breastplates and helmets as defensive armour;
together with long spears, halberts, and heavy swords, as weapons ol
9ffence. They formed them into large battalions ranged in deep and
close array, so that they could present on every side a formidable front tc
the enemy.*  The men at arms could make no impression on the solid
strength of such a body. It repulsed the Austrians in all their attempts to
conquer Swisserland. It broke the Burgundian gendarmerie, which was
scarcely inferior to that of France, either in number or reputation; and
when first called to act in Italy, it bore down, by its irresistible force, every
enemy that attempted to oppose it. These repeated proofs of the decisive
effect of infantry, exhibited on such conspicuous occasions, restored that
service to reputation, and gradually re-established the opinion which had
been long exploded, of its superior importance in the operations of war.
But the glory which the Swiss had acquired, having inspired them with
such high ideas of their own prowess and consequence as frequently rendered them mutinous and insolent, the princes who employed them became
weary of depending on the caprice of foreign mercenaries, and began to
turn their attention towards the improvement of their national infantry.
The German powers, having the command of men, whom  nature has
endowed with that steady courage and persevering strength which forms
them to be soldiers, soon modelled their troops in such a manner, that they
vied with the Swiss both in discipline and valour
The French monarchs, though more slowly, and with greater difficulty,
* Machiavel's Art of War, b. ii. chap. ii. p. 451.




56                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                    [SECT. II.
accustomed the impetuous spirit of their people to subordination and
discipline; and were at such pains to render their national infantry respect
able, that as early as the reign of Louis XII. several gentlemen of high rank
had so far abandoned their ancient ideas, as to condescend to enter into that
service.d
The Spaniards, whose situation made it difficult to employ any other
than their national troops in the southern parts of Italy, which was the
chief scene of their operations in that country, not only adopted the Swiss
discipline, but improved upon it, by mingling a proper number of soldiers,
armed with heavy muskets, in their battalions; and thus formed that famous
body of infantry, which during a century and a half, was the admiration
and terror of all Europe. The Italian states gradually diminished the
number of their cavalry, and, in imitation of their more powerful neighbours, brought the strength of their armies to consist in foot soldiers.
From  this period the nations of Europe have carried on war with forces
more adapted to every species of service, more capable of acting in every
country, and better fitted both for making conquests, and for preserving
them.
As their efforts in Italy led the people of Europe to these improvements
in the art of war, they gave them likewise the first idea of the expense
with which it is accompanied when extensive or of long continuance, and
ac.customed every nation to the burden of such impositions as are necessary
for supporting it. While the feudal policy subsisted in full vigour, while
armies were composed of military vassals called forth to attack some
neighbouring power, and to perform, in a short campaign, the services
which they owed to their sovereign, the expense of war was extremely
moderate. A small subsidy enabled a prince to begin and to finish his
greatest military operations. But when Italy became the theatre on which
the powers of Europe contended for superiority, the preparations requisite
for such a distant expedition, the pay of armies kept constantly on foot,
their subsistence in a foreign country, the sieges to be undertaken, and
the towns to be defended, swelled the charges of war immensely, and, by
creating demands unknown in less active times, multiplied taxes in every
kingdom.  The progress of ambition, however, was so rapid, and princes
extended their operations so fast, that it was impossible at first to establish
funds proportional to the increase of expense which these occasioned.
When Charles VIII. invaded Naples, the sums requisite for carrying on
that enterprise so far exceeded those which France had been accustomed
to contribute for the support, qf government, that before he reached the
frontiers of Italy, his treasury was exhausted, and the domestic resources,
of which his extensive prerogative gave him the command, was at an end.
As le durst not venture to lay any new imposition on his people, oppressed
already with the weight of unusual burdens; the only expedient that
remained was, to borrow of the Genoese as much money as might enable
him  to continue his march.  But he could not obtain a sufficient sum,
without consenting to pay annually the exorbitant interest of forty-two
livres for every hundred that he received.t  We may observe the same
disproportion between the efforts and revenues of other princes, his contemporaries. From this period, taxes -went on increasing; and during the
reign of Charles V. such sums were levied in every state, as would have
appeared enormous at the close of the fifteenth century, and gradually
prepared the way for the still more'exorbitant exactions of modern times
The last transaction, previous to the reign of Charles V. that merits
attention on account of its influence upon the state of Europe, is the league
of Cambray.  To humble the republic of Venice, and to divide its terri* Brainome, tom. x. p. 18. Mem. de Fleuranges, 143  M rem de Comines, lib. vii. c.
I n 440




STATE OF EUROPE                                5'
tores, was the object of all the powers who uniter, Q this confederacy.
The civil constitution of Venice, established on a firm basis, had suffered
no considerable alteration for several centuries; during which, the senate
conducted its affairs by maxims of policy no less prudent than vigorous,
and adhered to these with a uniform consistent spirit, which gave that
commonwealth great advantage over other states, whose views and
measures changed as often as the form of their government, or the persons who administered it. By these unintermitted exertions of wisdom
and valour, the Venetians enlarged the dominions of their commonwealth,
until it became the most considerable power in Italy; while their extensive
commerce, the useful and curious manufactures which they carried on,
together with the large share which they had acquired of the lucrative
commerce with the East, rendered Venice the most opulent state in Europe.
The power of the Venetians was the object of terror to their Italian
neighbours.  Their wealth was viewed with envy by the greatest
monarchs, who could not vie with many of their private citizens in the
magnificence of their buildings, in the richness of their dress and furniture,
or in splendour and elegance of living.*  Julius II. whose ambition was
superior, and his abilities equal to those of any pontiff who ever sat on
the papal throne, conceived the idea of this league against the Venetians,
and endeavoured, by applying to those passions which I have mentioned,
to persuade other princes to join in it. By working upon the fears of the,
Italian powers, and upon the avarice of several monarchs beyond the Alps,
he induced them, in concurrence with other causes, which it is not my
province to explain, to form one of the most powerful confederacies that
Europe had ever beheld, against those haughty republicans.
The emperor, the king of France, the king of Aragon, and the pope, were
principals in the league of Cambray, to which almost all the princes of
Italy acceded, the least considerable of them hoping for some share in the
spoils of a state which they deemed to be now devoted to destruction.
The Venetians might have diverted this storm, or have broken its force;
but with a presumptuous rashness, to which there is nothing similar in the
course of their history, they waited its approach. The impetuous valour
of the French rendered ineffectual all their precautions for the safety of
the republic; and the fatal battle of Ghiarraddada entirely ruined the
army, on which they relied for defence. Julius seized all the towns which
they held in the ecclesiastical territories. Ferdinand re-annexed the towns
of which they had got possession on the coast of Calabria, to his NeapoVitan dominions. Maximilian, at the head of a powerful army, advanced
towards Venice on the one side. The French pushed their conquests oh
the other. The Venetians, surrounded by so many enemies, and left without one ally, sunk from the height of presumption to the depths of despair;
abandoned all their territories on the continent; and shut themselves up
in their capital, as their last refuge, and the only place which they hoped to
I reserve.
This rapid success, however, proved fatal to the confederacy. The
m.embers of it, whose union continued while they were engaged in seizing
their prey, began to feel their ancient jealousies and. animosities revive, as
soon as they had a prospect of dividing it. When the Venetians observed
these symptoms of distrust and alienation, a ray of hope broke in upon
them; the spirit natural to their councils returned; they resumed such
wisdom and firmness, as made some atonement for their former imprudence
and dejection; they recovered part of the territory which they had lost;
they appeased the pope and Ferdinand by well-timed concessions in their
favour; and at length dissolved the confederacy, which had brought their
commonwealth to the brink of ruin.
V' Hefiani oratio apud Goldastur in polit. Imperial. p. 980
VOL. II.-8




53                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                [SECT. ilI.
Julius, elated with beholding the effects of a league which he himself
had planned, and imagining that nothing was too arduous for him to undertake, conceived the idea of expelling every foreign power out of Italy,
and bent all the force of his mind towards executing a scheme so well
suited to his enterprising genius. He directed his first attack against the
French, who, on many accounts, were more odious to the Italians, than any
of the foreigners who had acquired dominion in their country. By his
activity and address, he prevailed on most of the powers, who had joined
in the league of Cambray, to turn their arms against the king of France,
their former ally; and engaged Henry VIII. who had lately ascended
the throne of England, to favour their operations by invading France.
Louis XII. resisted all the efforts of this formidable and unexpected confederacy with undaunted fortitude. Hostilities were carried on, during
several campaigns, in Italy, on the frontiers of Spain, and in Picardy, with
alternate success. Exhausted, at length, by the variety as well as extent
of his operations; unable to withstand a confederacy which brought
against him superior force, conducted with wisdom and acting with perseverance; Louis found it necessary to conclude separate treaties of peace
with his enemies; and the war terminated with the loss of every thing
which the French had acquired in Italy, except the castle of Milan, and a
few inconsiderable towns in that dutchy.
The various negotiations carried on during this busy period, and the
different combinations formed among powers hitherto little connected with
each other, greatly increased that intercourse among the nations of Europe,
which I have mentioned as one effect of the events in the fifteenth century
while the greatness of the object at which different nations aimed, the
distant expeditions which they undertook, as well as the length and
obstinacy of the contest in which they engaged, obliged them to exert
themselves with a vigour and perseverance unknown in the preceding
ages.
Those active scenes which the following history will exhibit, as well as
the variety and importance of those transactions which distinguish the
period to which it extends, are not to be ascribed solely to the ambition,
to the abilities, or to the rivalship of Charles V. and of Francis I. The
kingdoms of Europe had arrived at such a degree of improement in the
internal administration of government, and princes had acquired such command of the national force which was to be exerted in foreign wars, that
they were in a condition to enlarge the sphere of their operations, to multiply their claims and pretensions, and to increase the vigour of their efforts.
Accordingly the sixteenth century opened with the certain prospect of its
abounding in great and interesting events.
SECTION  III.
View of the Political Constitution of the principal States zn Europe, at the
commencement of the sixteenth Century.
HAVING thus enumerated the principal causes and events, the influence
of which was felt in every part of Europe, and contributed either to
improve internal order and police in its various states, or to enlarge the
sphere of their activity, by giving them more entire command of the force
with which foreign operations are carried on; nothing farther seems requisite for preparing my readers to enter, with full information, upon perusing
the History of Charles V. but to give a view of the political constitution
and form  of civil government in each of the nations which acted any




STATE OF EUROPE.                                69
considerable part during that period. For as the institutions and events
which I have endeavoured to illustrate, formed the people of Europe to
resemble each other, and conducted them from barbarism to refinement, in.he same path, and by nearly equal steps; there were other circumstances
which occasioned a difference in their political establishments, and gave
rise to those peculiar modes of government, which have produced such
variety in the character and genius of nations.
It is no less necessary to become acquainted with the latter, than to have
contemplated the former. Without a distinct knowledge of the peculiar
form and genius of civil government in each state, a great part of its transactions must appear altogether mysterious and inexplicable. The historians of particular countries, as they seldom extend their views farther than
to the amusement or instruction of their fellow-citizens, by whom they
might presume that all their domestic customs and institutions were perfectly understood, have often neglected to descend into such details with
respect to these, as are sufficient to convey to foreigners full light and information concerning the occurrences which they relate. But a history
which comprehends the transactions of so many different countries, would
be extremely imperfect, without a previous survey of the constitution and
political state of each.  It is from his knowledge of these, that the reader
must draw those principles, which will enable him to judge with discernment, and to decide with certainty concerning the conduct of nations.
A minute detail, however, of the peculiar forms and regulations in every
country, would lead to deductions of immeasurable length.  To sketch out
the great lines which distinguish and characterize each government, is all
that the nature of my present work will admit of, and all that is necessary
to illustrate the events which it records.
At the opening of the sixteenth century, the political aspect of Italy
was extremely different from  that of any other part of Europe.  Instead
of those extensive monarchies, which occupied the rest of the continent,
that delightful country was parcelled out among many small states, each
of which possessed sovereign and independent jurisdiction. The only
monarchy in Italy was that of Naples. The dominion of the popes was
of a peculiar species, to which there is nothing similar either in ancient or
modern times.  In Venice, Florence, and Genoa, a republican form oI
government was established.  Milan was subject to sovereigns, who had
assumed no higher title than that of dukes.
The pope was the first of these powers in dignity, and not the least
considerable by the extent of his territories. In the primitive church, the
Jurisdiction of bishops was equal and co-ordinate.  They derived, perhaps
some degree of consideration from  the dignity of the see in which they
presided. They possessed, however, no real authority or pre-eminence,
hut what they acquired by superior abilities, or superior sanctity. As
Rome had so long been the seat of empire, and the capital of the world,
its bishops were on that account entitled to respect; they received it; but
during several ages they received, and even claimed, nothing more. From
these bumble beginnings, they advanced with such adventurous and well
directed ambition, that they established a-spiritual dominion over the mind
and sentiments of men, to which all Europe submitted with implicit obe
dience. Their claim of universal jurisdiction, as heads of the church,
and their pretensions to infallibility'in their decisions, as successors of St
Peter, are as chimerical, as they are repugnant to the genius of the Chris
tlan religion.  But on these foundations, the superstition and credulity of
mankind enabled them to erect an amazing superstructure.  In all ecclesiastical controversies, their decisions were received as the infallible oracles
of truth.. Nor was the plenitude of their power confined solely to what
was spiritual; they dethroned monarchs; disposed of crowns; absolved
ubjects from the obedience-due to their sovereigns; and laid kingdoms




on                     A  VIEW  OF  THE                  [SECT. Ill.
under interdicts. There was not a state in Europe which had not been
disquieted by their ambition. There was not a throne which they had not
shaken; nor a prince who did not tremble at their power.
Nothing was wanting to render this empire absolute, and to establish it
on the ruins of all civil authority, but that the popes should have possessed
such a degree of temporal power, as was sufficient to second and enforce
their spiritual decrees. Happily for mankind, at the time when their spiritual jurisdiction was most extensive, and most revered, their secular dominion was extremely limited. They were powerful pontiffs, formidable at
a distance; but they were petty princes, without any considerable domestic force. They had early endeavoured, indeed, to acquire territory by
arts similar to those which they had employed in extending their spiritual
jurisdiction. Under pretence of a donation from Constantine, and of another from Charlemagne or his father Pepin, they attempted to take possession of some towns adjacent to Rome. But these donations were fictitious, and availed them little. The benefactions, for which they were
indebted to the credulity of the Norman adventurers, who conquered
Naples, and to the superstition of the Countess Matilda, were real, and
added ample domains to the Holy See.
But the power of the popes did not increase in proportion to the extent
of territory which they had acquired. In the dominions annexed to the
Holy See, as well as in those subject to other princes in Italy, the sovereign of a state was far from having the command of the force which it
contained.  During the turbulence and confusion of the middle ages, the
powerful nobility, or leaders of popular factions in Italy, had seized the
government of different towns; and, after strengthening their fortifications,
and taking a body of mercenaries into pay, they aspired at independence.
The territory which the church had gained was filled with petty lords of
this kind, who left the pope hardly the shadow of domestic authority.
As these usurpations almost annihilated the papal power in the greater
part of the towns subject to the church, the Roman barons frequently disputed the authority of the popes, even in Rome itself. In the twelfth
century, an opinion began to be propagated, " That as the function ot
ecclesiastics was purely spiritual, they ought. to possess no property, and
to claim no temporal jurisdiction; but, according to the laudable example
of their predecessors in the primitive church, should subsist wholly upon
their tithes, or upon the voluntary oblations of the people."    This
doctrine being addressed to men, who had beheld the scandalous manner in which the avarice and ambition of the clergy had prompted
them to contend for wealth, and to exercise power, they listened to it
with fond attention. The Roman barons, who had felt most sensibly the
rigour of ecclesiastical oppression, adopted these sentiments with such
ardour, that they set themselves instantly to shake off the yoke. They
endeavoured to restore some image of their ancient liberty, by reviving
the institution of the Roman senate [A. D. 1143], in which they vested
supreme authority; committing the executive power sometimes to one
chief senator, sometimes to two, and sometimes to a magistrate dignified
with the name of The Patrician. The popes exerted themselves with
vigour, in order to check this dangerous encroachment on their jurisdiction.
One of them, finding all his endeavours ineffectual, was so much mortified,
that extreme grief cut short his days. Another, having ventured to attack
the senators at the head of some armed men, was mortally wounded in the
fray.t  During a considerable period, the power of the popes, before
which the greatest monarchs in Europe trembled, was circumscribed within
such narrow limits in their own capital, that they durst hardly exert any
act of authority, without the permission and concurrence of the senate.
Otto Frisingensis de Gestis, Frider. Imp. lib. ii. cap, 10.  t Otto Frising, Chron. lib. vii. cap.
27. 31.  Id. de Gust. Frid. lib. i. c. 27.  Muratori Annali d'ltalia, vol. ix. 398. 404.




STATE OF EUROPE.                                61
Encroachments were made upon the papal sovereignty, not only by the
usurpafions of the Roman nobility, but by the mutinous spirit of the people.
During seventy years of the fourteenth century, the popes fixed their residence at Avignon. The inhabitants of Rome, accustomed to consider
themselves as the descendants of the people who had conquered the world,
and had given laws to it, were too high-spirited to submit with patience
to the delegated authority of those persons to whom the popes committed
the government of the city. On many occasions, they opposed the execution of the papal mandates, and on the slightest appearance of innovation
or oppression, they were ready to take arms in defence of their own immunities.  Towards the mi'ddle of the fourteenth century, being instigated
by Nicolas Rienzo, a man of low birth and. a seditious spirit, but of popu.
lar eloquence, and an enterprising ambition, they drove all the nobility out
of the city, established a democratical form of government, elected Rienzo
tribune of the people, and invested him with extensive authority. But
though the frantic proceedings of the tribune soon overturned this new
system; though the government of Rome was reinstated in its ancient
forn; yet every fresh attack contributed to weaken the papal jurisdiction:
and the turbulence of the people concurred with the spirit of independence
among the nobility, in circumscribing it more and more.*  Gregory VII.
and other domineering pontiffs, accomplished those great things which
rendered them so formidable to the emperors with whom they contended,
not by the force of their arms, or by the extent of their power, but by the
dread of their spiritual censures, and by the effect of their intrigues, which
excited rivals, and called forth enemies against every prince whom they
wished to depress or to destroy.
Mlany attempts were made by the popes, not only to humble those
usurpers, who lorded it over the cities in the ecclesiastical state, but to
break the turbulent spirit of the Roman people.  These were long unsuc
cessful.  But at last Alexander VI., with a policy no less artful than flagi
tious, subdued and extirpated most of the great Roman barons, and ren
dered the popes masters of their own dominions. The enterprising ambi
tion of Julius II. added conquests of no inconsiderable value to the patri
mony of St. Peter. Thus the popes, by degrees, became powerful tern
poral princes. Their territories, in the age of Charles V., were of greater
extent than at present; their country seems to have been better cultivated
as well as more populous; and as they drew large contributions from every
part of Europe, their revenues far exceeded those of the neighbouring
powers, and rendered them capable of more sudden and vigorous efforts.
The genius of the papal government, however, was better adapted to
the exercise of spiritual dominion, than of temporal power. With respect
to the former, all its maxims were steady and invariable. Every new
pontiff adopted the plan of his predecessor.  By education and habit,
ecclesiastics were so formed, that the character of the individual was sunk
in that of the profession; and the passions of the man were sacrificed to
the interest and honour of the order. The hands which held the reins of
administration might change; but the spirit which conducted them was
always the same. While the measures of other governments fluctuated,
and the objects at which they aimed varied, the church kept one end in
view; and to this unrelaxing constancy of pursuit, it was indebted for its
success in the boldest attempts ever made by human ambition.
But in their civil administration, the popes followed no such uniform or
consistent plan. There, as in other governments, the character, the passions,
and the interest of the person who had the supreme direction of affairs,
occasioned a variation both inobjects and measures. As few prelates reached
* Histoire Florentine de Giov. Villarii, lib. xii. c. 89.104. ap. Murat. Script. Rerum Ital. vol.
xiii. Vita de Cola di Rienzo, ap. Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. iii. p. 399, &c. Hist. de Nic. Rienzy
par M. de Boispreaux, p. 91, &c




62                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                   ISECT. 11
the summft of ecclesiastical dignity until they were far advanced in life, a
change of masters was more frequent in the papal dominions than in other
states, and the political system was, of course, less stable and permanent.
Every pope was eager to make the most of the short period, during which
he had the prospect of enjoying power, in order to aggrandize his own
family, and to attain his private ends; and it was often the first business of
his successor to undo all that he had done, and to overturn what he had
established.
As ecclesiastics were trained to pacific arts, and early initiated in the
mysteries of that policy by which the court of Rome extended or supported its spiritual dominion, the popes in the conduct of their temporal
affairs were apt to follow the same maxims, and in all their measures were
more ready to employ the refinements of intrigue, than the force of arms.
It was in the papal court that address and subtlety in negotiation became
a science; and during the sixteenth century, Rome was considered as the
school in which it might be best acquired.
As the decorum of their ecclesiastical character prevented the popes
from placing themselves at the head of their armies, or from taking the
command in person of the military force in their dominions, they were
afraid to arm their subjects; and in all their operations, whether offensive
or defensive, they trusted entirely to mercenary troops.
As their power and dominions could not descend to their posterity, the
popes were less solicitous than other princes to form or to encourage schemes
of public utility and improvement.  Their tenure was only tor a short
life; present advantage was what they chiefly studied; to squeeze and to
amass, rather than to meliorate, was their object.  They erected, perhaps,
some work of ostentation, to remain as a monument of their pontificate,
they found it necessary at some times, to establish useful institutions, in
order to soothe and silence the turbulent populace of Rome; but plans of
general benefit to their subjects, framed with a view to futurity, were rarely
objects of attention in the papal policy. The patrimony of St. Peter was
worse governed than any part of Europe; and though a generous pontiff
might suspend for a little, or counteract the effects of those vices which
are peculiar to the administration of ecclesiastics; the disease not only
remained without remedy, but has gone on increasing from age to age;
and the decline of the state has kept pace with its progress.
One circumstance, farther, concerning the papal government, is so singular, as to merit attention. As the spiritual supremacy and temporal
power were united in one person, and uniformly aided each other in their
operations, they became so blended together, that it was difficult to
separate them, even in imagination. The potentates, who found it necessary to oppose the measures which the popes pursued as temporal princes,
could not easily divest themselves of the reverence which they imagined
to be due to them as heads of the church, and vicars of Jesus Christ. It
was with reluctance that they could be brought to a rupture with the head
of the church; they were unwilling to push their operations against him
to extremity; they listened eagerly to the first overtures of accommodation,
and were anxious to procure it almost upon any terms. Their consciousness of this encouraged the enterprising pontiffs who filled the papal throne
about the beginning of the sixteenth century, to engage in schemes
seemingly the most extravagant.  They trusted, that if their temporal
power was not sufficient to carry them through with success, the respect
paid to their spiritual dignity would enable them to extricate themselves
With facility and with ho;iour.*  But when popes came to take part more
* The manner in which Louis XII. of France undertook and carried on war against Julius IT.
remarkably illustrates this observation. Louis solemnly consulted the clergy of France, whether it
was lawful to take arms against a pope who had wantonly kindled war in Europe, ard whom n ei
ther the faith of treaties, nor gratitude for favours received, nor the decorum of his character. could




STATE OF EUROPE.                                    63
frequently in the contests among princes, and to engage as principals or
auxiliaries in every war kindled in Europe, this veneration for their sacred
character began to abate; and striking instances will occur in the following
history of its being almost totally extinct.
Of all the Italian powers, the republic of Venice, next to the papal see,
was most connected with the rest of Europe.  The rise of that commonwealth, during the inroads of the Huns in the fifth century; the
singular situation of its capital in the small isles of the Adriatic gulf; and
the more singular form of its civil constitution, are generally known. It
we view  the Venetian government as calculated for the order of nobles
alone, its institutions may be pronounced excellent; the deliberative, legislative, and executive powers, are so admirably distributed and adjusted,
that it must be regarded as a perfect model of political wisdom. But if
we consider it as formed for a numerous body of people subject to its
jurisdiction, it will appear a rigid and partial aristocracy, which lodges
a'l power in the hands of a few  members of the community, while it
degrades and oppresses the rest.
The spirit of government in a commonwealth of this species, was, of
course, timid and jealous. The Venetian nobles distrusted their own subjects, and were afraid of allowing them the use of arms. They encouraged
among them the arts of industry and commerce; they employed them in
manufactures and in navigation, but never admitted them into the troops,
which the state kept in its pay. The military force of the republic consisted entirely of foreign mercenaries. The command of these was nevei
trusted to noble Venetians, lest they should acquire such influence over
the army, as might endanger the public liberty; or become accustomed to
the exercise of such power, as would make them unwilling to return to the
condition of private citizens. A soldier of fortune was placed at the head
of the armies of the commonwealth; and to obtain that honour, was the
great object of the Italian Condottieri, or leaders of bands, who in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, made a trade of war, and raised and hired
out soldiers to different states.  But the same suspicious policy, which
induced the Venetians to enploy these adventurers, prevented their placing
entire confidence in them.  Two noblemen, appointed by the senate, ac
companied their army, when it took the field, with the appellation of Pro.
veditori, and, like the field-deputies of the Dutch republic in latter times,
observed all the motions of the general, and checked and controlled him
in all his operations.
A  commonwealth with such civil and  military institutions, was not
formed to make conquests.  While its subjects were disarmed, and its
nobles excluded from military command, it carried on its warlike enterprises with great disadvantage. This ought to have taught the Venetians
to rest satisfied with making self-preservation and the enjoyment of domestic security, the objects of their policy. But republics are apt to be
seduced by the spirit of ambition, as well as kings. When the Venetians
so far forgot the interior defects in their government as to aim at extensive
conquests, the fatal blow, which they received in the war excited by the
league of Cambray, convinced them  of the imprudence and danger of
making violent efforts, in opposition to the genius and tendency of their
constitution.
restrain from the most violent actions to which the lust of power prompts ambitious princes.
Though his clergy authorized the war, yet Anne of Bretagne, his queen, entertained scruples with
regard to the lawfulness of it. The king himself, from some superstition of the same kind, carried
it on faintly; and, upon every fresh advantage, renewed his propositions of peace. Mezeray, Hist.
de France, fol. edit. 1685, tom. i. 852. I shall produce another proof of this reverence for the papal
character still more striking. Guicciardini, the most sagacious, perhaps, of all modern historians,
and the boldest in painting the vices and ambition of the popes, represents the death of Migliau, a
Spanish officer, who was killed during the siege of Naples, as a punishment inflicted on him by
Heaven, on account of his having opposed the setting of Clement VII. at liberty. Guic. Hietorsi
d'Italia  Genev. 1645. vol. ii. lib. 18 p. 467.




64                     A VIEW  OF  THE                    [SECT. IlI.
It is not, however, by its military, but by its naval and commercial power
that the importance of the Venetian commonwealth must be estimated. The
latter constituted the real force and nerves of the state.  The jealousy of
government did not extend to this department. Nothing was apprehended
from this quarter, that could prove formidable to liberty.  The senate
encouraged the nobles to trade, and to serve on board the fleet.  They
became merchants and admirals. They increased the wealth of theil
country by their industry. They added to its dominions, by the valoul
with which they conducted its naval armaments.
Commerce was an inexhaustible source of opulence to the Venetians
All the nations in Europe depended upon them, not only for the commo
dities of the East, but for various manufactures fabricated by them alone
or finished with a dexterity and elegance unknown in other countries.
From  this extensive commerce, the state derived such immense supplies,
as concealed those vices in its constitution which I have mentioned; and
enabled it to keep on foot such armies, as were not only an overmatch for
the force which any of its neighbours could bring into the field, but were
sufficient to contend, for some time, with the powerful monarchs beyond
the Alps. During its struggles with the princes united against it by the
league of Cambray, the republic levied sums which, even in the present
age, would be deemed considerable; and while the king of France paid
the exorbitant interest which I have mentioned for the money advanced to
him, and the emperor, eager to borrow, but destitute of credit, was known
by the name of Alaximilian the Moneyless, the Venetians raised whatever
sums they pleased, at the moderate premium of five in the hundred.?
The constitution of Florence was perfectly the reverse of the Venetian
It partook as much of democratical turbulence and licentiousness, as the
other of aristocratical rigour. Florence,. however, was a commereial, not
a military democracy.  The nature of its institutions was favourable to
commerce, and the genius of the people was turned towards it. The vast
wealth which the family of Medici had acquired by trade, together with
the magnificence, the generosity, and the virtue of the first Cosino, gave
him such an ascendant over the affections as well as the councils of his
countrymen, that though the forms of popular government were preserved,
though the various departments of administration were filled by magistrates
distinguished by the ancient names, and elected in the usual manner, he
vas in reality the head of the commndnwealth; and in the station cf a
private citizen, he possessed supreme authority. Cosmo transmitted a
considerable degree of this power to his descendants; and during the
greater part of the fifteenth century, the political state of Florence was
extremely singular. The appearance of republican government subsisted,
the people were passionately attached to it, and on some occasions con.
tended warmly for their privileges, and yet they permitted a single family
to assume the direction of their affairs, almost as absolutely as if it had beer
formerly invested with sovereign power. The jealousy of the Medici
concurred with the commercial spirit of the Florentines, in putting the
military force of the republic upon the same footing with that of the other
Italian states.  The troops, which the Florentines employed in their wars,
consisted almost entirely of mercenary soldiers, furnished by the Condottier:
or leaders of bands, whom they took into their pay. 
In the kingdom  of Naples, to which the sovereignty of the island of
Sicily was annexed, the feudal government were established in the same
form, and with the same defects, as in the other nations of Europe.  The
frequent and violent revolutions which happened in that monarchy had
considerably increased these defects, and rendered them more intolerable.
* Hist. de'a Ligue fait a Cambray, par M. l'Abbe du Bos lib. v. Sandi Storia Civil Veleziana,
lib, Yii. c. 16. p. 891, &~




STATE OF EUROPE.                                6b
The succession to the crown of Naples had been so often interrupted or
altered, and so many princes of foreign blood had, at different periods,
obtained possession of the throne, that the Neapolitan nobility had lost, in
a great measure, that attachment to the family of their sovereigns, as well
as that reverence for their persons, which, in other feudal kingdoms, contributed to set some bounds to the encroachments of the barons upon the
royal prerogative and power. At the same time, the different pretenders
to the crown, being obliged to court the barons who adhered to them, and
on whose support they depended for the success of their claims, they
augmented their privileges by liberal concessions, and connived at their
boldest usurpations. Even when seated on the throne, it was dangerous
for a prince, who held his sceptre by a disputed title, to venture on any step
towards extending his own power, or circumscribing that of the nobles.
From all these causes, the kingdom of Naples was the most turbulent of
any in Europe, and the authorityof its monarchs the leastextensive. Though
Ferdinand I. who began his reign in the year 1468, attempted to break the
power of the aristocracy* though his son Alphonso, that he might crush it
at once by cutting-off the leaders of greatest reputation and influence among
the Neapolitan barons, ventured to commit one of the most perfidious and
cruel actions recorded in history [A. D. 1487]; the order of nobles was
nevertheless more exasperated than humbled by their measures.: The
resentment which these outrages excited was so violent, and the power of
the malecontent nobles was still so formidable, that to these may be
ascribed, in a great degree, the ease and rapidity with which Charles VIII.
conquered the kingdom of Naples.'
The event that gave rise to the violent contests concerning the succession
to the crown of Naples and Sicily,.which brought so many calamities upon
these. kingdoms, happened in the thirteenth century [A. D. 1254]. Upon
the death of the Emperor Frederick II. Manfred, his natural son, aspiring
to the Neapolitan throne, murdered his brother the emperor Conrad (if we
may believe contemporary historians,) and by that crime obtained possession of it.t The popes, from their implacable enmity to the house of
Suabia, not only refused to recognise Manfred's title, but endeavoured to
excite against him some rival capable of wresting the sceptre out of his
hand. Charles, count of Anjou, the brother of St. Louis king of France,
undertook this; and he received from the popes the investiture of the
kingdom of Naples and Sicily as a fief held of the holy see.  The count of
Anjou's efforts were crowned with success; Manfred tell in battle; and he
took possession of the vacant throne. But soon after, Charles sullied' the
glory which he had acquired, by the injustice and cruelty with which he
put to death, by the hands of the executioner, Conradin, the last prince of
the house of Suabia, and the rightful heir of the Neapolitan crown.  That
gallant young prince asserted his title, to the last, with a courage worthy
of a better fate. On the scaffold, he declared-Peter, at that time prince,
and soon after king of Aragon, who had married Manfred's only daughter,
his heir; and throwing his glove among the people, he entreated that it
might be carried to Peter, as the symbol by which he conveyed all his
rights to him.~ The desire of avenging the insult offered to royalty, by
the death cf Conradin, concurred with his own ambition, in prompting
Peter to take arms in support of the title which he had acquired. From
that period, during almost two centuries, the houses of Aragon and Anjou
contended for the crown of Naples. Amidst a succession of revolutions
more rapid, as well as of crimes more atrocious, than what occur in the
history of almost any other kingdom, monarchs, sometimes of the Aragonese line, and sometimes of the Angevin, were seated on the throne. At
* Giannone, book xxviii. chap. 2. vol. ii. p. 410, &c.  t Giannone, ib. p. 414.  T Struv. Corp.
Ilist. Germ. i. 481. Giannone, book xviii. chap. v   $ Ibid. book xix. chap. 4. $ 2.
VOL. II.-9




66                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                   [SECT III.
length the princes of the house of Aragon [A. D. 14341 obtained such firm
possession of this long disputed inheritance, that they transmitted it quietly
to a bastard branch of their family."
The race of the Angevin kings, however, was not extinct, nor had they
relinquished their title to the Neapolitan crown. The count of Maine and
Provence, the heir of this family, conveyed all his rights and pretensions to
Louis XI. and to his successors [A. D. 1494]. Charles VII.L, as I have
already related, crossed the Alps at the head of a powerful army, in order
to prosecute his claim with a degree of vigour far superior to that which
the princes from whom he derived it had been capable of exerting.  The
rapid progress of his arms in Italy, as well as the short time during which
he enjoyed the fruits of his success, have already been mentioned, and are
well known. Frederick, the heir of the illegitimate branch of the Aragonese family, soon recovered the throne of which Charles had dispossessed
him. Louis XII. and Ferdinand of Aragon united against this prince,
whom  both, though for different reasons, considered as a usurper, and
agreed to divide his dominions between tbem [A. D. 15011.  Frederick,
inable to resist the combined monarchs, each of whom was far his superior
in power, resigned his sceptre. Louis and Ferdinand, though they had
concurred in making the conquest, differed about the division of it; and
from allies became enemies. But Gonsalvo de Cordova, partly by the exertion of such military talents as gave him a just title to the appellation of
the Great Captain, which the Spanish historians have bestowed upon him
and partly by such shameless and frequent violations of the most solemn
engagements, as leave an indelible stain on his memory; stripped the
French of all that they possessed in the Neapolitan dominions, and secured
the peaceable possession of them to his.master. These, together with his
other kingdoms, Ferdinand transmitted to his grandson Charles V. whose
right to possess them, if not altogether uncontrovertible, seems, at least, to
be as well founded, as that which the kings of France set up in opposition
to it.t
There is nothing in the political constitution or interior government oi
the dutchy of Milan, so remarkable, as to. require a particular explanation.
But as the right of succession to that fertile province was the cause or the
pretext of almost all the wars carried on in Italy during the reign of Charles
V. it is necessary to trace these disputes to their source, and to inquire into
the pretensions of the various competitors.
During the long and fierce contests excited in Italy by the violence of
the Guelf and Ghibelline factions, the family of Visconti rose to great emi
nence among their fellow-citizens of Milan. As the Visconti had adhered
uniformly to the Ghibelline or Imperial interest, they, by way of recompense, received, from one emperor, the dignity of perpetual vicars of the
empire in Italyj [A. D. 1354]: they were created, by another, dukes of
Milan [A. D. 1395]; and, together with that title, the possession of the city
and its territories was bestowed upon them  as an hereditary fief.~  John,
king of France, among other expedients for raising money, which the
calamities of his reign obliged him to employ, condescended to give one
of his daughters in marriage to John Galeazzo Visconti, the first duke of
Milan, from whom he had received considerable sums. Valentine Visconti,
one of the children of this marriage, married her cousin, Louis, duke of
Orleans, the only brother of Charles VI. In their marriage-contract, which
the Pope confirmed, it was stipulated that, upon failure of heirs male in the
family of Visconti, the dutchy of Milan should descend to the posterity of
Valentine and the duke of Orleans. That event took place. In the year
* Giannone, book xxvi. ch. 2.   t Droits des Rois de France au Royaume de Sicile. Mem. de
Comin. Edit. de Fresnoy, tom. iv. part iv. p. 5.  + Petrarch, epist. ap. Struv. Corp. i. 625
Q Lebnit. Cod. Jur Gent. Diplom vol. i. 257




STATE OF EUROPE.                               67
1447, Philip Maria, the last prince of the ducal family of Visconti, died.
Various competitors claimed the succession. Charles, duke of Orleans,
pleaded his right to it, founded on the marriage contract of his mother
Valentine Visconti. Alfonso king of Naples claimed it in consequence of
a' will made by Philip Maria in his favour. The emperor contended that,
upon the extinction of male issue in the family of Visconti, the fief returned
to the superior lord, and ought to be re-annexed to the Empire.  The people of Milan, smitten with the love of liberty which in that age prevailed
among the Italian states, declared against the dominion of any master, and
established arepublican form of government.
But during the struggle among so many competitors, the prize for which
they contended was seized by one from whom none of them apprehended
any danger. Francis Sforza, the natural son of Jacomuzzo Sforza, whom
his courage and abilities had elevated from the rank of a peasant to be
one of the most eminent and powerful of the Italian Condottieri, having
succeeded his father in the command of the adventurers who followed his
standard, had married a natural daughter of'the last duke of Milan. Upon
this shadow of a title Francis founded his pretensions to the dutchy, which
he supported with such talents and valour, as placed him at last on the ducal
throne. The virtues, as well as abilities, with which he governed, inducing
his subjects to forget the defects in his title, he transmitted his dominions
quietly to his son; from whom they descended to his grandson. He was
murdered by his grand-uncle Ludovico, surnamed tbh  Moor, who took
possession of the dutchy; and his right to' it was confirmed by the investiture of the emperor Maximilian in the year 1494.*
Louis XI., who took pleasure in depressing the princes of the blood, and
who admired the political abilities of Francis Sforza, would not permit
the duke of Orleans to take any step in prosecution of his right to the
dutchy of Milan. Ludovico the Moor kept up such a close connection
with Charles VIII. that, during the greater part of his reign, the claim of
the family of Orleans continued to lie dormant. But when the crown of
France devolved on Louis XII. duke of Orleans, he instantly asserted the
rights of his family with the ardour which it was natural to expect, and
marched at the head of a powerful army to support them. Ludovico
Sforza, incapable of contending with such a rival, was stripped of all his
dominions in the space of a few days. The king, clad in the ducal robes,
entered Milan in triumph; and soon after, Ludovico, having been betrayed
by the Swiss in his pay, was sent a prisoner into France, and shut up in the
castle of Loches, where he lay unpitied during the remainder of his days.
In consequence of one of the singular revolutions which occur so frequently
in the history of the Milanese, his son Maximilian Sforza was placed on the
ducal throne, of which he kept possession during the reign of Louis XII.
[A. D. 1512.] But his successor Francis I. was too high-spirited and
enterprising tamely to relinquish his title. As soon as he was seated upon
the throne, he prepared to invade the Milanese; and his right of succession
to it appears, from this detail, to have been more natural and more just
than that of any other competitor.
It is unnecessary tc enter into any detail with respect to the form of
government in Genoa, Parma, Modena, and the other inferior states of
Italy.  Their names, indeed, will often occur in the following history.
But the power of these states themselves was so inconsiderable, that their
fate depended little upon their own efforts; and the frequent revolutions
which they underwent, were brought about rather by the operations of
the princes who attacked or defended them, than by any thing peculiar in
their internal constitution.!i pain. Hist, Mediol. lib. vi. 654. ap. Struv. Corp i 930. Du Mont Corps Diplom tom. iil. p
i. 233   ib.




68                    A  VIEW   OF  THE                 [SECT. Ill.
Of the great kingdoms on this side of the Alps, Spain is one of the
most considerable; and as it was the hereditary domain of Charles V. as
well as the chief source of his power and wealth, a distinct knowledge
of its political constitution is of capital importance towards understanding
the transactions of his reign.
The Vandals and Goths, who overturned the Roman power in Spain,
established a form of government in that country, and introduced customs
and laws, perfectly similar to those which were established in the rest of
Europe, by the other victorious tribes which acquired settlements there
For some time, society advanced, among the new inhabitants of Spain,
by the same steps, and seemed to hold the same course, as in other European nations. To this progress a sudden stop was put by the invasion ot
the Saracens or Moors from  Africa [A. D. 712.]  The Goths could not
withstand the efforts of their enthusiastic valour, which subdued the greatest
part of Spain, with the same impetuous rapidity that distinguishes all the
operations of their arms. The conquerors introduced into the country in
which they settled, the Mahometan religion, the Arabic language, the
manners of the East, together with that taste for the arts, and tha.tlove of
elegance and splendour, which the caliphs had begun to cultivate among
their subjects.
Such Gothic nobles as disdained to submit to the Moorish yoke, fled-for
-efuge to the inaccessible mountains of Asturias.  There they comforted
themselves with eijoying the exercise of tne Christian religion, and with
maintaining the authority of their ancient laws. Being joined by many
of the boldest and most warlike among their countrymen, they sallied out
upon the adjacent settlements of the Moors in small parties; but venturing
only upon short excursions at first, they were satisfied with plunder and
revenge, without thinking of conquest. By degrees, their strength increased, their views enlarged, a regular government was established
among them, and they began to aim at extending their territories. While
they pushed on their attacks with the unremitting ardour, excited by zeal
for religion, by the desire of vengeance, and by the hope of rescuing their
country from oppression; while they conducted their operations with the
courage natural to men who had no other occupation but war, and who were
strangers to all the arts which corrupt or enfeeble the mind; the Mocjrs
gradually lost many of the advantages to which they had been indebted
for their first success. They threw off all dependence on the caliphs;*
they neglected to preserve a close connection with their countrymen in
Africa; their empire in Spain was split into many small kingdoms; the
arts which they cultivated, together with the luxury to which these gave
rise, relaxed, in some measure, the force of their military institutions, and
abated the vigour of their warlike spirit. The Moors, however, continued
still to be a gallant people, and possessed great resources. According to
the magnificent style of the Spanish historians, eight centuries of almost
uninterrupted war elapsed, and three thousand seven hundred battles were
fought, before the last of the Moorish kingdoms in Spain submitted to the
Christian arms [1492].
As the Christians made their conquests upon the Mahometans at various
periods, and under different leaders, each formed the territory which he
had wrested from the common enemy, into an independent state. Spain
was divided into almost as many separate kingdoms as it contained provinces; in each city of note, a petty monarch established his throne, and
assumed all the ensigns of royalty. In a series of years, however, by the
usual events of intermarriages, or succession, or conquest, all these inierior
principalities were annexed to the more powerful kingdoms of Castile
and of Aragon.  At length, by the fortunate marriage of Ferdinand
* Jos. Sir. Assemanni Histor. Ital. Scriptores, vol iii. p. 135.




STATE OF EUROPE.                               69
and Isabella, the former the hereditary monarch of Aragon, and the latter
raised to the throne of Castile by the affection of her subjects [1481],
all the Spanish crowns were united, and descended in the same line.
From this period, the political constitution of Spain began to assume a
regular and uniform appearance; the genius of its government may be
delineated, and the progress of its laws and manners may be traced with
certainty. Notwithstanding the singular revolution which the invasion ot
the Moors occasioned in Spain, and the peculiarity of its fate, in being so
long subject to the Mahometan yoke, the customs introduced by the Vandals
and Goths had taken such deep root, and were so thoroughly incorporated
with the frame of its government, that in every province which the Christians recovered from the Moors, we find the condition: of individuals,, as
well as the political constitution, nearly the same as in other nations of
Europe. Lands were held by the same tenure; justice was dispensed
in the same form; the same privileges were claimed by the nobility;. and
the same power exercised by the Cortes, or general assembly of the kingdom. Several circumstances contributed to secure this permanence of
the feudal institutions in Spain, notwithstanding the conquest of the Moors,
which seemed to have overturned them. Such of the Spaniards, as preserved their independence, adhered to their ancient customs, not only
from attachment to them, but out of antipathy to the Moors, to whose ideas
concerning property and government these customs were totally repugnant. Even among the Christians, who submitted to the Moorish conquerors, and consented to become their subjects, ancient customs were not
entirely abolished. They were permitted to retain their religion, their
laws concerning private property, their forms of administering justice, and
their mode of levying taxes. The followers of Mahomet are the only
enthusiasts who have united the spirit of toleration with zeal for making
proselytes, and who, at the same time that they took arms to, propagate
the doctrine of their Prophet, permitted such as would not embrace it, to
adhere to their own tenets, and to practise their own rites. To this peculiarity in the genius of the Mahometn religion, as well as to the desire
which the Moors had of reconciling the Christians to their yoke, it was
owing that the ancient manners and laws in Spain survived the violent
shock of a conquest, and were permitted to subsist, notwithstanding the
introduction of a new religion and a new form of government into that
country. It is obvious, from all these particulars, that the Christians must
have found it extremely easy to re-establish manners and government on
their ancient foundations in those provinces of Spain which they wrested
successively from the Moors. A considerable part of the people retained
such a fondness for the customs, and such a reverence or the laws, of
their ancestors, that, wishing to see them completely restored, they were
not only willing but eager to resume the former, and to recognise the
authority of the latter.
But though the feudal form of government, with all the institutions
which characterize it, was thus preserved entire in Castile and Aragon,
as well as in all the kingdoms which depended on these crowns, there
were certain peculiarities in their political constitutions, which distinguish
them from those of any other country in Europe.  The royal prerogative,
extremely limited in every feudal kingdom, was circumscribed, in Spain,
within such narrow bounds, as reduced the power of the sovereign almost
to nothing. The privileges of the nobility were great in proportion, and
extended so far, as to border on absolute independence. The immunities
of the cities were likewise greater than in other feudal kingdoms, they
possessed considerable influence in the Cortes, and they aspired at obtaining more. Such a state of society, in which the political machine was so
ill adjusted, and the several members of the legislature so.improperly
balanced, produced internal disorders. in the kingdoms of Spain, which




70                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                  [SECT. III
rose beyond the pitch of turbulence and anarchy usual under the feudal
government. The whole tenor of the Spanish history confirms the truth
of this observation; and when the mutinous spirit, to which the genius of
their policy gave birth and vigour, was no longer restrained and overawed
by the immediate dread of the Moorish arms, it broke out into more
frequent insurrections against the government of their princes, as well as
more outrageous insults on their dignity, than occur in the annals of any
other country.  These were accompanied at some times with more liberal
sentiments concerning the rights of the people, at other times with more
elevated notions concerning the privileges of the nobles, than were ccmmon
in other nations.
In the principality of Catalonia, which was annexed to the kingdom of
Aragon, the impatience of the people to obtain the redress of their
grievances having prompted them to take arms against their sovereign,
John II. [A. D. 1462], they, by a solemn deed, recalled the oath of allegiance which they had sworn to him, declared him and his posterity to be
unworthy of the throne,? and endeavoured to establish a republican form
of government, in order to secure the perpetual enjoyment of that liberty,
arter which they aspired.t Nearly about the same period, the indignation
of the Castilian nobility against the weak and flagitious administration of
Henry IV. having led them  to combine against him, they arrogated, as
one of the privileges belonging to their order, the right of trying and of
passing sentence on their sovereign.  That the exercise of this power
might be as public and solemn, as the pretension to it was bold, they summoned all the nobility of their party to meet at Avila [A.D. 1465]; a
spacious theatre was erected in a plain, without the walls of the town; an
image, representing the king, was seated on a throne, clad in royal robes,
with a crown on its head, a sceptre in its hand, and the sword of justice
by its side. The accusation against the king was read, and the sentence
of deposition was pronounced, in presence of a numerous assembly. At
the close of the first article of the charge, the archbishop of Toledo
advanced, and tore the crown from lhe head of the image: at the close
of the second, the Conde de Placentia snatched the sword of justice lom
its side; at the close of the third, the Conde de Benevente wrested the
sceptre from  its hand; at the close of the last, Don Diego Lopes de
Stuniga tumbled it headlong from the throne. At the same instant, Dlon
Alphonso, Henry's brother, was proclaimed king of Castile and Leon in
his stead.
The most daring leaders of faction would not have ventured on these
measures, nor have conducted them with such public ceremony, if the
sentiments of the people concerning the royal dignity had not been so
formed by the laws and policy to which they were accustomed both in
Castile and Catalonia, as prepared them to approve of such extraordinary
proceedings, or to acquiesce in them.
In Aragon, the form of government was monarchical, but the genius and
maxims of it were purely republican. The kings who were long elective,
retained only the shadow of power; the real exercise of it was in the
Cortes or parliament of the kingdom. This supreme assembly was com
posed of tour different arms or members.  The nobility of the first rank;
The equestrian order, or nobility of the second class: The representatives
of the cities and towns whose right to a place in the Cortes, if we: may
give credit to the historians of Aragon, was coeval with the constitution;
The ecclesiastical order, composed of the dignitaries of the church,
together with the representatives of the inferior clergy.~ No law could
Zurita Annales de Arag. tom. iv. 113. 115, &c.  t Ferreras Hist. d Espagne, tom. vii p. 92.
P. Orleans Revol. d'Espagne, tom. iii. p. 155. L. Marineus Siculus de Reb. Hispan. apnd Schotti
Script. Hispan. fol. 429.. Marian. Hist. lib. xxiii. c. 9.   $ Forma de Celcbrar. Cortes in
Aragon. por Geron. Martel.




STATE OF EUROPE.                               71
pass in this assembly without the assent of every single member who had
a right to vote.?   Without the permission of the Cortes, no tax could be
imposed; no war could be declared; no peace could be concluded; no
money could be coined   nor could any alteration be made in the current
specie.t  The power of reviewing the proceedings of all inferior courts,
the privilege of inspecting every department of administration, and the right
of redressing all grievances, belonged to the Cortes.  Nor did those who
conceived themselves to be aggrieved, address the Cortes in the humble
tone of suppliants, and petition for redress; they demanded it as the
birthright of freemen, and required the guardians of their liberty to
decide with respect to the points which they laid before them.   tIhis
sovereign court was held, during several centuries, every year; but, in
consequence of a regulation introduced about the beginning of the fourteenth century, it was convoked from that period only once in two years.
After it was assembled, the king had no right to prorogue or dissolve it
without its own consent; and the session continued forty days.~
Not satisfied with having erected such formidable barriers against the
encroachments of the royal prerogative, nor willing to commit the sole
guardianship of their liberties entirely to the vigilance and authority of
an assembly, similar to the diets, states-general, and parliaments, in which
the other feudal nations have placed so much confidence, the Aragonese
had recourse to an institution peculiar to themselves, and elected a Justiza
or supreme judge. This magistrate, whose office bore some resemblance
to that of the Ephori in ancient Sparta, acted as the protector of the people,
and the comptroller of the prince. The person of the justiza.was sacred,
his power and jurisdiction almost unbounded. He was the supreme
interpreter of the laws. Not only inferior judges, but the kings themselves, were bound to consult him  in every doubtful case, and to receive
his responses with implicit deference.l1 An appeal lay to him from  the
royal judges, as well as from  those appointed by the barons within
their respective territories. Even when no appeal was made to him,
he could interpose by his own authority, prohibit the ordinary judge
to proceed, take immediate cognizance of the court himself, and remove
the party accused to the JManifestation, or prison of the state, to which
no person had access but by his permission.  His power was exerted
with no less vigour and effect in superintending the administration of
government, than in regulating the courts of justice. It was the prerogative of the justiza, to inspect the conduct of the king. He had a title
to review all the royal proclamations and patents, and to declare whether
or not they were agreeable to law, and ought to be carried into execution.
He, by his sole authority, could exclude any of the king's ministers from
the conduct of affairs, and call them to answer for their maladministration.  He himself was accountable to the Cortes only, for the manner
in which he discharged the duties of this high office; and performed
functions of the greatest importance that could be committed to a sub
iect [31].~
It is evident, from a bare enumeration of the privileges of the Aragonese
Cortes, as well as of the rights belonging to the justiza, that a very small
portion of power remained in the hands of the king. The Aragonese
seem to have been solicitous that their monarchs should know and feel
this state of impotence, to which they were reduced.  Even in swearing
allegiance to their sovereign, an act which ought naturally to be accomn
panied with professions of submission and respect, they devised an oath,
in such a form, as to remind him  of his dependence on his subjects.
" We," said the justiza to the king, in name of his high-spirited barons,
* Martel. ibid, p. 2.        Hier. Blanca Comment. Rer. Aragon. ap. Schot. Script. Hispan. vol.
iii. p. 750.   + Martel. Forma de Celebr. p. 2.   d Hier. Blanca Comment. 763.  11 Blanca'
has preserved two responses of the justiza to James II. who reigned towards the close of the thirteenth
century Pianca, 748.  IT Hier. Blanca Comment. P. 747-755.




72                    A  VIEW   OF  THE                 ISECT. IJI.
6 who are each of us as good, andwho are altogether more powerful than
you, promise obedience to your government, if you maintain our rights
and liberties; but if not, not."  Conformably to this oath, they established
it as a fundamental article in their constitution, that if the king should
violate their rights and privileges, it was lawful for the people to disclaim
him as their sovereign, and to elect another, even though a heathen, in his
place.t  The attachment of the Aragonese to this singular constitution
of government was extreme, and their respect for it approached to superstitious veneration [32].  In the preamble to one of their laws, they
declare, that such was the barrenness of their country, and the poverty of
the inhabitants, that if it were not on account of the liberties by which
they were distinguished from other nations, the people would abandon it,
and go in quest of a settlement to some more fruitful region.t 
In Castile there were not such peculiarities in the form of government,
as to establish any remarkable distinction between it and that of the other
European nations. The executive part of government was committed to
the king, but with a prerogative extremely limited.  The legislative
authority resided in the Cortes, which was composed of the nobility, the
dignified ecclesiastics, and the representatives of the cities. The assembly
of the Cortes in Castile was very ancient, and seems to have been almost
coeval with the constitution. The members of the three different orders,
who had a right of suffrage, met in one place, and deliberated as one
collective body; the decisions of which were regulated by the sentiments
of the majority. The right of imposing taxes, of enacting lawn, and of
redressing grievances, belonged to this assembly; and, in order to secure
the assent of the king to such statutes and regulations as were deemed
salutary or beneficial to the kingdom, it was usual in the Cortes to take no
step towards granting money, until all business relative to the public welfare
was concluded. The representatives of cities seem to have obtained a
seat -,ery early in the Cortes of Castile, and soon acquired such influence
and credit, as were very uncommon, at a period when the splendour and
pre-eminence of the nobility had eclipsed or depressed all other orders of
men. The number of members from cities bore such a proportion to that
of the whole collective body, as rendered them extremely respectable in
the Cortes [33]. The degree of consideration, which they possessed in
the state, may be estimated by one event. Upon the death of John 1.
[A. D. 1390] a council of regency was appointed to govern the kingdom
during the minority of his son. It was composed of an equal number of
noblemen, and of deputies chosen by the cities; the latter were admitted
to the same rank, and invested with the same powers as prelates and
grandees of the first order.T But though the members of communities in
Castile were elevated above the condition wherein they were placed in
other kingdoms of Europe; though they had attained to such political
importance, that even the proud and jealous spirit of the feudal aristocracy
could not exclude them from a considerable share in government; yet the
nobles, notwithstanding these acquisitions of the commons, continued to
assert the privileges of their order, in opposition to the crown, in a tone
extremely high. There was not any body of nobility in Europe more
distinguished for independence of spirit, haughtiness of deportment, and
bold pretensions, than that of Castile. The history of. that monarchy
affords the most striking examples of the vigilance with which they
observed, and of the vigour with which they opposed, every measure of
their kings, that tended to encroach on their jurisdiction, to diminish their
dignity, or to abridge their power. Even in their ordinary intercourse
with their monarchs, they preserved such a consciousness of their rank,
hat the nobles of the first order claimed it as a privilege to be covered in
* Hier. Blanca Comment. p. 720    t Ibid p. 751    MIarian. list. lib. xviii c. 15.




SrATE OF EUROPE.                              73
the royal presence, and approached their sovereigns rather as equals than
as subjects.
The constitutions of the subordinate monarchies, which depended on
the crowns of Castile and Aragon, nearly resembled those of the kingdoms to which they were annexed.  In all of them, the dignity and independence of the nobles were great; the immunities and power of the
cities were considerable.
An attentive observation of the singular situation of Spain, as well as the
various events which occurred there, from the invasion of the Moors to
the union of its kingdoms under Ferdinand and Isabella, will discover the
causes to which all the peculiarities in its political constitution I have
pointed out, ought to be ascribed.
As the provinces of Spain were wrested from the Mahometans gradually
and with difficulty, the nobles who followed the standard of any eminent
leader in these wars, conquered not for him alone, but for themselves.
They claimed a share in the lands which their valour had won from the
enemy, and, their prosperity and power increased, in proportion as the territory of the prince extended.
During their perpetual wars with the Moors, the monarchs of the several kingdoms in Spain depended so much on their nobles, that it became
necessary to conciliate their good-will by successive grants of new honours
and privileges. By the time that any prince could establish his dominion
in a conquered province, the greater part of the territory was parcelled
out by him  among his barons, with such jurisdiction and immunities as
raised them almost to sovereign power.
At the same time, the kingdoms erected in so many different corners
of Spain, were of inconsiderable extent. The petty monarch was but
little elevated above his nobles. They, feeling themselves to be almost
his equals, acted as such; and could not look up to the kings of such limited
domains with the same reverence that the sovereigns of the great monarchies in Europe were viewed by their subjects [34].
While these circumstances concurred in exalting the nobility, and in
depressing the royal authority, there were other causes which raised the
cities in Spain to consideration and power.
As the open country, during the wars with the Moors, was perpetually
exposed to the incursions of the enemy, with whom no peace or truce
was so permanent as to prove any lasting security, self-preservation
obliged persons of all ranks to fix their residence in places of strength.
The castles of the barons, which, in other countries, afforded a commodious retreat from the depredations of banditti, or from the transient violence of any interior commotion, were unable to resist an enemy whose
operations were conducted with regular and persevering vigour. Cities,
in which great numbers united for their mutual defence, were the only
places in which people could reside with any prospect of safety. To
this was owing the rapid growth of those cities in Spain of which the
Christians recovered possession. All who fled from the Moorish yoke
resorted to them as to an asylum; and in them, the greater part of those
who took the field against the Mahometans established their families.
Several of these cities, during a longer or shorter course of years, were
the capitals of little states, and enjoyed all the advantages which accelerate the increase of inhabitants in every place that is the seat of government. 
Froml those concurring causes, the number of cities in Spain, at the
beginning of the fifteenth century, had become considerable, and they
were peopled far beyond the proportion which was common in other
parts of Europe, except in Italy and the Low Countries. The Moors had
introduced manufactures into those cities, while under their dominion.
The Christians, who, by intermixture with them, had learned their arts
VOL 11 -10




74                   A  VIEW   OF  THE                  [SECT. III.
continued to cultivate these. Trade in several of the Spanish towns
appears to have been carried on with vigour; and the spirit of commerce
continued to preserve the number of their inhabitants, as the sense ot
danger had first induced them to crowd together.
As the Spanish cities were populous, many of the inhabitants were of
a rank superior to those who resided in towns in other countries of Eu
rope. That cause, which contributed chiefly to their population, affected
equally persons of every condition, who flocked thither promiscuously,
in order to find shelter there, or in hopes of making a stand against the
enemy, with greater advantage than in any other station. The persons
elected as their representatives in the Cortes by the cities, or promoted
to offices of trust and dignity in the government of the community, were
often, as will appear from transactions which I shall hereafter relate, of
such considerable rank, in the kingdom, as reflected lustre on their constituents, and on the stations wherein they were placed.
As it was impossible to carry on a continual war against the Moors,
without some other military force than that which the barons were obliged
to bring into the field, in consequence of the feudal tenures, it became
necessary to have some troops, particularly a body of light cavalry, in
constant pay. It was one of the privileges of the nobles, that their lands
were exempt from the burden of taxes. The charge of supporting the
troops requisite for the public safety, fell wholly upon the cities; and
their kings, being obliged frequently to apply to them for aid, found it
necessary to gain their favour by concessions, which not only extended
their immunities, but added to their wealth and power.
When the influence of all these circumstances, peculiar to Spain, is
added to the general and common causes, which contributed to aggran
dize cities in other countries of Europe, this will fully account lor the
extensive privileges which they acquired, as well as for the extraordinary
consideration to which they attained, in all the Spanish kingdoms [35].
By these exorbitant privileges of the nobility, and this unusual power
of the cities in Spain, the royal prerogative was hemmed in on every
side, and reduced within very narrow bounds. Sensible of this, and impatient of such restraint, several monarchs endeavoured at various junctures and by different means, to enlarge their own jurisdiction. Their
power, however, or their abilities, were so unequal to the undertaking,
that'their efforts were attended with little success. But when Ferdinand
and Isabella found themselves at the head of the united kingdoms of
Spain, and delivered from the danger and interruption of domestic wars,
they were not only in a condition to resume, but were now able to prosecute with advantage, the schemes of extending the prerogative, which
their ancestors had attempted in vain. Ferdinand's profound sagacity in
concerting his measures, his persevering industry in conducting them, and
his uncommon address in carrying them into execution, fitted him admirably for an undertaking which required all these talents.
As the overgrown power and high pretensions of the nobility were
what the monarchs of Spain felt most sensibly, and bore with the greatest impatience, the great object of Ferdinand's policy was to reduce
these within more moderate bounds. Under various pretexts, sometimes
by violence, more frequently in consequence of decrees obtained in the
courts of law, he wrested from the barons a great part of the lands which
had been granted to them by the inconsiderate bounty of former monarchs,
particularly during the feeble and profuse reign of his predecessor Henry
IV. He did not give the entire conduct of affairs to persons of noble
birth, who were accustomed to occupy every department of importance
in peace or in war, as if it had been a privilege peculiar to their order,
to be employed as the sole counsellors and ministers of the crown. lie
often transacted business of great consequence without their intervention,




STATE OF EUROPE.                              75
and bestowed many offices of power and trust on new men, devoted to
his interest.* He introduced a degree of state and dignity into his court.
which being little known in Spain, while it remained split into many
small kingdoms, taught the nobles to approach their sovereign with mtre
ceremony, and gradually rendered him the object of greater deference
and respect.
The annexing the masterships of the three military orders of St. Jago,
Calatrava, and Alcantara, to the crown, was another expedient, by which
Ferdinand greatly augmented the revenue and power of the kings of
Spain. These orders were instituted in imitation of those of the Knights
Templars and of St. John of Jerusalem, on purpose to wage perpetual
war with the Mahometans, and to protect the pilgrims who visited
Compostella, or other places of eminent sanctity in Spain. The zeal and
superstition of the ages in which they were founded, prompted persons of
every rank to bestow such liberal donations on those holy warriors, that,
in a short time, they engrossed a considerable share in the property and
wealth of the kingdom. The masterships of these orders came to be
stations of the greatest power and opulence to which a Spanish nobleman
could be advanced. These high dignities were in the disposal of the
knights of the order, and placed the persons on whom  they conferred
them almost on a level with their sovereign [361. Ferdinand, unwilling
that the nobility, whom he considered as already too formidable, should
derive such additional credit and influence from possessing the government
of these wealthy fraternities, was solicitous to wrest it out of their hands,
and to vest it in the crown. His measures for accomplishing this were
wisely planned, and executed with vigourt [A. D. 1476 and 1493]. By
addresses, by promises, and by threats, he prevailed on the knights of
each order to place Isabella and him at the head of it. Innocent VIII.
and Alexander VI. gave this election the sanction of papal authority;
and subsequent pontiffs rendered the annexation of these masterships to
the crown perpetual.
While Ferdinand, by this measure, diminished the power and influence
of the nobility, and added new lustre or authority to the crown, he was
taking other important steps with a view to the same object. The sovereign jurisdiction, which the feudal barons exercised within their own
territories, was the pride and distinction of their order. To have invaded
openly a privilege which they prized so highly, and in defence of which
they would have run so eagerly to arms, was a measure too daring for a
prince of Ferdinand's cautious temper. He took advantage, however,
of an opportunity which the state of his kingdoms and the spirit of his
people presented him, in order to undermine what he durst not assault.
The incessant depredations of the Moors, te want of discipline among
the troops which were employed to oppose them, the frequent civil wars
between the crown and the nobility, as-well as the undiscerning rage with
which the barons carried on their, private wars with each other, filled
all the provinces of Spain with disorder. Rapine, outrage, and murder,
became so common as not only to interrupt commerce, but in a great
measure to suspend all intercourse between one place and another. That
security and protection, which men expect from entering into civil society,
ceased in a great degree. Internal order and police, while the feudal
institutions remained in vigour, were so little objects of attention, and the
administration of justice was so extremely feeble, that it would have been
vain to have expected relief from the established laws or the ordinary
judges. But the evil became so intolerable, and the inhabitants of cities,
who were the chief sufferers, grew so impatient of this anarchy, that
* Zurita Annaics de Ai ag. tonI. vi. p. 22. t Marian. Hist. lih. xxv. c. 5. t Zurita Annales.
tom. v. p. 22. 2I ii Anton. Nebrissensis rerum a Ferdinand et Elizabe gestarum decades ii. apu4
8chot. script. Hispan. i. 81i;)




76                    A  VIEW  OCF THE                [SECT. III.
self-preservation forced them to have recourse to an extraordinary remedy.
About the middle of the thirteenth century, the cities in the kingdom of
Aragon, and after their example, those in Castile, formed themselves into
an association distinguished by the name of the Holy Brotherhood. They
exacted a certain contribution from each of the associated towns: they
levied a considerable body of troops, in order to protect travellers, and
to pursue criminals: they appointed judges, who opened their courts in
various parts of the kingdom. Whoever was guilty of murder, robbery,
or of any act that violated the public peace, and was seized by the troops
of the Brotherhood, was. carried before judges of their nomination, who,
without paying any regard to the exclusive and sovereign jurisdiction,
which'he lord of the place might claim, tried and condemned the criminals. By the establishment of this fraternity, the prompt and impartial
administration of justice was restored; and, together with it, internal
tranquillity and order began to return. The nobles alone murmured at
this salutary institution. They complained of it, as an encroachment on
one of their most valuable privileges.  They remonstrated against it in a
high tone; and, on some occasions, refused to grant any aid to the crown,
unless it were abolished.  Ferdinand, however, was sensible notonly
of the good effects of the Holy Brotherhood with respect to the police of
his kingdoms, but perceived its tendency to abridge, and at length to annihilate, the territorial jurisdiction of the nobility. He countenanced it
on every occasion. He supported it with the whole force of royal authority; and besides the expedients employed by him in common with
the other monarchs of Europe, he availed himself of this institution, which
was peculiar to his kingdom, in order to limit and abolish that independent
jurisdiction of the nobility, which was no less inconsistent with the
authority of the prince, than with the order of society [37].
But though Ferdinand by these measures considerably enlarged the
boundaries of prerogative, and acquired a degree of influence and power
far beyond what any of his predecessors had enjoyed, yet the limitations
of the royal authority, as well as the barriers against its encroachments,
continued to be many and strong. The spirit of liberty was vigorous
among the people of Sphin; the spirit of independence was high among
the nobility; and though the love of glory, peculiar to the Spaniards in
every period of their history, prompted them to support Ferdinand with
zeal in his foreign operations, and to afford him such aid as enabled him
not only to undertake but to execute great enterprises; he reigned over
his subjects with a jurisdiction less extensive than that of any-of the great
monarchs in Europe. It will appear from many passages in the following
history, that during a considerable part of the reign of his successor Charles
V. the prerogative of the Spanish crown was equally circumscribed.
The ancient government and laws in France so nearly resembled those
of the other feudal kingdoms, that such a detail with respect to them as
was necessary, in order to convey some idea of the nature and effects ot
the Peculiar institutions which took place in Spain, would be superfluous.
In t! e view which I have exhibited of the means by which the French
monarchs acquired such a full command of the national force of their
Irigdom, as enabled them to engage in extensive schemes of foreign ope
cation, I have already pointed out the great steps by which they advanced
towards a more ample possession of political power, and a more uncon
trolled exercise of their royal prerogative. All that now remains is to
take notice of such particulars in the constitution of France, as serve either
to distinguish it from that of other countries, or tend to throw any light on
the transactions of that period, to which the following history extends.
Under the French monarchs of the first race, the royal prerogative was
very inconsiderable. The general assemblies of the nation, which met
annually at stated seasons, extended their authority to every department




STATE  OF  EUROPE.                           77
of government. The power of electing kings, of enacting laws, of redressing grievances,'of conferring donations on the prince, of passing
judgment in the last resort, with respect to every person and to every
cause, resided in this great convention of the nation. Under the second
race of kings, notwithstanding the power and splendour which the conquests of Charlemagne added to the crown, the general assemblies of the
nation continued to possess extensive authority. The right of determining
which of the royal family should be placed on the throne, was vested in
them. The princes, elevated to that dignity by their suffrage, were accustomed regularly to call and to consult them with respect to every affair
of importance to the state, and without their consent no law was passed,
and no new tax was levied.
But, by the time that Hugh Capet, the father of the third race of kings,
took possession of the throne of France, such changes had happered in
the political state of the kingdom, as considerably affected the power and
jurisdiction of the general assembly of the nation. The royal authority,
in the hands of the degenerate posterity of Charlemagne, had dwindled
into insignificance and contempt. Every considerable proprietor of land
had formed his territory into a barony, almost independent of the
sovereign. The dukes or governors of provinces, the counts or governors
of towns and small districts, and the great officers of the crown, had rendered these dignities, which originally were granted only during pleasure
or for life, hereditary in their families. Each of these had usurped all
the rights which hitherto had been deemed the distinctions of royalty,
particularly the privileges of dispensing justice within their own domains,
of coining money, and of waging war. Every district was governed by
local customs, acknowledged a distinct lord, and pursued a separate interest. The formality of doing homage to ther sovereign, was almost the
only act of subjection which those haughty oarons would perform, and
that bound them no farther than they were willing to acknowledge its,obligations [38].
In a kingdom broken into so many independent baronies, hardly any
common principle of union remained; and the general assembly, in its
deliberations, could scarcely consider the nation as forming one body, or
establish common regulations to be of equal force in every part. Within
the immediate domains of the crown, the king might publish laws, and
they were obeyed, because there he was acknowledged as the only lord.
But if he had aimed at rendering these laws general, that would have
alarmed the barons as an encroachment upon the independence of their
jurisdiction.,The barons, when met in the great national convention,
avoided, with no less care, the enacting of general laws to be observed in
every part of the kingdom, because the execution of them must have
been vested in the king, and would have enlarged that paramount power,
which was the object of their jealousy. Thus, under the descendants of
Hugh Capet, the States General (for that was the name by which the
supreme assembly of the French nation came then to be distinguished)
lost their legislative authority, or at least entirely relinquished the exercise
of it. From that period, the jurisdiction of the States General extended
no farther than to the imposition of new taxes, the determination of
questions with respect to the right of succession to the crown, the settling
of the regency when the preceding monarch had not fixed it by his will,
and the presenting remonstrances enumerating the grievances of which
the nation wished to obtain redress.
As, during several centuries, the monarchs of Europe seldom demanded
extraordinary subsidies of their subjects, and the other events, which
required the interposition of. the States, rarely occurred, their meetings in
France were not frequent. They were summoned occasionally by their
kings, when compelled by their wants or their fears to have recourse to




78                    A  VIEW  OF  THE                   [SECT. III.
the great convention of their people; but they did,not, like the Diet in
Germany, the Cortes in Spain, or the Parliament in England, form an
essential member of the constitution, the regular exertion of whose powers
was requisite to give vigour and order to government.
When the states of France ceased to exercise legislative authority, the
kings began to assume it. They ventured at first on acts of legislation
with great reserve, and after taking every precaution that could preven
their subjects from being alarmed at the exercise of a new power. They
did not at once issue their ordinances in a tone of authority and command.
They treated with their subjects; they pointed out what was best; and
allured them to comply with it. By degrees, however, as the prerogative
of the crown extended, and as the supreme jurisdiction of the royal courts
came to be established, the kings of France assumed more openly the style
and authority of lawgivers; and, before the beginning of the fifteenth century, the complete legislative power was vested in the crown [39].
Having secured this important acquisition, the steps which led to the
right of imposing taxes were rendered few and easy. The people, accustomed
to see their sovereigns issue ordinances, by their sole authority, which regulated points of the greatest consequence with respect to the property of
their subjects, were not alarmed when they were required, by the royal
edicts, to contribute certain sums towards supplying the exigencies of
government, and carrying forward the measures of the nation.  When
Charles VII. and Louis XI. first ventured to exercise this new power, in
the manner which I have already described, the gradual increase of the
royal authority had so imperceptibly prepared the minds of the people of
France for this innovation, that it excited no commotion in the kingdom
and seems scarcely to have given rise to any murmur or complaint.
When the kings of France had thus engrossed every power which can
be exerted in government; when the right of making laws, of levying
money, of keeping an army of mercenaries in constant pay, of declaring
war, and of concluding peace, centred in the crown, the constitution of the
kingdom, which, under the first race of kings, was nearly democratical;
which, under the second race, became an aristocracy; terminated, under
the third race, in a pure monarchy. Every thing that tended to preserve
the appearance or revive the memory of the ancient mixed government,
seems from that period to have been industriously avoided. During the
long and active reign of Francis I. the variety as well as extent of whose
operations obliged him to lay many heavy impositions on his subjects, the
States General of France were not once assembled, nor were the people
once allowed to exert the power of taxing themselves, which, according
to the original ideas of feudal government, was a right essential to every
freeman
Two things, however, remained, which moderated the exercise of the
regal prerogative, and restrained it within such bounds as preserved the
constitution of France from degenerating into mere despotism. The rights
and privileges claimed by the nobility, must be considered as one barrier
against the absolute dominion of the crown. Though the nobles of France
had lost that political power which was vested in their order as a body,
they still retained the personal rights and pre-eminence which they derived
from their rank. They preserved a consciousness of elevation above other
classes of citizens; an exemption from burdens to which persons of inferior
condition were subject; a contempt of the occupations in which they were
engaged; the privilege of assuming ensigns that indicated their own dignity;
a right to be treated with a certain degree of deference during peace; and
a claim to various distinctions when in the field. Many of these pretensions
were not founded on the words of statutes, or derived from positive laws
they were defined and ascertained by the maxims of honour, a title more
delicate, but no less sacred. These rights, established and protected by a




STATE OF EUROPE.                                78
priuclpi* eqtl lly vigilant in guarding, and intrepid in defending them, are
to the sovereign himself objects of respect and veneration. Wherever they
stand in its way, the royal prerogative is bounded. The violence of a
despot may exterminate such an order of men; but as long as it subsists,
and its ideas of personal distinction remain entire, the power of the prince
has limits.'
As in France the body of nobility was very numerous, and the individuals of which it was composed, retained a high sense of their own preeminence, to this we may ascribe, in a great measure, the mode of exercising the royal prerogative which peculiarly distinguishes the government of that kingdom. An intermediate order was placed between" the
monarch and his other subjects; in every act of authority it became
necessary to attend to its privileges, and not only to guard against any real
violation of them, but to avoid any suspicion of supposing it to be possible
that they might be violated. Thus a species of government was established
in France, unknown in the ancient world, that of a monarchy, in which the
power of the sovereign, though unconfined by any legal or constitutional
restraint, has certain bounds set to it by the ideas which one class of his
subjects entertain concerning their own dignity.
The jurisdiction of the parliaments in France, particularly that of Paris,
was the other barrier which served to confine the exercise of the royal
prerogative within certain limits.  The parliament of Paris was originally
the court of the kings of France, to which they committed the supreme
administration of justice within their own domains, as well as the power
of deciding with respect to all cases brought before it by appeals from the
courts of the barons. When in consequence of events and regulations
\which have been mentioned formerly, the time and place of its meeting
were fixed, when not only the form of its procedure, but the principles on
which it decided, were rendered regular and consistent, when every cause
of importance was finally determined there, and when the people became
accustomed to resort thither as to the supreme temple of justice, the parliament of Paris rose to high estimation in the' kingdom, its members
acquired dignity, and its decrees were submitted to with deference. Nor
*was this the only source of the power and influence which the parliament
obtained. The kings of France, when they first began to assume the
legislative power, in order to reconcile the minds of their people to this
new exertion of prerogative, produced their edicts and ordinances in the
parliament of Paris, that they might be.approved of and registered there,
before they were published and declared to be of authority in the kinglom. During the intervals between the meetings of the States General of
the kingdom, or during those reigns in which the States General were not
assembled, the monarchs of France were accustomed to consult the parliament of Paris with respect to the most arduous affairs of government, and
frequently regulated their conduct by its advice, in declaring war, in concluding peace, and in other transactions of public concern. Thus there
was erected in the kingdom a tribunal which became the great depository
of the laws, and by the uniftorm tenor of its decrees established principles
of justice and forms of proceeding which wRere considered so sacred, that
even the sovereign power of the monarch durjt not venture to disregard or
to violate them. The members of this illustrious body, though they neither
possess legislative authority, nor can be considered as the representatives
of the people, have availed themselves of tie reputation and itfluence
which they had acquired among; their colntrymen, in order to make a
stand to the utlnost of their albiily, age'ainst every unprecedented alnd exor
bitant exertion of the prerogative.  In every period of the French history,
*;De l'Esprit des Loix, liv. ii. c. 4.  Dr. Ferguson's Essay on tle luist. of Civil Society, part i
selt. I'.




80                    A  VIEW   OF  THE                 [SECT. III.
they have merited the praise of being the virtuous but feeble guardians of
the rights and privileges of the nation [40].
After taking this view of the political state of France, I proceed to consider that of the German empire, from which Charles V. derived his title
of highest dignity. In explaining the constitution of this great and complex body at the beginning of the sixteenth century, I shall avoid entering
into such a detail as would involve my readers in, that inextricable labyrinth, which is formed by the multiplicity of its tribunals, the number of
its members, their interfering rights, and by the endless discussions or
refinements of the public lawyers of Germany, with respect to all these.
The empire of Charlemagne was a structure erected in so short a time,
that it could not be permanent. Under his immediate successor it began
to totter; and soon after fell to pieces. The crown of Germany was separated from that of France, and the descendants of Charlemagne established
two great monarchies so situated as to give rise to a perpetual rivalship
and enmity between them. But the princes of the race of Charlemagne
who were placed on the Imperial throne, were not altogether so degenerate, as those of the same family who reigned in France. In the hands of
the former the royal authority retained some vigour, and the nobles of Germany, though possessed of extensive privileges as well as ample territories,
did not so early attain independence. The great offices of the crown continued to be at the disposal of the sovereign, and during a long period,
fiefs remained in their original state, without becoming hereditary and
perpetual in the families of the persons to whom they had been granted.
At length the German branch of the family of Charlemagne became
extinct, and his feeble descendants who reigned in France had sunk into
such contempt, that the Germans, without looking towards them, exercised
the right inherent in a free people; and in a general assembly of the nation
elected Conrad count of Franconia emperor [A. D. 911]. After him Henry
of Saxony, and his descendants the three Othos, were placed, in succession,
on the Imperial throne, by the suffrages of their countrymen. The extensive territories of the Saxon emperors, their eminent abilities and enterprising
genius, not only added new vigour to the Imperial dignity, but raised it to
higher power and pre-eminence. Otho the Great marched at the head of.
a numerous army into Italy [A. D. 952], and after the example of Charlemagne, gave law to that country. Every power there acknowledged his
authority. He created popes, and deposed them by his sovereign mandate. He annexed the kingdom, of Italy to the German empire. Elated
with his success, he assumed the title of Cesar Augustus.*  A prince, born
in the heart of Germany, pretended to be the successor of the emperors of
ancient Rome, and claimed a right to the same power and prerogative.
But while the emperors, by means of these new titles and new dominions, gradually acquired additional authority and splendour, the nobility
of Germany had gone on at the same time, extending their privileges and
urisdiction. The situation of affairs was favourable to their attempts.
he vigour which Charlemagne had given to government quickly relaxed.
The incapacity of some of his successors was such, as would have
encouraged vassals less enterprising than the nobles of that age, to have
claimed new rights, and to have assumed new powers. The civil wars
in which other emperors were engaged, obliged them to pay perpetual
court to their subjects, on whose support theydepended, and not only to
connive at their usurpations, but to permit, and even to authorize them.
Fiefs gradually became hereditary. They were transmitted not only in
the direct, but also in the collateral line. The investiture oft hem was
demanded not only by male but by female heirs. Every baron began to
exercise sovereign jurisdiction within his own domains; and the dukes
* Annalista Saxo, &c. ap. Struv. Corp. vol. i. p. 246.




STATE OF EUROPE.                                81
and counts of Germany took wide steps towards rendering their territories distinct and independent states." The Saxon emperors observed
their progress, and were aware of its tendency. But as they could not
hope to humble vassals already grown too potent, unless they had turned
their whole force as well as attention to that enterprise, and as they were
extremely intent on their expeditions into Italy, which they could not
undertake without the concurrence of their nobles, they were solicitous
not to alarm them by any direct attack on their privileges and jurisdictions.  They aimed, however, at undermining their power.  With this
view, they inconsiderately bestowed additional territories, and accumulated new honours on the clergy, in hopes that this order might serve as a
counterpoise to that of the nobility in any future struggle.t
The unhappy effects of this fatal error in policy were quickly felt.
Under the emperors of the Franconian and Suabian lines, whom the Germans, by their voluntary election, placed on the Imperial throne, a new
face of things appeared, and a scene was exhibited in Germany, which
astonished all Christendom at that time [A. D. 1024], and in the present
age appears almost incredible.  The popes, hitherto dependent on the
emperors, and indebted for power as well as dignity to their beneficence
and protection, began to claim a superior jurisdiction; and, in virtue of
authority which they pretended to derive from heaven, tried, condemned,
excommunicated, and deposed their former masters.  Nor is this to be
considered merely as a frantic sally of passion in a pontiff intoxicated
with high ideas concerning the extent of priestly domination, and the
plenitude of papal authority. Gregory VII. was able as well as daring.
His presumption and violence were accompanied with political discernment and sagacity. He had observed that the princes and nobles of Germany had acquired such considerable territories and such extensive jurisdiction, as rendered them not only formidable to the emperors, but disposed them to favour any attempt to circumscribe their power. He foresaw that the ecclesiastics of Germany, raised almost to a level with its
princes, were ready to support any person who would stand forth as the
protector of their privileges and independence. With both of these
Gregory negotiated, and had secured many devoted adherents among
them, before he ventured to enter the lists against the head of the empire.
He began his rupture with Henry IV. upon a pretext that was popular
and plausible.  He complained of the venality and corruption with
which the emperor had granted the investiture of benefices to ecclesiastics. He contended that this right belonged to him as head of the church;
he required Henry to confine himself within the bounds of his civil jurisdiction, and to abstain for the future from such sacrilegious encroachments
on the spiritual dominion. All the censures of the church were denounced
against Henry, because he refused to relinquish those powers which his
predecessors had uniformly exercised.  The most considerable of the
German princes and ecclesiastics were excited to take arms against him.
His mother, his wife, his sons, were wrought upon to disregard all.the
ties of blood as well as of duty, and to join the party of his enemies.4
Such were the successful arts with which the court of Rome inflamed the
superstitious zeal, and conducted the factious spirit of the Gemans and
Italians, that an emperor, distinguished not only for many virtues, but
possessed of considerable talents, was at length obliged to appear as a
suppliant at the gate of the castle in which the pope resided, and to stand
there three days, bare-footed, in the depth of winter, imploring a pardon,
which at length he obtained with difficulty [41].
This act of humiliatior degraded the Imperial dignity. Nor was the
* Pfeffel. Abrege, p. 120. 152 Lib. Feudor. tit. i.  t Pfeffel. Abrege, p. 154.: Annal. Ge
man. ap. Struv. i. p. 325
VOL. II.-11




82                    A  VIEW  OF  THE                   [SECT.!Il.
depression momentary only. The contest between Gregory and Henry
gave rise to the two great factions of the Guelfs and Ghibellines; the
former of which supporting the pretensions of the popes, and the latter de.
fending the rights of the emperor, kept Germany and Italy in perpetual agitation during three centuries. A regular system for humbling the emperora
and circumscribing their power was formed, and adhered to uniformly
throughout that period.'The popes, the free states in Italy, the nobility
and ecclesiastics of Germany, were all interested in its success: and not.
withstanding the return of some short intervals of vigour, under the admi
nistration of a few able emperors, the Impeiial authority continued to
decline. During the anarchy of the long interregnum, subsequent to the
death of William of Holland [A. D. 1256], it dwindled down almost to
nothing. Rodulph of Hapsburgh, the founder of the House of Austria,
and who first opened the way to its future grandeur, was at length elected
emperor [A. D. 12731, not that he might re-establish and extend the Imperial authority, but because his territories and influence were so inconsiderable as to excite no jealousy in the German princes, who were willing
to preserve the forms of a constitution, the power and vigour of which
they had destroyed. Several of his successors were placed on the Imperial throne from the same motive; and almost every remaining prerogative was rescued out of the hands of feeble princes unable to exercise
or to defend them.
During this period of turbulence and confusion, the constitution of the
Germanic body underwent a total change. The ancient names of courts
and magistrates, together with the original forms and appearance of policy,
were preserved; but such new privileges and jurisdiction were assumed,
and so many various rights established, that the same species of government no longer subsisted.  The princes, the great nobility, the dignified
ecclesiastics, the free cities, had taken advantage of the interregnum,
which I have mentioned, to establish or to extend their usurpations.
They claimed and exercised the right of governing their respective territories with full sovereignty.  They acknowledged no superior with
respect to any point, relative to the interior administration and police of
their domains.  They enacted laws, imposed taxes, coined money, declared war, concluded peace, and exerted every prerogative peculiar to
independent states.  The ideas of order and political union, which had
originally formed the various provinces of Germany into one body, were
almost entirely lost; and the society must have dissolved, if the forms of
feudal subordination had not preserved such an appearance of connection
or dependence among the various members of the community, as pre
served it from falling to pieces
This bond of union, however, was extremely feeble; and hardly any
principle remained in the German constitution, of sufficient force to maintain public order, or even to ascertain personal security. From the accession of Rodulph of Hapsburgh, to the reign of Maximilian, the immediaite predecessor of Charles V., the empire felt every calamity which a
state must endure, when the authority of government is so much relaxed
as to hav lost its proper degree of vigour. The causes of dissension
among that vast number of members, which composed the Germanic body,
were infinite and unavoidable. These gave rise to perpetual private wars,
which were carried on with all the violence that usually accompanies?esentment, when unrestrained by superior authority.  Rapine, outrage,
exactions, became universal.  Commerce was interrupted; industry suspended; and every part of Germany resembled a country which an
enemy had plundered and left desolate.* The variety of expedients employed with a view to restore order and tranquillity, prove that the
* See above, page 28. and Note xxi. Datt. de pace publica Imper. p. 25, no. 53. p. 28, Dn. 26, p. 35
o I 1.




STATE  OF EUROPE.                             83
grievances occasioned by this state of anarchy had grown intolerable.
Arbiters were appointed to terminate the differences among the several
states.  The cities united in a league, the object of which was to check
the rapine and extortions of the nobility.  The nobility formed confederacies, on purpose to maintain tranquillity among their own order. Germany was divided.into several circles, in each of which a provincial and
partial jurisdiction was established, to supply the place of a public and
common tribunal.*
But all these remedies were so ineffectual, that they served only to
demonstrate the violence of that anarchy which prevailed, and the insuf
ficiency of the means employed to correct it. At length Maximilian re,
established public order in the empire, by instituting the Imperial chamn
ber [A. D. 1495], a tribunal comp1osed of judges named partly by the
emperor, partly by the several states, and vested with authority to decide
finally concerning all differences among the members of the Germanic
body.  A few years after [A. D. 1512], by giving a new form to the Aulic
council, which takes cognizance of all feudal causes, and such as belong
to the emperor's immediate jurisdiction, he restored some degree of
vigour to the imperial authority.
But notwithstanding the salutary effects of these regulations and improve
ments, the political constitution of the German empire, at the commence
ment of the period of which I propose to write the history, was of a spe.
cies so peculiar, as not to resemble perfectly any form of government
known either in the ancient or modern world. It was a complex body,
formed by the association of several states, each of which possessed sovereign and independent jurisdiction within its own territories. Of all the
members which composed this united body, the emperor was the head:
In his name, all decrees and regulations, with respect to points of common
concern, were issued; ard to him the power of carrying them into exe
cution was connmitted. But this appearanrc of monarchical power in the
emperor was more than counterbalanced oy the influence of the princes
and states of the empire in every act or administration. No law extending to the whole body could pass, no resolution that affected the general
interest could be taken, without the approbation of the diet of the empire.
In this assembly, every sovereign prince and state of the Germanic body
had a right to be present, to deliberate, and to vote. The decrees or
recesses of the diet were the laws of the empire, which the emperor was
bound to ratify and enforce.
Under this aspect, the constitution of the empire appears a regular
confederacy, similar to the Achaean league in ancient Greece, or to that
of the United Provinces and of the Swiss Cantons in modern times. But
if viewed in another light, striking peculiarities in its political state present
themselves. The Germanic body was not formed by the union of members
altogether distinct and independent.  All the princes and states joined
in this association, were originally subject to the emperors, and acknowledged them as sovereigns. Besides this, they originally held their lands
as Imperial fiefs, and in consequence of this tenure owed the emperors
all those services which feudal vassals are bound to perform to their liege
lord. But though this political subjection was entirely at an end, and the
influence of the feudal relation much diminished, the ancient forms and
institutions, introduced while the emperors governed Germany with authority not inferior to that which the other monarchs of Europe possessed, still
remained.  Thus an opposition was established between the genius of
the government, and the forms of administration in the German empire
The former considered the emperor only as the head of a confederacy,
the members of which, by their voluntary choice, have raised him to that
* Datt. passim. Struv. Corp. Hist. i. 510, &c




Ut4                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                 [SECT. Ill
dignity, the latter seemed to imply, that he is really invested with sovereign power.  By this circumstance, such principles of. hostility and
discord were interwoven into the frame of the Germanic body, as affected
each of its members, rendering their interior union incomplete, and their
external efforts feeble and irregular.  The pernicious influence of this
defect inherent in the constitution of the empire is so considerable, that,
without attending to it, we cannot fully comprehend many transactions in
the reign of Charles V. or form just ideas concerning the genius of the
German government.
The emperors of Germany, at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
were distinguished by the most pompous titles, and by such ensigns of
dignity, as intimated their authority to be superior to that of all other
monarchs.  The greatest princes of the empire attended, and  served
them, on some occasions, as the officers of their household. They exercised
prerogatives which no other sovereign ever claimed. They retained pretensions to all the extensive powers which their predecessors had enjoyed
in any former age. But, at the same time, instead of possessing that
ample ddmain which had belonged to the ancient emperors of Germany,
and which stretched from Basil to Cologne, along both banks of the Rhine,)
they were stripped of all territorial property, and had not a single city,
a single castle, a single foot of land, that belonged to them, as heads of the
empire. As their domain was alienated, their stated revenues were reduced
almost to nothing; and the extraordinary aids, which on a few occasions
they obtained, were granted sparingly and paid with reluctance.  The
princes and states of the empire, though they seemed to recognise the
Imperial authority, were subjects only in name, each of them possessing
a complete municipal jurisdiction within the precincts of his own ter
ritories.
From this ill-compacted frame of government, effects that were unavoidable resulted.  The emperors, dazzled with the splendour of their titles,
and the external signs of vast authority, were apt to imagine themselves
to be the real sovereigns of Germany, and were led to aim continually at
recovering the exercise of those powers which the forms of the constitution
seemed to vest in them, and which their predecessors, Charlemagne and
the Othos, had actually enjoyed. The princes and states, aware of the
nature as well as extent of these pretensions, were perpetually on their
guard, in order to watch all the motions of the Imperial court, and to
circumscribe its power within limits still more narrow. The emperors,
in support of their claims, appealed to ancient forms and institutions,
which the states held to be obsolete. The states founded their rights on
recent practice and modern privileges, which the emperors considered as
usurpations.
This jealousy of the Imperial authority, together with the opposition
between it and the rights of the states, increased considerably from the
time that the emperors were elected, not by the collective body of
German nobles, but by a few  princes of chief dignity. During a long
period, all the members of the Germanic body had a right to assemble,
and to make choice of the person whom they appointed to be their head.
But amidst the violence and anarchy which prevailed for several centuries
m the empire, seven princes who possessed the most extensive territories,
and who had obtained a hereditary title to the great offices of the state,
acquired the exclusive privilege of nominating the emperor. This right
was confirmed to them  by the Golden Bull: the mode of exercising it
was ascertained, and they were digpmfied with the appellation of Electors.
The nobility and free cities being thus stripped of a privilege which they
had once enjoyed, were less connected with a prince, towards whose
*Pfeffel. Abrege, &c. p. 241




STATE OF EUROPE..,
elevation they had not contributed by their suffrages, and came to be
more apprehensive of his authority. The electors, by their extensive
power, and the distinguishing privileges which they possessed, became
formidable to the emperors, with whom  they were placed almost on a
level in several acts of jurisdiction. Thus the introduction of the electoral
college into the empire, and the authority which it acquired, instead of
diminishing, contributed to strengthen, the principles of hostility and
discord in the Germanic constitution.
These were further augmented by the various and repugnant forms of
civil policy in the severalstates which composed the Germanic body. It
is no easy matter to render the union of independent states perfect and
entire, even when the genius and forms of their respective governments
-happen to be altogether similar. But in the Germanic empire, which was
a confederacy of princes, of ecclesiastics, and of free cities, it was impossible that they could incorporate thoroughly. The free cities were small
republics, in which the maxims and spirit peculiar to that species of government prevailed. The princes and nobles, to whom supreme jurisdiction
belonged, possessed a sort of monarchical power within their own territories,
and the forms of their interior administration nearly resembled those of the
great feudal kingdoms. The interests, the ideas, the objects of states so
differently constituted, cannot be the same.  Nor could their common
deliberations be carried on with the same spirit, while the love of liberty,
and attention to commerce, were the reigning principles in the cities; while
the desire of power, and ardour for military glory, were the governing
passions of the princes and nobility.
The secular and ecclesiastical members of the empire were as little fitted
for union as the free cities and the nobility.  Considerable territories had
been granted to several of the bishoprics and abbeys. and some of the
highest offices in the empire having been annexed to them  inalienably,
were held by the ecclesiastics raised to these dignities.  The younger
sons of noblemen of the second order, who had devoted themselves to the
church, were commonly promoted to these stations of eminence and power;
and it was no small mortification to the princes and great nobility, to see
persons raised from an inferior rank to the same level with themselves, or
even exalted to superior dignity. The education of these churchmen, the
genius of their profession, and their connection with the court of Rome,
rendered their character as well as their interest different from those of the
other members of the Germanic body, with whom  they were called to
act in concert.  Thus another source of jealousy and variance was opened,
which ought not to be overlooked when we are searching into the nature
of the German constitution.
To all these causes of dissension may be added one more, arising from
the tinequal distribution of power and wealth among the states of the
empire.  The electors, and other nobles of the highest rank, not only
possessed sovereign jurisdiction, but governed such extensive, populous,
and rich countries, as rendered them  great princes. Many of the other
members, though they enjoyed all the rights of sovereignty, ruled over
such petty domains, that their real power bore no proportion to this high
prerogative. A well compacted and vigorous confederacy could not be
formed of Quch dissimilar states.  The weaker were jealous, timid, and
unable either to assert or defend their just privileges.  The more powerful
were apt to assume and to become oppressive.  The electors and emperors, ay turns, endeavoured to extend their own authority, by encroaching
on those feeble members of the Germanic body, who sometimes defended
their rights with much spirit, but more frequently, being overawed or corrupted, they tamely surrendered their privileges, or meanly favoured the
designs f rmed against them [42]..ft. jintemplating all these principles of disunion and opposition in




Ea                     A  VIEW   OF  THE                   LSE:cr. Il.
the castitution of the German empire, it will be easy to account for the
want of concord ard uniformity, conspicuous in its councils and proceedings.  That slow, dilatory, distrustful, and irresolute spirit, which characteri es all its deliberations, will appear natural in a body, the junction of
whose members was so incomplete, the different parts of which were held
together by such feeble ties, and set at variance by such powerfil mctives.
But the empire of Germany, nevertheless, comprehended countries of such
great extent, and was inhabited by such a martial and iardy race of men,
that when the abilities of an emperor, or zeal for any common cause,
could rouse this unwieldy body to put forth its strength, it acted with
almost irresistible force.  In the following history we shall find. that as
the measures on which Charles V. was most intent, were often thwarted
or rendered abortive by the spirit of jealousy and division peculiar to the
Germanic constitution; so it was by the influence which he acquired over
the princes of the empire, and by engaging them to co-operate with him,
that he was enabled to make some of the greatest efforts which distinguish
his reign.
The Turkish history is so blended, during the reign of Charles V. with
that of the great nations in Europe, and the Ottoman Porte interposed so
often, and with such decisive influence, in the wars and negotiations of the
Christian princes, that some previous account of the state of government
in that great empire is no less necessary for the information of my readers,
than those views of the constitution of other kingdoms which I have
already exhibited to them.
It has been the fate of the southern and more fertile parts of Asia,
at different periods, to be conquered by that warlike and hardy race of
men, who inhabit the vast country known to the ancients by the name of
Scythia, and among the modern  by that of Tartary.  One tribe of these
people, called Turks or Turcomans, extended its conquests, under various
leaders, and during several centuries, from the Caspian Sea to the straits of
the Dardanelles.  Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, these
formidable conquerors took Constantinople by storm, and established the
seat of their government in that imperial city.  Greece, Moldavia, Walachia, and the other provinces of the ancient kingdoms of Thrace and
Macedonia, together with part.of Hungary, were subjected to theirpower
But though the seat of the Turkish government was fixed in Europe,
and the sultans obtained possession of such extensive dominions in that
quarter of the globe,' the genius of their policy continued to be purely
Asiatic; and may be properly termed a despotism, in contradistinction to
those monarchical and republican forms of government which we have
been hitherto contemplating. The supreme power was vested in sultans
of the Ottoman race, that blood being deemed so sacred, that no other
was thought worthy of the throne. From  this elevation, these sovereigns
could look down and behold all their subjects reduced to' the same level
tefore them.  The maxims of Turkish policy do not authorize any of
those institutions, which in other countries, limit the exercise, or moderate
the rigour of monarchical power; they admit neither of any great court
with constitutional and permanent jurisdiction to interpose, both in enacting
laws, and in superintending the execution of them; nor of a body of
hereditary nobles, whose sense of their own pre-eminence, whose consciousness of what is due to their rank and character, whose jealousy of
their privileges circumscriDe the authority of the prince, and serve not only
as a barrier against the excesses of his caprice, but stand as an intermediate
>rder between him and the people. Under the Turkish government, the
political condition of every subject is equal. To be employed in the
service of the sultan is the only circumstance that confers distinction.
Even this distinction is rather official than personal, and so closely annexed
to the station in which a iy individual serves that it is scarcely communicated




STATE 0' EUROPE.                                 87
to the persons of those who are placed in them.  The highest dignity in
the empire does not give any rank or pre-eminence to the family of him
who enjoys it. As every man, before he is raised to any station of authority,
must go through the preparatory discipline of a long and servile obedience,?
the moment he is deprived of power, he and his posterity return to the
same condition with other subjects, and sink back into obscurity.  It is
the distinguishing and odious characteristic of Eastern despotism, that it
annihilates all other ranks of men, in order to exalt the monarch; that it
leaves nothing to the former, while it gives every thing to the latter; that
it endeavours to fix in the minds of those who are subject to it, the idea
of no relation between men, but that of a master and of a slave, the former
destined to command and to punish, the latter formed to tremble and to
obey [43].
But as there are circumstances which frequently obstruct or defeat the
salutary effects of the best regulated governments, there are others which
contribute to mitigate the evils of the most defective forms of policy.
There can, indeed, be no constitutional restraints upon the will of a prince
in a despotic government; but there may be such as are accidental.
Absolute as the Turkish sultans are, they feel themselves circumscribed
both by religion, the principle on which their authority is founded,t and
by the army, the -instrument which they must employ in order to maintain
it. Wherever religion interposes, the will of the sovereign must submit to
its decrees.  When the Koran hath prescribed any religious rite, hath
enjoined any moral duty, or hath confirmed by its sanction any political
maxim, the command of the sultan cannot overturn that which a higher
authority hath established. The chief restriction, however, on the will of
the sultans, is imposed by the military power.  An armed force must
surround the throne of every despot, to maintain his authority, and to
execute his commands. As the Turks extended their empire over nations
which they did not exterminate, but reduce to subjection, they found it
necessary to render their military establishment numerous and formidable.
Amurath, their third sultan, in order to form a body of troops devoted to
his will, that might serve as the immediate guards of his person and
dignity, commanded his officers to seize annually as the Imperial property,
the fifth part of the youth taken in war [A. D. 1362]. These, after being
instructed in the Mahometan religion, inured to obedience by severe
discipline, and trained to warlike exercises, were formed into a body
distinguished by the name of Janizaries, or new soldiers. Every sentiment
which enthusiasm  can inspire, every mark of distinction that the favour
of the prince could confer, were employed in order to animate this body
with martial ardour, and with a consciousness of its own pre-eminence.
The Janizaries soon became the chief strength and pride of the Ottoman
armies; and, by their number as well as reputation, were distinguished
above all the troops whose duty it was to attend on the person of the
sultan [44].
Thus, as the supreme power in every society is possessed by those who
have arms in their hands, this formidable body of soldiers, destined to be
the instruments of enlarging the sultan's authority, acquired at the same
time, the means of controlling it.  The Janizaries in Constantinople, like
the Pretorian bands in ancient Rome, quickly perceived all the advantages
which they derived from being stationed in the capital; from their union
under one standard; and from being masters of the person of the prince.
The sultans became no less sensible of their influence and importance
The Capiculy, or soldiery of the Porte, was the only power in the empire
that a sultan or his vizier had reason to dread. To preserve the fidelity and
* State of the Turkish Empire by Rycaut, p. 25.: Rycaut p. 8   Prince Cantemir's: Itory of the Otliman Empire, p. 37.




88                  A  VIEW   OF  THE, &c.                 [SECT. 11i.
attachment of the Janizaries, was the great art of government, and the
principal object of attention in the policy of the Ottomarn court. Under
a monarch, whose abilities and vigour of mind fit him for command, they
are obsequious instruments; execute whatever he einoins; and render his
power irresistible. Under feeble princes, or such as are unfortunate, they
become turbulent and mutinous; assume the tone of masters; degrade
and exalt sultans at pleasure; and teach those to tremble, on whose nod,
at other times, life and death depend.
From Mahomet II. who took Constantinople, to Solyman the Magnificent,
who began his reign a few months after Charles V. was placed on the
Imperial throne of Germany, a succession of illustrious princes ruled over
the Turkish empire. By their great abilities, they kept their subjects
of every order, military as well as civil, submissive to government; and
had the absolute command of whatever force their vast empire was able
to exert. Solyman in particular, who is known to the Christians chiefly
as a conqueror, but is celebrated in the Turkish annals, as the great lawgiver who established order and police in their empire, governed, during
his long reign, with no less authority than wisdom. He divided his
dominions into several districts; he appointed the number of soldiers
which each should furnish; he appropriated a certain proportion of the land
in every province for their maintenance; he regulated, with a minute
accuracy, every thing relative to their discipline, their arms, and the nature
of their service. He put the finances of the empire into an orderly train of
administration; and, though the taxes in the Turkish dominions, as well
as in the other despotic monarchies of the East, are far from being con
siderable, he supplied that defect by an attentive and severe economy.
Nor was it only under such sultans as Solyman, whose talents were no
less adapted to preserve internal order than to conduct the operations of
war, that the Turkish empire engaged with advantage in its contests with
the Christian states.  The long succession of able princes, which I have
mentioned, had given such vigour and firmness to the Ottoman government,
that it seems to have attained, during the sixteenth century, the highest
degree of perfection of which its constitution was capable. Whereas the
great monarchies in Christendom were still far from that state, which could
enable them  to act with a full exertion of their force.  Besides this, the
Turkish troops in that age possessed every advantage which arises from
superiority in military discipline. At the time when Solyman began his
reign, the Janizaries had been embodied near a century and a half'; and,
during that long period, the severity of their military discipline had in no
degree relaxed.  The other soldiers, drawn from  the provinces of the
empire, had been kept almost continually under arms, in the various wars
which the sultans had carried on with hardly any interval of peace. Against
troops thus trained and accustomed to service, the forces of the Christian
powers took the field with great disadvantage.  The most intelligent as
well as impartial authors of the sixteenth century acknowledge and lament
the superior attainments of the Turks in the military art [45]. The success
which almost uniformly attended their arms, in all their wars, demonstrates
the justness of this observation. The.Christian armies did not acquire that
superiority over the Turks, which they now possess, until the long establish
mert of standing forces had improved military discipline among the former;
and until various causes and events, which it is not my province to expiain,
had corrupted or abolished their ancient warlike institutions among thw
latter.




HE
HISTORY OF THE REIGN
OF THE
EMPEROR CHARLES V.
BOOK' Io
CHARLES V. was born at Ghent on the twenty-fourth day of February
in the year one thousand five hundred. His father, Philip the Handsome,
archduke of Austria, was the son of the emperor Maximilian, and of Mary
the only child of Charles the Bold, the last prince of the house of Burgundy.
His mother, Joanna, was the second daughter of Ferdinand king of Aragon,
and of Isabella queen of Castile.
A long train of fortunate events had opened the way for this young
prince to the inheritance of more extensive dominions, than any European
monarch, since Charlemagne, had possessed. Each of his ancestors had
acquired kingdoms or provinces, towards which their prospect of succession
was extremely remote. The rich possessions of Mary of Burgundy had
been destined for another family, she having been contracted by her father
to the only son of Louis XI. of France; but that capricious monarch,
indulging his hatred to her family, chose rather to strip her of part of her
territories by force, than to secure the whole by marriage; and by this
misconduct, fatal to his posterity, he threw all the Netherlands and Franche
Compte into the hands of a rival. Isabella, the daughter of John II. of
Castile, far from having any prospect of that noble inheritance which she
transmitted to her grandson, passed the early part of her life in obscurity
and indigence. But the Castilians, exasperated against her brother Henry
IV., an ill-advised and vicious prince, publicly charged him with impotence,
and his queen with adultery. Upon his demise rejecting Joanna, whom
Henry had uniformly, and even on his death-bed, owned to be his lawful
daughter, and whom an assembly of the states had acknowledged to be the
heir of his kingdom, they obliged her to retire into Portugal, and placed
Isabella on the throne of Castile. Ferdinand owed the crown of Aragon
to the unexpected death of his elder brother, and acquired the kingdoms
of Naples and Sicily by violating the faith of treaties, and disregarding the
ties of blood. To all these kingdoms, Christopher Columbus, by an effort
of genius and of intrepidity, the boldest and most successful that is recorded in the annals of mankind, added a new world, the wealth of which
became one considerable source of the power and grandeur of the Spanish
monarchs.
Don John, the only son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and their eldest
daughter, the queen of Portugal, being cut off, without issue, in the flower
of youth, all their hopes centred in Joanna and her posterity. But as her
husband, the archduke, was a stranger to the Spaniards, it was thought
VOL. II.-12




90'                THE  REIGN  OF THE                   [BooK.
expedient to invite him into Spain, that by residing among them, he might
accustom himself to their laws and manners; and it was expected that
the Cortes, or assembly of states, whose authority was then so great in
Spain, that no title to the crown was reckoned valid unless it received their
sanction, would acknowledge his right of succession, together with that of
the infanta, his wife. Philip and Joanna, passing through France in their
way to Spain, were entertained in that kingdom with the utmost magnificence. The archduke did homage to Louis XII. for the earldom of Flanders, and took his seat as a peer of the realm in the parliament of Paris.
They were received in Spain with every mark of honour that the parental
affection of Ferdinand and Isabella, or the respect of their subjects, could
devise; and their title to the crown was soon after acknowledged by the
Cortes of both kingdoms.
But amidst these outward appearances of satisfaction and jby, some
secret uneasiness preyed upon the mind of each of these princes. The
stately and reserved ceremonial of the Spanish court was so burdensome
to Philip, a prince, young, gay, affable, fond of society and of pleasure,
that he soon began to express a desire of returning to his native country,
the manners of which were more suited to his temper.. Ferdinand, observing the declining health of his queen, with whose life he knew that
his right to the government of Castile must cease, easily foresaw, that a
prince of Philip's disposition, and who already discovered an extreme
impatience to reign, would never consent to his retaining any degree ot
authority in that kingdom; and the prospect of this diminution of his power
awakened the jealousy of that ambitious monarch.
Isabella beheld, with the sentiments natural to a mother, the indifference
and neglect with which the archduke treated her daughter, who was destitute of those beauties of person, as well as those accomplishments of
mind, which fix the affections of a husband. Her understanding, always
weak, was often disordered. She doated on Philip with such an excess
of childish and indiscreet fondness, as excited disgust rather than affection.
Her jealousy, for which her husband's behaviour gave her too much cause,
was proportioned to her love, and often broke out in the most extravagant
actions. Isabella, though sensible of her defects, could not help pitying
ner condition, which was soon rendered altogether deplorable, by the
archduke's abrupt resolution of setting out in the middle of winter for
Flanders, and of leaving her in Spain. Isabella entreated him  not to
abandon his wife to grief and melancholy, which might prove fatal to her.
as she was near the time of her delivery. Joanna conjured him to put off
his journey for three days only, that she might have the pleasure of celebrating the festival of Christmas in his company.  Ferdinand,,after representing the imprudence of his leaving Spain, before he had time to become
acquainted with the genius, or to gain the affections of the people, who
were one day to be his subjects, besought him, at least, not to pass through
France, with which kingdom he was then at open war. Philip, without
regarding either the dictates of humanity, or the maxims of prudence
persisted in his purpose; and on the twenty-second of December set out
for the Low Countries, by the way of France.*
From the moment of his departure, Joanna sunk into a deep and sullen
melancholy,f and while she was in that situation bore Ferdinand her
second son, for whom the power of his brother Charles afterwards procured the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, and to whom he at last
transmitted the imperial sceptre.  Joanna was the only person in Spain
who discovered no joy at the birth of this prince. Insensible to that as
well as to every other pleasure, she was wholly occupied with the thoughts
* Petri Martyris Anglerii Epistolae, 250-253.  t Id. Epist 255.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                 91
ot returning to her husba nd; nor did she, in any degree, recover tranquillity
of mind, until she arrived at Brussels next year.
Philip, in passing through France, had an interview with Louis XII. and
signed a treaty with him, by which he hoped that all the differences between France and Spain would have been finally terminated.  But Ferdinand, whose affairs, at that time, were extremely prosperous in Italy,
where the superior genius of Gonsalvo de Cordova, the great captain,
triumphed on every occasion over the arms of France, did not pay the
least regard to what his son-in-law had concluded, and carried on hostilities with greater ardour than ever.
From this time Philip seems not to have taken any part in the affairs of
Spain, waiting in quiet till the death either of Ferdinand or Isabella should
open the way to one of their thrones. The latter of these events was not far
distant.  The untimely death of her son and eldest daughter had made a
deep impression on the mind of Isabella; and as she could derive but
little consolation for the losses which she had sustained either from her
daughter Joanna, whose infirmities daily increased, or from her son-in-law,
who no longer preserved even the appearance of a decent respect towards
hat unhappy princess, her spirits and health began gradually to decline, and
after languishing some months, she died at Medina del Campo on the
twenty-sixth of November one thousand five hundred and four. She was
no less eminent for virtue than for wisdom; and whether we consider her
behaviour as a queen, as a wife, or as a mother, she is justly entitled to
the high encomiums bestowed on her by the Spanish historians.t
A few weeks before her death, she made her last will, and being convinced of Joanna's incapacity to assume the reins of government into her
own hands, and having no inclination to commit them to Philip, with whose
conduct she was extremely dissatisfied, she appointed Ferdinand regent or
administrator of the affairs of Castile until her grandson Charles should
attain the age of twenty. She bequeathed to Ferdinand likewise one half
of the revenues which should arise from the Indies, together with the
grand masterships of the three military orders; dignities which rendered
the person who possessed them almost independent, and which Isabella
had, for that reason, annexed to the crown.  But before she signed a deed
so favourable to Ferdinand, she obliged him to swear that he would not, by
a second marriage, or by any other means, endeavour to deprive Joanna or
her posterity of their right of succession to any of his kingdoms.~
Immediately upon the queen's death, Ferdinand resigned the title of
king of Castile, and issued.orders to proclaim Joanna and Philip the sovereigns of that kingdom.  But, at the same time, he assumed the character
of regent, in consequence of Isabella's testament; and not long after he
prevailed on the Cortes of Castile to acknowledge his right to that office.
This, however, he did not procure without difficulty, nor without discovering such symptoms of alienation and disgust among the Castilians as
filled him with great uneasiness. The union of Castile and Aragon, for
almost thirty years, had not so entirely extirpated the ancient and hereditary enmity which subsisted between the natives of these kingdoms, that
the Castilian pride could submit, without murmuring, to the government of
a king of Aragon. Ferdinand's own character, with which the Castilians
were well acquainted, was far from  rendering his authority desirable.
Suspicious, discerning, severe, and parsimonious, he was accustomed to
observe the minute actions of his subjects with a jealous attention, and to
reward their highest services with little liberality; and they were now
deprived of Isabella,'whose gentle qualities, and partiality to her Castilian
* Mariana, lib. 27. c. 11. 14. Flechier Vie de Ximen. 1.191.     P. Mart. Ep. 279.    4 Ibid.
Ep. 277. A ar. Hist. lib. 28. c. 11. Fer. Hist. Gener. d'Espagne tom. viii. 263,       Mar. Hist. lib.
88. c. 14




92                  THE REIGN OF THE                        Boox 
subjects, often tempered his austerity, or rendered it tolerable. The
maxims of his government were especially odious to the grandees for tha
artful prince, sensible of the dangerous privileges conferred upon them by
the feudal institutions, had endeavoured to curb their exorbitant power,#
by extending the royal jurisdiction, by protecting their injured vassals, by
increasing the immunities of cities, and by other measures equally prudent.
From all these causes, a formidable party among the Castilians united
against Ferdinand, and though the persons who composed it had not
hitherto taken any public step in opposition to him, he plainly saw, that
upon the least encouragement from their new king, they would proceed to
the most violent extremities.
There was no less agitation in the Netherlands, upon receiving the
accounts of Isabella's death, and of Ferdinand's having assumed the
government of Castile. Philip was not of a temper tamely to suffer him
self to be supplanted by the ambition of his father-in-law. If Joanna's
infirmities, and the nonage of Charles, rendered them incapable of govern
ment, he, as a husband, was the proper guardian of his wife, and, as a
father, the natural tutor of his son. Nor was it sufficient to oppose to these
just rights, and to the inclination of the people of Castile, the authority of
a testament, the genuineness of which was perhaps doubtful, and its contents to him appeared certainly to be iniquitous. A keener edge was
added to Philip's resentment, and new vigour infused into his councils by
the arrival of Don John Manuel. IHe was Ferdinand's ambassador at the
Imperial court, but upon the first notice of Isabella's death repaired to
Brussels, flattering himself, that under a young and liberal prince, he might
attain to power and honours, which he could never have expected in the
service of an old and frugal master. He had early paid court to Philip
during his residence in Spain, with such assiduity as entirely gained his
confidence; and having been trained to business under Ferdinand, could
oppose his schemes with equal abilities, and with arts not inferior to those
for which that monarch was distinguished.t
By the advice of Manuel, ambassadors were despatched to require Ferdinand to retire into Aragon, and to resign the government of Castile to
those persons whom Philip should intrust with it, until his own arrival in
that kingdom. Such of the Castilian nobles as had discovered any dissatisfaction with Ferdinand's administration, were encouraged by every method
to oppose it. At the same time a treaty was concluded with Louis XII.
by which Philip flattered himself, that he had secured the friendship and
assistance of that monarch.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand employed all the arts of address and policy, in
order to retain the power of which he had got possession. By means ot
Conchillos, an Aragonian gentleman, he entered into a private negotiation
with Joanna, and prevailed on that weak princess to confirm, by her authority, his right to the regency. But this intrigue did not escape the penetrating eye of Don John Manuel; Joanna's letter of consent was intercepted; Conchillos was thrown into a dungeon; she herself confined to an
apartment in the palace, and all her Spanish domestics secluded from her
presence.1
The mortification which the discovery of this intrigue occasioned to Ferdinand was much increased by his observing the progress which Philip's
emissaries made in Castile. Some of the nobles retired to their castles;
others to the towns m which they had influence: they formed themselves
into confederacies, and began to assemble their vassals. Ferdinand's court
was almost totally deserted; not a person of distinction but Ximenes, archbishop of Toledo, the duke of Alva, and the marquis of Denia, remaining
* Marian. lib. 28 c. 12.   + Zurita Annales de Aragon, tor. vi. p. 12.: P. Mart, Ep. 287.
Zurita Annilcs, vi. p. 14.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               93
theie; Wnile the houses of Philip's ambassadors were daily crowded with
noblemen of the highest rank.
Exasperated at this universal defection, and mortified perhaps with
seeing all his schemes defeated by a younger politician, Ferdinand resolved,
in defiance of the law of nature, and of decency, to deprive his daughter
and her posterity of the crown of Castile, rather than renounce the regency
of that kingdom. His plan for accomplishing this was no less bold, than
the intention itself was wicked. He demanded in marriage Joanna, the
supposed daughter of Henry IV. on the belief of whose illegitimacy
Isabella's right to the crown of Castile was founded: and by reviving the
claim of this princess, in opposition to which he himself had formerly led
armies and fought battles, he hoped once more to get possession of the
throne of that kingdom. But Emanuel, king of Portugal, in whose dominions Joanna resided at that time, having married one of Ferdinand's
daughters by Isabella, refused his consent to that unnatural match; and the
unhappy princess herself, having lost all relish for the objects of ambition,
by being long immured in a convent, discovered no less aversion to it.*
The resources, however, of Ferdinand's ambition were not exhausted.
Upon meeting with a repulse in Portugal, he turned towards France, and
sought in marriage Geimain de Foix, a daughter of the viscount of Nar
bonne, and of Mary, the sister of Louis XII. The war which that monarch
had carried on' against Ferdinand in Naples, had been so unfortunate, that
he listened with joy to a proposal, which furnished him with an honourablt
pretence for concluding peace; and though no prince was ever more
remarkable than Ferdinand for making all his passions bend to the maxims
of interest, or become subservient to the purposes of ambition, yet so vehement was his resentment against his son-in-law, that the desire of gratifying
it rendered him regardless of every other consideration. In order to be
revenged of Philip, by detaching Louis from his interest, and in order to
gain a chance of excluding him from his hereditary throne of Aragon, and
the dominions annexed to it, he was ready once more to divide Spain into
separate kingdoms, though the union of these was the great glory of his
reign, and had been the chief object of his ambition; he consented to
restore the Neapolitan nobles of the French faction to their possessions and
honours; and submitted to the ridicule of marrying in an advanced age, a
princess of eighteen.1
The conclusion of this match, which deprived Philip of his only ally,
and threatened him with the loss of so many kingdoms, gave him a dreadful
alarm, and convinced Don John Manuel that there was now a necessity of
taking other measures with regard to the affairs of Spain..  He accordingly
instructed the Flemish ambassadors, in the court of Spain, to testify the
strong desire which their master had of terminating all differences between
him and Ferdinand in an amicable manner, and his willingness to consent
to any conditions that would re-establish the friendship which ought to subsist between a father and a son-in-law. Ferdinand, though he had made
and broken more treaties than any prince of any age, was apt to confide so
far in the sincerity of other men, or to depend so much upon his own
address and their weakness, as to be always extremely fond of a negotiation.
He listened with eagerness to these declarations, and soon concluded a treaty
at Salamanca [Nov. 24]; in which it was stipulated, that the' government
of Castile should be carried on in the joint names of Joanna, of Ferdinand,
and of Philip; and that the revenues of the crown, as well as the right of
conferring offices, should be shared between Ferdinand and Philip, by an
equal division.~
* Sandov. Hist. of Civil Wars in Castile, Lon. 1655. p. 5. Zurita Annales de. Aragon, tom. vt.
p. 213.,  Mart. Ep. 290. 292. Mariana, lib. 28. c. 16, 17.  P P. Mart. Ep,293.  $ Zurita
Annales de Aragon, vi. 19. P. Mart. Ep. 293,294.




94                   THE REIGN OF THE                         BooK I.
Nothing, however, was farther from Philip's thoughts than to observe this
treaty.  His sole intention in proposing it was to amuse Ferdinand, and to
prevent him  from taking any measures for obstructing his voyage into
Spain.  It had that effect.  Ferdinand, sagacious as he was, did not for
some time suspect his design; and though when he perceived it, he prevailed on the king of France not only to remonstrate against the'archduke's
journey, but to threaten hostilities if he should undertake it, though be
solicited the duke of Gueldres to attack his son-in-law's dominions in the
Low-Countries, Philip and his consort nevertheless set sail with a numerous fleet, and a good body of land forces.  They were obliged, by a
violent tempest, to take shelter in England, where Henry VII., in compliance with Ferdinand's solicitations, detained them  upwards of three
months;* at last they were permitted to depart, and after a more prosperous voyage, they arrived in safety at Corunna in Galicia [April 28], nor
durst Ferdinand attempt, as he had once intended, to oppose their landing
by force of arms.
The Castilian nobles, who had been obliged hitherto to conceal or to
dissemble their sentiments, now declared openly in favour of Philip.
From  every corner of the kingdom, persons of the highest rank, with
numerous retinues of their vassals, repaired to their new sovereign. The
treaty of Salamanca was universally condemned, and all agreed to exclude
from the government of Castile, a prince, who by consenting to disjoin
Aragon and Naples from  that crown, discovered so little concern for its
true interests. Ferdinand, meanwhile, abandoned by almost all the Castilians, disconcerted by their revolt, and uncertain whether he should
peaceably relinquish his power, or take arms in order to maintain it, earnestly solicited an interview with his son-in-law, who, by the advice of
Manuel, studiously avoided it. Convinced at last, by seeing the number
and zeal of Philip's adherents daily increase, that it was vain to think of
resisting such a torrent, Ferdinand consented, by treaty, to resign the regency
of Castile into the hands of Philip [June 27], to retire into his hereditary
dominions of Aragon, and to rest satisfied with the masterships of the
military orders, and that share of the revenue of the Indies, which Isabella
had bequeathed to him.  Though an interview  between the princes was
no longer necessary, it was agreed to on both sides from motives of decency.
Philip repaired to the place appointed, with a splendid retinue of Castilian
nobles, and a considerable body of armed men. Ferdinand appeared
without any pomp, attended by a few followers mounted on mules, and
unarmed. On that occasion Don John Manuel had the pleasure of displaying before the monarch, whom he had deserted, the extensive influence
which he had acquired over his new master: while Ferdinand suffered, in
presence of his former subjects, the two most cruel mortifications which
an artful and ambitious prince can feel; being at once overreached in conduct, and stripped of power.t
Not long after [July], he retired into Aragon; and hoping that some
favourable accident would soon open the way for his return into Castile,
he took care to protest, though with great secrecy, that the treaty concluded with his son-in-law, being extorted by force, ought to be deemed
void of all obligation.
Philip took possession of his new authority with a youthful joy. The
unhappy Joanna, from whom  he derived it, remained, during all these
contests, under the dominion of a deep melancholy; she was seldom allowed
to appear in public; her father, though he had often desired it, was refused
access to her; and Philip's chief object was to prevail on the Cortes to
declare her incapable of government, that an undivided power might be
* Ferrer. Hist. viii. 285.   t Zurita Annales de,Arag. vi. 64. Mar. lib. 28. c. 19, 20. P. Mart
Ep. 304 305 &c.    Z Zurita Annales de Arag. vi. p. 68. Ferrer. Hist v\ii. 290.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               9s
lodged in his hands, until his son should attain unto full age. But such
was the partial attachment of the Castilians to their native princess, that
though Manuel had the address to gain some members of the Cortes assembled at Valladolid, and others were willing to gratify their new sovereign
in his first request, the great body of the representatives refused their consent to a declaration which they thought so injurious to the blood of their
monarchs.*  They.were unanimous, however, in acknowledging Joanna
and Philip, queen and king of Castile, and their son Charles prince o
Asturias.
This was almost the only memorable event during Philip's administration. A fever put an end to his life in the twenty-eighth year of his age
[Sept. 25], when he had not enjoyed the regal dignity, which he had bee
so eager to obtain, full three months.f
The whole royal authority in Castile ought of course to have devolved
upon Joanna. But the shock occasioned by such a disaster so unexpected
as the death of her husband, completed the disorder of her understanding,
and her incapacity for government. During all the time of Philip's sickness no entreaty could prevail on her, though in the sixth month of her
pregnancy, to leave him for a moment. When he expired, however, she
did not shed one tear, or utter a single groan. Her grief was silent and
settled. She continued to watch the dead body with the same tenderness
and attention as if it had been alive;: and though at last she permitted
it to be buried, she soon removed it from the tomb to her own apartment.
There it was laid upon a bed of state, in a splendid dress; and having
heard from some monk a legendary tale of a king who revived after he
had been dead fourteen years, she kept her eyes almost constantly fixed
cn the body, waiting for the happy moment of its return to life.  Ior was
this capricious affection for her dead husband less tinctured with jealousy,
than that which she had borne to him while alive. She did not permit
any of her female attendants to approach the bed on which his corpse was
laid; she would not suffer any woman who did not belong to her family to
enter the apartment; and rather than grant that privilege to a midwife,
though a very aged one had been chosen on purpose, she bore the princess
Catharine without any other assistance than that of her own domestics.~
A woman in such a state of mind was little capable of governing a great
kingdom; and Joanna, who made it her sole employment to bewail the
loss, and to pray for the soul of her husband, would have thought hex
attention to public affairs an impious neglect of those duties which she
owed to him. But though she declined assuming the administration herself, yet by a strange caprice of jealousy, she refused to commit it to any
other person; and no entreaty of her subjects could persuade her to-name
a regent, or even to sign such papers as were necessary for the execution oi
justice, and the security of the kingdom.
The death of Philip threw the Castilians into the greatest perplexity.
It was necessary to appoint a regent, both on account of Joanna's frenzy,
and the infancy of her son; and as there was not among the nobles any
person so eminently distinguished, either by superiority in rank or abilities
as to be called by the public voice to that high office, all naturally turned
their eyes either towards Ferdinand, or towards the emperor Maximilian.
The former claimed that dignity as administrator for his daughter, and by
virtue of the testament of Isabella; the latter thought himself the legal
guardian of nis grandson, whom  on account of his mother's infirmity, he
already considered as king of Castile. Such of the nobility as had lately
been most active in compelling Ferdinand to resign the government of the
kingdom, trembled at the thoughts of his being restored so soon to his
* Zurita Annales de Arag. vi. p. 75.  t Marian. lib. 28. c. 23.  t P. Mart. Ep. 310.  $ Mal
Hist. lih. 29. c. 3 & 5. P. Mart. Ep. 318. 324. 328. 332.




.9                  "1TH E  REI  N  0' THE                [BooK I
forner dignity. They dreaded the return of a monarch, not apt to forgive,
and who, to those defects with which they were already acquainted, added
that resentment which the remembrance of their behaviour, and reflection
upon his own disgrace, must naturally have excited. Though none of
these objections lay against Maximilian, he was a stranger to the laws and
manners of Castile; he had not either troops or money to support his pretensions; nor could his claim be admitted without a public declaration of
Joanna's incapacity for government, an indignity to which, notwithstanding
he notoriety of her distemper, the delicacy of the Castilians could not
bear the thoughts of subjecting her.
Don John Manuel, however, and a few of the nobles, who considered
themselves as most obnoxious to Ferdinand's displeasure, declared for
Maximilian, and offered to support his claim with all their interest. Maximilian, always enterprising and decisive in council, though feeble and dila
tory in execution, eagerly embraced the offer. But a series of ineffectual
negotiations was the only consequence of this transaction. The emperor,
as usual, asserted his rights in a high strain, promised a great deal, and
performed nothing.*
A few days before the death of Philip, Ferdinand had set out for Naples,
that, by his own presence, he might put an end, with greater decency, to
the viceroyalty of the great captain, whose important services, and cautious
conduct, did not screen him  from the suspicions of his jealous master.
Though an account of his son-in-law's death reached him  at Porto-fino,
in the territories of Genoa, he was so solicitous to discover the secret
intrigues which he supposed the great captain to have been carrying on,
and to establish his own authority on a firm foundation in the Neapolitan
dominions, by removing him from the supreme command there, that rather
than discontinue his voyage, he chose to leave Castile in a state of anarchy,
and even to risk, by this delay, his obtaining possession of the government
of that kingdom.t
Nothing but the great abilities and prudent conduct of his adherents
could have prevented the bad effects of this absence.  At the head of
these was Ximenes, Archbishop of Toledo, who, though he had been
raised to that dignity by Isabella, contrary to the inclination of Ferdinand,
and though he could have no expectation of enjoying much power under
the administration of a master little disposed to distinguish him by extraordinary marks of attention, was nevertheless so disinterested as to prefel
the welfare of his country before his own grandeur, and to declare, that
Castile could never be so happily governed as by a prince, whom long
experience had rendered thoroughly acquainted with its true interest.
The zeal of Ximenes to bring over his countrymen to this opinion, induced
him  to lay aside somewhat of his usual austerity and haughtiness.  He
condescended, on this occasion, to court the disaffected nobles, and employed address, as well as arguments, to persuade them.. Ferdinand
seconded his endeavours with great art; and by concessions to some of
the grandees, by promises to others, and by letters full of complaisance to
all; he gained many of his most violent opponents.+ Though many cabals
were formed, and some commotions were excited, yet when Ferdinand,
after having settled the affairs of Naples, arrived in Castile [Aug. 21,
15071, he entered upon the administration without opposition.'he pru-.ence with which he exercised his authority in that kingdom, equalled
the good fortune by which he had recovered it. By a moderate, but
steady administration, free from partiality and from resentment, he reconciled the Castilians to his person, and secured to them, entirely, during the
remainder of his life, as much domestic tranquillity as was consistent with
* Mariana, lib. 29. c. 7. Zurita Annales de Arago vi. 93.  t Zurita Annales ae Arag. vi p. 85.: Ibid. vi. p 8". 94. 109.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              97
the genius of the feudal government, which still subsisted among them in
full vigour.*
Nor was the preservation of tranquillity in his hereditary kingdoms the
only obligation which the archduke Charles owed to the wise regency of
his grandfather; it was his good fortune, during that period, to have very
important additions made to the dominions over which he was to reign.
On the coast of Barbary, Oran, and other conquests of no small value, were
annexed to the crown of Castile by Cardinal Ximenes, who, with a spirit'very uncommon in a monk, led in person a numerous army against the
Moors of that country; and with a generosity and magnificence still more
singular, defrayed the whole expense of the expedition out of his own
revenues.t In Europe, Ferdinand, under pretences no less frivolous than
unjust; as well as by artifices the most shameful and treacherous, expelled
John d'Albret, the lawful sovereign, from the throne of Navarre; and,
seizing on that kingdom, extended the limits of the Spanish monarchy from
the Pyrenees on the one hand, to the frontiers of Portugal on the other.,
It was not, however, the desire of aggrandizing the archduke, which
influenced Ferdinand in this, or in any other of his, actions. He was more
apt to consider that young prince as a rival, who might one day wrest out
of his hands the government of Castile, than as a grandson, for whose
interest he was intrusted with the administration. This jealousy soon
begot aversion, and even hatred, the symptoms of which he was at no
pains to conceal. Hence proceeded his immoderate joy when his young
queen was delivered of a son, whose life would have deprived Charles of
the crowns of Aragon, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia; and upon the untimely
death of that prince, he discovered, for the same reason, an excessive
solicitude to have other children. This impatience hastened, in all probability, the accession of Charles to the crown of Spain. Ferdinand, in
order to procure a blessing, of which, from his advanced age, and the
intemperance of his youth, he could have little prospect, had recourse to
his physicians, and by their prescription took one of those potions, which
are supposed to add vigour to the constitution, though they more frequently
prove fatal to it. This was its effect on a frame so feeble and exhausted
as that of Ferdinand  for though he survived a violent disorder, which it
at first occasioned, it brought on such an habitual languor and dejection of
mind, as rendered him averse from any serious attention to public affair,
and fond of frivolous amusements, on which he had not hitherto bestowed
much time.~  Though he now despaired of having any son of his own,
his jealousy of the archduke did not abate, nor could he help viewing
him with that aversion which princes often bear to their successors. In
order to gratify this unnatural passion, he made a will, appointing prince
Ferdinand, who, having been born and educated in Spain, was much beloved by the Spaniards, to be regent of all his kingdoms, until the arrival
of the archduke his brother; and by the same deed he settled upon him
the grand-mastership of the three military orders. The former of these
grants might have put it in the power of the young prince to have disputed the throne with his brother; the latter would, in any event, have
rendered him'almost independent of him.
Ferdinand retained to the last that jealous love of power, which was so
remarkable through his whole life. Unwilling even at the approach ot
death to admit a thought of relinquishing any portion of his authority, he
removed continually from place to place, in order to fly from his distemper,
or to forget it. Though his strength declined every day, none of his attendants durst mention his condition; nor would he admit his father confessor, who thought such silence criminal and unchristian, into his presence.
At last the danger became so imminent, that it could be no longer concealed.
* Mariana, lib. 29. c. 10,, Ibid. lib. 29. c. 18.    Mlar. lib. 30. c. 11, 12. 19.24.   Zurit8
Annales de Arag. vi. p. 347. P. Mart. Ep. 531. Argensola Annales de Aragon, lib. i. p. 4.
VOL. II -r




8                        THE REIGN OF THE                               [BooK I.
Ferdinand received  the intimation with a decent fortitude, and touched,
perhaps, with compunction at the injustice which he had done his grandson,
or influenced by the honest reinonstrances of Carvajal, Zapata, and Vargas,
his most ancient and faithful counsellors, who represented to him, that by
investing prince Ferdinand with the regency, he would infallibly entail a
civil war on the two brothers, and by bestowing on him  the grand master
ship of the military orders, would strip the crown of its noblest ornament
and chief strength, he consented to alter his will with respect to both these
particulars.. By a new  deed he left Charles the sole heir of all his domninions, and allotted to prince Ferdinand, instead of that throne of which
he thought himself almost secure, an: inconsiderable establishment of fifty
thousand ducats a year.,   He died'a few  hours after signing this will, on
the twenty-third day of January, one thousand five hundred and sixteen.
Charles, to whom such a noble inheritance descended by his death, was
near the full age of sixteen. He had hitherto resided in the Low Countries, his paternal dominions.  Margaret of Austria, his aunt, and Margaiet
of York, the sister of Edward IV. of England, and widow of Charles the
Bold, two princesses of great virtue and abilities, had the care of forming
his early youth. Upon the death of his father, the Flemings committed
the government of the Low  Countries to his grandfather, the emperor
Maximilian, with  the name rather than the authority of regent.   Mlaximilian made choice of William  de Croy lord of Chievres to superintend
the education of the young prince his grandson..    That nobleman possessed, in an eminent degree, the'talents which fitted him for such an important office, and discharged the duties of it with great fidelity.  Under
Chievres, Adrian of Utrecht acted as preceptor.  This preferment, which
opened his way to the highest dignities an ecclesiastic can attain, he owed
not to his birth, for that was extremely mean; nor to his interest, for he
was a stranger to the arts of a court: but to the opinion which his countrymen entertained of his learning. He was indeed no inconsiderable
proficient in those frivolous  sciences, which, during  several centuries,
assumed the name of philosophy, and had published a commentary, which
was highly esteemed, upon  The Book of Sentences, a famous treatise of
Petrus Lombardus, considered at that time as the standard system  of metaphysical theology.  But whatever admiration these procured him  in an
* Mar. Hist. lib. 30. c. ult. Zurita Annales de Arag. vi. 401. P. Mart. Ep. 565, 566. Argensola
Annales de Arag. lib. i. p. 11.
t Pontius Heuterus, Rerum Austriacarum, lib. xv. Lov. 1649, lib. vii. c. 2. p. 155.! The French historians, upon the authority of M. de Bellay, Mem. p. 11. have unanimously asperted, that Philip, by his last will, having appointed the king of France to have the direction of his
son's education, Louis XII. with a disinterestedness suitable to the confidence reposed in him,
named Chievres for that office. Even the president Henaut has adopted this opinion. Abrege
Chron. A. D. 1507. Varillas, in his usual manner, pretends to have seen Philip's testament. Prac.
de l'Education des Princes, p. 16. But the Spanish,.German, and Flemish historians concur in con 
tradicting this assertion of the French authors. It appears fromHeuterus, a contemporary Flemnis
historian of great authority, that Louis XII. by consenting to the marriage of Germaine de Foix with
Ferdinand, had lost much of that confidence which Philip once placed in him; that this disgust was
increased by the French king's giving in marriage to the count of Angouleme his eldest daughter,
whom he had formerly betrothed to Charles, Henter. Rer. Austr. lib. v. 151: That the French, a
short time before Philip's death, had violated the peace which subsisted between them and the
Flemings, and Philip had complained of this injury, and was ready to resent it. Heuter. ibid. All
these circumstances render it improbable that Philip, who made his will a few days before he died,
Heuter. p. 152, should commit the education of his son to Louis XII. In confirmation of these plausible conjectures, positive testimony can be produced. It appears from Heuterus, that Philip, when
he set out for Spain, had intrusted Chievres both with the care of his son's education, and with the
government of his dominions in the Low-Countries. Heuter. lib. vii. p. 153. That an attempt was
made, soon after Philip's death, to have the emperor Maximilian appointed regent, during the rinority of his grandson; but this being opposed, Chievres seems to have continued to discharge both the
offices which Philip had committed to him. Heut. ibid. 153-155." That in the beginning of the year
1508, the Flemings invited Maximilian to accept of the regency; to which he consented, and appointed his daughter, Margaret, together with a council of Flemings, to exercise the supreme authority, when he himself should at any time be absent. He likewise namled Chievres as governor, and
Adrian Utrecht as preceptor to his son. Heut. ibid. 155-157. What Heuterns relates with
respect to this matter is confiimed by Moringus in Vita Adriani apud Analecta Casp. Burmazni de
Airiano, cap. 10; by Barlandus Chronic. Prabant. ibid. p. 25; and by Hareus Annal. Brab.. Ja
U. 520, &.e




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                 99
illiterate age, it was soon found thab   a man accustomed to the. retirement
of a college, unacquainted with the world, and without aly tincture of
taste or elegance, was by no means qualified for rendering science agreeable to a young prince.) Charles, accordingly, discovered an early aversion
to learning, and an excessive fondness for those violent and martial exer
cises, to excel in which was the chief pride, and almost the only study, of
persons of rank in that age.  Chievres encouraged this taste, either from
a desire of gaining his pupil by indulgence, or from  too slight an opinion
of the advantages of literary accomplishments."  He instructed him, however, with great care in the arts of government; he made him study the
history not only of his own kingdoms, but of those with which they were
connected; he accustomed him, from the time of his assuming the government of Flanders in the year one thousand five hundred and fifteen, to
attend to business; he persuaded him  to peruse all papers relating to
public affairs; to be present at the deliberations of his privy-counsellors,
and to propose to them himself those matters, concerning which he required their opinion.t From such an education, Charles contracted habits
of gravity and recollection which scarcely suited his time of life.  The
first openings of his genius did not indicate that superiority which its maturer age displayed.:  He did not discover in his youth the impetuosity of
spirit which commonly ushers in an active and enterprising manhood.
Nor did his early obsequiousness to Chievres, and his other favourites,
promise that capacious and decisive judgment, which afterwards directed
the affairs of one half of Europe.  But his subjects, dazzled with the external accomplishments of a graceful figure and manly address, and
viewing his character with that partiality which is always shown to princes
during their youth, entertained sanguine hopes of his adding lustre to
those crowns which descended to him by the death of Ferdinand.
The kingdoms of Spain, as is evident from the view which I have given
of their political constitution, were at that time in a situation which re
quired an administration no less vigorous than prudent.  The feudal
institutions, which had been introduced into all its different provinces by
the Goths, the Suevi, and the Vandals, subsisted in great force. The
nobles, who were powerful and warlike, had long possessed all the exorbitant privileges which these institutions vested in their order. The
cities in Spain were more numerous and more considerable, than the
genius of feudal government, naturally unfavourable to commerce and to
regular police, seemed to admit.  The personal rights, and political
inluence, which the inhabitants of these cities had acquired, were extensive.
The royal prerogative, circumscribed by the privileges of the nobility,
and by the pretensions of the people, was confined within very narrow
limits. Under such a form of government, the principles of discord were
many; the bond of union was extremely feeble; and Spain felt not only
all the inconveniences occasioned by the defects in the feudal system, but
was exposed to disorders arisihg from the peculiarities in its own con
stitution.
During the long administration of Ferdinand, no internal commotion, it
is true, had arisen in Spain. His superior abilities had enabled him to
restrain the turbulence of the nobles, and to moderate the jealousy of the
commons.  By the wisdom of his domestic government, by the sagacity
with which he conducted his foreign operations, and by the high opinion
which his subjects entertained of both, he had preserved among them a
degree of tranquillity, greater than was natural to a constitution, in which
the seeds of discord and disorder were so. copiously mingled. But, by
* Jovii Vita Adriani, p. 91. Struvii Corpus Hist. Germ. ii. 967. P. Heuter. Rer. Auser. lih. vii c.
3. p. 157.       t Memoires de Bellay, 8vo. Par. 1573. p. 11. P. Heuter. lib, viii. c. i. p. An
+ r. Martyr, Ep 569-55-.




100                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [BooK i.
the death of Ferdinand, these restraints were at once withdrawn; and
faction and discontent, from being long repressed, were ready to break
out with fiercer animosity.
In order to prevent these evils, Ferdinand had in his last will taken a
most prudent precaution, by appointing cardinal Ximenes, archbishop of
Toledo, to be sole regent of Castile, until the arrival of his grandson in
Spain. The singular character of this man, and the extraordinary qualities which marked him out for that office at such a juncture, merit a particular description. He was descended of an honourable, not of a wealthy
family; and the circumstances of his parents, as well as his own inclinations, having determined him to enter into the church, he early obtained
benefices of great value, and which placed him in the way of the highest
preferment. All these, however, he renounced at once; and after under
going a very severe noviciate, assumed the habit of St. Francis in a
monastery of Observantine friars, one of the most rigid orders in the Romish church.  There he soon became eminent for his uncommon austerity
of manners, and for those excesses of superstitious devotion, which are the
proper characteristics of the monastic life. But notwithstanding these
extravagances, to which weak and enthusiastic minds alone are usually
prone, his understanding, naturally penetrating and decisive, retained its
full vigour, and acquired him such great authority in his own order, as
raised him to be their provincial. His reputation for sanctity soon prc,
cured him the office of father-confessor to queen Isabella, which he accept
ed with the utmost reluctance. He preserved in a court the same austerity of manners which had distinguished him in the cloister. He continued
to make all his journeys on foot; he subsisted only upon alms; his acts of
mortification were as severe as ever, and his penances as rigorous. Isabella, pleased with her choice, conferred on him, not long after, the archbishopric of Toledo, which, next to the papacy, is the richest dignity in
the church of Rome. This honour he declined with a firmness, which
nothing but the authoritative injunction of the pope was able to overcome.
Nor did this height of promotion change his manners. Though obliged
to display in public that magnificence which became his station, hle him.
self retained his monastic severity. Under his pontifical robes he ccnstantly wore the coarse frock of St. Francis, the rents in which he used
to patch with his own hands. He at no time used linen; but was cornmonly clad in hair-cloth. He slept always in his habit, most frequently
on the ground, or on boards, rarely in a bed. He did not taste any of the
delicacies which appeared at his table, but satisfied himself with that simple diet which the rule of his order prescribed.* Notwithstanding these
peculiarities, so opposite to the manners of the world, he possessed a thorough knowledge of its affairs; and no sooner was he called by his station,
and by the high opinion which Ferdinand and Isabella entertained of him,
to take a principal share in the administration, than he displayed talents
for business, which rendered the fame of his wisdom equal to that of his
saztity   His political conduct, remarkable for the boldness and originality
of. all his plans, flowed from his real character, and partook both of its
virtues and its defects. His extensive genius suggested to him schemes
vast and magnificent. Conscious of the integrity of his intentions, he pursued these with unremitting and undaunted firmness. Accustomed from
his early youth to mortify his own passions, he showed little indulgence
towards those of other men. Taught by his system of religion to check
even his most innocent desires, he was the enemy of every thing to which
he could affix the name of elegance or pleasure. Though free from any
suspicion of cruelty, he discovered, in all his commerce with the world, a
severe inflexibility of mind, and austerity of character, peculiar to the
Histoire de l'adminlatratlon du Card. Ximen. par Mich. Paudier, 4to. 1635. p. 13*




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              101
monastic profession, and which can hardly be conceived in a country
where that is unknown.
Such was the man to whom Ferdinand committed the regency of Cas
tile; and though Ximenes was then near fourscore, and perfectly acquainted with the labour and difficulty of the office, his natural intrepidity of
mind, and zeal for the public good, prompted him to accept of it without
hesitation. Adrian of Utrecht, who had been sent into Spain a few months
before the death of Ferdinand, produced full powers from the archduke
to assume the name and authority of regent, upon the demise of his grandfather; but such was the aversion of the Spaniards to the government of
a stranger, and so unequal the abilities of the two competitors, that Adrian's
claim would at once have been rejected, if Ximenes himself, from complaisance to his new master, had not consented to acknowledge him as
regent, and to carry on the government in conjunction with him. By this,
however, Adrian acquired a dignity merely nominal. Ximenes, though
he treated him with great decency, and even respect, retained the whole
power in his own hands.*
The cardinal's first care was to observe the motions of the infant Don
Ferdinand, who, having been flattered with so near a prospect of supreme
power, bore the disappointment of his hopes with greater impatience than
a prince at a period of life so early could have been supposed to feel.
Ximenes, under pretence of providing more effectually for his safety,
removed him from Guadaloupe, the place in which he had been educated,
to Madrid, where he fixed the residence of the court. There he was
under the cardinal's own eye, and his conduct, with that of his domestics,
was watched with the utmost attention.s
The first intelligence he received from the Low Countries, gave greater
disquiet to the cardinal, and convinced him how difficult a task it would
be to conduct the affairs of an unexperienced prince, under the influence
of counsellors unacquainted with the laws and manners of Spain. No
sooner did the account of Ferdinand's death reach Brussels, than Charles,
by the advice of his Flemish ministers, resolved to assume the title of
king. By the laws of Spain, the sole right to the crowns, both of Castile
annd Aragon, belonged to Joanna; and though her infirmities disqualified
her from governing, this incapacity had not been declared by any public
act of the Cortes in either kingdom: so that the Spaniards considered this
resolution, not only as a direct violation of their privileges, but as an
unnatural usurpation in a son on the prerogatives of a mother, towards
whom, in her present unhappy situation, he manifested a less delicate
regard than her subjects had always expressed.1  The Flemish court,
however, having prevailed both on the pope and on the emperor to address
letters to Charles as king of Castile; the former of whom, it was pretended, had a right, as head of the church; and the latter, as head of the
empire, to confer this title; instructions were sent to Ximenes, to prevail
on the Spaniards to acknowledge it. Ximenes, though he had earnestly
remonstrated against the measure, as no less unpopular than unnecessary,
resolved to exert all his authority and credit in carrying it into execution,
and immediately assembled such of the nobles as were then at court.
What Charles required was laid before them; and when, instead of complying with his demands, they began to murmur against such an unprecedented encroachment on their privileges, and to talk high of the rights of
Joanna, and their oath of allegiance to her, Ximenes hastily interposed,
and with that firm and decisive tone which was natural to him, told them
that they were not called now to deliberate, but to obey; that their sovereign did not apply to them for advice, but expected submission; and
* Gometius de reb. gest. Ximenii, p. 150. fol. Conpl. 1569.    t Miniana Contin. Marianuc, lib
t c. 2. Baudier Hist. de Xinenes, p. 118.  + P. Mart. Ep. 568.




102               TBHE REIGN OF THE                       [BoolK' this day," added he, " Charles shall'be proclaimed king of Castile in
Madrid; and the rest of the cities, I doubt not, will follow its example."
On the spot he gave orders for that purpose* [April 13]; and, notwithstanding the novelty of the practice, and the secret discontents of many
persons of distinction, Charles's title was universally recognised. In Aragon, where the privileges of the subject were wore extensive, and tile
abilities as well as authority of the archbishop of Saragossa, whom Ferdinand had appointed regent, were far inferior to those of Ximenes, the
same obsequiousness to the will of Charles did not appear, nor was he
acknowledged there under any other character but that of prince, until
his arrival in Spain..
Ximenes, though possessed only of delegated power, which from hi'
advanced age he could not expect to enjoy long, assumed, together with
the character of regent, all the ideas natural to a monarch, and adopted
schemes for extending the regal authority, which he pursued with as much
intrepidity and ardour, as if he himself had been to reap the advantages
resulting from their success. The exorbitant privileges of the Castilian
nobles circumscribed the prerogative of the prince within very narrow
limits.  These privileges the cardinal considered as so many unjust extortions from the crown, and determined. to abridge them. Dangerous as the
attempt was, there were circumstances in his situation which promised
him greater success than any king of Castile could have expected. His
strict and prudent economy of his archiepiscopal revenues furnished him
with more ready money than the crown could at any time command; the
sanctity of his manners, his charity and munificence, rendered him the
idol of the people; and the nobles themselves, not suspecting any danger
from him, did not observe his motions with the same jealous attention, as
they would have watched those of one of their monarchs.
Immediately upon his accession to the regency, several of the nobles fancy
ing that the reins of government would of consequence be somewhat relaxed,
began to assemble their vassals, and to prosecute, by force of arms, private
quarrels and pretensions, which the authority of Ferdinand had obliged
them  to dissemble, or to relinquish. But Ximenes, who had taken into
pay a good body of troops, opposed and defeated all their designs with
unexpected vigour and facility; and though he did not treat the authors
of these disorders with any cruelty, he forced them to acts of submission,
extremely mortifying to the haughty spirit of Castilian grandees.
But while the cardinal's attacks were confined to individuals, and every
act of rigour was justified by the appearance of necessity, founded on the
forms of justice, and tempered with a mixture of lenity, there was scarcely
room for jealousy or complaint. It was not so with his next measure,
which, by striking at a privilege essential to the nobility, gave a general
alarm to the whole order. By the feudal constitution, the military power
was lodged in the hands of the nobles, and men of an inferior condition
were called into the field only as their vassals, and to follow their banners.
A king, with scanty revenues, and a limited prerogative, depended pn these
potent barons, in all his operations. It was with their forces he attacked
his enemies, and with them he defended his kingdom. While at the
nead of troops attached warmly to their own immediate lords, and accustomed to obey no other commands, his authority was precarious, and his
efforts feeble. From this state Ximenes resolved to deliver the crown;
and as mercenary standing armies were unknown under the feudal government, and would have been odious to a martial and generous people, he
issued a proclamation, commanding every city in Castile to enrol a certain
number of its burgesses, in order that they might be trained to the use of
arms on Sundays and holydays; he engaged to provide officers to command
* ometius, p. 15S, &c. Baudior Hist. de Ximn. p. 121.  l P. Marf Ep. 57.




EMPEROR CHARLES V                               103
them at the public expense; and, as an encouragement to the private men,
promised them an exemption from all taxes and impositions. The frequent
incursions of the Moors from Africa, and the necessity of having some force
always ready to oppose them, furnished a. plausible pretence for this
innovation. The object really in view was to secure the king a body of
troops independent of his barons, and which might serve to counterbalance
their power.*  The nobles were not slow in perceiving what was his
intention, and saw how effectually the scheme which he had adopted
would accomplish his end; but as a measure which had the pious appearance of resisting the progress of the infidels was extremely popular, and
as any opposition to it, arising from their order alone, would have been
imputed wholly to interested motives, they endeavoured to excite the
cities themselves to refuse obedience, and to inveigh against the proclamation as inconsistent with their charters and privileges. In consequence of
their instigations, Burgos, Valladolid, and several other cities, rose in open
mutiny.  Some of the grandees declared themselves their protectors.
Violent remonstrances were presented to the king. His Flemish coun
sellors were alarmed. Ximenes alone continued firm and undaunted; and
partly by terror, partly by entreaty; by force in some instances, and by
forbearance in others; he prevailed on all the refractory cities to comply.t
During his administration, he continued to execute his plan with vigour;
but soon after his death it was entirely dropped.
His success in this scheme for reducing the exorbitant power of the
nobility, encouraged him to attempt a diminution of their possessions,
which were no less exorbitant.  During the contests and disorders
inseparable from the feudal government, the nobles, ever attentive to
their own interest, and taking advantage of the weakness or distress of
their monarchs, had seized some parts of the royal demesnes, obtained
grants of others, and having gradually wrested almost the whole out
of the hands of the prince, had annexed them  to their own estates.
The titles, by which most of the grandees held these lands, were
extremely defective; it -was from some successful usurpation, which the
crown had been too feeble to dispute, that many derived their only
claim to possession. An inquiry carried back to the origin of these
encroachments, which were almost coeval with the feudal system, was
impracticable; and as it would have stripped every nobleman in Spain of
great part of his lands, it must have excited a general revolt. Such a step
was too bold, even for the enterprising genius of Ximenes. He confined
himself to the reign of Ferdinand; and beginning with the pensions
granted during that time, refused to make any farther payment, because
all right to them expired with his life. He then called to account such
as had acquired crown lands under the administration of that monarch,
and at once resumed whatever he had alienated. The effects of these
revocations extended to many persons of high rank; for though Ferdinand
was a prince of little generosity, yet he and Isabella having been raised
to the throne of Castile by a powerful faction of the nobles, they were
obliged to reward the zeal of their adherents with great liberality, and
the royal demesnes were their only fund for that purpose. The addition
made to the revenue of the crown by these revocations, together with his
own frugal economy, enabled Ximenes not only to discharge all the debts
which Ferdinand had left, and to remit considerable sums to Fianders,
but to pay the officers of his new militia, and to establish magazines not
only more numerous, but better furnished with artillery, arms, and warlike
stores, than Spain had ever possessed in any former age.4 The prudent
* Miniana Continuatio Mariana, fol. Ilag. 1733. p. 3.   t P. Mart. Ep. 556, &c. Gometius
p. 160, &e.   I Flechler Vie de Ximen. ii 600.




aIt                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [BocK i.
and disinterested application of these sums, was a full apology to the
people for the rigour with which they were exacted.
The nobles, alarmed at these repeated attacks, began to think of pre
cautions for the safety of their order. Many cabals were formed, loud
complaints were uttered, and desperate resolutions taken; but before they
proceeded to extremities, they appointed some of their number to examine
the powers in consequence of which the cardinal exercised acts of such
high authority. The admiral of Castile, the duke de Infantado, and the
Conde de Benevento, grandees of the first rank, were intrusted with this
commission. Ximenes received them with cold civility, and in answer to
their demand, produced the testament of Ferdinand by which he was
appointed regent, together with the ratification of that deed by Charles.
To both these they objected; and he endeavoured to establish their
validity. As the conversation grew warm, he led them insensibly towards
a balcony, from which they had a view of a large body of troops under
arms, and of a formidable train of artillery. " Behold,' says he, pointing
w. these and raising his voice, " the powers which I have received from
his Catholic majesty. With these I govern Castile; and with these I
will govern it, until the king your master and mine takes possession oi
his kingdom."'   A declaration so bold and haughty silenced them, and
astonished their associates. To take arms against a man aware of his
danger, and prepared for his defence, was what despair alone would
dictate. All thoughts of a general confederacy against the cardinal's
administration were laid aside; and except from some slight commotions,
excited by the private resentment of particular noblemen, the tranquillity
of Castile suffered no interruption.
It was not only from the opposition of the Spanish nobility that obstacles
arose to the execution of the cardinal's schemes; he had a constant struggle to maintain with the Flemish ministers, who, presuming upon their
favour with the young king, aimed at directing the affairs of Spain, as well
as those of their own country. Jealous of the great abilities and independent spirit of Ximenes, they considered him rather as a rival who might
circumscribe their power, than as a minister, who by his prudence and
vigour was adding to the grandeur and authority of their master. Every
complaint against his administration was listened to with pleasure by the
courtiers in the Low-Countries. Unnecessary obstructions were thrown
by their means in the way of all his measures; and though they could
not, either with decency or safety, deprive him of the office of regent,
they endeavoured to lessen his authority by dividing it. They soon
discovered that Adrian of Utrecht, already joined with him in office, had
neither genius nor spirit sufficient to give the least check to his proceedings;
and therefore Charles, by their advice, added to the commission of regency
La Chau, a Flemish gentleman, and afterwards Amerstorf, a nobleman of
Holland; the former distinguished for his address, the latter for his firmness. Ximenes, though no stranger to the malevolent intention of the
Flemish courtiers, received these new associates with all the external
marks of distinction due to the office with which they were invested; but
when they came to enter upon business, he abated nothing of that air of
superiority with which he had treated Adrian, and still retained the sole
direction of affairs. The Spaniards, more averse, perhaps, than any other
people, to the government of strangers, approved of all his efforts to preserve his own authority. Even the nobles, influenced by this national
passion, and forgetting their jealousies and discontents, chose rather to
see the supreme power in the hands of one of their countrymen, whom
they feared, than in those of foreigners, whom they hated.
Ximenes, though engaged in such great schemes of domestic policy
t Flech. ii. 551.  Ferreras, Hist. viii. 433.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               10
and embarrassed by the artifices and intrigues of the Flemish min.sters,
had the burden of two foreign wars to support.  The one was in Navarre,
which was invaded by its unfortunate monarch John d'Albret. The death
of Ferdinand, the absence of Charles, the discord and disaffection which
reigned among the Spanish nobles, seemed to present him with a favourable opportunity of recovering his dominions. The cardinal's vigilance,
however, defeated a measure so well concerted. As he foresaw the danger to which that kingdom  might be exposed, one of his first acts of
administration was to order thither a considerable body of troops. While
the king was employed with one part of his army in the siege of St. Jean
Pied en Port, Villalva, an officer of great experience and courage, attacked
the other by surprise, and cut it to pieces.  The king instantly retreated
with precipitation, and an end was put to the war.*  But as Navarre was
filled at that time with towns and castles slightly fortified, and weakly
garrisoned, which being unable to resist an enemy, served only to furnish
him with places of retreat; Ximenes, always bold and decisive in his
measures, ordered every one of these to be dismantled, except Pampeluna,
the fortifications of which he proposed to render very strong.  To this
uncommon precaution Spain owes the possession of Navarre. The French,
since that period, have often entered, and have as often overrun the open
country; while they were exposed to all the inconveniences attending an
invading army, the Spaniards have easily drawn troops from the neighbouring provinces to oppose them; and the French having no place of
any strength to which they could retire, have been obliged repeatedly to
abandon their conquest with as much rapidity as they gained it.
The other war which he carried on in Africa, against the famous adventurer Horuc Barbarossa, who, from  a private corsair, raised himself, by
his singular valour and address, to be king of Algiers and Tunis, was far
from being equally successful.  The ill conduct of the Spanish general,
and the rash valour of his troops, presented Barbarossa with an easy victory. Many perished in the battle, more in the retreat, and the remainder
returned into Spain covered with infamy. The magnanimity, however,
with which the cardinal bore this disgrace, the only one he experienced
during his administration, added new lustre to his character.f  Great
composure of temper under a disappointment was not expected from a
man so remarkable for the eagerness and impatience with which he urged
on the execution of all his schemes.
This disaster was soon forgotten; while the conduct of the Flemish
court proved the cause of constant uneasiness, not only to the cardinal,
but to the whole Spanish nation. All the great qualities of Chievres, the
prime minister and avourite of the young king, were sullied with an ignoble
and sordid avarice. The accession of his master to the crown of Spain,
opened a new and copious source for the gratification of this passion.
During the time of Charles's residence in Flanders, the whole tribe of
pretenders to offices or to favour resorted thither.  They soon discovered
that, without the patronage of Chievres, it was vain to hope for preferment; nor did they want sagacity to find out the proper method of securing
his protection. Great sums of money were drawn out cf Spain. Every
thing was venal, and disposed of to the highest bidder. After the example
of Chievres, the inferior Flemish ministers engaged in this traffic, which
became as general and avowed, as it was infamous.+  The Spaniards
were filled with rage when they beheld offices of great importance to the
welfare of their country, set to sail by strangers, unconcerned for its honour
or its happiness. Ximienes, disinterested in his whole administration, and
a stranger, from, his native grandeur of mind, to the passion of avarice.
inveighed with the utmost boldness against the venality of the Flemings.
a P. Mart. Ep. 570  t Gometius, lib. vi. p. 179.:   Miniana, Contin. 1. i.e. 2.
VOL. II. —14




106               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [BOOK 1.
He represented to the king, in strong terms, the murmurs and indignation
which their behaviour excited among a free and high spirited people, and
besought him to set out without loss of time for Spain, that, by his presence, he might dissipate the clouds which were gathering ali over the
kingdom?
Charles was fully sensible that he had delayed too long to take possession of his dominions in Spain. Powerful obstacles, however, stood in his
way, and detained him in the Low-Countries. The war which the league
of Cambray had kindled in Italy, still subsisted; though during its course,
the armies of all the parties engaged in it had changed their destination
and their objects. France was now in alliance with Venice, which it had
at first combined to destroy. Maximilian and Ferdinand had for some
years carried on hostilities against France, their original ally, to the valour
of whose troops the confederacy had been indebted in a great measure
for its success. Together with his kingdoms, Ferdinand transmitted this
war to his grandson; and there was reason to expect that Maximilian,
always fond of new enterprises, would persuade the young monarch to
enter into it with ardour. But the Flemings, who had long possessed an
extensive commerce, which, during the league of Cambray, had grown
to a great height upon the ruins of the Venetian trade, dreaded a rupture
with France; and Chievres, sagacious to discern the true interest of his
country, and not warped on this occasion by his love of wealth, warmly
declared for maintaining peace with the French nation. Francis I. destitute of allies, and solicitous to secure his late conquests in Italy by a
treaty, listened with joy to the first overtures of accommodation. Chievres
himself conducted the negotiation in the name of Charles.  Gouffier
appeared as plenipotentiary for Francis. Each of them had presided
over the education of the prince whom he represented. They had both
adopted the same pacific system; and were equally persuaded that the
union of the two monarchs was the happiest event for themselves as well
as for their kingdoms. In such hands the negotiation did not languish.
A few days after opening their conferences at Noyon, they concluded a
treaty of confederacy and mutual defence between the two monarchs
[Aug. 13], the chief articles in which were, that Francis should give in
marriage to Charles, his eldest daughter, the princess Louise, an infant of
a year old, and as her dowry, should make over to him all his claims and
pretensions upon the kingdom  of Naples; that, in consideration of
Charles's being already in possession of Naples, he should, until the accomplishment of the marriage, pay a hundred thousand crowns a-year to
the French king; and the half of that sum annually as long as the princess
had no children; that when Charles shall arrive in Spain, the heirs of
the king of Navarre may represent to him their right to that kingdom;
and if, after examining their claim, he does not give them satisfaction,
Francis shall be at liberty to assist them with all his forces.t This
alliance not only united Charles and Francis, but obliged Maximilian, who
was unable alone to cope with the French and Venetians, to enter into a
treaty with those powers, which put a final period to the bloody and
tedious war that the league of Cambray had occasioned. Europe en
joyed a few years of universal tranquillity, and was indebted for that
blessing to two princes, whose rivalship and ambition kept it in perpetual
discord and agitation during the remainder of their reigns.
By the treaty of Noyon, Charles secured a safe passage into Spain
It was not, however, the interest of his Flemish ministers, that he should
visit that kingdom soon. While he resided in Flanders, the revenues of
the Spanish crown were spent there, and they engrossed, without any
competitors, all the effects of their monarch's generosity; their countrV
* p. Mart. Ep. 576  t Leonard Recueil des Traitez, tom. ii. 69




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              107
became the seat of government, and all favours were dispensed by them.
Of all these advantages they run the risk of seeing themselves deprived,
from the moment that their sovereign entered Spain. The Spaniards
would naturally assume the direction of their own affairs; the LowCountries would be considered only as a province of that mighty mo
narchy; and they who now distributed the favours of the prince to others,
must then be content to receive them from the hands of strangers. But
what Chievrrs chiefly wished to avoid was, an interview between the
king and Ximenes. On the one hand, the wisdom, the integrity, and the
magnanimity of that prelate, gave him a wonderful ascendant over the
minds of men; and it was extremely probable, that these great qualities,
added to the reverence due to his age and office, would command the
respect of a young prince, who, capable of noble and generous sentiments
himself, would, in proportion to his admiration of the cardinal's virtues,
lessen his deference towards persons of another character. Or, on the
other hand, if Charles should allow his Flemish favourites to retain all the
influence over his councils which they at present possessed, it was easy
to foresee that the cardinal would remonstrate loudly against such an
indignity to the Spanish nation, and vindicate the rights of his country
with the same intrepidity and success, with which he had asserted the
prerogatives of the crown. For these reasons, all his Flemish counsellors
combined to retard his departure; and Charles, unsuspicious, from want
of experience, and fond of his native country, suffered himself to be unnecessarily detained in the Netherlands a whole year after signing the
treaty of Noyon.
The repeated entreaties of Ximenes, the advice of his grandfather
Maximilian, and the impatient murmurs of his Spanish subjects, prevailed
on him at last to embark. He was attended not only by Chievres, his
prime minister, but by a numerous and splendid train of the Flemish
nobles, fond of beholding the grandeur, or of sharing in the bounty of
their prince. After a dangerous voyage, he landed at Villa Viciosa, in
the province of Asturias [Sept. 131, and was received with such loud
acclamations of joy, as a new monarch, whose arrival was so ardently
desired, had reason to expect. The Spanish nobility resorted to their
sovereign from all parts of the kingdom, and displayed a magnificence
which the Flemings were unable to emulate.*
Ximenes, who considered the presence of the king as the greatest
blessing to his dominions, was advancing towards the coast, as fast as the
infirm state of his health would permit, in order to receive him. During
his regency, and notwithstanding his extreme old age, he had abated,
in no degree, the rigour or frequency of his mortifications; and to these
he added such laborious assiduity in business, as would have worn out
the most youthful and vigorous constitution. Every day he employed
several hours in devotion; he celebrated mass in person; he even allotted
some space for study. Notwithstanding these occupations, he regularly
attended the council; he received and read all papers presented to him,
he dictated letters and instructions; and took under his inspection all
business, civil, ecclesiastical, or military. Every moment of his time
was filled up with some serious employment.  The only amusement in
which he indulged himself, by way of relaxation after business, was to
canvass, with a few friars and other divines, some intricate article in
scholastic theology. Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of
age daily grew upon him. On his journey, a violent disorder seized him
at Bos Equillos, attended with uncommon symptoms, which his followers
considered as the effect of poison, but could not agree whether the
crime ought to be imputed to the hatred of the Spanish nobles, or to the
* P. Mart. Ep. 599. 601.   t Miniana, Contin. lib. i. c. 3.




108                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BooK I.
malice of the Flemish courtiers.  This accident obliged him to stop short,
he wrote to Charles, and with his usual boldness advised him, to dismiss
all the strangers in his train, whose numbers and credit gave offence
already to the Spaniards, and would ere long alienate the affections of
the whole people. At the same time he earnestly desired to have an
interview with the king, that he might inform him of the state of the
nation, and the temper of his subjects. To prevent this, not only the
Flemirgs, but the Spanish grandees, employed all their address, and industriously kept Charles at a distance from  Apanda, the place to which
the cardinal had removed.  Through their suggestions, every measure
that he recommended was rejected; the utmost care was taken to mala
him feel, and to point out to the whole nation, that his power was on the
decline; even in things purely trivial, such a choice was always made,
as was deemed most disagreeable to him. Ximenes did not bear this
treatment with his usual fortitude of spirit.   Conscious of his own
integrity and merit, he expected a more grateful return from a prince, to
whom he delivered a kingdom more flourishing than it had been in any
former age, together with authority more extensive and better established
than the most illustrious of his ancestors had ever possessed. He could
not, therefore, on many occasions, refrain from giving vent to his indignation and complaints. He lamented the fate of his country, and foretold
the calamities which it would suffer from the insolence, the rapaciousness,
and ignorance of strangers. While his mind was agitated by these
passions, he received a letter from the king, in which, after a few cold
and formal expressions of regard, he was allowed to retire to his diocess;
that after a life of such continued labour, he might end his days in tranquillity. This message proved fatal to Ximenes. His haughty mind, it
is probable, could not survive disgrace; perhaps his generous heart could
not bear the prospect of the misfortunes ready to fall on his country.
Whichsoever of these opinions we embrace, certain it is that he expired
a few hours after reading the letter" [Nov. 8]. The variety, the grandeur, and the success of his schemes, during a regency of only twenty
months, leave it doubtful, whether his sagacity in council, his prudence
in conduct, or his boldness in execution, deserve the greatest praise. His
reputation is still high in Spain, not only for wisdom, but for sanctity;
and he is the only prime minister mentioned in history, whom his contemporaries reverenced as a saint,t and to whom the people under his
government ascribed the power of working miracles.
Soon after the death of Ximenes, Charles made his public entry, with
great pomp, into Valladolid, whither he had summoned the Cortes of
Castile.  Though he assumed on all occasions the name of king, that title
had never been acknowledged in the Cortes.  The Spaniards considered
Joanna as possessed of the sole right to the crown, and no example of a son's
having enjoyed the title of king during the life of his parents occurring in
their history, the Cortes discovered all that scrupulous respect for ancient
forms, and that aversion to innovation, which are conspicuous in popular
assemblies.  The presence, however, of their prince, the address, the
artifices, and the threats of his ministers, prevailed on them at last to proclaim
him king, in conjunction with his mother, whose name they appointed to
be placed before that of her son in all public acts. But when they made
this concession, they declared, that if, at any future period, Joanna should
recover the exercise of reason, the whole royal authority should return into
her hands. At the same time, they voted a free gift of six hundred thousand
ducats, to be paid in three years, a sum more considerable than had ever
been granted to any former monarch.t
* Marsollier, Vie de Ximenes, p. 447. Gomerius, lib. vii. 206, &c. Baudier, Hist. de Ximen.
p. 208.    t Flechier, Vie de Ximen. ii. p 746., Miniana, Contin. lib i * c. 3. P. Mart,
ER, 608. Sandov. p. 12.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              109
Notwithstanding this obsequiousness of the Cortes to the will of the
king, the most violent symptoms of dissatisfaction with his government
began to break out in the kingdom. Chievres had acquired over the mind
of the young monarch the ascendant, not only of a tutor, but of a parent.
Charles seemed to have no sentiments but those which his minister inspired,
and scarcely uttered a word but what he put into his mouth. He was
constantly surrounded by Flemings; no person got access to him without
their permission; nor was any admitted to audience but in their presence.
As he spoke the Spanish language very imperfectly, his answers were
always extremely short, and often delivered with hesitation. from all
these circumstances, many of the Spaniards were led to believe, that he
was a prince of a slow and narrow genius. Some pretended to discover
a strong resemblance between him and his mother, and began to whisper
that his capacity for government would never be far superior to hers; and
though they who had the best opportunity of judging concerning his
character, maintained, that notwithstanding such unpromising appearances,
be possessed a large fund of knowledge, as well as of sagacity;* yet all
agreed in condemning his partiality towards the Flemings, and his attachment to his favourites, as unreasonable and immoderate. Unfortunately
for Charles, these favourites were unworthy of his confidence. To amass
wealth seems to have been their only aim: and as they had reason to
fear, that either their master's good sense, or the indignation of the Spaniards,
might soon abridge their power, they hastened to improve the present
opportunity, and their avarice was the more rapacious, because they
expected their authority to be of no long duration. All honours, offices,
and benefices, were either engrossed by the Flemings, or publicly sold by
them. Chievres, his wife, and Sauvage, whom Charles, on the death of
Ximenes, had imprudently raised to be Chancellor of Castile, vied with
each other in all the refinements of extortion and venality.  Not only the
Spanish historians, who, from resentment, may be suspected of exaggeration, but Peter Martyr Angleria, an Italian, who resided at that time in the
court of Spain, and who was under no temptation to deceive the persons
to whom his letters are addressed, gives a description which is almost
incredible, of the insatiable and shameless covetousness of the Flemings.
According to Angleria's calculation, which he asserts to be extremely
moderate, they remitted into the Low-Countries, in the space of ten months,
no less a sam than a million and one hundred thousand ducats. The
nomination of William de Croy, Chievres' nephew, a young man not of
canonical age, to the archbishopric of Toledo, exasperated the Spaniards
more than all these exactions.. They considered the elevation of a stranger
to the head of their church, and to the richest benefice in the kingdom,
not only as an injury, but as an insult to the whole nation; both clergy
and laity, the former from interest, the latter from indignation,joined in
exclaiming against it.'
Charles leaving Castile thus disgusted with his administration, set out
for Saragossa, the capital of Aragon, that he might be present in the Cortes of
that kingdom. On his way thither, he took leave of his brother Ferdinand,
whcm he sent to Germany on the pretence of visiting their grandfather,
Maximilian, in his old age. To this prudent precaution, Charles owed
the preservation of the Spanish dominions. During the violent commotions
which arose there soon after this period, the Spaniards would infallibly
have offered the crown to a prince, who was the darling of the whole
nation; nor did Ferdinand want ambition, or counsellors, that might have
prompted him to accept of the offer.t
The Aragonese had not hitherto acknowledged Charles as king, nor
* Sandoval, p. 31. P. Mart. Ep. 655.    t Sandoval, 28-31. P. Mart. Ep. 608. 611.613,614
622,623.639. Miniana, Contin. lib. i. c. 3. p. 8.   $ P. Mart. Ep. 619. Ferreras, viii, 460




110                THE REIGN OF THE                        BOOK I.
would they allow the Cortes to be assembled in his name, but in that of
the Justiza, to whom, during an interregnum, this privilege belonged.'
The opposition Charles had to struggle with in the Cortes of Aragon,
was more violent and obstinate than that which he had overcome in Castile; after long delays, however, and with much difficulty, he persuaded
the members to confer on him the title of king, in conjunction with his
mother. At the same time he bound himself by that solemn oath, which
the Aragonese exacted of their kings, never to violate any of their rights
or liberties. When a donative was demanded, the members were still
more intractable; many months elapsed before they would agree to
grant Charles two hundred thousand ducats, and that sum they appropriated
so strictly for paying the debts of the crown, which had long been forgotten,
that a very small part of it came into the king's hands. What had happened in Castile taught them caution, and determined them rather to
satisfy the claims of their fellow-citizens, how obsolete soever, than to
furnish strangers the means of enriching themselves with the spoils of their
country. 
During these proceedings of the Cortes, ambassadors arrived at Saragossa
from Francis I. and the young king of Navarre, demanding the restitution
of that kingdom in terms of the treaty of Noyon. But neither Charles,
nor the Castilian nobles whom he consulted on this occasion, discovered
any inclination to part with this acquisition. A conference held soon after
at Montpelier, in order to bring this matter to an amicable issue, was altogether fruitless-; while the French urged the injustice of the usurpation,
the Spaniards were attentive only to its importance.'
From Aragon Charles proceeded to Catalonia, where he wasted as much
time, encountered more difficulties, and gained less money. The Flemings
were now become so odious in every province of Spain by their exactions,
that the desire of mortifying them, and of disappointing their avarice,
augmented the jealousy with which a free people usually conducted their
deliberations.
The Castilians, who had felt most sensibly the weight and rigour ol
the oppressive schemes carried on by the Flemings, resolved no longer to
submit with a tameness fatal to themselves, and which rendered them the
objects of scorn to their fellow-subjects in the other kingdoms, of which
the Spanish monarchy was composed.  Segovia, Toledo, Seville, and
several other cities of the first rank, entered into a confederacy for the
defence of their rights and privileges; and notwithstanding the silence of
the nobility, who, on this occasion, discovered neither the public spirit, nor
the resolution which became their order, thie confederates laid before the
king a full view of the state of the kingdom, and of the maleadministration of his favourites. The preferment of strangers, the exportation of
the current coin, the increase of taxes, were the grievances of which they
chiefly complained; and of these they demanded redress with that boldness which is natural to a free people. These remonstrances, presented at
first at Saragossa, and renewed afterwards at Barcelona, Charles treated
with great neglect. The confederacy, however, of these cities, at this
Juncture, was the beginning of that famous union among the commons of
Castile, which not long after threw the kingdom into such violent convulsions as shook the throne, and almost overturned the constitution.~
Soon after Charles's arrival at Barcelona, he received the account of an
event which interested him much more than the murmurs of the Castilians,
or the scruples of the Cortes of Catalonia. This was the death of the
emperor Maximilian [Jan. 12]; an occurrence of small importance in
itself, for he was a prince conspicuous neither for his virtues, nor his
* P. Mart. Ep. 60,5.   t Ibid. Ep. 615-634.   f Ibid. Ep. 605. 633. 640.   $ Ibid. Ep. 630
Ferreras, viii. 464.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             ill
power, nor his abilities; but rendered by its consequences more memorable than any that had happened during several ages. It broke that profound and universal peace which then reigned in the Christian world; it
excited a rivalship between two princes, which threw all Europe into agitation, and kindled wars more general, and of longer duration, than had
hitherto been known in modern times.
The revolutions occasioned by the expedition of the French king,
Charles VIII. into Italy, had inspired the European princes with new ideas
concerning the importance of the Imperial dignity. The claims of the
empire upon some of the Italian states were numerous; its jurisdiction
over others was extensive; and though the former had been almost abandoned, and the latter seldom exercised, under princes of slender abilities
and of little influence, it was obvious, that in the hands of an emperor possessed of power or of genius, they might be employed as engines for
stretching his dominion over the greater part of that country. Even Maximilian, feeble and unsteady as his conduct always was, had availed himself of the infinite pretensions of the empire, and had reaped advantage
from every war and every negotiation in Italy during his reign. These
considerations, added to the dignity of the station, confessedly the first
among Christian princes, and to the rights inherent in the office, which, if
exerted with vigour, were far from being inconsiderable, rendered the
Imperial crown more than ever an object of ambition.
Not long before his death, Maximilian had discovered great solicitude
to preserve this dignity in the Austrian family, and to procure the king of
Spain to be chosen his successor. But he himself having never been
crowned by the pope, a ceremony deemed essential in that age, was considered only as emperor elect. Though historians have not attended to
that distinction, neither the Italian nor German chancery bestowed any
other title upon him than that of king of the Romans; and no example
occurring in history of any person's being chosen a successor to a king
of the Romans, the Germans, always tenacious of their forms, and unwilling to confer upon Charles an office for which their constitution knew no
name, obstinately refused to gratify Maximilian in that point.*
By his death, this difficulty was at once removed, and Charles openly
aspired to that dignity which his grandfather had attempted, without success, to secure for him. At the same time Francis I., a powerful rival,
entered the lists against him; and the attention of all Europe was fixed
upon this competition, no less illustrious from the high rank of the candidates, than from the importance of tfle prize for which they contended.
Each of them urged his pretensions with sanguine expectations, and with
no unpromising prospect of success. Charles considered the Imperial
crown as belonging to him of right, from its long continuance in the Austrian line; he knew that none of the German princes possessed power or
influence enough to appear as his antagonist; he flattered himself that no
consideration would induce the natives of Germany to exalt any foreign
prince to a dignity, which during so many ages had been aeemed peculiar
to their own nation; and least of all, that they would confer this honour
upon Francis I., the sovereign of a people whose genius, and laws, and
manners, differed so widely from those of the Germans, that it was hardly
possible to establish any cordial union between them; he trusted not a
little to the effect of Maximilian's negotiations, which, though they did not
attain their end, had prepared the minds of the Germans for his elevation
to the Imperial throne; but what he relied on as a chief recommendation,
was the fortunate situation of his hereditary dominions in Germany, which
served as a natural barrier to the empire against the encroachments of the
* Guicciardini, lib. xiii. p. 15. Hist. Gener. d'Allemagne, par P. Bnrre, tom. viii part I. p. 1087
P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. vii. c. 17. p. 179. lib. viii. c. 2. D. 183.




1l2                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                      [Booil s
Turkish power. The conquests, the abilities, and the ambition of Sultan
Selim II. had spread over Europe, at that time, a general and well-founded
alarm. By his victories over the Mamalukes, and the extirpation of that
gallant body of men, he had not only added Egypt and Syria to his empire, but had secured to it such a degree of internal tranquillity, that he
was ready to turn against Christendom the whole force of his arms, which
nothing hitherto had been able to resist.  The most effectual expedient
for stopping the progress of this torrent, seemed to be the election of an
emperor, possessed of extensive territories in that country, where its first
impression would be felt, and who, besides, could combat this formidable
enemy with all the forces of a powerful monarchy, and with all the wealth
furnished by the mines of the new world, or the commerce of the Low
Countries.  These were the arguments by which Charles publicly supported his claim; and to men of integrity and reflection, they appeared to
be not only plausible but convincing. He did not, however, trust the success of his cause to these alone. Great sums of money were remitted
from Spain; all the refinements and artifice of negotiation were employed;
and a considerable body of troops, kept on foot, at that time, by the states
of the Circle of Suabia, was secretly taken into his pay.. The venal were
gained by presents; the objections of the more scrupulous were answered
or eluded; some feeble princes were threatened and overawed.'
On the other hand, Francis supported his claim with equal eagerness,
and no less confidence of its being well founded. His emissaries contended that it was now high time to convince the princes of the house of
Austria that the Imperial crown wvas elective, and not hereditary; that
other persons might aspire to an honour which their arrogance had accustomed them to regard as the property of their family; that it required a
sovereign of mature judgment, and of approved abilities, to hold the reins
of government in a country where such unknown opinions concerning religion had been published, as had thrown the minds of men into an uncommon agitation, which threatened the most violent effects; that a young
prince, without experience, and who had hitherto given no specimens of
his genius for command, was no fit match for Selim, a monarch grown old
in the art of war, and in the course of victory; whereas a king who in his
early youth had triumphed over the valour and discipline of the Swiss,
till then reckoned invincible, would be an antagonist not unworthy the
conqueror of the East; that the fire and impetuosity of'the French cavalry,
added to the discipline and stability of the German infantry, would form
an army so irresistible, that, instead of waiting the approach of the Ottoman forces, it might carry hostilities into the heart of their dominions;
that the election of Charles would be inconsistent with the fundamental
constitution, by which the person who holds the crown of Naples is excluded from aspiring to the Imperial dignity; that his elevation to that
honour would soon kindle a war in Italy, on account of his pretensions to
the duchy of Milan, the effects of which could not fail of reaching the
empire, and might prove fatal to it.f  But while the French ambassadors
enlarged upon these and other topics of the same kind, in all the courts of
Germany, Francis, sensible of the prejudices entertained against him as
a foreigner, unacquainted with the German language or manners, endeavoured to overcome these, and to gain the favour of the princes by immense gifts, and by infinite promises.  As the expeditious method of
transmitting money, and the decent mode of conveying a bribe, by bills of
exchange, were then little known, the French ambassadors travelled with
a train of horses loaded with treasure, an equipage not very honourable
* Guicc. lib. 13. 159. Sleidan, Hist. of tie Reformat. 14. Struvii Corp. Hist. German. ii. 971.
Not. 0.    t Guicc, lib. 13. 160. Sleid. p. 16. Geor. Sabini de Elect. Car. V. Historia apud
Scardii Script. Rer. German. vol. ii, p. 4.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             113
lor that prince by whom they were employed, and infamous for those to
whom they were sent.*
The other European princes could not remain indifferent spectators of a
contest, the decision of which so nearly affected every one of them
Their common interest ought naturally to have formed a general combination, in order to disappoint both competitors, and to prevent either of them
from obtaining such a pre-eminence in power and dignity, as might prove
dangerous to the liberties of Europe. But the ideas with respect to a
proper distribution and balance of power were so lately introduced into
the system of European policy, that they were not hitherto objects of sufficient attention. The passions of some princes, the want of foresight in
others, and the fear of giving offence to the candidates, hindered such a
salutary union of the powers of Europe, and rendered'them either totally
negligent of the public safety, or kept them from exerting themselves with
vigour in its behalf.
The Swiss Cantons, though they dreaded the elevation of either of the
contending monarchs, and though they wished to have seen some prince
whose dominions were less extensive, and whose power was more moderate, seated on the Imperial throne,.were prompted, however, by their
hatred of the French nation, to give an open preference to the pretensions of
Charles, while they used their utmost influence to frustrate those of Francis.+
The Venetians easily discerned, that it was the interest of their republic
to have both the rivals set aside; but their jealousy of the house of Austria,
whose ambition and neighbourhood had been fatal to their grandeur, would
not permit them to act up to their own ideas, and led them hastily to give
the sanction of their approbation to the claim of the French king.
It was equally the interest, and more in the power of Henry VIII. of
England, to prevent either Francis or Charles from acquiring a dignity
which would raise them so far above other monarchs. But though Henry
often boasted that he held the balance of Europe in bis hand, he had
neither the steady attention, the accurate discernment, nor the dispassionate
temper which that delicate function required. On this occasion, it mortified his vanity so much, to'think that he had not entered early into that
noble competition which reflected such honour upon the two antagonists, that he took a resolution of sending an ambassador into Germany, and
of declaring himself a candidate for the Imperial throne. The ambassador,
though loaded with caresses by the German princes and the pope's nuncio,
informed his master, that he could hope for no success in a claim which
he had been so late in preferring. Henry, imputing his disappointment to
that circumstance alone, and soothed with this ostentatious display of his
own importance, seems to have taken no farther part in the matter, either
by contributing to thwart both his rivals, or to promote one of them.!
Leo X.,a pontiff no less renowned for his political abilities, than for his
love of the arts, was the only prince of the age who observed the motions
of the two contending monarchs with a prudent attention, or who discovered
a proper solicitude for the public safety. The imperial and papal juris.
diction interfered in so many instances, the complaints of usurpation were
so numerous on both sides, and the territories of the church owed their
security so little to their own force, and so much to the weakness of the
powers around them, that nothing was so formidable to the court of Rome
as an emperor with extensive dominions, or of enterprising genius. Leo
trembled at the prospect of beholding the Imperial crown placed on the
head of the king of Spain and of Naples, and the master of the new world;
nor was he less afraid of seeing a king of France, who was the duke of
Milan and lord of Genoa, exalted to that dignity. He foretold that the
* Memoires de Marech. de Fleuranges, p. 2J6.  t Sabinus, p. 6.  + Memoires do Flouranges,
i14 Herbert, Hist. of Henry VIII.
VoL. II. —15




ill                ETHE REIGN  OF THE                     [Boo  1.
election of either of them would be fatal to the independence of the holy
see, to the peace of Italy, and perhaps to the liberties of Europe. But to
oppose them with any prospect of success, required address and caution in
proportion to the greatness of their power, and their opportunities of taking
revenge. Leo was defective in neither. He secretly exhorted the German
princes to place one of their own number on the Imperial throne, which
many of them were capable of filling with honour. He put them in mind
of the constitution by which the kings of Naples were for ever excluded
from that dignity."  He warmly exhorted the French king to persist in his
claim, not from any desire that he should gain his end, but as he foresaw
that the Germans would be more disposed to favour the king of Spain, he
hoped that Francis himself, when he discovered his own'chance of success
to be desperate, would be stimulated by resentment and the spirit ol
rivalship, to concur with all his interest in raising some third person to the
head of the empire; or, on the other hand, if Francis should make an
unexpected progress, he did not doubt but that Charles would be induced
by similar motives to act the same part; and thus, by a prudent attention,
the mutual jealousy of the two rivals might be so dexterously managed, as
to disappoint both. But this scheme, the only one which a prince in Leo's
situation could adopt, though concerted with great wisdom, was executed
with little discretion. The French ambassadors in Germany fed their
master with vain hopes; the pope's nuncio, being gained by them, altogether forgot the instructions which he had received; and Francis persevered so long and with such obstinacy in urging his own pretensions, as
rendered all Leo's measures abortive.1
Such were the hopes of the candidates, and the views of the different
princes, when the diet was opened according to form at Frankfort [June
17]. The right of choosing an emperor had long been vested in seven
great princes, distinguished by the name of electors, the origin of whose
office, as well as the nature and extent of their powers, have already been
explained. These were at that time, Albert of Brandenburgh, archbishop
of Mentz; Herman count de Wied, archbishop of Cologne; Richard de
Grieffenklau, archbishop of Triers; Lewis, king of Bohemia; Lewis, count
palatine of the Rhine; Frederic, duke of.Saxony; and Joachim 1. marquis
of Brandenburgh. Notwithstanding the artful arguments produced by the
ambassadors of the two kings in favour of their respective masters, and in
spite of all their solicitations, intrigues, and presents, the electors did not
forget that maxim on which the liberty of the German constitution was
thought to be founded.  Among the members of the Germanic body,
which is a great republic composed of states almost independent, the first
principle of patriotism is to depress and limit the power of the emperor;
and of this idea, so natural under such a form of government, a German
politician seldom loses sight. No prince of considerable power, or extensive dominions, had for some ages been raised to the Imperial throne. To
this prudent precaution many of the great families in Germany owed the
splendour and independence which they had acquired during that period.
To elect either of the contending monarchs, would have been a gross
violation of that salutary maxim; would have given to the empire a master
instead of a head; and would have reduced themselves from the rank of
being almost his equals, to the condition of his subjects.
Full of these ideas, all the electors turned their eyes towards Frederic,
duke of Saxony, a prince of such eminent virtue and abilities, as to be
distinguished by the name of the Sage, and with one voice they offered
him the Imperial crown. He was not dazzled with that object, which
monarchs, so far superior to him in power, courted with such eagerness;
and after deliberating upon the matter a short time, he rejected it with a
" Goldasti Constitutiones Imperiales. Francof. 1673. vol i. 439.    t Guicciar. lib. 13 161.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                     115
magnanimity  and  disinterestedness  no less  qingular  than  admirable.'Nothing," he observed, "could be more impolitic, than an obstinate
adherence to a maxim which, though sound and just in many cases, was
not applicable to all. In times of tranquillity (said he) we wish for an
emperor who has not power to invade our liberties; times of danger
demand one who is able to secure our safety. The Turkish armies, led
by a gallant and victorious monarch, are now assembling. They are ready
to pour in upon Germany with a violence unknown in former ages.  New
conjunctures call for new expedients.  The Imperial sceptre must.be cor
mitted to some hand more powerful than mine, or that of any other German
prince. We possess neither dominions, nor revenues, nor authority, which
enables us to encounter such a formidable enemy. Recourse must be had,
in this exigency, to one of the.rival monarchs. Each of them can bring
into the field forces sufficient for our defence. But as the king of Spain is
-of German extraction; as he is a member and prince of the empire by
the territories which descend to him from his grandfather; as his dominions
stretch along that frontier which lies most exposed to the enemy; his claim
is preferable, in my opinion, to that of a stranger to our language, to our
blood, and to our country; and therefore I give my vote to confer on him
the Imperial crown. 
This opinion, dictated by such uncommon generosity, and supported by
arguments so plausible, made a deep impression on the electors. The king
of Spain's ambassadors, sensible of the important service which Frederic
had done their master, sent him a considerable sum of money as the first
token of that prince's gratitude. But he who had greatness of mind
to refuse a crown, disdained to receive a bribe; and, upon their entreating
that at least he would permit them to distribute part of that sum among
his attendants, he replied, That he could not prevent them from accepting
what should be offered, but whoever took a single florin should be dismissed next morning from his service.s
No prince in Germany could now  aspire to a dignity, which Frederic
had declined, for reasons applicable to them all. It remained to make a
choice between the two great competitors.  But besides the prejudice in
Charles's favour arising from his birth, as well as the situation of his German
dominions, he owed not a little to the abilities of the cardinal de Gurk,
and the zeal of Erard de la Mark, bishop of Liege, two of his ambassadors,
who had conducted their negotiations with more prudence and address than
those intrusted by the French king. The former, who had long been the
minister and favourite of Maximilian, was well acquainted with the art of
managing the Germans; and the latter, having been disappointed of a cardinal's hat by Francis, employed all the malicious ingenuity with which
the desire of revenge inspires an ambitious mind, in thwarting the measures of
that monarch.  The Spanish party among the electors daily gained ground 
and even the pope's nuncio, being convinced that it was vain to make any
further opposition, endeavoured to acquire some merit with  the future
emperor, by offering voluntarily, in the name of his master, a dispensation
to hold the Imperial crown in conjunction with that of Naples.t
* P. Daniel, an historian of considerable name, seems to call in question the truth of this account
of Frederic's behaviour in refusing the Imperial crown, because it is not mentioned by Georgiua
Sahinus in his History of the Election and Coronation of Charles V. tom. iii. p. 63. But no great
stress ought to be laid on an omission in a superficial author, whose treatise, though dignified with
the name of History, contains only such an account of the ceremonial of Charles's election, as is
usually published in Germany on like occasions. Scard. Rer. Germ. Script. v. ii. p. 1. The testimony of Erasmns, lib. 13. epist. 4. and that of Sleiden, p. 18. are express. Seckendorf, in his
Commentarius Historicus et Apologeticus de Lutheranismo, p. 121. has examined this fact with his
usual industry, and has established its truth by the most undoubted evidence. To these testimonies
which he hascoltected, I may add the decisive one of Cardinal Cajetan, the pope's legate at Frankfort, in his letter, July 5th, 1519. Epistres au Princes, &c. recueilles par Ruscelli, traduicts par
Belforest. Par. 1572. p. 60.
t Freheri Rer. German. Scriptores, vol. iii. 172. cur. Struvii. Argent. 11717. Gianone Hiit, of
Naples, ii. 498.




L16                 THE  REIGN  OF                          [BOOK 11.
On the twenty-eighth day of June, five months and ten days after the
death of Maximilian, this important contest, which had held all Europe in
suspense, was decided. Six of the electors had already declared for the
king of Spain; and the archbishop of Triers, the only firm adherent to
the French interest, having at last joined his brethren, Charles was,
by the unanimous voice of the electoral college, raised to the Imperial
throne.*
But though the electors consented, from various motives, to promote
Charles to that high station, they discovered, at the same time, great
jealousy of his extraordinary power, and endeavoured, with the utmost
solicitude, to provide against his encroaching on the privileges of the Germanic body. It had long been the custom to demand of every new emperor a confirmation of these privileges, and to require a promise that he
would never violate them  in any instance.  While princes, who were
formidable neither from extent of territory, nor of genius, possessed the
imperial throne, a general and verbal engagement to this purpose was
deemed sufficient. But under an emperor so powerful as Charles, other
precautions seemed necessary.  A Capitulation or claim of right was
formed, in which the privileges and immunities of the electors, of the
princes of the empire, of the cities, and of every other member of the
Germanic body, are enumerated.  This capitulation was immediately
signed by Charles's ambassadors in the name of their master, and he himself, at his coronation, confirmed it in the most solemn manner. Since
that period, the electors have continued to prescribe the same conditions
to all his successors; and the capitulation or mutual contract between the
emperor and his subjects, is considered in Germany as a strong barrier
against the progress of the Imperial power, and as the great charter of
their liberties, to which they often appeal.t
The important intelligence of this election was conveyed in nine days
from Frankfort to Barcelona, where Charles was still detained by the
obstinacy of the Catalonian Cortes, which had not hitherto brought to an
issue any of the affairs which came before it. He received the account
with the joy natural to a young and aspiring mind, on an accession of
power and dignity which raised him'so far above the other princes of
Europe.  Then it was that those vast prospects, which allured him
during his whole administration, began to open, and'front this era we may
date the formation, and are able to trace the gradual progress, of a grand
system of enterprising ambition, which renders the history of his reign so
worthy of attention.
A trivial circumstance first discovered the effects of this great elevation
upon the mind of Charles. In all the public writs which he now issued
as king of Spain, he assumed the title of Majesty, and required it from his
subjects as a mark of their respect. Before that time, all the monarchs of
Europe were satisfied with the appellation of Highness or Grace; but the
vanity of other courts soon led them to imitate the example of the Spanish.
The epithet of Majesty is no longer a mark of preeminence.  The
most inconsiderable monarchs in Europe enjoy it, and the arrogance oi
the greater potentates has invented no higher denomination.a
The Spaniards were far from viewing the promotion of their king to
the Imperial throne with the same satisfaction which he himself felt. To
be deprived of the presence of their sovereign, and to be subjected to the
government of a viceroy and his council, a species of administration oftern
oppressive, and always disagreeable, were the immediate and necessary
consequences of this new dignity.  To see the blood of their countrymen
* Jac. Aug. Thuan. Hist. sui Temporis, edit. Bulkley, lib. I. c. 9.    t Pfeffel Abregk de lPHist
de Droit Publique d'Allemagne, 590. Limnei Capitulat. Imper. Epistres des Princes par Rusceli,. 60.      lMiniana, Contin. Mar. p. 13. Ferreras,viii. 475. Memoires Pst. dela Houssaie,.nir.. i p. 53, &C




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                117
sned in quarrels wherein the nation had no concern; to behold its treasures
wasted in supporting the splendour of a foreign title; to be plunged in
the chaos of Italian and G-erman politics, were effects of this event almost
as unavoidable.  From  all these considerations, they concluded, that
nothing could have happened more pernicious to the Spanish nation; and
the fortitude and public spirit of their ancestors, who, in the Cortes of
Castile, prohibited Alphonso the Wise from leaving the kingdom, in order
to receive the Imperial crown, were often mentioned with the highest
praise, and pronounced to be extremely worthy of imitation at this
juncture. -
But Charles, without regarding the sentiments ormurmurs of his Spanish
subjects, accepted of the Imperial dignity, which the count palatine, at the
head of a solemn embassy, offered him in the name of the electors [November]; and declared his intention of setting out soon for Germany in order
to take possession of it. This was the more necessary, because, according
to the forms of the German constitution, he could not, before the ceremony
of a public coronation, exercise any act of jurisdiction or authority.f
Their certain knowledge of this resolution augmented so much the disgust of the Spaniards, that a sullen and refractory spirit prevailed among
persons of all ranks. The pope having granted the king the tenths of all
ecclesiastical benefices in Castile, to assist him in carrying on war with
greater vigour against the Turks, a convocation of the clergy unanimously
refused to levy that sum, upon pretence that it ought never to be exacted
but at those times when Christendom was actually invaded by the Infidels;
and though Leo, in order to support his authority, laid the kingdom under
an interdict, so little regard was paid to a censure which was universally
deemed unjust, that Charles himself applied to have it taken off. Thus
the Spanish clergy, besides their merit in opposing the usurpations of the
pope, and disregarding the influence of the crown, gained the exemption
which they had claimed.t
The commotions which arose in the kingdom of Valencia, annexed to
the crown of Aragon, were more formidable, and produced more dangerous and lasting effects. A seditious monk having, by his sermons,
excited the citizens of Valencia, the capital city, to take arms, and to punish
certain criminals in a tumultuary manner, the people, pleased with this
exercise of power, and with such a discovery of their own importance,
not only refused to lay down their arms, but formed themselves into troops
and companies, that they might be regularly trained to martial exercises.
To obtain some security against the oppression of the grandees was the
motive of this association, and proved a powerful bond of union; for as
the aristocratical privileges and independence were more complete in
Valencia than in any other of the Spanish kingdoms, the nobles, being
scarcely accountable for their conduct to any superior, treated the people
not only as vassals, but as slaves. They were alarmed, however, at the
progress of this unexpected insurrection, as it might encourage the people
to attempt shaking off the yoke altogether; but as they could not repress
them without taking arms, it became necessary to have recourse to the
emperor, and to desire his permission to attack them. At the same time
the people made choice of deputies to represent their grievances, and to
implore the protection of their sovereign. Happily for the latter, they
arrived at court when Charles was exasperated to a high degree against
the nobility. As he was eager to visit Germany, where his presence became every day more necessary, and as his Flemish courtiers were stll
more impatient to return into their native country, that they might carry
thither the spoils which they had amassed in Castile, it was impossible for
* Sandoval, i. p. 32.  lniana, Contin, p. 14.    f Sabinus, P. Barre, viii. 1085.    t P Mar
tvw Ep,462. Ferreras, -ili. 473.




118                 THE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK I.
him to hold the Cortes of Valencia in person. He had for that reason
empowered the Cardinal Adrian to represent him  in that assembly, and
in his name to receive their oath of allegiance, to confirm their privileges
with the usual solemnities, and to demand of them a free gift. But the
Valencian nobles, who considered this measure as an indignity to their
country, which was no less entitled, than his other kingdoms, to the honour
of their sovereign's presence, declared, that by the fundamental laws of
the constitution they could neither acknowledge as king a person who was
absent, nor grant him any subsidy; and to this declaration they adhered
with a haughty and inflexible obstinacy. Charles, piqued by their behaviour, decided in favour of the people, and rashly authorized them to
continue in arms. The deputies returned in triumph, and were received
by their fellow-citizens as the deliverers of their country. The insolence
of the multitude increasing with their success, they expelled all the nobles
out of the city, committed the government to magistrates of their own
election, and entered into an association distinguished by the name of
Germ.anada or Brotherhood, which proved the source not only of the
wildest disorders, but of the most fatal calamities in that kingdom.*
Meanwhile, the kingdom of Castile was agitated with no less violence.
No sooner was the emperor's intention to leave Spain made known, than
several cities of the first rank resolved to remonstrate against it, and to
crave redress once more of those grievances which they had formerly laid
before him. Charles artfully avoided admitting their deputies to audience;
and as he saw from this circumstance how difficult it would be, at this
juncture, to restrain the mutinous spirit of the greater cities, he summoned
the Cortes of Castile to meet at Compostella, a town in Galicia. His
only reason for calling that assembly, was the hope of obtaining another
donative; for as his treasury had been exhausted in the same proportion
that the riches of his ministers increased, he could not, without some
additional aid, appear in Germany with splendour suited to the Imperial
dignity. To appoint a meeting of the Cortes in so remote a province,
and to demand a new subsidy before the time for paying the former was
expired, were innovations of a most dangerous tendency; and among a
people not only jealous of their liberties, but accustomed to supply the
wants.of their sovereigns with a very frugal hand, excited an universal
alarm.  The magistrates of Toledo remonstrated against both these
measures in a very high tone; the inhabitants of Valladolid, who expected
that the Cortes should have been held in that city, were so enraged, that
they took arms in a tumultuary manner; and if Charles, with his foreign
counsellors, had not fortunately made their escape during a violent tempest,
they would have massacred all the Flemings, and have prevented him
from continuing his journey towards Compostella.
Every city through which he passed, petitioned against holding a Cortes
in Galicia, a point with regard to which Charles was inflexible. But
though the utmost influence had been exerted by the ministers, in order to
procure a choice of representatives favourable to their designs, such was
the temper of the nation, that, at the opening of the assembly [April 11,
there appeared among many of the members unusual symptoms of ill-humour, which threatened a fierce opposition to all the measures of the
court. No representatives were sent by Toledo; for the lot, according to
which, by ancient custom, the election was determined in that city, having
fallen upon two persons devoted to the Flemish ministers, their fellowcitizens refused to grant them a commission in the usual form, and in their
stead made choice of two deputies, whom they empowered to repair to
Compostella, and to protest against the lawfulness of the Cortes assembled
there. The representatives of Salamanca refused to take the usual oath
* P. Martyr, Ep. 651. Ferreras, viii. 476. 435




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              119
of fidelity, unless Charles consented to change the place of meeting
Those of Toro, Madrid, Cordova, and several other places, declared the
demand of another donative to be unprecedented, unconstitutional, and unnecessary.  All the arts, however, which influence popular assemblies,
bribes, promises, threats, and even force, were employed, in order to gain
members. The nobles, soothed by the respectful assiduity with which
Chievres and the other Flemings paid court to them, or instigated by a
mean jealousy of that spirit of independence which they saw rising among
the commons, openly favoured the pretensions of the court, or at the
utmost did not oppose them, and at last, in contempt not only of the sentiments of the nation, but of the ancient forms of tho constitution, a majority
voted to grant the donative for which the emperor had applied.*  Together with this grant, the Cortes laid before Charles a representation of
those grievances whereof his people complained, and in their name craved
redress; but he, having obtained from them all he could expect, paid no
attention to this ill-timed petition, which it was no longer dangerous to
disregard.t
As nothing now retarded his embarkation, he disclosed his intention
with regard to the regency of Castile during his absence, which he bad
hitherto kept secret, and nominated cardinal Adrian to that office. The
viceroyalty of Aragon he conferred on Don John de Lanuza; that of Va
lencia on Don Diego de Mendoza Conde de Melito. The choice of the
two latter was universally acceptable; but the advancement of Adrian,
though the only Fleming who had preserved any reputation among the
Spaniards, animated the Castilians with new hatred against foreigners;
and even the nobles, who had so tamely suffered other inroads upon the
constitution, felt the indignity offered to their own order by his promotion,
and remonstrated against it as illegal. But Charles's desire of visiting
Germany, as well as the impatience of his ministers to leave Spain, were
now so much increased, that without attending to the murmurs of the Castilians, or even taking time to provide any remedy against an insurrection
in Toledo, which at that time threatened, and afterwards produced, most
formidable effects, he sailed from Corunna on the 22d of May; and by
setting out so abruptly in quest of a new crown, he endangered a more
important one of which he was already in possession.J
BOODK IIe
MANY concurring circumstances not only called Charles's thoughts towards the affairs of Germany, but rendered his presence in that country
necessary. The electors grew impatient of so long an interregnum; his
hereditary dominions were disturbed by intestine commotions; and the
new opinions concerning 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 candidates for the Imperial dignity, they conducted their rivalship with many professions of regard
for each other, and with repeated declarations that they 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;
* P. Martyr, Ep. 663 Sandova!, p. 32, &c.   t Sandoval, 8-.   P. Martyr, Ep. 670. San
doval, 86,




120                 THE  REIGN  OF THE                    BooK II.
" each ought to urge his suit with all the address of which he is master 
the most fortunate will prevail, and the other must rest contented."* But
though two young and high-spirited princes, and each of them animated
with the hope of success, might be capable of forming such a generous
resolution, it was soon found that they promised 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 disappointed 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 hostilities.
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'Albret, 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, of which Ferdinand had deprived his predecessors
by a most unjustifiable breach of faith. The emperor might reclaim the
duchy of Milan as a fief of the empire, which Francis had seized, and
still kept in possession, without having received investiture of it from the
emperor. Charles considered the duchy 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.
When the sources of discord were so many and various, peace could
be of no long continuance, even between princes the most exempt from ambition or emulation. But as the shock between two such mighty antagonists
could not fail of being extremely 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, and saw that he
who prevailed would become absolute master. If it had been in his
power to engage them in hostilities, without rendering Lombardy the theatre of war, nothing would have been more agreeable 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 impartiality,
and attempted to conceal his real sentiments under that profound dissimulation which seems to have been affected by most of the Italian politicians
in that age.
The views and interests of the Venetians were not 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 more to hope than from
Francis; and it was equally manifest, that if it became necessary to take
a side, the Venetians would from motives of the same nature, declare foc
* Guicc. lib. 13. p. 159.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              121
the king of France. No considerable assistance, 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 certain prospect of some great advantage to
themselves.
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
assistance more effectual, and afforded with less political caution. Henry
VIII. had ascended the throne of that kingdom in the year 1509, with such
circumstances of advantage as promised a reign of distinguished felicity
and splendour. The union in his person of the two contending titles of
York and Lancaster; the alacrity and 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, and to revive the memory
of the victories gained on the continent by their ancestors. Henry's own
temper perfectly suited the state of his kingdom, and the disposition of
his subjects. Ambitious, active, enterprising, 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 remarkable exploit. An opportunity soon presented itself; and the
victory at Guinegate [1513], together with the successful sieges of Teroiienne 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 consequence.  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 ol
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
rendered him blind to both, and prevented his gaining that ascendant in
the affairs of Europe, or from reaping such advantages to himself, as a
prince of greater art, though with inferior talents, might have easily
secured.
All the impolitic steps in Henry's administration must not, however, be
imputed to defects in his own character; many of them were owing to the
violent passions and insatiable ambition o' his prime minister and favourite,
VOL; II -16




m.12           T HE  KEIGI    OF  THE                 [BOOK IIo
cardinal Wolsey.  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, presumptuous, and untractable spirit
of Henry with absolute authority. Great talents, and of very different
kinds, fitted hin for the two opposite stations of minister and o favourite.
His profound judgment, his unwearied industry, his thorough acquaintance
with the state of the kingdom, his extensive knowledge of the views and
interests of foreign courts, qualified him for that uncontrolled direction ot
affairs with which he was intrusted. The elegance of his manners, the
gayety 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.  Wolsey
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 ambition, 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 overbearing
haughtiness and pride.  To these passions he 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 friendship at that time, all
courted his minister with incredible attention and obsequiousness, and
strove by presents, by promises, or by flattery, to work upon his avarice,
his ambition, or his pride.* Francis had, in the year 1518, 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 conclude a treaty of marriage between his daughter the
princess Mary and the dauphin, and to consent to a personal interview
with the French king.f  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 his letters, the
honourable appellations of Father, Tutor, and Governor.
Charles observed the progress of this union with the utmost jealousy
and concern.  His near affinity to the king of England gave him  some
title to his friendship; and soon after nis accession to the throne of Castile,
he attempted to ingratiate himself with Wolsey, by settling on him a pension of three thousand livres. His chief solicitude at present was to prevent 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 extremely dreaded. But
after many delays, occasioned 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
splendour of these spectacles too well, and were too much delighted with
* Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, 166. Rvmer's Fcedera, xiii. 718.' t Herert's flist. of HeInry VII
30. Rymer, xiii. 624.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                    122
the graceful figure which they made on such occasions, to forego the pleasure or glory which they expected from  such a singular and brilliant
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 flattering and more un
common.  Having sailed from Corunna, as has already been related, he
steered his course directly towards England, and relying wholly on Henry's
generosity for his own safety, landed at Dover [May 26th].  This unexpected visit surprised the nation.  Wolsey, however, was well acquainted
with the emperor'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 concerted; and Charles granted the cardinal whom he calls
his most dear friend, an additional pension of seven thousand ducats.*
Henry, who was then at Canterbury, in his way to France, immediately
despatched Wolseyto Dover, in order to welcome the emperor; and being
highly pleased with an event so soothing to his vanity, hastened to receive,
with suitable respect, a guest who had placed in him  such unbounded
confidence.  Charles, to whom  time was precious, stayed only four days
in England; but during that short space he had the address, not only to
give Henry favourable impressions of his character and intentions, but to
detach Wolsey entirely from  the interest 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 asthe 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 prospect, 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.  NIo 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, immediately after taking
leave of the French king.
His interview with that prince was in an open plain between Guisnes
and Ardres [June 7th, where the two kings and their attendants displayed
their magnificence with such emulation and profuse expense, as procured
it the name of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Feats of chivalry, parties of
gallantry, together with such exercises and pastimes as were in that age
reckoned manly or elegant rather than serious business, occupied both
courts during eighteen days that they continued together.f Whatever
impression the engaging manners of Francis, or the liberal and unsuspicious
* Rymer, xiii. 714.
t The French and English historians describe the pomp of this interview, and the various spectacles, with great minuteness. One circumstance mentioned by the mareschal de Fleuranges, who
was present, and which must appear singular in the present age, is commonly omitted. "After the
tournament," 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, " Jfy
brother, Imust 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 a prodigioua violence. The king of England wanted to renew the combat, but was prevented"
Memoires de Fleuranges, 120. Parie, 1753, p. 329.




124'HE  REIGN  OF  T              H E   IBooe II.
confidence with which he treated Heny, made on the mind of that
monarch, was soon effaced by Wolsey's artifices, or by an interview he
had with the emperor at Gravelines [July 10]; which was conducted with
less pomp than that near Guisnes, but with greater attention to what might
be of political utility.
This assiduity, with which the two greatest monarchs in Europe paid?ourt 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 submil'ting any difference that might arise between him and Francis to his sole
arbitration. Nothing could have the appearance of greater candour and
moderation, than the choice of a judge who was reckoned the common
friend of both. But as the emperor had now attadhed Wolsey entirely to
his interest, no proposal could be more insidious, nor, as appeared by the
sequel, more fatal to the French king.?
Charles, notwithstanding his partial fondness for 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 presence of an assembly more numerous and splendid
than had appeared on any former occasion, the crown of Charlemagne
was placed on his head [Oct. 23], with all the pompous solemnity which
the Germans affect in their public ceremonies, and which they deem
essential to the dignity of their empire.+
Almost at the same time, Solyman the Magnificent, one of the most
accomplished, enterprising, and victorious of the Turkish sultans, a
constant and formidable rival to the emperor, ascended the Ottoman
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
uncommon 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
exorbitant progress of any of those princes, and to prevent their attaining
such pre-eminence in power as would have been fatal to the liberty and
happiness of mankind.
The first act of the emperor's administration was to appoint a diet of
the empire to be held at Worms on the sixteenth of January, one thousand
five hundred and twenty one. In his circular letters to the different
princes, he informed them, that he had called this assembly in order to
concert. with them the most proper measures for checking the progress ot
those new and dangerous opinions, which threatened to disturb the peace
of Germany, and to overturn the religion of their ancestors.
Charles had in view the opinions which had been 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 rescued one part
of Europe from the papal yoke, mitigated its rigour in the other, and
produced a revolution 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:
* Herbert, 37.  t Hartman. Mauri Relatio Coronat. Car. V. ap. Goldast. Folit. Imperial
gratir. 1614, fol. p. 254.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              125
the causes which rendered their progress so rapid and successful, deserve
to be considered with minute attention.
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 operations 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 interposition of Heaven, infavour of the Christian religion at its first
publication, was manifested by miracles and prophecies wrought and
uttered in confirmation of it. Though none of the reformers possessed,
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 employed 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 extremely feeble, to an amazing degree of vigour and maturity.
It was from causes, seemingly fortuitous, and from a source very inconsiderable, that all the mighty effects of the reformation flowed. Leo X.,
when raised to the papal throne, found the revenues of the church ex,
hausted by the vast projects of his two ambitious 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 expenses; 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 Indulgences. According to the doctrine of the Romish church,
all the good works of the saints, over and above those which were necessary towards their own justification, are deposited, together with the
infinite 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 epen it-at pleasure, and by transferring a portion of this superabundant meirlt 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 century by Urban II. as a recompense
for those who went in person upon the meritorious enterprise of conquer.
inn- the Holy Land. They were afterwards granted to those who hired a
soldier for that purpose; and in process of time were bestowed on such
as gave money for accomplishing any pious work enjoined by the pope.*
Julius II. had bestowed indulgences on all who contributed towards build
ing the church of St. Peter at Rome; and as Leo was carrying on that
magnificent and extensive fabric, his grant was founded on the same
pretence.t
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 Mentz 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
t History of the Council of Trent, by F. Paul. p. 4.  t Pala-vic. Hist. Cone. Trident. p. 4.




126                       THE REIGN OF THE                                   [Boox II
the commission with great zeal and success, but with little discretion or
decency; and though by magnifying excessively the benefit of their indulgences,  and  by disposing of them  at a very low  price, they carried on
tor some time an extensive and lucrative traffic among the credulous and
the ignorant; the extravagance of their assertions, 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 delusion 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 to study the doctrines taught by
genuine Christianity, or to practise the duties which it enjoins.  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  bestowed, 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 destructive
to religion.
Such was the favourable juncture, and so disposed 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 melancholy 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
* As the form of these indulgences, and the benefits which they were supposed to convey, are
unknown in protestant countries, and little understood, at present, in several places where the
Roman catholic religion is established, I have, tor the information of my readers, translated the
form of absolution used by Tetzel: " 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 ircurred, and then
from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be, even from such
as are reserved for the cognizance 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 tnat innocence and purity
which you possessed at Daptism, 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. lib. i. p. 14.
The terms in which Tetzel and his associates described the benefits of indulgences, and the neces.
sity of purchasing them, are so extravagant, that they appear to be almost incredible. If any man
(said they) purchases letters of Indulgence, 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 torment, 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 res6ue your parent from torment? If you had but one coat, vou 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
Tridentini, apud Hnrm. Vonder Hardt. Hist. Liter. Reform. pars iv. p. 6. The same author has
published several of Tetzel's discourses, which prove that these expressions were neither singular
uor exaggerated. Ibid. p. 14.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                           t1:
reputation, not only for piety, but for his love of knowledge, and his un
wearied 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 distinctions with which
they abound; but his understanding, naturally sound, and superior to
every thing frivolous, soon became disgusted with those subtile and unin.
structive sciences, and sought for some more 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 a 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 ornament of that society.
While Luther was at the height of his reputation and authority, Tetzel
began to publish indulgences in the neighbourhood of Wittemberg, and
to ascribe 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 subversive of faith and of morals. His warm an'
impetuous temper did not suffer him long to conceal such important disc
coveries, or to continue a silent spectator of the delusion of his country.
men. From the pulpit, in the great church at 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. Encouraged by the favourable reception of his doctrines
amoidg the people, he wrote to Albert, elector of Mentz, and archbishop
of Magdeburg, to whose jurisdiction that part of Saxony was subject,
and remonstrated 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 success to correct their abuses. His next
attempt was to gain the suffrage of men of learning. For this purpose
he published ninety-five theses, containing his sentiments with regard
to indulgences. These he proposed, not as points fully established, or of
undoubted certainty, but as subjects of inquiry and disputation; 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 protestations of his high respect for the apostolic see, and of his implicit
submission to its authority. No opponent appeared at the time prefixed;
the theses spread over Germany with astonishing rapidity; they' ere
read with the greatest eagerness; and all admired the boldness of the
man, who had ventured not only to call in question the plenitude of papal




128                      THE REIGN OF THE                                [Boox IlI
power, but to  attack  the  Dominicans, armed  with  all the  terrors of
inquisitorial authority.*
The friars of St. Augustine, Luther's own order, though addicted with
no less obsequiousness than the 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 extraordinary authority
among his brethren; he professed 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 chirch, 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 which Luther threw in the way of the publication of
indulgences.  He secretly encouraged the attempt, and flattered himself
that this dispute among the ecclesiastics themselves, might give some
check  to the exactions of the court of Rome, vhich the secular princes
had long, though without success, been endeavouring to oppose.
Many  zealous champions immediately  arose  to  defend  opinions on
which the wealth and power of the church were founded, against Luther's
attacks. In 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 controversy 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 sentiments
of schoolmen, the conclusions of the canon law, and the decrees of popes. t
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 lawJ.~
L- utheri Opera, Jence, 1612, vol. i. prefat. 3. p. 2. 66. IHist. of Council of Trent by F. Paul, p. 4
Seckend Cor Apol. p. 16.   t F. Paul, p. 6. Seckend, p. 40. Palavic. p. 8.   $ Seckend, p. 30.
i Guicciardini has asserted two things with regard to the first promulgation of indulgences:
T. 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.
13. 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 immemorially 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 oppose 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 assertions 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 on purpose, could not find this
pretended grant to Leo's sister in any of those registers where it must necessari'v have been
recorded. Palav. p. 5.-2. That the profits arising from indulgences in Saxony and thl  adjacent
countries, had been granted not to Magdalen, but to Albert, archbishop of Mentz, wL(e had the
right of nominating those who published them. Seek. p. 12. Luth. Oper. 1. praf. p. i. Palav.
p. 6.-3. That Arcemboldo never had concern in the publication of indulgences in Saxonsy; his
district was Flanders and the Upper and Lower Rhine. Seek. p. 14. Palav. p. 6. —4. That iuther
and his adherents never mention this grant of Leo's to his sister; though a circumstance (f which
they could hardly have been ignorant, and which they would have been careful not to suppress.5. The publication of indulgences in Germany was not usually committed to the Augustinians.
The promulgation of them, at three different periods underJulius II. was granted tothe Fran ciscans;
the Dominicans had been employed in the same office a short time before the present period. Palav
p. 46.-6. The promulgation of those indulgences, which first excited Luther's indignation, was
intrusted to the archbishop of Mentz, in conjunction with the guardian of the 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 inculgences because they were promulgated
by them; his opposition to their opinions and vices proceeded from more laudable motives. Seck




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                  i
Meanwhile, these novelties in Luther's doctrines, which intereste,  Mt
Germany, excited little attention and no alarm  in the court of Rome.
Leo, fond of elegant and refined pleasures, intent upon great schemes of
policy, a stranger to theological controversies, and apt to despise them,
regarded with the utmost indifference the operations of an obscure friar,
who, in the heart of Germany, carried on a scholastic 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 emulation, and seemed inclined not to
interpose in the contest, but to allow the Augustinians and Dominicans tc
wrangle about the matter with their usual animosity.
The solicitations, however, of Luther's adversaries, who were exaspe
rated to a high degree by the boldness and severity with which he am
madverted 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 Luther to appear at Rome
[July, 1518], within sixty days, before the auditor of the chamber, and
the Inquisitor-general Prierias, who had written against him, whom he
empowered jointly to examine his doctrines, and to decide concerning.hem.  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 authority, the rashness of an arrogant monk, which brought
disgrace upon the order of St. Augustine, and gave offence and disturbance
to the whole church.
From the strain of these letters, as well as from the nomination of a
judge so prejudiced and partial as Prierias, Luther easily saw what sentence
he might 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 pretexts to excuse Luther from appearing
at Rome, entreated 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
himself, 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 sub'
missive letter, promising an unreserved compliance with his will, the pope
gratified them so far as to empower his legate in Germany, cardinal Ca.
jetan, a Dominican, eminent for scholastic learning, and passionately de
voted to the Roman see, to hear and determine the cause.
Luther, though he had good reason to decline the judge chosen among
his avowed adversaries, did not hesitate about appearing before Cajetan;
and having obtained the emperor's safe-conduct, immediately repaired 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
p. 15, 32. Luthori Opera, 1. p. 64. 6. 8. A diploma of indulgences is published by Herm. Vondei
Hardt, from which it appears, that the name of the guardian of the Franciscans is retained, togethci
with that of the archbishop, although the former did not act. The limits of the country to which
their commissions extended, viz. the diocess of Mentz, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, and the territories
of the marquis of Brandenburg, are mentioned in that diploma. IIist. Literaria Reformat. pars
iv. p. 14.
t In the former editions I asserted, upon the authority of Father Paul, that Cajetan thought it
beneath his dignity to erter into any dispute with Luther; but M. Beausobre, in his Histoire de I&
VOL. II.-17




3()                 THE  REIGN  OF TI —E                    [Boox  1.
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 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 publication of new and dangerous opinions. Luther, fully persuaded
of the truth of his own tenets, and confirmed 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 ot
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 intrepidity of
mind, however, did not desert him.  He declared with the utmost firmness,
that he could not, with a safe conscience, renounce opinions which he be
lieved 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 continued 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.i
All these offers Cajetan disregarded or rejected, and still insisted peremptorily on a simple recantation, threatening him with ecclesiastical censures,
and forbidding him to appear again in his presence, unless he resolved
instantly 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, according to a form  of
which there had been some examples, he prepared [October 18] 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.t
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 his territories. It was not from theological considerations that
Frederic had hitherto countenanced 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
caution. He had neither heard any of Luther's discourses, nor read any
of his books; 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 expense, and had bestowed much attention
on founding a new university, an object of considerable irrportance tc
Reformation, vol. i. p. 121, &c. has satisfied me that I was mistaken. See also Seckend. lib. i. p
46,&c.
*Luth. Oper. vol. i p. 164.    t Id. ibid. p. 160,        Sleid. Hist, of Reform. p. 7. Seckend.
p. 45. Luth, Oper. i. 163.    $ Seckend. p 27. Sleid. Hist. p. 12.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                131
every German prince; and foreseeing how fatal a blow  the removal oz
Luther would be to its reputation,? he, under various pretexts, and with
many professions of esteem for the cardinal, as well as of reverence for
the pope, not only declined complying with either of his requests, but
openly discovered great concern for Luther's safety.f
The inflexible rigour with which Cajetan insisted on a simple recantation,
gave great offence to Luther's 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 appear at Rome, were so eager to display their zeal
against his errors, that, without waiting for the expiration of the sixty days
allowed him in the citation, they had already condemned him as a heretic..
Leo had, in several of his briefs and letters, stigmatized him as a child of
iniquity, and a man given up to a reprobate sense. Nothing less, therefore,
than a recantation 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 situation at this time was such as would have filled any other
person with the most disquieting apprehensions. He could not expect
that a prince so prudent and cautious as Frederic, would, on his account,
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 ecclesiastical 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 conviction. 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 conduct and
opinions, and to inveigh against those of his adversaries with more vehemence than ever.~                              I
But as every step taken by the court of Rome, 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 by the representative of the catholic
church, and superior in power to the pope, who, being a fallible man,
might err, as St. Peter, the most perfect of his predecessors had erred.lI
It soon appeared, that Luther had not formed rash conjectures concerning
the intentions of the Romish 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 withqit applying such palliatives, or
mentioning such concessions, as a more enlightened period, and the dispositions 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 doctrine of
the catholic church, and subjected those who should hold or teach and
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 or his
revenue which arose from indulgences, produced little effect. But, among
the rest of his countrymen, such a clear decision of the sovereign pontiff
* Seckend. p. 59.  t Sleid. Hist. p. 10. Luth. Oper i 172.  i Luth. Oper., 161
Q'eckend, p. 57      } Sleid. Hist. 12. Luth. (A'M




132               THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK HI.
against himn, 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,
January 17, 1519,] whom both his 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
administration, Luther not only enjoyed tranquillity, but his opinions were
suffered, during the interregnum  which preceded Charles's election, to
take root in different places, and to grow up to some degree of strength
and firmness. At the same time, as the election of an emperor was a
point more interesting to Leo than a theological controversy, which he did
not understand, and of which he could not foresee the consequences, he
was so extremely solicitous not to irritate a prince of such considerable
influence 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 inportunity.
To these political views of the pope, as well as to his natural aversion
from severe measures, was owing the suspension of any further proceedings
against Luther for eighteen months. Perpetual negotiations, however, in
order tobring 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 to the divine original of the papal authority. A
public disputation was held upon this important question at Leipsic,
between Luther and Eccius, one 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 towards
deciding the point in controversy.
Nor did this spirit of opposition to the doctrines and usurpations of the
Romish church break out in Saxony alone; an attack no less violent, and
occasioned by the same causes, was made upon them about this time in
Switzerland.  The Franciscans being intrusted with the promulgation of
indulgences in that country, executed their commission with the same
indiscretion and rapaciousness which had rendered 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 boldnes's. 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.f 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 additional fortitude from
every instance of opposition; and pushing on his inquiries and attacks froi
one doctrine to another, he began to shake the firmest foundations on which
the wealth or power of the church were established. Leo came at last to
be convinced, that all hopes of reclaiming him by forbearance were vain 
several prelates of great wisdom exclaimed no less than Luther's personal
* Lulh. Oper. i. 199.              t Sleid. Hist. 22. Seckend. 59.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              133
adversaries, against the pope's unprecedented lenity in permitting an incorri
gible 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 proceedins necessary; the new emperor it was hope,  would support its autho
rity; nor did it seem probable that the elector of Saxony would so far forget
his usual caution, as to set himself 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
fifteenth 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, scandalous, and
offensive to pious ears; all persons are forbidden to read his writings, upon
pain of excommunication; such as had any of them in their custody are
commanded to commit them to the flames; he himself, if he did not in 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.4
The publication of this bull in Germany excited various passions in
different places. Luther's adversaries exulted, as if his party and opinions
had been crushed at once by such a decisive blow. His followers, whose
reverence for the papal authority daily diminished, read Leo's anathemas
with more indignation than terror. In some cities, the people violently
obstructed the promulgation of the bull; in others, the persons who
attempted to publish it were insulted, and the bull itself torn in pieces, and
trodden under foot.t
This sentence, which he had for some time expected, did not disconcert
or intimidate Luther. After renewing his appeal to the general council
[Nov. 17], he published remarks upon the bull of excommunication; 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 tyranny 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
ecclesiastical indignation, because he had ventured to assert 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 book 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 example was imitated in several cities of Germany. The
manner in which he justified this action was still more offensive than the
action itself. Having collected from  the canon law some of the most
extravagant propositions with regard to the plenitude and omnipotence of
the papal power, as well as the subordination 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, and such the state of his
party, when Charles arrived in Germany. No secular prince had hitherto
embraced Luther's opinions; no change in the established forms of worship
* Palavic. 27. Luth. Oper. i. 423.    t Seckend. p. 116.: Luth. Oper. ii. 31.




134                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [BOOK II.
had been introduced, and no encroachments had been made upon the pos.
sessions orjurisdiction of the clergy; neither party had yet proceeded to
action; and the controversy, though conducted with great heat and passion
on both sides, was still carried on with its proper weapons, with theses,
disrutations, and replies. A deep impression, however, was made upon
ie 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 himn
self, AMelancthon, 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 attention, which truth,
when accompanied with novelty, naturally commands.*
During the course of these transactions, the court 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
bne of which, the attempt, it is probable, might have been crushed, and by
the other, it might have been rendered innocent. 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 restrained 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 world only for his honest but ill-timed effort to correct the
corruptions of the Romish church. On the other hand, if the pope had
early testified some displeasure 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 enjoined 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 stopt
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 maintain with the
Dominicans concerning the immaculate conception, or that between the
Jansenists and Jesuits concerning the operations of grace. But Leo, by
fluctuating between these opposite systems, and by embracing them alter.
nately, 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 excommunication, 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 seldom chargeable
with mistaking its own true interest, is not more astonishing than the wisdom which appeared in Luther's conduct. Though a perfect stranger to
the maxims of wordly wisdom, and incapable, from the impetuosity of his
temper, of observing them, he was led naturally, by the method in which
he made his discoveries, to carry on his operations in a manner which contributed more to their success, than if every step he took had been prescrihed by the most artful policy. At the time wvhen he set himself to
* Sckr Id. 59




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              135
)ppose 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 acquired
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 extravagant tenets concerning indulgences, he was obliged to inquire into the true cause of our justification
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 authorized 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, or any other human authority, and
appealed to the 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 prejudices, 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 constitution of the church, until the
remedy applied at last came too late to produce any effect.
But whatever advantages Luther's cause derived, either from the mistakes of his adversaries, or from his own good conduct, the sudden progress and firm establishment of his doctrines must not be ascribed to these
alone. The same corruptions in the church of 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, Wicklifl
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 a reformation
proved abortive. Such feeble lights, incapable of dispelling the darkness
which then covered 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 Luther's progress, which either did not exist, or did not operate with full force in their
days; and at that critical and maturejuncture when he appeared, circumstances of every kind concurred in rendering each step that he took suc.
cessful.




.36                 THE REIGN OF THE                         LBOOK 1.
The iong and scandalous schism  which divided the church during the
latter part of the fourteenth and 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 tinme; 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 infal.
libility, 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 folow. 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 the world that there was
in the church a jurisdiction superior even to the papal power, which they
had long believed to bs supreme.
The wound given on that occasion to the papal authority was scarcely
healed up, when.the pontificates of Alexander VI. and Julius II., both able
princes, but detestable ecclesiastics, raised new scandal in Christendom.
The profligate morals of the former in private life; the fraud, the injustice, and cruelty 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 persuaded that the
infallible knowledge of a religion, whose chief precepts are purity and
humility, was deposited 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 accustomed 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 church alone.
Many of the dignified clergy, secular 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 accustomed 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 prevented by their poverty from imitating the expensive luxury of
their superiors, yet gross ignorance and low debauchery rendered them as
contemptible as the other were odious.*  The severe and unnatural law
of celibacy, to which both were equally subject, occasioned such irregularities, that in several parts of Europe the concubinage of priests was
not only permitted, but enjoined.  The employing of a remedy so contrary to the precepts of the Christian religion, is the strongest proof that
* 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 Bellarmine) 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
thilngs; there was almost not any religion remaining." Bellarminus Concio xxviii. Oper. tonm. vi
col. 296. edit. Colon. 1617. apud Gerdesii Hist. Evan. Renovati, vol. i. p. 25.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                        137
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 dissolute morals of the clergy, as seem
almost incredible  in the present age.d   The voluptuous lives of ecclesiastics occasioned great scandal, not only because their manners were'
inconsistent with their sacred character; but the laity being accustomed
to see several of them raised from the lowest stations to the greatest affluence, did not show the same indulgence to their excesses, 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 acceptable 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 by the facility with
which such as committed them  obtained pardon.  In all the European
kingdoms, the impotence 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 augmenting its revenues, imitated this practice, and, by
a preposterous accommodation  of it to religious concerns, 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 absolved for twenty crowns.  A bishop or abbot
mnight assassinate for three hundred livres.  Any ecclesiastic might violate
his vows of chastity, even with the most aggravating circumstances, for
the third part of that 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 acquired 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 corruption.f
This degeneracy of manners among the clergy might have been tolerated,
* Centum Gravamina Nation. German. in Fasciculo Rer. expetend. et fugiendarum, per Ortulaum Gratium, vol. i. 361. See innumerable passages to the same purpose in the appendix, or second
volume, published by Edward Brown. See also Hern. vonder Hardt, Hist. Lit. Reform. pars iii.
and the vast collections of Walchius in his fourvolumes of Monumenta Medii.Evi. 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 taken not from any author whose professed purpose it was to describe the improper conduct of
the clergy; and who, from prejudice or artifice, 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, lud',s, hastiludia et torneamenta exercent; habitum militarem cum praetextis aureis et argenteis gestait, et calceos militares; comam et barbam nutriunt, et nihil quod ad vitam et ordinem ecclesiasticum spectat, ostendunt. Militaribus se duntaxat et secularibus actibus, vita et moribus, in sure salutis diapendium, et generale populi scandalum, immiscent." Codex Diplomaticus Anecdotorum, per Val.
Ferd. Gudenum, 4to. vol. iii. p. 438.
t Fascicul. Rer. expet. et fug. i. 355. J. G. Schelhornii Amenit. Literar. Francof. 1725. vol. U.
369. Diction. de Bayle, Artic. Banck. et Tuppius. Taxa Cancellar. Romasne, edit. Francof. 15l,
passim.
VOL. II.-18




138                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BooK II.
perhaps, with greater indulgence, if their exorbitant riches and powel
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 expressions of regard defective, unless
it hath raised them to the height of wealth and authority. Hence flowed
the extensive revenues and jurisdiction possessed by the church in every
country of Europe, and which were become intolerable to the laity, from
whose undiscerning bounty they were at first derived.
The burden, however, of ecclesiastical oppression 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 who called on them to
assert their liberty. During the long contests between the popes and
emperors concerning the right of investiture, and the wars which these occa
sioned, 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 revenues, and usurped the Imperial jurisdiction
within their own diocesses.  Upon the re-establishment of tranquillity,
they still retained these usurpations, as if by the length of an unjust
possession they had acquired 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 honours 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 license too
frequent among the latter, than of the sanctity which became the former.?
The unsettled state of government in Germany, and the frequent wars
to which that country was exposed, contributed in another manner towards
aggrandizing ecclesiastics. The only property, during those 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 character prevalent in those
ages, but to a superstitious dread of the sentence of excommunication,
which the clergy were ready to pronounce against all who invaded their
possessions.  Many observing this, made a surrender of their lands to
ecclesiastics, and consenting to hold them in fee of the church, obtained
as its vassals a degree of safety, which without this device they were
unable to procure.  By such an increase of the number of their vassals,
the power of ecclesiastics received a real and permanent augmentation;
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.t
The solicitude of the clergy in providing for the safety of their own
persons, was still greater than that which they displayed in securing
their possessions; and their efforts to attain it were still mere 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 naturally 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 subject 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.
* F. Faul, History of Ecclesiast. Benefices, p. 107.  t Ibid. p. 66. Boulainvillers. Etat de
France, toln. i. 169. Lond. 1737.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                 23
This valuable immunity of the priesthood is asserted, not only in th
decrees of popes and councils, but was confirmed in the'most ample forri
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 civr
judge durst not touch him. But as the power of degradation was lodgea
in the spiritual courts, the difficulty and expense of obtaining such a sentence, too often secured absolute impunity to offenders. Many assumed
the clerical character for no other reason, than that it might screen them
from the punishment which their actions deserved.' 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 on the civil magistrate is often mentioned in the remonstrances
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 own order with so
much zeal, they made continual encroachments upon those of the laity.
All causes relative to matrimony, to testaments, to usury, to legitimacy of
birth, as well as those which concerned ecclesiastical revenues, were
thought to be so connected 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 inventions, 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 ajudicature,
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.Il By means of this,
vast power accrued to ecclesiastics, and no inconsiderable addition was
made to their revenue by the sums paid in those ages to the persons who
administered justice.
The penalty by which the spiritual courts enforced their sentences,
added great weight and terror to their 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 inflicted 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 citizensi and the dread of this rendered even
the most fierce and turbulent spirits obsequious to the authority of the
church.
Nor did the clergy neglect the proper methods of preserving the wealth
and power which they had acquired with such industry and address.
The possessions of the church, being consecrated to God, were declared
to be unalienable; so that the funds of a society, 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.*  In other countries, the proportion varied; but the
* Goldasti Constitut. Imperial. Francof. 1673. vol. ii. 92. 107. t Rymer's Fcedera. vol. xiii. 532.: Centum Gravam. sect. 31.    $ Giannone Hist. of Naples, hook xix. sect. 3.    [I Centur
Gravamn. sect. 9. 56. 64.  f1 Ibid. sect. 34.   ** Ibi. sect. 28




140                 THE REIGN OP THE                       [Boox 1l.
share belonging 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,* and
if, on any extraordinary emergence, ecclesiastics were pleased to grant
some aid towards supplying the public exigencies, this was considered as
a free gift flowing from their own generosity, which the civil magistrate 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 to
defend the state.
Grievous, however, as the exorbitant wealth and 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 circumstance which occurred, by taking advantage
of the superstition of some princeS, of the necessity of others, and of the
credulity of the people, at length established their pretensions, in opposition both to the interest and common sense of mankind. Germany was
the country which these ecclesiastical sovereigns governed with most
absolute authority. They excommunicated and deposed some of its most
illustrious emperors, and excited their subjects, their ministers, and even
their children, to take arms against them. Amidst these contests, the popes
continually extended their own immunities, spoiling the secular princes
gradually of their most valuable prerogatives, and the German church felt
all the rigour of that oppression which flows from subjection to foreign
dominion, and foreign exactions.
The right of conferring benefices, which the popes usurped during that
period of confusion, was an acquisition of great importance, and exalted
the ecclesiastical 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 increase both their authority and their revenue.  But by
wresting it out of their hands, the popes were enabled to fill the empire
with their own creatures; they accustomed a great body of every prince's
subjects to depend not upon him, but upon the Roman see; they bestowed
upon strangers the richest benefices in every country; and drained their
wealth to supply the luxury of a foreign court. Even the patience of the
most superstitious ages could no longer bear such oppressibon  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 disposal of the remainder to the princes
and other legal patrons.f
But the court of Rome easily found-expedients for eluding an agreement which put such restraints on its power. The practice of reserving
certain benefices in every country to the pope's immediate nomination,
which had been long known, and often complained of, was extended far
beyond its ancient bounds. All the benefices possessed by cardinals, ot
any of the numerous officers in the Roman court; those held by persons
* Centurn Gravam. sect. 28. GoldastL Const. Imper. ii. 79. 108. Pfeffel Hist. dii Dr(:it Pub!'%0. 374.  * F. Paul, Hist. of Eccles. Benef. 204, Gold. Constit. Imper. i. 408.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               14s
wno happened to die at Rome, or within forty miles of that city, on their
journey 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 privilege to themselves.  The right of
reservation, however, even with this extension, had certain limits, as it
could be exercised only where the benefice was actually vacant, and theretore in order to render the exertion of papal power unbounded, expectativc
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 rendered almost entirely
vain.*
The manner in which these extraordinary powers 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 benefices of different districts in Germany from the pope s
ministers, and retailed them at an advanced price.f  Pious men beheld
with deep regret these simoniacal transactions, so unworthy the ministers
of-a Christian church; while politicians complained of the loss sustained
by the exportation of so much wealth in that irreligious traffic.
The sums, indeed, which the court of Rome drew, by its stated and.legal impositions, from all the countries acknowledging its authority, were
so considerable, 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 ecclesiastical 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 extraordinary 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.
Such were the dissolute manners, the exorbitant wealth, the enormous
power and privileges of the clergy, before the Reformation; such the
oppressive rigour of that dominion which the popes had established over
the Christian world; and such the sentiments concerning them that prevailed in Germany at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Nor has
this sketch been copied from the controversial writers of that age, who,
in the heat of disputation, may be suspected of having exaggerated the
errors, or of having misrepresented the conduct of that church which they
iaboured to overturn: it is formed upon more authentic evidence, upon
the memorials and remonstrances of the Imperial diets, coolly enumerating
the grievances under which the empire groaned, in order to obtain the
redress of them. Dissatisfaction must have arisen to a great height among
the people, when these grave assemblies expressed themselves with that
degree of acrimony which abounds in their remonstrances; and if they
demanded the abolition of those enormities with so much vehemence, the
* Centum Gravam. sect. 21. Fascic. Rer. expet. &c. 334. Gold. Const, Inoper. 1. 391. 404, 405
~a Paul, Iist. of Eccl. Benef 167. 199.  t Fascic. Rer. expet. i. 359.




142                THE  REIGN   OF  THE                  [BOOK I1.
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, Luther addressed him
self with certainty of success. As they had long felt its weight, and hac
borne it with impatience, they listened with joy to the first offer of pro
curing them deliverance. Hence proceeded the fond and eager reception
that his doctrines met with, and the rapidity with which they spread ove:
all the provinces of Germany. Even the impetuosity and fierceness o
Luther's spirit, his confidence in asserting his own opinions, and the arro
gance as well as contempt wherewith he treated all who differed fron
him, which in ages of greater moderation and refinement, have beei
reckoned defects in the character of that reformer, did not appear exces
sive to his contemporaries whose minds were strongly agitated by thosi
interesting controversies which he carried on, and who had themselves
endured the rigour of papal tyranny, and seen the corruptions in the churcl
against which he exclaimed.
Nor were they offended at that gross scurrility with which his polemica
writings are filled, or at the low buffoonery which he sometimes introduce,
into his gravest discourses. No dispute was managed in those rude time,
without a large portion of the former; and the latter was common, ever
on the most solemn occasion, 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, in exposing
the errors of popery, and in determining mankind to abandon them.
Besides all these causes of Luther s rapid progress, arising from the
nature of his enterprise, and the juncture at which he undertook it, he
reaped advantage from some foreign and adventitious circumstances, 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 ol
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 appeal to them as judges, ventured to examine and
to reject many doctrines which they had formerly been required to believe,
without being taught to understand them.
The revival of learning at the same period was a circumstance extremely
friendly to the Reformation.  The study of the ancient Greek and Roman
authors, by enlightening the human mind with liberal and sound know
ledge, 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 inquiring 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. rThey were not now afraid
of entering an uncommon path, or 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 of Luther drew aside or tore the
veil which covered established errors, the genius of the age applauded
and aided the attempt. Luther, though a stranger to elegance in taste or
composition, zealously promoted the cultivation of ancient literature; and
sensible of its being necessary to the right understanding 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 introduction of learning into Germany, set themselves with




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                143
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, andy 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. Erudition, industry, accuracy
of sentiment, purity of composition, even wit and raillery, were almost
wholly on their side, and triumphed with ease over illiterate monks, whose
rude arguments, expressed in a perplexed and barbarous style, were found
insufficient for the defence of a system, the errors of wh;ch, 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 learning excited in
Europe, was so favourable to the 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 undertaking. 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 perhaps no wish, to overturn the established system  of religion, had discovered the absurdity of many 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 prepared for the
more serious attacks made upon them by Luther, and their reverence both
for the doctrines and persons against whom he inveighed was considerably
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 writings 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 lo that of Luthel
himself.?
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 knowledge of ecclesiastical literature, applied himself more to theological inquiries than any of the revivers of learning in that age. His acute
Judgment and extensive erudition enabled him  to discover many 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 censure or of
raillery. Accordingly, when Luther first began his attack upon the church,
Erasmus seemed to applaud his conduct; he courted the friendship of
* Gerdesias Hist. Evang. Renov. vol. i. p. 141, 157. Seckend. lib. i. p. 103. Yonder Hardt, Hist
Literar. Reform. pars ii.




144                  THE REIGN OF THE                         [BooK IL
several of his disciples and patrons, and condemned the behaviour and
spirit of his adversaries.?   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 endeavouring to turn the attention of men
to the study of the holy scriptures, as the only standard of religious truti.t
Various circumstances, however, prevented Erasmus from holding the
same course with Luther.  The natural 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 persons in high
station; his dread of losing the pensions and other emoluments, which the:r
liberality had 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
ne had once been animated against the errors of the church,~ but to
assnnme 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 considered 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.l]
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 adversaries, I have avoided entering into any discussion of the theological doctrines of popery, and have not attempted to show how repugnant
they are to the spirit of Christianity, and how destitute of any foundation
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 operation of both on the human mind must have been sudden and
irresistible.  Though, to Luther's contemporaries, who were too near
perhaps to the scene, or too deeply interested in it, to trace the cause with
accuracy, or to examine them with coolness, the rapidity with which his
opinions spread appeared to be so unaccountable, 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,T it is
evident, that the success of the Reformation was the natural effect of
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 singular and important, will not, perhaps, be deemed an
unnecessary digression.-I return from it to the course of the history.
The diet at Worms conducted its deliberations with that slow formality
peculiar to such assemblies.  Much time was spent in establishing some
regulations with regard to the internal police of the empire.  The jurisdiction of the Imperial chamber was confirmed, and the forms of its
proceeding rendered more fixed and regular. A council of regency was
* Seckend. lib. i. p. 40. 96.   t Vonder Hardt, Histor. 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. I 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 inclination 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 Erasm. vol. i. p. 273.
$ Jortin's Life of Erasmus, vol. i. p. 258.    11 Vonder Hardt, Hist. Literar. Reform. pars i. p.S
V Jovii Historia, Lut. 1553. fol. p. 134.




EMPEROR  CHARLES V.                            145
appointed to assist Ferdinand ili 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 was not wanting some plausible reason which
might have induced Charles to have declared himself the protector of
Luther's cause, or at least to have connived at its progress. If he had
possessed no other dominions, but those which belonged to him in Germany, and no other crown besides the Imperial, he might 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 German prince; and
it being of the utmost importance 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 incorrigible heretic. Such an abrupt manner of
proceeding, however, being deemed unprecedented and unjust by the
members of the diet, they made a point of Luther's appearing in person,
and declaring whether he adhered or not to those opinions which had
drawn upon him the censures of the church.t Not only the emperor, but
all the princes through whose territories he had to pass, granted him a
safe-conduct; and Charles wrote to him at the same time [March 6th,]
requiring his immediate attendance on the diet, and renewing his promises
of protection from any injury or violence.   Luther did not hesitate one
moment about yielding obedience, and set out for Worms, attended 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
circumstances, and notwithstanding the same security of an Imperial safeconduct, filled with solicitude, advised and entreated him  not to rush
wantonly into the midst of danger. But Luther, superior to such terrors
silenced them with this reply, " I am lawfully called," said he, " to appear
in that city, and thither will I go in the name of the Lord, though as many
devils, as there are tiles on the houses, were there combined against me."~
The reception which he met with at Worms was 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 vhich 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,ll and he was treated with all the respect paid to those who
possess the power of directing the understanding and sentiments of other
men; an homage, more sincere, as well as more flattering, than any which
pre-eminence in birth or condition can command. At his appearance before
the diet, he behaved with great decency, and with equal firmness. He
readily acknowledged an excess of vehemence and acrimony in his con
troversial writings, but refused to retract his opinions, unless he were con
vinced of their falsehood; or to consent to their being tried by any othe"
rule than the word of God. When neither threats nor entreaties could
prevail on him to depart fi'omihis resolution, some of the ecclesiastics proposed to imitate the example of the council of Constance, and by punishing
the author of this pestilent heresy, who was now in their power, to deliver
* Pont. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. viii c. 11. p. 195. Pfeffel. Abrege Chronol. p. 598. t P.. Mart
tp. 722.    + Luth. Oper. ii. 412.   $ Ibid. ii. 411.   1 Seckend, 156. Luth. Oper. ii. U4
VOL. II.-19




146                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [BooK II.
the church at once from such an evil. But the members of the diet, re
fusing to expose the German integrity to fresh reproach by a second vio
lation 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 in safety.*  A few days after he left the
city [April 26,] a severe edict was published in the emperor's name, and
by authority of the diet, depriving him, as an obstinate and excommunicated
criminal, of all the privileges which he enjoyed as a subject of the empire,
forbidding any prince to harbour or protect him, and requiring all to concur
in seizing his person as soon as the term specified in his safe-conduct was
expired.t
But this rigorous decree had no considerable effect, the execution of it
being prevented, partly by the 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 dismissing all his attendants, to
Wartburg, a strong castle not far distant.  There the elector ordered him
o be supplied with every thing necessary or agreeable, but the place oi
ais retreat was carefully concealed, until the fury of the present storm
against him began to abate, upon a change in the political situation oi
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 industry 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 disappearance of their
leader.
During his confinement, his opinions continued to gain ground, acquiring
the ascendant in almost every city in Saxony. At this time, the Augustinians of Wittemberg, with the approbation of the university, and the
connivance of the elector, ventured upon the first step towards an alteration
in the established forms of public worship, by abolishing the celebration
of private masses, and by giving the cup as well as the bread to the laity
in administering the sacrament of the Lord's supper.
Whatever consolation the courage and success of his disciples, or the
progress of his doctrines in his own country, afforded Luther in his retreat,
he there received information of two events which considerably damped
his joy, as they seemed to lay insuperable obstacles in the way of propagating his principles, in the two most powerful kingdoms of Europe. One
was, a solemn decree, condemning his opinions, published 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 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 retained 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 contempt, Henry did not think it enough to
exert his royal authority in opposing the opinions of the reformer, but
* F, Paul Hist. of Counc. p. 13. Seckend. 1O('  t Gold. Const Imperial. ii. 4)8,




EMPEROR CHARLES V                                 147
resolved likewise to combat them  with scholastic weapons. With this
view he published his treatise on the Seven Sacraments, which, though
forgotten at present, as books of controversy always are, when the occasion
that produced them is past, is not destitute of polemical ingenuity and
acuteness, and was represented by the flattery of his courtiers to be a
work of such wonderful science and learning, as exalted 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 successors, though
the avowed enemies of those opinions, by contending for which he merited
that honourable distinction. Luther, who was not overawed, either by
the authority of the university, or the dignity of the monarch, soon pub
lished 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 contemporaries, 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 innovation, diffused through Europe in that age,
and so powerful the evidence which accompanied the doctrines of the
reformers on their first publication, that, in spite of both the civil and
ecclesiastical powers combined against them, they daily gained converts
both in France and in England.
How desirous soever the emperor might be to put a stop to Luther's
progress, he was often obliged, during the diet at Worms, to turn his
thoughts to matters still more interesting, and which demanded more immediate attention. A war was ready to break out between him and the
French king in 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 circumstance, at that juncture, inclined Charles
to prefer the former 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 commerce they had often experienced.  From  these considerations, 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 conspired to dissolve it; and he possessed
several advantages 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 situation,
from their subjection to the royal authority, from the genius of the people,
fond of war, and attached 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 kept down, or to have
extinguished this flame on its first appearance, either neglected to exert
themselves, or were active in kindling and spreading it. Henry VIII.
though he affected to assume the name of mediator, and both parties made
frequent appeals to him, had laid aside the impartiality which suited that
character   Wolsey, by his artifices, had estranged him  so entirely fr-:n




148                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [BOOK II.
the French king, that he secretly fomented the discord which he ought ta
have composed, and waited only for some decent pretext to join his arms
to those of the emperor."
Leo's endeavours to excite discord between the emperor and Francis
were more avowed, and had 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 ary measure that might overturn the system, which, after much
bloodshed, and many negotiations, was now established in Italy. Accordingly Leo, who instantly discerned 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 impatient 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 Transalpine, or as they, in imitation of the Roman arrogance
denominated them, the barbarous nations, had attained in Italy.  He
flattered himself, that after assisting the one monarch to strip the other of
his possessions in that country, he might find means of driving out the
victor in his turn, and acquire the glory of restoring Italy to the liberty
and happiness 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 almost 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.
So alluring was the prospect of this to Leo, that notwithstanding 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 impetuosity scarcely inferior to that of the turbulent and martial Julius.f
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 friendship; he wavered for some time between them, and at Jast concluded an alliance with Francis. The object of this treaty was the conquest of Naples, which the confederacy 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
overrun 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 sincerity, disappointed
these hopes; whether the treaty was only an artifice of the pope's to cover
the more serious negotiations which he was carrying on with Charles;
whether he was enticed by the prospect of reaping greater advantages from
a union with that prince; or whether he was soothed by the zeal which
Charles had manifested for the honour of the church in condemning Luther;
certain it is, that he soon deserted his new ally, and made overtures of
* Herbert. Fiddos's Life of Wolsey. 258.  t Guic, lib. xiv. p. 173,




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                 lJ
friendship, though with great secrecy, to the emperor.- 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.f  To him
the conduct of this negotiation was entirely committed; and being caretully concealed from Chievres, whose aversion from a war with France
would have prompted him to retard or to defeat it, an alliance between
the pope and emperor was quickly concludedt [May 8]. 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 shouid 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 Placentia should be
restored to the church; that the emperor should assist the pope in conquering Ferrara; that the annual tribute paid by the kingdom of Naples to
the Holy See should be increased; that the emperor should take the family
of Medici under 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 his participation,
appeared to Chievres so decisive a proof of his having lost the ascendant
which he had hitherto" maintained over the mind of his pupil, that 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.~  But
though this, perhaps, may be only fhe conjecture of historians, iond 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, extinguished all hopes of avoiding a rupture with France.ll 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 pupilage, 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,~f and command the
admiration of posterity.
While the pope and emperor were preparing, in consequence of their
secret alliance, to attack Milan, hostilities commenced in another quarter.
The children of John d'Albret, king of Navarre, having often demanded
the restitution of their hereditary dominions, in terms of the treaty of Noyon,
and Charles having as often eluded their requests upon very frivolous
pretexts, Francis thought himself authorized 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 commno-'ions in Spain; the Spanish malecontents warmly solicited him to invade
Navarre,.* in which a considerable faction was ready to declare for the
* Guic. lib. xiv. p. 175. Mem. de Bellay, Par. 1573. p. 24.  t Jovii Vita Leonis, lib. iv. p. 89.
Guic. 1. xiv. 181. Mrem. de Bellay, p. 24. Du Mont, Corps Diplom. tom. iv. suppl. p. 96.
Belcarii Comment de Reb. Gallic. 483.  II P. Heuter. Rer. Austriac. lib. viii. c. 11. p. 197. P. Mart. Ep. 735.    ** Ibid. Ep. 721.




150                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK 11
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 alliance to the unfortunate king, whose battles he was to fight, and
what was still more powerful, the interest of his sister, Madame de Chateau.
Briand, Francis' favourite mistress, recommended to that important trust,
for which he had neither talents nor experience. But as there was no
army in the field to oppose him, he became master, in a few days, of the
whole kingdom of Navarre, without meeting with any obstruction but fiorn
the citadel of Pampeluna.  The additional works to this fortress, begun
by Ximenes, were still unfinished; nor would its slight resistance have
deserved notice, if Ignatio Loyola, a Biscayan gentleman; had not been
dangerously wounded in its defence. During the progress of a lingering
cure, Loyola happened to have no other amusement than what he found
in reading the lives of the saints: the 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 worthies of the Romish
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 advantages, and received greater injury, than
from any other of those religioun fraternities.
if, upon the reduction of Pampeluna, l'Esparre had been satisfied with
taking proper precautions for 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 misconduct by its present zeal; the other, that it might add to the merit of having
subdued the emperor's rebellious subjects, and of repulsing his foreign
enemies. The sudden advance of their troops, together with the gallant
defence made by the inhabitants of Logrogno, obliged the French general
to abandon his rash enterprise. The Spanish army, which increased every
day, harassing him during his retreat, he, instead of taking shelter under
the canon of Pampeluna, or waiting the arrival of some troops which were
marching to join him, attacked the Spaniards, though far superior 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.*
While Francis endeavoured to justify his invasion of Navarre, by carrying
it on in the name of Henry 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 encroachment 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
* Mlem. de Bellay, p. 21. P. Mart. Ep. 726.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              151
emperor in form. Such extravagant insolence in a petty prince surprised
Charles, and appeared to him  a certain proof of his having received
promises of powerful support from the French king. The justness of this
conclusion soon became evident. Robert entered the dutchy of Luxem
bourg 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
oiolation of the peace subsisting between the two crowns, and summoned
Henry VIII. in terms of the treaty concluded at London in the year 1518,
to turn his arms against Francis as the first aggressor. Francis pretended
that he was not answerable for Robert's conduct, whose army fought under
his own standards, and in his own quarrel; and affirmed, that, contrary to
an express prohibition, he had seduced some subjects of France into his
service; but Henry paid so little regard to this evasion, that the French
king, rather than irritate a orince whom he still hoped to gain, commanded
De la Mark to disband his troops.*
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
garfison having obliged the governor to surrender almost without resistance,
Nassau invested Mezieres, a place at that time of no considerable strength,
but so advantageously situated, that by getting possession of it, the Imperial army might have penetrated into the heart of Champagne, in whics
there was hardly any other town capable of obstructing its progress
Happily for France, its monarch, sensible of the importance of this fortress,
and of the danger to which it was exposed, committed the defence of it
to the chevalier Bayard, distinguished among his contemporaries by the
appellation of The knight without fear, and without reproach.t  This
man, whose prowess in combat, whose punctilious honour and formal galJantry, bear a nearer resemblance, than any thing recorded in history, to
the character ascribed to the heroes of chivalry, possessed all the talents
which form a great general. These he had many occasions of exerting in
the defence of Mezieres: partly by his valour, partly by his conduct, he
protracted the siege to a great length, and in the end obliged the Imperialists to raise it, with disgrace and loss.t Francis, at the head of a numerous army, soon retook Mouson, and entering the Low-Countries, made
several conquests 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 opportunity of cutting off the whole Imperial
army;~ 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'Alencon, though this post of honour belonged to Bourbon,
as a prerogative of his office.
During these operations in the field, a congress was held at Calais
(August) underr the mediation of Henry VIII. in order to bring all differ
ences to an amicable issue; and if the 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
e Mem. de Bellay, p. 22, &c. Mem. de Fleuranges, p. 335, &c.  + Oeuvres de Brantome, tom
vi 114.    Memr. de Bellay, p. 25, &c.  Q P. Mart. Ep. 747. Meme. de Bellay, 35.




152                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boo  II.
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 represent as the principal point; and by
throwing the blame of that on Francis, he hoped to justify, by the treaty
of London, any alliance into which his master should enter with Charles.
The conditions on which hostilities might be terminated came next to be
considered; but with regard to these, the emperor's 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 showing 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 negotiations, the exasperating of the parties
whom it was intended to reconcile.*
During the continuance of the congress, Wolsey, on pretence that the
emperor himself would be more willing to make reasonable concessions
than his ministers, made an excursion to Bruges, to meet that monarch.
He was received by Charles, who knew his vanity, with 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 master'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,
and Henry in Picardy, each with an army of forty thousand men; and.
that, in order to strengthen their union, Charles should espouse the princess
Mary, Henry's only child, and the apparent heir of his dominions.t 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 imagination 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
aken 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 without
great difficulty and disadvantage; whereas several maritime provinces ol
Prance had been long in the hands of the English monarchs, whose pretensions, even to the crown of that kingdom, were not as yet altogether
torgotten  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
Rymer, Fdr. xiii. Herbrt.       P.art. p.79. Herbert.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             153
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 inheritance of its
monarchs on the continent was reserved for his reign. Wolsey artfully
encouraged these vain hopes, which led his master into such measures as
were 1rost subservient to his own secret schemes; and the English, whose
hereditary animosity 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 emperor produced
geat 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 Italians, that the latter submitted to the government of the
former with greater impatience 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 gayety, too prone to gallantry, and too little attentive to
decorum. Lewis XIL, however, by the equity and gentleness of his administration, and by granting the Ailanese 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 example 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, emboldened them  to
venture upon many acts of oppression. The government of Milan was
committed by him to Odet de Foix, Marechal de Lautrec, another brother
of Madame de Chauteau-Briand, an officer of great experience and reputation, but haughty, imperious, rapacious, and incapable either of listening
to advice.or of bearing contradiction. His insolence and exactions totally
alienated the affections of the Milanese from France, drove many of the
considerable citizens into banishment, and forced others to retire for their
own safety. Among the last was Jerome Morone, vice-chancellor of Milan,
a man whose genius for intrigue and enterprise distinguished him in an age
and country, where violent factions, as well as frequent revolutions, afford
ing 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, although 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 masters, were ready for any
desperate enterprise. Leo not only encouraged the attempt, but advanced
a considerable 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 Lautrec, who was then in France, tempted with
the hopes of catching at once, as in a snare, all the avowed enemies of his
master's government in that country, ventured to march into the ecclesiastical territories [June 24], and to invest Reggio. But the vigilance and good
conduct of Guicciardini the historian, governor of that place, obliged the
French general to abandon the enterprise with disgrace.* Leo, on receiving this intelligence, wmith which he was highly pleased, as it furnished
him a decent pretence for a rupture with France, immediately assembled
the consistory of cardinals. After complaining bitterly of the hostile
intentions of the French king, and magnifying the emperors zeal for the
* Guic. lib. xiv. 183.  Mein. de Bcllay, p. 38, &c.
VOL. II. —20




i54             THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [BooK It.
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 ecclesiastical 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 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 despatched
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 generals
who was well acquainted with the great neglect of economy in tht
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 Semblancy, the superintendent of finances, having promised, even wial an
oath, that on his arrival at Milan he should find remittances for the sum
which he demanded; upon the faith of this, he departed. Unhappily
tor 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 tenderness,
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.
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
situation, avoiding a pitched battle with the greatest care, while he
harassed the enemy continually with his light troops, beat up their quarters, intercepted their convoys, 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 expense 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 unfore
seen accident disconcerted all his measures, and occasioned a fatal reverse
in the French affairs. A body of twelve thousand Swiss served in Lautrec's
army under the banners of the republic, with which France was in
alliance. In consequence of a law, no less political than humane, established
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
otf gain had sometimes eluded, and private persons had been alloved to;iillist in what service they pleased, though not under the public banners,




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                15i
but under those of their particular officers.  The cardinal of Sion, who
still preserved his interest among his countrymen, and his enmity to France,
hlaving prevailed on them to connive at a levy of this kind, twelve thousand
Swiss, instigated by him, joined the army of the confederates.  But the
leaders in the cantons, when they saw  so many of their countrymen
marching under 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
despatched 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,
encamped 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 precarious, that there are few  instances of its being
employed with success against any general of experience or abilities.
Accordingly Colonna, notwithstanding Lautrec's vigilance and activity,
passed the 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 arrived
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, surrendered to the confederates  Parma ant
Placentia were united to the ecclesiastical state, and of all their conquest,
in Lombardy only the town of Cremona9 the castle of Milan, and a few
considerable forts, remained in the hands of the French.*
Leo received the accounts of this rapid succession of prosperous events
with such transports of joy, as brought on (if we may believe the French
historians) a slight fever, which being neglected, occasioned his death on
the second of December, while he was still of a vigorous age, and at the
height of his glory.  By this unexpected accident, the spirit of the confederacy was broken, and its operations suspended. The cardinals of
Sion and Medici left the army that they might be present in the conclave;
the. Swiss were recalled by their superiors; some other mercenaries disbanded for want of pay; and only the Spaniards and a few Germans in
the emperor's service, remained to defend the Milanese. But Lautrec,
destitute both of men and of money, was unable to improve this favoura
* Guic. I xiv. 10, &c. Mem. de Bellay, 42, &c. Galeacii Capella de reb. gest. pro restitu'
Franc. Sfortiae Comment. ap. Scar ium, vol. ii. 180, &c.




156               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    LBooK 11I
ble opportunity in the manner which he would have wished. The vigi.
lance of Morone, and the good conduct of Colonna, disappointed his
feeble attemipts on the Milanese. Guicciardini, by his address and valour,
repulsed a bolder and more dangerous attack which he made on Parma.*
Great discord prevailed in the conclave which followed upon Leo's death,
and all the arts natural to men grown old in intrigue, when contending for
the highest prize an ecclesiastic can obtain, were practised. Wolsey's
name, notwithstanding all the emperor'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 abilities, 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 him, without being united in favour of any
other person. While these factions were endeavouring to 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 governed Spain in the emperor's
name. This they did merely to protract time. But the adverse party
instantly 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 the papal throne [January 9], at a Juncture so delicate
and critical, as would have demanded all the sagacity and experience 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 great certainty to
the influence of Don John Manuel, the Imperial ambassador, who by his
address and intrigues facilitated the election of a person devoted to his
master's service, from gratitude, from interest, and from inclination.'
Beside the influence which Charles acquired by Adrian's promotion, it
threw great lustre on his administration. 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 observed, with the sensibility of a rival, the pre-eminence
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 republic.
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 extraordinary contributions, Cofonna must soon have abandoned the advantageous camp which he had
chosen at Bicocca, and have dismissed his troops for want of pay, if the
* Guic. 1. xiv. 214.  t Herm. Moringi Vita Hadriani, ap. Casp. Burman. in Analect. de Hadr
G2. Conclave Hadr. Ibid. p. 144, &c.




EMPEROR  CHARLES  V.                            15'i
Swiss in the French service had not once more extricated him out of has,
difficulties.
The insolence or caprice of those mercenaries was often no less fatal
to their friends, than their valour and discipline were formidable to their
enemies. 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 morning to
battle. In vain did Lautrec remonstrate against these d4emands, representing to them the impossibility of the former, and the rashness of the
latter, which must be attended with certain destruction, as th. 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 surmounting every, obstacle, renewed
their demand with greater fierceness, offering themselves to form the vanguard, and to begin the attack. Lautrec, unable to overcome their obstinacy, complied with their request, hoping, perhaps, that some of those
unforeseen accidents 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 composed one half of
his army. Next morning [May] the Swiss were early in the field, and
marched with the greatest intrepidity against an enemy deeply intrenched
on every side, surrounded with artillery, and prepared to receive them.
As they advanced, they sustained a furious cannonade with great firmness,
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 ehremy.
Next day, such as survived set out for their own country; and Lautrec,
despairing of being able to make any farther resistance, retired into France,
after throwing garrisons into Cremona and a few other places; all which,
except the citadel of Cremona, Colonna soon obliged to surrender.
Genoa, however, and its territories, remaining 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 reduction 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 opposition or bloodshed, the power of the Adorni, and the authority of the em
peror, were established in Genoa.*
Such a cruel succession of misfortunes affected Francis with deep concern, which was not a little augmented by the arrival of an English herald,
who, in the name of his sovereign, declared war in form against France
[May 29]. This step was taken in consequence of the treaty which Wolsey had concluded with the emperor at Brugus, and which had hitherto
* Jovii Vita Ferdin. Davali, p. 344. Guic. 1. xiv. 233




158                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [Book0 1I.
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;' 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 wenl as by the sums he expended on his pleasures, he had recourse
to extraordinary expedients for supplying it. 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 XI,, in one of his fits of devotion, had
encircled 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.
The emperor, meanwhile, was no less solicitous to draw as much advantage as possible from the accession 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 disappointment which he had met with
in the late conclave. His success exceeded his most sanguine expecta
tions; and by his artful address, during a residence of six weeks in Eng
land, 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 secure the accomplishment of the latter, by fresh
services.  The nation, sharing in the glory of its monarch, and pleased
with the confidence which the emperor placed in the English, by creating
the earl of Surrey his high-admiral, discovered no less inclination to com-.nence hostilities than Henry himself
In order to give Charles, before he left England, a proof of this general
ardour, Surrey sailed with such forces as were ready, and ravaged the
coasts of Normandy. He then made a descent on Bretagne, where he
plundered and burnt Morlaix, and some other places of less consequence.
After these slight excursions, attended with greater dishonour than damage
to France, he repaired to Calais, and took the command 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 French had discovered the proper method of defending 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 resistance, by watching all the enemy's
motions, by intercepting 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
* I ournal de Louise de Savoie p. 199.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             15,
ot imnpcrtance, but obliged him to retire with his army greatly reduced by
fatigue, by want of provisions, and by the loss which it had sustained in
several unsuccessful skirmishes.
Thus ended the second campaign, in a war the most general that had
hitherto been kindled in Europe; 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.
While the Christian princes were thus wasting each other's strength,
Solyman the Magnificent entered 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 accustomed 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'lsle Adam, the grand master,
whose wisdom and valour rendered him worthy of that station at such a
dangerous juncture. No sooner did he begin to suspect the destination of
Solyman's vast armaments, than he despatched 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 contending powers to forget their private quarrels,
and, by uniting their arms, to prevent the Infidels from destroying a society
which did honour to the Christian name; yet so violent and implacable
was the animosity 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 courage, of patience, and of military conduct
during a siege of six months; after sustaining many assaults, and disputing
every post with amazing obstinacy, was obliged at last to yield to numbers; and having obtained an honourable capitulation from the sultan, who
admired and respected his virtue, he surrendered the town, which was
reduced to a heap of rubbish, and destitute of every resource.s Charles
and Francis, ashamed of having occasioned such a loss to Christendom by
their ambitious contests, endeavoured 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 reparation, granted the knights of St. John the
small island of Malta, in which they fixed their residence, retaining,
though with less power and splendour, their ancient spirit and implacable
enmity to the Infidels.
* Fontanus de Bello Rhodio, al. Scard. Script. Rer. German. vol. ii. p. 88. P. Barre, Hist. d'AL
~em. tom. viii. p 57.




t60                THE REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boo  II1.
C(JARLES, having had the satisfaction of seeing hostilities begun between
France and England, took leave of Henry, ana arrived in Spain on the
seventeenth of June. He found that country just beginning 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.
No sooner was it known that the Cortes assembled in Galicia had voted
the emperor afree gift, without obtaining the redress of any one grievance,
than it excited universal indignation. The citizens of Toledo, who ccr.
sidered themselves, on account of the great privileges which they enjoyed,
as the guardians of the liberties of the Castilian commons, finding that no
regard was paid to the remonstrances of their deputies against that unconstitutional grant, took arms with tumultuary violence, and seizing the gates
of the city, which were fortified, attacked the alcazar, or castle, which
they soon obliged the governor to surrender. Emboldened by this success,
they deprived of all authority every person whom they suspected of 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 com'mendator of Castile,
a young nobleman of a generous temper, of undaunted courage, and possessed of the talents as well as of the ambition which, in times of civil
discord, raise men to power and eminence.?
The resentment of the citizens of Segovia produced effects still more
fatal. Tordesillas, one of the representatives in the late Cortes, had voted
for the donative, and being a bold and haughty man, ventured 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
-hurch, with the utmost fury, and seizing the unhappy Tordesillas, dragged
\im through the streets, with a thousand curses and insults, towards the
)lace of public execution. In vain did the dean and canons come forth in
procession with the holy Sacrament, in order to appease 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; and perceiving that he had expired under their
hands, they hung him up with his Head downwards on the common gibbet.1
The same spirit seized the inhabitants 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 betrayers of the public liberty, that not one
in those licentious multitudes would touch any thidg, however valuable,
which had belonged to them.4
* Sandov. p. 77  t P. Mart. Ep. 671.    Sandov. 103. P. Mart. Ep. 674.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                16i
Adrian, at that time regent of Spain, had scarcely fixed the seat of his
government at Valladolid, when he was alarmed with an account of these
insurrections.  He immediately assembled the privy council [June 5, 1520],
to deliberate concerning the proper method of suppressing 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 people who had some reason to be
incensed, and not to drive them beyond all the bounds of duty by' an illtimed rigour. The sentiments of the former being warmly supported by
the archbishop of Granada, president 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 caution 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 people should be so outrageous as to resist his authority, a considerable body of troops were
appointed to attend him.  The Segovians, foreseeing what they might
expect from a judge so well known for his austere 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 considerable reinforcement from  Toledo, under the
command of Padilla, attacked Ronquillo, and forced him to retire with
the loss of his baggage, and military chest.*
Upon this, Adrian ordered Antonio de Fonseca, whom the emperor had
appointed commander in chief of the forces in Castile, to assemble an
army, and to besiege Segovia in form. But the inhabitants of Mledina del
Campo, where Cardinal Xmnenes 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 kingdom.  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 [Aug. 21]; but his troops were so warmly received,
that, despairing of carrying the place, he set fire to some of the houses,
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 town, one of the most considerable at that time in Spain,
and the great mart for the manufactures of 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 command them, and guarded their walls with
as much diligence as if an enemy had been ready to attack them.
* Sandov. 112. P. Mart. Ep. 679. Miniana, Contin. p, 15.
Vor  1. -21




162                THE  REIGN  OF THE                   [BooI K Il.
The cardinal, though virtuous and disinterested, and capable of governing
the kingdom with honour, in times of tranquillity, possessed neither the
courage nor the sagacity necessary at such a dangerous juncture. 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 condescension, the effect of irresolution and timidity,
rendered the malecontents bolder and more insolent; and the cardinal
having soon afterwards recalled Fonseca, and dismissed 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 arms, the people were left at full liberty to act
without control, and scarcely any shadow of power remained in his hands.
Nor were the proceedings of the commons the effects merely of popular and tumultuary rage; they aimed at obtaining redress of their political
grievances, and an establishment of public liberty on a secure basis,
objects worthy of all the zeal which they discovered in contending fom
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 form 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 admitted 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
independent 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 countries
where despotic power prevails most, is democratical 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 oppression 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 most considerable orders in the state, were ambitious of becoming the
most powerful.
The present juncture appeared favourable for pushing any new claim.
Their sovereign was absent from his dominions; by the ill conduct of his
ministers he had lost the esteem and affection of his subjects; the people,
exasperated by many injuries, had taken arms, though without concert,
almost by general consent; they were animated with rage capable of
carrying 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 improve 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 representatives in the Cortes
They all bound themselves, by solemn oath, to live and die in the service




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              16'
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 con.
cerning the state of the nation, and the proper method of redressing
its grievances. The first that naturally presented itself, was the nomination of a foreigner to be regent; this they declared with one voice to be
a violation of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and resolved to send
a deputation of their members to Adrian, requiring him in their name to
lay aside all the ensigns of his office, and to abstain for the future from
the exercise of ajurisdiction which they had pronounced illegal.?
While they were preparing to execute this bold resolution, Padilla
accomplished an enterprise of the greatest advantage to the cause. After
relieving Segovia, he marched suddenly to Tordesillas, [Aug. 29], the
pla e 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.t 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 pre
sence, acquainted her at large with the miserable condition of her Castilian subjects under the government of her son, who being destitute of
experience 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 conclusion 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 their meetings in that place. This
was instantly done; but though Joanna received very graciously 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 sullenness, and could never be brought,
by any arguments or entreaties, to sign any one paper necessary for the
despatch of business.+
The Junta, concealing as much as possible this last circumstance, carried
on all their deliberations in the name of Joanna; and as the Castilians, who
idolized the name of Isabella, retained a wonderful attachment 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 oppression of foreigners. The Junta, conscious of the 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
* P. Mart. Ep. 691.   t Vita dell' Imper. Carl. V. dell' Alf. Ulloa. Yen. 1509. p. 67. IhRlXia,
Contin. p. 17.  + Sandov. 164. P. Mart. Ep. 685, 686




it,4               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  LBooK Ill
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 only as a private person, and without any
shadow of power.y
The emperor, to whom frequent accounts of these 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 attempt to gin
the malecontents by indulgence and concessions, or prepare directly to
suppress them by force; and he resolved to make trial of the forrmer,
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 Doir
Fadrique Enriquez, and the high constable of Castile, Don Inigo de Velasco,
two noblemen of great abilities as well as influence, regents of the kingdom in conjunction with Adrian; and he gave them  full power and
instructions, if the obstinacy of the malecontents should render it necessary,
to vindicate the royal authority by force of arms.t
These concessions, which, at the time of his leaving Spain, would have
fully satisfied the people, came now too late to produce any effect. The
Junta, relying on the unanimity with which the nation submitted to their
authority, elated with the success which had hitherto accompanied all
their undertakings, and seeing no military force collected to defeat or
obstruct their designs, aimed at a more thorough reformation of political
abuses. They had been employed 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 different members, of which the constitution was composed, as well as the various departments in the adminlstration of government, funishes 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, and as flowing from the worst motives. After a long preamble
conceming the various calamities under which the nation groaned, and the
errors and corruption 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 provide in a legal manner
for their own safety, and that of the constitution: For this purpose, they
* Sundov. 174 P. Mart. Ep. 791.   t P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. viii. c. 6. p. 188.




EMIPEROR  CHARLES  V.                           16.
cenmanded that the king would be pleased to return to 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; that n?
foreign troops shall, on any pretence whatever, be introduced into tht
kingdom; 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 that 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 tuture Cortes each city shall send one representative of the clergy,
one of the gentry, and one of the commons, each to be elected byhis
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 maintenance during his attendance on the Cortes; that the Cortes shall
assemble once in three years at least, whether summoned by the king or
not, and shall then inquire 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, orjewels out of the kingdom; 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 pos
sessions of the nobility shall be subject to all public taxes in the same manner as those of the commons; that an inquiry 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 employed in carrying on war
against the infidels; that such prelates as do not reside in their diocesses
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 conferred upon a Castilian; that the king
shall ratify and hold, as good service done to him and to the kingdom, an
the proceedings of the Junta, and 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
uti;les, and on no occasion attempt either to elude, or to repeal them 




166                THE  REIGN  OF  THe                    [3BOOK  11I.
and that he shall never solicit the pope or any other prelate to grant him
a dispensation or absolution from this oath and promise.*
Such were the chief articles presented by the Junta to their sovereign.
As the feudal institutions in the several kingdoms of Europe were originally
the same, 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 monarchs fol
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 understood, 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 reformation among the
Castilians, hitherto unrestrained by authority, and emboldened by success,
became too impetuous, and prompted the Junta to propose innovations
which, by alarming the other members of the constitution, proved fatal to
their cause. The nobles, who, instead of obstructing, had favoured or
connived at their proceedings, while they confined their demands of redress
to such grievances as had been occasioned by the king's want of experience,
and by the imprudence and rapaciousness of his foreign 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 promotion 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.
The Junta, meanwhile, expected with impatience the emperor's answer
to their remonstrance, which they had appointed some of their number to
present.  The members intrusted with this, commission set out immediately for Germany [Oct. 201, but having received at different places
certain intelligence from court, that they could not venture to appear there
without endangering their lives, they stopped short in their journey, and
acquainted the Junta of the information which had been given them.t
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 presence, or refuse to listen to their humble
petitions, was represented as an act of tyranny so unprecedented and
intolerable, that nothing now  remained 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 motion which had formerly been made, for depriving Charles, during the life of his mother, of
the regal titles and authority which had been too rashly conferred upon him,
fron a false supposition of her total inability for government.  Some prooosed to provide a proper person to assist her in the administration of
* Sandov. C2;. P. Mart Ep. 686.    t Sandov. 142




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              167
public affairs, by marrying the queen to the prince of Calabria, the hei
of the Aragonese kings of Naples, who had been detained in prison sinc'
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 requests 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 collect their whole force, and to exert themselves with vigour, in
opposing this fatal combination of the king and nobility against their
liberties.*
They soon took the field with twenty thousand men. Violent disputes
arose concerning the command 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 the emperor, the respect due to
his birth, together with a secret desire of disappointing Padilla, of whose
popularity many members of the Junta had become jealous, procured him
the office of general [Nov. 23]; thowgh he soon gave them a fatal proof
that he possessed neither the experience, the abilities, nor the steadiness?
which that important station required.
The regents, meanwhile, appointed Rioseco as the place of rendezvous
for their troops, which, though far inferior to those of the commons in
number, excelled them greatly in discipline and in valour. They had
drawn a considerable body of regular and veteran 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 peculiar to their order in that age. The infantry of the
Junta was formed entirely of citizens and mechanics, 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.
Giron marched with his army directly to Rioseco, and seizing the
villages and passes around it, hoped that the royalists would be obliged
either to surrender for want of provisions, or to fight with disadvantage
before all their troops were assembled. But he had not the abilities, nor
his troops the patience and discipline, necessary for the execution of such
a scheme. The Conde de Haro found little difficulty in conducting a
considerable reinforcement through all his posts into the town; and Giron,
despairing of being able to reduce it, advanced suddenly to Villa-panda,
a place belonging to the constable. in which the enemy had their chief
magazine of provisions. By this 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 despatch; and attacking the town [Dec. 5],
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 master of the queen's person, took prisoners
many members of the 3, uta, 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 ot
the nobles as had hitherto been wavering or undetermined in their choice,
now joined the regents with all their forces; and a universal consternation
* P. Mart. ED. 688.




168                THE REIGN OF THE                     [BOOK II.
seized the partisans of the commons. This was much increased by the
suspicions 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 enemy's hands at
Tordesillas, fled to Valladolid; and as it would have required a long time
to supply the places of those who were prisoners by a new election, they
made choice among themselves of a small number 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 of the
kingdom, marched likewise to Valladolid; and Padilla being appointed
commander in chief, the spirits of the soldiery revived, and the whole party
forgetting the late misfortune, continued to express the same ardent zeal
for the liberties of their country, and the same implacable animosity against
their oppressors.
What they stood most in need of, was money to pay their troops. A
great part of the current coin had been carried out of the kingdom by the
Flemings; the stated taxes levied in times of peace were inconsiderable;
commerce of every kind being interrupted 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 Pachecc, 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 hei
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 reluctance, to venture upon this action, she stripped
the cathedral of whatever was valuable, and procured a considerable supply
of money for the Junta.t  The regents, no less at a loss how to maintain
their troops, the revenues of the crown having either been dissipated by
the Flemings, or seized by the commons, were obliged to take the queens
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 Portugal.J
The nobility discovered great unwillingness to proceed to extremities
with the Junta. They were animated with no less hatred than the corn
mons against the Flemings; they approved much of several articles in the
remonstrance; they thought the juncture favourable, not only for redressing
past grievances, Out 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
* iliscellaneous Tracts by Dr. Mich. Geddes, vol. i. 278.  I Sandov. 308. Diet. de Bayle, art
Padilla.  I P. Mart, Ep 718.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              169
negotiations they carried 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 inconsistent with the rights of the nobility, they engaged to
procure the emperor's consent to their other demands, which if he, through
the influence of evil counsellors, should refuse, several of the nobles promised to join with the commons in their endeavours to extort it.*  Such
divisions, however, prevailed among the members of the Junta, as prevented their deliberating calmly, or judging with prudence. Some of
the cities which had entered into the confederacy, were filled with that
mean 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 abilities 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 suspicion, 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 thai
they might make peace with Charles, by offering to enrich him with
their spoils.
The success which Padilla had met with in several small encounters, and
in reducing some inconsiderable towns, helped to precipitate the members
of the Junta into this measure, filling them with such confidence in the
valour of their troops, that they hoped for an easy victory over the royalists. Padilla, that his army 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 sufficient garrison; and though the besieged
made a desperate resistance, and the admiral attempted to relieve them,
he took the town by storm [March 1, 1531], and gave it up to be plundered
by his soldiers. If he had marched 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
associations, either of carrying on war or of making peace, they listened
again to overtures of accommodation, 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 Torrelobatonl 
and others, wearied out by the unusual length of the campaign, deserted.f
The constable too had leisure to assemble his forces at Burgos, and to pie* P. Mart. Ep. 695. 713. Gedd.-s's Tracts, i. 261  t Sandov. 336
VOL. 11. —22




170                   THE  REIGN  OF  THE                        [Booi  11I1.
pare every thing for taking the field; and as soon as the tIuce expired, he
effected a junction with the Conde de Haro, in spite of all Padilla's efforts
to prevent it.  They advanced immediately towards Torrelobaton; and
Padilla, finding the number of his troops so diminished that he durst not
risk a battle, attempted to retreat to Toro, which, if he could have accomplished, the invasion of Navarre at that juncture by the French, and the
necessity which the regents must have been under of detaching men tao
that kingdom, might have saved him  from  danger.  But Haro, sensible
how fatal the consequences would be of suffering him  to escape, marched
with such rapidity at the head of his cavalry, that he came up with him
near Villalar [April 231, and, without waiting for his infantry, advanced to
the attack.  Padilla's army, fatigued and disheartened by their precipitant
retreat, which they could not distinguish from  a flight, happened at that
lime 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, without facing the enemy, or making any resistance, they fled
in the  utmost confusion.   Padilla exerted himself with extraordinary
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.o
The resentment of his enemies did not suffer Padilla 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 the formality of a legal process.
He was led instantly to execution, together with  Don John Bravo, and
Don Francis Maldonada, the former commander 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 observing, ".That yesterday was the time to have displayed 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.t
* Sandov. 345, &c. P. Mart. Ep. 720. Miniana, Contin. p. 28. Epitome de la Vide y Hechos
del Emper. Carlos V. por D. Juan Anton. de Vera y Zuniga, 4to. Madr. 1627. p. 19.
f 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 Den John Padilla to his wife.
dc 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 Almighty confers a mark of distinguishing favour
upon that person, for whom he appoints a death such as mine, which, though lamented by many, is
nevertheless 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 bequeath to you. You will receive it, as the thing in this world which you valued 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 eyewitness, and to whom I have communicated my most secret thoughts, will inform you of what 
cannot now write; and thus I rest, expecting the instrument of your grief, and of my deliverance."




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                     171
After this, he submitted quietly to his fate.  Most of the Spanish historians,
accustomed to ideas of 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 sufferers.
The victory at Villalar proved as decisive as it was 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 dissolution of a confederacy, formed not upon
slight disgusts, 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 inability of its leaders,
or of some secret discord reigning 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, in order to check the progress of
the French in that kingdom, nothing could prevail on the dejected commons of Castile to take arms again, and to embrace 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, Padilla's widow, who, instead of bewailing her husband
with a womanish sorrow, 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 cathedral, in order to defray the expense of keeping
them on foot.* She employed every artifice that could interest 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 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.l  By all these means she kept the minds of the people in such
perpetual agitation as prevented their passions from subsiding, and rendered
them insensible of the dangers to which they were exposed, by standing
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 ald thy neighbouring cities, thy legitimate son, Juan de Padilla, gives information,
how by the blood of his body, thy ancient victories are to be refreshed. If fate hath not permitted
my actions to be placed among your successful and celebrated exploits, the fault hath been in my ill
fortune, not in my good will. This I request 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 solicitous
about thy good opinion than about my own life. The shiftings of fortune, which never stands still,
are many. But this I see with infinite consolation, 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 wrongse
Many tongues will relate the manner of my death, of which I am still ignorant, though I know i'
to be near. My end will testify what was my desire. My 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 moment I feel the knife at my throat, with greater dread of thy displeasure, thas
apprehension of my own pain." Sandov. Hist. vol. i. p. 478.
* P. Mart. Ep 727.        t Sandov. 375.




172                 THE REIGN OF THE                     BooK Ill.
alone in opposition to the royal authority. While the army was employed
in Navarre, the regents were unable to attempt the reduction 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 solicitations
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 invading their property, ceased to support her. As
soon as they received information of the death of William de Croy, arch.
bishop of Toledo, whose possession 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 damon which attended her in the form of a Negro-maid, and
that by its suggestions she regulated every part of her conduct.? The
credulous 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, surrendered it to the royalists
[October 26].  She retired to the citadel, which she defended with
amazing fortitude four months longer; and when reduced to the last extremnities, she made her escape in disguise [February 10], and fled to Portugal, where she had many relations.t
Upon her flight the citadel surrendered. Tranquillity was re-established
in Castile; and this bold attempt of the commons, like all unsuccessful
insurrections, contributed to confirm and extend the power 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 dncient 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 acquired in the Cortes.
While Castile was exposed to the calamities of civil 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
permission which Charles had rashly granted them, refused 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 against the former. As soon as they were
allowed the use of arms, and became conscious of their own strength, they
grew impatient to take vengeance of their oppressors. They drove the
Lolbles out of most of the cities, plundered their houses, wasted their lands,
* P. Mart. Ep.. 737.  t Sandov. 375. P. Mart Ep 754 Ferrer. viii. 563




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                173
and assaulted their castles. They then proceeded to elect thirteen per.
sons, one from each company of tradesmen established in Valencia, and
committed the administration of government to them, under pretext that
they would reform  the laws, establish 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 oppression inspired the one party, and the idea of insulted 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 confederacy
were conducted by low  mechanics, who acquired 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 run into the wildest excesses of
cruelty and outrage.
The emperor, occupied with suppressing the insurrection in Castile,
which more immediately threatened the subversion of his power and prerogative, was unable to give much attention to the tumults in Valencia, and
left the nobility of thatkingdom  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.  The Germanada carried on the war
during the years one thousand five hundred and twenty and twenty-one
with a more persevering courage than could have been expected from a
oody so tumultuary, under the conduct of such leaders.  They defeated
the nobility in several actions, which, though not considerable, were
extremely sharp. They repulsed them  in their attempts 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 advantage in most of the
rencounters.  At length they were joined by a body of Castilian cavalry,
which the regents despatched towards Valencia, soon after their victory
over Padilla at Villalar, and by their assistance the Valencian nobles
acquired such superiority that they entirely broke and ruined the Ger
mianada. 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 government 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 prudent conduct of the viceroy, Don John de Lanusa, they were
so far composed, as to prevent their breaking out into any open insurrec.
tion. But in the island of Majorca, annexed to the crown of Aragon, the
same causes which had excited the commotion in Valencia, produced
effects no less violent. The people, impatient of the hardships which they
had endured under the rigid jurisdiction of the nobility, took arms in a
tumultuary manner [March 19, 1521]; deposed their viceroy; drove him
out of the island; and massacred every gentleman who was so uinfortunate
as to fall into their hands. The obstinacy with which the people ot
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.1
While the spirit of disaffection was so general among the Spaniards, and
* Argeiisola Annales de Aragon, cap. 75. 90. 99. 118. Sayes Annales de Aragon, cap. 5. 12,
&c. P. Mart. Ep. lib. xxxiii. et x.xiv. passim. Ferrer. Hist. d'Espagne, viii. 542. 564, &c. t Argen
sola Annales de Aragon, c. 113. Ferrer. Hist. viii. 542. Sayes Annales de Aragon, c. 7. 11 14. 76
81 Ferreras Hist. d'Espagne, viii. 579, &c. 609'




174                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [Bool II.
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
members of it should have thought fit to prescribe. Many things, how'
ever, prevented the Spaniards from forming 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 Tull 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 to maintain the struggle alone, than to implore the aid of
neighbours whom they distrusted and hated. At the same time the forms
of government in the 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 attempted 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 his 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 subjects who had been in
arms against him with deep apprehensions, from which he soon delivered
them  by an act of clemency no less prudent than generous. After a
rebellion so general, scarcely twenty persons, 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 published a general pardon [October
28], extending to all crimes committed since the commencement of the
insurrections, from which only fourscore persons were excepted. 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 courtier offered to inform him where one of the most considerable 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 well as by his care to
avoid every thing which had disgusted the Castilians during his former
residence among them; by his address in assuming their manners, 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 more of his success and grandeur.t
About the time that Charles landed in Spain, Adrian set out for Italy to
take possession of his new dignity. But though the Roman people longed
extremely for his arrival, they could not, on his first appearance, conceal
their surprise and disappointment. After being accustomed to the princely
magnificence of Julius, and the elegant splendour of Leo, they beheld with
* Sandov. 377, &c. Vida del Emper. Carlos, por Don Juan. Anton. de Vera y Zuniga p. 30
r TTIloa Vita de Carlo V. p. 85.




EMPEROR CHARLES V                                 175
contempt an old man of an humble deportment, and 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 acknowledged 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 retaining 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 the church.t  To men little habituated to see princes regulate their
conduct by the maxims of morality and the principles of justice, these
actions of the new pope appeared incontestable proofs of his weakness or
inexperience. Adrian, who was a perfect stranger to the complex and
intricate system of Italian politics, and who could place no confidence in
persons whose subtile 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.$
Adrian, though devoted to the emperor, endeavoured to assume the
impartiality which became the common father of Christendom, and
laboured to reconcile the contending princes, in order that they might unite
in a league against Solyman, whose conquest of Rhodes rendered him
more formidable than ever to Europe.~  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
ambition, 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 LowCountries, were either exhausted or applied to some other purpose, it
depended entirely for pay and subsistence on the Italians.  A great part
of it was quartered in the ecclesiastical state, and monthly contributions were
levied upon the Florentines, the Milanese, the Genoese, 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.1I
1523.] So much regard, however, was paid to the pope's exhortations,
and to a bull which he issued, requiring all Christian princes to consent to
a truce for three years, that the Imperial, the French, and English ambassadors at Rome, were empowered by their respective 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 firmness to their alliance with Francis,
being now convinced that his affairs in Italy were in a desperate situation,
entered into a league against him with the emperor [June 28]; 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
* Guic. 1. xv. 238. Jovii Vita Adriani, 177. Bellefor. Epitr. des Princ..  t Guic. lib.xv.'240.   i Jov. Vita Adr. 118. F. Mart. Ep. 774. Ruscelli Lettres de Princ. vol. i. 87. 96. 101
$ Bellefor. Epitr. p. 86  1j Guic. I. xv  ~38




1,6                THE  RE iGN  OF  THE                 [BOGK III.
other Italian states followed their example; and Francis was left without
a single ally to resist the efforts of so many enemies, whose armies threatened. and whose territories encompassed, his dominions on every side.*
The dread of this powerful confederacy, it was thought, would have
obliged Francis to keep wholly on the defensive, or at least have prevented
his entertaining 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 rouse at the approach of danger, and not only to
encounter it with spirit and intrepidity, qualities which never forsook him,
but to provide against it with diligence and industry. Before his enemies
were ready to execute any of their schemes, Francis had assembled a
numerous army. His authority over his owr subjects was far greater
than that which Charles or Henry possessed overtheirs. 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 reluc
tance. The taxes he could impose were more considerable, and levied
vvith greater despatch; 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 emperoi'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 reached Lyons, and he himself was hastening after it with a second division of his troops, the discovery of a
domestic conspiracy, which threatened the ruin of the kingdom, obliged
him to stop short, and to alter his measures.
The author of this dangerous plot was Charles duke of Bourbon, lord
high constable, whose noble 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 resemblance
between the king and him in many of their qualities, both being fond ol
war, and ambitious to excel in manly exercises, as well as their equality
in age, and their proximity of blood, ought naturally to have secured to
him a considerable share in that monarch's favour. But unhappily Louise,
the king's mother, had contracted a violent aversion to the house of Bourbon, for no better reason than because Anne of Bretagne, the queen of
Louis the XlI., with whom she lived in perpetual enmity, had discovered
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 rewarded; 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 Alerlcon. The constable, at first, bore these indignities with greater moderation than could have been expected from a 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 duchess of Bourbon happened to die without leaving
" Guic. 1. xv. 241. 2,8




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                2
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 notwithstanding the great disparity of their years, she
formed the scheme of marrying him. Bourbon, who might have expected
every thing to which an ambitious mind can aspire, from the doating 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,
nut embittered his refusal by some severe raillery on Louise's person an(
character. She, finding herself not only contemned but insulted, her dis.
dppointed love turned into hatred, and since she could not marry, she
resolved to ruin Bourbon.
For this purpose she consulted with 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 constable to despair, and to measures which despair alone could have dictated. He renewed his intrigues in the Imperial court, and flattering himself that the injuries which he had suffered would justify his having
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,? expecting prodigious advantages
from his revolt, were 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 Gerinans, 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 execution of this deep-laid and dangerous plot was suspended, 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.f
Happily for that kingdom, a negotiation which had now been carrying
on for several months, though conducted with the most profound secrecy,
and communicated only to a few chosen confidents, could not altogether
escape the observation of the rest of the constable's numerous retainers,
rendered more inquisitive 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 Roeux, 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
* Rymrer's Feeder. xiii 794.    + Thuani Hist. lib. i. c. 10. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. viii. c. 18.
p. 207.
VOL, I —23




178               THE  REIGN  OF  THL                   LBouK Ill.
kingdom to its enemies, immediately repaired to Moulines, where the corn
stable was in bed, feigning indisposition that he might not be obliged to
accompany the king into Italy, and acquainted him of the intelligence
which he had received. Bourbon, with great solemnity, 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 [September], seemingly with an intention to follow him; but
turning suddenly to the left, he crossed the Rhone, and after infinite fatigue
and peril, escaped all the parties which the king, who 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 conspirator's 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
Ital
tfe did not, however, abandon his design on the 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 as a general; for of all the talents
requisite to form a great commander, he possessed only personal courage,
the lowest and the most common. But he was the most accomplished
gentleman in the TFrench 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 distinguishing
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 no where so safely as
in his hands.
Colonna, who was intrusted with the defence of the 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 reduced 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 oi
the river Tesino 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 retired 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 from  their consternation; Colonna, still active at the age of fourscore, and Morone, whose enmity to
* Mem. de Bellay, p. 64, &c. Pasquier Recherches de la France, p. 481.  f Guic. lib xv 254




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              17.
France rendered him  indefatigable, were employed night and day in
repairing the fortifications, in amassing provisions, 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 event so much to the
satisfaction of the Roman 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.   The cardinal de Medici
instantly 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 wou d be. uccessful. But though supported by the
Imperial faction, possessed of great personal interest, 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 address and perseverance of the cardinal at last surmounted every obstacle. He was raised to the head of
the church [November 28], and assumed the government of it by the
name of Clement VII. The choice was universally 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 churdh, exposed to imminent danger by the progress
of Luther's opinions, than for conducting its political operations with the
prudence requisite at such a difficult juncture; and who, besides these
advantages, rendered the ecclesiastical state more respectable, by having
in his hands the government of Florence, together with the wealth of the
family of Medici.t
Cardinal Wolsey, not disheartened by the disappointment of his ambitious views at the former election, had entertained more sanguine hopes of
success on this occasion. Henry wrote to the emperor, reminding him of
his engagements to second the pretensions 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 perhaps 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 mortification to see a pope
elected, of such an age, and of so vigorous a constitution, that he could nol
derive much comfort to himself from the chance of surviving him. This
second proof fully convinced Wclsey 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 granting 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 injury he had now received
made such an impression as entirely dissolved the tie which had united
him to Charles, and from  that moment he meditated revenge. It was
necessary, however, to conceal his intention 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 express
* Jovii Vit Adr 127.        t Guic. 1. xv 263




180                 THE  REIGN  OF THE                    [Boox IiI.
ing any uneasiness 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.*
Henry had, during the campaign, fulfilled, with great sincerity, what
ever he was bound to perform by 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 charges, 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 fortified 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 expense which these
alterations in the military system necessarily created, appeared intolerable
to nations hitherto unaccustomed with the burden of heavy taxes. Hence
proceeded the frugal, and even parsimonious spirit of the English parliaments in that age, which Henry, with all his authority, was seldom. able
to overcome.  ihe commons, 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 wanted. This,
however, wasted so much time, that it was late in the season [Sept. 20],
before his army, under the duke of Suffolk, could take the field. Being
ioined 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 con
sternation.  But the arrival of some troops detached by the king, who was
still at Lyons; the active gallantry of the French oficers, 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 [November]; and La Tremouille, who commanded in those parts, had the glory
not only of having checked the progress of a formidable army. with a
handfull of men, but of driving them  with ignominy out of the French
territories.t
The emperor's attempts upon Burgundy and Guienne were not more
fortunate, though in both these provinces Francis was equally unprepared
to resist them.  The conduct and valour of his generals supplied his want
of foresight; the Germans, who made an irruption into one of these provinces, and the Spaniards, who attacked the other, were repulsed with
great disgrace.
Thus ended the year 1523, during which Francis's good fortune and
success had been such as gave all Europe a high idea of his power and
resources. He had discovered and disconcerted a dangerous conspiracy,
the author of which he had driven into 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.
* Fiddes's Life of Wolser,. 94, &c. Herbert.  t Herbert. Mem. de Bellar, 73, &e




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              18
1524.] The ensuing year opened with events more disastrous to France.
Fontarabia was lost by the cowardice or treachery of its governor LFeb.
7]. 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
Tesino. 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 animosities, laboured,
with the zeal which became his character, to bring about a reconciliation
among the contending parties. But all his endeavours were ineffectual;
a numerous army, to which-each of the allies furnished their contingent of
troops, was assembled at Milan by the beginning of March. Lannoy, viceroy of Naples, took the command of it upon Colonna's death, though the
chief direction of military operations was committed to Bourbon and the
Marquis de Pescara; the latter the ablest and most enterprising of the
Imperial generals; the former inspired by his resentment with new activity and invention, and acquainted so thoroughly with the characters of the
French commanders, the genius of their troops, and the strength as well as
weakness of their armies, as to be of infinite service to the party which
he had joined. But all these advantages were nearly lost through the
emperor s inability to raise money sufficient for executing the various and
extensive plans which he had formed. When his troops were commanded
to march, they mutinied against their leaders, demanding 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.;
Bonnivet was destitute of troops to oppose this army, and still more of
the talents which could render him an equal match 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 uninstructive, he was forced to abandon the strong camp in
which he had intrenched himself at Biagrassa. 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 offered.thiem; 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 attempting 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 attacked his rear with great fury. At the beginning of
the charge, Bonnivet, while exerting himself with much valour, was
wounded so dangerously, that he was obliged to quit the field; and the
conduct of the rear was committed to the chevalier Bayard, who, 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 service
he received a wound which he immediately perceived to be mortal, and
being unable to continue any longer on horseback, he ordered one of nis
attendants to place him under a tree, with his face towards the enemy* Guic. 1. xv. 267.  Capella. 190.




82                 THE REIGCN OF THE                      [Bo0K IIt.
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
waited 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 o:
Bayard'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, notwithstanding their care, as his ances
tors for several generations 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 merit in that age, that the duke of Savoy commanded it to be received with royal honours in all the cities of his dominions; in Dauphine, Bayard's native country, the people of all ranks came
out in a solemn procession to meet it.*
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.
While the war, kindled by the emulation of Charles an2 Francis, Tp"ead
over so many countries of Europe, Germany enjoyed 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 alienating 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, and returned
to Wittemberg [March 6, 1522]. Happily. for the reformation, 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
party. Carlostadius and his fanatical followers, struck dumb by his rebukes,
submitted at once, and declared that they heard the voice of an angel, not
of a man.t
Before Luther left his retreat, he had begun to translate the Bible into
the German tongue, an undertaking 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 barbarous, 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 and seve-al 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
* Bellifor. Epitr. p. 73. Mem. de Bellay 75. (Euv de Brant. tom. vi. 108, &c Pasquier Recher
ches, p. 526.    t Sleid. Hist. 51. Seckend. 195.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              183
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 whp pretended to be his vicegerents; 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 departed fiom it.
The great advantages arising from  Luther's translation of the Bible,
encouraged the advocates for reformation, in the other countries of Europe,
to imitate his example, and to publish versions of the Scriptures in their
respective languages.
About this time, Nuremberg, Frankfort, Hamburg, and several other
free cities in Germany, of 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.* The elector of Brandenburg, the
dukes of Brunswick and Lunenburg, and prince of Anhalt, became avowed
patrons of Luther's opinions, and countenanced the preaching of them
among their subjects.
The court of Rome beheld this growing defection with great concern
and Adrian's first care after his arrival in Italy, had been to deliberate
with the cardinals, concerning the proper means of putting 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, par.
ticularly 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 ot
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 them with
no less indignation. The brief which he addressed to the diet of the empire assembled at Nuremberg [November, 15221, and the instructions
which he gave Cheregato, the nuncio whom he sent thither, were framed
agreeably to these views.  On the one hand, 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 suffering 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, Ananlias
and Sapphira by the apostles, and John Huss and Jerome of Prague by
their ancestors.t 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 promised to exert all his authority towards
reforming these abuses, with as much despatch 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.4
* Seckend. 241. Chytrai Contin. Krantzii, 203.  t Fascic. Ber. expet. & fugiend 345
X Ibid 345




t84                THE  REICN  OF  THE                  [BooK Il.
The members of the diet, after praising the pope's pious and laudable
itentions, excused themselves from not executing the edict of Worms, by
alleging that'the prodigious increase of Luther's followers, as well as the
aversion to the court of Rome among their other subjects on account of
its innumerable exactions, rendered such an attempt not only dangerous,
but impossible. They affirmed that the grievances of Germany, which
did not arise from  imaginary injuries, but from impositions no less real
than intolerable, as his holiness would learn from a catalogue of them
which they intended to lay before him, called now for some new and efficacious remedy; and in their opinion, the only remedy adequate to the
disease, or which 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 assemble
without delay in one of the great cities in 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 religion at this juncture
required.'
The nuncio, more artful than his master, and better acquainted with
the political views and interests 6f the Roman court, was startled at the
proposition of a council; and easily foresaw how dangerous such an assern.
bly 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, perceiving the nuncio to
be more solicitous about the interest of the Roman court, than the tranquillity of the empire, or purity of the church, remained inflexible, and
continued to prepare the catalogue of their grievances to be presented to
the pope.t  The nuncio, that he might not be the bearer of a remonstrance
so disagreeable to his court; left Nuremberg abruptly, without taking leave
of the diet.t
The secular princes accordingly, for the ecclesiastics, although they
gave no opposition, did not think it decent to join with them, drew up the
list (so famous in the German annals) of a hundred grievances, which the
empire imputed to the iniquitous dominion of the papal see. This list
contained grievances much of the same nature with that prepared 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 expense arising from the law-suits carried by appeal
to Rome; of the innumerable abuses occasioned by reservations, commendams, 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 clergyled; and of various
other particulars, many of which have already been mentioned, among the
circumstances that contributed to the favourable reception, 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 burdens,
they had determined to endure them no longer, and would employ the
power and authority with which God had intrusted them, in order to
procure relief.~
Instead of such severities against Luther and his followers as the nuncio
had recommended, the recess or edict of the diet [March 6, 1623] contained only a general injunction to all ranks of men to wait with patience for
the determinations of the council which was to be assembled, and in the
* Fascic. Ber. expet, & fugicnd. 346.  f Ibid. 349.  tIbid. S76.  6 Ibid. 354.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              185
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 discourses to the people, and
to confine themselves to the plain and instructive truths of religion.*
The reformers derived great advantage from the transactions of this
diet, as they afforded them the fullest and most authentic evidence that
gross corruptions prevailed in the court of Rome, and that the empire was
loaded by the clergy with insupportable burdens. With regard to the
former, they had now the testimony of the pope himself, that their invectives and accusations were not m'alicious 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 accustomed to declaim. Accordingly, in all their controversial
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 ambition and rapaciousness,
of the papal court.
At Rome, Adrian's conduct was considered as a proof of the most childish simplicity and imprudence. 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 disorderm 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 impolitic sincerity, they were afraid that, instead of reclaiming
the enemies of the church, he would render them more presumptuous, and
instead of extinguishing heresy, would weaken the foundations of the
papal power, or stop the chief sources from which wealth flowed into the
church.t For this reason the cardinals and other ecclesiastics of greatest
eminence in the papal court industriously opposed all his schemes of reformation, and by throwing objections and difficulties in his way, endeavoured to retard or to defeat the execution of them. Adrian9 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.
Clement VII., his successor, excelled Adrian as much in the arts of
government, as he was inferior to him  in purity of life, or uprightness of
intention. He was animated not only with the aversion which all 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
scrutiny which it could not stand. He determined, therefore, by every
possible means to elude the demands 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 predecessor had brought upon him.
For this purpose he made choice of cardinal Campeggio, an artful man,
often intrusted by his predecessors with negotiations of importance, as his
ouncio to the diet of the empire assembled again at Nuremberg.
Campeggio, without taking any notice of what had passed in the last
maeeting, exhorted the diet [February], in a long discourse, to execute the
* Fasci. Ber. expet. & fugiend 348.    f F Paul, -list. of Counc. p. 28. Pallavic. Hiet. 58
Jovii Vit. Adr. p. 118.
VOL. II.-24




186                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK IV.
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, and the redress of the hundred grievances.
The former, the nuncio endeavoured to elude by general 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, Campegglo 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 catalogue of grievances contained many particulars extremely
indecent and undutiful, and that the publishing 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 adherents.
But though an ambassador from the emperor, who was at that time very
solicitous to gain the pope, warmly seconded the nuncio, with many professions of his master's zeal for the honour and dignity of the papal see,
the recess of the diet [April 18] was conceived 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 articles 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 expectations 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
exterminate the evil.t
BOOEK IV.
THE expulsion of the French, both out of the Milanese and the republic
of Genoa, was considered by the Italians as the termination of the war
between 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 or the reestablishment 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 urged on by his own
ambition, no less than by Bourbon's desire of revenge, contemned Clement's
admonitions, and declared his resolution of ordering 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 urdertaking 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
* Seckend.283  Sleid. Hist. 66   t Seck(nd. 292.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              lb?
which Bourbon, with the confidence and credulity natural to exiles, enter
tained 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 expense 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 considerable body of men; and if these enterprises proved successful, they agreed, that Bourbon, besides the territories which he had
lost, should be put in possession 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, altogether 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 eagerness 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 men; the command of which was
given to the marquis de Pescara, with instructions to pay the greatest deference to Bourbon's advice in all his operations. Pescara passed the Alps
without opposition, and entering Provence [August 19], laid siege to Marseilles. Bourbon had advised him rather to march towards Lyons, in 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 authority he overruled the constable's
pinion, and directed Pescara to make the reduction of Marseilles his chief
object.?
Francis, who foresaw, but was unable to prevent 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 inspired 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,
meanwhile, had leisure to assemble a powerful army under the walls of
Avignon, and no sooner began to advance towards Marseilles, than the Imperial troops, exhausted by the fatigues of a siege which had lasted forty
days, weakened by diseases, and almost destitute of provisions, retired
[Sept. 19] with precipitation towards Italy.t
If, during these operations of the army in Provenct, either Charles oi
Henry had attacked France in the manner which they had projected, that
kingdom must have been 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 unexe
cuted. Henry, disgusted at Bourbon's refusing to recognise 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
Guic. I xv 273, &c. Mem. de Bellay, p. 80.  t Guic. 1. xv. 277. U!loa Vita dell Carlo V. p. 93




r~38                TIHE  REIGN   OF  THE                  [BOOK IV.'ool 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.,
If the king of France had been satisfied with having delivered his sub.
jects from.this formidable invasion, if he had thought it enough to show all
Europe the facility with which the internal strength of his dominions 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, not.
withstanding the loss of the Milanese, would have been far from ending
ingloriously. But Francis, animated with courage more becoming a soldier
than a general; pushed on by ambition, enterprising rather than considerate;
and too apt to be elated with success; 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 view. He had under his
command one of the most powerful and best appointed armies France had
ever brought into the field, which he could not think of disbanding without
having employed it in any active service.  The Imperial troc is had been
obliged to retire almost ruined by hard duty, and disheartened with ill
success; the Milanese had been left altogether without defence; it was
not imp6ssible 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 considerations, which were not destitute of plausibility, appeared to his sanguine temper to be of the utmost weight. In vain
did his wisest ministers and generals 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 subjects; 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 atonement for that neglect, to be regent
)f the kingdom  during his absence. Bonnivet, by his persuasions, contriouted not a little to confirm Francis in this resolution.  That favourite,
who strongly resembled his 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 expedition,
be is said, by his flattering descriptions of her beauty and accomplishments,
to have inspired Francis, who was extremely susceptible of such passions,
with an equal desire of seeing her.t
The French passed the Alps at Mount Cenis; and as their success depended on despatch, they advanced with the greatest diligence. Pescara,
who had been obliged to take a longer and more difficult route by Monac
and Final, was' soon informed of their intention; and being sensible tha
nothing but the presence of his troops could save the Milanese, marched
with such rapidity, that he reached Alva on the same day that the French
arrived at Vercelli.  Francis, instructed by Bonnivet's error in the former
campaign, advanced directly towards Milan, where the unexpected approach of an enemy so powerful occasioned such a 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 undertaken with any probability
* Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, Append. No 70, 71, 72.  t Oeuvr. de Brant. tern. vi. 25f




EMPEBROIr CHARLES V.                            189
ot success; and having thrown d garrison into the citadel, retired through
one gate, while the French were admitted at another.%
These brisk motions of the French monarch disconcerted all the schemles
of defence which the Imperialists had formed. Never, indeed, did generals
attempt to oppose a formidable invasion under such circumstances of disad
vantage.  Though Charles possessed 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 burden themselves with new or extraordinary impositions,
that even this small body of troops was in want of pay, of ammunition, of
provisions, and of clothing. In such a situation, it required all the wisdom
of Lannoy, the intrepidity of Pescara, and the implacable resentment 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 revenues of Naples,
procured some money, which was immediately applied towards providing
the army with whatever was most necessary.t 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 sen
tinlents of honour very different from those of mercenary soldiers; to which
proposition that gallant body of men, with an unexampled generosity, gave
their consent.1 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.
Francis, by a fatal error, allowed the emperor's generals time to derive
advantage from all these operations. Instead of pursuing the enemy, who
retired to Lodi on the Adda, an untenable post, which Pescara had re
solved to abandon on the approach of the French, he, in compliance with
the opinion of Bonnivet, though contrary to that of his other generals, laid
siege to Pavia on the Tesino [Oct. 28]; a town, indeed, of great iMaportance, the possession of which would have opened to him all the fertile
country lying on the banks of that river. But the fortifications 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 resources, 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 procure success.
Francis prosecuted the siege with obstinacy equal to the rashness with
which he had undertaken it. During three months eveiy thing known to
the engineers 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 obstruct 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.{I
* Mem. de Bellay, p. 81. Guic. I. xv. 278. t Guic. 1. xv. 280. t Jovii Vlt. Davali, lib. xv. p.
386. Sandov. vol. i. 621. Ulloa Vita dell CarloV. p. 94, &c. Vita del Emper. Carlos V. per Verav
Zuniga, p. 36.  ~ Mem. de Bollay, p. 83.   [{ Sandov. i. 608.




190               THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK IV.
Leyva, well acquainted with the difficulties under 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 the French by
frequent and furious sallies. Behind the breaches made by their artillery,
he erected new works, which appeared to be scarcely inferior in 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 Tesino, 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 expense.*
Notwithstanding the slow progress of the besiegers, and the glory which
Leyva acquired by his gallant defence, it was not doubted but that the
town would 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 aboured hard to bring about a
peace that would secure Francis in the possession of his new conquests;
and as Charles, who was always inflexible in the prosecution of his
schemes, rejected the proposition with disdain, and with bitter exclamations
against the pope, by wnhse 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.t
Francis having by this transaction deprived the 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 overrun that country, which was left altogether
without defence, 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 ordered six thousand men to march under the command of
John Stuart duke of Albany. But Pescara foreseeing 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,J 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 chimerical and extravagant projects.
By this time the garrison of Pavia was reduced to extremity; their ammunition and provisions began to fail; the Germans, of whom it was chiefly
composed, having received no pay for seven months,~ threatened to deliver
the town into the enemy's hands, and could hardly be restrained from
* Guic. 1. xv. 280. Ulloa Vita di Carlo V. p. 95.    t Guic. 1. xv. 282. 285.  t Ibid. 285.$ Gold. Polit. Imperial. 875.




EMPEROR CHARLES V                               191
mutiny by all Leyva's address and authority. The Imperial generals,
who were no strangers to his situation, saw the necessity of marching
without loss of time to his relief [1525]. This they had now in their
power: twelve 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 Imperialists 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 carrying
their ammunition and provisions. The abilities of the generals, however,
supplied every defect. By their own example, as well as by magnificent
promises 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 flattered
themn 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 of their troops to
cool, advanced immediately toward the French camp [Feb. 3]. On the
first intelligence of their approach, Francis called a council of war, to
deliberate what course he ought to take. All his officers of greatest ex
perience were unanimous in advising him to retire, and to decline a battle
with an enemy who courted it from despair. The Imperialists, 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 ol
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 encamp 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 counsels fatal to France during the whole campaign, 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 Imperialists rather than relinquish an undertaking,
on the success of which the king's future fame depended. Unfortunately,
Francis's notions of honour were delicate to an excess that bordered on
what was romantic. 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 expose himself to the slightest imputation, he
chose to forego all the advantages which were the certain consequences of
a retreat, and determined to wait for the Imperialists before the walls of
Pavia.t
The Imperial generals found the French so strongly entrenched, that
notwithstanding the powerful motives which urged them on, they hesitated long before they ventured to attack them; but at last the necessities
of the besieged, and the murmurs of their own soldiers, obliged them to
* Eryci Peuteani Hist. Cisalpina, ap. Graivii Theg. Antiquit.. tal. iii. p 1170. 1179.   t Gult.xv 291.




192                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [Boos  IV.
put every thing to hazard. Never did armies engage with greater ardour,
or with a higher opinion of the importance of the battle which they were
going to fight [Feb. 24]; 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, contended 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
Imperialists, 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, unmindful 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 them into confusion; and Pescara falling
oh 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
universal; and resistance ceased in almost every part, 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 himself on foot with an heroic courage.
Many of his bravest officers gathering round him, and endeavouring to
save his life at the expense of their own, fell at his feet. Among these was
Bonnivet, the author.of this great calamity, who alone died unlamented.
The king, exhausted with fatigue, and scarcely capable of further re
sistance, 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 gentleman, who had entered together with
Bourbon into the emperor's service, and placing himself by the side of the,honarch 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 rejected with indignation the thoughts of an
action which would have afforded such matter of triumph to his traitorous
subject; and calling for Lannoy, who happened likewise to be near at
hand, gave up his 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
remain disarmed in the presence of one of the emperor's subjects.?
Ten thousand men fell on this day, one ofAthe 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 rearguard made its escape, under the command of the duke of Alencon; the
feeble garrison of Milan, on the first news of the defeat, retired without
being pursued, by 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 character, guarded him with the utmost attention. He
was solicitous, not only to prevent any possibility of his escaping, but afraid
* Guic. 1. xv. 292. Oeuv. de Brant. vi. 355. Mem. de Bellay, p. 90. Sandov. 1Hist. i. 638 &e
P. Mart. Ep. 805. 810. Ruscelli Lettere de Principi, ii. p. 70. Ulloa Vita del Carlo V. p 98.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              193
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 Pizzichitone 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 scrupulous 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 expeditious method of conveying intelligence to Spain, at
that season of the year, was by land, Francis gave the commendador Pennalosa, who was charged with Lannoy's despatches, a passport to travel
through France.
Charles received the account of this signal and unexpected success that
had crowned his arms, with a moderation, which, if it had been real, would
have done him more honour than the greatest victory. Without uttering
one word expressive of exultation, or of intemperate joy, he retired immediately into his chapel [Mar. 10], 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 congratulate him. He accepted of their compliments with a modest
deportment; he lamented the misfortune of the captive king, as a striking
example of the sad reverse of fortune, to which the most powerful 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
restoring peace to Christendom.?
Charles, however, had already begun to form schemes in his own mind,
which little suited such 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.
Meanwhile, France was filled with consternation. The king himself
had early'transmitted an account of the rout of 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
particulars as made all ranks of men sensibly feel the greatness and extent
of the calamity. France, without its sovereign, without money in her
treasury, without an army, without generals to command it, and encompassed on all sides by a victorious and active enemy, seemed to be on the
very brink of destruction. But on that occasion the great abilities of
Louise the regent saved the kingdom, which the violence of her passions
had more than once exposed 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 discovered 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
* Sandov. Hist i. 641. Ulloa Vita dell Carlo V. p. 110.
VOL. II. —25




194                THE  REIGN  OTF  THE                  (Booa IV.
such zea. in defence of their country, as its present situation required. She
collected the remains of the army which had served in Italy, ransomed
the prisoners, paid the arrears, and put them in a condition to take tile field.
She levied new  troops, provided for the security of the frontiers, and
raised sums sufficient for defraying these extraordinary expenses. 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 Charles or Francis, seldom
followed any regular or 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
ilecessary to keep between the two contending potentates, the preservation
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, belonged to
his ancestors, and for the sake of such an acquisition he did not scruple to
give his assistance 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 overrun 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 partition, as well as his security for keeping possession of what
should be allotted him, he must absolutely depend upon the will of a confederate, to whose forces his own bore no proportion. He was sensible,
that if Charles were permitted io 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 augmenting sympathy; and Henry, naturally susceptible of generous sentiments, was fond
of appearing as the deliverer of a vanquished enemy from a state of captivity. The passions of the English minister seconded the inclinations of
the monarch. Wolsey, who had not forgotten the disappointment of his
hopes in two successive conclaves, which he imputed chiefly to the emperor, thought this a proper opportunity of taking revenge; and Louise,
codrting the friendship of England 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, vi
its present helpless state, and obliged her to promise that she would not con
sent to dismember the kingdom, even in order to procure her son's liberty.*
But as Henry's connections with the emperor made it necessary to act
in such a manner as to save appearances, he ordered public rejoicings to
be made in his dominions for the success of the Imperial arms; and, as ii
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 victory; 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
Mem. de Belav, 94. Guic. I. xvi. 31b. Herhert.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                19s
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 direction, 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 extravagant
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 with a decent pretext for entering into such engagements with
France as the juncture required."
It was among the Italian states, however, that the victory of 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 exposed by their situation to feel the first effects
of the uncontrolled authority which Charles had acquired.  They observed
many symptoms of a boundless ambition in that young prince, and were
sensible that, as emperor or king of Naples, he might not only form dan
gerous pretensions upon each of their territories, but might invade them
with great advantage.  They deliberated, therefore, with great solicitude
concerning the means of raising such a force as might obstruct his progress.t  But their consultations, conducted with little union, and executed
with less vigour, had no effect. Clement, instead of pursuing the measures
which he had concerted with the Venetians for securing the liberty of
Italy, was so intimidated by Lannoy's threats, or overcome by his pro
mises, that he entered into a separate treaty [April 1], 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 unworthy action.:
How dishonourable soever the artifice might be 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 of an
imminent danger.  Soon after the defeat of the French army, the German
troops, which had defended Pavia with such meritorious courage and perseverance, 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
a rears; 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 prospect of
being able to pay them or his other forces regularly for the future, and was
under such continual 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 Imperial service.~ Thus, from a circumstance that now
appears very singular, but arising naturally from the constitution of most
* Herbert, p. 64.  t Guic. 1. xvi. 300. Ruscelli Lettere de Princ. ii 74. 746, &c. Thuani Hist
lb. i. c. 11. I   Guie. lib. xvi. 305, Mauroceni Histor. Venet. ap Istorichi dell cose Venez V
131.136.   $ Guic. I xvi. p. 302.




i.96               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   BOOK IV
European governments in the sixteenth century, while Charles was su^.
pected by all his neighbours of aiming at universal monarchy, and while
ae was really forming 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 pretensions to moderation and
disinterestedness were soon forgotten, deliberated, with the utmost solicitude, how he might derive the greatest advantages from the misfortune
of his adversary. Some of his counsellors advised him to treat Francis
with the magnanimity that became a victorious prince, and, instead ol
taking 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 extorted 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, oi
endeavouring to make the utmost of Francis's calamity,had a greater numbey
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. Instead of making one great
effort to penetrate into France with all the forces of Spain and the LowCountries; instead of crushing the Italian states before they recovered
from the consternation which the success of his arms had ocasioned, he
had recourse 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 difficult to
carry on any extraordinary armament; and he himself having never ap
peared at the head of his armies, the command of which he had hitherto
committed 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 resources exhausted, and the kingdom
itself, no less than the person of its monarch, had been subjected to his
power.
Full of this opinion, he determined to set the highest price upon Francis's
freedom. and having ordered the count de Roeux 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 daggei
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 purchase
liberty by such ignominious concessions.This mortifying discovery of the emperor's intentions greatly augmented
Francis's chagrin and impatience under his confinement, and must have
driven him to absolute despair, if he had not laid hold of the only thing
* Men. de Bellay, 94. Ferreras Hist. ix. 43




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              197
which could still administer any comfort to him. He persuaded himself..hat the conditions which Roeux had proposed did not flow originally frorm
Charles himself, but were dictated by the rigorous policy of his Spanish
council; and that therefore he might hope, in one personal interview with
him, to do more towards hastening his own deliverance, than could be
effected by long negotiations passing through the subordinate hands of his
ministers.  Relying on this supposition, which proceeded from too favourable an opinion of the emperor'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 address to confirm him in these sentiments; and
concerted with him in secret the manner of executing this resolution.
Francis was so eager on a scheme which seemed to open some prospect oi
liberty, that he furnished the galleys necessary for conveying him to Spain,
Charles being at that time unable to fit out a squadron for that purpose.
The viceroy, without communicating his intentions either to Bourbon or
Pescara, conducted his risoner 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. They landed, however, in a few days at Barcelona, and soon after
Francis was lodged [Aug. 24], by the emperor's command, in the Alcazar
of Madrid, under the care of the vigilant Alarcon, who guarded him with
is much circumspection as ever.*
A few days after Francis's arrival at Madrid, and when he began to be
sensible of his having relied without foundation on the emperor's generosity,
Henry VIII. concluded a treaty with the regent of France, which afforded
him some hope of liberty from another quarter. Henry's extravagant demands had been received at Madrid with that neglect which they deserved,
and which he probably expected. Charles, intoxicated with prosperity,
no longer 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 professions of friendship to himself. These slight offences, added to the
weighty considerations formerly mentioned, induced Henry to enter into a
defensive alliance 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 order to procure the deliverance of his new ally from a
state of captivity.t
While the open defection of such a powerful confederate affected Charles
with deep concern, a secret conspiracy was carrying on in Italy, which
threatened him with consequences still more fatal. The restless and intriguing genius of Morone, chancellor of 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-establishment of Sforza, to
whose interest he had attached himself in the dutchy of Milan. The delays,
however, and evasions of the Imperial court, in granting Sforza the iqvesti
ture of his new acquired territories, had long alarmed 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 tha'
Morone, gave Sforza, at last, the investiture which had been so long de.
sired; the charter was clogged with so many reservations, and subjected
him to such grievous burdens, as rendered the duke of Milan a dependent
* Mem. de Bellay, 95. P. Mart. Ep. ult. Guic.-lib. xvi. 323.    t Herbert Fiddes's Life of
W9olsey, 337




198                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  tBoox IV.
on the emperor, rather than a vassal of the empire, and afftrded him hardly
any other security for his possessions 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 foreigners; the darling scheme, as has been already observed, of the Italian politicians in that age, and which it was the great
object of their ambition to accomplish. 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 dominion 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.
Bourbon and Pescara were equally enraged at Lannoy'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 sacrificed, 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 empemor, of cowardice
in the time of danger, and of insolence after victory, towards the obtaining
of which he had contributed nothing either by his valour or his conduct;
nor did he abstain from bitter complaints against the emperor himself, who
had not discovered, as he imagined, a sufficient sense of his merit, nor bestowed 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
troops 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 willingly and with passion;
and Morone, observing his resentment to be uniformly violent, artfully
pointed out and aggravated every circumstance that could increase its fury.
He painted, in the strongest colours, the emperor's want of discernment, as
well as of gratitude, in preferring Lannoy to him, and in allowing that presumptuous Fleming to dispose of the captive king, without consulting the
man to whose bravery and wisdom Charles was indebted for the glory of
having a formidable rival in his power. Having warned 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 intolerable 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 to disperse the Spanish
infantry, the only body of the emperor's troops that remained in Italy,
through the villages of the Milanese, that, in one night, they might be destroyed by the people, who, having suffered much by 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




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              191
it on many fonrer occasions, 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 dominion 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 confederacy.*
Pescara, amazed at the boldness and extent of the scheme, listened attentively to Morone, but with the 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 command, deterred him from the attempt;
on the other, the prospect of obtaining a crown allured him to venture upon
it. After continuing a short space in suspense, the least commendable
motives, as is usual after such deliberations, prevailed, and ambition
triumphed over honour. In order, however, to throw a colour of decency
on his conduct, he insisted that some learned casuists should give their
opinion, " Whether it was lawful for a subject to take arms against his immediate sovereign, in obedience to the 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 commit, 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 conspiracy to the emperor, deemed 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 conspiracy from other hands, seemed to be highly pleased
with Pescara's fidelity, and commanded him to continue 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, conscious 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 acted it with such address, as to
deceive even the penetrating eye of Morone, who, relying with full 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 conversation; 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 conducted 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
* Gtuic. lib. xvi. 325. Jovii Vita Davali, p. 417, Oeuv. de Brantome, iv. 171. Ruscelli Letters
2e Princ. ii. 91 Thuani Hist. lib i c. 11. P Heuter. Rer. Austr. jib. ix. c. 3. r. 207.




200,'rHE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK fV
and Milan, which the unfortunate duke attempting to defend, were closely
blockaded by the Imperial troops.I
But though this unsuccessful conspiracy, instead of stripping the emperor
of what he already possessed in Italy, contributed to extend  is dominions
in that country, it showed him the necessity of 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.  The captive king was confined in an old castle,
under a keeper whose formal austerity of manners rendered his vigilance
still more disgusting. He was allowed no exercise but that of riding on a
mule, surrounded with armed guards on horseback.  Charles, on pretence
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 indignities made a deep impression on a
high-spirited prince; he began to lose all relish for his usual amusements:
his natural gayety 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 lace.  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 termi
nated, immediately consulted his ministers concerning the course to be
taken. In vain did the chancellor Gattinara, the most able among them,
repre, ent 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 reputation than
his minister, set out for Madrid to visit his prisoner [Sept. 28]. The interview was short; Francis being 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.4
He had soon the mortification to find, that his confidence in the emperor
was not better founded than formerly.  Charles returned instantly to
roledo; all negotiations were carried on by his ministers; and Flancls
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 refused to visit the king
of France, received his rebellious subject with the most studied respect
* Guic. lib. X7i. 32i. Jovii Hist. 319. Capella, lib. v. p. 200.   t Guic. 1. xvi. 339. Sandov.
Hit i. 665.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              201
LNovw  15]  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 sensible manner. It
afforded him some consolation, however, to observe, that the sentiments
of the Spaniards differed widely from those of their sovereign.  That
generous people detested Bourbon's crime.  Notwithstanding his great
talents and important services, they shunned all intercourse with him, to
such a degree, that Charles having desired the Marquis de Villena to permit Bourbon to reside in his palace while the court remained in Toledo,
he politely replied, " That he could not refuse gratifying his sovereign in
that request;" but added, with a Castilian dignity of mind, that the emperor must not be surprised if, the moment the constable departed, 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.*
Charles himself, nevertheless, seemed to have it much at heart to reward
Bourbon's services in a signal 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 Eleanora
herself discovered an inclination rather to match with a powerful monarch,
than with his exiled subject; 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, happened opportunely at
this juncture [December] for his relief. By that event, the command of
the army in Italy became vacant, and Charles, always fertile in resources,
persuaded 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 forfeited by Sforza - and in return for these to relinquish all hopes
of marrying the queen of Portugal.t
The chief obstacle that stood in the way of Francis's liberty was the
emperor's continuing to insist so peremptorily on the restitution of Bur.
gundy, as a preliminary to that event. Francis often declared, that he
would never consent to dismember his kingdom; 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 oi
all his pretensions in Italy and the Low-Countries; he promised to restore
to Bourbon all his lands which had been confiscated; 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 confidence 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 resentment, standing perpetually on their guard; so that
the prospect of bringing their negotiation to an issue seemed to be far
distant. The dutchess of Alencon, 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 reasonable 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
* Guic. 1. xvi. 335.   t Sandov. Hist. i. 6.6. Oeuv. de rrant. iv. 249
VOL. II.-26




202                 THE REIGN OF THE                     [Boox IV
dauphin, determined 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 desired him to name the place of his confinement, and to assign him a
poper number of attendants during the remainder of his days.*
This resolution of the French king had great effect; Charles began to
be sensible that by pushing 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 tnore compliant with regard to concessions,
trusting that, if he could once obtain his liberty, he would soon be in a
condition to resume whatever he had yielded.
1526.] 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 compromised, Francis engaging to restore
that dutchy with all it dependencies in full sovereignty to the emperor;
and Charles consenting that this restitution should 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 principal 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 adherents, 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 between the emperor and Francis a league of
perpetual friendship and confederacy, with a promise of mutual assistance
in every case of necessity; that, in corroboration of this union, Francis
should marry the emperor'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 parliaments 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 Angouleme, the king's third son, should be
delivered to Charles, that, in order to manifest, as well as to strengthen
* This paper is published in Meionlles Historiques. &c. nar M. I' Abbe Raynal, tom. ii, p. 151




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              203
the amity between the two monarchs, he might be educated at the Imperial court; and that if Francis did not, within the time limited, fulfil the
stipulations in the treaty, he should promise, upon his honour and oath,
to return into Spain, and to surrender himself again a prisoner to the
emperor.~
By this treaty, Charles flattered himself that he had not only effectually
humbled his rival, but that he had taken such precautions as would for
ever prevent his re-attaining any formidable degree of power. The opinion, which the wisest politicians formed concerning it, was very different;
they could not persuade 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. Ambition and resentment, they knew, would conspire in prompting him to violate the hard
conditions to which he had been constrained to submit; nor would arguments and casuistry be wanting to represent that which was so manifestly
advantageous, to be necessary 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 such of his counsellors as were then in Madrid, and having
exacted fiom them a solemn oath of secrecy, 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.f By this disingenuous artifice, for which even the
treatment that he had met with was no apology, Francis endeavoured to
satisfy his honour and conscience in signing the treaty, and to provide at
the same time a pretext on which to break it.
Great, meanwhile, were the outward demonstrations of love and confi
dence between the two monarchs; 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 performed soon after the conclusion of the treaty,
Charles would not permit him  to consummate it until the return of the
ratification from France. Even then Francis was not allowed to be at full
liberty; his guards were still continued; though caressed as a brother-inlaw, he was still watched like a prisoner; and it was obvious to attentive
observers, that a union, in the very beginning of which there might be
discerned such symptoms of jealousy and distrust, could not be cordial, or
ef long continuance.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, informed 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 king
dom 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 artfully included in his nomination. At last Francis took leave of the emperor, whose suspicion of the
king's sincerity increasing, as the time of putting it to the proof approached,
he endeavoured to bind him still faster by exacting new promises, which,
after those he had already made, the French monarch was not slow to
* Recueil des Trait. tom. ii. 112. Ulloa Vita dell Carlo V, p. 192, &c.    t Recueil d s Trait
tom. ii. p. 107.: Guic. 1. xvi. 353.




204             THE REIGN OF THE                         [BooK IV.
grant. He set out from Madrid, a place which the remembrance of many
afflicting circumstances 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 exactness than ever. When he arrived
at the river Andaye, which separates the two kingdoms, Lautrec appealed
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 exchange 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.%
Soon after the emperor had taken leave of Francis, and permitted him
to begin his journey towards his 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 extremely ac
ceptable to his subjects. The Portuguese, fond of this new connection
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 this juncture, was of no small consequence
to the emperor.  The marriage was celebrated [March 12] with that
splendour and gayety 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.t
During these transactions, Charles could hardly give any attention 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 princes and free barons.  Their vassals held or
them  by the strictest  and most limited tenures; while the great bods 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 personal and domestic
slavery, the most rigorous form of that wretched state. In other provinces,
particularly in Bohemia and Lusatia, the peasants were bound to remain
on the lands to which they belonged, and making part of the estate, were
transferred like any other property from one hand to another. Even in
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 landlord, 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
* Sandov. Hist. i. 735. Guwc. 1. xvi. 355.  t Ulloa Vita di Carlo V. p. 106. Belcarius Corn
Rer Gallic. p. 565 Spalatinus ap. Struv. Corp. Hist. Germ. ii. 1081.




EMPEROR CHARLES V, 0
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 wirn
patience, because they were customary and ancient: but when the pro.
gress of elegance and luxury, as well as the changes introduced into the
art of war, came to increase the expense of government, and made it ne
cessary for princes to levy occasional or stated taxes on their subjects, such
impositions being new, appeared intolerable; and in Germany, these duties
being laid chiefly upon beer, wine, and other necessaries 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 impositions of this kind that the Swiss owed
the acquisition 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, however, be quelled without much difficulty and 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
province to province, reached almost every part of Germany. 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.t 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
exactions. With this view, they drew up and published a memorial, containing all their demands, and declared, 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 forests
might not be regarded as private property, but be open for the use of all;
that they might be delivered from the unusual burden of taxes under 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.$
Many of these demands were extremely reasonable; and being urged by
such formidable numbers, should have met with some redress. But those
uhnvieldy bodies, 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
e Seckend. Ib. ii p. 2. 6.  r Petl. Crinitus de bello Rs3tic6no, ap. Freher. Script. Rer. Gerra
Argent. 1717, vol. il. p.'43.  * Sleid. list. p. 90.




206                 THE  REIGN  OE1  THE                   [BooK IV.
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 of Germany where
Luther's opinions had made little progress; and being excited wholly by
political causes, had no connection with the disputed points in religion.
But the phrenzy reaching at last those countries in which the reformation
was established, derived new strength from circumstances peculiar to them,
and rose to a still greater pitch of extravagance.  The reformation,
wherever it was received, increased that bold and innovating spirit to which
it owed its birth.  Men who had the courage to overturn a system 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, withgut scruple, what appeared to them erroneous, it was natural for them to
urn. the same daring and inquisitive eye towards government, and to think
of rectifying whatever disorders or imperfections were discovered there.
As religious abuses had been reformed in several places without the permission of the magistrate, it was an easy transition to attempt the redress of
political grievances in the same manner.
No sooner, then, did the spirit of revolt break out in Thuringia, 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 enthu.
siastic notions, but such as tended manifestly to inspire them with boldness.
and lead them to sedition.  " Luther," he told them, " had 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 example
of, the utmost licentiousness of manners.  In order to avoid vice, (says he)
men must practise perpetual 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 Supreme Being will direct all their steps, and by some visible sign
discover his will to them; if that illumination be at any time withheld, we
may expostulate with the Almighty, who deals with us so harshly, and
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 thenm
and having all things in common, let them live together like brethren,
without any marks of subordination or pre-eminence."]
Extravagant as these tenets were, they flattered so many passions in the
human heart, as to make a deep impressioi.  To aim at nothing more than
abridging the power of the nobility, was now considered as a trifling and
partial reformation, not worth the contending for; it was proposed to level
every distinction 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
* Seckend. lib. ii. p. 10. Petr. Gnodalius de Rusticanorum Tumultu in Germania, Scard. ap
scripL vol. ii p. 131, &c.    t Seclhend. lib. ii. p. 13. Sleid. Hist. p. 83.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              207
ascertainea him oi its success. The peasants set about th execution of it,
not only with the rage which animated those of their order in other parts
of Germany, but with the ardour which enthusiasm 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 their prophet, was destitute of the abilities necessary for
conducting it. He had all the extravagance, but 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 duke of Brunswick. These princes, unwilling to shed the blood of their deluded subjects, sent a young nobleman 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.
But the sense of present danger rqaking a deeper impression on the
peasants than his eloquence, confusion 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 unfortunate 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 began the attack
[May 15]; but the behaviour of the peasants in the combat was not such
as might have been expected either from their ferocity or confidence of
success; an undisciplined rabble was no equal match for well-trained
troops; above five thousand were 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 condemned to such punishments as his
crimes had deserved, 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;  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 exemplary prudence and
moderation; like a common parent, solicitous about the welfare of both
parties, 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
redress by any but legal means.t
Luther's famous marriage with Catharine a Boria, a nun of a noble
family, who, having thrown off the veil, had fled from the cloister, hap
* Sleid. Hist. p 84 Seckend. lib. ii. p. 12. Gnodalius Tumult. Rustican 155.  t Sleid
Hist. p. 87




208                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [Boox IV.
pened 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 impression which it had made to his
disadvantage; but being satisfied with his own conduct, he bore the censure of his friends, and the reproaches of his adversaries, with his usual
fortitude.*
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 [May 5], 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
v ere founded in defence of the Christian faith against heathens and
infidels.  Among these the Teutonic order in Germany 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 independence, while the latter
asserted their right of sovereignty with great firmness. Albert, a prince
of the house of Brandenburgh, 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 become
an early convert to Luther's doctrines, this 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 emperor, 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 province which he had usurped, and transmitted it to his posterity
In process of time, this rich inheritance fell to the electoral branch of the
family, all dependence on the crown of Poland was shaken off, and the
margraves of Brandenburgh, 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.4
Upon the return of the French king to his dominions, the eyes of all
the powers in Europe were fixed upon him, that, by observing his first
motions, they might form a judgment concerning his subsequent 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 acknow
* Seckend. lib ii. p. 15  t Sleid. Hist. p. 98 Pfeffel Abrege de "'Hit. de Droit Publ. p.
605, &c.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                209
iedged teat he owed the recovery of his liberty. Next day the emperor's
ambassadors demanded audience, and, in their master's name, required
him to issue such orders as were necessary for carrying the treaty ol
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 himseli
alone, but affecting the interests of the French monarchy, that he could
not take any further 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."  This reply was
considered as no obscure discovery of his being resolved to elude the
treaty; and the compliment 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 unreasonable treaty, he was eager
to seize the first opportunity 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
uncertainty, were dissipated by Francis's seeming impatience 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 MIilan. That feebie
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 surrender if they did not come to his relief.
The Imperial troops, as they had received no pay since the battle of
Pavia, lived at discretion in the Milanese, levying such exorbitant contributions in that dutchy, as amounted, if we may rely on Guicciardini's cal
culation, to no less a sum than fve thousand ducats a-day;t 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 territories 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 Im
perial troops.
For these reasons, the pope, the Venetians, and 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 possession of
the Milanese.  If Charles should refuse either of these, the contracting
parties bound themselvesto 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, of thirty thou
sand ducats yearly revenue, was to be settled on him; aid lands to thp
value of ten thousand ducats on Wolsey his favourite..
* Mem. de Bellay, p. 97.  t Glic. 1. xvii. 360.  f P. iteuter Rer. Austr. lib. ix. c. 3. p.
3lX7. Recueil des Trait. ii. 124.
VOL.  II.-27




210                 THE REIGN OF THE    [BOOK IV
Nc sooner was this league concluded, than Clement, by the plenitude ot
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 consequences of the powers which the popes
arrogated as the infallible vicegerents of Christ upon earth. But as, in
virtue of this pretended prerogative, they had often dispensed with obli;
gations which were held sacred, the interest of some men, and the credulity of others, led them to imagine, that the decisions of a sovereign
-ontiff authorized or justified actions which would, otherwise, have been'minal and impious.
fie discovery of Francis's intention to elude the treaty of Madrid, filled
the emperor with a variety of disquieting thoughts. ie had treated an
unfortunate prince in the most ungenerous manner; he had displayed ar.
insatiable ambition in all his negotiations 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 compen
sation 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 French
king, in opposition to the sentiments of his wisest ministers, was now
apparent; and he easily conjectured, that the same confederacy, the dread
of which had induced him to set Francis at liberty, would now be formed
against him with that gallant and incensed monarch at its head. Selfcondemnation and shame, on account of what was past, with anxious
apprehensions concerning what might happen, were the necessary result ot
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 determined, therefore, that it was most suitable to his dignity, to insist, whatever might be the consequences, 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.t
In consequence of this resolution, he appointed Lannoy and Alarcon to
repair, as his ambassadors, to the court of France, and formally to summon
the 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 imr.mediate answer, Francis admitted the deputies of the states of
Burgund- to an audience in their presence. They humbly represented
to him, tnat he had exceeded 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 his engagements with the emperor.  The
deputies, assuming a higher tone, declared, that they would not obey
commands which they considered as illegal; and, if he should abandon
them to tne enemies of France, they had resolved to defend themselves to
the best of their power, with a firm purpose rather to perish than submit
to a foreign dominion. Upon which Francis, turning towards the Imperial
ambassadors, represented to them the impossibility of performing what he
had undertaken, and offered, in lieu of Burgundy, to pay the emperor two
Goldaat. Polit. Imperial. p. 10. P/igT Hist. p. 70  t GO.. r-L I.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.   2:
milliors of crowns. The viceroy and Alarcon, who easily perceived, that
the scene to which they had been witnesses, 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.* Before they left the kingdom, they had the
mortification to hear the holy league against the emperor published with
great solemnity [June 11].
Charles no sooner received an account of this confederacy 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 character; 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 before 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 thrrets to the powerful combination formed against him; and the emperor, prompted by so many
passions, did not fail to exert himself with unusual vigour, in order to send
supplies, not only of men, but of money, which were still more needed,
into Italy.
On the other hand, the efforts of the confederates bore no proportion to
that animosity against the emperor, with which they seemed to enter into
the 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 expected.
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
of 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 concurrence, commanded their troops to take the
field, in order to relieve him; and an army more than sufficient 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 aH
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 might aggrandize or add reputation
to the pope,t lost some opportunities of attacking the Imperialists and
raising the siege, and refused to improve others.  These delays gave
Bourbon time to bring up a reinforcement of fresh troops and a supply ao
* Belcar. Comment. de Reb, Gal. 573. Mem. de Bellay in 97  t Guic. lib xvii. 382




2t2                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [BooK IV
money.  He immediately took the command of the army [July 24], 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 possession of the rest of the dutchy, the investiture of which the
emperor had promised to grant him.X
Trhe Italians began now to perceive the game which Francis had played,
and to be sensible that, notwithstanding all their address and refinements
in negotiation, 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;f 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 timidity usually permitted him, began to accuse himself of rashness,
and to relapse into his natural state of doubt and uncertainty.
All the emperor's motions depending on himself alone, were more brisk
and better concerted.  The 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 oi
Colonna, the most powerful of all the Roman barons, had adhered uniformly to the Ghibelline or Imperial faction, during those fierce contentions
between the popes and emperors, 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 Colonnas
still retained their attachment to the Imperial interest, and by placing
themselves under the protection 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 employed in Lombardy, to
attempt something, which would at once revenge 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 the operaticns,
and began 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 intelligence, 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 possessed of great power, as well as renowned for political wisdom,
Colonna at the head of three thousand men, seized one of the gates of his
capital, while he, imagining himself to be in perfectsecurity, was altogether
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 [Sept. 29]; the pope's guards were dispersed
in a moment; and Clement himself, terrified at the danger, ashamed of his
* Guic. lib. xvii. 376, &c.  f Ruscelli Lettere de Principi, ii. 157, &e. 159, 160-166.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               213
own credulity, and deserted by almost every person, fled with precipitation
into the castle of St. Angelo, which was immediately invested. 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
manner; 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 favotir, and immediately withdraw all the troops in his pay from
the army of the confederates in Lombardy.*
The Colonnas, who talked of nothing less than of deposing Clement,
and of placing Pompeo, their kinsman, 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 Moncada, 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: diminu.
tion, 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 engaging 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 thousand
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 exhausted; 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 constitution, in order to secure their concurrence, peremptorily
refused to grant Charles any extraordinary supply;t so that the more his
army increased in number, the more were his generals embarrassed and
distressed. Bourbon, in particular, was involved in such difficulties, that
he stood in need of all his address and courage in order to extricate him
self. Large sums were due to the Spanish troops already in the Milanese,
when Fronsperg arrived with sixteen thousand hungry Germans, destitute
of every thing.  Both made their demands with equal fierceness; the
former claiming their arrears, and the latter the pay 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.
Among other expedients for raising money, Bourbon 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
* Jovii Vita Pomp. Colon. Gui.. xvii. 407. Ruscelli Lettere de Principi, i. p. 104.  t an.
aov. i. 814.    i Ripamond Hist. Mediol. lib. ix. p. 717.




214                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK IV
try him.  For this remission he paid twenty thousand ducats; and
such were his singular 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 Bourbon began to entertain, that
the emperor had never intended to grant him  the investiture of Milan,
but had appointed Leyva, and the other Spanish generals, rather td 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.*
Such, indeed, were the exigencies of the Imperial 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 subsistence 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. Nothing, therefore, remained but to invade the dominions of
the church, or of the Florentines; and Clement 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 insurrection 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 being no less destitute than the other Imperial generals of the money
requisite for a vigorous defence.t
1527.] These proceedings of the pope justified, in appearance, the
measures which Bourbon's situation rendered necessary; and he set about
executing them under such disadvantages, as furnished 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 government of Milan to Leyva, whom he was not unwilling to
leave behind, he began his march in the depth of winter [Jan. 30], at the
head of twenty-five thousand men, composed of nations differing from
each other in language and manners; without money, without magazines,
without artillery, without carriages; in short, without any of those things
which are necessary to the smallest party, and which seem essential to the
existence 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 addition 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
allured by the hopes of immense booty, without considering how ill provided they were for a march, followed him with great cheerfulness. His
first scheme was to have made himself master of Placentia, and to have
gratified his soldiers with 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 seasonably
supplied with as many troops as secured it from the insults of an army
a Guic. 1. xvii. 419.    t Jovii Vira Pomp Colon. Guic.. xviii. 424




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              C1I;
which had neither artillery nor ammunition. Having failed in both these
attempts to become master of some great city, he was under a necessity
of advancing   But he had now been two months in the field; his troops
had suffered every calamity that a long march, together with the uncommon
rigour of the season, could bring upon m n 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 to restrain
them, fell victims to their fury; Bourbon himself, not daring to appear
during the first transports 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 possessed 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
endeavoured 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 sufferings and complaints, and followed him with the same implicit
confidence as formerly. 
Bourbon, meanwhile, carefully concealed his intentions. Rome and
Florence, not knowing on which the blow would fall, were held in the
most disquieting state of suspense. Clement, equally solicitous for the
safety of both, fluctuated in more than his usual uncertainty; and while
the rapid approach of 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 purpose.
His timidity at length prevailed, and led him to conclude an agreement
with Lannoy [March 15], 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 alsolved from censure, and their former
dignities 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.T  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 difficulties, 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's, who on every
other occasion was fearful and suspicious to excess, appeared so unac
countable to Guicciardini, who, being at that time the pontifical commissary-general and resident in the confederate army, had great opportunities
as well as great abilities, for observing how chimerical all his hopes were,
* Guic. 1. xviii. 434. Jovii Vit. Colon. 163.  t Oeuvres de Brant. vol. iv. p. 246, &c
t Guic. 1. xviii. 436.




elS                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK IV
that he imputes the pope's conduct, at this juncture, wholly to infatuation,
which those who are doomed to ruin cannot avoid."
Lannoy, it would seem, intended to have executed the treaty with great
sincerity; and having detached Clement from the confederacy, wished to
turn Bourbon's arms against the Venetians, who, of all the powers at war
with the emperor, had exerted the greatest vigour. With this view he
detached 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 command was independent on Lannoy;
he was fond of mortifying a man whom he had 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 which Bourbon made
of his inclination towards peace, sunk back into his former security.t
Bourbon, on his part, was far from being free from solicitude. All his
attempts on any place of importance 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 flattered 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.4
Whatever his motives were, he executed his resolution 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, than the pope, sensible at last how fallacious the hopes
had been on which he reposed, started from his security. But no time
now remained even for a bold and decisive pontiff to have taken proper
measures, or to have formed any effectual plan of defence. Under Clement's feeble conduct, all was consternation, disorder, and irresolution.
He collected, however, such of his disbanded soldiers as still remained in
the city; he armed the artificers of Rome, and the footmen and trainbearers of the cardinals; he repaired the breaches in the walls; he began
* Guic. 1. xviii. 446.    t Ibid. 1. xviii. 437, &c. Mem de Bellay, p. 100.    * Brant. iv
271 vi. 189. Belcarii, Comment. 594.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              217
o 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 arms, which were still more despised by rapacious soldiers,
hL  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 despatch, now 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 showed his soldiers the
palaces and churches of that city, into which, as the capital of the Christian commonwealth, the riches of all Europe had flowedduring many centuries, without having been once violated by any hostile hand; and commanding them to refresh themselves at night, as a preparation for the
assault next day, promised them, in reward of their toils and valour, the
possession of all the treasures accumulated there.
Early in the morning, Bourbon, who had determined to distinguish that
day either by his death or the success of his enterprise, appeared at the
head of 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 occasion 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 to 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 ol
the noblest city in the world was intrusted. Bourbon's trops, 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 I-is
groin with a wound, which he immediately 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 which would have entitled him to the highest praise, if he had
thus fallen in defence of his country, not at the head of its enemies.f
This fatal event could not be concealed from the army; the soldiers
soon missed their general, whom 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 irre
sistible violence, rushed into the town.
During the combat, Clement was employed at the high altar of St
* Seckend. lib. ii. p. 68.    t Mem. de Bellay, 10i Guic. lib. xvii, p. 44, &c. CEuv, do
Brant. iv. 357, &c.
VoL. II  28




218                 THE REIGN OF TIlE                     [BooK IV.
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 infatuation still more amazing than
any thing already mentioned, 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 misfortune, he might have known to be an insecure retreat. In his way from
the Vatican to that fortress, 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.'
It is impossible to describe, or even to imagine, the misery and horror of
that scene which followed. Whatever a'city taken by storm can dread
from  military rage, unrestrained by discipline; whatever excesses the
ferocity of the Germans, the avarice of the Spaniards, or the licentious.
ness 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 Imperialists
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 overran 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.t
After Bourbon's death, the command of the Imperial 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 necessary 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 not despair of holding out until the duke
d'Urbino could come to his relief.  That general advanced at the head of
an army composed of Venetians, Florentines, 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 immediately
wheeled about and retired.:  Clement, deprived of every resource, and
reduced to such extremity of famine as to feed on ass's flesh,~ was obliged
to capitulate [June 6] on such conditions as the conquerors were pleased
to prescribe. He agreed to pay four hundred thousand ducats to the army;
to surrender to the emperor all the places of strength 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
* Jov. Vit. Colon. 165.    t Ibid. 166. Guic. lib. xviii. 440, &c. Comment. de Capta Urbe
Roma, ap. Scardium, ii. 230. Ulloa Vita dell Carlo V. p. 110, &c. Giannone Hist. of Nap. B
xxxi. c. 3. p. 507.  $ Guic. 1. xviii. 450.  ~ Jov. Vit. Colon. 107.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              219
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 personages
who had been made prisoners in Europe during several ages.
The account of this extraordinary and unexpected event was no less
surprising than agreeable to the emperor. But in order to conceal his joy
from his subjects, who were filled with horror at the success and crimes ot
their countrymen, and to lessen the indignation of the rest of Europe, he
declared that Rome had been assaulted without any order from 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 employed 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.t
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 hundred thousand men, Lewis II., king of that country and of
Bohemia, a weak and inexperienced 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 Franciscan 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 battle of Mohacz [August 29, 1526], 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 victory,
seized and kept possession of several towns of the greatest strength in the
southern provinces of Hungary, and, overrunning the rest of the country,
carried near two hundred thousand persons into captivity. 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 title; the
one derived from the ancient pretensions of the house of Austria to both
kingdoms; the other from the right of his wife, the only sister of the
deceased monarch. The feudal institutions, however, subsisted both in Hun
gary 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 personal merit; the respect due to the brother of the greatest
monarch in Christendom; the necessity of choosing a prince able to afford
his subjects some additional protection against the Turkish arms, which, as
they had recently felt their power, they greatly dreaded; together with
the intrigues of Lis sister, who had been married to the late king, over
came the prejudices which the Hungarians had conceived against the arch
duke as a foreigner; and though a considerable party voted for the Vay
wode 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 termed a Reverse, declaring that he held that crown not by any pre
vious right, but by their gratuitous and voluntary election. By such a vast
accession of territories, the hereditary possession of which they secured in
process of time to their family, the princes of the house of Austria attained
* Ruscelli Lettere di Principi, ii. 234.    t Sleid. 109. Sandov. i. 822. Mauroc. Hist. Veneta
ib. iii. 220




220                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [Boou V.
that pre-eminence in power which had rendered them so fcrmidable to the
rest of Germany.*
The dissensions between the pope and emperor proved extremely
favourable to the progress of Lutheranism. Charles, exasperated by Cle.
ment's conduct, and fully employed in opposing the league which he had
formed against him, had little inclination and less leisure, to take any
measures for suppressing the new opinions in Germany. In a diet of the
empire held at Spires[June 25, 1526], 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 convocation of a council to be the proper and
regular step towards reforming abuses in the church; but contended that
a national council held in Germany would be more effectual for that purpose than what he had proposed.  To his advice, concerning the discouragement of innovations, they paid so little regard, that even during the
meetihg of the diet at Spires, the divines who attended the elector of Saxony and landgrave of Hesse-Cassel thither, preached publicly, and administered the sacraments according to the rights of the reformed church.t
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 intended 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 partiality and injustice; and requiring them, if he refused or delayed to call
a council, to show their concern for the peace of the Christian church, so
shamefully neglected by its chief pastor, by summoning that assembly in
their own name.  This manifesto, little inferior in virulence to the invectives of Luther himself, was dispersed over Germany with great industry,
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.
BOOK Vs
THE account of the cruel manner in which the pope had been treated
filled all Europe with astonishment or horror. To see a Christian emperor, who by possessing 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 vigorous diversion in the Low-Countries. The force of every motive
which had influenced them at that time was now increased; and to these
* StophI. Broderick Procancelarii Hungar. Clades in Campo. Mohacz, ap. Scardium, ii. 218.
P Barre,Hist. d'Allemagnc, tom. viii. part i. p. 198. f Sleid, 103. i Goldast. Polit. Imper p. 984.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              221
were 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, ren
dered it necessary to abandon their hostile intentions against the Low
Countries, and to make Italy the seat of war, as it was by vigorous ope
rations there they might contribute most effectually 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 necessary, in order to hinder the emperor from becoming 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. Besides all these public
considerations, Henry was influenced 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, was not tedious
Wolsey himself conducted it, on the part of his sovereign, with unbounded
powers.  Francis treated with him in person at Amiens [July 11], 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 army which should take the field, as
well as the contingent of troops or of money, which each prince 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 [Aug. 181. Henry, who 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.a
The pope, being unable to fulfil the conditions of his capitulation, still
remained a prisoner under the 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 deposite. The dukes of Urbino and Ferrara laid hold
likewise on part of the spoils of the unfortunate pontiff, whom they considered as irretrievably ruinedt
Lannoy, on the other hand, laboured to derive some solid benefit from
that unforeseen event, which gave such splendour and superiority to his
master's arms. For this purpose he marched to Rome, together with
Moncada, and the marquis del Guasto, at the head of all the troops which
* Herbert, 83, &c. Rymin Fed. xiv. 203.    t Guic. 1. xviii. 453,




222                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [Boo  V.
they could assemble in the kingdom of Naples. The arrival of this reinforcement brought new calamities on the unhappy citizens of Rome; for
the soldiers envying the wealth of their companions, imitated their license,
and with the utmost rapacity gathered the gleanings, which had escaped
the avarice of the Spaniards and Germans. There was not npw 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 eccle.
siastical 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 refused 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, finding 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 marquis 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 license 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, continue in a state of inactivity, from which it was impossible to
rouse them."
This gave the king of France and the Venetians leisure to form new
schemes, and to enter into new engagements 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 himself 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 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 Tesino. 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 complete a conquest which would have been so honourable to himself, and of such advantage to the league. Francis knew his
confederates to be more desirous of 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
* Guic. 1. xviii. 454.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              223
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 importunities of the pope, and the
solicitations of the Florentines, the one for relief, and the other for protection, 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 emperor had time
to deliberate concerning the disposal of the pope's person, who still remained a prisoner 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 frequently, 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 illustrious
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 atliberty, or to remove him to some place of confinement more secure than the castle of St,
Angelo. Many considerations induced him to prefer the former, particularly
his want of the money, requisite as well for recruiting his army, as 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 preparations to resist the enemies, whoJm envy at the
success which had crowned his arms would unite against him, he demanded
a large supply in the most pressing terms [Feb. 11];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 endeavours 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 intrigues unsuccessful towards hastening such a treaty.  By flattery, and the appearance of unbounded confidence, he disarmed the resentment of cardinal Colonna, and
wrought upon his vanity, which made him desirous of showing 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 accommodation,
and brought the treaty for Clement's liberty to a conclusion, upon conditions
hard indeed, but not more severe than a prince in his situation had reason
to expect. He was obliged to advance, in ready money, a hundred thousand 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 ofcruzado, 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.~  Having raised the first moiety by a sale of ecclesiastical dignities and benefices, and other expedients equally uncanoni~al,
* Guic. 1. xviii. 461. Bellay, 107, &c. Mauroc. Hist. Venet. lib. iil. 238   t Guic. L xviii 457
I Sandov. i. p. 814.  ~ Guic. 1. xviii. 467, &c.




t24               THE REIGN OF THE                        [BooKV.
a day was fixed for delivering him from imprisonment rDec. 6]. But
Clement, impatient to be free, after a tedious confinement of six months,
as well as full of the suspicion and distrust 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 conclusion 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 instrument of procuring him
liberty.*
During these transactions, the ambassadors of France and England repaired to Spain, in consequence of the treaty which Wolsey had concluded
with the French king. The emperor, unwilling to draw on himself the united
forces of the two monarchs, discovered an inclination to relax somewhat the
rigour of the treaty of Madrid, to which, hitherto, he had adhered inflexibly.
He offered to accept of the two millions of crowns, which Francis had pro
posed 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 appointed to inquire 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 propositions which he
himself had formerly made.t 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 lefthim 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 unfortunate 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 de.
mands, as well as the reproachful insinuation with which they were accompanied, irritated Charles to such a degree, that he could hardly listen to
them with patience; and repenting of his moderation, which had made so
little impression on his enemies, declared that he would 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.r
Next day [Jan. 22, 1528], two heralds who had accompanied the ambassadors on purpose, though they had hitherto 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 solemnities customary on such occasions, denounced war against him. Charles received both with a dignity suitable
to his own rank, but spoke to each in a tone adapted to the sentiments
which he entertained of their respective sovereigns. He accepted the
defiance of the English monarch with a firmness tempered by some degree
* Guic. 1. xviii. 467 &c. Jov. Vit. Colon. 169. Mauroc. Hist. Venet. lib. iii. 252.  t Recu ai1
des Traitez, ii. 249.    + Rym. xiv. 200. Herbert 85. Guic. 1. xviii 471.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              225
of decency and respect. His reply to the French king abounded with
that acrimony of expression, 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 consider him not only as a base violator of public faith, but as
a stranger to the honour and integrity becoming a gentleman. Francis,
too high-spirited'o 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 defiance, in which he gave the emperor the lie in
form, challenged him to single combat, requiring him  to name the time
and place of the encounter, and the weapons with which he chose to
fight.  Charles, as he was not inferior to his Nival in spirit or bravery,
readily accepted the challenge; but after severs messages concerning the
arrangement of all the circumstances 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.*
The example of two personages so illustrious drew such general attention, and carried with it so much authority, that it had considerable influence in producing 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 occasions, 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 andjustice 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 a court of justice, were naturally led to apply it to personal and
private quarrels. Duels, which at first could be appointed by the civil
)udge alone, were fought without the interposition of his authority, and in
cases to which the laws did not extend. The transaction between Charles
and Francis strongly countenanced this practice. 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 adversary to give him satisfaction.  Such an opinion becoming prevalent among men of fierce courage,
of high spirit, and of rude manners, when offence was often given, and
revenge was always prompt, produced most fatal consequences. Much
of the best blood in Christendom was shed; many useful lives were sacrificed; and, at some periods, war itself had hardly been more destructive
than these private contests of honour. So powerful, however, is the dominion 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 extraordinary gentleness and complaisance of
modern manners, and that respectful attention of one man to another,
which at present render the social intercourses of life far more agreeable
and decent, than among the most civilized nations of antiquity.
While the two monarchs seemed so eager to terminate their quarrel by
a personal combat, Lautrec 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 [Feb.]. 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
* Recoeil des Traitez, 2 Mem. de Bellay, 103, &c. Sandov. Hist. i. 837.
VOL. I. -29




tj6               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                     [Booi V
Fen 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
diseases, the effects of their inactivity, intemperance, and debauchery,
fell victims to their own crimes.* Lautrec made the greatest efflots 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
disappointed all his measures, and conducted them with little loss to
Naples.  The people of that kingdom, extremely impatient to shake off
the Spanish yoke, received the French with open arms, wherever they
appeared to take possession; and, Gaeta and N aples excepted, hardly any
place of importance remained in the hands of the Imperialists.  The
preservation of the former was owing to the strength of its fortifications,
that of the latter to the presence of the Imperial army. Lautrec, however, sat down before Naples; but finding it vain to think of reducing a
city by force while defended by a whole army, he was obliged to employ
the slower, but less dangerous method of blockade; and having taken
measures which appeared to him  effectual, he confidently assured 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 succeeded 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 distinction, being taken prisoners, were put on board the captive galleys, and sent by Philippino as
trophies of his victory to his uncle.
Notwithstanding this flattering prospect of success, many circumstances
concurred to frustrate Lautrec's expectations. Clement, though he always
acknowledged his being indebted to Francis for the recovery of his liberty,
and often complained of the cruel treatment which he had met with from
the emperor, was not influenced at this juncture by principles of gratitude,
nor, which is more extraordinary, was he swayed by the desire of revenge.
His past misfortunes rendered him more cautious than ever, and his recollection 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 reestablish his family in Florence with its 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.4  The king of England, instead of being
able, as had been projected, to embarrass the emperor by attacking 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 insurrections ready to
break out among them, he was compelled to conclude a truce for eight
* Guict 1. xviii. 478.    + Guic. 1. xix. 487. P. Heuter. lib. X. c. 2. p. 231.    i Guic. I
ix. 491




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              2;
months with the governess of the Netherlands.*  Francis himself, with
the same unpardonable inattention of which he had formerly been guilty,
and for which he had suffered so severely, neglected to make proper remittances to Lautrec for the support of his army.t
These unexpected events retarded the progress of the French, discouraging both the general and his troops; but the revolt of Andrew Doria
proved a fatal blow to all their measures. That gallant officer, the citizen
of a republic, and trained up from his infancy in the sea service, retained
the spirit of independence natural to the former, together with the plain
liberal manners peculiar to the latter.
A stranger to the arts of submission and 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, untractable, and more solicitous
to aggrandize himself; than to promote the interest 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 were 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 beyond 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 showed that they intended
to render that town, which had been so long the object of jealousy and
hatred to the Genoese, their rival in wealth and commerce.  Doria,
animated with a patriotic zeal for the honour and interest of his country,
remonstrated against this 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 despatch 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 formerly engaged, but to bring them protection and deliverance.
His arrival opened the communication with the sea, and restored plenty
in Naples, which was now reduced to the last extremity; and the French
having lost their superiority at sea, were soon reduced to great straits for
want of provisions.  The prince of Orange, who succeeded the viceroy
in the command of the Imperial army, showed himself by his prudent
* lIerbert, 90 Rvmer I4. 258.     t Guic.. xviii. 478.




EM8                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BOOK V.
conduct worthy of that honour which his good fortune and the death of
his generals had twice acquired him. Beloved by the troops, who, remembering the prosperity which- they had enjoyed under his commands
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.e
As an addition to all these misfortunes, the diseases common in that country
during the sultry months, began to break out among the French troops.
The prisoners 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;t 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 wasted hi
body, died [August 15j, 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 command
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 consenting, that he himself should
remain a prisoner of war, that his troops should lay down their arms and
colours, give up their baggage, and march under a guard to the frontiers'
of France. By this ignominious capitulation, the wretched remains of the
French army were saved; and the emperor, by his own perseverance and
the good conduct of his generals, acquired once more the superiority in
ta e loss of Genoa followed immediately upon the ruin of the army in
Naples.  To deliver his country 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 executing this honourable enterprise now presented itself. The city of Genoa, afflicted by the pestilence, was almost
deserted by its inhabitants; the French garrison, being neither regularly
paid nor recruited, was reduced to an inconsiderable number; Doria's
emissaries 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 nighttime; Trivulci, the French governor, with his feeble garrison, shut himself up in the citadel, and Doria took possession of the town without
bloodshed or resistance [September 121. 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 former actions, the success of his present attempt, the attachment of his friends, the gratitude of his countrymen, together with the
support of the emperor, all conspired to facilitate his attaining the supreme
authority, and invited him to lay hold of it.  But with a magnanimity of
* Jovii Hist. lib. xxxvl. p. 31, &c. Sigonii Vita Dorie, p. 1139. Bellay, 114, &c.  t Belay
117, &e.    t P. Heuter. Rerum Austr. lib. x. c. 2.231.  ~ Bellay, 117, &c. Jovii tBit
lib, xxv. xxvi.




E[MPEROR CHARLES V.                             229
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 constitution of the republic.
The influence of Doria's virtue and example communicated itself to his
countrymen; 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 has 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 moderation, without arrogating
any thing unbecoming a private 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 his virtues, not by
the dread of his power. His memory is still reverenced by the Genoese,
and he is distinguished in their public monuments, and celebrated in the
works of their historians, by the most honourable of all appellations, THE
FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, AND THE RESTORER OF ITS
LIBERTY.*
1529.] Francis, in order to recover the reputation of his arms, discredited
by so many losses, made new efforts in the Milanese. But the count of
St. Pol, a rash and inexperienced 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 unexpected 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.'
Amidst these vigorous operations in the field, each party discovered an
impatient desire of peace, and continual negotiations were carried on for
that purpose. 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 overrun Hungary, was ready to break in upon the Austrian territories with the
whole force of the East. The reformation gaining ground daily 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
* Guic. 1. xix. p. 498. Sigonii Vita Doria, p. 114.6. Jovii. Iist. lib. xxvi. p. 36, &c.    t Guic. xix. 520. P. HIeuter. Rer. Austr. lib. x. c. 3. p. 233. Mem. de Bellay, 121,




230                 TH H    E It GN  OFT THE               [BooK V.
generals, nor could he flAtter himself that they, with troops destitute of
every thing necessary, would always triumph over ehemies 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 cn high
terms in the tone of a cqnqueror. 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 ior
peace, but durst not venture too hastily on the steps necessary for attain.
ing it, two ladies undertook to procure this blessing so much desired by
all Europe [May].  These were Margaret of Austria, duchess-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 observation, and held daily conferences, to which no person
whatever was admitted. As both were profoundly skilled in business,
thoroughly acquainted with the secrets of their respective courts, and possessed with perfect confidence in each other, they soon made great prcgress towards a final accommodation, and the ambassadors of all the con.
Federates waited in anxious suspense to know their fate, the determination
of which was entirely in the hands of those illustrious negotiators.'
But whatever diligence they used to hasten forward a general peace,
the pope had the address and industry to get the start of his allies, by
concluding at Barcelona a particular treaty for himself [June 20]. The
emperor, 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 extremely 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 misfortunes, 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'possession of the Milanese. In return for these
ample concessions, Clement gave the emperor the investiture 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 dominions.f
Tne account of this transaction quickened the negotiations at Cambray,
and brought Margaret and Louise to an immediate agreement [Aug. 5]
The treaty of Madrid served as the basis of that which they concluded,
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
* Heuter fet,. At str. lib x. c- 3. 133. Mem. de Bellay, p. 122.    Guic. L xix. 522




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               231
pretensions to that dutchy; That Francis should  pay two millions of
crowns as the ransom  of his sons, and, before they were set at liberty,
should restore such towns as he still held in the Milanese; 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 concluded between him and the emperor's sister Eleanora.?
Thus Francis, chiefly from his impatience to procure liberty to his sons,
sacrificed every thing which had at first prompted him  to take arms, 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 treaty, was rendered sole
arbiter of the fate of Italy; he delivered his territories in the Netherlands
from an unpleasant badge of subjection; and after having 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 operations
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,
pursued them with perseverance, and observing circumstances 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 remissness; 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
Pescara, 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 balancing the
superiority which the Imperialists had acquired, were induced to abandon
the service of France, by the carelessness of the king, and the malice or
injustice of his counsellors; and the most fatal blows given to France
during the progress of the war. proceeded from the despair and resentment of these three persons.
The hard conditions to which Francis was obliged to submit were not
the most afflicting circumstances to him in the treaty of Cambray. He
lost his reputation and the confidence of all Europe, by abandoning 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
* P. feuter. Rer. Austr. lib. x. c. 3, p. 234. Sandov. Hist. dell Emper. Car. V. ii. 28




232                 THE REIGN  OF THE                    [BooK V.
who had adhered to him; the rights of some of his Flemish subjects, whi
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 indemnification was stipulated for those
French gentlemen who had accompanied Bourbon in his exiled  This
conduct, laudable in itself, and placed in the most striking light by a corn
parison with that of Francis, gained Charles as much esteem as the sue
cess of his arms had acquired him glory.
Francis did not treat the king of England with the same neglect as his
other allies. He communicated to him all the steps of his negotiation at
Cambray, and luckily found that monarch in a situation which left him no
choice, but to ar prove implicitly of his measures, and to concur with them,
Henry had been soliciting the pope for some time, in order to obtain a
divorce from Catharine of Aragon his queen. Several motives combined,n prompting the king to urge his suit. As he was powerfully influenced
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 Ann
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 depended
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 resentment, alarmed the pope on the one
hand with threats, which made a deep impression on his timid mind; and
allured him on the other with those promises in favour of his family, which
he afterwards accomplished.  Upon the prospect of these, Clement not
only forgot all his obligations to Henry, but ventured to endanger the
interest of the Romish religion in England, and 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 ambiguous 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, avocated 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 relinquishing 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
t Guic.  xix. p. 525. P. Hcuterr.:a r. Austi. lib x. c. 4. p. 235.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              33
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. 
Soon after the treaty of peace was concluded, the emperor landed in
Italy with a numerous train of the Spanish nobility, and a considerable
body of troops [Aug. 121. He left the government of Spain, during his
absence, to the empress Isabella. By his long residence in that country,
he had acquired such thorough knowledge 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 disposition to gratify them had occurred a few days before 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 Barcelona; Charles instantly
decided in favour of the latter, declaring that he was more proud of that
ancient title, than of his Imperial cro'wn. 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, hwith equal satisfaction.t
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 received with the acclama.
tions 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 [Nov. 5]. He affected to unite in his public entry into
that city the state and majesty that suited an emperor, with the humility
becoming an obedient son of the church; and while at the head of twenty
thousand veteran 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 suffering 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
ifflicted their country with like calamities, were surprised 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.t
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
moderation and equity much beyond what they had expected.
Charles himself, when he set out from Spain, far 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 concurred in pointing out
the necessity of pursuing a very different course. The progress of the
Turkish -sultan, who, after overrunning Hungary, had penetrated into
Austria [Sept. 13], 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; and though the valour of the Germans, the prudent
conduct of Ferdinand, together with the treachery of the vizier [Oct. 16],
soon obliged Solyman to abandon that'enterprise with disgrace and loss,
* Herbert. Mem. de Bellay, p. 122.   t Sandov. ii. p. 50. Ferrer. ix, 116.   I Sandrv. HFist
iell Emp. Carl. V. ii. 50. 53, &c.
VoL,. II —30




234                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BooK V.
the religious disorders still growing in Germany, rendered the presence of the
emperor highly necessary there.'  The Florentines, instead of giving their
consent to the re-establishment of the Medici, which, by the 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 expenses; 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 boundless 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 impartiality 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 Neapolitan or papal territories. In return for so many concessions,
ne 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.t
1530.] These treaties, which restored tranquillity to Italy after a tedious
war, the calamities of which had chiefly affected that country, were
published at Bologna with great solemnity on the first day of the year
one thousand five hundred and thirty, amidst the universal acclamations of
the people, applauding 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 oppose
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 obstinate 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
abolishing their ancient form of government, raised Alexander di Medici
to the same absolute dominion over that state, which his family have
retained to the present times. Philibert de Chalons, prince of Orange,'he Imperial general, was killed during this siege. His estate and titles
lescended 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 rendered so illustrious.l
After the publication of the peace at Bologna, and the ceremony of his
colonation as king of Lombardy, and emperor of the Romans [Peb. 22
and 24], which the pope performed with the accustomed formalities,
nothing detained 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 solicited with equal importunity by the catholics and by
the favourers of the new doctrines.  During that long interval of tranm
* Sleidan, 121. Guic. 1. xx. 550.  t Sandov. ii. 55, &c.  t Guic. 1. xx. p. 341, &c.
P. Heuter. Rer. Austi. lib. ii. c. 4. p. 236.    ( H. Cornel, Agrippa de duplici coronationc Cr. V,
ap Scard.. ii. 26.




EMPEROR CHARLES V..35
quillity, which the absence of the emperor, the contests between him and
the pope, and his attention to the war with France, afforded them, the latter
had 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 rights 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 extremely hurtful to the
Imperial authority. The weakness 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 magnificent
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 obstruct
than to promote his ambitious schemes.  Nothing, he saw, was more
essential towards attaining 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 extending his civil authority.
Accordingly, a prospect no sooner opened of coming to an accommodation
with the pope, than, b' the emperor's appointment, a diet of the empire
was held at Spires [March 15, 1529], 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 givel great offence to the rest of
Christendom. 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 abandoned. 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 up amidst these incessant disputations, and in the habit of listening
to the arguments of the contending parties, who alternately appealed to
them as judges, came to be profoundly skilled in all the questions which
were agitated, and, upon occasion, could show 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 o




236                  THE REIGN OF THE                        [BOOK V
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 dispute, a decree to that effect was
approved of by a majority of voices.*
The elector of Saxony, the marquis of Brandenburgh, the landgrave of
Hesse, the dukes of Lunenburgh, the prince of Anhalt, together with the
deputies of fourteen Imperial or free cities,' entered a solemn protest
against this decree, as unjust and impious [April 19]. On that account
they were distinguished by the name of PROTESTANTS,. an appellation which has since become better known, and more honourable, by its
being applied indiscriminately to all the sects, of whatever denomination,
which have revolted from the Roman see.  Not satisfied with this declaration 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 solicitous to attach him inviolably to his interest. During their long residence at Bologna, they held
many consultations 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, ungovernable, 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 recourse
to the rigorous methods which such a desperate case required; Leo's sentence of excommunication, together 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
influence. 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 con
sidered the convocation ofa council as no improper 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 the holy see those
stubborn enemies of the catholic faith.~
Such were the sentiments with which the emperor set out for Germany,
naving already appointed a diet of the empire to be held at Augsburg
[March 22, 1530].  In his journey towards the city, he had many oppor
tunities of observing the disposition of the Germans with regard tc 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 ineffectual.
He made his public entry into Augsburg with extraordinary pomp
* Sleid. Hist. 117.    t The fourteen cities were Strasburg, Nuremberg, Ulm, Constance,
Reutlingen, Windsheim, Meinengen, Lindaw, Kempten, Hailbron, Isna, Wissemburg, Nordlingen,
and St. Gal.: Sleid. Hist. 119. F. Paul. Hist. p. 45. Seckend. ii. 1275.   $ F. Paul. xlvii
Seck. lib, ii. 14. Hist. de confess. d'Auxburgh, par D. Chytreus, 4to. Antw. 1572. p. 6




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              237
[June 15], and found there such a full assembly of the members of the diet,
as was suitable 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
presence seems to have communicated to all parties an unusual spirit ol
moderation and desire of peace. The elector of Saxony would not permit
Luther to accompany him to the diet, lest he should offend the emperor
by bringing into his presence a person excommunicated 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 accompanied them to preach in public during their
residence at Augsburgh. For the same reason they employed Melancthon,
the man of the greatest learning, as well as 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 regard for truth
would permit. Melancthon, who seldom  suffered the rancour of controersy to envenom his style, even in writings purely polemical, executed a
task so agreeable to his natural disposition with great moderation and
address. The creed which he composed, known by the name of the Con
fession of lugsburg, from the place where it was presented, was read pub
licly in the diet. Some popish divines were appointed to examine it;
they brought in their animadversions; a dispute ensued between them and
Melancthon, seconded by some of his brethren; but though Melancthon
then 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 insuperable barriers
placed between the two churches, that all hopes of bringing about a
coalition seemed utterly desperate.*
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 former 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 that 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 political interest, which is
commonly the predominant motive among princes. The elector of Saxony,
the landgrave of Hesse, and other chiefs of the protestants, though solicited
separately by the emperor, and allured by the promise or prospect of those
advantages which it was known they were most solicitous to attain,
refused, with a fortitude highly worthy of imitation, to abandon what they
deemed the cause of God, for the sake of any earthly acquisition.t Every
scheme in order to gain or disunite the protestant party proving abortive,
nothing now remained for the emperor but to take some vigorous measures
towards asserting the doctrines and authority 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
Nov. 19], condemning most of the peculiar tenets held by the protestants;
forbidding any person to protect or tolerate such as taught them; enjoining
a strict observance 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
* Seckend. lib. ii. 159, &c. Abr. Sculteti Annales Evangeliei ap. Heim. Von der HIrd. Hist.
Liter. Reform. Lips. 1717. fol. p. 159,    t Sleid. 132. Scultet. Annal. 158.




238                THE REIGN OF THE                       LBOOK V.
judges, or of appearing as parties in the Imperial chamber, the supreme
court ol 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.*
The severity of this decree, which was considered as a prelude to hne
most violent persecutions, alarmed the protestants, and convinced them that
the emperor 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 Luther, who during the
meeting of the diet had endeavoured to confirm and animate his party by
several treatises which he addressed to them, was not disconcerted 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.t
His exhortations made the deeper impression upon them, as they were
greatly alarmed at that time by the account of a combination among the
popish princes of the empire for the maintenance of the established religion,
to which Charles himself had acceded.4 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 concerning the conduct proper foi
themselves, they assembled at Smalkalde. There they concluded a league
of mutual defence against all aggressors~ [Dec. 22], by which they formed
the protestant states of the empire into one regular body, and beginning
already to consider themselves as such, they resolved to apply to the kings
of France and England, ait t.o implore them to patronise and assist their
new confederacy.
An affair not connected with religion furnished them with a pretence for
courting the aid of foreign princes. Charles, whose ambitious views en..
larged in proportion to the 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 juncture 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 rival now remained in a condition to balance or to control
him; and the electors, dazzled with the splendour of his success, or overawed by the greatness of his power, durst scarcely dispute the will of a
prince, whose solicitations carried with them the authority 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 occasioned by the controversies about religion, as
well as the formidable neighbourhood of the Turks, who continually
threatened to break in with their desolating 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 suffi.
cient 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 constitution and manners; having been present
almost from the first rise of the religious dissensions, he knew what reme.
dies 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 protestants. Experience
Sleid. 139.    t Seek. ii. 180. Sleid. 140.   ~ Seck. ii. 200. iii. 11.        Sleid Hist. 34Q




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              239
taught them, that nothing had contributed more to the undisturbed progress
of their opinions, than the interregnum after Maximilian's death, the long
absence of Charles, and the slackness of the reins of government which
these occasioned. 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
perceived clearly the extent of Charles's ambition, that he aimed at rendering the Imperial crown hereditary in his family, and would of course
establish irt 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 [January 5, 1531], but instructed his eldest
son to appear there, and to protest against the election as informal, illegal,
contrary to the articles 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 Fer
dinand king of the Romans, who a few days after was crowned at Aix-laChapelle.*
When the protestants, who were assembled a second time at Smalkalde,
received an account of this transaction, and heard at the same time, that
prosecutions were commenced, in the Imperial chamber, against some of
their number, on account of their religious principles, they thought it necessary, not only to renew their former confederacy, but immediately to
despatch their ambassadors into France and England [Feb. 29]. 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 of Italy; and beheld with great concern the successful
step which he had taken towards perpetuating and extending his authority
in Germany by the election of a king of the Romans. Nothing, however,
would have been more impolitic than to precipitate his kingdom into a new
war when 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 provocation had been given by the emperor, and hardly a pretext
for a rupture had been afforded him, be 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 complaints of the
protestant princes, and, without seeming to countenance their religious
opinions, determined 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,' which, though concealed at that time, and productive of no
immediate effects, laid the foundation of a union fatal on many occasions
to Charles's ambitious projects; and showed 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'o whom the pope had long retarded, and now openly opposed his divorce.
S Sleid 142. Seek. iii 1. P. Heuter. Rer. Autr. lib. x. c. 6. p. 240.  t Bellay, 129, a. 130,
b. Seek. iii. 14.




-24o              THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boox V.
was no less disposed than Francis to strengthen a league which might be
rendered so formidable to the emperor. But his favourite project of the
divorce led him into such a labyrinth of schemes and negotiations, and he
was, at the same time, so intent on abolishing the papal jurisdiction in
England, that he had no leisure for foreign affairs. This obliged him to
rest satisfied with giving general promises, together with a small supply in
money, to the confederates of Smalkalde.?
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 protestants, who were considerable as
well by their numbers as by their zeal, had acquired additional weight and
importance by their joining in that confederacy 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 precarious, 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
accommodation with the malecontent princes became necessary, not only
for the accomplishment of his future schemes, but for ensuring his present
safety. Negotiations were, accordingly, carried on by his direction with
the elector of Saxony and his associates; after many delays, occasioned
by their jealousy of the emperor, and of each other, after innumerable difficulties, arising from the inflexible nature of religious tenets, which cannot
admit of being altered, modified, or relinquished in the same manner as
points of political interest, terms of pacification were agreed upon at Nu.
remberg [July 23], and ratified solemnly in the diet at Ratisbon [Aug. 3]
In this treaty it was stipulated, That universal peace be established in
Germany, until the meeting of a general council, the convocation of which
within six months the emperor shall endeavour 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.t  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 approving 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 consequence.e
1532.]  The intelligence which Charles received of Solyman's having
entered Hungary at tie head of three hundred thousand men, brought the
deliberations of the diet at Ratisbon to a period; the contingent both of
troops and money, which each prince was to furnish 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 forces which exceeded in number the quota
Herbert, 152 154.  t Du Mlont Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv. part ii. t7. 89.    $ Sloida
149. &c. Seek. ii. 19.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              24A
Imposed on them; the catholics imitating their example, one of the 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-Coun.
tries; and by the troops which Ferdinand had raised in Bohemia, Austria,
and his other territories, it amounted in all to ninety thousand disciplined
foot, and thirty thousand horse, besides a prodigious swarm of irregulars.
Of this vast army, worthy the first prince in Christendom, the emperor took
the command in person; 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 campaign, for which
such immense preparations had been made, ended without any memorable
event [September and October]. Solyman, finding it impossible to gain
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.
About the beginning of this campaign, the elector of Saxony died [Aug
16], and was succeeded by his son John Frederick.  The reformation
rather gained than lost by that event; the new elector, no less attached than
his predecessors to the opinions of Luther, occupied the station which they
had held at the head of the protestant party, and defended, with the boldness and 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, impatient to revisit
Spain, set out on his way thither, for Italy. As he was extremely desirous
of an interview with the pope, they met a second time at Bologna, with the
same external demonstrations of respect and friendship, but with little of
that confidence which had subsisted between them during their late negotiations there. Clement was much dissatisfied with the emperor's proceedings at Augsburg; his concessions with regard to the speedy convocation
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 protestants at Ratisbon, and the more explicit promise concerning a council,
with which it was accompanied, had irritated him still farther. Charles,
however, partly from conviction that the meeting of a council 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 their decisions; he despatched a
nuncio, accompanied by an ambassador from the emperor, to the elector 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
* Jovii Hist. lib. xxx. p. 100, &c. Barre Hist. de l'Empire, i. 8. 347.
VOL. II.-31




242                 THE  REIGN  OF  THiE                 IBooK V.
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 proceeding 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
drawing on himself the whole infamy of obstructing a measure which all
Europe deemed so essential to the good of the church.*
Together with this negotiation about calling a council, the emperor
carried on another, which he had still more at heart, for securing the peace
established in Italy. As Francis had renounced his pretensions in that
country with great reluctance, Charles made no doubt but that he would
lay hold on the first pretext afforded him, or embrace the first opportunity
which presented itself, of recovering what he had lost. It became necessary on this account to take measures for assembling an army able to oppose 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 upon his allies, and to provide for the safety of his own
dominions, at their expense, by proposing 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 generalissimo. Nor
was the proposal unacceptable to Clement, though for a treason very different from that which induced the emperor to make it. He 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 [Feb. 24, 1533]; all the Italian 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 re.
moved the rest to Sicily and Spain, he embarked on board Doria's galleys,
and arrived at Barcelona [April 22].t
Notwithstanding all his precautions for securing the peace of Germany,
and maintaining that system which he had established in Italy, the emperor
became every day more and more apprehensive that both would be soon
disturbed by the intrigues or arms of the French king. His apprehensions
were well founded, as nothing but the desperate situation of his affairs could
have brought Francis to give his consent to a treaty so dishonourable and
disadvantageous 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, particularly 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 command, entered a protest to
the same purpose, and with the like secrecy, when the ratification of the
* F. Paul, Hist. 61. Seckend. iii. 73.  t Guic. 1. xx. 551. Ferreras ix. 249




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                243
treaty was registered in the parliament of Paris.h  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 transactions between
nations are founded, he was released from any obligation to perform the
most solemn promises, or to adhere to the most sacred engagements. From
the moment he concluded the peace of Cambray, he wished and watched
for an opportunity 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 respectable footing than ever.
lie artfully fomented the jealousy and discontent of the German princes.
But above all, Francis laboured to break the strict confederacy which
subsisted between Charles and Clement; and he had soon the satisfaction
to observe the appearances of disgust and alienation arising in the mind of
that suspicious and interested pontiff, which gave him hopes that their union
would not be lasting. As the emperor's decision in favour of the duke of
Ferrara had greatly irritated the pope, Francis aggravated 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.t  As the emperor had gained such an ascendant over Clement by
contributing 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 di 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 impression 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 DeInmark'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 considerable territories in Italy, by way of portion; he seemed ready to
support Francis in prosecuting his ancient claims in that country, and consented to a personal interview with that monarch.+
Charles was at the utmost pains to prevent a meeting, in which nothing
was likely to pass but what would be of detriment to him; nor could he
bear, 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 overcame all the scruples of pride, or fear, or
jealousy, which would probably have influenced him on any other occasion. The interview, notwithstanding several artifices of the emperor to
prevent it, took place at Marseilles with extraordinary pomp, and demonstrations of confidence on both sides [October]; and the marriage, wnich
the ambition and abilities of Catharine rendered in the sequel as pernicious
to France, as it was then thought dishonourable, was consummated. But
* Du Mont. Corps. Diplom. tom. iv. part ii. p. 52.  t Bellay, 141, &c. Seck. iii. 48. 1
Paul, 68.  i Guic. I. xx. 551. 553. Bellay, 138.




S44                THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK V.
whatever 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;* and even in the marriage-articles, Catharine renounced all claims
and pretensions in Italy, except to the dutchy of Urbino.f
But at the very time when he was carrying on these negotiations, and
forming this connection with Francis, which gave so great umbrage to the
emperor, such was the artifice and duplicity of Clement's character, that
he suffered the latter to direct all his proceedings with regard to the king
of England, and was no less attentive to gratify him in that particular, than
if the most cordial union had still subsisted between them. Henry's suit
for a divorce had now continued near six years; during all which period
the pope negotiated, promised, retracted, and concluded nothing. After
bearing repeated delays and disappointments longer than could have been
expected 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 Boleyn acknowledged as
queen of England.. 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 zealous
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 still retain him within
the bosom of the church [March 23]. But the violence of the 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 sentence, 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 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 or 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,: 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.
* Guic I xx. 555.   t Du Mont Corps Diplom. iv. p. i. 101.   + Herbert. Burn. Hist. a
W.A-~v




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              245
A short delay might have saved the see of Rome from all the unhappy
consequences of Clement's rashness. Soon after his sentence against Henry,
he fell into a languishing distemper, which gradually wasting his constitution, put an end to his pontificate [Sept. 25], 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
[Oct. 13], they raised to the papal throne Alexander Farnese, dean of the
sacred college, and the oldest member of that body, who assumed the
name of Paul III. The account of his promotion was received with extraordinary acclamations of joy by the people of Rome, highly pleased, after
an interval of 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 required both talents
and address.*
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 between him and Francis, it is scarcely to be doubted but that he
would have seconded the operations of the French arms 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 and his subjects, a transaction of a very
singular nature was carried on in Germany. Among many beneficial 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 objects, and agitated by strong passions, its operations acquire such force, that they are apt to become irregular 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 substituted 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 extravagant 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
blundred and twenty-five, as well as the rapid progress which his opinions
* Guic. 1. xx. 556. F. Paul, 64.




246                THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK V.
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.
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 necessary to retire
into other countries, some were punished, others driven into exile, and
their errors were entirely rooted out. But in the Netherlands and West.
phalia, 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 religlous tenets related to the sacrament of baptism, which, as they
contended, 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 distinguished 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
inconsistent 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 possessions 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 the precepts' of the New  Testament, had imposed any restraints upon men with regard to the number of wives which they might
marry, they should use that liberty which God himself had granted to the
patriarchs.
Such opinions, propagated and maintained with 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 Beukels, a journeyman 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 neitherofthese fanatics
wanted the talents requisite in desperate enterprises, great resolution, the
appearance of sanctity, bold pretensions to inspiration, and a confident 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 tenets established by public authority. At last, 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 senators, the canons, the nobility, together with the more sober citizens, whether papists or protestants, terrified at their threats and outcries,
fled in confusion, and left the city under the dominion of a frantic multitude, consisting chiefly of strangers [February.] Nothing now remaining
to overawe or control them, they set about modelling the government accord.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              24?
ng tc their own wild ideas: and though at first they showed so much
reverence for the ancient constitution, as to elect senators of their own
sect, and to appoint Cnipperdoling 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
commands, 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 and 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 o
all. The members of this commonwealth being thus brought to perfect
eauality, 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 this 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 discipline to the impetuosity of enthusiasm.  He
sent emissaries to the Anabaptists in the Low-Countries, inviting them to
assemble at Munster, which he dignified with the name of Mount Sion,
that from 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.
While they were thus employed, the bishop of Munster having assembled a considerable army, advanced 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, and 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 handful of men and smite the host of the ungodly.
Thirty persons whom he named, followed him without hesitation in this
wild enterprise [May], and, rushing on the enemy with frantic courage,
were cut off to a man. The death of their prophet occasioned at first great
consternation among his disciples; but Boccold, by the same gifts and pretensions which had gained M3atthias credit, soon revived their spirits and
hopes to such a degree, that he succeeded the deceased prophet in the
same absolute direction of all their affairs. As he did not possess that
enterprising courage which distinguished his predecessor, he satisfied him.
self 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 foretold and promised by
their prophets.  But though less daring in action than Matthias, he was a
wilder enthusiast, and of more unbounded ambition. Soon 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




248                  THE  REIGN  OF  THE                     [Boo  V..
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 commonwealth, appointed him  to execute the lowest and most
infamous, that of common hangman, to which strange transition the other
agreed, not only without murmuring, 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 deposed 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 were not supreme,
a prophet whom he had gained 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 heavenly call [June 24], which he solemnly protested had
b en revealed likewise to himself, and was immediately acknowledged as
monarch by the deluded multitude.  From that moment he assumed aP
the state and pomp of royalty.  He wore a crown of gold, and was clad
ii the richest and most sumptuous garments. A bible was carried on his
O,'3 hand, a naked sword on the other. A great body of guards accom
panied 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.
Having now attained the height of power, Boccold began to discover
passions, which he had hitherto restrained, or indulged only in secret.
As the excesses 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 concerning the lawfulness, and even the 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 prospect 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 example of their prophet, the
multitude gave themselves up to the most licentious and uncontrolled
gratification 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
maturity, whom  they instantly compelled to marry.  Together with
polygamy, freedom of divorce, its inseparable attendant, was introduced,
and became a new source of corruption.  Every excess was committed
of which the passions of men are capable, when restrained neither by the
authority of laws nor the sense of decency;* and by a monstrous and
* Prophetme et concionatorum autoritate juxta et exemplo, tota urbe ad rapiendas pulcherrimaa
quasque fceminas discursum est. Nec intra paucos dies, in tanta hominum turba fete nlla reperta
est,upra annum decimum quartum qume stuprum passa non fuerit. Lamb Hortens. p. 303. Vulgo
viris quinas esse uxores, pluribus senas, nonnullis septenas et octonas. Puellas supra duoliecimum
etatis annum statim amare. Id. 305. Nemo una contentus fuit, neque cuiqnam extra efftetas ct
viris immaturas continenti esse licuit. Id. 307. Tacebo hic, ut sit suus honor auribus, quanta
barbarie et malitia usi sunt in puellis vitiandis nondum aptis matrimonio, id quod mihi neque ex
vano, neque ex vulgi sermonibus haustum est, sed ex ea vetula, cui cura sic vitiatarum demandam
fuit, auditum. Joh. Corvinus, 316




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             249
aimost incre  A1e conjunction, voluptuousness was engrafted on religion,
and dissolute riot accompanied the austerities of fanatical devotion.
Meanwhile the German princes were highly offended 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 frenzy 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 [1535].
The forces raised in consequence of this resolution, were put under the
command of an officer of experience, who approaching the town towards
the end of spring, in the year 1535, 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 about fifteen months since the
Anabaptists had established their dominion in Munster; they had during
that time undergone prodigious fatigue in working on the fortifications, and
performing military duty.  Notwithstanding  the 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 [May]. 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 enthusiasm, 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 sufferings, 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 commanding the blasphemer, as he called her, to
kneel down, cut off her head with his own hands; and so far were the
rest from expressing any horror at this cruel deed, that they joined him in
dancing with a frantic joy around the bleeding body of their companion.
By this time [June 1], the besieged endured the utmost rigour of famine;
but they chose rather to suffer hardships, the recital of which is shocking
to humanity, 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 intoxicated 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
assuring him that the besieged, exhausted with hunger and fatigue, kep'
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 surprised,
defended themselves in the market-place with valour, heightened by despair; but being overpowered by numbers, and surrounded on every hanc,
most of them were slain, and the remainder taken prisoners [June 24].
VOL. I.-32




2.0o                 THE REIGN OF THE                       [Boox V.
Among the last were the king and Cnipperdoling.  The king, loaded with
chains, was carried from city to city as a spectacle to gratify the curiosity
of the people, and was exposed to all their insults.  His spirit, however,
was not broken or humbled by this sad reverse of his condition; 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 so dangerous to society, was
only twenty-six years of age.,
Together with its monarch, the kingdom of the Anabaptists came to an
end. Their principles having taken deep root in the Low-Countries, the
party still subsists there, under the name of Mennonites; 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 o accept of civil offices, they devote themselves entirely to the
duties of private citizens, and by their industry and charity endeavour to
make reparation to human society for the violence committed by their
founders.f  A small number of this sect, which is settled in England,
retains Its peculiar tenet concerning baptism, but without any dangerous
mixture of enthusiasm.
The mutiny of the Anabaptists, though it drew general attention, did
not so entirely engross the princes of 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 Wurtemberg, 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, warmly espoused his
interest, and used many efforts to recover for him his ancient inheritance.
But'he king of the Romans obstinately refused to relinquish 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 distressing 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, defeated, 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 reinvested 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.t
Ferdinand, how sensible soever of this unexpected blow, not daring to
attack a prince whom all the'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 recognised his title to the dutchy.  The success of the landgrave's operations, in behalf of the duke of Wurtemberg,
* Sleid. 190, &c. Tumultuum Anabaptistarum liber unus. Ant, Lamberto Hortensio auctore ap.
Scardium, vol. ii. p. 298, &c. De Miserabili Monasteriensium Obsidione, &c. &c. libellus Antoni;
Corvini ap. Scar. 313. Annales Anabaptistici a Joh. Henrico Ottio, 4to. Basilere, 1672. Cor.
Heersbachius Hist. Anab. edit. 1637, p. 141.    t Bayle Diction. art. Anabaptistes.    t Sleid
V27. Bellay, 159 &c




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                 gt2
naving 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 of the Romans.
At the same time, in order to prevent any such precipitate or irregular
election in times to come, it was agreed that no person should hereafter
be promoted to that dignity without the unanimous consent of the electors; and the emperor soon after confirmed this stipulation.*
These acts of indulgence towards the protestants, and the close union
into which the king of the 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 consistory 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 persons 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 refusing to call it. With this view he despatched nuncios 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 difficulties as the pope had foreseen, immediately presented themselves in a great
number. The French king did not approve of the place which Paul had
chosen, as the papal and imperial influence would necessarily be too great
in a town situated in that part of Italy. The king of England not only
concurred 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 German protestants having met together at Smalkalde [Dec.
12], 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
tormidable by the accession of several new members.t
During these transactions in Germany, the emperor undertook his famous
enterprise against the piratical states in Africa. That part of the African
continent lying along the coast of the Mediterranean sea, which anciently
* Sleid. 173. Corps Diplom. torn. iv. p. 2. 119.
t 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 Wur.
temberg, Barnim and Philip dukes of Pomerania, John, George, and Joachim, princes of Anhalt,
Gebhard and Albret, counts of Mansfield, William count of Nassau. The cities Strasburg,.Nuremberg, Constance, Ulin, Magdeburg, Bremen, Reutlingen, Hailbron, Memmengen, Lindaw, Campen,
Isna, Bibrac, Windsheim, Augsburg, Francfort, Esling, Brunswick, Goslar, Hanover, Gottingen.
Eimbeck, Hamburg, Minden.




52                  T HE REIGN OF THE                    [BooK V.
formed the kingdoms of Mauritania and Massylia, together with the republic
of Carthage, and which is now known by the general name of Barbary,
had undergone many revolutions. Subdued 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 overturned by Belisarius,
the country became subject to the Greek emperors, and continued to be so
until it was overrun, 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 considerable. 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
professors of the Mahometan religion, and inflamed against Christianity
with a bigotted hatred proportional to their ignorance and barbarous
manners.
Among these people, no less daring, inconstant, 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 revolution happened, which, by rendering the states of Barbary formidable to the Europeans, hath made their
history worthy of more attention. This revolution 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 the Isle of Lesbos, prompted by a restless and enterprising spirit, forsook their father's
trade, ran to sea, and joined a crew of pirates. They soon distinguished
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 Dardanelles 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 coast of Spain and Italy into the ports of Barbary, and enriching the in
habitants 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
establishment in that country.  An opportunity of accomplishing this
quickly presented itself, which they did not suffer to pass unimproved.
Eutemi, king of Algiers, having attempted several times, without success,
~o take a fort which the Spanish governors of Oran had built not far from
his capital, was so ill-advised as to apply for aid to Barbarossa, whose
valour the Africans considered as irresistible. The active corsair gladly
accepted of the invitation, and leaving his brother Hayradin with the fleet
[15161, marched at the head of five thousand men to Algiers, where he




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              253
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 intentions, nor were capable with their light-armed troops of opposing his disciplined veterans, he secretly murdered the monarch whom he
had come to assist, and proclaimed himself king of Algiers in his stead. ThG
authority which he had thus boldly usurped, he 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 vanquished 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 resembled the armaments of
a great monarch, rather than the light squadrons of a corsair. Their frequent and cruel devastations obliged Charles, about the beginning of his
reign [1518], 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 his former fame and exploits.
His brother Hayradin, known likewise by the name of Barbarossa, assumed the sceptre of Algiers with the same ambition and abilities, but
with better fortune. His reign being undisturbed by the arms of the
Spaniards, which had full occupation in the wars among the European
powers, he regulated with admirable prudence the interior police of his
kingdom, carried on his naval operations with great vigour, and extended
his conquest 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 Grand Seignior, and received from him a body of Turkish soldiers
sufficient for his security against his domestic as well as his foreign enemies.
At last, 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 distinction, Barbarossa repaired tc
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 founded on the intestine
divisions in the kingdom of Tunis. Mahmed, the last king of that country,
having thirty-four sons by different wives, appointed Muley-Hacsen, one of
the youngest among them, to be his successor. That weak prince, who
owed this preference, not to his own merit, but to the ascendant which his
mother had acquired over a monarch doating with age, first poisoned Mah
med 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 ot




254                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BOOK
right belonged to him. But these proving unsuccessful, and the A:! ^)9
from their natural levity, being ready to deliver him up to his merc:less
brother, he fled to Algiers, the only place of refuge remaining, and impl)ed
the protection of Barbarossa, who, discerning at once all the advantages
which might be gained by supporting his title, received him with (,very
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 disposed him to believe or undertakes any
thing, to accompany him thither, promising him effectual assistance 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, regardless 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 character of its author, but altogether
unworthy of a great prince. A powerful fleet and numerous army were
soon assembled; at the sight of which the credulous Alraschid flattered
himself that he should soon enter his capital in triumph.
But just as this unhappy prince was going to 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 galley. The fort of Go-etta,
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 declared 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 sove.
reign. But when Alraschid himself did not appear, and when instead oi
his name, that of Solyman alone was heard among the acclamations 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 revolution, he was not unprepared for it; he immediately turned
against them the artillery on the ramparts, and by one brisk discharge, dispersed the numerous but undirected assailants, and forced them 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 commands the town; and fortifying the Goletta in a regular manner,
at vast expense, made it the principal 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 depredations against the Christian
states to a greater extent, and with more destructive violence than ever.
Daily complaints of the outrages comrmitted by his cruisers were brought to
the emperor by his subjects, both in Spain and Italy. All Christendom
seemed t6 expect from him, as its greatest and most fortunate prince, that
he would put an end tp this new and odious species of oppression. At
the same time Muley-Hascen, the exiled king of Tunis, finding none oi
the Mahometan princes in Africa willing or able to assist him in recovering
his throne, applied to Charles (April 21, 1535), as the only person who
could assert his rights in opposition to such a formidable usurper.  The




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              255
emperor, equally desirous of delivering his dominions from the dangerous
neighbourhood of Barbarossa; of appearing as the protector of an unfortunate prince; and of acquiring the glory annexed in that age to every
expedition against the Mahometans, readily concluded a treaty with MuleyHascen, 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 fleet
carried from the ports of the Low-Country a body of German infantry;
the galleys of Naples and Sicily took on board the veteran bands of
Italians 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
Infidels, 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 de Guasto.
On the sixteenth of July, the fleet, consisting of near five hundred vessels,
having on board above thirty thousand regular troops, set sail from Cagliari,
and after a prosperous navigation landed within sight of Tunis. Barbarossa
having received early intelligence of the emperor's imm'nse armament,
and suspecting 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 despatched 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 Christian
prince, but to conspire with him to extirpate the Mahomedan faith, he inflamed those ignorant and bigoted chiefs to such a degree, that they took
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 subsiding. 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 emperor immediately invested.  As Charles had the command of the sea, his camp was so plentifully supplied 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 presence, 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 ci
* Heraei Annales Brabant i. 599,




256                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    I.Boox V.
these committed to each of them, pushed them forwara 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 performed 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 incursions; the breaches soon became so considerable towards the land, while
the fleet battered those parts of the fortifications which it could approach,
with no less fury and success, that an assault being given on all sides at
once, the place was taken by storm [July 25]. Sinan, with the remains of
hi garrison, retired after an obstinate resistance, over a shallow part of the
bay towards the city. By the reduction of the Goletta, the emperor became master of Barbarossa's fleet, consisting of eighty-seven galleys and
galliots, together with his arsenal, and three hundred cannon, mostly brass,
which were planted on the ramparts; a prodigious 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 inhabitants, 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
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 inconceivable hardships in their march, over
burning sands, destitute of water, and exposed to the intolerable 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 possession 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
* Epistres de Princes, par Ruseelli, p. 11 6, &c.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                 257
Knocking off their fetters, and bursting open tneir prisons, they overpowered
the Turkish garrison, and turned the artillery of the fortagainst their former
masters. Barbarossa, disappointed and enraged, exclaiming sometimes
against the false compassion of his officers, and sometimes condemning his
own imprudent compliance with their opinion, fled precipitately to Bona.
Meanwhile Charles, satisfied with the easy and almost bloodless victory
which he had gained, and 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 despatched 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 ior
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 inspire,
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 any satisfaction. Ten thousand Christian slaves, among
whom were several persons of distinction, met him as he entered the town;
and falling upon their knees, thanked and blessed him as' their deliverer.
At the same time that Charles accomplished his promise to the Moorish
king, of re-establishing him in his dominions, he did not neglect what was
necessary 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 foilowing
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 ransom; 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 dominions; that free trade, together with the
public exercise of the Christian religion, should be allowed to 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 subsistence of the Spanish garrison in the Goletta; that he
should enter into no alliance/vith 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 foi
the ships of his subjects, and a proper station to his own fleets, on that
Soast from which he was most infested by piratical depredations; ChaT es
embarked again for Europe [Aug. 17], the tempestuous weather, and sickness among his troops, not permitting him to pursue Barbarossa.t
* Du Mont Corps Diplomat. ii. 128. Summonte Hist. di Napoli, iv. 89.  f Joh. Etropii Diarium
Expedition. Tunetane, ap. Scard. v. ii. p. 320, &c. Jovii Histor. lib. xxxiv. 153, &c. Sandov. ii.
i54, &c. Vertot Hist. de Cheval de Malthe. Epistres des Princes, par Ruscelli, ti-aduites pat
Belleforest, p. 119, 120, &c Anton. Pontii Consentini Hist. Beli adv. Barbar. p. Malthri Analecta
VOL. II.-33




158                THE  REIGN  OF THE                    [BOOK VI.
By this expedition, the merit of which seems to have been estimated in.
that age, rather by the apparent generosity of the undertaking, the magnificence with which it was conducted, and the success which crowned it,
than by the importance of the consequences 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,? each of whom  he clothed and
furnished with the means of returning to their respective countries, spread
over all Europe the fame of their benefactor's munificence, extolling his
power and abilities with the exaggeration flowing from  gratitude and
admiration. In comparison with him, the other monarchs in 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 first prince in Christendom, appeared to be
concerned for the honour of the Christian name, and attentive to the public
security and welfare.
UNFORTUNATELY for the reputation of Francis I. among his contemn
poraries, his conduct at this juncture 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 emperor, taking the utmost pains to heighten
the jealousy which many princes entertained of his power or designs, 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 conditions, as
rendered him not only a vassal of the empire, but a tributary dependant
upon the emperor. The honour of having married the emperor's niece
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 proposals were conveyed to him by Maraviglia, or Merveille, as he is called by the Frencb 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 ol
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 suspecting, or having
recei ~ed 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'lmperor.  As Merveille had neither the prudence nor the temper which
the function wherein he was employed required, they artfully decoyed him
* ~ ulriinonre.   d. di Nap. vol. iv. D. lOn




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                569
into a quarrel, in which he happened to kill his antagonist, one of the
duke's domestics, and having instantly seized him, they ordered him to be
tried for that crime, and to be beheaded [Dec. 1533]. Francis, no less
astonished at this violation 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 satisfaction from either, he appealed to all the
princes of Europe, and thought himself now entitled to take vengeance for
an injury, which it would have been indecent and pusillanimous to let pass
with impunity.
Being thus furnished with a pretext for beginning a war, on which he
had already resolved, he multiplied 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 Catherine 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 continent, and refused to assist Francis, unless he would imitate
his example, in throwing off the papal supremacy.  These disappointments led him to solicit, 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 predominant 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 different from those used by
the protestants: 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 might concert the most proper measures for
reconciling the contending sects which so unhappily divided the church.t
These concessions must be considered 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
gayety of Francis's own temper, and his love of pleasure, allowed him
little leisure to examine theological controversies.
But soon after he lost all the fruits of this disingenuous artifice, by a step
very inconsistent with his declarations to the German princes.  This step,
however, the prejudices of the age, and the religious sentiments 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
witk 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 preparing for his expedition against Barbarossa, which was then considered as
a pious enterprise, could not have failed to confirm such unfavourable sern
timents 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
* Freheri Script. Rer. German, iii. 354, &c. Sleid. Hist. 178. 183. Seckend. lib iii. 103,
I Camerarii Vita Ph. Melancthonis, 120. Hag. 1655. p. 12.




260                 THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK VI.
imbibed the protestant opinions, furnished him wit-h 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 doctrines and rites of
the popish church. Six of the persons concerned in this rash action were
discovered and seized. The king, in order to avert the judgments which
it was supposed their blasphemies might draw  down upon the nation,
appointed a solemn procession. 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
infected 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 publicly burnt
before the procession was finished, with circumstances of the most shocking
barbarity attending their execution.*
The princes of the league of Smalkalde, filled with 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
apologising for his conduct, made but little impression upon them. They
considered likewise, that the emperor, 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 protestants wisely regarded this as a more certain and immediate security,
than the precarious and distant hopes with which Francis endeavoured to
allure them. Besides, the manner in which he had behaved to his allies,a the peace of Cambray, was too recent to be forgotten, and did not encourage others to rely much on his friendship or generosity. Upon all
these accounts, the protestant princes refused to assist the French king in
any hostile attempt against the emperor.  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 perhaps by the invitation of so great a'monarch, or
hoping that his presence there might be of signal advantage to the protestant cause, discovered a strong inclination to undertake the journey.j
But though none of the many princes who envied 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 arms 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 descended, had married Beatrix of Portugal, the sister of the
empress. By her great talents, she soon acquired 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 ambition, she formed
a 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
* Belcarii Commnent.. Rer. Gallic. 646. Sleid. Hist. 175, &c.  t Canerarii Vita Melan'. 142, &e
115. Seckend. lb. iii 107.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              261
contending monarchs. 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 Marseilles, 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 possession of Savoy and Piedmont, as the only
certain way of securing a communication with his own dominions. Francis,
highly irritated at the duke on many accounts, 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 he intended.
The territories of France and Savoy lying contiguous to each other, and
intermingled in many places, various disputes, unavoidable in such a situation, subsisted between 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 Milanese, hoping that the duke,
from an excess of attachment to the Imperial interest, might refuse this
request, and thus give a greater appearance of justice to all his operations
against him. But, if we may believe the historians of Savoy, who appear
to be better informed with regard to this particular than those of France,
the duke readily, and with a good grace, granted what it was not in his
power to deny, promising free passage to the French troops as was desired;
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 countries of Bresse and Bugey, united at that time to Savoy,
were overrun 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 Geneva, the sovereignty
of which he claimed, and in some degree possessed, threw off his yoke,
and its revolt drew along with it the loss of the adjacent territories. 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 their rise, and had
long subsisted in the state; the one, composed of the advocates for the
privileges of the community, assumed the name of Eignotz, or confederates
in defence of liberty; and branded the other, which supported the episcopal or ducal prerogatives, with the name of Mamrrelukes, or slaves. At
* Histoire Gonealogique de Savoye, par Guichenon, 2 tomn. fol. Lyon, 1660. i. 639, &c.




iacs                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [BOOK: V
length [15322, the protestant opinions beginning to spread among the
citizens, inspired such as embraced them with that bold enterprising spirit
which always accompanied or was naturally produced by them in their
nrst operations. As both the duke and bishop were from interest, from
prejudice, and from political considerations, 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 passion.  The rage and animosity of two factions, shut up
witnin the same walls, occasioned frequent insurrections, which terminating mostly to the advantage of the friends of liberty, they daily became
more powerful.
The duke and bishop, forgetting their ancient contests about jurisdiction,
had united against their common enemies, and each attacked them  with
his proper weapons.  The bishop excommunicated the people of Geneva
as guilty of a double crime; of impiety, in apostatising from the established
religion; and of sacrilege, in invading the rights of his see.  The duke
attacked them  as rebels against their lawful prince, and attempted to
render himself master of the city, first by surprise, and then by open force
[1534].  The citizens, despising the thunder of the bishop's censures,
boldly asserted their independence against the duke; and partly by their
valour, partly by the powerful assistance which they received from the
canton of Berne, together with some small supplies both of men and money,
secretly furnished by the king of France, they defeated all his attempts.
Not satisfied with having repulsed him, or with remaining always upon
the defensive themselves, they now took advantage of the duke's inability
to resist them, while overwhelmed by the armies of France, and seized
several castles and places of strength which he possessed in the neighoourhood of Geneva: thus delivering the city from those odious monuments of its former subjection, 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 Friburgh, though zealously attached to the catholic religion, 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 eventA, the duke of Savoy had
no other resource but the emperor's protection, which, upon his return
from Tunis, 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 despatch which
the exigency of his affairs called for. Most of the troops employed in the
African expedition, having been raised for that service alone, were disbanded 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 treasury was entirely drained by his extraordinary efforts against
the Infidels.
But the death of Francis Sforza [Oct. 24], occasioned, according 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.
* Hist. de la Ville de Geneve, par Spon, 120. Utr. 1685, p. 99. Hist. ie la Reformation de Suisti.
par Rouchat. Gcn. 1723. tom. iv. p. 294, &c. tom v p l6a. &c- Mem de Bellay, 181.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                263
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'3
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 enterprising as he advanced
in years, and who was overawed at some times into an excess of caution
by the remembrance of his past misfortunes, endeavoured to establish his
rights by negotiation, not by arms; and from a timid moderation, fatal in
all great affairs, 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 arts in order to reconcile the Italian powers to the thoughts of his regaining footing in Italy, his
rival was silently taking effectual steps to prevent it. The emperor, however, was very. careful not to discover too early any intention of this kind;
but seeming to admit the equity of Francis's claim, he appeared solicitous
only about giving him possession in such a manner as might not disturb
the peace. o Europe, or overturn the balance of power in Italy, which
the politicians of that country were so desirous of preserving. By this
artifice he deceived Francis, and gained so much confidence with the rest
of Europe, that almost without incurring any suspicion, he involved 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 inclinations 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 penetrated his real intention; and all military operations
were entirely suspended, as if nothing had remained but to enter quietly
into possession of what they demanded.
1536.] During the interval of leisure gained in this manner, Charles, on
his return from Tunis, assembled the states both of Sicily and Naples, and
as they thought themselves greatly honoured by the presence of their sovereign, and were no less pleased with the apparent disinterestedness of his
expedition into Africa, than dazzled by the success which had attended
his arms, he prevailed on them to vote him such liberal subsidies as were
seldom  granted in that age.  This enabled him to recruit his veteran
troops, to levy a body of Germans, and to take every other proper precaution for executing or supporting the measures on which he had determined.  Bellay, the French envoy in Germany, having discovered the
intention of raising troops in that country, notwithstanding all the pretexts
employed in order to conceal it, first alarmed his master with this evident
proof of the emperor's insincerity."
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 befcre 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,
Mlem (te Bellay, 192.




264                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK VI.
so liberal and advantageous, that if ever Charles had intended to grant his
demand, he could not have rejected them with decency. He dexterously
eluded them by declaring 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 ripening the schemes which he had in view.
The emperor at last advanced towards Rome, and made his public
entry into that city with extraordinary pomp [April 6]; 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 having in their master's name demanded a definitive reply to his propositions concerning the investiture of Milan,
Charles promised to give it next day in presence of the pope and cardinals assembled in full consistory.  These being accordingly met, and all
the foreign ambassadors invited to attend, the emperor stood up, and addressing himself to the pope, expatiated for some time on the sincerity of
his own wishes for the peace of Christendom, as well as his abhorrence 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, a prince married to a sister of the empress, and joined in close
alliance with Spain, out of the greater 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 investiture 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," added he, " continue wantonly to shed the blood of our
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 deposite 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




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             265
Christendom. But if he, by declining this method of terminating our dif
ferences, 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
justness 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; ant
were my resources no more certain, and my hopes of victory no better
founded than his, I would instantly throw myself at his feet, and with
folded hands, and a rope about my neck, implore his mercy. "
This long harangue the emperor delivered with an elevated voice, a
haughty tone, and the greatest vehemence of expression and gesture. The
French ambassadors, who did not fully comprehend his meaning, 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 interposed abruptly, and
would not permit him to proceed. The pope, without entering into any
particular 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 of that prudent recollection,
that composed and regular deportment so strictly attentive to decorum,
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 continued prosperity, as well as of
exaggerated praise, even upon the firmest minds, sufficiently account for
this seeming inconsistency. After having compelled Solyman to retreat,
and having stripped Barbarossa of a kingdom, Charles began to consider
his arms as 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 moderation, 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 sensible 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 discourse; 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 compositiohn.  Charles, finding him so eager to run into the snare, favoured the
deception, and, by seeming to listen to his proposals, gained farther time
to prepare for the execution of his own designs.
* Bedlay, 199. Sandov. Histor. del Emper. ii. 226.  t Mem. de Beilay, 205, &c,
VOL. II.-34




266               THE REIGN OF THE                       [BOOK VI.
At last, the Imperial army assembled on the frontiers 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 ot a body of Swiss, whom Charles
artfully persuaded the popish cantons to recall, that they might not serve
against the duke of Savoy, their ancient ally. The French general not
daring to risk a battle, retired as soon as the Imperialists advanced. The
emperor put himself at the head of his forces [May 6., which the marquis
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
form 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 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 so 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 active zeal
with which a gallant nobility would serve a prince whom they loved, in
repelling the enemies of their country; they recalled to his remembrance
the fatal miscarriage of Bourbon and Pescara, when they ventured upon
the same enterprise under circumstances which seemed as certainly 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 underrate and despise the
talents of his rival the king of France, because they differed so widely
from  his own; he was blinded by the presumption 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 determined to advance towards France without
waiting for the reduction of any part of Piedmont, except such towns
as were absolutely necessary for preserving his communication with the
Milanese.
The marquis de Saluces, to whom Francis had intrusted the command
of a small body of troops left for the defence of Piedmont, rendered this
more easy than Charles had any reason to expect.  That nobleman,
educated in the court of France, distinguished 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




EMPEROR  CHARLES V.                            267
fatal period of the French nation was at hand; that on its ruins the emperor would establish a universal monarchy; that therefore he ought to follow
the dictates of prudence, in attaching himself to his rising fortune, and
could incur no blame for deserting a prince whom Heaven had devoted to
destruction.? His treason became still more odious, by his employing
that very authority, 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 perform for that purpose, he
totally neglected. In this manner, he rendered towns even of the greatest
consequence, untenable, by leaving them destitute either of provisions,
ammunition, artillery, or a sufficient garrison; and the Imperialists must
have reduced 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 courage and military conduct, detained them almost a
month before that inconsiderable place.
By this meritorious and seasonable service, he gained his master suffi
clent time for assembling his forces, and for concerting a system of defence
against a danger which he now saw to be inevitable. Francis fixed on
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 perseverance 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 determined to remain altogether upon the defensive; never to hazard
a battle, or even a great skirmish without certainty of success; to fortify
his camps in a regular manner; to throw garrisons only into towns of great
strength; to deprive the enemy of subsistence, by laying waste the country before them; and to save the whole kingdom, by sacrificing one of its
provinces. The execution of this plan he committed entirely to the
marechal Montmorency, who was the author of 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, regardless alike of love or of pity.
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 provinces,
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, or 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 rendered useless. The devastation extended from the Alps to Mar.
seilles, and from the sea to the confines of Dauphine; nor does history
Bellay, 222, a. 246, b.




268                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK VI.
afford any instance among civilized nations, in which this cruel expedient
for thle public safety was employed with the same rigour.
At length, the emperor arrived with the van of his army on the frontiers
of Provence, and was still so 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 incitement to serve him with zeal, gave them liberal promises
of offices, lands, and honours in France.* 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 such a numerous body of troops;t nothing was to be
found in the country itself for their support; nor could they draw any
considerable aid from the dominions 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 defenceless towns; and while the
French, besides their camp, at Avignon, continued masters of Marseilles
and Arles. At first he thought of attacking their camp, and of terminating
the war by one decisive blow; but skilful officers who were appointed to
view it, declared the attempt to be utterly impracticable. He then gave
orders to invest Marseilles and Aries, hoping 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 disgrace. 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 intolerable, because they were unexpected.
During these operations, Montmorency found himself exposed to greater
danger from his own troops than from the enemy; and their inconsiderate
valour 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
control; 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 high rank; and as many of them
envied Montmorency's favour with the king, and more were dissatisfied
with his harsh disgusting manner, the discontent soon became great in his
camp, which was filled with general murmurings, 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
* Bellay, 266. a.                     t Sandov. ii. 2-21.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              269
his maxims, no less contrary to the genius of the nation, than to the ideas
of war among undisciplined troops, he assumed an unusual affability in his
deportment, and often explained, 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 reinforcements, 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 overruled Montmorency's salutary
caution.*
Happily the retreat of the enemy delivered 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 oi
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 corn
panions had perished. Necessity, therefore, extorted from him orders to
retire; and though he was 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.1  If Montmorency, at this critical moment, had advanced
with all his forces, nothing 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 remains of his 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; and did not choose, under his present circumstances,
to revisit those cities through which he had so lately passed in triumph foi
one conquest, and in certain expectation of another, he embarked directly
for Spainm [November].
Nor was the progress of his arms on the opposite frontier of France
such as to alleviate, in any degree, the losses which he had sustained in
Provence.  Bellay, by his address and intrigues, had prevailed on sc
many of the German princes to withdraw the contingent of troops whicL
they had furnished to the king of the Romans, that he was obliged to lay
" Mem. de Bellay, 269, &c. 312 &c.  f Ibid. 316. Sandov. Hist. del Emper. ii. 252.; Jo'vi
Histor. lib. xxxv. p. 174, &c.




270                THE REIGN OF THE                      [Boo VI.
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.*
Thus Francis, by the prudence of his own measures, and by the union
and valour of his subjects, rendered abortive those vast efforts in whicL
his rival had almost exhausted his whole force. As this humbled the em
peror'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 which the success of the campaign inspired
Francis. 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. This happening suddenly, was imputed to
poison, not only by the vulgar, fond of ascribing the death of illustrious
personages to extraordinary causes, but by the king and his ministers. The
count de Montecuculi, an Italian nobleman, cupbearer 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 expressed on their being sup
posed capable of such a detestable action, were little attended to, and less
regalded.t 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, besides 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 counterbalance the
weight of a dubious testimony uttered during the anguish of torture..
According to the most unprejudiced historians, the dauphin's death was
occasioned by his having drunk too freely of cold water after overheating
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 administered by the direction of Catharine of Medici, in order
to secure the crown to the duke of Orleans, her husband.~ The advan,
tages resulting to her by the dauphin's deathwere 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.
1537.] Next year opened with a transaction very uncommon, but so incapable of producing any effect, that it would not deserve to be mentioned
if it were not a striking proof of the personal animosity which mingled
itself in all the hostilities between Charles 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 parliament of Paris with the usual
solemnities, the advocate-general appeared; and after accusing Charles of
Austria (for so he affected to call the emperor) of having violated the treaty
* Mem. de Bellay, 318, &c.  t Ibid. 289.  f Sandov. Hist. del Emuer. ii. 231.  ~ Verav
Zuniga Vida de Carlo V. p. 75.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              271
o3 Cambray, by which he was absolved from the homage due to the crown
of France for the countries of Artois and Flanders; insisted that this treaty
oeing now void, he was still to be considered as a vassal of the crown, and
oy consequence had been guilty of rebellion in taking arms against his
sovereign; and therefore he demanded that Charles should be summoned
to appear in person, or by his counsel, before the parliament of Paris, his
legal judges, to answer for this crime. The request 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 judg
ment, ".That Charles of Austria had forfeited by rebellion and contumacy
those: fiefs; declared Flanders and Artois to be reunited to the crown of
France'!" -and ordered their decree for this purpose to be published by
sound of:trumpet on the frontiers of these provinces.':Soon after. this vain display of his resentment, rather than of his power,
Francis marched towards the Low-Countries [March], as if he had intended
to execute the sentence 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 operations of
war, the  Flemings, having assembled 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,
Iow 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 relieve it. While they were advancing for this purpose, 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 Netherlands had laid
waste the frontier provinces of both countries, without any real advantage
to either. The French and Flemings equally regretted the interruption
of their commerce, which was beneficial to both. Charles as well as
Francis, who had each strained to the utmost, in order to support the vast
operations of the'former campaign, found that they could not now keep
armies on foot in this quarter, without weakening their operations in Pied
mont, where both wished to push the war with the greatest vigour. All
these circumstances facilitated the negotiations of the two queens; a truce
was concluded [July 30th], to continue in force for ten months, but it extended no farther than the Low-Countries.f
In Piedmont the war was still prosecuted with 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 alternately 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, determined not to leave
unfinished the good work which they had begun, prevai ed, by their im
portunate solicitations, the one on her brother, the other on her husband,
to consent also to a truce in Piedmont  for three months. The conditions
* Lettres et 31 moires d'Etat, par Ribier, 2 tom. Blois 166, tom. i. p. 1.   t Memoires d,
Ribier, 56




m72                 THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK VI
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; that plenipotentiaries should be appointed to adjust all matters
in dispute by a final treaty.'
The powerful motives which inclined both princes to this accommodation, have been often mentioned. The expenses of the war had far ex
ceeded 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 which they have become accustomed in modern times.  The
emperor in particular, though he had contracted debts which in that age
appeared prodigious,4 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
ne 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.
What made a deeper impression on Charles than all these, was the dread
of the Turkish arms, which, 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 Christans, in that age, at any union
with infidels, which they considered not only as dishonourable but profane,
that it was long before he could be brought to avail himself of the obvious
advantages resulting from such a confederacy.  Necessity 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 undertook to enter the
Milanese at the same time with a proper force. Solyman had punctually performed what was incumbent on him.  Barbarossa with a great
fleet appeared on the coast of Naples, filled that kingdom, from which all
the troops had been 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
securing and extending his conquests, when the unexpected arrival ot
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 Germanst in a great battle at Essek on the
Drave. Happily for Christendom, it was not in Francis's power tc execute with equal exactness what he had stipulated; nor could he asse:mble
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 calamities of a new war, but from feeling the desolating rage of the Turkish arms, as an addition to all that it had suffered.~
As the emperor knew that he could not long resist the efforts of two such
powerful confederates, nor could expect that the same fortunate 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
* Memoires de Ribier, 62.    t Ribier, i. 294.    + Istuanheffi Hist. lu:,g. lib. xiii p. 139.
$ Jovii Hist. lib. xxxv. p. 183.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                273
should be so regardless of their danger as obstinately to protract the war,
he thought it necessary, both for his safety and reputation, 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 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 continued 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 agreeing to prolong the truce for a few months.
1538.]  The pope, however, did not despair of accomplishing 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 defending 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 distinguished lustre on his character and administration. Nor was he without
hopes that, while he pursued this laudable end, he might secure advan
tages 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 differences. 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 journey, neither Charles nor 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
distrust 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 alternately. 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 monarch in asserting his own claims. At last, that he rright
not seem to have laboured altogether without effect, he prevailed on them
to sigr I truce for ten years [June 18], upon the same condition with the
former.hat 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 ope
* Recueil des Traitez, ii. 210. Relatione del Nicolo Tiepolo de l'Abocamento di Nizza, chez Da
Mont Corps Diplomat. par. ii. p. 174.
Vo  II. —35




274                 TIHE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [Booi VI.
rations, and in whl:h both parties exerted their utmost strpngth.  Though
Francis failed in the object which he had principally in 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 repelling 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 king.
dom. Whereas Charles, repulsed and baffled, after having boasted so
arrogantly of victory, purchased an inglorious truce, by sacrificing an ally
who had rashly confided too much in his friendship and power.  The unfortunate duke murmured, complained, 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 dependences,
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 ot
weak princes, who by taking part in the quarrel of mighty neighbours
between whom they happen to be situated, are crushed and overwhelmed
in the shock.
A few  days after signing the treaty of truce, the emperor set sail for
Barcelona, but was driven by contrary winds to the island of 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 galley, and was received and entertained with the warmest de
monstrations of esteem  and affection. Next day the emperor repaid the
confidence which the king had placed in him. He landed at Aiguesmortes with as little precaution, and met with a reception 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."  After
twenty years of open hostilities, or of secret enmity; after so many inuries reciprocally 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 and integrity; and after Francis had accused him of being accessary to the
murder of his eldest son; such an interview appears altogether singular
and even unnatural.  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 distrust, to perfect confidence; and from practising all the dark arts
of a deceitful policy, they could assume, of a sudden, the liberal and oper
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
)y prevailing on the emperor to betroth Margaret of Austria, his natura
daughter, formerly the wife of Alexander di Medici, to his grandson Oc
tavio Farnese, and, in consideration of this marriage, to bestow severa.
honours and territories upon his future son-in-law.  A very tragical event,
which happened about the beginning of the year 1537, had deprived Margaret of her first husband.  That young prince, whom the emperor's partiality had raised to the supreme power in Florence, upon the ruins of the
public liberty, neglected entirely the cares of government, and abandoned
* Sandov. Hist. vol. ii. 238. Relation de l'Entrevue de Charl. V. & Fran. I. par. M de la Rivoire
flist. de Langued par D D De Vic & Vaisette, tom. v. Preuves, p. 93.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              276
himself to the most dissolute debauchery. Lorenzo di 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 dishonourable ministry, added such elegance as well as variety to vice, as
gained him an absolute ascendant over the mind of Alexander.  But while
Lorenro seemed to be sunk in luxury, and affected such an appearance of
indolence and effeminacy, that he would riot wear a sword, and trembled
at the sight of blood, he concealed under that disguise a dark, designing,
audacious 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 promised. But no sooner
was the deed done, than standing 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 locked the door of
the apartment, and, like a man bereaved of reason and presence of mind,
fled with the utmost precipitation out of the Florentine territories. 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 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 Guicciardini., who recalled to their memory, and represented in striking colours.
the caprice as well as turbulence of their ancient popular government, they
agreed to place Cosmo di 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 moderate his power.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo having reached a place of safety, made known
what he had done, to Philip Strozzi and the other Florentines who had
been driven into exile, or who had voluntarily retired, when the republican
form of government was abolished, in order to make way for the dominion
of the Medici. By them, the deed was extolled with extravagant praises,
and the virtue of Lorenzo was compared to 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 partizans to take
arms, and to seize this opportunity of re-establishing the public liberty on
its ancient foundation. Being openly assisted by the 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 pos
sessed not only the means of supporting his government, but abilities to
employ them in the most proper manner. They levied, with the greatet
expedition, a good number of troops; they endeavoured by every art to
gain the citizens of greatest authority, and to render the administration of
* Lettere de Principi tom. iii. p. 5a




276               THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK VI
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 partizans 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 Florentine state, and conferred on him all the titles of honour 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 Tuscany, 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 to
gratify the pope, by bestowing her on his nephew.Y
During the war between the emperor and Francis, 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 England.
James the fifth of Scotland, an enterprising young prince, having heard of
the emperor's intention to invade Provence, was so fond of showing 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, fhat he levied a body of troops with an intention of leading them
in person to the assistance of the king of France. Though some unfor
tunate accidents 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
prince, of whom he was immoderately jealous, form an alliance [Jan 1,
1537], from which he derived such an accession of reputation aF well as
security.f  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 Mary
ot Guise, he warmly solicited Francis to deny his suit, and in order to
disappoint him, asked that lady in marriage for himself. When Francis
preferred 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 suspicions, as if Francis had altogether
renounced his friendship for the sake of new connections with the emperor.
Charles, thoroughly acquainted with the 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 negotiations 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
* Jovii Hist. c. xcviii. p. 218, &c. Belcarii Comment. 1. xxii. p. 696. Istoria de sui Tempi dl
Giov. Bat. Adriani. Ven. 1587, p. 10.  B Hist. of Scotland, vol. i. p. 77.




EMPEROR CHARLES'.                                277
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., 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.
The ambitious schemes in which the emperor had been engaged, and
the wars he had been carrying on for some years, proved, as usual, extremely favourable to the progress of the reformation in Germany. While
Charles was absent upon his African expedition, or intent on his projects
against France, his chief object in Germany was to prevent the dissensions
about religion from disturbing the public tranquillity, by granting such
indulgence to the protestant princes as might induce them to concur with
his measures, or at least to 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;t 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.
Meanwhile the pope continued his negotiations' for convoking a general
council; and though the protestants had expressed great dissatisfaction with
his intention to fix upon Mantua as the place of meeting, he adhered
obstinately to his choice, 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 nominated three cardinals to
preside in his name; enjoined all Christian princes to countenance it by
their authority, and invited the prelates of every nation to attend in person.
This summons of a council, an assembly which from its nature and intention demanded quiet times, as well as pacific dispositions, at the very
juncture when the emperor was on his march towards France, and ready
to involve a great part of Europe in the confusions of war, appeared to
every person extremely unseasonable. It was intimated, however, to all
the different courts by nuncios despatched on purpose..  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 despatched thither, instructing
him to second all the nuncio's representations, and to enforce them with
the whole weight of the Imperial authority.  The protestants gave them
audience at Smalkalde, [Feb. 25, 1537], 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 summoned in the name
and by the authority of the pope alone; in which he assumed the sole right
of presiding; 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
* Mer. de Ri'ier, t. i. 496.  t Dil MIont Corps Diplon. toam. is. part 2. p. 138     Pallavic.'list. Cone. Trid. 113.




218T T IHE REIGN OF THE                                      B3OOK VI
other objections against the council, which appeared to them unanswerable,
they enumerated in a large manifesto, which they published in vindication
of their conduct.~
Against this the court of Rome exclaimed as a flagrant proof of theii
obstinacy and presumption, and the pope still persisted in his resolution.o hold the council at the time and in the place appointed. But some
unexpected difficulties being started by the duke of Mantua, both aboul
the right of jurisdiction over the persons who resorted to the council, anct
the security of his capital amidst such a concourse of strangers, the pope
jOct 8, 1538], after fruitless endeavours to adjust these, first prorogued
the council for some months, and afterwards, transferring the place of
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 accommodation, 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 ineffectual efforts to convoke that assembly, put
off the meeting by an indefinite prorogation.f
But that he might not seem to have turned his whole attention towards
a reformation which he was not able to accomplish, while he neglected
that which was in his own power, he deputed a certain number of cardinals and bishops, with full authority to inquire into the abuses and cor
ruptions 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 triumph to the protestants.
On the one hand, they demonstrated the necessity of a reformation in the
head as well as the members of the church, and even pointed out many
of the corruptions against which Luther and his followers had remonstrated
with the greatest vehemence.  They showed, on the other hand, that it
was vain to expect this reformation from ecclesiastics themselves, who, as
Luther strongly expressed it, piddled at curing warts, while they overlooked or confirmed ulcers.~
1539]. The earnestness with which the emperor seemed, at first, to
press their acquiescing in the pope's scheme of holding a council in Italy,
alarmed the protestant 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 advantages which
they derived from that union, endeavoured 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.ll
The protestants soon got intelligence of this association, 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
* Sleidan. 1. x. 1 23, &c. Seckend. Corn li. iii. p. 143, &c.   t F. Paul, 117. Pallavic. 117
t SIeidan, 233.    ~ Seck. 1. iii. 164.    1 Seek. 1. iii. 171. Recueil des Traite




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              27Y
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 the respective contin
gents both in men and money with which they were obliged to furnish by
the treaty of Smalkalde. But it was not long before they were 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 Frankfort [April 19], his ambassadors agreed that all
concessions in their favour, particularly those contained in the pacification
of Nuremberg, should continue 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 articles
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 prerogative, 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.*
A few days after the convention at Frankfort, George duke of Saxony
died [April 24], and his death was an event of great advantage to the reformation. That 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 considerable in the electorate. From the first dawn of the reformation,
he had been its enemy as avowedly as the electoral princes were its pro.
tectors, and had carried on his opposition not only with all the zeal flowing
from religious prejudices, but with a virulence inspired by personal antipathy to Luther, and imbittered 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.t  This
revolution delivered the protestants from the danger to which they were
exposed by having an inveterate enemy situated in the middle of their
territories; and they had now the satisfaction of seeing 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.
Soon after the conclusion of the truce at Nice, an event happened, whica
satisfied all Europe that Charles had prosecuted the war to the utmost extremity 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 their services became of less ino* F. Paul, 82   Sleid. 247.  Seck. 1. iii. 200.  t Sleidan, 149,




280                 THE RE1GN OF THE                       [BOOK VI
portance, they lost all patience, broke out into an open mutiny, and declared
that they thought themselves ehtitled to seize by 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 fortress 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 concerted rebellion, than the rashness and violence
of a 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
disbanded, such a number only being kept in pay as was necessary for
garrisoning the principal towns, and protecting the seacoasts from the
insults of the Turks.'
It was happy for the emperor that the abilities of his generals extricated
him out of these difficulties, which it exceeded his own power to have
removed. He had depended, as his chief resource for discharging the
arrears due to his soldiers, upon the subsidies which he expected from his
Castilian subjects. For this purpose, he assembled the Cortes of Castile
at Toledo, and having represented to them  the extraordinary expense 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 general excise on commodities.
But the Spaniards already felt themselves oppressed with a load of taxes
unknown to their ancestors.  They had often complained 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 burdens, 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 encroachnent upon the valuable and distinguishing privilege of their order, that ol
being exempted from the payment of any tax.  They demanded a conference with the representatives of the cities concerning 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, his stated revenues of the crown would be fully
sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of government. They represented to him, that it would be unjust to lay new burdens upon the people,
while this prudent and effectual method of re-establishing public credit.
and securing national opulence,'was totally neglected.t  Charles, after
employing arguments, entreaties, and promises, but without success, in
order to overcome their obstinacy, dismissed the assembly with gyeat indignation.  From that period neither the nobles nor the prelates have been
called to these assemblies, on pretence that such as pay no part of the
public taxes, should not claim any vote in laying them on. None have
been admitted to the Cortes but the procurators or representatives of
* Jovii Hist. 1. xxxvii..203. c. Sandov. Ferreras, Lx. 206.  t Sandov. Hist. vol. ii. 269.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              281
eighteen cities. These to the number of thirty-six, being two from each
community, form 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 depress one of the orders in the
state, they destroyed that balance to which the constitution owed its
security, and put it in his power, or in that of his successors, to humble the
other, and to strip it gradually of its most valuable privileges.
At the same time, however, the Spanish grandees still possessed extraordinary power as well as privileges, which they exercised and defended
with a haughtiness 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
nobility, one of the sergeants 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 Ronquillo the judge of the court to arrest the duke;
Ronquillo advanced to execute his charge, when the constable 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
emperor, 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 control,
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
considering 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;t 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 instance of the emperor's dexterity in accommodating his conduct to
the circumstances in which he was placed.
Charles was far from discovering the same condescension or lenity
toward 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 occasion to this rash insurrection so fatal to that flourishing city. At that time the queen dowager
of Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, having received orders from
her brother to invade France with all the forces which she could raise,
she assembled the States of the United Provinces, and obtained from them
a subsidy of twelve hundred thousand florins, to defray the expense of
that undertaking. Of this sum, the county of Flanders was obliged to
pay a third part as its proportion. But the citizens of Ghent, the most
considerable city in that country, averse to a war with France, with which
they carried on an extensive and gainful commerce, refused to pay their
* Sandov. Ib. Le Science du Gouvernment, par M. de Real, tom. ii. p. 102.  t Saadov. ii
274. Ferreras, ix.212. Miniana, 113.
VOL. II -36




2:!2                THE  REIGN  OF THE                     [BooK VI.
quota, and contended, that in 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 consent 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 decision of the superior number.
The citizens of Ghent, however, were not willing 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 endeavoured at first to soothe
them, and to reconcile them to their duty by various concessions, was at
last so much irritated by the obstinacy with which they 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 expected, 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 ajuncture, 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 entering 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 a haughtiness
lo 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 parliament or states of the country, and which possesses the
supreme jurisdiction in all matters civil as well as criminal,? pronounced
the claim of the citizens of Ghent to be ill-founded, and appointed them
forthwith to pay their proportion of the tax.
Enraged at this decision, which they considered as notoriously unjust,
and rendered desperate on seeing their rights betrayed by that very court
which was bound to protect them, the people of Ghent ran to arms in a
tumultuary manner; drove such of the nobility as resided among then
out of the city; secured several of the emperor's officers; put cne cf
them to the torture, whom they accused of having stolen or destroyed the
record that contained a ratification of the privileges of exemption from
taxes which they pleaded; chose a council to which they committed the
direction of their affairs; gave orders for repairing and adding to their
fortifications; and openly erected the standard of rebellion against their.sovereign.t  Sensible, however, of their inability to support what their
* Descriptione di tutti Paesi Basi di Lud. Guicclardini. Ant. 1571. fol. p. 53.    t Memoires
sur la Revolte de Gantois en 1539, par Jean d'l-ollander, ecrit en 1547. A la Haye, 1747. P
Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. xi. p. 262. Sandov Hist. tom. ii. p, 231.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               283
zeal had prompted them to undertake, and desirous of securing a pro.
tector 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 pos
session of Ghent, but to assist him with all their forces in recovering 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 undertook, ar4d 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 situation with respect to France
rendered it more easy to conquer or to defend them; and they might be
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 expeditions into Italy, would have turned their arms
towards this quarter with more good will, and with greater vigour.
Several considerations, nevertheless, prevented Francis from laying hold
of this opportunity, 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
sons. But though these hopes and promises were thrown out with no
other intention than tr detach him from his confederacy with the grand
seignior, or to raise suspicions in Solyman's mind by the appearance of a
cordial and familiar intercourse subsisting 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 application of the Flemings, and to divert the king from espousing
their cause. Montmorency, accordingly, represented, in strong terms, the
reputation and power which Francis would acquire by recovering that
footing which he formerly had in Italy, and that. nothing would be so
efficacious to overcome the emperor'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 overrate 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.*
Not satisfied with this, by a further refinement in generosity, he communicated to the emperor his whole negotiation with the malecontents,
and all that he knew of their schemes and intentions.t  This convincing
* Mem de Bellay, p. 263. P. Heuter. Rer. Austr. lib. xi, 263.  t Sandov. IHistor. tom. ii. 284.




284                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK Vi
proof of Francis's disinterestedness relieved Charles from the most dis
quieting apprehensions, and opened a way to extricate himself out of all
his difficulties. He had already received full information of all the transactions in the Netherlands, and of the rage with which the people of
Ghent had taken arms against his government.  He was thoroughly
acquainted with the genius and qualities of his subjects in that country;
with their love of liberty; their attachment 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 delis' rately resolved. He easily saw what encouragement and support they
might have derived from the assistance of France; and though now free
from any danger on that quarter, 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. No expedient, after long deliberation, appeared to him so effectual as his going in person to the Netherlands; and the governess his sister being of the same opinion, warmly
solicited him to undertake the journey. 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 he must have consumed 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 convoy of a powerful fleet. This
perplexing situation, 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 thoughtof 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 unprecedented. ond which must infallibly expose him to disgrace or to
danger; to aisgrace, if the demand were rejected in the manner that he
had reason to expect; to danger, if he put his person in the power of an
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
danger to his own person, but even without the expense 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 friendship or the love of justice.
Francis, instead of attending 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
rectitude and disinterestedness of his proceedings gave him on this occasion, that he at once assented to all tt at was demanded. Judging of the




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             28b
emperor's heart by his own, he imagined that the sentiments of gratitude,
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.
Upon this, Charles, to whom every moment was precious, set out, notwithstanding the fears and suspicions of his Spanish subjects, with a smail
but splendid train of about a hundred persons. At Bayonne, on the frontiers of France, he was received by the dauphin and the duke of Orleans,
attended by the constable Montmorency. The two princes offered to go
nto Spain, and to remain there as hostages for the emperor's safety; but this
ne 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 greatest
possible magnificence was displayed; the magistrates presented him the
keys of the gates; the prison doors were set open; and by the royal honours paid to him, he appeared more like the sovereign of the country than a
foreign prince [1540]. The king advanced as far as Chatelherault to meet
him; their interview was distinguished by the warmest expressions of
friendship and regard.  They proceeded 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 never revive hostilities for the future.%
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 apprehension of danger which constantly
haunted him, as from the necessity of his presence in the Low-Countries.
Conscious of the disingenuity of his own intentions, he trembled when he
reflected that some fatal accident might betray them to his rival, or
lead 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 lhonour, 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
satisfaction 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
promises 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. Quintin; 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-Countries.
As soon as the emperor reached his own territories [Jan. 24], the French
ambassadors demanded the accomplishment 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.ime. But in order to prevent Francis from suspecting 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 express
sions, which he might afterwards explain away or interpret at pleasure.t
* Thuan. Hist. lib. i. c. 14. Mem. De Bellay, 264.  t Memoires de Ribier i. 504




286                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BooK VI.
Meanwhile; the unfortunate citizens of Ghent, destitute of leaders, ca"
pable either of directing their councils or conducting their troops; abandoned by the French king, and unsupported by their countrymen; 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 Netherlands, 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 sensible 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 the
place of his nativity.  Twenty-six of the principal citizens were put to
death [April 20; a greater number were sent into banishment; the city
was declared to have forfeited all its privileges and immunities; the revenues 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;* and in order to bridle the seditious spirit of the
citizens, orders were given to erect a strong citadel, for defraying the expense of which a fine of a hundred and fifty thousand florins was imposed
on the inhabitants, together with an annual tax of six thousand florins for the
support of the garrison.t By these rigorous proceedings, Charles not only
punished the citizens of Ghent, but set an awful example of severity before
his other subjects in the Netherlands, whose immunities 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 fet
tered and retarded him in his operations.
Charles having thus vindicated and re-established 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 conditions, or such as he knew would be rejected.t
At last, being driven from all his evasions and subterfuges 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.~  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 interest.lI
Of all the transactions in the emperor's life, this, without doubt, reflects
the greatest dishonour on his reputation.s 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
oi 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;
* Les Coutumes et Loix du Compte de Flandre, par Alex. le Grande, 3 tom. fol. Cambray, 1719,
tom. i. p. 169.  t Harai Annales Brabantiae, vol. i. 616.  + Mem. de Ribier, i. 509. 514
5Ribier,. 519.    1 Bellay, 395, 396.    T Jovii Hist. lib. xxxix. p. 238. a.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                27
tie 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.
rThis transaction exposed Francis to as much scorn as it did the emperor
to censure.  After the experience 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, remonstrated 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 woul 
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 related may appear, this
year is rendered still more memorable by the establishment of the order
of Jesuits; a body whose influence on ecclesiastical as well as civil affairs
hath been so considerable, that an account of the genius of its laws and
government 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 admirable 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 profound 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,? was a fanatic distinguished by extravagancies in
sentiment and conduct, 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 Romish saints; but are unworthy of
notice in history.
Prompted by this fanatical spirit, or incited by the love of power and
distinction, from which such pretenders 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.t But notwithstanding this high pretension, his design met at first
with violent opposition.  The pope, to whom Loyola had applied for the
sanction of his authority to confirm the institution, referred his petition to a
committee of cardinals.  They represented the establishment to be un
necessary as well as dangerous, and Paul refused to grant his approbation
of it. At last, Loyola removed all his scruples by an offer which it was
impossible for any pope to resist. He proposed, that besides the three
vows of poverty, of chastity, and of monastic obedience, which are common
to all the orders of regulars, the members of his society should take a fourth
vow of obedience to the pope, binding themselves to go whithersoever he
should command for the service of religion, and without requiring any thing
from the holy see fortheir support.  At a time when the papal authority
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
* See Book ii. p. 150.  t Compte rendu des constitutiones ties Jesuites au Parlement de Pro
vence, par M. de Monclar, p. 285.




THE REIGN 0F T HE                      [BooK VI.
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 sel
n opposition to all its enemies, was an object of the highest consequence
Paul, instantly perceiving this, confirmed the institution of the Jesuits by
his bull [Sept. 27]; granted the most ample privileges to the members of
the society; and appointed Loyola to be the first general of the order
The event had fullyjustified Paul's discernment, in expecting such beneficial consequences to the see of Rome from this institution. In less than
half a century, the society obtained establishments in every country that
adhered to the Roman catholic church; its power and wealth increased
amazingly; the number 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.
The constitution and laws of the society were perfected by Laynez and
Aquaviva, the two generals who succeeded Loyola, men far superior to
their master in abilities, and in the science of government. They framed
that system of profound and artful policy which distinguishes the order.
The large infusion 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 orders is to separate men
from the world, and from 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 mortification 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 performance
of which is the chief business of other monks. They appear in no processions; they practise 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 transactions of the world, on account of the influence which
these may have upon religion; they are directed to study the dispositions
of persons in high rank, and to cultivate their friendship;t and by the very
constitution, as well as genius of the order, a spirit of action and intrigue is
infused into all its members.
As the object of the society of Jesuits differed from that of the other
monastic orders, the diversity was no less in the form of its government.
The other orders are to be considered as voluntary associations, in which
whatever affects the whole body is regulated by the 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 determined 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, appointed that the government of his order should be purely monarchical. A
general, chosen for life by deputies from the several provinces, possessed
* Compte rendu par M. de Monclar, p. xiii. 290. Sur ta Destruct. des Jesuites, par M d'Alem
bey' D, 42.  f Comptepar M de Monclar. p. 1L.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                     289
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 adminis
tration of the revenues and funds of the order.  Every member belonging
to it was at his disposal; and by his uncontrollable 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 sentiments of their own understandings. They were to listen to his injunctions,
as if they had been uttered by Christ himself. Under his direction, they
were to be mere passive instruments, like clay in the hands of the potter;
or like dead carcasses incapable of resistance.* 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 operations.  There is not in
the annals of mankind any example of such 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 such absolute doml
nion over all its members, they carefully provide for his being perfectly
informed with respect to the character and abilities of his subjects. Every
novice who offers himself as a candidate 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 inclinations, the passions, and the bent of his
soul. This manifestation must be renewed every six months.t 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 every thing 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
gradations of ranks in the society, and they must have attained the full age
of thirty-three years before they can be admitted to take the final vows,
by which they become professed members.t  By these various methods,
the superiors, under whose immediate inspection 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 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 obliged 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.~ These reports, when digested and arranged, are entered into
* Compte rendu au Parlem. de Bretagne, par M. de Chalotais, p 41, &c.: Compte par M. de
Monclar, 83. 185. 343.  t Compte par N. de Monclar, p. 121, &c.  c Compte par M. de Mioncl
215. 241. Sur la Destr. desJes. par M. d'Alemb. p. 39.
O M. de Chalotais has made a calculation of the number of these reports, which the genera\
of the Jesuits must annually receive according to the regulations of the society. These amount in
all to 6584. If this sum be divided by 37, the number of provinces in the order, it will appear that
177 reports concerning 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
he general and provincials entertain in each house. Compte par M. de Moncl. p. 431. Hist. des
Jesuites, Amst. 1761. tom. iv. p. 56. The provincials and head 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 wit'h full information
concerning the transactions of every prince and state in the world. Compte 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 fromn
the general. Compte par M. Chalotais, p. 54.
VOL. II —37




290                  THE REIGN OF THE                        [BooK VI
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 mnembers; and thus choose, with perfect
information, the instruments, which his absolute power can employ in any
service for which he thinks meet to destine them.*
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, ot
course, in many active functions. From their first institution, they considered the education of youth as their peculiar province; they aimed at
being spiritual guides and confessors; they preached frequently in order
to instruct the people; they sent.out missionaries 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 themselves of every circumstance in
its favour, and in a short time the number as well as influence of its members
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 considerable courts in Europe.  They mingled in all affairs.
They took part in every intrigue and revolution.  The general, by means
of the extensive intelligence which he received, could regulate the operations 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.f
Together with the power of the order, its wealth continued to increase
Various expedients were devised 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 themselves.  Under pretext of promoting the success of their
missions, and of facilitating the support of their missionaries, they obtained
a special license 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 warehouses 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.$
* Compte par M. de Moncl. p. 215. 439. Compte par M. de Chalotais, p. 52. 212.
t When Loyola, in the year 1540 petitioned the pope to authorize the institution of the order,
he had only ten disciples. But in we year 1608, 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 possessed twenty-four professed houses; fifty-nine houses of probation; three hundred
and forty residences; six hundred and twelve colleges; two hundred missions; one hundred and
fifty seminaries and boarding-schools; and consisted of 19,998 Jesuits. Hist. dem Jesuites, ton i
p. 20., Hist. des Jes iv 168- -196, &c.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              291
Unhappily for mankind, the vast influence which the order of Jesuits
acquired by all these different. means, has been often exerted with the
most pernicious effect. Such was the tendency of that discipline observed
by the society in forming 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 consideration was to be sacrificed.  This spirit of attachment to their order, the most ardent, perhaps,
that ever influenced any body of men,? 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 desire 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 imperfections, which
authorizes almost every action that the most audacious or crafty politician
would wish to perpetrate.
As the prosperity of the order was intimately connected with the preservation of the papal authority, the Jesuits, influenced by the same principle of attachment 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 government. They have attributed to the court of
Rome ajurisdiction as extensive and absolute as was claimed by the most
presumptuous pontiffs in the dark ages. They have contended for the entire
independence of ecclesiastics on the civil magistrate. They have published
such tenets concerning the duty of opposing princes who were enemies of
the catholic 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 reformers, 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 themselves 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, ventured 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 responsible 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.t
But amidst many bad consequences flowing from the institution of this
order, mankind, it must be acknowledged, have derived from it some considerable advantages. As the Jesuits made the education of youth one of
their capital objects, and as their first attempts to establish colleges for the
reception of students were violently opposed by the universities in 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
* Compte par M. de Moncl. p. 285.    t Encyclopedic, art. Jesuites, tom. viii 51.




mZ9T2                  THE REIGN OF THE                           [BoOK VI.
extraordinary ardour. This put them upon various methods for facilitating
the instruction of youth; and by the improvements which. they made in it,
they ha e contributed so much towards the progress 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 masters 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 exhibited the most
wonderful display of their abilities, and have contributed most effectually
to the benefit of the human species.  The conquerors of that unfortunate
quarter of the globe acted at first as if they had nothing in view, but to
plunder, to enslave, and to exterminate its inhabitants.  The Jesuits alone
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 settlements 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; subsisting precariously by hunting or fishing; and hardly acquainted
with the first principles of subordination and government. The Jesuits
set themselves to instruct 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 together 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 perfect equality
among all the members of the community.  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 industry of every species, were
deposited in common store-houses, 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 unhappy, were extinguished.  A  few magistrates, chosen
from  among their countrymen by the Indians themselves, watched over
the public tranquillity, and secured obedience to the laws. The sanguinary punishments frequent under other governments were unknown.  An
admonition from  a Jesuit, a slight mark of infamy, or, on some singular
occasion, a few lashes with a whip, were sufficient to maintain good order
among these innocent and happy people.f
But even in this meritorious effort of the Jesuits for the good of man* M. d'Alembert has observed, that though the Jesuits have made extraordinary progress in
erudition of every species; though they can reckon up many of their brethren who have been
eminent mathematicians, antiquaries, and critics; though 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. But it seems to be the unavoidable effect
oi 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 frivolous duties of the cloister, debase his faculties, and extinguish that generosity of sentiment
and spirit, which qualifies men for thinking or feeling justly with respect to what is proper in life and
conduct. Father Paul of Venice is, perhaps, the only person educated in a cloister, that ever was
altogether superior to its prejudices, or who viewed the transactions of men, and reasoned concerning the interests of society, with the enlarged sentiments of a philosopher, with the discernment of
t man conversant in affairs, and with the liberality of a gentleman.
t Hist. du Paraguay par Pere de Charlevoix, tom. ii. 42, &c. Voyage an Perou par Don G Juan
& D Ant. de Ulloa, tom. i. 540, &c. Par, 4to 1752




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                29
kind, the genius and spirit of their order have mingled and are discernible.
They plainly aimed at establishing in 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 dominion
over all the southern continent of America. With this view, in crder to
prevent the Spaniards or Portuguese in the adjacent settlements from acquiring any dangerous influence over the people within the limits of the
province subject to the society, the Jesuits endeavoured to inspire tne Indians with hatred and contempt of these nations. They cut off all intercourse between their subjects and the Spanish or Portuguese settlements.
They prohibited any private trader of either nation from  entering their
territories. W- hen they were obliged to admit any person in a public character from the neighbouring governments, they did not permit 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 industriously avoided giving the Indians any knowledge of
the Spanish, or of any other European language; but encouraged the dif
ferent tribes, which they had civilized, to acquire a certain dialect of the
Indian tongue, and laboured to make that the universal language 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 European 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 composed
all the military force kept on foot by the Spaniards or Portuguese."
The Jesuits gained no considerable degree of power during the reign
of Charles V., who, with his usual sagacity, discerned the dangerous tendency of the institution, and checked its progress.t But as the orderwas
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 circumstance 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 enterprising spirit of intrigue that distinguished
its members, and elevated the body itself to such a height of power. It
was a fundamental maxim with the Jesuits, from their first institution, not
to publish the rules of their order. These they kept concealed as an impenetrable 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;. and by a strange solecism in
policy, the civil power in different countries authorized or connived at the
establishment of an order of men, whose constitution and laws were concealed with a solicitude which alone was a gooc reason 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 government may be delineated, and the sour tes ot
* Voyage de Juan & de Ulloa, tom. i. 549. Recueil des toutses lePieces qui ont paru sur les Affaires des Jesuites en Portugal, tom. i. p. 7, &c.   t Conlpte Dar SI. de Moncl. p. 31S.   t mlist
des Jes. tomn. iii. 236, &c. Compte par M. de Chalot, p. 38.




294              THE REIGN OF THE                           [BooK VI
their power investigated with a degree of certainty and precision, which,
previous to that event, it was impossible to attain.* But as I have pointed
out the dangerous endency 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 manners, than the major part of the order of Jesuits. 
The maxims of an intriguing, ambitious, interested policy, might influence
those who governed the society, and might even corrupt the heart, and
pervert *the 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 laudable.  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 countries of Europe, though objects extremely worthy the attention of every
intelligent observer of human affairs, do not fall within the period of this
history.
No sooner had Charles re-established order in the Low-Countries, than
he was obliged to turn his attention to the affairs in Germany.  The pro
testants pressed him earnestly to appoint that conference between a select
number of the divines of each party, which had been stipulated in the
convention at Frankfort. The pope considered such an attempt to examine into the points in dispute, or to decide concerning 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 determining too much, he employed
every art to prevent it.  The emperor, however, finding it more for his
interest to soothe the Germans than to gratify Paul, paid little regard to
his remonstrances.  In a diet held at Haguenaw [June 25], matters were
ripened for the conference.  In another diet assembled at Worms [Dec.
6], the 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, in a diet summoned to meet at Ratisbon [1541].  This assembly was opened with great pomp, and with a
general expectation that its proceedings would be vigorous and decisive.
By the consent of both parties, the emperor was intrusted with the power
of nominating the persons who should manage the conference, 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, Gropper, and Pflug,
on the part of the catholics; Melancthon, Bucer, and Pistorius, on that ot
the protestants; all men of distinguished reputation among their own ad
herents, and, except Eckius, all eminent for moderation, as well as desi
rous of peace. As they were about to begin their consultations, the em
peror put into their hands a book, composed, as he said, by a learned
divine in the Low-Countries, with such extraordinary perspicuity and tem
per, as, in his opinion, might go far to unite and comprehend the two con
tending parties.  Gropper a canon of Cologne, whom  he had named
* The greater part of my information concerning the government and laws of the order of Jesuits,
F 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 passages which they have extracted from the constitutions of the order deposited in
their hands. Hospinian, a protestant divine of Zurich, in his Historia.Jesuitica, printed A. D
1619, published a small part of the constitutions of the Jesuits, cf which by some accident he hat
got a copy, p. 13-54.
t Sur la Destruct. des Jes. par M. d'Alembert, o 55.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                296
among the managers of the conference, a man of address as Well as of
erudition, was afterwards suspected of being 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, sometimes on one side,
and sometimes on the other; and especially by banishing as much as possible scholastic phrases, those words and terms of arts in controversy,
which serve as badges of distinction to different sects, and for which theologians often contend more fiercely 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 S
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, particularly the ecclesiastics
who had a seat in the diet, joined in condemning Gropper's treatise as too
favourable to the Lutheran opinion, the poison ofwhich heresyit conveyed,
as they pretended, with greater danger, because it was in some degree
disguised.  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 committed, 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 accommo
dation about these without much labour, and even defined the great article
concerning justification to their mutual satisfaction. But, when they proceeded to points of jurisdiction, where the interest 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 ineffecjtual.
Being impatient, however, to close the diet, he at last prevailed on a
majority of the members to approve of the following recess [July 28];
That the articles concerning which the divines had agreed in the conference, 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 re
obtained, to a national synod of Germany; 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 judg.
* Goldast Const. Iniper. ii. p. 182.




296               THE REIGN OF THE                         [Boox VI.
ment upon the whole controversy; that the emperor should use all his
interest and authority 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 endeavours should be employed to gain proselytes; and
neither the revenues of the church, nor the rights of monasteries, should
be invaded."'
All the proceedings of this diet, as well as the recess in which they
terminated, gave great offence to the pope. The power which the Germans nad assumed of appointing their own divines to examine and determine matters of controversy, he considered as a very dangerous invasion
of his rights; the renewing 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 protes
tants were no less dissatisfied with a recess, that considerably abridged
the liberty which they enjoyed at that time. As they murmured loudly
against it, 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.t
Extraordinary as these concessions may appear, the situation of the
emperor's affairs at this juncture made it necessary for him to grant them.
He foresaw 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 Hungary was a more powerful and urgent
motive to.that moderation which Charles discovered. A great revolution
had happened in that kindgom; John Zapol Scapus having chosen, as has
been related, rather to possess a tributary kingdom, than to renounce the
royal dignity to which he had been accustomed, had, by the assistance of
his mighty protector Solyman, 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 agreement with his competitor [A. D. 1535], on this condition; That Ferdinand should acknowledge him as king of Hungary, and leave him during
life, the unmolested possession 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.+  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 Hungarian 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 within less than a year after his marriage, to see a son born to inherit
Sleidan. 267, &c. Pallav... iv. c 11. p. 136. F. Paul, p. 86. Seckend, 1. iii. 256.  t Sleid.
283. Seckend. 366. Du Mont Corps Diplom. iv. p. ii. p. 210.    + Istuanhaffii HiBt. Hung. libh
nii. p. 135.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             297
his kingdom.  To him, without regarding his treaty with Ferdinand,
which he considered, 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 kingdom. The greater part of the Hungarians immediately acknowledged the young prince as king, to whom, in memory of the founder
of their monarchy, they gave the name of Stephen."
Ferdiand, though extremely disconcerted by this unexpected event,
resolved not to abandon the kingdom 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 province 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 sufficient 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
present 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 factious times. In discharging the functions of his ecclesiastical
office, he put on the semblance of an humble and austere sanctity. In
civil transactions, he discovered industry, dexterity, and boldness. During
war, he laid aside the cassock, and appeared on horseback with his scimitar
and buckler, as active, as ostentatious, and as gallant as any of his countrymen.  Amidst all these different and contradictory forms which he
could assume, an insatiable desire of dominion 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 with their
vassals, he ordered them to march into that part of the kingdom which
adhered to Stephen. Martinuzzi, unable to make head against such a
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 time he sent ambassadors to Solyman, beseeching him to extend towards the son the same
imperial protection 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
interest of the young king, that he instantly promised him his protection;
and commanding one army to advance forthwith towards Hungary, he himself followed with another. Meanwhile the Germans, hoping 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, defended the town with such courage
and skill, as allowed the Turkish forces time to come up to its relief. They
instantly attacked the Germans, weakened by fatigue, diseases, and deser
tion, and defeated them with great slaughter.t
Solyman soon after joined his victorious troops, and being weary of so
many expensive expeditions undertaken in defence of dominions which
were not his own, or being unable to resist this alluring opportunity of
seizing a kingdom, while possessed by an infant, under the'gt ardianship of
a woman and a priest, he allowed interested considerations to triumph with
too much facility over the principles of honour and the sentiments of
* Jovii Hist. lib. xxxix p. 239, a. &c.    t Istuanhaffii Hist. Hung. lib. yiv. p. 156
VOL. II.~-38




298                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BOOK VI.
humanity. What he planned ungenerously, he executed by fraud. Having
prevailed on the queen to send her son, whom he pretended to be desirous
of seeing, into his camp, and having, at the same time, inv'ted the chief of
the nobility to an entertainment there, while they, suspecting 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 uncontrollable command, or prevail on him to recall it.
Before the account of this violent usurpation reached Ferdinand, he was
so unlucky as to have despatched other ambassadors to Solynan with a
fresh representation 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 unbecoming his own dignity, declared that he would not sus
pend the operations of war, unless Ferdinand instantly evacuated all the
towns which he still held in Hungary, and consented to the imposition of a
tribute upon Austria, in order to reimburse the sums which his presumptuous invasion of Hungary had obliged the Ottoman Porte to expend in
defence of that kingdom.'
In this state were the affairs of Hungary. As the unfortunate events
there had either happened before the dissolution of the diet at Ratisbon,
or were dreaded at that time, Charles saw the danger of irritating and
inflaming the minds of the Germans, while a formidable enemy was ready
to break into the empire; 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 secu
rity of Germany during the next campaign.$
Immediately upon the conclusion of the diet, the emperor set out for
Italy. As he passed through Lucca, he had a short interview with the
pope; but nothing could be concluded concerning the proper method of
composing the religious disputes in Germany, 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
threatened to break out suddenly into open hostility, were not more
successful.
The emperor's thoughts were bent so entirely, at that time, on the great
enterprise which he had concerted against Algiers, that he listened with
little attention to the pope's schemes or overtures, and hastened to join his
army and fleet.~
Algiers still continued in that state of dependence on the Turkish empire
to which Barbarossa had subjected 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
* Istuanhafili Hist. Hung. lib. xiv. p. 56. Jovii Histor. lij. xxxix, p. 2476, &c.  t Istuanbaffil
Hist Hung. lib, xiv. p 158.    1 Sleid 283    O Sandov. Hist: tom. ii. 298.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             299
station which required a man of tried and daring courage. Hascen, ir
order to show how well he deserved that dignity, carried on his piratical
depredations against the Christian states with amazing activity, and outdid, if possible, Barbarossa himself in boldness and cruelty. The commerce of the Mediterranean 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 proper distances, and of keeping guards con
stantly on foot, in order to descry the approach of his squadrons, and to
protect the inhabitants from their descents.* Of this the emperor had
received repeated and clamorous 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 receptacle of all the free-booters; 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 hd had acquired by his last expedition into Africa, Charles, before
he left Madrid in his way to the Low-Countries, 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 ot
the Turks in that country seemed more immediately to require his
presence there; though many of his most faithful adherents in Germany
urged that the defence of the empire ought to be his first and peculiar
care; 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. Bat 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 ouit of Spain or Italy, to march them into a country so distant as
Hungary, to provide the vast apparatus necessary for transporting thither
the artillery, 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
unwieldy 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 expense 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 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 Algiers at such an advanced season of the year, and when the
autumnal winds were so violent. Having 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
tne utmost difficulty and danger he reached Sardinia, the place of general
rendezvous. But as his courage was undaunted, and his temper often
inflexible, neither the renewed remonstrances of the pope and Doria, nor the
danger to which he had' already been exposed by disregarding their advice
* Jovii Hist. 1. x. P. 26B.




300                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   LBOOK Vi.
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
thousand horse, Spaniards, Italians, and Germans, 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 L. ieved
ne 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.
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, tne roll of the sea, and vehemence of the winds, would not permit
the troops to disembark. But at last the emperor, seizing a favourable
opportunity, 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
natives of Africa, and partly refugees from Granada. He returned, however, a fierce and haughty answer, when summoned to surrender. But
with such a handful of soldiers, neither his desperate courage, nor consummate skill in war, could have long resisted forces superior tc those which
had defeated Barbarossa 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 himself 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 threatening 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, remained 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 ankles 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, fled
at the approach of the Turks.  The troops at the post behind them discovered greater courage; but as the rain had extinguished their matches,
and wetted 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 repulsed, who, after spreading such
general consternation, and killing a considerable number of men, retired at
last in good order.
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




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                            301
forced ashore, and not a few sinking in the waves. In ler than an hour,
fifteen ships of war, and a hundred and forty transports 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 subsisting 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 to give some hopes that as many ships
might escape as would be sufficient to save the army from perishing by
famine, and transport them back to Europe. But these were only hopes;
the approach of evening covered the sea with darkness; and it being impossible for the officers on board 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 despatched 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 march with all speed to that place,
where the troops could re-embark with greater ease.
Whatever comfort this intelligence afforded Charles, 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 present 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 the least
doubtful 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 manifestly
than ever, and new calamities were added to all those which they had
already endured.  Some 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 swollen 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 greater 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.
During this dreadful series of calamities, the emperor 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 threatened; he encourased the




302                  THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK V11.
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
obhsinacy and presumption in undertaking an expedition so fatal to his
subjects.
The calamities which attended this unfortunate enterprise did not end
here; for no sooner were the forces got on board, than a new storm arising,
though less furious than the former, scattered the fleet, and obliged them,
separa ely, to make towards such ports in Spain or Italy as they could first.
reacn; thus spreading the account of their disasters, with all the circumstances of aggravation and horror, which their imagination, still under the
nfluence of fear, suggested.  The emperor himself, after escaping great
dangers, andbeing forced into the port of Bugia in Africa [Dec. 2], where
ne was obliged by contrary winds to remain several weeks, arrived at last
in Spain, in a condition very different from that in which he had returned
from his former expedition against the infidels.?
BOOK seVIs
THE calamities which the emperor suffered. in his unfortunate enterprise
against Algiers were great; and the account of these, which augmented in
proportion as it spread at a greater distance from the scene of his disasters,
encouraged Francis to begin hostilities, on which he had for some time
been resolved. 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 truce at Nice, without consulting
Solyman, gave (as he foresaw) great offence to that haughty monarch, who
considered an alliance with lim as an honour of 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 distinguished the reception of Charles when he
passed through the dominions of Francis to the Low-Countries, 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 confederacy 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 instructing his emissaries at Constantinople, as well as in those courts with which Solyman held any intelligence,
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.t It
* Carol. V. Expeditio ad Argyrium, per Nicolaum Villagnonem Equitem Rhodium, ap. Scardium,
v. ii. 365. Jovii Hist. 1. xl. p. 269, &c. Vera y ZunigaVida de Carlos V. p. 83. Sandov. Histor.
ii. 99,    t Mem. de Ribier tom. i. p. 502.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             303
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 communicate 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 al ure the
senate by such advantages, as, together with the example of the French
monarch, might overbalance any scruples arising either from decency or
caution, that could operate on the other side. Francis, warmly approving
of this Measure, despatched Rincon back to Constantinople, 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 Solyman had sent an envoy for the
same purpose.*  The marquis del Guasto, governor of the Milanese, an
officer of great abilities, but capable of attempting and executing the most
atrocious actions, got intelligence of the motions and destinations of these
ambassadors. 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 the
garrison of Pavia to lie in wait for Rincon and Fregoso as they sailed down
the Po, who murdered them and 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 instructions and other papers of consequence
behind them, now boldly denied his being accessary in any wise to the
crime. He sent an ambassador to the emperor, to demand suitable reparation for an indignity, which no prince, how inconsiderable and pusillanimous
soever, could tamely endure: and when 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 disregarding this just request.
Notwithstanding the confidence with which Guasto asserted his own
innocence, the accusations of the French gained greater credit than all his
protestations; and Bellay, the French commander in Piedmont, 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 complaints were universally allowed to be well founded, and the steps which
he took towards renewing hostilities, were ascribed not merely to ambition
or resentment, but to the unavoidable necessity of vindicating the honour
of his crown.t
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
oesides the sultan, by Whose aid he might counterbalance the emperor's
* Hist. de Venet. de Paruta, iv. 125.    f Bellay, 367, &c. Jovii Hist lib. xl. 268.




304                THE REIGN OF THE                     [Boox V11
superior pov el. But his negotiations to this effect were attended with very
little success. Henry VIII. eagerly bent at that time upon schemes against
Scotland, which he knew would at once dissolve 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. The pope ad.
hered inviolably to his ancient system of neutrality. The Venetians, not
withstanding Solyman's solicitations, imitated the pope's example. The
Germans, satisfied with the religious liberty which they enjoyed, found i:
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.
But Francis by vigorous efforts of his own activity supplied every defect
Being afflicted at this time with a distemper, 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 reflecting 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 showing that the fall of such a powerful favourite did not affect the vigour or prudence of his administration,
this was a new motive to redouble his diligence in preparing to open the
war by some splendid and extraordinary effort.
1542.] He accordingly brought into the field five armies. One to act in
Luxemburg under the duke of Orleans, accompanied by the duke of
Lorraine as his instructer 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 Vendome was general, hovered on the borders of
Flanders. The last, consisting of the forces cantoned in Piedmont, was
destined for the admiral Annebaut. 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 d6minions, 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, where there were few towns of any strength, and no army assembled
to oppose him, as might enable him to recover possession of the country
of Roussillon, lately dismembered from the French crown, before Charles




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             30b
could bring into the field any force able to obstruct his progress. The
necessity of supporting his ally the duke of Cleves, and the hope of draw
ng a considerable body of soldiers out of Germany by his means, determine'd him to act with vigour in the Low-Countries.
The dauphin and duke of Orleans opened the campaign much about
the same time [June]; the former laying siege to Perpignan the capital
of Roussillon, and the latter entering Luxemburg.  The duke of Orleans
pushed his operations with the greatest rapidity and success, one town
falling after another, until no place in that large dutchy remained in the
emperor's hands but Thionville. Nor could he have failed of overrunning
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 oi
the victory.
On his departure, some of his troops were disbanded, others deserted
their colours, and the rest, cantoned in the towns which he had taken, remained inactive. By this conduct, which leaves a dishonourable imputation either on his understanding or his heart, or on both, he not only
renounced whatever he could have hoped from such a promising commencement 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 poorly fortified, and briskly attacked, having
been largely supplied with ammunition and provisions by the vigilance of
Doria,* was defended so long and so vigorously by the duke of Alva, the
persevering obstinacy 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.t 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 expense 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 the force of his arms.t
1543.] The emperor and Francis, though both considerably exhausted
by such great but indecisive efforts, 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 reinforcement of strength as would give them the
superiority in the ensuing campaign. Charles, taking advantage of the
terror and resentment of the Spaniards, upon the sudden invasion of their
country, prevailed 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 precious spices, which that sequestered
corner of the globe yields. Not satisfied with this, he negotiated 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
* Sigonii Vita A. Doriae, p. 1191.  t Sandov Hist. torn. ii. 315   t lb. ii. 318. Bellav. d38i
&e. Ferrer. ix. 237.
VOL. II. —39




'06                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boox V I
in Europe, gave a large dower; and having likewise persuaded the Cor,,
of Aragon and Valencia to recognise Philip as the heir of these crowns,
he obtained from them  the donative usual on such occasions.?  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 defence of the kingdom. Having
thus provided for the security of Spain, and committed the government of
it to his son, he sailed for Italy [May], in his way to Germany. 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 inconsiderate as to
accept of an overture which Paul, knowing his necessities, artfully threw
out to him. That ambitious 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 Francis,
rejected the proposal. 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
grandson as a fief to be held of the holy see. As no other expedient for
raising money among the Italian states remained, he consented to withdraw
the garrisons which he had hitherto kept in the citadels of Florence and
Leghorn; in consideration for which he received a large present from
Cosmo di Medici, who by this means secured his own independence,
and got possession of two forts, which were justly called the fetters of
Tuscany.t
But Charles, while he seemed to have turned his whole attention towards
raising the sums necessary for defraying the expenses of the year, had not
been negligent of objects more distant, though no less important, and had
concluded a league offensive and defensive 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,
hadl 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 of establishing an uniformity in religion in both the British
kingdoms, as well as fond of making proselytes to his own opinions, had
formed a scheme of persuading 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 usua.
eagerness and impetuosity, making such advantageous offers to James,
whom  he considered as not over scrupulousl attached to any religious
tenets, that he hardly doubted of success. This propositions were accordingly received in such a manner, that he flattened himself with having
gained his point. But the Scottish ecclesiastics, foreseeing how fatal the
union of their sovereign with England must prove both to their own power,
and to the established system of religion; and the partizans of France, no
less convinced that it would put an end to the influence of that crown upon
the public councils of Scotland; combined together, and by their insinuations defeated Henry's scheme at the very moment when he expected it to
have taken effect.t  Too haughty to brook such a disappointment, which
* Farreras, ix. 238. 243. Jovii Hist. lib. xlii. 298 6.  t A;ni Istoria, i. 195. Sleid. 31S
Jovii Hist.. lib. xliii. p 301. Vita di Cos. Medici di Baldino   34    i Hist of Scoti. vol. i p 71
&c. 9th edit 8vo.




EMPEROR CHARLES                                 30)7
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 king
dom, 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 conquering it, aimed at what was more advan
tageous as well as more practicable, a 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-his 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.
In this league [Feb. 11] were contained first of all, articles for securing
their future amity and mutual defence; then were enumerated the demands
which they were 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 unna
tural union had occasioned; 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 lay down their arms until
they had recovered 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 preparing for the approaching campaign. Having early observed symptoms of Henry's disgust and
alienation, and finding all his endeavours to soothe and reconcile him inef
fectual, he knew his temper too well not to expect that open hostilities
would quickly follow upon this secession of friendship. For this reason he
redoubled his endeavours to obtain from Solyman such aid as might counterbalance the great accession of strength which the emperor would receive
by his alliance with England. In order to supply the place of the two
ambassadors 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
wnich he was recommended by Bellay, who had trained him to the arts of
negotiation, and made trial of his address and talents on several occasions.
Nor did he belie the opinion conceived of his courage and abilities   Hastening-to Constantinople, without regarding the dangers to which he was
exposed, he urged his master's demands with such boldness, and availed
himself of every circumstance with such dexterity, that he soon removed
all the sultan's difficulties. As some of the bashaws, swayed either by
* Rym. xiv. 768 Herb. 238.




308                 THE REIGN  OF TH i                    [BooK VII
their own opinion, or influenced by the emperor's emissaries, who had made
theii way even into this court, had declared in the divan against acting in
concert with France, he found means either to convince or silence them."
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 em
pire.  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 confederacy witn
the Turks, placed an insuperable barrier between him and such of the Germans as interest or inclination would have prompted mostreadily tojoin him.4
His chief advantage, however, over the emperor, he derived on this, as on
other occasions, from the contiguity of his dominions, as well as from the
extent of the royal authority in France, which exempted him from all the
delays and disappointments unavoidable wherever popular assemblies provide for the expenses, 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 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 determined 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 Luxemburg, and found it in the same defenceless state as in the
former year.  While he was thus employed, the emperor, having drawn
together an army, 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 betweeL
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 the inhabitants were
put to the sword, and the place itself reduced to ashes. This dreadful
example of severity struck the people of the country with such general
terror, that all the other towns, even such as were capable of resistance,
sent their keys to the emperor [August 24]; 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 emperor allowed him to
remain in that ignominious posture, and eyeing him with a haughty and
severe look, without deigning to answer a single word, remitted him to his
ministers. The conditions, however, which they prescribed, were not so
rigorous as he had reason to have expected after such a reception. He was
obliged [Sept. 7] 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 return for which, all
his hereditary dominions were restored, except two towns which the emperor kept as pledges of the duke's fidelity during the continuance 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 reconcilement,
gave him in marriage one of the daughters of his brother Ferdinand.4
* Sandov. Histor. tom. ii. 346. Jovii Hist. iib. xli. 285, &c. 300, &c. Brantome.    t Seek. lib
iL. 403.       I Harcei Annal. Brabant. t. i. 628. Recueil des Fraitez, t. ii. 226.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             309
Having thus chastised the presumption of the duke of Cleves, detached
one of his allies from Francis, and annexed to his own dominions in the
Low-Countries a considerable province which lay contiguous 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 thousand
English under Sir John Wallop. The garrison, consisting of veteran troops
commanded by De La Lande and Desse, two officers of reputation, made
a vigorous resistance. Francis approached with all his forces to relieve
that place; Charles covered the siege; both were determined to hazard
an engagement; 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
equally good fortune, threw first a supply of fresh troops, and then a convoy of provisions, into the town, so that the emperor, despairing 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 engagements to the French
king with great punctuality. He himself marched into Hungary with a
numerous army [November]; and as the princes of the empire made no
great effort to save a country which Charles, by employing 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.t  About the same
time, Barbarossa sailed with a fleet of a hundred and ten galleys, and
coasting along the shore of Calabria, made a descent at Rheggio, which
he plundered and burnt; and advancing from thence to 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.t  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 unfortunate duke of Savoy [August 10].  There, to the astonishment
and scandal of all Christendom, the lilies of France and crescent of
Mahomet appeared in conjunction 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 impression, 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 [Sept. 81;~ and Francis had
not even the consolation of success, to render the infary which he drew
on himself, by calling in such an auxiliary, more pardonable.
* Bellay, 405, &c.    t Istuanhaff. Histor, iung. 1. xv. 167.   t Jovii Hist. 1. xlIii. 304, &(?allavic. 160.    5 Guichenon Histoire de Savoye, tom. i. p. 651. Bellav, 425, &c.




310                  tHE  REIGN  OF THE                    IBooK VII.
From  the small progress of either party during this campaign, it was
obvious to what a length the war might be drawn out between two
princes, whose power was so equally balanced, and'who, by their own
talents or activity, could so vary and multiply 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 adversary, 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 animosity, 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 ther
did the season force them to suspend hostilities, than, without paying any
attention to the pope's repeated endeavours 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
endeavoured to rouse the formidable but unwieldy strength of the Germanic body against Francis. In 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 Ratisbon in the year 1541.
Much about the time that that assembly broke up, Maurice succeeded
his father Henry in the government of that part of Saxony which belonged
to the Albertine branch of the Saxon family. This young prince, then
only in his twentieth year, had, even at that early. period, begun to discover the great talents which qualified him for acting such a distinguished
part in the affairs of Germany.  As soon as he entered upon the administration, he struck out into such a new and singular path, as showed that
he aimed from the beginning, at something great and uncommon.  Though
zealously attached to the protestant 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 confederacy, but not to entangle himself in the political
interests or combinatiotn-to which it had given rise. At the same time,
foreseeing a rupture between Charles and the confederates of Smalkalde,
and perceiving 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 unbounded
confidence: and courted his favour with the utmost assiduity.  When the
other protestants, in the year 1542, 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
elnperor's confidence and favour.?   While by this conduct, which appeared
extraordinary to those who held the same opinions with him concerning
religion, Maurice endeavoured to pay court to the emperor, he began to
discover some degree of jealousy of his cousin the elector of Saxony
This, which proved in the sequel so fatal to the elector, had almost occasiolred an open rupture between them, and soon after Maurice's accession
* Sleid. 316. Seek  iii'371 386. 428.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              311
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 authoritative admonitions of
Luther.*
Amidst these transactions, the pope, though extremely'rritated at the
emperor's concessions to the protestants at the di-t of Ratisbon, was so
warmly solicited on all hands, by such as were most devoutly 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
ecclesiastics, retainers to his court, and depending on his favour, who could
repair to it without difficulty or expense, he might influence and even
direct all its proceedings. This proposition, though often rejected by the
Germans, he instructed his nuncio to the diet held at Spires [March 3], in
the year 1542, to renew once more; and if he found it gave no greater
satisfaction than formerly, he empowered him, as a last concession, to propose for the place of meeting, Trent, a city in the Tyrol, subject to the
king of the Romans, and situated on the confines between Germany and
Italy. The catholic 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 dissatisfaction, 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. t
The pope, without taking any notice of their objections, published the
bull of intimation [May 22, 1542], named three cardinals to preside as his
legates, and appointed 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 coun
cil could neither be conducted with security, nor attended with autnorty,
such a fierce war was just kindled between the emperor and Francis, da
rendered it impossible for the ecclesiastics from many parts of Europe to
resort thither in safety. The legates, accordingly, remained several months
at 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.]
Unhappily for the authority of the papal see, at the very time that the
German protestants took every occasion of pouring contempt upon it, the
emperor and king of the Romans found it necessary not only to connive at
their conduct, but to court their favour by repeated acts of indulgence.
In the same diet of Spires, in which they had protested in the most disrespectful terms against assembling a council at Trent, Ferdinand, who de
pended 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
* Sleid. 292. Seek, 1 iii 403.  t Sleid. 291. Seck'1. iii 283,    F. Paul, p. 97
Bleid. 296.




312                 THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK VII.
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 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, continuing to disquiet the
people of Goslar by his incursions, the elector of Saxony and landgrave of
Hesse, that they might not suffer any member of the Smalkaldic body to
be oppressed, assembled their forces, declared war in form against HenIy,
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 their association'.
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 took a solemn protest against the Imperial chamber, and declined its jurisdiction for the future, because that 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 Nuremberg [April 23, 1543], which provided for the defence of Hungary, refused to furnish their contingent for that purpose unless the Imperial chamber were reformed, and full security were granted them in every
point with regard to religion.4
1544.] Such were the lengths to which the protestants 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 summoned 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 assembly 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 jealous 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 preserve 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 himself from
any danger of opposition on their part. Having gained this capital point,
he then ventured to address the diet with greater freedom. He began by
representing his own zeal, and unwearied efforts with regard to two things
most essential to Christendom, the procuring of a general council in order
to 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 ambi
tion 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;
* Sleid. 296. Commemoratio succincta Causarum Belli, &c. a Smalkaldicis contra Henr
5runsw. ab iisdem. edita: ap Scardium, tom. ii. 307.  t Sleid. 304. 307 Seek. 1. iii. 404. 416




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             313
or to deliberate w'ith 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 impiety, 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 marching 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 prudence, he added, to oppose the nearest and
most imminent danger, first of all, and by humbling the power of France,
to deprive Solyman of the advantages which he derived from the unnatural confederacy formed between him and a monarch, who still arrogated
the name of Most Christian: that, in truth, a war against the French
king and the sultan ought to be considered 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 invective 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 ambassadors 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 permitted
to enter the bounds of the empire; and the apology which they published
for their master, vindicating 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 arguments in his behalf.
Such being the favourable disposition of the Germans, Charles perceived
that nothing could now obstruct his gaining all that he aimed at, but the
fears and jealousies of the protestants, which he. determined to quiet by
granting every thing that the utmost solicitude of these passions could desire for the security of their religion. TWith this view, he consented to a
recess, whereby all the rigorous edicts hitherto issued against the protestants were suspended; a council either general or national to be assembled
in Germany 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 chamber was enjoined to
give no molestation to the protestants; and when the term, for which the
present judges in that court were elected, should expire, persons duly
qualified were then to be admited as members, without any distinction on
account of religion. In return for these extraordinary acts of indulgence,
the protestants concurred with the other members of the diet, in declaring
war against Francis in name of the empire; in voting the emperor a body
of twenty-fo ir thousand foot, and four thousand horse, to be maintained at
VOL. I. —40




314               THEE REIGN  OF THE                    [Book'vi.
the public expense for six months, and to be employed against France,
~ind at the same time the diet imposed a poll-tax'to be levied throughout
dll Germany on every person without exception, for the support of the
war against the Turks.
Chai.es, while he gave the greatest attention to the minute and intricate
detail of particulars necessary towards conducting the deliberations of a
numerous and divided assembly to such a successful period, negotiated a
separate peace with the king of Denmark; 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 applications
to the king of England, in order to rouse him to more vigorous efforts
against their common enemy. Little, indeed, was wanting to accomplish
this; for such events had happened in Scotland as inflamed Henry to the
most violent pitch of resentment against Francis. Having concluded with
the parliament of Scotland a treaty of marriage between his son and their
voung queen, by which he reckoned himself secure of effecting the union of
the two kingdoms, which had been long desired, and often attempted without
success by his predecessors, Mary of Guise the queen mother, cardinal
Beatoun, 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 relinquished, he was so eager to accomplish this, that he
was ready to second whatever the emperor could propose 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 twentyfive 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.f
Francis stood alone in opposition to all the enemies whom Charles was
mustering against him. Solyman had been the only ally who did not
desert him; but the assistance which he received from him had rendered
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 object
of general detestation. For this reason, he dismissed Barbarossa as soon
as winter was over, who, after ravaging the coast of Naples and Tuscany,
returned 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 despatch, which was more in his power, and to get the start of
them in taking the field. Early in the spring the count d'Enguien invested
Carignan, a town in Piedmont, which the marquit del Guasto the Imperial
general having surprised the former year, considered of so much importance,
that he had fortified it at great expense. 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 to 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 enterprising
young man, wished passionately to try the fortune of a battle; his troops
* Du Mont Corps Diplom. tom. iv. p. 2. p. 274.  t Herbert, 245. Bellay 448




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              315
aeslred it with no less ardour; but the peremptory injt nction 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 despatched Monluc to court,
in order to lay before the king the advantages of fighting the enemy, and
the hopes which he had of victory. The king referred the matter to his
privy council; all the ministers declared one after another, against fighting,
and supported their sentiments 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 lively impetuosity,
and such a flow of military eloquence, as gained over to his opinion, no
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, "return to Piedmont, and fight in the name of God."*
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 deserted, 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, Enguien immediately prepared for battle, nor did Guasto decline the combat. The number
cf cavalry was almost equal, but the Imperial infantry exceeded the French
by at least ten thousand men. They met near Cerisoles [April 11], 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 vivacity,
bore down every thing that opposed them; but, on the other hand, the
steady and disciplined valour of the Spanish iuntry 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 army 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 Rincon and Fregoso,
lost his presence of mind, and forgot to order a large body of reserve to
advance; whereas Enguien, with admirable courage 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.
* Memoires de Monluc



316                THE REIGN  OF  THE                 IBooK Vii.
conquerors, their joy was without allay, a few only being killed, and among
these no officer of distinction.?
This splendid action, beside the reputation with which it was attended,
delivered France from an imminent danger, as it ruined the army with
which Guasto had intended to invade the country between the Rhone and
Saone, where there were neither fortified towns nor regular forces to
oppose his progress. But it was not in Francis's power to pursue the
victory with such vigour as to reap all the advantages which it might
have yielded; for though the Milanese 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
recovering a country, the acquisition of which had been long his favourite
object; yet, as the emperor and the 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 conquest to the public
safety; and to recall twelve thousand of Enguicn's best troops to be employed in defence of the kingdom. Enguien's subsequent operations were,
of consequence, so languid and inconsiderable, that the reduction of Carignan and some other towns in Piedmont, was all that he gained by his
great victory at Cerisoles.t
The emperor, as usual, was late in taking the field, but he appeared,
towards the beginning of June, at the head of an army more numerous
and better appointed than any which he had hitherto led against France.
It amounted almost to fifty thousand men, and part of it having reduced
Luxemburg and some other towns in the Netherlands, before he himself
joined it, he now marched with the whole towards the frontiers of Champagne [June]. Charles, according to his agreement with the king of England, ought to have advanced directly towards Paris; and the dauphin,
who commanded the only army to which Francis trusted for the security
of his dominions in that 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 incapable 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 tc
reduce them. Accordingly Ligny and Commercy, which he first attacked,
surrendered after a short resistance. He then invested St. Disier [July 8J,
which, though it commanded an important pass on the Marne, was destitute of every thing necessary for sustaining a siege. But the count de
Sancerre and M. De la Lande, who had acquired such reputation by tht,
defence of Landrecy, 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 accordingly
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 campaign were completed
long before the emperor's; but as he did not choose, on the one hand, to
encounter alone the whole power of France, and was unwilling, on the
* Bellav, 429, &c. Memoires de Monluc. Jovii Hist. 1. xliv. p. 327. 6.   t Bellay, 438, &c




EMPEROR CHARLES V                                317
other, that his troops should remain inactive, 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 burnt
Edinburgh and Leith, laid waste the adjacent country, and re-embarked
his men with such despatch that they joined their sovereign soon after
his landing in Frances [July 14]. When Henry arrived in that kingdom,
he found the emperor engaged in the siege of St. Disier; an ambassador
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 confederacy 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 emperor's remonstrances, he immediately invested Boulogne, 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 showed 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 had discovered a mutual
jealousy of each other, which, by degrees, begot distrust, and ended in
open hatred.t
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 head against the enemy.  But the dauphin, who still acted as
general, prudently declining a battle, the 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 distressed by these operations, Charles
still pressed the siege of St. Disier, which Sancerre defended with astonishing fortitude and conduct. He stood repeated 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
show 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 Granville's induced him to surrender. That crafty politi-ian, 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 honourable 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.+
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 country.
As soon as St. Disier surrendered, the emperor advanced into the heart
of Champagne [August 17], but Sancerre's obstinate resistance had damped
his sanguine hopes of penetrating to Paris, and led him seriously to reflect on what he might expect before towns of greater strength, and
* Hist. Scotland.       t Herbert.    * Brantome, tom. vi. 489.




318                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BOOK V11.
defended by more numerous garrisons. At the same time, the procuring
subsistence for his army was attended with great difficulty, which iilcreased 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 considerable town
as rendered it safe to winter in the enemy's country. Great arrears, too,
were now clue to his soldiers, 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 Chause, 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 conferences at
Chause, he continued to march forward, though in the utmost distress
from scarcity of provisions. But at last, by a fortunate motion on his
part, or through some neglect or treachery on that of the French, he surprised first Esperney, and then Chateau Thierry, in both of which were
considerable magazines. 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, defenceless, and susceptible of any
violent alarm in proportion to its greatness, was filled with consternation.
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, 0 my God, do I pay for this
crown, which I thought thou hadst granted me freely!"*  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 opposing 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
Imperialists 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. Having about this time received Henry's answer, whereby he
refused to abandon the sieges of Boulogne and Montreuil, 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, therefore, to renew the conference, which the surprise of Esperney had broken off. To conclude a peace between two princes, one of
* Brantome tom. vi. 381.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                 319
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 choose to bestow on him his own daughter, he shall
settle on her all the provinces of the Low-Countries, to be erected into an
independent state, which shall descend to the male issue of the marriage 
that if he determine 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 conditions 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 renounce 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 Burgundy and county of Charolois; that Francis shall
give no aid to the exiled king of Navarre; that both monarchs shall join
in making war upon the Turks, towards which the king shall furnish,
when required by the emperor and empire, six hundred men at arms, and
ten thousand foot.?
Besides the immediate motives to this peace, arising from the distress
of his army through want of 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 encroachments on the jurisdiction as well as privileges
of the holy see, had addressed to the emperor a remonstrance 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 intention to draw on
a quarrel, than of a desire to reclaim  him. This ill hunour was not a
little inflamed by the emperor's league with Henry of England, which, being
contracted with a heretic excommunicated by the apostolic see, appeared
to the pope a profane alliance, and was not less dreaded by him than that
of Francis with Solyman. Paul's son and grandson, highly incensed at the
emperor for having refused to gratify them with regard to the alienation of
Parma and Placentia, contributed by their suggestions to sour and disgust
him  still more. To all which was added the powerful operation of the
flattery and promises which Francis incessantly employed to gain him.
Though from his desire of maintaining a neutrality, the pope had hitherto
suppressed his own resentment, had eluded the artifices of his own family,
and resisted 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 ajuncture when he felt himself hardly equal to the burden.f
the present war, he would be overwhelmed with the weight of a new confederacy against him.t  At the same time, the Turks, almost unresisted,
* Recueil des Traitez, t. 1. 227. Belius de Causis Pacis Crepiac. in Actis Erudit. Lips 1763.
t F.Paul. 100. Pallavic 163.




320                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [Book VII
made such progress in Hungary, reducing town after town, that they
approached near to the confines of the Austrian provinces.*  Above all
these, the extraordinary progress of the protestant doctrines in Germany.
and the dangerous combination into which the princes of that profession
nad entered, called for his immediate attention. Almost one half of Germany had revolted from the established church; the fidelity of the rest was
much shaken; the nobility of Austria had demanded of Ferdinand the free
exercise of religion;t the Bohemians, among whom some seeds of the doctrines 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 diocess; nor was it. possible 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 late diet, to
the peremptory and decisive tone which the protestants had now assumed.
He had seen how, 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 show 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 prospect 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 private 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 of their dominions. This cut off all chance of assistance which the
confederates of Smalkalde might expect from the French king; 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 considerable part in the affairs of Germany.
Henry, possessed at all times with a high idea of his own power and
importance, felt, in the most sensible manner, the neglect with which the
emperor had treated him in concluding a separate peace. But the situation
of his affairs was such as somewhat, alleviated the mortification which this
occasioned. For though he was obliged to recall the duke of Norfolk from
the siege of Montreuil [Sept. 14], because the Flemish troops received
orders to retire, Boulogne had surrendered before the negotiations at Crespy
were brought to an issue. While elated with vanity on account of this
conquest, and inflamed with indignation against the emperor, the ambassadors whom Francis sent to make overtures of peace, found him too arrogant
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 willing to
yield a great deal in order to obtain it, being now free from the pressure
of the Imperial arms, rejected these ignominious propositions with disdain;
* Istuanhaffi,[ Hist. Hung. 177.   t Sleid. 285.   + Seek. 1. iii. 496.  ~ Mem. de Ribier i
L, p 572. Herbert, 244.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              321
and Henry departing for England, hostilities continued between the two
nations.
The treaty of peace, how acceptable soever to the people of France,
whom it delivered from the dread of an enemy who had 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 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
lime of securing to himself the privilege of reclaiming what was now
alienated so much to his detriment, he secretly protested, in presence ot
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 Toulouse, probably by the
instigation of his partisans, did the same.?  But Francis, highly pleased as
well with having delivered his subjects from the miseries ofan 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 expense 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 prescribed 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.f Every
circumstance seemed to promise the continuance of peace. The emperor,
cruelly afflicted with the gout, appeared to be in no condition to undertake
any enterprise where great activity was requisite, or mich 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 distemper, when a French
ambassador followed him to Brussels, in order to be present at his ratification of the treaty of peace, that it was with the utmost difficulty that he
signed his name, he observed, that there was no great danger of his violating
these articles, as a hand that could hardly hold a pen, was little able to
brandish a lance.
The violence of his disease confined the emperor several months irn
Brussels, and was the apparent cause of putting off the execution of the
great scheme which he had formed in order to humble the protestant party
in Germany. But there were other reasons for this delay. For, however
prevalent the motives were which determined him to undertake this enterprise, 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
proceed with caution, and not too suddenly to throw aside the vail 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 submissive overtures of peace, the resolution of
that haughty court were so uncertain, that before these were known, "
would have been highly imprudent to have kindled t e flames of civil war
in his own dominions.
Upon this account, he appeared dissatisfied with a bull issued by the
* Recueil des Traitez, t. ii. 235. 238.  T tecueildes Traitez. t. ii. 238.
OL. II -41




322                TIHE  REIGN  OF  THE                   LBooK VII.
pope immediately after the peace of Crespy [Nov. 19], 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 in order to
cover his designs, he determined to countenance the council, which might
become no inconsiderable instrument towards accomplishing his projects,
and therefore not only appointed ambassadors to appear there in his name,
but ordered the ecclesiastics in his dominions to attend at the time
prefixed.*
1545.] Such were the emperor's views when the Imperial diet, after
several prorogations, was opened at Worms [March 24]. The protestants,
who enjoyed the free exercise of their religion by a very precarious tenure,
naving 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 important 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 prosecution 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 Hungary,
was now ready to fall upon the Austrian provinces; that the emperor,
who, from the beginning of his reign, had neglected no opportunity of
annoying 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 adversary 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 delay, to vote him such effectual
aid as not only their duty but their interest called upon them to furnish;
that the controversies about religion were so intricate, and of such difficult
discussion, as to give no hope of its being possible to bring them at pre
sent to any final issue; that by perseverance and repeated solicitations the
emperor had at length prevailed on the pope to call a council, for which
they had so often wished and petitioned; that the time appointed for its
meeting was now come, and both parties ought to wait for its decrees, and
submit to them as the decisions of the universal church.
The popish members of the diet received this declaration with great
applause, and signified their entire acquiescence in every particular which
it contained.  The protestants expressed great surprise at propositions,
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 deliberation; 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
tranquillity; that if the latter were once rendered firm  and permanent,
they would concur with their countrymen 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 immediate examination: of the controverted points in
religion, they required that a diet should be instantly appointed, to which
the final settlement of their religious disputes should be referred; and
that in the mean time the decree of the foriez dcS.t concerning religion
* F. Paul, 104




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              323
should be explained in a point which they deemed essential. By the
recess of Spires it was provided, that they should enjoy unmolested the
public exercise of their religion, until the meeting of a legal council; but
as the pope had now called a council, to which Ferdinand had required
them to 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 of advantage to soothe
and gain the protestants, he had devised expedients for giving them satisfaction with regard to demands seemingly more extravagant; but his views
at present being very different, Ferdinand, 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 protestants, on their part, were no less inflexible; and andfter much time spent in fruitless endeavours to convince each
other, they came to no agreement. Nor did the presence of the emperor,
who upon his recovery arrived at Worms [May 15], contribute in any
degree to render the protestants' more compliant. Fully convinced that
they were maintaining the cause of God and of truth, they showed themselves superior to the allurements 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 they would not even deign to vindicate their tenets in presence of a council, assembled not to examine, but to condemn them; and
that they would pay no regard to an assembly held under the influence
of a pope, who had already precluded himself from all title to actas a
judge, by his having stigmatized their opinions with- the name of heresy,
and denounced against them the heaviest censures, which, in the plenitude
of his usurped power, he could inflict.'
While the protestants, with such union as well as firmness, rejected all
intercourse with the council, and refused their assent to the Imperial
demands, in respect to the Turkish war, Maurice of Saxony alone showed
an inclination to gratify the emperor with regard to both. Though he
professed an inviolable regard for the protestant religion, he assumed an
appearance 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.t  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
jealousies on account of their religion. But as his schemes were not yet ripe
for execution, nor his preparations so far advanced that he could force the
compliance of the protestants, or punish their obstinacy, he artfully concealed his own intentions. That he might augment their security, he
[August 4] appointed a diet to be held at Ratisbon early next year, in
order to adjust what was now left undetermined; and previous to it lie
agreed that a certain number of divines of each party should meet, in
order tc confer upon the points in dispute,"
* Sfeid. 343, &c. Seek iii. 543, &c. Thuan. Histor nb ii p 5G.  t Seek. ii. 57.1
i Bleid. 351.




324                  THE REIGN OF THE    [BooK VII.
But, how far soever this appearance of a desire to maintain the presen
tranquillity might have imposed upon the protestants, the emperor was
incapable of such uniform and thorough dissimulation, as to hide 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,
t'nugh not more distinguished for learning than the other descendants oJ
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 diocess, and to introduce in its place the rites established among the
protestants.  But the canons of his cathedral, who were not possesssed
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 reverence for oldinstitutions, heightened by con
cern for their own interest.  This opposition, which the archbishop con
sidered only as a new argument to demonstrate the necessity of a reforma.
tion, neither shook his resolution, nor slackened his ardour in prosecuting
his plan.  The canons, perceiving all their endeavours to check his careei
to be ineffectual, solemnly protested against his proceedings, and appealed
for redress to the pope and emperor, the former as ecclesiastical, the latter
as his civil superior.  This appeal being laid before the emperor, during
his residence in Worms, he took the canons of Cologne under his
immediate protection; enjoined them  to proceed with'rigour against all
who revolted from, the established church; prohibited the archbishop to
make any innovation in his diocess; and summoned him  to appear at
Brussels within thirty days, to answer the accusations which should be
preferred against him.To this clear evidence of his hostile intentions against the protestant
party, Charles added other proofs still more explicit. In his hereditary
dominions of the Low-Countries, he persecuted all who were suspected ot
Lutheranism with unrelenting rigour. As soon as he arrived at Wcrms,
he silenced the protestant preachers in that city. He allowed an Italian
nonk to inveigh against the Lutherans from tie pulpit of his chapel, and
to call upon him, as he regarded the favour of God, to exterminate that
pestilent heresy. He despatched the embassy, which has been already
mentioned, to Constantinople, with overtures of peace, that he might be
free from any apprehension of danger or interruption from that quarter.
Nor did any of these steps, or their dangerous 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.
Meanwhile, Charles's good fortune, which predominated'onall occasions
over that of his rival Francis, extricated him  out of a difficulty, from.
which, with all his sagacity and address, he would have found it 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 [Sept. 8]. By this event, the emperor was freed from the necessity
of giving up a valuable province into the hands of an enemy, or from the
indecency of violating a recent and solemn engagement, which must have
occasioned an immediate rupture with France. He affected, however, to
express 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 discussions concerning the Milanese; and would not listen
* Sleid. 310. 340. 351. Seckend. iii. 443. 553.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              325
to a proposal which came from Francis of new-modelling the treaty of
Cresi y, so as to make him some reparation for the advantages which he
had lust 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 consequence 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 wax
against England, obliged him, at present, to dissemble his resentment, and
o 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 (;iespy returned in full force to the crown of France, to serve as
pretexts for future wars.*
Upon the first intelligence of the duke of Orleans' death, the confede.
rates of Smalkalde flattered themselves that the essential alterations which
appeared to be unavoidable consequences of it could hardly fail of 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 increased as he advanced in years, and as he saw
the dignity and power which they derived immediately from 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 summoned 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 unbecoming alienation of the patrimony of the church; the Spanish ambassador would not
be present at the solemnity of his infeoffment; 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 resentment which were rising on this occasion, that they might jointly
pursue what each deemed to be of greater importance.t
About this time the peace of Germany was disturbed by a violent but
short eruption of Henry duke of Brunswick. This prince., though still
stript of his dominions, which the emperor held in sequestration, 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 be employed in the
war against England. The money stipulated for this purpose was duly
advanced by Francis; the troops were levied; but Henry, instead of
leading them  towards France, suddenly entered his own. dominions  t.
their head, in hopes of recovering 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 lo the progress of Henry's undisciplined forces, and
Belcarii Comment. 769  Paruta, Iist. Venet. iv. p. 177.    t Paruta Hist Venet. iv 178
Pallavic. 180.




326                 THE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK Vji.
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 surrender 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 new reputation to the
arms of the protestants, the establishment of the protestant religion in the
palatinate 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 propensity 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, would be the fruit of so many diets, conferences, and
negotiations, he did not, at first, attempt any public innovation in his dominions. Finding all these issue in nothing, he thought himself called, at
length [Jan. 10, 1546], to countenance by his authority the system which
he approved of, and to gratify the wishes of his subjects, who, by their
intercourse with the protestant states, 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.t
A few weeks before this revolution in the palatinate, the general council was opened with the accustomed 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 disorders 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 different,
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 resentment, to some des
perate extreme, laboured to put off its meeting until his warlike prepara
tions 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 contempt it would expose his authority, and what suspicions it would beget
of his intentions, if the fathers of the council should remain in a state ot
inactivity, 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 impossible to elude
tthe latter, he proposed that the council should begin with reforming the
disorders in the church, before it proceeded to examine or define articles
ot taith.  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
* Sleid. 352.  Seek. 1. iii.567.  t Sleid. 356.  Seek. 1. iii. 616.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                32
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 prescribing rules to those who are exalted above
them in dignity and power.   ithout listening, therefore, to this insidious
proposal of the emperor, he instructed his legates to open the council.
Jan. 18.] The first session was spent in matters of form.  In a subsequent one, it was agreed that the framing a 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 attention should be given to what was
necessary towards the reformation of manners and discipline. From this
first 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 astonished them, however, to see forty prelates (for no
greater number were 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.*  As soon as the confederates of Smaikalde 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.t 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 impoitance occupied and interested them.
The protestants were not inattentive or unconcerned 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 emperor,
having long resolved to exterminate their opinions, would not fail to employ
this interval of tranquillity which he now enjoyed, as the most favourable
juncture for carrying his design into execution. The merchants of Augsburg, which was at that time a city of extensive trade, received advice, by
means of their correspondents in Italy, among whom were some who
secretly favoured the protestant cause,4 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, and corroborating all that their own jealousy or
observation led them to apprehend, left the protestants little reason to doubt
of the emperor's hostile intentions. Under this impression, the deputies
of the confederates of Smalkalde assembled at Frankfort, and by communicating their intelligence and sentiments to each other, reciprocally
heightened their sense of the impending danger. But their union was not
such as their situation required, or the preparations of their enemies rendered necessary.  Their league had now subsisted ten years. Among so
many members, whose territories were intermingled with each other, and: F. Paul, 120, &c. Pallavic. p. 180, &c    t Seckend. I iii. 602, &c.   t Ibid. 579




328                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK: VI.
who, according to the custom of Germany, had created an infinite variety
of mutual rights and claims by intermarriages, alliances, and contracts ol
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 unnecessary and exorbitant expenses by their
profuseness or want of economy. The views, likewise, and temper of
those two princes, who by their superior power and authority, influenced
and directed the whole body, being extremely different, rendered all its
motions languid, at a time when the utmost vigour and despatch were
requisite. The landgrave, of a violent and enterprising 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 recourse 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 bigotten
attachment to all its tenets, as made him averse to a 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 common 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 less
Impious and profane than the pope himself; or even to join in alliance
with the Swiss, because they differed from the Germans in several essential
articles 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 discontent 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 acknow
ledge the assembly at Trent as a lawful council, nor suffer the archbishop
Cf Cologne to be oppressed on account of the steps which he had taken
towards the reformation of his diocess.'
The landgrave, about this time, desirous of penetrating to the bottom of
the emperor's intentions, wrote to Granvelle, whom he knew to be thoroughly acquainted with all his masters schemes, informing him of the.
* Seek..  iii. 566. 576. 613.  Sleid. 355.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             32
several particulars which raised the suspicions of the protestants, and beg
ging an explicit declaration of what they had to fear or to hope. Gran
velle, in return, assured them, that the intelligence which they had received
of the emperor's military preparations was exaggerated, and all their suspicions destitute of foundation; that though, in order to guard his frontiers
against any insult of the French 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.*
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 indignation, as well at his sophistry as at some regulations which the emperor
endeavoured to impose on the disputants, broke off the conference abruptly,
being now fully convinced that, in all his late measures, the emperor could
have no other view than to amuse them, and to gain time for ripening his
own schemes.t:BOO]K Ville
WHILE appearances of danger daily increased, and the tempest wnicn
had been so long a gathering was ready to break forth in all its violence
against the protestant church, Luther was saved, by a seasonable death,
from feeling or beholding its destructive rage. Having gone, though in a
declining state of health, and during a rigorous seasn, to his native city of
Eysleben, in order to compose, by his authority, a dissensions among the
counts of Mansfield, he was seized with a violent inflammation in his stomach,
which in a few days put an end to his life, in the sixty-third year of his age
[Feb. 18]. As he was raised up by Providence to be the author of one of the
greatest and most interesting revolutions recorded in history, there is not any
person perhaps whose character has been drawn with such opposite colours
In his own age, one party, struck with horror and inflamed with rage, when
they saw with what a daring hand he overturned every thing which they
held to be sacred, or valued as beneficial, imputed to him not only all the
defects and vices of a man, but the qualities of a demon.  The other,
warmed with the admiration and gratitude, which they thought he merited
as the restorer of light and liberty to the Christian church, ascribed to him
perfections above the condition of humanity, and viewed all his actions
with a veneration bordering on that which should be paid only to those
who are guided by the immediate inspiration of Heaven. It is his own
conduct, not the undistinguishing censure or the exaggerated praise of his
contemporaries, that ought to regulate the opinions of the present age concerning him. Zeal for what he regarded as truth, undaunted intrepidity
to maintain his own system, abilities, both natural and acquired, to defend
* Sleid. 356.         t Ibid. 358.  Seck. 1. iii. 620.
VOL. II.-42




330               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BOOK VIII
his principles, and unwearied industry in propagating their, are virtues
which shine so conspicuously in every part of his behaviour, that even his
enemies must allow him to have possessed them in an eminent degree. T
these may be added, with equal justice, such purity and even austerity oi
manners, as became one who assumed the character of a Reformer; sucn
sanctity of life as suited the doctrine which he delivered; and such perfect disinterestedness as affords no slight presumption of his sincerity.
Superior to all selfish considerations, a stranger to the elegancies of life,
and despising its pleasures, he left the honours and emoluments of the church
to his disciples, remaining satisfied himself in his original state of professor
in the university, and pastor of the town of Wittemberg, with the moderate
appointments annexed to these offices. His extraordinary qualities were
allayed with no inconsiderable mixture of human frailty and human passions. These, however, were of such a nature, that they cannot be imputed
to malevolence or corruption of heart, but seem to have taken their rise
from the same source with many of his virtues. His mind, forcible and
vehement in all its operations, roused by great objects, or agitated by
violent passions,. broke out, on many occasions, with an impetuosity which
astonishes men of feebler spirits, or such as are placed in a more tranquil
situation.   By carrying some praiseworthy dispositions to excess, he
bordered sometimes on what was culpable, and was often betrayed into
actions which exposed him  to censure. His confidence that his own
opinions were well-founded, approached to arrogance; his courage in
asserting them, to rashness; his firmness in adhering to them, to obstinacy'
and his zeal in confuting his adversaries, to rage and scurrility. Accustomed himself to consider every thing as subordinate to truth, he expected
the same deference for it from  other men; and without making any
allowances for their timidity or prejudices, he poured forth against such as
disappointed him in this particular, a torrent of invective mingled with
contempt. Regardless of any distinction of rank or character when his
doctrines were attacked, he chastised all his adversaries indiscriminately,
with the same rough hand; neither the royal dignity of Henry VIII. nor
the eminent learning and abilities of Erasmus, screened them from the same
gross abuse with which he treated Tetzel or Eccius.
But these indecencies of which Luther was guilty, must not be imputed
wholly to the violence of his temper. They ought to be charged in part
on the manners of the age. Among a rude people, unacquainted with
those maxims, which, by putting continual restraint on the passions of individuals, have polished society, and rendered it agreeable, disputes oi
every kind were managed with heat, and strong emotions were uttered
in their natural language without reserve or delicacy. At the same time,
the works of learned men were all composed in Latin, and they were not
only authorized, by the example of eminent writers in that language, to
use their antagonists with the most illiberal scurrility; but, in a dead
tongue, indecencies of every kind appear less shocking than in a living
language, whose idioms and phrases seem gross, because they are familiar
In pasting judgment upon the characters of men, we ought to try them
by the principles and maxims of their own age, not by those of another.
For although vihtue and vice are at all times the same, manners and customs vary continually  Some parts of Luther's behaviour, which appear
to us most culpable, gave no disgust to his contemporaries.  It was even
by some of those qualities, which we are now apt to blame, that he was
fitted for accomplishing the great work which he undertook. To rouse
mankind, when sunk in ignorance or superstition, and to encounter the
rage of bigotry armed with power, required the utmost vehemence of
zeal, as well as a temper daring to excess. A gentle call would neither
have reached, nor have excited those to whom  it was addressed. A
sDrrit more amiable, but less vigorous than Luther's, would have shrunk




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                    331
back from  the dangers which he braved and surmounted.  Towards the
close of Luther's life, though without any perceptible diminution of his
zeal or abilities, the infirmities of his temper increased upon him, so that
he grew daily more peevish, more irascible, and more impatient of contradiction.  Having lived to be a witness of his own amazing success, to
see a great part of Europe embrace his doctrines; and to shake the
foundation of the papal throne, before which the mightiest monarchs had
trembled, he discovered, on some occasions, symptoms of vanity and self
applause.  He must have been, indeed, more than man, if, upon contem
plating all that he actually accomplished, he had never felt any sentiment
of this kind rising in his breast.?
Some time before his death he felt his strength declining, his constitution being worn out by a prodigious multiplicity of business, added to
the labour of discharging his ministerial functions with unremitting diligence, to the fatigue of constant study, besides the composition of works
as voluminous as if he had enjoyed uninterrupted leisure and retirement.
His natural intrepidity did not forsake him at the approach of death; his
last conversation with his friends was concerning the happiness reserved
for good men in a future life, of which he spoke with the fervour and
delight natural to one who expected and wished to enter soon upon the
enjoyment of it.t The account of his death filled the Roman catholic party
with excessive as well as indecent joy, and damped the spirits of all his
followers; neither party sufficiently considering that his doctrines were
now so firmly rooted, as to be in a condition to flourish independent of
the hand which had first planted them. His funeral was celebrated by
order of the elector of Saxony with extraordinary pomp. He left several
children by his wife, Catharine a Boria, who survived him. Towards
the end of the last century, there were in Saxony some of his descendants
in decent and honourable stations.+
The emperor, meanwhile, pursued  the plan  of dissimulation  with
which he had set out, employing every art to amuse the protestants, and
to quiet their fears and jealousies. For this purpose he contrived to have
an interview with the landgrave of Hesse, the most active of all the confederates, and the most suspicious of his designs.  To him he made such
warm professions of his concern for the happiness of Germany, and of his
aversion to all violent measures; he denied, in such express terms, his
having entered into any league, or having begun any military preparations
which should give any just cause of alarm to the protestants, as seem to
have dispelled all the landgrave's doubts and apprehensions, and sent
him away fully satisfied of his pacific intentions. This artifice was of
great advantage, and effectually answered the purpose for which it was
employed,  The landgrave, upon his leaving Spires, where he had been
admitted to this interview, went to Worms, where the Smalkaldic confederates were assembled, and gave them such a flattering representation
of the emperor's favourable disposition towards them, that they, who
were too apt, as well from  the temper of the German nation, as from the
genius of all great associations or bodies of men, to be slow, and dilatory,
and undecisive in their deliberations, thought there was no necessity oftaking any immediate measures against danger, which appeared to be
distant or imaginary.~
* A remarkable instance of this, as well as of a certain singularity and elevation of sentiment,
is found in his Last Will. Though the effects which he had to bequeath were very inconsiderable,
he thought it necessary to make a Testament, but scorned to frame it with the usual legal formalities. Notus sum, says he, in ccelo, in terra, et inferno, et auctoritatem ad hoc sufficientem habeo,
ut mihi soli credatur, cum Deus mihi, homini licet damnabili, et miserabili peccatori, ex paterna
misericordia Evangelium filii sui crediderit, dederitque ut in eo verax et fidelis fuerim, ita ut multi
in mundo illud per me acceperint, et me pro Doctore veritatis agnoverint, spreto banno papae,
Casaris, regum, principum et sacerdotum, immo omnium damonum odio. Quidni, igitur, ad dispositionem hanc, in re exigua, sufficiat, si adsit manus meae testimonium, et didj possit, hec scripsit
D. Martinus Luther, Notarius Dei, et testis Evangelii ejus. Sec. 1. iii. p. 65i.
t Sleid. 362. Seck. lib. iii. 632, &e.  ~ Seek. lib. iii. 651.  $ Sleid. Hist. 367 373




332 )THE  REIGN   OF  THE                                 BOOK VII1.
Such events, however, soon occurred, as staggered the credit which the
rotestants had given to the emperor's declarations.  The council of
Trent, though still composed of a small number of Italian and Spanish
prelates, without a single deputy from many of the kingdoms, which it
assumed a right of binding by its decrees, being ashamed of its long
inactivity, proceeded now to settle articles of the greatest importance.
Having begun with examining the first and chief point in controversy
between the church of Rome and the reformers, concerning the rule which
should be held as supreme and decisive in matters of faith, the council,
by its infallible authority, determined [Apr. 8], "That the books to
which the designation of apocryphal hath been given, are of equal author
rity with those which were received by the Jews and primitive Christians
into the sacred canon; that the traditions handed down from the apostolic
age, and preserved in the church, are entitled to as much regard as the
doctrines and precepts which the inspired authors have committed to
writing; that the Latin translation of the scriptures, made or revised by
St. Jerome, and known by the name of the Vulgate translation, should be
read in churches, and appealed to in the schools as authentic and canonical."  Against all who disclaimed the truth of these tenets, anathemas
were denounced in the name, and by the authority, of the Holy Ghost.
The decision of these points, which undermined the main foundation of
the Lutheran system, was a plain warning to the protestants what judgment they might expect when the council should have leisure to take into
consideration the particular and subordinate articles of their creed.,
This discovery of the council's readiness to condemn the opinions ol
the protestants was soon followed by a striking instance of the pope's
resolution to punish such as embraced them. The appeal of the canons of
Cologne against their archbishop having been carried to Rome, Paul
eagerly seized on that opportunity, both of displaying the extent of his
own authority, and of teaching the German ecclesiastics the danger of
revolting from the established church. As no person appeared in behalf of
the archbishop, he was held to be convicted of the crime of heresy, and a
papal bull was issued [Apr. 16], depriving him of his ecclesiastical dignity, inflicting on him the sentence of excommunication, and absolving his
subjects from the oath of allegiance which they had taken to him as their
civil superior.  The countenance which he had given to the Lutheran
heresy was the only crime imputed to him, as well' as the only reason
assigned to justify the extraordinary severity of this decree. The protestants could hardly believe that Paul, how zealous soever he might be to
defend the established system, or to humble those who invaded it, would
have ventured to proceed to such extremities against a prince and elector
of the empire, without having previously secured such powerful protection
as would render his censure something more than an impotent and despicable sally of resentment.  They were, of course, deeply alarmed at this
sentence against the archbishop, considering it as a sure indication of the
malevolent intentions not only of the pope, but of the emperor, against the
whole party.t
Upon this fresh revival of their fears, with such violence as is natural
to men roused from  a false security, and conscious of their having been
deceived, Charles saw that it now became necessary to throw aside the
mask, and to declare openly what part he determined to act. By a long
series of artifice and fallacy, he had gained so much time, that his measures, though not altogether ripe for execution, were in great forwardness.
The pope, by his proceedings against the elector of Cologne, as well as
by the decree of the council, had precipitated matters into such a situation,
as rendered a breach between the emperor and the protestants almost
* F. Paul, 141. Pallav.206.  t Sleid. 354. F. Paul, 155. Pallavic. 24.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              333
unavoidable. Charles had, therefore, no choice left him, but either to
take part with them in overturning what the see of Rome had determined,
or to support the authority of the church openly by force of arms. Nor
did the pope think it enough to have brought the emperor under a necessity of acting; he pressed him to begin his operations immediately, and
to carry them on with such vigour as could not fail of securing success.
Transported by his zeal against heresy, Paul forgot all the prudent and
cautious maxims of the papal see, with regard to the danger of extending
the Imperial authority beyond due bounds; and, in order to crush the
Lutherans, he was willing to contribute towards raising up a master that
might one day prove formidable to himself as well as to the rest of Italy.
But, besides the certain expectation of assistance from the pope, Charles
was now secure from any danger of interruption to his designs by the
Turkish arms. His negotiations at the Porte, which he had carried on
with great assiduity since the peace of Crespy, were on the point of
being terminated in such a manner as he desired. Solyman, partly in compliance with the French king, who, in order to avoid the disagreeable
obligation of joining the emperor against his ancient ally, laboured with
great zeal to bring about an accommodation between them, and partly
from its being necessary to turn his arms towards the east, where the Persians threatened to invade his dominions, consented without difficulty to a
truce for five years. The chief article of it was, that each should retain
possession of what he now held in Hungary; and Ferdinand, as a sacrifice
to the pride of the sultan, submitted to pay an annual tribute of fifty thousand crowns.*
But it was upon the aid and concurrence of the Germans themselves
that the emperor relied with the greatest confidence. The Germanic
body, he knew, was of such vast strength, as to be invincible if it were
united, and that it was only by employing its own force that he could
hope to subdue it. Happily for him, the unionof the several members of
this great system was so feeble, the whole frame was so loosely compacted, and its different parts tended so violently towards separation from
each other, that it was almost impossible for it, on any important emergence,
to join in a general or vigorous effort. In the present juncture, the sources
of discord were as many, and as various, as had been known on any occasion. The Roman catholics, animated with zeal in defence of their
religion proportional to the fierceness with which it had been attacked,
were eager to second any attempt to humble those innovators, who had
overturned it in many provinces, and endangered it in more. John and
Albert of Brandenburgh, as well as several other princes, incensed at the
haughtiness and rigour with which the duke of Brunswick had been
treated by the confederates of Smalkalde, were impatient to rescue him,
and to be revenged on them. Charles observed, with satisfaction, the
working of those passions in their minds, and counting on them as sure
auxiliaries whenever he should think it proper to act, he found it, in the
mean time, more necessary to moderate than to inflame their rage.
Such was the situation of affairs, such the discernment with which the
emperor foresaw and provided for every event, when the diet of the empire
met at Ratisbon. Many of the Roman catholic members appeared there
in person, but most of the confederates of Smalkalde, under pretence of
being unable to bear the expense occasioned by the late unnecessary frequency of such assemblies, sent only deputies. Their jealousy of the
emperor, together with an apprehension that violence might perhaps be
employed, in order to force their approbation of what he should propose
in the diet, was the true cause of their absence. The speech with which
the emperor opened the diet was extremely artful. After professing, in
* Istuanhaffii Hist, Hun. 180. Mem. de Ribier, tom. i. 582.




384                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                 [BooK VIII.
common form, his regard for the prosperity of the Germanic body, and
declaring, that, in order to bestow his whole attention upon the re-establishment of its order and tranquillity, he had at present abandoned all
other cares, rejected the most pressing solicitations of his other subjects to
reside among them, and postponed affairs of the greatest importance; he
took notice, with some disapprobation, that his disinterested example had
not been'mitated; many members of chief consideration having neglected
to attend an assembly to which he had repaired with such manifest inconvenience to himself. He then mentioned their unhappy dissensions about
religion; lamented the ill success of his past endeavours to compose them;
complained of the abrupt dissolution of the late conference, and craved
their advice with regard to the best and most effectual method of restoring
union to the churches of Germany, together with that happy agreement in
articles of faith, which their ancestors had found to be of no less advantage
to their civil interest, than becoming their Christian profession.
By this gracious and popular method of consulting the members of the
diet, rather than of obtruding upon them any opinion of his own, besides
the appearance of great moderation, and the merit of paying much respect
to their judgment, the emperor dexterously avoided discovering his own
sentiments, and reserved to himself, as his only part, that of carrying into
execution what they should recommend. Nor was he less secure otfsuch
a decision as he wished to obtain, by referring it wholly to themselves.
The Roman Catholic members, prompted by their own zeal, or prepared
by his intrigues,joined immediately in representing that the authority of
the council now met at Trent ought to be supreme in all matters of controversy; that all Christians should submit to its decrees as the infalible
rule of their faith; and therefore they besought him to exert the power,
with which he was invested by the Almighty, in protecting that assembly,
and in compelling the protestants to acquiesce in its determinations. The
protestants, on the other hand, presented a memorial, in which, after repeating their objections to the council of Trent, they proposed, as the only
effectual method of deciding the points in dispute, that either a free general
council should be assembled in Germany, or a national council of the
empire should be called, or a select number of divines should be appointed
out of each party to examine and define articles of faith. They mentioned the recesses of several diets favourable to this proposition, and
which had afforded them the prospect of terminating all their differences
in this amicable manner; they now conjured the'emperor not to depart
from his former plan, and by offering violence to their consciences, to bring
calamities upon Germany, the very thought of which must fill every lover
of his country with horror. The emperor receiving this paper with a
contemptuous smile, paid no farther regard to it. Having already taken
his final resolution, and perceiving that nothing but force could compel
them to acquiesce in it, he despatched the cardinal of Trent to Rome'[June 9], in order to conclude an alliance with the pope, the terms of which
were already agreed on; he commanded a body of troops, levied on
purpose in the Low-Countries, to advance towards Germany; he gave
commissions to several officers for raising men in different parts of the
empire; he warned John and Albert of Brandenburg, that now was the
proper time of exerting themselves, in order to rescue their ally, Henry of
Brunswick, from captivity.?
All these things could not be transacted without the observation and
knowledge of the protestants. The secret was now in many hands;
under whatever veil the emperor still affected to conceal his designs, his
officers kept no such mysterious reserve; and his allies and subjects spoke
out his intentions plainly. Alarmed with reports of this kind from every
* Sleid. 374.  Seek. iii. 658.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             335.iarter, as well as with the preparations for war which they could not
but observe, the deputies of the confederates demanded audience of the
emperor, and, in the name of their masters, required to know whether
these military preparations were carried on by his command, and for what
end, and against what enemy? To a question put in such a tone, and at a
time when facts were become too notorious to be denied, it was necessary
to give an explicit answer. Charles owned the orders which he had issued,
and professing his purpose not to molest on account of religion those who
should act as dutiful subjects; declared, that he had nothing in view but
to maintain the rights and prerogatives of the Imperial dignity, and by
punishing some factious members, to preserve the ancient constitution of
the empire from being impaired or dissolved by their irregular and licentious conduct. Though the emperor did not name the persons whom bhe
charged with such high crimes, and destined to be the objects of his vtnzeance, it was obvious that he had the elector of Saxony and landgrave of
Hesse in view. Their deputies considering what he had said, as a plain
declaration of his hostile intentions, immediately retired from Ratisbon.o
The cardinal of Trent found. it no difficult matter to treat with the pope,
who, having at length brought the emperor to adopt that plan which he
had long recommended, assented with eagerness to every article that he
proposed. The league was signed [July 26] a few days after the cardinal's
arrival at Rome. The pernicious heresies which abounded in Germany,
the obstinacy of the protestants in rejecting the holy council assembled
at Trent, and the necessity of maintaining sound doctrine, together with
good order in the church, are mentioned as the motives of this union between the contracting parties. In order to check the growth of these evils,
and to punish such as had impiously contributed to spread them, the emperor, having long and without success made trial of gentler remedies,
engaged instantly to take the field with a sufficient army, that'he might
compel all who disowned the council, or had apostatized from the religion
of their forefathers, to return into the bosom of the church, and submit with
due obedience to the holy see. He likewise bound himself not to conclude a peace with them during six months without the pope's consent, nor
without assigning him his share in any conquests which should be made
upon them; and that even after this period he should not agree to any
accommodation which might be detrimental to the church, or to the interest
of religion. On his part, the pope stipulated to deposite a large sum in
the bank of Venice towards defraying the expense of the war; to maintain,
at his own charge, during the space of six months, twelve thousand foot,
and five hundred horse; to grant the emperor, for one year, half of the
ecclesiastical revenues throughout Spain; to authorize him, by a bull, to
alienate as much of the lands, belonging to religious houses in that country,
as would amount to the sum of five hundred thousand crowns; and to
employ not only spiritual censures, but military force, against any prince
who should attempt to interrupt or defeat the execution of this treatyo
Notwithstanding the explicit terms in which the extirpation of heresy
was declared to be the object of the war which was to follow upon this
treaty, Charles still endeavoured to persuade the Germans that he had no
design to abridge their religious liberty, but that he aimed only at vinditating his own authority, and repressing the insolence of such as had
encroached upon it. With this view, he wrote circular letters in the same
strain with his answer to the deputies at Ratisbon, to most of the free cities,
and to several of the princes who had embraced the protestant doctrines.
In these he complained loudly, but in general terms, of the contempt into
which the Imperial dignity had fallen, and of the presumptuous as well as
Jisorderly behaviour of some members of the empire  He declared that
*Sleid. 376     t Ibid. 381. Pallav 255. Du MlontCorps Dip mi 11.




336                 T EETHE  REIGN  OF  THE            [Boox VIII
he now took arms, not in a religious, but in a civil quarrel; not to oppresj
any who continued to behave as quiet and dutiful subjects, but to humble
the arrogance of such as had thrown off all sense of that subordination in
which they were placed under him as head of the Germanic body. Gross
as this deception was, and manifest as it might have appeared to all who
considered the emperor's conduct with attention, it became necessary for
him to make trial of its effect; and such was the confidence and dexterity
with which he employed it, that he derived the most solid advantages from
this artifice. If he had avowed at once an intention of overturning ine
protestant church, and of reducing all Germany under its former state of
subjection to the papal see, none of the cities or princes who had embraced
the new opinions could have remained neutral after such a declaration, far
less could they have ventured to assist the emperor in such an enterprise
Whereas by concealing, and even disclaiming any intention of that kind, he
not only saved himself from the danger of being overwhelmed by a general
confederacy of all the protestant states, but he furnished the timid with an
excuse for continuing inactive, and the designing or interested with a pretext for joining him, without exposing themselves to the infamy of abandoning their own principles, or taking part openly in suppressing them. At
the same time the emperor well knew, that if, by their assistance, he were
enabled to break the power of the elector of Saxony and the landgrave, he
might afterwards prescribe what terms he pleased to the feeble remains
of a party without union, and destitute of leaders, who would then regret,
too late, their mistaken confidence in him, and their inconsiderate desertion
of their associates.
The pope, by a sudden and unforeseen display of his zeal, had well
nigh disconcerted this plan which the emperor had formed with so much
care and art. Proud of having been the author of such a formidable league
against the Lutheran heresy, and happy in thinking that the glory of extirpating it was reserved for his pontificate, he published the articles of his
treaty with the emperor, in order to demonstrate the pious intention of
their confederacy, as well as to display his own zeal, which prompted him
to make such extraordinary efforts for maintaining the faith in its purity.
N'  satisfied with this, he soon after issued a bull, containing most liberal
promises of indulgence to all who should engage in this holy enterprise,
together with warm exhortations to such as could not bear a part in it
themselves, to increase the fervour of their prayers, and the severity of
their mortifications, that they might draw down the blessing of Heaven
upon those who undertook it.*  Nor was it zeal alone which pushed the
pope to make declarations so inconsistent with the account which the
emperor himself gave of his motives for taking arms. He was much scandalized at Charles's dissimulation in such a cause; at his seeming to be
ashamed of owning his zeal for the church, and at his endeavours to make
that pass for a political contest, which he ought to have gloried in as a
war which had no other object than the defence of religion. With as much
solicitude, therefore, as the emperor laboured to disguise the purpose of
the confederacy, did the pope endeavour to publish their real plan, in order
that they might come at once to an open rupture with the protestants, that
all hope of reconcilement might be cut off, and that Charles might be
under fewer temptations, and have it less in his power than at present,
to betray the interest of the church by any accommodation beneficial to
himself.,
The emperor, though not a little offended at the pope's indiscretion or
malice in making this discovery, continued boldly to pursue his own plan,
and to assert his intentions to be no other than what he had originally
avowed. Several of the protestant states, whom he had previously gained,
* Du Mont Corps Diplom.  t F. Paul, 188, Thuan. Hist. i. 61.




EMPEROR CHARLES V                                 37
thought themselves justified, in some measure, by his declarations, for'bandoning their associates, and even for giving assistance to him.
But these artifices did not impose on the greater and sounder part of the
protestant confederates.  They clearly perceived it to be against the
reformed religion that the emperor had taken arms, and that not only the
suppression of it, but the extinction of the German liberties, would be the
certain consequence of his obtaining such an entire superiority as would
enable him to execute his schemes in their full extent.  They determined,
therefore, to prepare for their own defence, and neither to renounce those
religious truths, to the knowledge of which they had attained by means so
wonderful, nor to abandon those civil rights which had been transmitted to
them  by their ancestors. In order to give the necessary directions for this
purpose, their deputies met at Ulm, soon after their abrupt departure
from Ratisbon. Their deliberations were now conducted with such vigour
and unanimity, as the imminent danger which threatened them required.
The contingent of troops, which each of the confederates was to furnish,
having been fixed by the original treaty of union, orders were given for
bringing them immediately into the field. Being sensible, at last, that
through the narrow prejudices of some of their members, and the imprudent security of others, they had neglected too long to strengthen themselves
by foreign alliances, they now applied with great earnestness to the Venetians and Swiss. 
To the Venetians they represented the emperor's intention of overturning
the present system of Germany, and of raising himself to absolute power
in that country by means of foreign force furnished by the pope; they
warned them how fatal this event would prove to the liberties of Italy, and
that by suffering Charles to acquire unlimited authority iii the one country,
they would soon feel his dominion to be no less despotic in the other; they
besought them, therefore, not to grant a passage through their territories to
those troops, which ought to be treated as common enemies, because by
subduing Germary they prepared chains for the rest of Europe.  These
reflections had not escaped the sagacity of those wise republicans. They
had communicated their sentiments to the pope, and had endeavoured to
divert him from an alliance, which tended to render irresistible the power
of a potentate, whose ambition he already knew to be boundless. But
they had found Paul so eager in the prosecution of his own plan, that he
disregarded all their remonstrances.? This attempt to alarm the pope
having proved unsuccessful, they declined doing any thing.more towards
preventing the dangers which they foresaw; and in return to the application from the confederates of Smalkalde, they informed them, that they
could not obstruct the march of the pope's troops through an open country,
but by levying an army strong enough to face them in the field; and that
this would draw upon themselves the whole weight of his as well as of
the emperor's indignation. For the same reason they declined lending a
sum of money, which the elector of Saxony and landgrave proposed to
borrow of them, towards carrying on the war.f
The demands of the confederates upon the Swiss were not confined to
the obstructing of the entrance of foreigners into Germany; they required
of them, as the nearest neighbours and closest allies of the empire, to
interpose with their wonted vigour for the preservation of its liberties, and
not to stand as inactive spectators, while their brethren were oppressed
and enslaved. But with whatever zeal some of the cantons might have
been disposed to act when the cause of the reformation was in danger, the
Helvetic body was so divided with regard to religion, as to render it unsafe
for the protestants to take any step without consulting their catholic asso* Adriani Istoria di suoi Tempi, liv. v. p. 332.  t Sleid. 381. Paruta Istor. Venet. tom. iv. 10,uambertus Hortensius de Bello Germanico, apud Scardiumn, vol. ii. p. 547
VOL. II. 43




338                 THE REIGN OF THE   [Book VhII
ciates; and among them the emissaries of the pope and emperor had such
influence, that a resolution of maintaining an exact neutrality between the
contending parties was the utmost which could be procured.y
Being disappointed in both these applications, the protestants, not long
after, had recourse to the kings of France and England; the approach of
danger either overcoming the elector of Saxony's scruples, or obliging him
to yield to the importunities of his associates. The situation of the two
monarchs flattered them With hopes of success. Though hostilities between
them had continued for some time after the peace of Crespy, they became
weary at last of a war, attended with no glory or advantage to either, and
had lately terminated all their differences by a peace concluded at Campe
near Ardres. - Francis having with great difficulty procured his allies, the
Scots, to be included in the treaty, in return for that concession he engaged
to pay a great sum which Henry demanded as due to him on several
accounts, and he left Boulogne in the hands of the English as a pledge for
his faithful performance of that article. But though the re-establishment
of peace seemed to leave the two monarchs at liberty to turn their attention towards Germany, so unfortunate were the protestants, that they
derived no immediate advantage from this circumstance. Henry appeared
unwilling to enter into any alliance with them, but on such conditions as
would render him not only the head, but the supreme director of their
league; a pre-eminence which, as the bonds of union or interest between
them were but feeble, and as he differed from them so widely in his religious sentiments, they had no inclination to admit.t Francis, more powerTully inclined by political considerations to afford them assistance, found
his kingdom so much exhausted by a long war, and was so much afraid
of irritating the pope, by entering into close union with excommunicated
heretics, that he durst not undertake the protection of the Smalkaldic
league. By this ill-timed caution, or by a superstitious deference to scruples,
to which at other times he was not much addicted, he lost the most
promising opportunity of mortifying and distressing his rival, which pre
sented itself during his whole reign.
But, notwithstanding their ill success in their negotiations with foreign
courts, the confederates found no difficulty at home, in bringing a sufficient
force into the field. Germany abounded at that time with inhabitants;
the feudal institutions, which subsisted in full force, enabled the nobles to
call out their numerous vassals, and to put them in motion on the shortest
warning; the martial spirit of the Germans, not broken or enervated by the
introduction of commerce and arts, had acquired additional vigour during
the continual wars in which they had been employed, for half a century,
either in the pay of the emperors or the kings of France. Upon every opportunity. of entering into service, they were accustomed to run eagerly to
arms; and to every standard that was erected, volunteers flocked from all
quarters.4  Zeal seconded, on this occasion, their native ardour. Men on
whom  the doctrines of the reformation had made that deep impression
which accompanies truth when first discovered, prepared to maintain it
with. proportional vigour; and amon'ga warlike people it appeared infamous to remain inactive, when the defence of religion was the motive for
taking armos  Accident combined with all these circumstances in facilitating the levy of soldiers among the confederates. A considerable number
of Germans in the pay of France, being dismissed by the king on the pros,
pect of peace with England, joined in a body the standard of the protestants.4  By such a concurrence of causes, they were enabled to assemble
in a few weeks an army composed of seventy thousand foot and fifteen
thousand horse, provided with a train of a hundred and twenty cannon,
eight hundred ammunition wagons, eight thousand beasts of burden, and
bJleld.o J.  t Rymer, xv.93. Herbert, 258.    + Seck. i. iii. 161.




EMPEROR CHARLES V                                 339
six thousand pioneers.- This army, one of the most numerous, and undoubtedly the best appointed, of any which had been levied in Europe
during that century, did not require the united effort of the whole protestant
body to raise it.  The elector of Saxony, the landgrave of Hesse, the duke
of Wurtemberg, the princes of Anhalt, and the Imperial cities of Augsburg,
Ulm, and Strasburg, were the only powers which contributed towards this
great armament: the electors of Cologne, of Brandenburg, and the count
Palatine, overawed by the emperor's threats, or deceived by his professions,
remained neuter. John marquis of Brandenburg Bareith, and Albert of
Brandenburg Anspach, though both early convertsi to Lutheranism, entered
openly into the emperor's service, under pretext of having obtained his
promise for the security of the protestant religion; and Maurice of Saxony
soon followed their example.
The number of their troops, as well as the amazing rapidity wherewith
they had assembled them, astonished the emperor, and filled him with the
most disquieting apprehensions. He was, indeed, in no condition to resist
such a mighty force. Shut up in Ratisbon, a town of no great strength,
whose inhabitants, being mostly Lutherans, would have been more ready
to betray than to assist him, with only three thousand Spanish foot, who
had served in Htngary, and about five thousand Germans who had joined
him from different parts of the empire, he must have been overwhelmed
by the approach of such a formidable army, which he could not fight, nor
could he even hope to retreat from it in safety. The pope's troops, though
in full march to his relief, had hardly reached the frontiers of Germany; the
forces which he expected from the Low-Countries had not yet begun to
move, and were even far from being complete.t His situation, however,
called for more immediate succour, nor did it seem practicable for him  to
wait for such distant auxiliaries, with whom his junction was so precarious.
But it happened fortunately for Charles, that the confederates did not
avail themselves of the advantage which lay so full in their view. In civil
wars, the first steps are commonly taken with much timidity and hesitation
Men are solicitous, at that time, to put on the semblance of moderation and
equity; they strive to gain partisans by seeming to adhere strictly to.
known forms; nor canthey be brought, at once, to violate those established
institutions, which in times of tranquillity they have been accustomed to
reverence; hence their proceedings are often feeble or dilatory, when they
ought to be most vigorous and decisive.  Influenced by those considerations, which, happily for the peace of society, operate powerfully on the
human mind, the confederates could not think of throwing off that allegiance
which they owed to the head of the empire, or of turning their arms against
him without one solemn appeal more to his candour, and to the impartial
judgment" of their fellow-subjects.  For this purpose, they addressed a
letter to the emperor [July 15], and a manifesto to all the- inhabitants of
Germany. The tenor of both was the same. They represented their own
conduct with regard to civil affairs as dutiful and submissive; they mentioned the inviolable union in which they had lived with the emperor, as
well as the many and recent marks of his good-will and gratitude wherewithal they had been honoured, they asserted religion to be the sole cause
of the violence which the emperor now meditated against them; and in
proof of this produced many arguments to convince those who were so
weak as to be deceived by those artifices with which he endeavoured to
cover hisreal intentions; they declared their own resolution to risk every
thing in maintenance of their religious rights, and foretold the dissolution
of the German constitution, if the emperor should finally prevail against
them.,
* Thuan. 1. i. 601. Ludovici ab Avila et Zunmga Commentariorum de Bel. Germ. lib. dlo, Antw
1550, 12mo. p. 13, a.  t Sleid. 389. Avila, 8, a.; Sleid. 384.




340                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                 [BooK VIII.
Charles, though in such a perilous situation as might have inspired him
with moderate sentiments, appeared as inflexible and haughty as if his affairs
had been in the most prosperous state. His only reply to the address and
manifesto of the protestants, was to publish the ban of the empire [July
20], against the elector of Saxony and landgrave of Hesse, their leaders
and against all who should dare to assist them. By this sentence, the
ultimate and most rigorous one which the German jurisprudence has provided for the punishment of traitors, or enemies to their country, they were
declared rebels and outlaws, and deprived of every privilege which they
enjoyed as members of the Germanic body; their goods were confiscated;
their subjects absolved from their oath of allegiance; and it became not
only lawful but meritorious to invade their territories. The nobles, and
free cities, who framed or perfected the constitution of the German government, had not been so negligent of their own safety and privileges as to
trust the emperor with this formidable jurisdiction. The authority of a diet
of the empire ought to have been interposed before any of its members
could be put under the ban. But Charles overlooked that formality, well
knowing that, if his arms were crowned with success, there would remain
none who would have either power or courage to call in question what he
had done.* The emperor, however, did not found his sentence against the
elector and landgrave on their revolt from the established church, or their
conduct with regard to religion; he affected to assign for it reasons purely
civil, and those too expressed in such general and ambiguous terms, without
specifying the nature or circumstances of their guilt, as rendered it more
like an act of despotic power than of a legal and limited jurisdiction. Nor
was it altogether from choice, or to conceal his intentions, that Charles had
recourse to the ambiguity of general expressions; but he durst not mention
too particularly the causes of his sentence, as every action which he could
have charged upon the elector and landgrave as a crime, might have been
employed with equal justice to condemn many of the protestants whomn
he still pretended to consider as faithful subjects, and whom it would have
been extremely imprudent to alarm or disgust.
The confederates, now perceiving all hopes of accommodation to be at
an end, had only to choose whether they would submit without reserve to
the emperor's-will, or proceed to open hostilities. They were not destitute either of public spirit, or of resolution to make the proper choice. A
few days after the ban of the empire was published, they, according to
the custom of that age, sent a herald to the Imperial camp, with a solemn
declaration of war against Charles, to whom they no longer gave any other
title than that of pretended emperor, and renounced all allegiance, homage,
or duty which he might claim, or which they had hitherto yielded to him.
But previous to this formality, part of their troops had begun to Sct. The
command of a considerable body of men raised by the city of Augsburg
having been given to Sebastian Schertel, a soldier of fortune, who, by the
booty that he had got when the Imperialists plundered Rome, together
with the merit of long service, had acquired wealth and authority which
placed him on a level with the chief of the German nobles: that gallant
veteran resolved, before he joined the main body of the confederates, to
attempt something suitable to his former fame, and to the expectation ol
his countrymen. As the pope's forces were hastening towards Tyrol, in
order to penetrate into Germany by'the narrow passes through the mountains which run across that country, he advanced thither with the utmost
rapidity, and seized Ehrenberg and Cuffstein, two strong castles which
commanded the principal defiles. Without stopping a moment, he continued his march towards Inspruck, by getting possession of which he
would have obliged the Italians to stop short, and with a small body oi
*Sleid. 386. Du Mont Corps Diplom. iv. p. 11. 314. Pfeffel Hist Abreg4 du DroitPubl. 168.736 158.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                  341
men could have resisted all the efforts of the greatest armies.  Castlealto,
the governor of Trent, knowing what a fatal blow this would be to the
emperor, all whose designs must have proved abortive if his Italian auxiliaries had been intercepted, raised a few troops with the utmost despatch,
and threw himself into the town.  Schertel, however, did not abandon the
enterprise, and was preparing\ to attack the place, when the intelligence
of the approach of the Italians, and an order from the elector and landgrave, obliged him to desist. By his retreat the passes were left open,
and the Italians entered Germany without any opposition, but from the garrisons which Schertel had placed in Ehrenberg and Cuffstein, and these,
having no hopes of being relieved, surrendered, after a short resistance.?
Nor was the recalling of Schertel the only error of which the confederates were guilty. As the.supreme command of their army was committed
in terms of the league of Smalkalde, to the elector of Saxony and landgrave
of Hesse with equal power, all the inconveniences arising from a divided
and co-ordinate authority, which is always of fatal consequence in the
operations of war, were immediately felt. The elector, though intrepid
in his own person to excess, and most ardently zealous in the cause, was
slow in deliberating, uncertain as well as irresolute in his determinations,
and constantly preferred measures which were cautious and safe, to such
as were bold or decisive.  The landgrave, of a more active and enterprising nature, formed all his resolutions with promptitude, wished to
execute them with spirit, and uniformly preferred such measures as tended
to bring the contest to a speedy issue. Thus their maxims, with regard
to the conduct of the war, differed as widely as those by which they
were influenced in preparing for it.  Such perpetual contrariety in their
sentiments gave rise, imperceptibly, to jealousy and the spirit of contention.
These multiplied the dissensions flowing from the incompatibility of their
natural tempers, and rendered them more violent. The other members of
the league considering themselves as independent, and subject to the
elector and landgrave, only in consequence of the articles of a voluntary
confederacy, did not long retain a proper veneration for commanders who
proceeded with so little concord: and the numerous army of the protestants, like a vast machine whose parts are ill compacted, and which is
destitute of any power sufficient to move and regulate the whole, acted
with no consistency, vigour, or effect.
The emperor, who was afraid that, by remaiining at Ratisbon, he might
render it impossible for the pope's forces to join him, having boldly
advanced to Landshut on the Iser, the confederates lost some days in
deliberating whether it was proper-to follow him into the territories of the
duke of Bavaria, a neutral prince.  When at last they surmounted that
scruple, and began to move towards his camp, they suddenly abandoned
the design, and hastened to attack Ratisbon, in which town Charles could
leave only a small garrison.  By this time the papal troops, amounting
fully to that number which Paul had stipulated to furnish, had reached
Landshut, and Were soon followed by six thousand Spaniards of the veteran
band stationed in Naples.  The confederates, after Schertel's spirited but
fruitless expedition, seem to have permitted these forces to advance unmolested to the place of rendezvous, without any attempt to attack either
* Seckend. lib. ii. 70. Adriani Istoria di suoi Tempi. lib. 335. Seckendorf, the industrious
author of the Commentarius Apologeticus de Lutheranismo, whom I have so long and safely folb
lowed as my guide in German affairs, was a descendant from Schertel. With the care and solicitude of a German, who was himself of noble birth, Seckendorf has published a long digression
concerning his ancestor, calculated chiefly to show how Schertel was ennobled, and his posterity
allied to many of the most ancient families in the empire. Among other curious particulars, he
gives us an account of his wealth, the chief source of which was the plunder he got at Rome. His
landed estate alone was sold by his grandsons for six hundred thousand florins. By this we may
form some idea of the riches amassed by the Condottieri, or commanders of mercenary bands ir
tat age. At the taking of Rome, Schertel was only a captain. Seckend. lib. ii. 73.




342                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boox Vll.
them othehe emperor separately, or to prevent their junction." The Impe
rial army amounted now to thirty-six thousand men, and was still more
iormidable by the discipline and valour of the troops, than by their number. Avila, a commendator of Alcantara, who had been present in all the
wars carried on by Charles, and had served in the armies which gained
the memorable victory at Pavia, which conquered Tunis, and invaded
France, gives this the preference to any military force he had ever seen
assembled.t  Octavio Farnese, the pope's grandson, assisted by the ablest
officers formed in the lono  wars between Charles and Francis, commanded
the Italian auxiliaries. His brother, the cardinal Farnese, accompanied
him as a papal legate; and in order to give the war the appearance of a
religious enterprise, he proposed to march at the head of the army, with
a cross carried before him, and to publish indulgences wherever he came,
to all who should give them any assistance, as had anciently been the
practice in the crusades against the infidels. But this the emperor strictly
prohibited, as inconsistent with all the declarations which he had made to
the Germans of his own party; and the legate perceiving, to his astonish
ment, that the exercise of the protestant religion, the extirpation of which
he considered as the sole object of the war, was publicly permitted in
the Imperial camp, soon returned in disgust to Italy.$
The arrival of these troops enabled the emperor to send such a rein
forcement to the garrison at Ratisbon, that the confederates, relinquishing
all hopes of reducing that town, marched towards Ingoldstadt on the
Danube, near to which Charles was now encamped. They exclaimed
loudly against the emperor's notorious violation of the laws and constitution of the empire, in having called in foreigners to lay waste Germany,
and to oppress its liberties. As, in that age, the dominion of the Roman
see was so odious to the protestants, that the name of the pope alone was
sufficient to inspire them with horror at any enterprise which he countenanced, and to raise in their minds the blackest suspicions, it came to be
universally believed among them, tnat Paul, not satisfied with attacking
them openly by force of arms, had dispersed his emissaries all over Germany, to set on fire their towns and magazines, and to poison the wells
and fountains of water.  Nor did this rumour, which was extravagant and
frightful enough to make a deep impression on the credulity of the vulgar,
spread among them only; even the leaders of the party, blinded by their
prejudices, published a declaration, in which they accused the pope of
having employed such antichristian and diabolical arts against them.~
These sentiments of the confederates were confirmed, in some measure,
by the behaviour of the papal troops, who, thinking nothing too rigorous
towards heretics anathematized by the church, were guilty of great
excesses in the territories of the Lutheran states, and aggravated the
calamities of war, by mingling with it all the cruelty of bigoted zeal.
The first operations in the field, however, did not correspond with the
violence of those passions which animated individuals. The emperor had
prudently taken the resolution of avoiding an action with an army so far
superior in number,ll especially as he foresaw that nothing-could keep a
body composed of so many and such dissimilar members from  falling to
pieces, but the pressing to attack it with an inconsiderate precipitancy.
The confederates, though it was no less evident that to them  every
moment's delay was pernicious, were still prevented by the weakness or
division of their leaders from exerting that vigour, with which their situation, as well as the ardour of their soldiers, ought to have inspired them.
On their arrival at Ingoldstadt [Aug. 29], they found the emperor in a
camp not remarkable for strength, and surrounded only by a slight entrench
* Adriani Tstoria di suoi Tempi, lib. v. 340.'  Avila, 18  F. Paul. 191    S Sleid.59.   11 Avila, 78. a




EMPEROh CHARLES V.                             343
ment. Before the camp lay a plain of such extent, as afforded sufficient
space for drawing out the whole army, and bringing it to act at once. Every
consideration should have determined them to;have seized this opportunity
of attacking the emperor.; and their great superiority in numbers, the
eagerness of their troops, together with the stability of the German infantry
in pitched battles, afforded them the most probable expectation of victory.
The land have urged this with great warmth, declaring that if the sole
command were vested in him, he would terminate the war on that occasion, and decide by one general action the fate of the two parties. But
the elector, reflecting on the valour and discipline of the enemy's forces,
animated by the presence of the emperor, and conducted by the best
officers of the age, would not venture upon an action, which  e thought
to be so doubtful, as the attacking such a body of veterans on ground
which they themselves had chosen, and while covered by fortifications
which, though imperfect, would afford them no small advantage in the
combat. Notwithstanding his hesitation and remonstrances, it was agreed
to advance towards the enemy's camp in battle array, in order to make a
trial whether by that insult, and by a furious cannonade which they began,
they could draw the Imperialists out of their works. But the emperor
had too much sagacity to fall into this snare. He adhered to his own
system with inflexible constancy; and drawing up his soldiers behind their
trenches, that they might be ready to receive the confederates if they
should venture upon an assault, calmly waited their approach, and carefully restrained his own men from any excursions or skirmishes which
might bring on a general engagement. Meanwhile he rode along the lines,
and addressing the troops of the different nations in their own language,
encouraged them not only by his words, but by the cheerfulness of his
voice and countenance; he exposed himself in places of the greatest
danger, and amidst the warmest fire of the enemy's artillery, the most
numerous that had hitherto been brought into the field by any army
Roused by his example, not a man quitted his ranks; it was thought
infamous to discover any symptom of fear when the emperor appeared so
intrepid; and the meanest soldier plainly perceived, that their declining
the combat at present was not the effect of timidity in their general, but
the result of a well-grounded caution.  The confederates, after firing
several hours on the Imperialists,'with more noise and terror than execution, seeing no prospect of alluring them to fight on equal terms, retired tc
their own camp. The emperor employed the night with such diligence in
strengthening his works, that the confederates, returning to the cannonade
next day, found that, though they had now been willing, to venture upon
such a bold experiment, the opportunity of making an attack with advantage was lost. 
After such a discovery of the feebleness or irresolution of their leaders,
and the prudence as well as firmness of the emperor's conduct, the confederates turned their whole attention towards preventing the arrival of a
powerful reinforcement of ten thousand foot, and four thousand horse, which
the count de Buren'was bringing to the emperor from the Low-Countries
But though that general had to traverse such an extent of country; though
his route lay through the territories of several states warmly disposed to
favour the confederates; though they were apprised of his approach, and
by their superiority in numbers might easily have detached a force suffi
clent to overpower him, he advanced with such rapidity, and by such well
concerted movements, while they opposed him with such remissness, and
so little military skill, that he conducted this body to the Imperial camp
without any loss.f [Sept. 10.]
Upon the arrival of the Flelnings, in whom he placed great confidence,
* Sleid. 395.397. Avila, 27 a Lamb. Hortens. ap. Scard. iih  t Sleid. 403




344                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BOOK VIII
the emperor altered, in some degree, his plan of operations, and began to
act more upon the offensive, though he still avoided a battle with the utmost
industry.  He made himself master of Neuburg, Dillingen, and Donawert
on the Danube; of Nordlingen, and several other towns, situated on the
nost considerable streams which fall into that mighty river. By this he
got the command of a great extent of country, though not without being
ooliged to engage in several sharp encounters, of which the success was
various, nor without being exposed oftener than once, to the danger ot
being drawn into a battle. In this manner the whole autumn was spent;
neither party gained any remarkable superiority over the other, and
nothing was yet done towards bringing the war to a period. The emperor
had often foretold, with confidence, that discord and the want of money
would compel the confederates to disperse that unwieldy body, which
they had neither abilities to guide, nor funds to support.% Tiough he
waited with impatience for the accomplishment of his prediction, there
was no prospect of that event being at hand. But he himself began to
suffer from the want of forage and provisions; even the catholic provinces
being so much incensed at the introduction of foreigners into the empire,
that they furnished them with reluctance, while the camp of the confederates abounded with a profusion of all necessaries, which the zeal of their
friends in the adjacent countries poured in with the utmost liberality and
good-will. Great numbers of the Italians and Spaniards, unaccustomed
to the food or climate of Germany, were become unfit for service through
sickness.t Considerable arrears were now due to the troops, who had
scarcely received any money since the beginning of the campaign; the
emperor, experiencing on this, as well as on former occasions, that his
jurisdiction was more extensive than'his revenues, and that the former
enabled him to assemble a greater number of soldiers, than the latter were
sufficient to support. Upon all these accounts, he found it difficult to
keep his army in the field; some of his ablest generals, and even the duke
of Alva himself, perseveringb and obstinate as he usually'was in the prosecution of every measure, advising him to disperse his troops into winter
quarters. But as the arguments against any plan which he had adopted,
rarely made much impression upon the emperor, he paid no regard to their
opinion, and determined to continue his efforts in order to weary out the
confederates; being well assured that if he could once oblige them to
separate, there was little probability of their uniting again in a body.t
Still, however, it remained a doubtful point, whether his steadiness was:most likely to fail, or their zeal to be exhausted. It was still uncertain
which party, by first dividing its forces, wuold give the superiority to the
other; when an unexpected event decided the contest, and occasioned a
fatal reverse in the affairs of the confederates.
Maurice of Saxony having insinuated himself into the emperor's confidence, by the arts which have already been described, no sooner saw hostilities ready to break out between the confederates of Smalkalde and that
monarch, than vast prospects of ambition began to open upon him. That
portion of Saxony, which descended to him by his ancestors, was far from
satisfying his aspiring mind; and he perceived with pleasure the approach
of civil war, as, amidst the revolutions and convulsions occasioned by it,
opportunities of acquiring additional power or dignity, which. at other
tines are sought in vain, present themselves to an enterprising spirit. As
he was t.')roughly acquainted with the state of the two contending parties,
and the qualities of their leaders, he did not hesitate long in determining
on which side the greatest advantages were to be expected. Having
revolved all these things in his own breast, and having taken his final reson Belli Smalkaldici Commentaries Greco sermone scriptus a Joach. Camerari%, ap. Freherun,
vol. iii. p. 479.  + Camerar. ap. Freher. 483.    Thuan. 83.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                346
lutlon of joining the emperor, he prudently determined to declare early in
nis favour; that by the merit of this, he might acquire a title to a proportional recompense.  With this view, he had repaired to Ratisbon in the
month of May, under pretext of attending the diet; and after many con,
ferences with Charles or his ministers, he, with the most mysterious secrecy,
concluded a treaty, in which he engaged to concur in assisting the emperor,
as a faithful subject; and Charles, in return, stipulated to bestow on him
all the spoils of the elector of Saxony, his dignities as well as territories *
History hardly records any treaty that can be considered as a more manifest violation of the most powerful principles which ought to influence
human actions.  Maurice, a professed protestant, at a time when the belief
of religion, as well as zeal for its interests, took strong possession of every
mind, binds himself to contribute his assistance towards carrying on a war
which had manifestly no other object than the extirpation of the protestant
doctrines. He engages to take arms against his father-in-law, and to strip
his nearest relation of his honours and dominions. He joins a dubious
friend against a known benefactor, to whom  his obligations were both
great and recent.  Nor was the prince who ventured upon all this, one of
those audacious politicians, who, provided they can accomplish their ends,
and secure their interest, avowedly disregard the most sacred obligations,
and glory in contemning whatever is honourable or decent.  Maurice's
conduct, if the whole must be ascribed to policy, was more artful and masterly; he executed his plan in all its parts, and yet endeavoured to pre
serve, in every step which he took, the appearance of what was fair, and
virtuous, and laudable. It is probable, from his subsequent behaviour,
that, with regard to the protestant religion at least, his intentions were
upright, that he fondly trusted to the emperor's promises for its security,
but that, according to the fate of all who refine too much in policy, and
who tread in dark and crooked paths in attempting to deceive others, he
himself was, in some degree, deceived.
His first care, however, was to keep the engagements into which he
had entered with the emperor closely concealed: and so perfect a master
was he in the art of dissimulation, that the confederates, notwithstanding
his declining all connections with them, and his remarkable assiduity in
paying court to the emperor, seemed to have entertained no suspicion of
his designs. Even the elector of Saxony, when he marched at the begin.
ning of the campaign to join his associates, committed his dominions to
Maurice's protection, which he, with an insidious appearance of friend
ship, readily undertook.?  But scarcely had the elector taken the field,
when Maurice began to consult privately with the king of the Romans
how to invade those very territories, with the defence of which he was
intrusted. Soon after, the emperor sent him a copy of the Imperial ban
denounced against the elector and landgrave. As he was next heir to the
former, and particularly interested in preventing strangers from getting his
dominions into their possession, Charles required him, not only for his own
sake, but upon the allegiance and duty which he owed to the head of the
empire, instantly to seize and detain in his hands the forfeited estates of
the elector; warning him, at the same time, that if he neglected to obey
these commands, he should be held as accessary to the crimes of his kinsman, and be liable to the same punishment.%
This artifice, which it is probable Maurice himself suggested, was
employed by him in order that his conduct towards the elector might seem
a matter of necessity but not of choice, an act of obedience to his superior,
rather than a voluntary invasion of the rights of his kinsman and ally.
But in order to give some more specious appearance to this thin veil with
* Haraii Annal. Brabant, vol. i. 638. Struvii Corp. 1048 Thuan. 84.   t Suruvii: orp. 1046f
I Sleid. 391. Thuan. 84.
VOL. I., —44




346            - THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK VII1.
which he endeavoured to cover his ambition, he, soon after his return from
Ratisbon, had called together the states of his country; and representing
to them  that a civil war between the emperor and confederates of
Smalkalde was now become unavoidable, desired their advice with regard
to the part which he should act in that event. They having been prepared, no doubt, and tutored beforehand, and being desirous of gratifying
*heir prince, whom  they esteemed as well as loved, gave such counsel as.hey knew would be most agreeable; advising him to offer his mediation
towards reconciling the contending parties; but if that were rejected, and
he could obtain proper security for the protestant religion, they delivered
it as their opinion, that, in all other points, he ought to yield obedience to
the emperor. Upon receiving the Imperial rescript, together with the ban
against the elector and landgrave, Maurice summoned the states.of his
country a second time; he laid before them  the orders which he had
received, and mentioned the punishment with which he was threatened in
case of disobedience; he acquainted them, that the confederates had
refused to admit of his mediation, and that the emperor had given him the
most satisfactory declarations with regard to religion; he pointed out his
own interest in securing possession of the electoral dominions, as well as
the danger of allowing strangers to obtain an establishment in Saxony;
and upon the whole, as the point under deliberation respected his subjects
no less than himself, he desired to know their sentiments, how he should
steer in that difficult and arduous conjuncture. The states, no less obsequious and complaisant than formerly, professing their own reliance on the
emperor's promises as a perfect security for their religion, proposed that,
before' he had recourse to more violent methods, they would write to the
elector, exhorting him, as the best means, not only of appeasing the emperor, but of preventing his dominions from being seized by foreign or
hostile powers, to give his consent that Maurice should take possession of
them  quietly and without opposition. Maurice himself seconded theil
arguments in a letter to the landgrave, his father-in-law. Such an extrava
gant proposition was rejected with the scorn and indignation which 1
deserved. The landgrave, in return to Maurice, taxed him  with his
treachery and ingratitude towards a kinsman to whom he was so deeply
indebted; he treated with contempt his affectation of executing the Imperial ban, which he could not but know to be altogether void by the unconstitutional and arbitrary manner in which it had been issued; he besought
him, not to suffer himself to be so far blinded by ambition, as to forget
the obligations of honour and friendship, or to betray the protestant religion,
the extirpation of which out of Germany, even by the acknowledgment
of the pope himself, was the great object of the present war.y
But Maurice had proceeded too far to be diverted from pursuing his
plan by reproaches or arguments. Nothing now remained but to execute
with vigour, what he hitherto carried on by artifice and dissimulation.
Nor was his boldness in action inferior to his subtlety in contrivance.
Having assembled about twelve thousand men, he suddenly invaded one
part of the electoral provinces, while Ferdinand, with an army composed
of Bohemians and Hungarians, overran the other. Maurice, in two sharp
encounters, defeated the troops which the elector had left to guard his
country; and improving these advantages to the utmost, made himself
master of all the electorate, except Wittemberg, Gotha, and Eisenach,
which being places of considerable strength, and defended by sufficient
garrisons, refused to open their gates. The news of these rapid conquests
soon reached the Imperial and confederate camps. In the former, satisfaction with an event, which it was foreseen would be productive of the
most important consequences, was expressed by every possible demon* Sleid. 405, Sec. Thuan 85. Camrerar. 484.




EMPEROR  CHARLES V.                             347
stration of joy. The latter was filled with astonishment and terror. The
name of Maurice was mentioned with execration, as an apostate from religion, a betrayer of the German liberty, and a contemner of the most
sacred and natural ties. Every thing that the rage or invention of the
party could suggest, in order to blacken and render him odious, invectives,
saires, and lampoons, the furious declamations of their preachers, together
with the rude wit of their authors, were all employed against him.
While he, confiding in the arts which he had so long practised, as if his
actions could have admitted of any serious justification, published a manifesto, containing the same frivolous reasons for his conduct, which he had
formerly alleged in the meeting of his states, and in his letter to the landgrave,.
The elector, upon the first intelligence of Maurice's motions, proposed
to return home with his troops for the defence of Saxony. But the deputies of the league, assembled at Ulm, prevailed on him, at that time, to
remain with the army, and to prefer the success of the common cause be
fore the security of his own dominions. At length the sufferings and cor
plaints of his subjects increased so much, that he discovered the utmost
impatience to set out, in order to rescue them from the oppression of
Maurice, and from the cruelty of the Hungarians, who, having been accustomed to that licentious and merciless species of war which was thought
lawful against the Turks, committed, wherever they came, the wildest
acts of rapine and violence. This desire of the elector was so natural
and so warmly urged, that the deputies at Ulm, though fully sensible of
the unhappy' consequences of dividing their army, durst not refuse their
consent, how unwilling soever to grant it. In this perplexity, they repaired
to the camp of the confederates at Giengen, on the Brenz, in order to consult their constituents. Nor were they less at a loss what to determine in
this pressing emergence. But, after having considered seriously the open
desertion of some of their allies; the scandalous lukewarmness of others,
who had hitherto contributed nothing towards the war; the intolerable
load which had fallen of consequence upon such members as were most
zealous for the cause, or most faithful to their engagements; the ill success of all their endeavours to obtain foreign aid; the unusual length of
the campaign; the rigour of the season; together with the great number
of soldiers, and even officers, who had quitted the service on that account;
they concluded that nothing could save them, but either the bringing the
contest to the immediate decision of a battle, by attacking the Imperial
army, or an accommodation of all their differences with Charles by a
treaty. Such was the despondency and dejection which now oppressed
the party, that of these two they chose what was most feeble and unmanly,
empowering a minister of the elector of Brandenburg to propound overtures of peace in their name to the emperor.
No sooner did Charles perceive this haughty confederacy which had e
lately threatened to drive him out of Germany, condescending to make
the first advances towards an agreement, than concluding their spirit to be
gone, or their union to be broken, he immediately assumed the tone of a
conqueror; and, as if they had been already at his mercy, would not heal
of a negotiation, but upon condition that the elector of Saxony should previously give up himself and his dominions absolutely to his disposal.
As nothing more intolerable or ignominious could have been prescribed,
even in the worst situation of their affairs, it is no wonder that this proposition should be rejected by a party, which was rather humbled and hisconcerted than subdued. But though they refused to submit tamely to
the emperor's will, they wanted spirit to pursue the only plan which could
have preserved theirindependence; and forgetting that it was the union
* Sleid. 409, 410.  t Hortensius, ap. Scard. ii. 485.




348                THE REIGN OF THE    [BOOK VIII.
of their troops in one body which had hitherto rendered the confederacy
formidable, and had more than once obliged the Imperialists to think of
quitting the field, they inconsiderately abandoned their advantage, which,
in spite of the diversion in Saxony, would still have kept the emperor in
awe; and yielding to the elector s entreaties, consented to his proposal of
dividing the army. Nine thousand men were left in the dutchy of Wurtemberg, in order to protect that province, as well as the free cities of
Upper Germany; a considerable body marched with the elector towards
Saxony; but the greater part returned with their respective leaders into
their own countries, and were dispersed there.*
The moment that the troops separated, the confederacy ceased to be
the object of terror; and the members of it, who, while they composed
part of a great body, had felt but little anxiety about their own security,
began to tremble when they reflected that they now stood exposed singly
to the whole weight of the emperor's vengeance. Charles did not allow
them leisure to recover from their consternation, or to form any new
schemes of union. As soon as the confederates began to retire, he put his
army in motion, and though it was now in the depth of winter, he resolved
to keep the field, in order to make the most of that favourable juncture
for which he had waited so long. Some small towns in which the protestants had left garrisons, immediately opened their gates. Norlingen,
Rotenberg, and Hall, Imperial cities, submitted soon after.  Though
Charles could not prevent the elector from levying, as he retreated, large
contributions upon the archbishop of Mentz, the abbot of Fulda, and other
ecclesiastics,t this was more than balanced by the submission of Ulm, one
of the chief cities of Suabia, highly distinguished by its zeal for the
Smalkaldic league. As soon as an example was set of deserting the common cause, the rest of the members became instantly impatient to follow
it, and seemed afraid lest others, by getting the start of them in returning
to their duty, should, on that account, obtain more favourable terms. The
elector~ Palatine, a weak prince, who, notwithstanding his professions of
neutrality, had, very preposterously, sent to the confederates four hundred
horse, a body so inconsiderable as to be scarcely any addition to theii
strength, but great enough to render him guilty in the eyes of the empe
ror, made his acknowledgments in the most abject manner. The inhabit
ants of Augsburg, shaken by so many instances of apostacy, expelled the
brave Schertel out of their city, and accepted such conditions as the em
peror was pleased to grant them.
1547.] The duke of Wurtemberg, though among the first who had offered
to submit,, was obliged to sue for pardon  n hij knees; and even after this
mortifying humiliation, obtained it with difficulty.4  Memmingen, and
other free cies in Suabia, being now abandoned by all their former associates, found it necessary to provide for their own safety, by throwing
themselves on the emperor's mercy. Strasburgand Frankfort on the
Maine, cities far remote from the seat of danger, discovered no greater
steadiness than those which lay more exposed. Thus a confederacy, lately
so powerful as to shake the Imperial throne, fell to pieces, and was dissolved in the space of a few weeks; hardly any member of that formidable combination now remaining in arms, but the elector and landgrave,
whom the emperor, having from the beginning marked out as the victims
of his vengeance, was at no pains to offer terms of reconciliation. Nor
did he grant those who submitted to him a generous and unconditional
pardon.  Conscious of his own superiority, he treated them  both with
haughtiness and rigour. All the princes in person, and the cities by their
deputies, were compelled to implore mercy in the humble posture of sup.
plicants. As the emperor laboured under great difculties from the want
* Sleid. 412.  tl huan. 88., Mem. de Ribier, tom. i. 589.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                345
of money, he Imposed heavy fines upon them, which he levied with mosI
rapacious exactness. The duke of Wurtemberg paid three hundred thou.
sand crowns; the city of Augsburg a hundred and fifty thousand; Ulm
a hundred thousand; Frankfort eighty thousand; Memmingen fifty thou
sand; and the rest in proportion to their abilities, or their different degrees
of guilt. They were obliged, besides, to renounce the league of Smalkalde; to furnish assistance, if required, towards executing the Imperial
ban against the elector and landgrave; to give up their artillery and warlike stores to the emperor; to admit garrisons into their principal cities
and places of strength; and, in this disarmed and dependent situation, to
expect the final award which the emperor should think proper to pronounce when the war came to an issue.* But amidst the great variety of
articles dictated by Charles on this occasion, he in conformity to his original
plan, took care that nothing relating to religion should be inserted; and to
such a degree were the confederates humbled or overawed, that forgetting
the zeal which had so long animated them, they were solicitous only about
their own safety, without venturing to insist on a point, the mention ol
which they saw the emperor avoiding with so much industry. The inhabitants of Memmingen alone made some feeble efforts to procure a promise of protection in the exercise of their religion, but were checked so
severely by the Imperial ministers, that they instantly fell fiom their
demand.
The elector of Cologne, whom, notwithstanding the sentence of excommunication issued against him by the pope, Charles had hitherto allowed
-to remain in possession of the archiepiscopal see, being now required by
the emperor to submit to the censures of the church, this virtuous and disinterested prelate, unwilling to expose his subjects to the miseries of war on
his own account, voluntarily resigned that high dignity [Jan. 251.  With a
moderation becoming his age and character, he chose to enjoy truth, together
with the exercise of his religion, in the retirement of a private life, rather
than to disturb society by engaging in a doubtful and violent struggle in
order to retain his office.t:During these transactions, the elector of Saxony reached the frontiers of
his country unmolested. As Maurice could assemble no force equal to the
army which accompanied him, he in a short time, not only recovered
possession of his own territories, but overran Misnia, and stripped his rival
of all that belonged to him, except Dresden and Leipsic, which, being
towns of some strength, could not be suddenly reduced. Maurice, obliged
to quit the field, and to shut himself up in his capital, despatched courier
after courier to the emperor, representing his dangerous situation, and soli
citing him with the most earnest importunity to march immediately to his
relief. But Charles, busy at that time in prescribing terms to such members
of the league as were daily returning to their allegiance, thought it sufficient
to detach Albert marquis of Brandenburg-Anspach with three thousand men
to his assistance. Albert, though an enterprising and active officer, was
unexpectedly surprised by the elector, who killed many of his troops, dispersed the remainder, and took him prisoner.$ Maurice continued as much
exposed as formerly; and if his enemy had known how to improve the
opportunity which presented itself, his ruin must have been immediate a.d
unavoidable. But the elector, no less slow and dilatory when invested
with the sole command, than he had been formerly when joined in authority with a partner, never gave any proof of military activity but in this
enterprise against Albert. Instead of marching directly towards Maurice,
whom the defeat of his ally had greatly alarmed, he inconsiderately listened
to overtures of accommodation, which his artful antagonist proposed with
* Sleid. 411, &c. Thuan. lib. iv. p. 125. Mem. de Ribier, tom. i. 606.  f Sleid. 418. Thuan.
ib. iv. 128.  t Avila, 99.6. Mei. de Ribier, tom i, 620.




350             THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [BloK VIII.
no other intention than to amuse him, and to slacken the vigour of his
operations.
Such, indeed, was the posture of the emperor's affairs, that he could not
march instantly to the relief of his ally. Soon after the separation of the
confederate army, he, in order to ease himself of the burden of maintaining
a superfluous number of troops, had dismissed the count of Buren with his
Flemings,, imagining that the Spaniards and Germans, together with the
papal forces, would be fully sufficient to crush any degree of vigour that
yet remained among the members of the league. But Paul, growing wise
too late, began now to discern the imprudence of that measure from which
the more sagacious Venetians had endeavoured in vain to dissuade him.
The rapid progress of the Imperial arms, and the ease with which they
had broken a combination that appeared no less firm than powerful, opened
his eyes at length, and made him not only forget at once all the advantages
which he had expected from such a complete triumph over heresy, but
placed, in the strongest light, his own impolitic conduct, in having contributed towards acquiring for Charles such an inmense increase of power, as
would enable him, after oppressing the liberties of Germany, to give law
with absolute authority to all the states of Italy. The moment that he perceived his error, he endeavoured to correct it. Without giving the emperor
any warning of his intention, he ordered Farnese, his grandson, to return
instantly to Italy with all the troops under his command, and at the same
time recalled the license which he had granted Charles, of appropriating
to his own use a large share of the church lands in Spain. He was not
destitute of pretences to justify this abrupt desertion of his ally.  The term
of six months, during which the stipulations in their treaty were to continue
in force, was now expired; the league, in opposition to which their alliance
had been framed, seemed to be entirely dissipated; Charles, in all his
negotiations with the princes and cities which had submitted to his will,
had neither consulted the pope, nor had allotted him any part of the conquests which he had made, nor had allowed him any. share in the vast
contributions which he had raised. He had not even made any provision
for the suppression of heresy, or the re-establishment of the catholic religion,
which were Paul's chief inducements to bestow the treasures of the church
so liberally in carrying on the war. These colours, however specious, did
not conceal from the emperor that secret jealousy which was the true
motive of the pope's conduct. But as Paul's orders with regard to the
march of his troops were no less peremptory than unexpected, it was
impossible to prevent their retreat. Charles exclaimed loudly against his
treachery, in abandoning him so unseasonably, while he was prosecuting a
war undertaken in obedience to the papal injunctions, and from which, if
successful, so much honour and advantage would redound to the church.
To complaints he added threats and expostulations. But Paul remained
inflexible; his troops continued their march towards the ecclesiastical
state, and in an elaborate memorial, intended as an apology for his conduct,
he discovered new and more manifest symptoms of alienation from the
emperor, together with a deep rooted dread of his power.t Charles,
weakened by the withdrawing of so great a body from his army, which
was already much diminished by the number of garrisons that he had
been obliged to throw into the towns which had capitulated, found it necessary to recruit his forces by new levies, before he could venture to march
il person towards Saxony.
[rhe fame and splendour of his success could not have failed of attracting
such multitudes of soldiers into his service from all the extensive territories
now subject to his authority, as must soon have put him in a condition of
taking the field against the elector; but the sudden and violent eruption of
* Avila 83 6. Mem. de Ribier, tom. i. 592   t F Paul. 208 Pallavic. pa. ii. p. 5. Thuan. 126




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              351
a conspiracy at Genoa, as well as the great revolutions which that event,
extremely mysterious in its first appearances, seemed to portend, obliged
him to avoid entangling himself in new operations in Germany, until he
had fully discovered its source and tendency. The form of government
which had been established in Genoa, at the time when Andrew Doria
restored liberty to his country, though calculated to obliterate the memory
of former dissensions, and received at first with eager approbation, did not,
after a trial of near twenty years, give universal satisfaction to those turbulent and factious republicans. As the entire administration of affairs was
now lodged in a certain number of noble families, many, envying them
that pre-eminence, wished for the restitution of a popular government, to
which they had been accustomed; and though all reverenced the disinterested virtue of Doria, and admired his talents, not a few were jealous of
that ascendant which he had acquired in the councils of the commonwealth.
His age, however, his moderation, and his love of liberty, afforded ample
security to his countrymen that he would not abuse his power, nor stain
the close of his days by attempting to overturn that fabric, which it had
been the labour and pride of his life to erect. But the authority and influence which in his hands were innocent, they easily saw would prove
destructive, if usurped by any citizen of greater ambition, or less virtue.
A citizen of this dangerous character had actually formed such pretensions,
and with some prospect of success. Giannetino Doria, whom his grand
uncle Andrew destined to be the heir of his private fortune, aimed likewise
at being his successor in power. His temper, haughty, insolent, and overbearing to such a degree as would hardly have been tolerated in one born
to reign, was altogether unsupportable in the citizen of a free state. The
more sagacious among the Genoese already feared and hated him as the
enemy of those liberties for which they were indebted to his uncle. While
Andrew himself, blinded by that violent and undiscerning affection which
persons in advanced age often contract for the younger members of their
family, set no bounds to the indulgence with which he treated him; seeming
less solicitous to secure and perpetuate the freedom of the commonwealth,
than to aggrandize that undeserving kinsman.
But whatever suspicion of Doria's designs, or whatever dissatisfaction
with the system of administration in the commonwealth, these circumstances
might have occasioned, they would have ended, it is probable, in nothing
more than murmurings and complaints, if John Lewis Fiesco count of
Lavagna, observing this growing disgust, had not been encouraged by it
to attempt one of the boldest actions recorded in history. That young
nobleman, the richest and most illustrious subject in the republic, possessed,
in an eminent degree, all the qualities which win upon the human heart,
which command respect, or secure attachment. He was graceful and
majestic in his person; magnificent even to profusion; of a generosity that
anticipated the wishes of his friends, and exceeded the expectations of
strangers; of an insinuating address, gentle manners, and a flowing affability
But under the appearance of these virtues, which seemed to form him for
enjoying and adorning social life, he concealed all the dispositions which
mark men out for taking the lead in the most dangerous and dark conspiracies; an insatiable and restless ambition, a courage unacquainted with
fear, and a mind that disdained subordination. Such a temper could ill
brook that station of inferiority, wherein he was placed in the republic'
and as he envied the power which the elder Doria had acquired, he was
filled with indignation at the thoughts of its descending, like an hereditary
possession, to Giannetino.  These various passions, preying with violence
on his turbulent and aspiring mind, determined him to attempt overturning
that domination to which he could not submit.
As the most effectual method of accomplishing this, he tnought at first
of forming a connection with Francis, and even proposed it to the French




352              TTHE REIGN  OF THE                    [BooK VIII.
ambassador at Rome; and after expelling Doria, together with the Imperial faction, by his assistance, he offered to put the republic once more
under the protection of that monarch, hoping in return for that service to
De intrusted with the principal share in the ad ninistration of government.
But having communicated his scheme to a few chosen confidants, from
whom he kept nothing secret, Verrina, the chief of them, a man of desperate fortune, capable alike of advising and executing the most audacious
deeds, remonstrated with earnestness against the folly of exposing hinmseif
to the most imminent danger, while he allowed another to reap all the
fruits of his success; and exhorted him warmly to aim himself at that preeminence in his country, to which he was destined by his illustrious birth,
was called by the voice of his fellow-citizens, and would be raised by the
zeal of his friends. This discourse opened such great prospects to Fiesco,
and so suitable to his genius, that abandoning his own plan, he eagerly
adopted that of Verrina. The other persons present, though sensible of
the hazardous nature of the undertaking, did not choose to condemn what
their patron had so warmly approved. It was instantly resolved, in this
dark cabal, to assassinate the two Dorias, as well as the principal persons
of their party; to overturn the established system of government, and to
place Fiesco on the ducal throne of Genoa. Time, however, and preparations were requisite to ripen such a design for execution; and while
he was employed in carrying on these, Fiesco made it his chief care to
guard against every thing that might betray his secret, or create suspicion.
The disguise he assumed, was of all others the most impenetrable. He
seemed to be abandoned entirely to pleasure and dissipation. A perpetual
gayety, diversified by the pursuit of all the amusements in which persons
of his age and rank are apt to delight, engrossed, in appearance, the whole
of his time and thoughts. But amidst this hurry of dissipation, he prosecuted his plan with the most cool attention, neither retarding the design by
a timid hesitation, nor precipitating the execution by an excess of impatience.
He continued his correspondence with the French ambassador at Rome,
though without communicating to him his real intentions, that by his means
he might secure the protection of the French arms, if hereafter he should
find it necessary to call them in to his aid. He entered into a close confederacy with Farnese duke of Parma, who, being disgusted with the emperor for refusing to grant him the investiture of that dutchy, was eager to
promote any measure that tended to diminish his influence in Italy, or to
ruin a family so implicitly devoted to him as that of Doria. Being sensible
that, in a maritime state, the acquisition of naval power was what he ought
chiefly to aim at, he purchased four galleys from the pope, who probably
was not unacquainted with the design which he had formed, and did not
disapprove of it. Under colour of fitting up one of these galleys to sail
on a cruise against the Turks, he not only assembled a good number of his
own vassals, but engaged in his service many bold adventurers, whom the
truce between the emperor and Solyman had deprived of their usual occu
pation and subsistence.
While Fiesco was taking these important steps, he preserved so admirably his usual appearance of being devoted entirely to pleasure and
amusement, and paid court with such artful address to the two Dorias, as
imposed not only on the generous and unsuspicious mind of Andrew, but
deceived Giannetino, who, conscious of his own criminal intentions, was
more apt to distrust the designs of others. So many instruments being
now prepared, nothing now remained but to strike the blow. Various
consultations were held by Fiesco with his confidants, in order to settle
the manner of doing it with the greatest certainty and effect. At first, they
proposed to murder the Dorias and their chief adherents, during the celebration of high mass in the principal church; but, as Andrew was often
absent from religious solemnities on account of his great age, that design




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             363
was laid aside. It was then concerted that Fiesco should invite the uncle
and nephew, with all their friends whom he had marked out as victims,
to his house; where it would be easy to cut them off at once without
danger or resistance; but as Giannetino was obliged to leave the town on
the day which they had chosen, it became necessary likewise to alter this
plan. They at last determined to attempt by open force, what they found
difficult to effect by stratagem, and fixed on the night between the second
and third of January, for the execution of their enterprise. The time was
chosen with great propriety; for as the doge of the former year was to
quit his office, according to custom, on the first of the month, and his successor could not be elected sooner than the fourth, the republic remained
during that interval in a sort of anarchy, and Fiesco might with less violence
take possession of the vacant dignity.
The morning of that day Fiesco employed in visiting his friends, passing
some hours among them with a spirit as gay and unembarrassed as at other
times.  Towards evening, he paid court to the Dorias with his usual
marks of respect, and surveying their countenance and behaviour with the
attention natural in his situation, was happy to observe the perfect security
in which they remained, without the least foresight or dread of that storm
which had been so long a gathering, and was now ready to burst over
their heads. From their palace he hastened to his own, which stood by
itself in the middle of a large court, surrounded by a high wall. The
gates had been set open in the morning, and all persons, without distinction,
were allowed to enter, but strong guards posted within the court suffered
no one to return. Verrina, meanwhile, and a few persons trusted with the
secret of the conspiracy, after conducting Fiesco's vassals, as well as the
crews of his galleys, into the palace in small bodies, with as little noise as
possible, dispersed themselves through the city, and, in the name of their
patron, invited to an entertainment the principal citizens whom they knew
to be disgusted with the administration of the Dorias, and to have inclination
as well as courage to attempt a change in the government. Of the vast
number of persons who now filled the palace, a few only knew for what
purpose they were assembled; the rest, astonished at finding, instead of
the preparations for a feast, a court crowded with armed men, and apartments filled with the instruments of war, gazed on each other with a mixture of curiosity, impatience, and terror.
While their minds were in this state of suspense and agitation, Fiesco
appeared. With a look full of alacrity and confidence, he addressed
himself to the persons of chief distinction, telling them, that they were not
now called to partake of the pleasure of an entertainment, but to join in a
deed of valour, which would lead them to liberty and immortal renown.
He set before their eyes the exorbitant as well as intolerable authority of
the elder Doria, which the ambition of Giannetino, and the partiality of
the emperor to a family more devoted to him than to their country, was
about to enlarge and to render perpetual. This unrighteous dominion,
continued he, you have it now in your power to subvert, and to establish
the freedom of your country on a firm basis. The tyrants must be cut off.
I have taken the most effectual measures for this purpose. My associates
are numerous. I can depend on allies and protectors if necessary. Happily, the tyrants are as secure as I have.been provident. Their insolent
contempt of their countrymen has banished the suspicion and timidity
which usually render the guilty quick-sighted to discern, as well as sagacious to guard against the vengeance which they deserve. They will now
feel the blow, before they suspect any hostile hand to be nigh. Let us
then sally forth, that we may deliver our country by one generous effort,
almost unaccompanied with danger, and certain of success. These words,
uttered with that irresistible fervour which animates the mind when roused
by great objects, made the desired impression on the audience. Fiesco's
VOL. II.~45




354                THE  kEIGN  OF  THE                 [BooK VIII.
vassals, ready to execute whatever their master should command, received
his discourse with a murmur of applause. To many, whose fortunes were
desperate, the license and confusion of an insurrection afforded an agreeable
prospect. Those of higher rank and more virtuous se     ntiments, durst not
discover the surprise or horror with which they were struck at the proposal
if an enterprise no less unexpected than atrocious; as each of them
imagined the other to be in the secret of the conspiracy, and saw himself
surrounded by persons who waited only a signal from their leader to per
petrate the greatest crime. With one voice then all applauded, or feigned
to applaud, the undertaking.
Fiesco having thus fixed and encouraged his associates, before he gave
them his last orders, he hastened for a moment to the apartment of his
wife, a lady of the noble house of Cibo, whom  he loved with tender
affection, and whose beauty and virtue rendered her worthy of his love.
The noise of the armed men who crowded the court and palace, having
long before this reached her ears, she concluded some hazardors enterprise
to be in hand, and she trembled for her husband. He found her in all the
anguish of uncertainty and fear; and, as it was now impossible to keep
his design concealed, he informed her of what he had undertaken. The
prospect of a scene so full of horror as well as danger, completect her
agony; and foreboding immediately in her mind the fatal issue,; it, she
endeavoured, by her tears, her entreaties, and her despair, to divert him
from his purpose. Fiesco, after trying in vain to soothe and to inspire her
with hope, broke from a situation into which an excess of tenderness had
unwarily seduced him, though it could not shake his resolution. "Farewell,"
he cried, as he quitted the apartment, "you shall either never see me
more, or you shall behold to-morrow every thing in Genoa subject to your
power."
As soon as he rejoined his companions, he allotted each his proper station: some were appointed to assault and seize the different gates of the
city; some to make themselves masters of the principal streets or places
of strength: Fiesco reserved for himself the attack of the harbour, where
Doria's galleys were laid up, as the post of chief importance, and of
greatest danger. It was now midnight, and the citizens slept in the security of peace, when this band of conspirators, numerous, desperate, and
well-armed, rushed out to execute their plan. They surprised some of
the gates, without meeting with any resistance. They got possession of
others after a sharp conflict with the soldiers on guard. Verrina, with
the galley which had been fitted out against the Turks, blocked up the
mouth oi the Darsena or little harbour where Doria's fleet lay. All possibility of escape being cut off by this precaution, when Fiesco attempted
to enter the galleys from the shore, to which they were made fast, they
were in no condition to make resistance, as they were not only unrigged
and disarmed, but had no crew on board, except the slaves chained to the
oar. Every quarter of the city was now filled with noise and tumult, all
the streets resounding with the cry of Fiesco and Liberty. At that name,
so popular and beloved, many of the lower rank took arms and joined the
conspirators. The nobles and partisans of the aristocracy, astonished or
affrighted, shut the gates of their houses, and thought of nothing but of
securing them from pillage. At last the noise excited by this scene o*
violence and confusion, reached the palace of Doria; Giannetino started
immediately from his bed, and, imagining that it was occasioned by some
mutiny among the sailors, rushed out with a few attendants, and hurried
towards the harbour. The gate of St. Thomas, through which he had to
pass, was already in the possession of the'conspirators, who, the moment he
appeared, fell upon him with the utmost fury, and murdered him on the
spot. The same must have been the fate of' the elder Doria, if Jerome
de Fiesco had executed his brother's plan, and had proceeded immedi




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              355
ateiy to attack him  in his palace; but he, from the sordid consideration
of preventing'its being plundered amidst the confusion, having forbid his
followers to advance, Andrew got intelligence of his nephew's death, as
well as of his own danger; and, mounting on horseback, saved himself
by flight. Amidst this general consternation, a few  senators had the
courage to assemble in the palace of the republic.* At first, some of the
most daring among them attempted to rally the scattered soldiers, and to
attack a body of the conspirators; but being repulsed with loss, all agreed
that nothing now remained but to treat with the party which seemed
to be irresistible. Deputies were accordingly sent to learn of Fiesco
what were the concessions with which he would be satisfied, or rather to
submit to whatever terms he should please to prescribe.
But by this time Fiesco, with whom  they were empowered to nego
tiate, was no more. Just as he was about to leave the harbour, where
every thing had succeeded to his wish, that he might join his victorious
companions, he heard some extraordinary uproar on board the admiral
galley. Alarmed at the noise, and fearing that the slaves might break
their chains, and overpower his associates, he ran thither; but the plank
which reached from the shore to the vessel happening to overturn, he fell
into the seawhilst he hurried forward too precipitately. Being loaded
with heavy armour, he sunk to the bottom, and perished in the very
moment when he must have taken full possession of every thing that his
ambitious heart could desire. Verrina was the first who discovered this
fatal accident, and foreseeing, at once, all its consequences, concealed it
with the utmost industry from every one but a few leaders of the conspiracy. Nor was it difficult, amidst the darkness and confusion of the
night, to have kept it secret, until a treaty with the senators should have
put the city in the power of the conspirators. All their hopes of this were
disconcerted by the imprudence of Jerome Fiesco, who, when the deputies
of the senate inquired for his brother, the count of Lavagna, that they
might make their proposals to him, replied, with a childish vanity,   I
am now the only person to whom that title belongs, and with me you
must treat."  These words discovered as well to his friends as to his
enemies what had happened, and made the impression which might have
been expected upon both. The deputies, encouraged by this event, the
only one which could occasion such a sudden revolution as might turn to
their advantage, assumed instantly, with admirable presence of mind, a
new tone, suitable to the change in their circumstances, and made high
demands. While they endeavoured to gain time by protracting the negotiation, the rest of the senators were busy in assembling their partisans,
and in forming a body capable of defending the palace of the republic.
On the other hand, the conspirators, astonished at the death of a man
whom  they adored and trusted, and placing no confidence in Jerome, a
giddy youth, felt their courage die away, and their arms fall from their
ands.  That profound and amazing secrecy with which the conspiracy
had been concerted, and which had contributed hitherto so much to its
success, proved now the chief cause of its miscarriage. The leader was
gone; the greater part of those who acted under him, knew not his confidants, and were strangers to the object at which he aimed. There was
no person among them  whose authority or abilities entitled him  to
assume Fiesco's place, or to finish his plan; after having lost the spirit
which animated it, life and activity deserted the whole body. Many of
the conspirators withdrew to their houses, hoping that amidst the darkness
of the night they had passed unobserved, and might remain unknown.
Others sought for safety by a timely retreat; and, before break of day,
* II palazza della Signoria




356                  THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK IX.
most of them fled with precipitation from  a city, which but a few hours
before, was ready to acknowledge them as masters.
Next morning every thing was quiet in Genoa; not an enemy was to
be seen; few marks of the violence of the former night appeared, the
conspirators having conducted their enterprise with more noise than
bloodshed, and gained all their advantages by surprise, rather than by
force of arms. Towards evening, Andrew Doria returned  to the city,
being met by all the inhabitants, who received him with acclamations of
joy.  Though the disgrace as well as danger of the preceding night
were fresh in his mind, and the mangled body of his kinsman still beore
his eyes, such was his moderation as well as magnanimity, that the decree
issued by the senate against the conspirators, did not exceed that just
measure of severity which was requisite for the support of government,
and was dictated neither by the violence of resentment, nor the rancour
of revenge.,
After taking the necessary precautions for preventing the flame which
was now so happily extinguished, from breaking out anew, the first care
of the senate was to send an ambassador to the emperor, to give him  a
particular detail of what had happened, and to beg his assistance towards
the reduction of Montobbio, a strong fort on the hereditary estate of the
Fiesci, in which Jerome had shut himself up.  Charles was no less alarmed
than astonished at an event so strange and unexpected.  He could not
believe that Fiesco, how bold or adventurous soever, durst have attempted
such an enterprise, but on foreign suggestion, and from the hope of foreign
aid. Being informed that the duke of Parma was well acquainted with
the plan of the conspirators, he immediately supposed that the pope could
lot be ignorant of a measure, which his son had countenanced.  Proceeding from this to a farther conjecture, which Paul's cautious maxims of'
policy in other instances rendered extremely probable, he concluded that
the French king must have known and approved of the design; and he
began to apprehend that this spark might again kindle the flame of war
which had raged so long in Italy.  As he had drained his Italian territories
of troops on account of the German war, he was altogether unprovided
for resisting any hostile attack in that country; and onthe first appearance
of danger, he must have detached thither the greatest part of his forces for
its defence. In this situation of affairs, it would have been altogether imprudent in the emperor to have advanced in person against the elector, until
he should learn with some degree of certainty whether such a scene were
not about to open in Italy, as might put it out of his power to keep the
ield with an army sufficient to oppose him.
B~OO] 1IX.
THE emperor's dread of the hostile intentions of the pope and French
king did not proceed from any imaginary or ill-grounded suspicion. Paul
had already given the strongest proofs both of his jealousy and enmity.
* Tlhuan. 93. Sigonii Vita Andresm Dorir, 1196. La Conjuration du Compte de Fiesque, pai
Cardin. de Retz. Adriani Istoria. lib. vi. 369. Folietae Conjuratio Jo. Lud. F.esci, ap. Grev.
Thes. Ital. i. 883. It is remarkable, that Cardinal de Retz, at the age of eighteen, composed
a history of this conspiracy, containing such a discovery of his admiration of Fiesco and his enterprise, as rendered it not surprising that a minister, so jealous and discerning as Richelieu, should
be led, by the perusal of it, to predict the turbulent and dangerous spirit of that young ecclesiastic
Mlem de Retz, toin. i. p. 13.




EMPEROR CHARLES Vt                              357
Charles could not hope that Francis, after a rivaiship of so long continuance, would behold the great advantages which he had gained over the
confederate protestants, without feeling his ancient emulation revive. He
was not deceived in this conjecture. Francis had observed the rapid progress of his arms with deep concern, and though hitherto prevented by
circumstances which have been mentioned, from interposing in order to
check them, he was now convinced that, if' he did not make some extraordinary and timely effort, Charles must acquire such a degree of power
as would enable him to give law to the rest of Europe. This apprehension, which did not take its rise from the jealousy of rivalship alone, but
was entertained by the wisest politicians of the age, suggested various
expedients which might serve to retard the course of the emperor's victo.
ries, and to form by degrees such a combination against him as might put
a stop to his dangerous career.
With this view, Francis instructed his emissaries in Germany to employ
all their address in order to revive the courage of the confederates, and to
prevent them from submitting to the emperor. He made liberal offers of
his assistance to the elector and landgrave, whom he knew to be the most
zealous as well as the most powerful of the whole body; he used every
argument and proposed every advantage which could either confirm their
dread of the emperor's designs, or determine them not to imitate the inconsiderate credulity of their associates, in giving up their religion and liberties to his disposal. While he took this step towards continuing the civil
war which raged in Germany, he endeavoured likewise to stir up foreign
enemies against the emperor. He solicited Solyman to seize this favourable opportunity of invading Hungary, which had been drained of all the
troops necessary for its defence, in order to form the army against the con
federates of Smalkalde. He exhorted the pope to repair, by a vigorous
and seasonable effort, the error of which he had been guilty in contribu
ting to raise the emperor to such a formidable height of power. Finding
Paul, both from the consciousness of his own mistake, and his dread of its
consequences, abundantly disposed to listen to what he suggested, he availed
himself of this favourable disposition which the pontiff began to discover,
as an argument to gain the Venetians. He endeavoured to convince them
that nothing could save Italy, and even Europe, from oppression and servitude, but their joining with the pope and him, in giving the first beginning to a general confederacy, in order to humble that ambitiouS potentate,
whom they had all equal reason to dread.
Having set on foot these negotiations, in the southern courts, he turned
his attention next towards those in the north of Europe. As the king of
Denmark had particular reasons to be offended with the emperor, Francis
imagined that the object of the league which he had projected would be
highly acceptable to him: and lest considerations of caution or prudence
would restrain him from joining in it, he attempted to overcome these, by
offering him the young queen of Scots in marriage to his son.  As the
ministers who governed England in the name of Edward VI. had openly
declared themselves converts to the opinions of the reformers, as soon as it
became safe upon Henry's death to lay aside that disguise which his intolerant bigotry had forced them to assume, Francis lattered himself that
their zeal would not allow them to remain inactive spectators of the overthrow and destruction of those who professed the same faith with themselves. He hoped, that notwithstanding the struggles of faction incident
to a minority, and the prospect of an approaching rupture with the Scots,
he might prevail on them likewise to take part in the common cause.
While Francis employed such a variety of expedients, and exerted himself with such extraordinary activity, to rouse the different states of Eu
* Melr. de Ribier, i. 600. 606.     f Ibid. 635.




358                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK IX.
rope against his rival, he did not neglect what depended on himself alone
He levied troops in all parts of his dominions; he collected military
stores; he contracted with the Swiss cantons for a considerable body oi
men; he put his finances in admirable order; he remitted considerable
sums to the elector and landgrave; and took all the other steps necessary
towards commencing hostilities on the shortest warning, and with the
greatest vigour.*
Operations so complicated, and which required the putting so many
instruments in motion, did not escape the emperor's observation. He was
early informed of Francis's intrigues in the several courts of Europe, as
well as of his domestic preparations; and sensible how fatal an interrup
tion a foreign war would prove to his designs in Germany, he trembled at
the prospect of that event. The danger, however, appeared to him as
unavoidable as it was great. He knew the insatiable and well directed
ambition of Solyman, and that he always chose the season for beginning
his military enterprises with prudence equal to the valour with which he
conducted them.  The pope, as he had good reason to believe, wanted not
pretexts to justify a rupture, nor inclination to begin hostilities. He had
already made some discovery of his sentiments, by expressing a joy altogether unbecoming the head of the church, upon receiving an account of
the advantage which the elector of Saxony had gained over Albert of
Brandenburg; and as he was now secure of finding, in the French king,
an ally of sufficient power to support him, he was at no pains to conceal
the violence and extent of his enmity.t  The Venetians, Charles was well
assured, had long observed the growth of his power with jealousy, which,
added to the solicitations and promises of France, might at last quicken
their slow counsels, and overcome their natural caution. The Danes and
English, it was evident, had both peculiar reason to be disgusted, as well
as strong motives to act against him. But above all, he dreaded the active
emulation of Francis himself, whom he considered as the soul and mover
of any confederacy that could be formed against him; and as that monarch
had afforded protection to Verrina, who sailed directly to Marseilles upon
the miscarriage of Fiesco's conspiracy, Charles expected every moment
to see the commencement of those hostile operations in Italy, of which he
conceived the insurrection in Genoa to have been only the prelude.
But while he remained in this state of suspense and solicitude, there
was one circumstance which afforded him some prospect of avoiding the
danger. The French king's health began to decline. A disease, which
was the effect of his intemperance and inconsiderate pursuit of pleasure,
preyed gradually on his constitution. The preparations for war, as well
as the negotiations in the different courts, began to languish, together with
the monarch who gave spirit to both. The Genoese, during that interval
[March] reduced Montobbio, took Jerome Fiesco prisoner, and having put
him to death, together with his chief adherents, extinguished all remains
of the conspiracy. Several of the Imperial cities in Germany, despairing
of timely assistance from  France, submitted to tlhe emperor. Even the
landgrave seemed disposed to abandon the elector, and to bring matters to
a speedy accommodation, on such terms as he could obtain. In the mean
time, Charles waited with impatience the issue of a distemper, which was
to decide whether he must relinquish all other schemes, in order to prepare for resisting a combination of the greater part of Europe against him,
or whether he might proceed to invade Saxony, without interruption or
fear of danger.
The good fortune, so remarkably propitious to his family, that some
historians have called it the Star of the House of Austria, did not desert
him on this occasion. Francis died at Rambouillet, on the last day ot
* Mem. de Ribier, i. 595.   t Ibid. 637.




EMPEROR CHAKLES V.                             359
March, in the fifty-third year of his age, and the thirty-third of his reign.
During twenty-eight years of that time, an avowed rivalship subsisted
between him and the emperor, which involved not only their own dominions, but the greater part of Europe, in wars, which were prosecuted
with more violent animosity, and drawn out to a greater length, than had
been known in any former period. Many circumstances contributed to
this. T aeir animosity was founded in opposition of interest, heightened
by personal emulation, and exasperated not only by mutual injuries, but
by reciprocal insults. At the same time, whatever advantage one seemed
to possess towards gaining the ascendant, was wonderfully balanced by
some favourable circumstance peculiar to the other. The emperor's dominions were of greater extent, the French king's lay more compact;
Francis governed his kingdom with absolute power; that of Charles was
limited, but he supplied the want of authority by address: the troops of
the former were more impetuous and enterprising; those of the latter better disciplined, and more patient of fatigue. The talents and abilities of
the two monarchs were as different as the advantages which they pop
sessed, and contributed no less to prolong the contest between them.
Francis took his resolutions suddenly, prosecuted them at first with warmth,
and pushed them into execution with a most adventurous courage; but
being destitute of the perseverance necessary to surmount difficulties, he
often abandoned his designs, or relaxed the vigour of pursuit, from impatience, and sometimes from levity. Charles deliberated long, and determined with coolness; but having once fixed his plan, he adhered to it with
inflexible obstinacy, and neither danger nor discouragement could turn him
aside from  the execution of it.  The success of their enterprises was
suitable to the diversity of their characters, and was uniformly influenced
by it. Francis, by his impetuous activity, often disconcerted the emperor's
best laid schemes; Charles, by a more calm but steady prosecution of his
designs, checked the rapidity of his rival's career, and baffled or repulsed
his most vigorous efforts. The former, at the opening of a war or of a
campaign, broke in upon his enemy with the violence of a torrent, and
carried all before him; the latter, waiting until he saw the force of his
rival begin to abate, recovered in the end not only all that he had lost, but
made new acquisitions. Few of the French monarch's attempts towards
conquest, whatever promising aspect they might wear at first, were conducted to a happy issue; many of the emperor's enterprises, even after
they appeared desperate and impracticable, terminated in the most prosperous manner. Francis was dazzled with the splendour of an undertaking; Charles was allured by the prospect of its turning to his advantage.
The degree, however, of their comparative merit and reputation has
not been fixed either by a strict scrutiny into their abilities for government.
or by an impartial consideration of the greatness and success of their
undertakings; and Francis is one of those monarchs who occupies a higher
rank in the temple of Fame, than either his talents or performances entitle
him to hold. This pre-eminence he owed to many different circumstances.
The superiority which Charles acquired by the victory of Pavia, and
which from that period he preserved through the remainder of his reign,
was so manifest, that Francis's struggle against his exorbitant and growing
dominion was viewed by most of the other powers, not only with the partiality which naturally arises for those who gallantly maintain an unequal
contest, but with the favour due to one who was resisting a common
enemy, and endeavouring to set bounds to a monarch equally formidable
to them all. The characters of princes, too, especially among their contemporaries, depend not only upon their ta.ents for government, but upon
their qualities as men. Francis, notwithstanding the many errors conspicuous in his foreign policy and domestic administration, was nevertheless
humane, beneficent, and generous. He possessed dignity without pride:




360                THE REIGN OF THE                     [BooK IX.
affability free from meanness; and courtesy exempt from deceit. All whn
had access to him, and no man of merit was ever denied that privilege,
respected and loved him. Captivated with his personal qualities, his subjects forgot his defects as a monarch, and admiring him as the most accomplished and amiable gentleman in his dominions, they hardly murmured at
acts of maleadministration, which, in a prince of less engaging dispositions, would have been deemed unpardonable. This admiration, however, must have been temporary only, and would have died away, with
the courtiers who bestowed it; the illusion arising from his private virtues
must have ceased, and posterity would have judged of his public conduct
with its usual impartiality; but another circumstance prevented this, and,
his name hath been transmitted to posterity with increasing reputation.
Science and the arts had, at that time, made little progress in France.
They were just beginning to advance beyond the limits of Italy, where
they had revived, and which had hitherto been their only seat. Francis
took them immediately under his protection, and vied with Leo himself,
in the zeal and munificence with which he encouraged them. He invited
learned men to his court, he conversed with them familiarly, he employed
them in business, he raised them to offices of dignity, and honoured them
with his confidence. That order of men, not more prone to complain when
denied the respect to which they conceive themselves entitled, than apt
to be pleased when treated with the distinction which they consider as
their due, thought they could not exceed in gratitude to such a benefactor,
and strained their invention, and employed all their ingenuity in panegyric.
Succeeding authors, warmed with their descriptions of Francis's bounty,
adopted their encomiums, and even added to them. The appellation of
Father of Letters bestowed upon Francis, hath rendered his memory sacred
among historians; and they seem to have regarded it as a sort of impiety
to uncover his infirmities, or to point out his defects. Thus Francis, notwithstanding his inferior abilities, and want of success, hath more than
equalled the fame of Charles. The good qualities which he possessed as
a man, have entitled him to greater admiration and praise than have been
bestowed upon the extensive genius and fortunate arts of a more capable,
but less amiable rival.
By his death a considerable change was made in the state of Europe.
Charles, grown old in the arts of government and command, had now to
contend only with younger monarchs, who could not be regarded as worthy
to enter the lists with him, who had stood so many encounters with Henry
VIII. and Francis I., and come off with honour in all those different struggles. By this event, he was eased of all his disquietude, and was happy
to find that he might begin with safety those operations against the elector
of Saxony, which he had hitherto been obliged to suspend. He knew
the abilities of Henry II., who had just mounted the throne of France, to
be greatly inferior to those of his father, and foresaw that he would be so
much occupied for some time in displacing the late king's ministers, whom
ne hated, and in gratifying the ambitious demands of his own favourites,
that he had nothing to dread, either from his personal efforts, or from any
confederacy which this inexperienced prince could form.
But as it was uncertain how long such an interval of security might
continue, Charles determined instantly to improve it: and as soon as he
heard of Francls's demise, he began his march [April 13] from Egra on
the borders of Bohemia. But the departure of the papal troops, together
with the retreat of the Flemings, had so much diminished his army, that
sixteen thousand men were all he could assemble. With this inconsidera
ble body he set out on an expedition, the event of which was to decide
what degree of authority he should possess from that period in Germany;
but as this little army consisted chiefly of the veteran Spanish and Italian
bands. he did not, in trusting to them, commit much to the decision of




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              361
most sanguine hopes of success. The Elector had levied an army greatly
superior in number; but neither the experience and discipline of his
troops, nor the abilities of his officers, were to be compared with those ot
the emperor.  The elector, besides, had already been guilty of an error,
which deprived him of all the advantage which he might have derived
from his superiority in number, and was alone sufficient to have occasioned
his ruin. Instead of keeping his forces united, he detached one great body
towards the frontiers of Bohemia, in order to facilitate his junction with
the, malecontents of that kingdom, and cantoned a considerable part of
what remained in different places of Saxony, where he expected the
emperor would make the first impression, vainly imagining that open
towns, with small garrisons, might be rendered tenable against an enemy.
The emperor entered the southern frontier of Saxony, and attacked
Altorf upon the Elster. The impropriety of the measure which the
elector had taken was immediately seen, the troops posted in that town
surrendering without resistance; and those in all the other places between
that and the Elbe, either imitated their example, or fled as the Imperialists
approached. Charles, that they might not recover from the panic with
which they seemed to be struck, advanced without losing a moment.
The elector, who had fixed his head quarters at Meissen, continued in his
wonted state of fluctuation and uncertainty. He even became more undetermined, in proportion as the danger drew near, and called for prompt
and decisive resolutions. Sometimes he acted as if he had resolved to
defend the banks of the Elbe, and to hazard a battle with the enemy, as
soon as the detachments which he had called in were able to join him.
At other times he abandoned this as rash and perilous, seeming to adopt
the more prudent counsels of those who advised him to endeavour at protracting the war, and for that end to retire under the fortifications of
Wittemberg, where the Imperialists could not attack him without manifest
disadvantage, and where he might wait, in safety, for the succours which
he expected from Mecklenburgh, Pomerania, and the protestant cities on
the Baltic. Without fixing upon either of these plans, he broke down the
bridge at Meissen, and marched along the east bank of the Elbe to Muhlberg. There he deliberated anew, and, after much hesitation, adopted
one of those middle schemes, which are always acceptable to feeble minds
incapable of deciding. He left a detachment at Muhlberg to oppose the
Imperialists, if they should attempt to pass at that place, and advancing a
few miles with his main body, encamped there in expectation of the event,
according to which he proposed to regulate his subsequent motions.
Charles, meanwhile, pushing forward incessantly, arrived the evening
of the twenty-third of April on the banks of the Elbe, opposite to Muhlberg. The river, at that place, was three hundred paces in breadth,
above four feet in depth, its current rapid, and the bank possessed by the
Saxons was higher than that which he occupied. Undismayed, however
by all' these obstacles, he called together his general officers, and, without
asking their opinions, communicated to them his intention of attempting
next morning to force his passage over the river, and to attack the enemy
wherever hecould come up with them. They all expressed their astonishment at such a bold resolution; and even the duke of Alva, though naturally
daring and impetuous, and Maurice of Saxony, notwithstanding his impatience to crush his rival the elector, remonstrated earnestly against it. But
the emperor, confiding in his own judgment or good fortune, paid no
regard to their arguments, and gave the orders necessary for executing his
designs.
Early in the morning a body of Spanish and Italian foot marched towards
the river, and began an incessant fire upon the enemy. The long heavy
muskets used In that age, did execution on the opposite bank, and many
VOL II -46




362                THE  REIGN  OF THE                   [BooK IX.
of the soldiers, hurried on by martial ardour, in order to get nearer the
enemy, rushed into the stream, and, advancing breast high, fired with a
more certain aim, and with greater effect. Under cover of their fire, a
bridge of boats was begun to be laid for the infantry; and a peasant
having undertaken to conduct the cavalry through the river by a ford with
which he was well acquainted, they also were put in motion. The
Saxons posted in Muhlberg endeavoured to obstruct these operations by a
brisk fire from a battery which they had erected; but as a thick fog
covered all the low grounds upon the river, they could not take aim with
any certainty, and the Imperialists suffered very little; at the same time
the Saxons being much galled by the Spaniards and Italians, they set on
fire some boats which had been collected near the village, and prepared
to retire. The Imperialists perceiving this, ten Spanish soldiers instantly
stript themselves, and holding their swords with their teeth, swam across
the river, put to flight such of the Saxons as ventured to oppose them,
saved from the flames as many boats as were sufficient to complete their
own bridge, and by this spirited and successful action, encouraged their
companions no less than they intimidated the enemy.
By this time the cavalry, each trooper having a foot soldier behind hin,
began to enter the river, the light horse marching in the front, followed
by the men at arms, whom the emperor led in person, mounted on a
Spanish horse, dressed in a sumptuous habit, and carrying a javelin in his
hand. Such a numerous body struggling through a great river, in which,
according to the directions of their guide, they were obliged to make
several turns, sometimes treading on a firm bottom, sometimes swimming,
presented to their companions, whom they left behind, a spectacle equally
magnificent and interesting.D   Their courage, at last, surmounted every
obstacle, no man betraying any symptom of fear, when the emperor shared
in the danger no less than the meanest soldier. The moment that they
reached the opposite side, Charles, without waiting the arrival of the
rest of the infantry, advanced towards the Saxons with the troops which
had passed along with him, who, flushed with their good fortune, and
despising an enemy who had neglected to oppose them, when it might
have been done with such advantage, made no account of their superior
numbers, and marched on as to a certain victory.
During all these operations, which necessarily consumed much time,
the elector remained inactive in his camp; and from an infatuation which
appears to be so amazing, that the best informed historians impute it to
the treacherous arts of his generals, who deceived him by false intelligence, he would not believe that the emperor had passed the river, or
could be so near at hand.t Being convinced, at last, of his fatal mistake,
by the concurring testimony of eye-witnesses, he gave orders for retreating
towards Wittemberg. But a German army, encumbered, as usual, with
baggage and artillery, could not be put suddenly in motion. They had
just begun to march when the light troops of the enemy came in view,
and the elector saw an engagement to be unavoidable. As he was no less
bold in action than irresolute in council, he made the disposition for battle
with the greatest presence of mind, and in the most proper manner, taking
advantage of a great forest to cover his wings, so as to prevent his being
surrounded by the enemy's cavalry, which were far more numerous than
his own. The emperor, likewise, ranged his men in order as they came
up, and riding along the ranks, exhorted them with few but efficacious
words to do their duty. It was with a very different spirit that the two
armies advanced to the charge. As the day, which had hitherto been
dark and cloudy, happened to clear up at that moment, this accidental
circumstance made an impression on the different parties corresponding t6
* Avila, U15, a,    t Camerar. ap. Freher. iii. 493. Struv. Corp. Hist Germ, 1047. 1049.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             363
the tone of their minds; the Saxons, surprised and dishealtened, felt pain
at being exposed fully to the view of the enemy; the Imperialists, being
now secure that the protestant forces could not escape from them, rejoiced
at the return of sunshine, as a certain presage of victory. The shock of
battle would not have been long doubtful, if the personal courage which
the elector displayed, together with the activity which he exerted from
the moment that the approach of the enemy rendered an engagement certain, and cut off all possibility of hesitation, had not revived in some degree
the spirit of his troops. They repulsed the Hungarian light-horse who
began the attack, and received with firmness the men at arms who next
advanced to the charge; but as these were the flower of the Imperial
army, were commanded by experienced officers, and fought under the
emperor's eye, the Saxons soon began to give way, and the light troops
rallying at the same time, and falling on their flanks, the flight became
general. A small body of chosen soldiers, among- whom the elector had
fought in person, still continued to defend themselves, and endeavoured to
save their master by retiring into the forest; buit being surrounded on every
side, the elector wounded in the face, exhausted with fatigue, and perceiving all resistance to be vain, surrendered himself a prisoner. He was
conducted immediately towards the emperor, whom he found just returned
from  the pursuit, standing on the field of battle in the full exultation of
success, and receiving the congratulations of his officers, upon this complete
victory obtained by his valour and conduct. Even in such an unfortunate
and humbling situation, the elector's behaviour was equally magnanimous
and decent. Sensible of his condition, he approached his conqueror without any of the sullenness or pride which would have been improper in a
captive; and conscious of his own dignity, he descended to no mean submission, unbecoming the high station which he held' among the German
princes. " The fortune of war," said he, "has made me your prisoner,
most gracious emperor, and I hope to be treated"    Here Charles harshly
interrupted him: "'And am I then, at last, acknowledged to be emperor?
Charles of Ghent was the only title you lately allowed me. You shall be
treated as you deserve." At these words he turned from him abruptly
with a haughty air. To this cruel repulse, the king of the Romans added
reproaches in his own name, using expressions still more ungenerous and
insulting. The elector made no reply; but, with an unaltered countenance,
which discovered neither astonishment nor dejection, accompanied the
Spanish soldiers appointed to guard him.*
This decisive victory cost the Imperialists only fifty men. Twelve hundred of the Saxons were killed, chiefly in the pursuit, and a greater number
taken prisoners. About four hundred kept in a body, and escaped to
Wittemberg, together with the electoral prince, who had likewise been
wounded in the action. After resting two days in the field of battle,
partly to refresh his army, and partly to receive the deputies of the adjacent towns, which were impatient to secure his protection by submitting
to his will, the emperor began to move towards Wittemberg, that he might
terminate the war at once, by the reduction of that city. The unfortunate
elector was carried along in a sort of triumph, and exposed every where,
as a captive, to his own subjects; a spectacle extremely afflicting to them,
who both honoured and loved him; though the insult was so far from subduing his firm spirit, that it did not even ruffle the wonted tranquillity and
composure of his mind.
As Wittemberg, the residence, in that age, of the electoral branch of the
Saxon family, was one of the strongest cities in Germany, and could not
be taken, if properly defended, without great difficulty, the emperor
* Sleid. Hist. 426. Thuan. 136. Hortensius de Bello German. ap. Scard. vol. ii. 498. Bescript
Pugna Mulberg. ibid. p. 509 P. Heuter Rer Austr lib xii. c. 13. p. 298.




364                 THE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK IX.
marched thither with the utmost despatch, hoping tnat while the consternation occasioned by his victory was still recent, the inhabitants might
imitate the example of.their countrymen, and submit to his power, as soon
as he appeared before their walls. But Sybilla of Cleves, the elector's
wife, a woman no less distinguished by her abilities than her virtue, instead
of abandoning herself to tears and lamentations upon her husband's misfortune, endeavoured by her example as well as exhortations, to animate
the citizens. She inspired them with such resolution, that, when summoned
to surrender, they returned a vigorous answer, warning the emperor to
behave towards their sovereign with the respect due to his rank, as they
were determined to treat Albert of Brandenburg, who was still a prisoner,
precisely in the same manner that he treated the elector. The spirit of
the inhabitants, no less than the strength of the city, seemed now to render
a siege in form necessary.  After such a signal victory, it would have beer.
disgraceful not to have undertaken it, though at the.same time the emperor
was destitute of every thing requisite for carrying it on. But Maurice
removed all difficulties by engaging to furnish provisions, artillery, ammu-'nition, pioneers, and whatever else should be needed. Trusting to this,
Charles gave orders to open the trenches before the town. It quickly appeared, that Maurice's eagerness to reduce the capital of those dominions,
which he expected as his reward for taking arms against his kinsman, and
deserting the protestant cause, had led him to promise what exceeded his
power to perform. A battering train was, indeed, carried safely down the
Elbe from Dresden to Wittemberg; but as Maurice had not sufficient force
to preserve a secure communication between his own territories and the
camp of the besiegers, count Mansfeldt, who commanded a body of electoral troops, intercepted and destroyed a convoy of provisions and military
stores, and dispersed a band of pioneers destined for the service of the
Imperialists.  This put a stop to the progress of the siege, and convinced
the emperor, that as he could not rely on Maurice's promises, recourse
ought to be had to some more expeditious as well as more certain method
of getting possession of the town.
The unfortunate elector was in his hands and Charles was ungenerous
and hard-hearted enough to take advantage of this, in order to make an
experiment whether he might not bring about his design, by working upon
the tenderness of a wife for her husband, or upon the piety of children
towards their parent.  With this view, he summoned Sybilla a second time
to open the gates, letting her know that if she again refused to comply,
the elector should answer with his head for her obstinacy. To convince
her that this was not an empty threat, he brought his prisoner to an immediate trial. The proceedings against him were as irregular as the stratagem
was barbarous. Instead of consulting the states of the empire, or remitting the cause to any court, which, according to the German constitution,
might have legally taken cognizance of the elector's crime, he subjected
the greatest prince in the empire to the jurisdiction of a court-martial,
composed of Spanish and Italian officers, and in which the unrelenting
duke of Alva, a fit instrument for any act of violence, presided [May 10].
This strange tribunal founded its charge upon the ban of the empire which
had been issued against the prisoner by the sole authority of the emperor,
and was destitute of every legal formality which could render it valid
But the court-martial, presuming the elector to be thereby manifestly con
victed of treason and rebellion, condemned him to suffer death by being
beheaded.  This decree was intimated to the elector while he was amusing
himself in playing at chess with Ernest of Brunswick his fellow-prisoner.
HIe paused for a moment, though without discovering any symptom either
of surprise or terror; and after taking notice of the irregularity as well as
injustice of the emperor's proceedings: " It is easy; continued he, to comprehend his scheme. I must die, because Wittemberg will not surrender




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             365
and I shall lay down my life with pleasure, if, by that sacrifice, I can preserve the dignity of my house, and transmit to my posterity the inheritance
which belongs to them. Would to God that this sentence may not affect
my wife and children more than it intimidates me! and that they, for the
sake of adding a few days to a life already too long, may not renounce
honours and territories which they were born to possess!". He then
turned to his antagonist, whom he challenged to continue the game. He
played with his usual attention and ingenuity, and having beat Ernest,
expressed all the satisfaction which is commonly felt on gaining such victo
ies. After this, he withdrew to his own apartment, that he might employ
the rest of his time in such religious exercises as were proper in his
situation.t
It was not with the same indifference, or composure, that the account
of the elector's danger was received in Wittemberg. Sybilla, who had
supported with such undaunted fortitude her husband's misfortunes, while
she imagined that they could reach no farther than to diminish his power
or territories, felt all her resolution fail as soon as his life was threatened.
Solicitous to save that, she despised every other consideration; and was
willing to make any sacrifice, in order to appease an incensed conqueror.
At the same time, the duke of Cleves, the elector of Brandenburg, and
Maurice, to none of whom Charles had communicated the true motives of
his violent proceedings against the elector, interceded warmly with him
to spare his life. The first was prompted so to do merely in compassion
for his sister, and regard for his brother-in-law. The two others dreaded
the universal reproach that they would incur, if, after having boasted so
often of the ample security which the emperor had promised them with
respect to their religion, the first effect of their union with him should be
the public execution of a prince, who was justly held in reverence as the
most zealous protector of the protestant cause. Maurice, in particular,
foresaw that he must become the object of detestation to the Saxons, and
could never hope to govern them with tranquillity, if he were considered
by them as accessary to the death of his nearest kinsman, in order that he
might obtain possession of his dominions.
While they, from such various motives, solicited Charles, with the most
earnest importunity, not to execute the sentence; Sybilla, and his chil
dren, conjured the elector, byletters as well as messengers, to scruple at
no concession that would extricate him out of the present danger, and
deliver them from their fears and anguish on his account. The emperor,
perceiving that the expedient which he had tried began to produce the
effect that he intended, fell by degrees from his former rigour, and allowed
himself to soften into promises of clemency and forgiveness, if the elector
would show himself worthy of his favour, by submitting to reasonable
terms. The elector, on whom the consideration of what he might suffer
himself had made no impression, was melted by the tears of his wife whom
be loved, and could not resist the entreaties of his family. In compliance
with their repeated solicitations, he agreed to articles of accommodation
[May 19], which he would otherwise have rejected with disdain. The
chief of them were, that he should resign the electoral dignity, as well for
himself as for his posterity, into the emperor's hands, to be disposed of
entirely at his pleasure; that he should instantly put the Imperial troops in
possession of the cities of Wittemberg and Gotha; that he should set
Albert of Brandenburg at liberty without ransom; that he should submit to
the decrees of the Imperial chamber, and acquiesce in whatever reformation the emperor should make in the constitution of that court; that he
should renounce aill leagues against the emperor or king of the Romans, and
enter into no alliance for the future, in which they were not corn.?ehended.
* Thuan. i. 142.         t Struvii Corpus 1050




366               THE  REIGIN OF  THE                   IBooK IX.
In return for these important concessions, the emperor not only pronised to
spare his life, but to settle on him and his posterity the city of Gotha and
its territories, together with an annual pension of fifty thousand florins, pay
able out of the revenues of the electorate; and likewise to grant him a
sum  in ready money to be applied towards the discharge of his debts
Even these articles, of grace were clogged with the mortifying condition of
his remaining the emperor's prisoner during the rest of his life.*  To the
whole, Charles had subjoined, that he should submit to the decrees of the
pope and council with regard to the controverted points in religion; but
the elector, though he had been persuaded to sacrifice all the objects
which men commonly hold to be the dearest and most valuable, Was inflexible with regard to this point; and neither threats nor entreaties could
prevail to make him  renounce what he deemed to be truth, or persuade
him to act in opposition to the dictates of his conscience.
As soon as the Saxon garrison marched out of Witteinberg, the emperor
fulfilled his engagements to Maurice; and in reward for his merit in having
deserted the protestant cause, and having contributed with such success
towards the dissolution of the Smalkaldic league, he gave him possession
of that city, together with all the other towns in the electorate. It was
not without reluctance, however, that he made such a sacrifice; the extraordinary success of his arms had begun to operate in its usual manner,
upon his ambitious mind, suggesting new and vast projects for the aggrandizement of his family, towards the accomplishment of which the retaining of Saxony would have been of the utmost consequence. But as this
scheme was not then ripe for execution, he durst not yet venture to disclose it; nor would it have been either safe or prudent to offend Maurice
at this juncture, by such a manifest violation of all the promises which
had seduced him to abandon his natural allies.
The landgrave, Maurice's father-in-law, was still in arms; and though
now left alone to maintain the protestant cause, was neither a feeble nor
contemptible enemy. His dominions were of considerable extent; his
subjects animated with zeal for the reformation; and if he could have
held the Imperialists at bay for a short time, he had much to hope from a
party whose strength was still unbroken, whose union as.well as vigour
might return, and which had reason to depend, with certainty, on being
effectually supported by the king of France. The landgrave thought not
of any thing so bold or adventurous; but being seized with the same consternation which had taken possession of his associates, he was intent only
on the means of procuring favourable terms from the emperor whom he
viewed as a conqueror, to whose will there was a necessity of submitting
Maurice encouraged this tame and pacific spirit, by magnifying, on the one
hand, the emperor's power; by boasting, on the other, of his own interest
with his victorious ally; and by representing the advantageous conditions
which he could not fail of obtaining by his intercession for a friend, whom
he was so solicitous to save. Sometimes the landgrave was induced to
place such unbounded confidence in his promises, that he was impatient to
bring matters to a final accommodation. On other occasions, the emperor's
exorbitant ambition, restrained neither by the scruples of decency, nor the
maxims of justice, together with the recent and shocking proof which he
had given of this in his treatment of the elector of Saxony, came so full into
his thoughts, and made such a lively impression dn them, that he broke
off abruptly the negotiations which he had begun; seeming to be convinced that it was more prudent to depend for safety on his own arms,
than to confide in Charles's generosity. But this bold resolution, which
despair had suggested to an impatient spirit, fretted by disappointments,
was not of long continuance. Upon a more deliberate survey of the
* S1lid 427. Thuan. i. 142. Du Mont, Corps Diplom.. p. 11. 332,




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               367
enemy's power, as well as his own weakness, his doubts and fears returned
upon him, and together with them the spirit of negotiating, and the desire
of accommodation.
Maurice and the elector of Brandenburg acted as mediators between him
and the emperor; and after all that the former had vaunted of his influence, the conditions prescribed to the landgrave were extremely rigorous.
The articles with regard to his renouncing the league of Smalkald', ac
knowledging the emperor's authority, and submitting to the decrees of the
Imperial chamber, were the same which had been imposed on the elector
of Saxony. Besides these, he was required to surrender his person and
territories to the emperor; to implore for pardon on his knees; to pay a
hundred and fifty thousand crowns towards defraying the expenses of the
war; to demolish the fortifications of all the towns in his dominions except
one; to oblige the garrison which he placed in it to take an oath of fidelity
to the emperor; to allow a free passage through his territories to the I1
perial troops as often as it shall be demanded; to deliver up all his artil
lery and ammunition to the emperor; to set at liberty, without ransom,
Henry of Brunswick, together with the other prisoners whom he had
taken during the war; and neither to take arms himself, nor to permit any
of his subjects to serve against the emperor or his allies for the future.?
The landgrave ratified these articles, though with the utmost reluctance,
as they contained no stipulation with regard to the manner in which he was
to be treated, and left him entirely at the emperor's mercy. Necessity,
however, compelled him to give his assent to them. Charles, who had
assumed the haughty and imperious tone of a conqueror, ever since the reduction of Saxony, insisted on unconditional submission, and would permit
nothing to be added to the terms which he had prescribed, that could in
any degree limit the fulness of his power, or restrain him from behaving as
he saw meet towards a prince whom he regarded as absolutely at his disposal. But though he would not vouchsafe to negotiate with the landgrave
on such a footing of equality, as to suffer any article to be inserted among
those which he had dictated to him, that could be considered as a formal
stipulation for the security and freedom of his own person; he, or his ministers in his name, gave the elector of Brandenburg and Maurice such full
satisfaction with regard to this point, that they assured the landgrave, that
Charles would behave to him in the same way as he had done to the duke
of Wurtemberg, and would allow him, whenever he had made.his sub
mission, to return to his own territories. Upon finding the landgrave to be
still possessed with his former suspicions of the emperor's intentions, and
unwilling to trust verbal or ambiguous declarations, in a matter of such
essential concern as his own liberty, they sent him a bond signed by them
both, containing the most solemn obligations, that if any violence whatsoever was offered to his person, during his interview with the e'mperor,
they would instantly surrender themselves to his sons, and remain in their
hands to be treated by them in the same manner as the emperor should
treat him.t
This, together with the indispensable obligation of performing what was
contained in the articles of which he had accepted, removed his doubts
and scruples, or made it necessary to get over them. He repaired for that
purpose, to the Imperial camp at Halle in Saxony, where a circumstance
occurred which revived his suspicions and increased his fears. Just as
he was about to enter the chamber of presence, in order to make his public submission to the emperor, a copy of the articles which he had approved of was put into his hands, in order that he might ratify them anew.
Upon perusing them, he perceived that the imperial ministers had added
two new articles; one importing, that if any dispute should arise concern
* Sleid. 430. Thuan. I iv. 146.  t Du Mont, Corps Diplom. iv. p 11. 33i




S88               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  j0oo0 IX
mg the meaning of the former conditions, the emperor should have the
right of putting what interpretation upon them he thought most reasonable; the other, that the landgrave was bound to submit implicitly to the
decisions of the council of Trent. This unworthy artifice, calculated to
surprise him into an approbation of articles, to which he had not the most
distant idea of assenting, by proposing them to him  at a time when his
mind was engrossed and disquieted with the thoughts of that humiliating
ceremony which he had to perform, filled the landgrave with indignation,
and made him break out into. all those violent expressions of rage to which
his temper was prone. With some difficulty, th'e elector of Brandenburg
and Maurice prevailed at length of the emperor's ministers to drop the
former article as unjust, and to explain the latter in such a manner that he
could agree to it, without openly renouncing the protestant religion.
This obstacle being surmounted, the landgrave was impatient to finish
a ceremony which, how mortifying soever, had been declared necessary
towards his obtaining pardon. The emperor was seated on a magnificent
throne, with all the ensigns of his dignity, surrounded by a numerous train
of the princes of the empire, among whom was Henry of Brunswick, lately
the landgrave's prisoner, and now, by a sudden reverse of fortune, a spectator of his humiliation. The landgrave was introduced with great solemnity, and advancing towards the throne, fell upon his knees. His chancellor,
who walked behind him, immediately read, by his master's command, a
paper which contained an humble confession of the crime whereof he had
been glilty; an acknowledgment that he had merited on that account the
most severe punishment; an absolute resignation of himself and his dominions to be disposed of at the emperor's pleasure; a submissive petition
for pardon, his hopes of which were founded entirely on the emperor's
clemency; and it concluded with promises of behaving, for the future, like
a subject whose principles of loyalty and obedience would be confirmed,
and would even derive new force from the sentiments of gratitude which
must hereafter fill and animate his heart. While the chancellor was reading
this abject declaration, the eyes of all the spectators were fixed on the
unfortunate landgrave; few could behold a prince, so powerful as well as
high-spirited, suing for mercy in the posture of a suppliant, without being
touched with commiseration, and perceiving serious reflections arise in their
minds upon the instability and emptiness of human grandeur. The emperor
viewed the whole transaction with a haughty unfeeling composure;and
preserving a profound silence himself, made a sign to one of his secretaries
to read his answer: the tenor of which was, That though he might have
justly inflicted on him the grievous punishment which his crimes deserved,
yet, prompted by his own generosity, moved by the solicitations of several
princes in behalf of the landgrave, and influenced by his penitential acknowledgments, he would not deal with him according to the rigour of
justice, and would subject him to no penalty that was not specified in the
articles which he had already subscribed. The moment the secretary had
finished, Charles turned away abruptly, without deigning to give the
unhappy suppliant any sign of compassion or reconcilement. He did not
even desire him to rise from his knees; which the landgrave having ventured
to do unbidden, advanced towards the emperor with an intention to kiss
his hand, flattering himself, that his guilt being now fully expiated, he
might presume to take that liberty. But the elector of Brandenburg, perceiving that this familiarity would be offensive to the emperor, interposed,
and desired the landgrave to go along with him and Maurice to the duke
of Alva's apartments in the castle.
He was received and entertained by that nobleman with the respect and
courtesy duie to such a guest. But after supper, while he was engaged in
play, the duke took the elector and Maurice aside, and communicated to
them the emperor's orders, that the landgrave must remain a prisoner




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                     -69
in that place under the custody of a Spanish guard.  As they had not
Hitherto entertained the most distant suspicion of the emperor's sincerity or
rectitude of intention, their surprise was excessive, and their indignation
not inferior t) it, on discovering how greatly they had been deceived them
selves, and how infamously abused, in naving been made the instruments of
deceiving and ruining their friend.  They had recourse to complaints, to
arguments, and to entreaties, in order to save themselves from that disgrace,
and to extricate him out of the wretched situation into which he had been
betrayed by too great confidence in them    But the duke of Alva remained
inflexible, and pleaded the necessity of executing the emperor's commands.
By this time it grew late, and the landgrave, who knew nothing of what
hadi passed, nor dreaded the snare in which he was entangled, prepared for
departing, when the fatal orders were intimated to him.  He was struck
dumb at first with astonishment, but after being silent a few moments, he
broke out into all the violent expressions which horror, at injustice accompanied with fraud, naturally suggests. He complained, he expostulated,
he exclaimed; sometimes inveighing against the emperor's artifices as
unworthy of a great and generous prince; sometimes censuring the credulity of his friends in trusting to Charles's insidious promises; sometimes
harging them with meanness in stooping to lend their assistance towards
the execution of such a perfidious and dishonourable scheme; and in the
end he required them to remember their engagements to his children, and
instantly to fulfil them.  They, after giving way for a little to the torrent
of his passion, solemnly asserted their own innocence and upright intention
in the whole transaction, and encouraged him  to hope, that as soon as they
saw the emperor, they would obtain redress of an injury which affected
their own honour, no less than it did his liberty. At the same time, in order
to soothe his rage and impatience, Maurice remained with him  during the
nignt in the apartment where he was confined.*
Next morning, the elector and Maurice applied jointly to the emperor,
representing the infamy to which they would be exposed throughout Ger
many, if the landgrave were detained in custody; that they would not have
advised, nor would he himself have consented to an interview, if they had
suspected that the loss of his liberty was to be the consequence cf his submission; that they were bound to procure his release, having plighted
their faith to that effect, and engaged their own persons as sureties for his.
Charles listened to their earnest remonstrances with the utmost coolness
As he now stood no longer in need of their services, they had the mortification to find that their former obsequiousness was forgotten, and little regard
paid to their intercession.  He was ignorant, he told them, of their particular or private transactions with the landgrave, nor was his conduct to be
regulated by any engagements into which they had thought fit to enter;
though he knew well what he himself had promised, which was not that
the landgrave should be exempt from  all restraint, but that he should not
be kept a prisoner during life.t Having said this with a peremptory and
decisive tone, he put an end to the conference; and they seeing no proba'
* Sleid. 433. Thuan. 1. iv. 147. Struv. Corp. Hist. Germ. ii. 1052.
f According to several historians of great name, the emperor in his treaty with the landgrave,
stipulated that he would not detain him in any prison. But in executing the deed, which was written
in the German tongue, the Imperial ministers fraudulently substituted the word ewige?, instead of
einiger, and thus the treaty, inplace of a promise that he should not be detained in ay prison, contained only an engagement that he should not be detained in perpetual imprisonment. But authors,
eminent for historical knowledge and critical accuracy, have called in question the truth of this
common story. The silence of Sleidan with regard to it, as well as its not being mentioned in the
various memorials which he has published concerning the landgrave's imprisonment, greatly favour
this opinion. But as several books which contain the information necessary towards discussing this
point with accuracy, are written in the German language, which I do not understand, I cannot pretend to inquire into this matter with the same precision wherewith I have endeavoured to settls
ome other controverted Oicts which have occurred in the course of this history. See Struv.
Corp. 1052. Mosheim's Jictes Hi:,t. vol. ii. p. 161, 162  Engl. edition.
VOL II. —47




370                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK IX
bility, at that time, of making any impression upon the emperor, who
seemed to have taken this resolution deliberately, and to be obstinately bent
on adhering to it, were obliged to acquaint the unfortunate prisoner with
the ill success of their endeavours in his behalf. The disappointment threw
him into a new and more violent transport of rage, so that to prevent his
proceeding to some desperate extremity, the elector and Maurice promised
that they would not quit the emperor, until, by the frequency and fervour
of their intercessions, they had extorted his consent to set him free   They
accordingly renewed their solicitations a few days afterwards, bu  kund
Charles more haughty and intractable than before, and were warned that
if they touched again upon a subject so disagreeable, and with regard to
which he had determined to hear nothing farther, he would instantly give
orders to convey the prisoner into Spain. Afraid of hurting the landgrave
by an officious or ill-timed zeal to serve him, they not only desisted, but
left the court, and as they did not choose to meet the first sallies of the
landgrave's rage upon his learning the cause of their departure, they
informed him of it by a letter, wherein they exhorted him to fulfil all that
he had promised to the emperor, as the most certain means of procuring a
speedy release.
Whatever violent emotions their abandoning his cause in this manner
occasioned, the landgrave's impatience to recover liberty made him follow
their advice. He paid the sum which had been imposed on him, ordered
his fortresses to be rased, and renounced all alliances which could give
offence. This prompt compliance with The will of the conqueror produced
no effect. He was still guarded with the same vigilant severity; and being
carried about, together with the degraded elector of Saxony, wherever the
emperor went, their disgrace and his triumph was each day renewed. The
fortitude as well as equanimity, with which the electQr bore these repeated
insults, were not more remarkable than the landgrave's fretfulness and
impatience. His active impetuous mind could ill brook restraint; and
reflection upon the shameful artifices, by which he had been decoyed into
that situation, as well as indignation at the injustice with which he was
still detained in it, drove him often to the wildest excesses of passion.
The people of the different cities, to whom Charles thus wantonly exposed
those illustrious prisoners as a public spectacle, were sensibly touched with
such an insult offered to the Germanic body, and murmured loudly at this
indecent treatment of two of its greatest princes. They had soon other
causes of complaint, and such as affected them more nearly. Charles proceeded to add oppression to insult, and arrogating to himself all the rights
of a conqueror, exercised them with the utmost rigour. He ordered his
troops to seize the artillery and military stores belonging to such as had
been members of the Smalkaldic league, and having collected upwards of
five hundred pieces of cannon, a great number in that age, he sent part of
them into the Low-Countries, part into Italy, and part into Spain, in order
to spread by this means the fame of his success, and that they might se' ve
as monuments of his having subdued a nation hitherto deemed invincibl
)He then levied, by his sole authority, large sums of money, as well upon
those who had served him with fidelity during the war, as upon such as had.
been in arms against him; upon the former, as their contingent towards a
ivar, which, having been undertaken, as he pretended, for the common
benefit, ought to be carried on at the common charge; upon the latter, as
a fine by way of punishment for their rebellion. By these exactions, he
amassed above one million six hundred thousand crowns, a sum which
appeared prodigious in the sixteenth century. But so general was the consternation which had seized the Germans upon his rapid success, and such
the dread of his victorious troops, that all implicitly obeyed his commands;
though, at the same time, these extraordinary stretches of power greatly
alarmed a people jealous of their privileges, and habituated, during several




EMPEROR  CHARLES V.                             371
ales, to consider the Imperial authority as neither extensive for formidable
I his discontent and resentment, how industriously soever they concealed
them, became universal; and the more these passions were restrained and
kept down for the present, the more likely were they to burst out soon with
additional violence.
Wh'le Charles gave law to the Germans like a conquered people, Ferdinand treated his subjects in Bohemia with still greater rigour. That
lingdomn possessed privileges and immunities as extensive as thcse of
any nation in which the feudal institutions were established. The prerogative of their kings was extremely limited, and the crown itself elective.
Ferdinand, when raised to the throne, had confirmed their liberties with
every solemnity prescribed by their excessive solicitude for the security
of a. constitution of government to which they were extremely attached.
He soon began, however, to be weary of a jurisdiction so much circum
scribed, and to despise a sceptre which he could not transmit to his pos
terity; and notwithstanding all his former engagements, he attempted to
overturn the constitution from its foundations; that, instead of an elective
kingdom, he might render it hereditary. But the Bohemians were too
high-spirited tamely to relinquish privileges which they had long enjoyed.
At the same time, many of them having embraced the doctrines of the
reformers, the seeds of which John Huss and Jerome of Prague had
planted in their country about the beginning of the preceding century,
the desire of acquiring religious liberty mingled itself with their zeal for
their civil rights; and these two kindred passions heightening, as usual,
each other's force, precipitated them  immediately into violent measures.
They had not only refused to serve their sovereign against the confederates
of Smalkalde, but having entered into a close alliance with the elector of
Saxony, they had bound themselves, by a solemn association, to defend
their ancient constitution; and to persist, until they should obtan such
additional privileges as they thought necessary towards perfecting tfe
present model of their government, or rendering it more permane,..
They chose Caspar Phlug, a nobleman of distinction, to be their general;
and raised an army of thirty thousand men to enforce their petitions. But
either from the weakness of their leader, or from the dissensions in a great
unwieldy body, which having united hastily, was not thoroughly compacted, or from some other unknown cause, the subsequent operations of
the Bohemians bore no proportion to the zeal and ardour with which they
took their first resolutions. They suffered themselves to be amused so
long with negotiations and overtures of different kinds, that before they
could enter Saxony, the battle of Muhlberg was fought, the elector
deprived of his dignity and territories, the landgrave confined to close
custody, and the league of Smalkalde entirely dissipated. The same
dread of the emperor's power which had seized the rest of the Germans,
reached them. As soon as their sovereign approached with a body of
Imperial troops, they instantly dispersed, thinking of nothing but how to
atone for their past guilt, and to acquire some hope of forgiveness by a
prompt submission. But Ferdinand, who entered his dominions full of
that implacable resentment which inflames monarchs whose authority has
been despised, was not to be mollified by the late repentance and involuntary return of rebellious subjects to their duty. He even heard, unmoved,
the entreaties and tears of the citizens of Prague, who appeared before
him in the posture of suppliants, and implored for mercy. The sentence
which he pronounced against them was rigorous to extremity; he abolished
many of their privileges, he abridged others, and new-modelled the consti
tution according to his pleasure. He condemned to death many of those
who had been most active in forming the late association against'him, and
punished a still greater number with confiscation of their goods, or perpe.
tual banishment. He obliged all his subjects, of every condition, to give




372                 THE REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boox IX.
up their arms to be deposited in forts where he planted garrisons; and after
disarming his people, he loaded them with new and exorbitant taxes.
Thus, by an ill-conducted and unsuccessful effort to extend their privileges,
the Bohemians not only enlarged the sphere of the royal prerogative, when
they intended to have circumscribed it, but they almost annihilated those
liberties which they aimed at establishing on a broader and more secure
foundation.x
The emperor, having now humbled, and, as he imagined, subdued the
independent and stubborn spirit of the Germans by the terror of arms and
the rigour of punishment, held a diet at Augsburg, in order to compose
finally the controversies with regard to religion, which had so long disturbed the empire. He durst not, however, trust the determination of a
matter so interesting to the free suffrage of the Germans, broken as their
minds now were to subjection. He entered the city at the head of his
Spanish troops, and assigned them quarters there. The rest of his soldiers
he cantoned in the adjacent villages: so that the members of the diet,
while they carried on their deliberations, were surrounded by the same
army which had overcome their countrymen.  Immediately after his
public entry, Charles gave a proof of the violence with which he intended
to proceed. He took possession by force of the cathedral, together with
one of the principal churches; and his priests having, by various ceremonies, purified them from the pollution with which they supposed the
unhallowed ministrations of the protestants to have defiled them, they reestablished with great pomp the rites of the Romish worship.t
The concourse of members to this diet was extraordinary; the im
portance of the affairs concerning which it was to deliberate, added to the
fear of giving offence to the emperor by an absence which lay open to
misconstruction, brought together almost all the princes, nobles, and representatives of cities who had a right to sit in that assembly. The emperor,
in the speech with which he opened the meeting, called their attention
immediately to that point, which seemed chiefly to merit it. Having
mentioned the fatal effects of the religious dissensions which had arisen in
Germany, and taken notice of his own unwearied endeavours to procure a
general council, which alone could provide a remedy adequate to those
evils, he exhorted -hem to recognise its authority, and to acquiesce in the
decisions of an assembly to which they had originally appealed, as having
the sole right of judgment in the case.
But the council, to which Charles wished them to refer all their controversies, had, by this time, undergone a violent change.  The fear and
jealousy, with which the emperor's first successes against the confederates
of Smalkalde had inspired the pope, continued to increase. Not satisfied
with attempting to retard the progress of the Imperial arms, by the sudden
recall of his troops, Paul began to consider the emperor as an enemy, the
weight of whose power he must soon feel, and against whom he could
not be too hasty in taking precautions. He foresaw that the immediate
effect of the emperor's acquiring absolute power in Germany, would be to
render him entirely master of all the decisions of the council, if it should
continue to meet in Trent.  It was dangerous to allow a monarch, so
ambitious, to get the command of this formidable engine, which he might
employ at pleasure to limit or overturn the papal authority   As the only
method of preventing this, he determined to remove the council to some
city more immediately under his own jurisdiction, and at a greater distance
from the terror of the emperor's arms, or the reach of his influence. An
incident fortunately occurred, which gave this measure the appearance of
being necessary. One or two of the fathers of the council, together with
some of their domestics, happening to die suddenly, the physicians, deceived
* Sleid 418, 419. 434. Thuan. 1. iv. 129. 150. Struv. Corp ii.    t Sleid. 435. 437




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             373
by the symptoms, or suborned by the pope's legates, pronounced the
distemper to be infectious and pestilential. Some of the prelates, struck
with a panic, retired; others were impatient to be gone; and after a short
consultation, the council was translated to Bologna [March 11], a city
subject to the pope. All the bishops in the Imperial interest warmly
opposed this resolution, as taken without necessity, and founded on false or
frivolous pretexts. All the Spanish prelates, and most of the Neapolitan,
by the emperor's express command, remained at Trent; the rest, to the
number of thirty-four, accompanying the legates to Bologna. Thus a
schism  commenced in that very assembly, which had been called to heal
the divisions of Christendom; the fathers of Bologna inveighed against
those who staid at Trent, as contumacious and regardless of the pope's
authority; while the other accused them of being so far intimidated by the
fears of imaginary danger, as to remove to a place where their consultations could prove of no service towards re-establishing peace and order in
Germany.'
The emperor, at the same time, employed all his interest to procure
the return of the council to Trent. But Paul, who highly applauded his
own sagacity in having taken a step which put it out of Charles's power
to acquire, the direction of that assembly, paid no regard to a request, the
object of which was so extremely obvious. The summer was consumed
in fruitless negotiations with respect to this point, the importunity of the
one and the obstinacy of the other daily increasing. At last, an event
happened which widened the breach irreparably, and rendered the pope
utterly averse from listening to any proposal that came from the emperor.
Charles, as has been already observed, had so violently exasperated
Peter Lewis Farnese, the pope's son, by refusing to grant him the investiture of Parma and Placentia, that he had watched ever since that time
with all the vigilance of resentment for an opportunity of revenging that
injury. He had endeavoured to precipitate the pope into open hostilities
against the emperor, and had earnestly solicited the king of France to
invade Italy. His hatred and resentment extended to all those whom he
knew that the emperor favoured, he did every ill office in his power to
Gonzaga, governor of Milan, and had encouraged Fiesco in his attempl
upon the life of Andrew Doria, because both Gonzaga and Doria possessed a great degree of the emperor's esteem  and confidence. His
malevolence and secret intrigues were not unknown to the emperor, who
could not be more desirous to take vengeance on him, than Gonzaga and
Doria were to be employed as his instruments in inflicting it. Farnese,
by the profligacy of his life, and by enormities of every kind, equal to
those committed by the worst tyrants who have disgraced human nature,
had rendered himself so odious, that it was thought any violence whatever
might be lawfully attempted against him. Gonzaga and Doria soon
found among his own subjects, persons who were eager, and even deemed
it meritorious, to lend their hands in such a service. As Farnese, animated
with the jealousy which usually possesses petty sovereigns, had employed
all the cruelty and fraud, whereby they endeavour to supply their defect
of power, in order to humble and extirpate the nobility subject to his
government, five noblemen of the greatest distinction in Placentia conmbined to avenge the injuries which they themselves had suffered, as well
as those which he had offered to their order. They formed their plan in
conjunction with Gonzaga; but it remains uncertain whether he originally
suggested the scheme to them, or only approved of what they proposed,
and co-operated in carrying it on. They concerted all the previous
steps with such foresight, conducted their intrigues with such secrecy, and
displayed such courage in the execution of their design, that it may te
* F. Paul, 248, &c.




374                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [BooK IX.
ranked among the most audacious deeds of that nature mentioned in
history. One body of the conspirators surprised, at mid-day [Sept. 10].
the gates of the citadel of Placentia where Farnese resided, overpowered.
his guards, and murdered him. Another party of them made themselves
masters of the town, and called upon their fellow-citizens to take arms,
in order to recover their liberty. The multitude ran towards the citadel,
from which three great guns, a signal concerted with Gonzaga, had been
fired; and before they could guess the cause or the authors of the tumult,
they saw the lifeless body of the tyrant hanging by the heels from one of
the windows of the citadel. But so universally detestable had he become,
that not one expressed any sentiment of concern at such a sad reverse of
fortune, or discovered the least indignation at this ignominious treatment
of a sovereign prince.  The exultation at the success of the conspiracy
was general, and all applauded the actors in it as the deliverers of' their
country.  The body was tumbled into the ditch that surrounded the
citadel, and exposed to the insults of the rabble; the rest of the citizens
returned to their usual occupations, as if nothing extraordinary had hapDened.
Before next morning, a body of troops arriving from the frontiers of the
Milanese, where they had been posted in expectation of the event, took
possession of the city in the emperor's name, and reinstated the inhabitants
in the possession of their ancient privileges. Parma, which the Imperialists attempted likewise to surprise, was saved by the vigilance and
fidelity of the officers whom Farnese had intrusted with the command of
the garrison. The death of a son whom, notwithstanding his infamous
vices, Paul loved with an excess of parental tenderness, overwhelmed
him with the deepest affliction; and the loss of a city of such consequence
as Placentia, greatly embittered his sorrow.  He accused Gonzaga, in
open consistory, of having committed a cruel murder, in order to prepare
the way for an unjust usurpation, and immediately demanded of the
emperor satisfaction for both; for the former, by the punishment of Gonzaga; for the latter, by the restitution of Placentia to his grandson,
Octavia, its rightful owner. But Charles, who, rather than quit a prize
of such value, was willing not only to expose himself to the imputation
of being accessary to the crime which had given an opportunity of seizing
it, but to bear the infamy of defrauding his own son-in-la w of the inheritance which belonged to him, eluded all his solicitations, nd determined
to keep possession of the city, together with it: c-rrritories.*
This resolution, flowing from an ambition so rapacious, as to be restrained
by no consideration either of decency or justice, transported the pope so
far beyond his usual moderation and prudence, that he was eager to take
arms ag';nst the emperor, in order to be avenged on the murderers of his
son, and to recover the inheritance'wrested from his family. Conscious.
however, of his own inability to contend with such an enemy, he warmly
solicited the French king and the republic of Venice to join in an offensive
league against Charles.  But Henry was intent at that time on other
objects. His ancient allies, the Scots, having been defeated by the English in one of the greatest battles ever fought between these two rival
nations, he was about to send a numerous body of veteran troops into that
country, as well to preserve it from being conquered, as to gain the acquisition of a new kingdom to the French monarchy, by marrying his son the
dauphin to the young queen of Scotland. An undertaking accompanied
with such manifest advantages, the success of which appeared to be so
certain, was not to be relinquished for the remote prospect of benefit from
an alliance depending upon the precarious life of a pope of fourscore,
F. Paul, 257. Pallavic. 41, 42. Thuan iv. 156. Mem. de Ribier, 59. 67. Natalis Comitis
flistor. lib. iii. p). 64.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             375
who had nothing at heart but the gratification of his own private resentment. Instead, therefore, of rushing headlong into the alliance proposed,
Henry amused the pope with such general professions and promises, as
might keep him from any thoughts of endeavouring to accommodate his
differences with the emperor, but at the same time he avoided any such
engagement as might occasion an immediate rupture with Charles, or
precipitate him into a war for which he was not prepared. The Venetians, though much alarmed at seeing Placentia in the hands of the Imperialists, imitated the wary conduct of the French king, as it nearly
resembled the spirit which usually regulated their own conduct.*
But though the pope found that it was not in his power to kindle immediately the flames of war, he did not forget the injuries which he was
obliged for the present to endure; resentment settled deeper in his mind,
and became more rancorous in proportion as he felt the difficulty of gratifying it. It was while these sentiments of enmity were in full force, and
the desire of vengeance at its height, that the diet of Augsburg, by the
emperor's command, petitioned the pope, in the name of the whole Germanic body, to enjoin the prelates who had retired to Bologna to return
again to Trent, and to renew their deliberations in that place. Charles
had been at great pains in bringing the members to join in this request.
Having observed a considerable variety of sentiments among the protestants with respect to the submission which he had required to the decrees
of the council, some of them being altogether intractable, while others
were ready to acknowledge its right of jurisdiction upon certain conditions,
he employed all his address in order to gain or to divide them. He
threatened and overawed the elector Palatine, a weak prince, and afraid
that the emperor might inflict on him the punishment to which he had
made himself liable by the assistance that he had given to the confederates of Smalkalde. The hope of procuring liberty for the landgrave,
together with the formal confirmation of his own electoral dignity, overcame Maurice's scruples, or prevented him from opposing what he knew
would be agreeable to the emperor. The elector of Brandenburgh, less
influenced by religious zeal than any prince of that age, was easily induced
to imitate their example, in assenting to all that the emperor required.
The deputies of the cities remained still to be brought over. They were
more tenacious of their principles, and though every thing that could
operate either on their hopes or fears was tried, the utmost that they
would plomise was, to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the council, if
effectual provision were made for securing to the divines of all parties
free access to that assembly, with entire liberty of debate; and if all
points in controversy were decided according to scripture, and the usage
of the primitive church. But when the memorial containing this declaration was presented to the emperor, he ventured to put in practice a very
extraordinary artifice. Without reading the paper, or taking' any notice
of the conditions on which they had insisted, he seemed to take it for
granted that they had complied with his demand, and gave thanks to
the deputies for their full and unreserved submission to the decrees of the
council [Oct. 9]. The deputies, though astonished at what they had
heard, did not attempt to set him right, both parties being better pleased
that the matter should remain under this state of ambiguity, than to push
for an explanation, which must have occasioned a dispute, and would
have led, perhaps, to a rupture.d
Having obtained this seeming submission from the members of the diet
to the authority of the council, Charles employed that as an argument to
enforce their petition for its return to Trent. But the pope, from the satis* Mern. de Ribier, ii. 63. 71. 78. 85. 95. Paruta Istor. di Vene7. t99 203. Thuan. iv. 160
t F. Paul, 259. Sleid. 440 Thuan. torn. i. 155.




376                TIHE  REIGN  OF  THE                 [BOOK IX
factlon which he felt in mortifying the emperor, as well as from his own
aversion to what was demanded, resolved, without hesitation, that hi
petition should not be granted; though, in order to avoid the imputatih
of being influenced wholly by resentment, he had the address to throw
upon the fathers at Bologna, to put a direct negative upon the requebs
With this view he referred to their consideration the petition of the die,
[Dec. 20], and they, ready to confirm by their assent whatever the legates
were pleased to dictate, declared that the council could:ot, consistently
with its dignity, return to Trent, unless the prelates who, by remaining
there, had discovered a schismatic spirit, would first repair to Bologna.
and join their brethren; and that, even after their junction, the,ouncil
could not renew its consultations with any prospect of benefit to the
church, if the Germans did not prove their intention of obeying its future
decrees to be'sincere, by yielding immediate obedience to those which
it had already passed.*
This answer was communicated to the emperor by the pope, who at the
same time exhorted him to comply with demands which appeared to be
so reasonable. But Charles was better acquainted with the duplicity of
the pope's character than to be deceived by such a gross artifice; he
knew that the prelates of Bologna durst utter no sentiment but what Paul
inspired; and, therefore, overlooking them as mere tools in the hand
of another, he considered their reply as a full discovery of the pope's
intentions. As he could no longer hope to acquire such an ascendant in the
council as to render it subservient to his own plan, he saw it to be necessary that Paul should not have it in his power to turn against him the
authority of so venerable an assembly. In order to prevent this, he sent two
Spanish lawyers to Bologna [Jan. 16, 1548], who, in the presence of the
legates, protested, That the translation of the council to that place had
been unnecessary, and founded on false or frivolous pretexts; that while
it continued to meet there, it ought to be deemed an unlawful and schismatical conventicle; that all its decisions ought of course to be held as null
and invalid; and that since the pope, together with the corrupt ecclesiastics who depended on him, had abandoned th, care of the church, th
emperor, as its protector, would employ all the power which God had
committed to him, in order to preserve it from those calamities with which
it was threatened. A few days after [Jan. 23], the Imperial ambassador
at Rome demanded an audience of the pope, and in presence of all the
cardinals, as well as foreign ministers, protested against the proceedings of
the prelates at Bologna, in terms equally harsh and disrespectful.f
It was not long before Charles proceeded to carry these threats, which
greatly alarmed both the pope and council at Bologna, into execution. He
let the diet know the ill success of his endeavours to procure a favourable
answer to their petition, and that the pope, equally regardless of their
entreaties, and of his services to the church, had refused to gratify them
by allowing the council to meet again at Trent; that, though all hope of
holding this assembly in a place, where they might look for freedom of
debate and judgment, was not to be given up, the prospect of it was, at
present, distant and uncertain; that in the mean time, Germany was tori
in pieces by religious dissensions, the purity of the faith corrupted, and the
minds of the people disquieted with a multiplicity of new opinions and
controversies formerly unknown among Christians; that, moved by the
duty which he owed to them as their sovereign, and to the church as its
protector, he had employed some divines of known abilities and learning,
to prepare a system of doctrine, to which all should conform, until a council, such as they wished for, could be convocated. This system was comr
* F. Paul, 250 Pallav ii 49.    t F. Paul, 264. Pallav. 51. Sleid. 446. Goldasti Con.1,
Imperial. i. 561.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                377
piled by Pflug, Helding, and Agricola, of whom the two former were dignitaries in the Romish church, but remarkable for their pacific and healing
spirit; the last was a protestant divine, suspected, not without reason, of
having been gained by bribes and promises, to betray or mislead his party
on this occasio:. The articles presented to the diet of Ratisbon in the
year one thousand five hundred and forty-one, in order to reconcile the
contending parties, served as a model for the present work. But as the
emperor's situation was much changed since that time, and he found it no
longer necessary to manage the protestants with the same delicacy as at
that juncture, the concessions in their favour were not now so numerous,
nor did they extend to points of so much consequence. The treatise contained a complete system of thedlogy, conformable in almost every article
to the tenets of the Romish church, though expressed, for the most part, in
the softest words, or in scriptural phrases, or in terms of studied ambiguity.
Every doctrine, however, peculiar to popery, was retained, and the
observation of all the rites, which the protestants condemned as inventions
of men introduced into the worship of God, was enjoined. With regard
o two points only, some relaxation in the rigour of opinion as well as some
atitude in the practice were admitted.  Such ecclesiastics as had married,
and would not put away their wives, were allowed, nevertheless, to perform all the functions of their sacred office; and those provinces which
had been accustomed to partake of the cup as well as of the bread in the
sacrament of the Lord's supper, were still indulged in the privilege of receiving both. Even these were declared to be concessions for the sake of
peace, and granted only for a season, in compliance with the weakness or
prejudices of their countrymen.*
This system of doctrine, known afterwards by the name of the Interim,
because it contained temporary regulations, which were to continue no
longer in force than until a free general council could be held, the emperor presented to the diet [May 15], with a pompous declaration of his sincere intention to re-establish tranquillity and order in the church, as well
as of his hopes that their adopting these regulations vould contribute
greatly to bring about that desirable event. It was read in presence of
the diet, according to form. As soon as it was finished, the archbishop
of Mentz, president of the electoral college, rose up hastily; and having
thanked the emperor for his unwearied and pious endeavours in order to
restore peace to the church, he, in the name of the diet, signified theil
approbation of the system of doctrine which had been read, together with
their resolution of conforming to it in every particular.  The whole assembly was amazed at a declaration so unprecedented and unconstitutional, as
well as at the elector's presumption in pretending to deliver the sense of
the diet, upon a point which had not hitherto been the subject of consultation or debate. But not one member had the courage to contradict what
the elector had said; some being overawed by fear, others remaining
silent through complaisance. The emperor held the archbishop's declaration to be a full constitutional ratification of the Interim, and prepared to
enforce the observance of it, as a decree of the empire.t
During this diet, the wife and children of the landgrave, warmly
seconded by Maurice of Saxony, endeavoured to interest the members in
behalf of that unhappy prince, who still languished in confinement. But
Charles, who did not choose to be brought under the necessity of rejecting
any request that came from such a respectable body, in order to prevent
their representations, laid before the diet an account of his transactions
with the landgrave, together with the motives which had at first induced
him to detain that prince in custody, and which rendered it prudent, as he
* F. Paul, 270. Pallav. ii. 60. Sleid. 453.457. Struv Corp 1054. Goldast. Constit. Impr
518.      t Sleid. 460. F. Paul, 273. Pallav.63.
VOL. II.-48




378                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   rBoo  IX.
alleged, to keep him still under restraint. It was no easy matter to give
any good reason for an action, incapable of beingjustified. But he thought
the most frivolous pretexts might be produced in an assembly the mem
bers of which were willing to be deceived, and afraid of nothing so much
as of discovering that they saw his conduct in its true colours. His account
of his own conduct was accordingly admitted to be fully satisfactory, and
after some feeble entreaties that he would extend his clemency to his unfortunate prisoner, the landgrave's concerns were no more mentioned."
In order to counterbalance the unfavourable impression which this
inflexible rigour might make, Charles, as a proof that his gratitude was no
less permanent and unchangeable than his resentment, invested Maurice in
the electoral dignity, with all the legal formalities. The ceremony was
performed, with extraordinary pomp, in an open court, so near the apartment in which the degraded elector was kept a prisoner, that he could
view it from his windows. Even this insult did not ruffle his usual tranquillity; and turning his eyes that way, he beheld a prosperous rival
receiving those ensigns of dignity of which he had been stripped, without
uttering one sentiment unbecoming the fortitude that he had preserved
amidst all his calamities.f
Immediately after the dissolution of the diet, the emperor ordered the
Interim to be published in the German as well as Latin language. It
met with the usual reception of conciliating schemes, when proposed to
men heated with disputation; both parties declaimed against it with
equal violence. The protestants condemned it as a system containing the
grossest errors of popery, disguised with so little art, that it could impose
only on the most ignorant, or on those who, by wilfully shutting their
eyes,. favoured the deception.  The papists inveighed against it, as a
work in which some doctrines of the church were impiously given up,
others meanly concealed, and all of them delivered in terms calculated
rather to deceive the unwary, than to instruct the ignorant, or to reclaim
such as were enemies to the truth. While the Lutheran divines fiercely
attacked it on the one hand, the general of the Dominicans with no less
vehemence impugned it on the other. But at Rome, as soon as the contents of the Interim came to be known, the indignation of the courtiers and
ecclesiastics rose to the greatest height. They exclaimed against the
emperor's profane encroachment on the sacerdotal function, in presuming,
with the concurrence of an assembly of laymen, to define articles of faith
and to regulate modes of worship. They compared this rash deed to that
of Uzziah, who, with an unhallowed hand, had touched the ark of God;
or to the bold attempts of those emperors, who had rendered their
memory detestable, by endeavouring to model the Christian church
according to their pleasure.  They even affected to find out a resemblance
between the emperor's conduct and that of Henry VIII., and expressed
their fear of his imitating the example of that apostate, by usurping the
title as well as jurisdiction belonging to the head of the church. All,
therefore, contended with one voice, that as the foundations of ecclesiastical authority were now shaken, and the whole fabric ready to be over
turned by a new enemy, some powerful method of defence should'be provided, and a vigorous resistance must be made, in the beginning, before he
grew too formidable to be opposed.
The pope, whose judgment was improved by longer experience in great
transactions, as well as by a more extensive observation of human affairs,
viewed the matter with more acute discernment, and derived comfort from
the very circumstance which filled them  with apprehension. He wvas
astonished that a prince of such superior sagacity as the emperor, should
* Sleld. 441?  T Thuan. Hist. lib. v. 176. Struv. Corp. 1054. Investitura Mauritii, a
lTanllmerano Lucemburgo descripta, ap. Scardium, ii. 508.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             37.
be so intoxicated with a single victory, as to imagine that he might give
law to mankind, and decide even in those matters, with regard to which
they are most impatient of dominion. He saw that by joining any one of
the contending parties in Germany, Charles might have had it in his power
to have oppressed the other, but that the presumption of success had now
inspired him with the vain thought of his being able to domineer over both.
He foretold that a system which all attacked, and none defended, could not
be of long duration; and that, for this reason, there was no need of his
interposing in order to hasten its fall; for as soon as the powerful hand
wnich now upheld it was withdrawn, it would sink of its own accord, and
be forgotten, for ever.*
The emperor, fond of his own plan, adhered to his resolution of carry
ing it into full execution. But though the elector Palatine, the elector of
Brandenburg, and Maurice, influenced by the same considerations as
formerly, seemed ready to yield implicit obedience to whatever he should
enjoin, he met not everywhere with a like obsequious submission. John
marquis of Brandenburg Anspach, although he had taken part with great
zeal in the war against the confederates of Smalkalde, refused to renounce
doctrines which he held to be sacred; and reminding the emperor of the
repeated promises which he had given his protestant allies, of allowing
them the free exercise of their religion, he claimed, in consequence of
these, to be exempted from receiving the Interim. Some other princes,
also, ventured to mention the same scruples, and to plead the same indulgence. But on this, as on other trying occasions, the firmness of the elector
of Saxony was most distinguished, and merited the highest praise. Charles,
well knowing the authority of his example with all the protestant party,
laboured with the utmost earnestness, to gain his approbation of the
Interim, and by employing sometimes promises of setting him at liberty,
sometimes threats of treating him with greater harshness, attempted alternately to work upon his hopes and his fears. But he was alike regardless
of both. After having declared his fixed belief in the doctrines of the
reformation, "I cannot now," said he, "in my old age, abandon the principles for which I early contended; nor, in order to procure freedom
during a few declining years, will I betray that good cause, on account of
which I have suffered so much, and am still willing to suffer. Better for
me to enjoy, in this solitude, the esteem of virtuous men, together with
the approbation of my own conscience, than to return into the world, with
the imputation and guilt of apostacy, to disgrace and embitter the remainder of my days." By this magnanimous resolution, he set his countrymen
a pattern of conduct so very different from that which the emperor wished
him to have exhibited to them, that it drew upon him fresh marks of his
displeasure.  The rigour of his confinement was increased; the number
of his servants abridged; the Lutheran clergymen, who had hitherto been
permitted to attend him, were dismissed; and even the books of devotion,
which had been his chief consolation during a tedious imprisonment, were
taken from him.t The landgrave of Hesse, his companion in misfortune,
did not maintain the same constancy. His patience and fortitude were
both so much exhausted by the length of his confinement, that, willing to
purchase freedom at any price, he wrote to the emperor, offering not only
to approve of the Interim, but to yield an unreserved submission to his
will in every other particular. But Charles who knew that whatever
course the landgrave might hold,' neither his example nor his authority
would prevail on his children or subjects to receive the Interim, paid no
regard to his offers. He was kept confined as strictly as ever; and while
he suffered the cruel mortification of having his conduct set in contrast to
that of the elector, he derived not the smallest benefit from the mean step
which exposed him to such deserved censure.: i
* Sleid. 468. F. Paul, 271. 277. Pallav ii. 64    t Sleid. 462,: Ibid.




3SO          THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [Boox IX
But it was in the Imperial cities that Charles met with the most violen*
opposition to the Interim   These small commonwealths, the citizens of
which were accustomed to liberty and independence, had embraced the
doctrines of fhe reformation when they were first published, with remarkable eagerness; the bold spirit of innovation being peculiarly suited to the
genius of free government. Among them, the protestant teachers had
made the greatest number of proselytes. The most eminent divines of
the party were settled in them as pastors. By having the direction of
the schools and other seminaries of learning, they had trained up disciples,
who were as well instructed in the articles of their faith, as they were
zealous to defend them. Such persons were not to be guided by example,
or swayed by authority; but having been taught to employ their own
understanding in examining and deciding with respect to the points in
controversy, they thought that they were both qualified and entitled to
Judge for themselves. As soon as the contents of the Interim were known,
they, with one voice, joined in refusing to admit it. Augsburg, Ulm,
Strasburg, Constance, Bremen, Magdeburg, together with many other
towns of less note, presented remonstrances to the emperor, setting forth
the irregular and unconstitutional manner in which the Interim had beer.
enacted, and beseeching him not to offer such violence to their consciences,
as to require their assent to a form of doctrine and worship, which appeared
to them repugnant to the express precepts of the divine law. But Charles
having prevailed on so many princes of the empire to approve of his new
model, was not much moved by the representations of those cities, which,
how formidable soever they might have proved, if they could have been
formed into one body, lay so remote from each other, that it was easy to
oppress them separately, before it was possible for them to unite.
In order to accomplish this, the emperor saw it to be requisite that his
measures should be vigorous, and executed with such rapidity as to allow
no time for concerting any common plan of opposition. Having laid down
this maxim as the rule of his proceedings, his first attempt was upon the
city of Augsburg, which, though overawed by the presence of the Spanish
troops, he knew to be as much dissatisfied with the Interim as any in the
empire. He ordered one body of these troops to seize the gates; he
posted the rest in different quarters of the city; and assembling all the
burgesses in the town-hall [Aug. 3], he, by his sole absolute authority,
published a decree abolishing their present form of government, dissolving
all their corporations and fraternities, and nominating a small number of
persons, in whom he vested for the future all the powers of government.
Each of the persons, thus chosen, took an oath to observe the Interim.
An act of power so unprecedented as well as arbitrary, which excluded
he body ot the inhabitants from any share in the government of their own
omrimunity, and subjected them to men who had no other merit than their
servile devotion to the emperor's will, gave general disgust; but as they
durst not venture upon resistance, they were obliged to submit in silence.'
F'cim Augsburg, in which he left a garrison, he proceeded to Ulm, and
new-modelled its government with the same violent hand; he seized
such of their pastors as refused to subscribe the Interim, committed them
to prison, andl at his departure carried them along with him in chains.t
By this severity he not only secured the reception of the Interim, in two
oi the most powerful cities, but gave warning to the rest what such as
continued refactory had to expect.  The effect of the example was as
great as he could have wished; and many towns, in order to save themselves
from the like treatment, found it necessary to comply with what he enjoined. This obedience, extorted by the rigour of authority, produced no
change in the sentiments of the Germans, and extended no farther than to
make. them conform so far to what he requiied, as was barely sufficient to
Sleid. 469.   t Thid. 472




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              381
screen them from punishment. The protestant preachers accompanied
those religious rites, the observation of which the Interim prescribed, with
such an explication of their tendency, as served rather to confirm than tc
remove the scruples of their hearers with regard to them. The people,
many of whom bad grown up to mature years since the establishment of
the reformed religion, and never known any other form of public worship,
beheld the pompous pageantry of the popish service with contempt or
horror; and in most places the Romish ecclesiastics who returned to take
possession of their churches, could hardly be protected from insult, or their
ministrations from interruption. Thus, notwithstanding the apparent compliance of so many cities, the inhabitants being accustomed to freedom,
submitted with reluctance to the power which now  oppressed them.
Their understanding as well as inclination revolted against the doctrines
and ceremonies imposed on them; and though, for the present, they concealed their disgust and resentment, it was evident that these passions
could not always be kept under restraint, but would break out at last in
effects proportional to their violence.*
Charles, however, highly pleased with having bent the stubborn spirit
of the Germans to such general submission, departed for the Low-Countries,
fully determined to compel the cities, which still stood out, to receive the
Interim. He carried his two prisoners, the elector of Saxony and land
grave of Hesse, along with him, either because he durst not leave them
behind him in Germany, or because he wished to give his countrymen the
Flemings this illustrious proof of the success of his arms, and the extent
of his power. Before Charles arrived at Brussels [Sept. 17], he was
informed that the pope's legates at Bologna had dismissed the council by
an indefinite prorogation, and that the prelates assembled there had
returned to their respective countries. Necessity had driven the pope into
this measure. By the secession of those who had voted against the translation, together with the departure of others, who grew weary of continuing
in a place where they were not suffered to-proceed to business, so few and
such inconsiderable members remained, that the pompous appellation of a
General Council could not, -with decency, be bestowed any longer upon
them. Paul had no choice but to dissolve an assembly which was become
the object of contempt, and exhibited to all Christendom a most glaring
proof of the impotence of the Romish see. But unavoidable as the measure was, it lay open to be unfavourably interpreted, and had the appearance of withdrawing the remedy, at the very time when those for whose
recovery it was provided, were prevailed on to acknowledge its virtue,
and to make trial of its efficacy. Charles did not fail to put this construction on the conduct of the pope; and by an artful comparison of his
own efforts to suppress heresy, with Paul's scandalous inattention to a point
so essential, he endeavoured to render the pontiff odious to all zealous
catholics. At the same time he commanded the prelates of his faction to
remain at Trent, that the council might still appear to have a being, and
might be ready, whenever it was thought expedient, to resume its delibe
rations for the good of the church. 
The motive of Charles's journey to the Low-Countries, besides gratifying
his favourite passion of travelling from one part of his dominions to another
was to receive Philip his only son, who was now in the twenty-first year
ef his age, and whom he had called thither, not only that he might be
recognised by the states of the Netherlands as heir-apparent, but in order
to facilitate the execution of a vast scheme, the object of which, and the
reception it met with, shall be hereafter explained. Philip having left the
government of Spain to Maximilian, Ferdinand's eldest son, to whom the
emperor had given the princess Mary his daughter in marriage, embarked
* Mem. de Ribier, ii. 218. Sleid. 491  t Pallav. p. 11. 72




382                 THE REIGN OF THE                         [BooKX
for Italy, attended by a numerous retinue of Spanish nobles.* The squauron
which escorted him, was commanded by Andrew  Doria. who, notwithstanding his advanced age, insisted on the honour of performing, in person,
the same duty to the son, which he had often discharged towards the
father.  He landed safely at Genoa [Nov. 25]; from  thence he went to
Mila-, and proceeding through Germany, arrived at the Imperial court in
Brussels [April 1, 1549]. The states of Brabant, in the first place, and
those of the other provinces in their order, acknowledged his right of succession in common form, and he took the customary oath to preserve all
their privileges inviolate.t In all the towns of the Low-Countries through
which Philip passed, he was received with extraordinary pomp. Nothing
that could either express the respect of the people, or contribute to his
amusement, was neglected; pageants, tournaments, and public spectacles
of every kind, were exhibited with that expensive magnificence which commercial nations are fond of displaying, when, on any occasion, they depart
from their usual maxims of frugality.  But amidst these scenes of festivity
and pleasure, Philip's natural severity of temper was discernible.  Youth
itself could not render him agreeable, nor his being a candidate for power
form him to courtesy. He maintained a haughty reserve in his behaviour,
and discovered such manifest partiality towards his Spanish attendants,
together with such an avowed preference to the manners of their country,
as highly disgusted the Flemings, and gave rise to that antipathy, which
afterwards occasioned a revolution so fatal to him  in that part of his
dominions.+
Charles was long detained in the Netherlands by a violent attack of the
gout, which returned upon him so frequently, and with such increasing
violence, that it had broken, to a great degree, the vigour of his constitution. He nevertheless did not slacken his endeavours to enforce the Interim.  The inhabitants of Strasburg, after a long struggle, found it necessary
to yield obedience; those of Constance, who had taken arms in their own
defence, were compelled by force, not only to conform to the Interim, but
to renounce their privileges as a free city, to do homage to Ferdinand as
archduke of Austria, and as his vassals, to admit an Austrian governor and
garrison.~  Magdeburg, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck, were the only
Imperial cities of note that still continued refractory.
ILE  harles oured,   h          unwearied industry, to persuade or
WHILE Charles aboured, with such unwearied industry, to persuade or
to force the protestants to adopt his regulations with respect to religion, the
effects of his steadiness in the execution of his plan were rendered less considerable by his rupture with the pope, which daily increased.  The firm
resolution which the emperor seemed to have taken against restoring Placentia, together with his repeated encroachments on the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, not only by the regulations contained in the Interim, but by his
attempt to re-assemble the council at Trent, exasperated Paul to the utmost, who, with the weakness incident to old age, grew more attached to
nis family, and more jealous of his authority, as he advanced in years.
Pushed on by these passions, he made new efforts to draw the French king
into an alliance against the emperor:1 but finding that monarch, notwithstanding the hereditary enmity between him and Charles, and the jealousy
* Ochoa, Carolea, 362.  t Harei. Annal. Brabant. 652.  t Mem. de Ribter, ii. 2. L'Eveu-, Meorn., de Card Cranvelle, i 21.           1 Sleid 474 41  In em. de Ribier, ii. 230




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                            83
with which  he viewed  the successful progress of the Imperial arms, as
~nwilling as formerly to involve himself in immediate hostilities, he was
obliged to contract his views, and to think of preventing future encroacnmnents, since it was not in his power to inflict vengeance on account of those
which were  past.  For this purpose, he determined to recall his grant of
Parma and Placentia, and after declaring them to be re-annexed to the holy
see, to  indemnify his grandson Octavio by  a new  establishment in the
ecclesiastical state.  By this expedient he hoped to gain two points of nc
small consequence. He, first of all, rendered his possession of Parma more
secure; as the emperor would be more cautious of invading the patrimony
of the church, though he might seize without scruple a town belonging to
the house of Farnese. In the next place, he would acquire a better chance
of recovering Placentia, as his solicitations to that effect might decently be
urged with greater importunity, and would infallibly be attended with greater
effect, when he was considered not as pleading the cause of his own family,
but as an advocate for the interest of the holy see. But while Paul was
priding himself on this device, as a happy refinement in policy, Octavio, an
ambitious and high-spirited young man, who could not bear with patience
to be spoiled of one half of his territories by the rapaciousness of his fatherin-law, and to be deprived of the other by the artifices of his grandfather,
took measures in order to prevent the execution  of a plan fatal to his
interest. He set out secretly from Rome, and having first endeavoured to
surprise Parma, which attempt was frustated by the fidelity of the governor
to whom the pope had intrusted the defence of the town, he made overtures to the emperor, of renouncing all connexion with the pope, and of
depending entirely on him for his future fortune.  This unexpected defec.
tion of one of the pope's own family to an enemy whom  he hated, irritated,
almost to madness, a mind peevish with old age; and there was no degree
of severity to which Paul might not have proceeded against a grandson
whom  he reproached as an unnatural apostate.  But, happily for Octavio,
death prevented his carrying into execution the harsh resolutions which he
had taken with respect to him, and put an end to his pontificate in the sixteenth year of his administration, and the eighty-second year of his age.d
* Among many instances of the credulity or weakness of historians in attributing the death om
illustrious personages to extraordinary causes, this is one. Almost allthe historians of the sixteenth
century affirm, that the death of Paul IIL. was occasioned by the violent passions which the
behaviour of his grandson excited; that being informed, while he was refreshing himself in one of his
gardens near Rome, of Octavio's attempt on Parma, as well as of his negotiations with the emperor
by means of Gonzaga, he fainted away, continued some hours in a swoon, then became feverish,
and died within three days. This is the account given of it by Thuanus, lib. vi. 211. Adriani Istor. di
suoi Tempi, lib, vii. 480, and by Father Paul, 280. Even cardinal Pallavicini, better informed than
any writer with regard to the events which happened in the papal court, and when not warped by
prejudice or system, more accurate inrelating them, agrees with their narrative in its chief circum.
stances. Pallav. b. ii. 74. Paruta, who wrote hishistoryby command of the senate of Venice, relates
it in the same manner. Historici Venez. vol. iv. 212. But there was no occasion to search for any
extraordinary cause to account for the death of an old man of eighty-two. There remains an authentic account of this event, in which we find none of those marvellous circumstances of which the
historians are so fond. The cardinal of Ferrara, who was intrusted with the affairs of France at the
court of Rome, and M. D'Urfe, Henry's ambassador in ordinary there, wrote an account to that
monarch of the affair ofParma, and of the pope's death. By these it appears, that Octavio's attempt
to surpriseParma, was made on the twentieth of October; that next day in the evening, and not
while he was airing himself in the gardens of Monte Cavallo, the pope received intelligence of what
he had done; that he was seized with such a transFort of passion, and cried so bitterly, that his
voice was heard in several apartments of the palace; that next day, however, he was so well as to
give an audience to the cardinal of Ferrara, and to go through business of different kinds; that Octavia
wrote aletter to the pope, not to cardinal Farnese his brother, intimating his resolution of throwing
himself into the arms of the emperor; that the pope received this on the twenty-first without any
new symptoms of emotion, and returned an answer to it; that on the twenty-second of October, the
day on which the cardinal of Ferrara's letter is dated, the pope was in his usual state of health.
Mem. de Ribier, ii. 247. By a letter of M. D'Urfe, Nov. 5, it appears that the pope was in such good
health, that on the third of that month he had celebrated the anniversary of his coronation with the
usual solemnities. Ibidem, 251. By another letterfrom the same person, we learn, that on the sixth
of November a catarrh or defluxion fell down on the pope's lungs, with such dangerous symptoms,
that his life was immediately despaired of. Ibid. 252. And by a third letter we are informed, that
he died November the tenth. In none of these letters is his death imputed to any extraordinary
cause. it appears, that more than twenty days elapsed between Octavio's attempt on Parma and
the death of his grandfather, and that the disease was the natural effect of old age, and not ones'
those occasioned by violence of passion.




3~t4                THE  REIGN  OF'1 HE                   [BOOK..
16s;0.] As this event had been long expected, there was an extraordinary
concourse of cardinals at Rome; and the various competitors having had
ime to form their parties, and to concert their measures, their ambition
and intigues protracted the conclave to a great length.  The Imperial and
French faction strove, with emulation, to promote one of their own numoer, and had, by turns, the prospect of success. But as Paul, during a
long pontificate, had raised many to the purple, and those chiefly persons
of eminent abilities, as well as zealously devoted to his family, cardinal
Farnese had the command of a powerful and united squadron, by whose
address and firmness he exalted to the papal throne the cardinal di Monte
[Feb. 7], whom  Paul had employed as his principal legate in the council
of Trent, and trusted with his most secret intentions.  He assumed the
name of Julius III., and in order to express his gratitude towards his benefactor, the first act of his administration was to put Octavio Farnese in
possession of Parma.  When the injury which he did to the holy see, by
alienating a territory (f such value, was mentioned by some of the cardinals, he briskly replied, " That he would rather be a poor pope, with the
reputation of a gentleman, than a rich one, with the infamy of having forgotten the obligations conferred upon him, and the promises which he had
made.""  But all the lustre of this candour or generosity he quickly effaced
by an action most shockingly indecent. According to an ancient and e;stablished practice, every pope upon his election considers it as his privilege
to bestow, on whom he pleases, the cardinal's hat, which falls to be disposed of by his being invested with the triple crown. Julius, to the
astonishment of the sacred college, conferred this mark of distinction,
together with ample ecclesiastical revenues, and the right of bearing his
name and arms, upon one Innocent, a youth of sixteen, born of obscure
Parents, and known by the name of the Ape, from his having been trusted
with the care of an animal of that species, in the cardinal di Monte's;amily. Such a prostitution of the highest dignity in the church would
nave given offence, even in those dark periods, when the credulous super
stition of the people emboldened ecclesiastics to venture on the most fla
grant violations of decorum. But in an enlightened age, when, by the
progress of knowledge and philosophy, the obligations of duty and decency
were better understood, when a blind veneration for the pontifical charac
ter was every where abated, and one half of Christendom in open rebellion against the napal see, this action was viewed with horror. Rome was
immediately filled with libels and pasquinades, which imputed the pope's
extravagant regard for such an unworthy object to the most criminal passions. The protestants exclaimed against the absurdity of supposing that
the infallible spirit of divine truth could dwell in a breast so impure, and
called more loudly than ever, and with greater appearance of justice, for
the immediate and thorough reformation of a church, the head of which
was a disgrace to the Christian name.t  The rest of the pope's conduct
was of a piece with this first specimen of his dispositions. Having now
reached the summit of ecclesiastical ambition, he seemed eager to indem
nify himself, by an unrestrained indulgence of his desires, for the sell
denial or dissimulation which he had thought it prudent to practise while
in a subordinate station. He became careless, to so great a degree, of all
serious business, that he could seldom be brought to attend to it, but in
cases of extreme necessity; and giving up himself to amusements and
dissipation of every kind, he imitated the luxurious elegance of Leo rather
than the severe virtue of Adrian, the latter of which it was necessary to
display, in contending with a sect which derived great credit from the
rigid and austere manners of its teachers.T
* Mem. de Ribier.      f Sleid. 492. F. Paul, 281. Palla D 76. Tbuan ib, vi. 215.
F i. Paul, 281.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              385
The pope, however, ready to fulfil his engagements to the family of
Farnese, discovered no inclination to observe the oath, which each cardinal
had taken when he entered the conclave, that if the choice should fall on
him, he would immediately call the council to reassume its deliberations.
Julius knew, by experience, how difficult it was to confine such a body of
men within the narrow limits which it was the interest of the see of Rome
to prescribe; and how easily the zeal of some members, the rashness of
others, or the suggestions of the princes on whom they depended, might
precipitate a popular and ungovernable assembly into forbidden inquiries,
as well as dangerous decisions. He wished, for these reasons, to have
eluded the obligation of his oath, and gave an ambiguous answer to the
first proposals which were made to him by the emperor, with regard to
that matter. But Charles, either from his natural obstinacy in adhering to
the measures which he had once adopted, or from the mere pride of accomplishing what was held to be almost impossible, persisted in his resolution
of forcing the protestants to return into the bosom of the church. Having
persuaded himself, that the authoritative decisions of the council might be
employed with efficacy in combating their prejudices, he, in consequence
of that persuasion, continued to solicit earnestly that a new bull of convocation might be issued; and the pope could not, with decency, reject that
request.'When Julius found that he could not prevent the calling of a
council, he endeavoured to take to himself all the merit of having procured
the meeting of an assembly, which was the object of such general desire
and expectation. A congregation of cardinals, to whom he referred the
consideration of what was necessary for restoring peace to the church
recommended, by his direction, the speedy convocation of a council, as the
most effectual expedient for that purpose; and as the new heresies raged
with the greatest violence in Germany, they proposed Trent as the place
of its meeting, that, by a near inspection of the evil, the remedy might be
applied with greater discernment and certainty of success. The pope
warmly approved of this advice, which he himself had dictated, and sent
nuncios to the Imperial and French courts, in order to make known his
intentions.*
About this time, the emperor had summoned a new diet to meet at
Augsburg, in order to enforce the observation of the Interim, and to pro
cure a more authentic act of the supreme court in the empire, acknowledging the jurisdiction of the council, as well as an explicit promise oi
conforming to its decrees. He appeared there in person, together with his
son the prince of Spain [June 251. Few electors were present, but all
sent deputies in their name. Charles, notwithstanding the despotic authority with which he had given law in the empire during two years, knew
that the spirit of independence among the Germans was not entirely subdued, and for that reason took care to overawe the diet by a considerable
body of Spanish troops which escorted him thither. The first point submitted to the consideration of the diet, was the necessity of hoMing a
council. All the popish members agreed, without difficulty, that the meeting of that assembly should be renewed at Trent, and promised an implicit
acquiescence in its decrees. The protestants, intimidated and disunited,
must have followed their example, and the resolution of the diet would
have proved unanimous, if Maurice of Saxony had not begun at this time
to disclose new intentions, and to act a part very different from that which
he had so long assumed.
By an artful dissimulation of his own sentiments  by address in paying
court to the emperor; and by the seeming zeal with which he forwarded
all his ambitious schemes, Maurice had raised himself to the electoral dignity; and having added the dominions of the elder branch of the Saxon
* F. Paul, 281    Pallav. ii. 77.
VOL,. II. 49.




386               THE REIGN OF THL                        [BooKX.
family to his own, he was. become the most powerful prince in Germany
But his long and intimate union with the emperor had afforded him many
opportunities of observing narrowly the dangerous tendency of that monarch's schemes. He saw the yoke that was preparing for his country; and
from the rapid as well as formidable progress of the Imperial power, was
convinced that but a few steps more remained to be taken, in order to
render Charles as absolute a monarch in Germany as he had become in
Spain. The more eminent the condition was to which he himself had
been exalted, the more solicitous did Maurice naturally become to main
tain all its rights and privileges, and the more did he dread the thoughts
descending from the rank of a prince almost independent, to that of a
vassal subject to the commands of a master. At the same time he perceived that Charles was bent on exacting a rigid conformity to the doctrines and rites of the Romish church, instead of allowing liberty of conscience, the promise of which had allured several protestant princes to
assist him in the war against the confederates of Smalkalde. As he himself, notwithstanding all the compliances which he had made from motives
of interest, or an excess of confidence in the emperor, was sincerely
attached to the Lutheran tenets, he determined not to be a tame spectator
of the overthrow of a system which he believed to be founded in truth.
This resolution, flowing from a love of liberty, or zeal for religion, was
strengthened by political and interested considerations.  In that elevated
station in which Maurice was now placed, new and more extensive prospects opened to his view. His rank and power entitled him to be the head
of the protestants in the empire. His predecessor, the degraded elector,
with inferior abilities, and territories less considerable, had acquired such
an ascendant over the councils of the party; and Maurice neither wanted
discernment to see the advantage of this pre-eminence, nor ambition to
aim at attaining it. But he found himself in a situation which rendered
the attempt no less difficult, than the object of it was important. On the
one hand, the connection which he had formed with the emperor was so
intimate, that he could scarcely hope to take any step which tended to
dissolve it, without alarming his jealousy, and drawing on himself the
whole weight of that power, which had crushed the greatest confederacy
ever formed in Germany. On the other hand, the calamities which he had
brought on the protestant party were so recent, as well as great, that it
seemed almost impossible to regain their confidence, or to rally and reanimate a body after he himself had been the chief instrument in breaking
its union and vigour. These considerations were sufficient to have discouraged any person of a spirit less adventurous than Maurice's. But to
him the grandeur and difficulty of the enterprise were allurements; and
he boldly resolved on measures, the idea of which a genius of an inferior
order could not have conceived, or would have trembled at the thoughts of
the danger that attended the execution of them.
His passions concurred with his interest in confirming this resolutwn;
and the resentment excited by an injury, which he sensibly felt, added new
force to the mobtives for opposing the emperor, which sound policy suggested. Maurice, by his authority, had prevailed on the landgrave of
Hesse to put his person in the emperor's power, and had obtained a promise from the Imperial ministers that he should not bedetained a prisoner.
This had been violated in the manner already related. The unhappy
landgrave exclaimed as loudly against his son-in-law as against Charles.
The princes of Hesse incessantly required Maurice to fulfil his engagements to their father, who had lost his liberty by trusting to him; and all
Germany suspected him of having betrayed, to an implacable enemy, the
friend whom he was most bound to protect. Roused by these solicitations
or reproaches, as well as prompted by duty and affection to his father-inlaw, Maurice had employed not only entreaties but remonstrances in order




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                387
o pie -ure his release. All these Charles had disregarded; and the shame
of having been first deceived, and then slighted, by a prince whom he had
served with zeal as well as success, which merited a very different return,
made such a deep Impression on Maurice, that he waited with impatience
for an opportunity of being revenged.
The utmost caution as well as the most delicate address were requisite
in taking every step towards this end; as he had to guard, on the one hand,
against giving a premature alarm to the emperor; while, on the other,
something considerable and explicit was necessary to be done, in order to
regain the confidence of the protestant party. Maurice had accordingly
applied all his powers of art and dissimulation to attain both these points.
As he knew Charles to be inflexible with regard to the submission which
he required to the Interim, he did not hesitate one moment whether he
should establish that form of doctrine and worship in his dominions: but
being sensible how  odious it was to his subjects, instead of violently
imposing it on them by the mere terror of authority, as had been done in
other parts of Germany, he endeavoured to render their obedience a
voluntary deed of their own. For this purpose, he had assembled the
clergy of his country at Leipsic, and had laid the Interim before them,
together with the reasons which made it necessary to conform to it. He
had gained some of them by promises,, others he had wrought upon by
threats, and all were intimidated by the rigour with which obedience to
the Interim was extorted in the neighbouring provinces. Even Melancthon, whose merit of every kind entitled him to the first place among the
protestant divines, being now deprived of the manly counsels of Luther,
which were wont to inspire him with fortitude, and to preserve him steady
amidst the storms and dangers that threatened the church, was seduced
into unwarrantable concessions, by the timidity of his temper, his fond
desire of peace, and his excessive complaisance towards persons of high
rank.  By his arguments and authority, no less than by Maurice's address,
the assembly was prevailed on to declare, " that, in points which were
purely indifferent, obedience was due to the commands of a lawful superior." Founding upon this maxim, no less incontrovertible in theory, than
dangerous when carried into practice, especially in religious matters, many
of the protestant ecclesiastics whom  Maurice consulted, proceeded to
class, among the number of things indifferent, several doctrines, which
Luther had pointed out as gross and pernicious errors in the Romish creed;
and placing in the same rank many of those rights which distinguished the
reformed from the popish worship, they exhorted their people to comply
with the emperor's injunctions concerning these particulars.*
By this dexterous conduct, the introduction of the Interim excited none
of those violent convulsions in Saxony which it occasioned in other provinces.  But though the Saxons submitted, the more zealous Lutherans
exclaimed against Melancthon and his associates, as false brethren, who
were either so wicked as to apostatize from the truth altogether; or so
crafty as to betray it by subtle distinctions; or so feeble-spirited as to
give it up from pusillanimity and criminal complaisance to a prince, capable
of sacrificing to his political interest that which he himself regarded as
most sacred. Maurice, being conscious what a colour of probability his
past conduct gave to those accusations, as well as afraid of losing entirely
the confidence of the protestants, issued a declaration containing professions
of his zealous attachment to the reformed religion, and of his resolution to
guard against all the errors or encroachments of the papal see.t
Having gone so far in order to remove the fears and jealousies of the
protestants, he found it necessary to efface the impression which such a
* Sleid. 481. 485. Jo. Laur. Moshemii [nstitutionem Hist. Ecclesiastics, lib. iv. Helmst. 1755,
4to. p. 748  lo And Schmidii Historia Interimistica, p. 70, &c. Helmst. 1730.    1 Sleid. 485,




388                THE REIGN OF THE                      [Boox X.
declaration might make upon the emperor. For that purpose, he not only
renewed-his professions of an inviolable adherence to his alliance with
him, but as the city of Magdeburg still persisted in rejecting the Interim,
he undertook to reduce it to obedience, and instantly set about levying
troops to be employed in that service. This damped all the hopes which
the protestants began to conceive of Maurice, in consequence of his declaration, and left them more than ever at a loss to guess at his real intentions.
Their former suspicion and distrust of him revived, and the divines of
Magdeburg filled Germany with writings in which they represented himi
as the most formidable enemy of the protestant religion, who treacherously
assumed an appearance of zeal for its interest, that he might more effectually execute his schemes for its destruction.
This charge, supported by the evidence of recent facts, as well as by
his present dubious conduct, gained such universal credit, that Maurice
was obliged to take a vigorous step in his own vindication. As soon as the
reassembling of the council at Trent was proposed in the diet, his ambassadors protested that their master would not acknowledge its authority,
unless all the points which had been already decided there, were reviewed.
and considered as still undetermined; unless the protestant divines had a
full hearing granted them, and were allowed a decisive voice in the council;
and unless the pope renounced his pretensions to preside in the council,
engaged to submit to its decrees, and to absolve the bishops from their
oath of obedience, that they might deliver their sentiments with greater
freedom. These demands, which were higher than any that the reformers
had ventured to make, even when the zeal of their party was warmest, ox
their affairs most prosperous, counterbalanced in some degree, the impression which Maurice's preparations against Magdeburg had made upon the
minds of the protestants, and kept them in suspense with regard to his
designs. At the same time, he had dexterity enough to represent this part
of his conduct in such a light to the emperor, that it gave him no offence,
and occasioned no interruption of the strict confidence which subsisted
between them. What the pretexts were which he employed, in order to
give such a bold declaration an innocent appearance, the contemporary historians have not explained; that they imposed upon Charles is certain, for
he still continued not only to prosecute his plan, as well concerning the
Interim as the council, with the same ardour, but to place the same confidence in Maurice, with regard to the execution of both.
The pope's resolution concerning the council not being yet known at
Augsburg, the chief business of the diet was to enforce the observation of
the Interim.  As the senate of Magdeburg, notwithstanding various
endeavours to frighten or to soothe them into compliance, not only persevered obstinately in their opposition to the Interim, but began to strengthen
the fortifications of their city, and to levy troops in their own defence,
Charles required the diet to assist him in quelling this audacious rebellion
against a decree of the empire. Had the. members of the diet been left
to act agreeably to their own inclination, this demand would have been
rejected without hesitation. All the Germans who favoured, in any degree,
the new opinions in religion, and many who were influenced by no other
consideration than jealousy of the emperor's growing power, regarded this
effort of the citizens of Magdeburg, as a noble stand for the liberties or
their country. Even such as had not resolution to exert the same spirit,
admired the gallantry of their enterprise, and wished it success. But the
presence of Spanish troops, together with the dread of the emperor's
displeasure, overawed the members of the diet to such a degree, that,
without venturing to utter their own sentiments, they tamely ratified, by
their votes, whatever the emperor was pleased to prescribe. The rigorous decrees, which Charles had issued by his own authority against the
Magdeburgers, were confirmed; a resolution was taken to raise troops in




EMPEROR CHARLES V                              389
order to besiege the city in form; and persons were named to fix the contingent in men or money to be furnished by each state. At the same time
the diet petitioned that Maurice might be intrusted with the command of
that army; to which Charles gave his consent with great alacrity, and
with high encomiums upon the wisdom  of the choice which they had
made.* As /Maurice conducted all his schemes with profound and impe
netrable secrecy, it is probable that he took no step avowedly in order to
obtain this charge.  The recommendation of his countrymen was either
purely accidental, or flowed from the opinion generally entertained of his
great abilities; and neither the diet had any foresight, nor the emperor any
dread, of the consequences which followed upon this nomination. Maurice
accepted, without hesitation, the command to which he was recommended,
instantly discerning the important advantages which he might derive from
having it committed to him.
Meanwhile, Julius, in preparing the bull for the convocation of the
council, observed all those tedious forms which the court of Rome can
artfully employ to retard any disagreeable measure. At last, however,
it was published, and the council was summoned to meet at Trent on the
first day of the ensuing month of May. As he knew that many of the
Germans rejected or disputed the authority and jurisdiction which the
papal see claims with respect to general councils, he took care, in the
preamble of the bull, to assert, in the strongest terms, his own right, not
only to call and preside in that assembly, but to direct its proceedings;
nor would he soften these expressions in any degree, in compliance with
the repeated solicitations of the emperor, who foresaw what offence they
would give, and what construction might be put on them. They were
censured accordingly with great severity by several members of the diet;
but whatever disgust or suspicion they excited, such complete influence
over all their deliberations had the emperor acquired, that he procured a
recess [Feb. 13, 1551], in which the authority of the council was recognised, and declared to be the proper remedy for the evils which at that
time afflicted the church; all the princes and states of the empire, such
as had made innovations in religion, as well as those who adhered to the
system of their forefathers, were required to send their representatives to
the council; the emperor engaged to grant a safe-conduct to such as
demanded it, and to secure them an impartial hearing in the council; he
promised to fix his residence in some city of the empire, in the neighbour"
hood of Trent, that he might protect the members of the council by his
presence, and take care that by conducting their deliberations agreeably to
scripture and the doctrine of the fathers, they might bring them to a desirable issue. In this recess, the observation of the Interim was more
strictly enjoined than ever; and the emperor threatened all who had
hitherto neglected or refused to conform to it, with the severest effects of his
vengeance, if they persisted in their disobedience.t
During the meeting of this diet, a new attempt was made, in order to
procure liberty to the landgrave. That prince, no ways reconciled to his
situation by time, grew every day more impatient of restraint. Having
often applied to Maurice and the elector of Brandenburg, who took every
occasion of soliciting the emperor in his behalf, though without any effect,
he now commanded his sons to summon them, with legal formality, to perform what was contained in the bond which they had granted him, by
surrendering themselves into their hands to be treated with the same rigour
as the emperor had used him. This furnished them with a fresh pretext
for renewing their application to the emperor, together with an additional
argument to enforce it. Charles firmly resolved not to grant the r request;
though, at the same time, being extremely desirous to be delivered from
*Sleid. 503. 512.  t Sleid. 512 Thuan. lib. vi. 233. Goldasti Constit. Imperiales, vol. ii 340




390                 THE REIGN OF THE                     [BoOK X.
their incessant importunity, he endeavoured to prevail on the landgrave to
give up the bond which he had received from the two electors. But that
prince refusing to part with a security which he deemed essential to his
safety, the emperor boldly cut the knot which he could not untie; and by
a public deed annulled the bond which Maurice and the elector of Brandenburg had granted, absolving them from all their engagements to the
landgrave. No pretension to a power so pernicious to society as that of
abrogating at pleasure the most sacred laws of honour, and most formal
obligations of public faith, had hitherto been formed by any but the Roman
pontiffs, who, in consequence of their claim of supreme power on earth,
arrogate the right of dispensing with precepts and duties of every kind.
All Germany was filled with astonishment, when Charles assumed the same
prerogative. The state of subjection, to which the empire was reduced,
appeared to be more rigorous, as well as intolerable, than that of the most
wretched and enslaved nations, if the emperor, by an arbitrary decree,
might cancel those solemn contracts which are the foundation of that mutual
confidence whereby men are held together in social union. The landgrave
himself now gave up all hopes of recovering his liberty by the emperor's
consent, and endeavoured to procure it by his own address. But the plan
which-he had formed to deceive his guards being discovered, such of his
attendants as he had gained to favour his escape, were put to death, and
he was confined in the citadel of Mechlin more closely than ever.*
Another transaction was carried on during this diet, with respect to an
affair more nearly interesting to the emperor, and which occasioned likewise a general alarm among the princes of the empire. Charles, tnough
formed with talents which ntted him for conceiving and conducting great
designs, was not capable, as has been often observed, of bearing extraor
dinary success. Its operation on his mind was so violent and intoxicating,
that it elevated him beyond what was moderate or attainable, and turned
his whole attention to the pursuit of vast but chimerical objects. Such
had been the effect of his victory over the confederates of Smalkalde.
He did not long rest satisfied with the substantial and certain advantages
which were the result of that event, but, despising these, as poor or inconsiderable fruits of such great success, he aimed at nothing less than at
bringing all Germany to a uniformity in religion, and at rendering the Imperial power despotic. These were objects extremely splendid indeed,
and alluring to an ambitious mind; the pursuit of them, however, was
attended with manifest danger, and the hope of attaining them very uncertain. But the steps which he had already taken towards them, having
been accompanied with such success, his imagination, warmed with con
templating this alluring object, overlooked or despised all remaining diffi
culties. As he conceived the execution of his plan to be certain, he began
to be solicitbus how he might render the possession of such an important
acquisition perpetual in his family, by transmitting the German empire,
together with the kingdoms of Spain, and his dominions in Italy and the
Low-Countries, to his son. Having long revolved this flattering idea in
his mind, without communicating it, even to those ministers whom he most
trusted, he had called Philip out of Spain, in hopes that his presence
would facilitate the carrying forward the scheme.
Great obstacles, however, and such as would have deterred any ambi
tion less accustomed to overcome difficulties, were to be surmounted. He
had, in the year one thousand five hundred and thirty, imprudently assisted
in procuring his brother Ferdinand the dignity of king of the Romans, and
there was no probability that this prince, who was still in the prime oI
life, and had a son grown up to the years of manhood, would relinquish,
in favour of his nephew, the near prospect of the Imperial throne, which
* 9leid. 504.  Thuan. 1. vi. 234, 235.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             J31
Charles's infirmities and declining state of health opened to Limseif. This
did not deter the emperor from venturing to make the proposition; and
when Ferdinand, notwithstanding his profound reverence for his brother,
and obsequious submission to his will in other instances, rejected it in a
peremptory tone, he was not discouraged by one repulse. He renewed
his applications to him by his sister, Mary queen of Hungary, to whom
Ferdinand stood indebted for the crowns both of Hungary and Bohemia,
and who, by her great abilities, tempered with extreme gentleness of disposition, had acquired an extraordinary influence over both the brothers.
She entered warmly into a measure, which tended so manifestly to aggrandize the house of Austria, and flattering herself that she could tempt Ferdinand to renounce the reversionary possession of the Imperial dignity for
an immediate establishment, she assured him that the emperor, by way of
compensation for' his giving up his chance of succession, would instantly
bestow upon him territories of very considerable value, and pointed out in
particular those of the duke of Wurtemberg, which might be confiscated
upon different pretexts. But neither by her address nor entreaties could
she induce Ferdinand to approve of a plan, which would not only have
degraded him from  the highest rank among the monarchs of Europe to
that of a subordinate and dependent priace, but would have involved both
him and his posterity in perpetual contests. He was, at the same time,
more attached to his children, than by a rash concession to frustrate all the
high hopes, in prospect of which they had been educated.
Notwithstanding the immoveable firmness which Ferdinand discovered,
the emperor did not abandon his scheme. He flattered himself that he
might attain the object in view by another channel, and that it was not
impossible to prevail on the electors to cancel their former choice of Ferdinand, or at least to elect Philip a second king of the Romans, substituting
him as next in succession to his uncle. With this view, he took Philip
along with him to the diet, that the Germans might have an opportunity
to observe and become acquainted with the prince, in behalf of whom he
courted their interest; and he himself employed all the arts of address or
insinuation to gain the electors, and to prepare them for listening with a
favourable ear to the proposal. But no sooner did he venture upon mentioning it to them, than they, at once. saw and trembled at the consequences with which it would be attended.  They had long felt all the
inconveniences of having placed at the head of the empire a prince whose
power and dominions were so extensive; if they should now repeat the
folly, and continue the Imperial crown, like an hereditary dignity in the
same family, they foresaw that they would give the son an opportunity oi
carrying on that system of oppression which the father had begun; and
would put it in his power to overturn whatever was yet left entire in the
ancient and venerable fabric of the German constitution.
The character of the. prince, in whose favour this extraordinary proposition was made, rendered it still less agreeable. Philip, though possessed
with an insatiable desire of power, was a stranger to all the arts of conciliating good will. Haughty, reserved, and severe, he, instead of gaining
new friends, disgusted the ancient and most devoted partisans of the Austrian interest. He scorned to take the trouble of acquiring the language
of the country to the government of which he aspired; nor would he con
descend to pay the Germans the compliment of accommodating himseli,
during his residence among them, to their manners and customs.?  He
allowed the electors and most illustrious princes in Germany to remain in
his presence uncovered, affecting a stately and distant demeanour, which
the greatest of the German emperors, and even Charles himself, amidst
* Frediinan Andrea Zulich Dissertatio politico historica de Nevls politicis Caroli V. Lips. 1706
Ito. p. 21.




392                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK X..he pride of power and victory, had never assumed. On the other hand,
Ferdinand, from the time of his arrival in Germany, had studied to render
himself acceptable to the people, by a conformity to their manners, which
seemed to flow from choice; and his son Maximilian, who was born in
Germany, possessed, in an eminent degree, such amiable qualities as rendered him the darling of his countrymen, and induced them to look forward to his election as a most desirable event. Their esteem and affec
tion for him fortified the resolution which sound policy had suggested;
and determined the Germans to prefer the popular virtues of Ferdinand
and his son, to the stubborn austerity of Philip, which interest could not
soften, nor ambition teach him to disguise. All the electors, the ecclesiasticl as well as secular, concurred in expressing such strong disapprobation
of the measure, that Charles, notwithstanding the reluctance with which
he gave up any point, was obliged to drop the scheme as impracticable.
By his unseasonable perseverance in pushing it, he had not only filled the
Germans with newjealousy of his ambitious designs, but laid the founda
tion of rivalship and discord in the Austrian family, and forced his brother
Ferdinand, in self-defence, to court the electors, particularly Maurice of
Saxony, and to form such connections with them, as cut off all prospect
of renewing the proposal with success. Philip, soured by his disappoint
ment, was sent back to Spain, to be called thence when any new scheme
of ambition should render his pirsence necessary.
Having relinquished this plan of domestic ambition which had long occupied and engrossed him, Charles imagined that he would now have
leisure to turn all his attention towards his grand scheme of establishing
uniformity of religion in the empire, by forcing all the contending parties
to acquiesce in the decisions of the council of Trent. But such was the
extent of his dominions, the variety of connections in which this entangled
him, and the multiplicity of events to which these gave rise, as seldom
allowed him to apply his whole force to any one object. The machine
which he had to conduct was so great and complicated, that an unforeseen
irregularity or obstruction in one of the inferior wheels, often disconcerted
the motion of the whole, and prevented his deriving from them all the
beneficial effects which he expected. Such. an unlooked-for occurrence
happened at this juncture, and created new obstacles to the execution of
his schemes with regard to religion. Julius III., though he had confirmed
Octavio Farnese in the possession of the dutchy of Parma, during the first
effusions of his joy and gratitude on his promotion to the papal throne,
soon began to repent of his own generosity, and to be apprehensive of
consequences which either he did not foresee, or had disregarded, while
the sense of his obligations to the family of Farnese was recent. The
emperor still retained Placentia in his hands, and had not relinquished his
pretensions to Parma as a fief of the empire. Gongaza the governor of
Milan, having, by the part which he took in the murder of the late duke
Peter Ludovico, offered an insult to the family of Farnese, which he knew
could never be forgiven, had, for that reason, vowed its destruction; an.
employed all the influence which his great abilities, as well as long services,
gave him with the emperor, in persuading him to seize Parma by force ot
arms. Charles, in compliance with his solicitations, and that he might
gratify his own desire of annexing Parma to the Milanese, listened to the
proposal; and Gonzaga, ready to take encouragement from the slightest
appearance of approbation, began to assemble troops, and to make other
preparations for the execution of his scheme.
Octavio, who saw the impending danger, found it necessary, for his own
safety, to increase the garrison of his capital, and to levy soldiers for
* Sleid 505  Thuan. 180. 238  Memoir. de Ribier ii. 219.231. 314. Adriani stor. lib. viii.
507. 520.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             39#
defending the rest of the country. But as the-expense of such an effort far
exceeded his scanty revenues, he represented his situation to the pope, and
implored that protection and assistance which was due to him as a vassal
of the church. The Imperial minister, however, had already pre-occupied
the pope's ear; and by discoursing continually concerning the danger of
giving offence to the emperor, as well as the imprudence of supporting
Octavio in an usurpation so detrimental to the holy see, had totally alienated
him from the family of Farnese. Octavio's remonstrance and petition met,
of consequence, with a cold reception; and he, despairing of any assistance
from Julius, began to look round for protection from some other quarter.
Henry II. of France was the only prince powerful enough to afford him
this protection, and fortunately he was now in a situation which allowed
him to grant it. He had brought his transactions with the two British
kingdoms, which had hitherto diverted his attention from the affairs of the
continent, to such an issue as he desired. This he had effected partly by
the vigour of his arms, partly by his dexterity in taking advantage of the
political factions which raged in both kingdoms to such a degree, as rendered the councils of the Scots violent and precipitate, and the operations
of the English feeble and unsteady. He had procured from the English
favourable conditions of peace for his allies the Scots; he had prevailed
on the nobles of Scotland not only to affiance their young queen to his son
the dauphin, but even to send her into France, that she might be educated
under his eye; and had recovered Boulogne, together with its depend
encies, which had been conquered by Henry VIII.
The French king having gained points of so much consequence to his
crown, and disengaged himself with such honour from the burden of supporting the Scots, and maintaining a war against England, was now at full
leisure to pursue the measures which his hereditary jealousy of the em
peror's power naturally suggested. He listened accordingly, to the first
overtures which Octavio Farnese made him; and embracing eagerly an
opportunity of recovering footing in Italy, he instantly concluded a treaty,
in which he bound himself to espouse his cause, and to furnish him all the
assistance which he desired. This transaction could not be long kept
secret from the pope, who, foreseeing the calamities which must follow if
war were rekindled so near the ecclesiastical state, immediately issued
monitory letters requiring Octavio to relinquish his new alliance. Upon
his refusal to comply with the requisition, he soon after pronounced his fief
to be forfeited, and declared war against him as a disobedient and rebellious
vassal. But as, with his own forces alone, he could not hope to subdue
Octavio while supported by such a powerful ally as the king of France, he
had recourse to the emperor, who being extremely solicitous to prevent the
establishment of the French in Parma, ordered Gonzaga to second Julius
with all his troops. Thus the French took the field as the allies of Octavio,
the Imperialists as the protectors of the holy see; and hostilities commenced between them, while Charles and Henry themselves still affected
to give out that they would adhere inviolably to the peace of Crespy
The war of Parma was not distinguished by any memorable event. Many
small rencounters. happened with alternate success; the French ravaged
part of the ecclesiastical territories; the Imperialists laid waste the Parmesan; and the latter, after having begun to besiege Parma in form, were
obliged to abandon the enterprise with disgrace.  -
But the motions and alarm which this war, or the preparations for it,
occasioned in Italy, prevented most of the Italian prelates from repairing
to Trent on the first of May, the day appointed for reassembling the
council; and though the papal legate and nuncios resorted thither, they
* Adriani Istor. lib. viii. 505. 514. 524. Sleid. 513. Paruta, p. 220. Lettere del Cara scritta. a
nome del Card. Farnese, tom. ii, p. 11, &c.
VOL. II. —50




'394               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [BooK X.
were obliged to adjourn the council to the first of September, hoping such
a number of prelates might then assemble, that they might with decency
begin their deliberations. At that time about sixty prelates, mostly from
the cclesiastical state, or from Spain, together with a few Germans, con
vened.*  The session was opened with the accustomed formalities, and
the fathers were about to proceed to business, when the abbot of Bellozane
appeared, and presenting letters of credence as ambassador from the king
of France, demanded audience. Having obtained it, he protested, in
Henry's name, against an assembly called at such an improper juncture,
when a war, wantonly kindled by the pope, made it impossible for the
deputies from the Gallican church to resort to Trent in safety, or to deliberate concerning articles of faith and discipline with the requisite tranquillity; he declared, that his master did not acknowledge this to be a
general or cecumenic council, but must consider, and would treat it, as a
particular and partial convention.f  The legate affected to despise this
protest; and the prelates proceeded, notwithstanding, to examine and
decide the great points in controversy concerning the sacrament of the
Lord's supper, penance, and extreme unction. This measure of the French
monarch, however, gave a deep wound to the credit of the coundil, at the
very commencement of its deliberations. The Germans would not pay
much regard to an assembly, the authority of which the second prince in
Christendom had formally disclaimed, or feel any great reverence for the
decisions of a few men, who arrogated to themselves all the rights belonging
to the representatives of the church universal, a title to which they had
such poor pretensions.
The emperor, nevertheless, was straining his authority to the utmost, in
order to establish the reputation and jurisdiction of the council. He had
prevailed on the three ecclesiastical electors, the prelates of greatest power
and dignity in the church next to the pope, to repair thither in person.
He had obliged several German bishops of inferior rank, to go to Trent
themselves, or to send their proxies. He granted an Imperial safe-conduct
to the ambassadors nominated by the elector of Brandenburg, the duke of
WVurtemberg, and other protestants, to attend the council; and exhorted
them to send their divines thither, in order to propound, explain, and
defend their doctrine. At the same time, his zeal anticipated the decrees
of the council; and as if the opinions of the protestants had already been
condemned, he took large steps towards exterminating them. With this
intention, he called together the ministers of Augsburg; and after interrogating them concerning several controverted points, enjoined them  to
teach nothing with respect to these contrary to the tenets of the Romish
church. Upon their declining to comply with a requisition so contrary to
the dictates of their consciences, he commanded them to leave the town
in three days, without revealing to any person the cause of their banishment; he prohibited them to preach for the future in any province of the
empire; and obliged them to take an oath that they would punctually obey
these irjunctions. They were not the only victims to his zeal. The protestant clergy, in most of the cities in the circle of Suabia, were ejected
with the same violence; and in many places, such magistrates as had distinguished themselves by their attachment to the new opinions, were dismissed with the most abrupt irregularity, and their offices filled, in consequence of the emperor's arbitrary appointment, with the most bigotted of
their adversaries. The reformed worship was almost entirely suppressed
throughout that extensive province. The ancient and fundamental privileges
of the free cities were violated. The people were compelled to attend
the ministration of priests, whom they regarded with horror as idolaters
* F. Paul, 268.   t Sleid. 518. Thuan. 282. F. Paul, 301.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             395
and to submit to the jurisdiction of magistrates, whom they detested as
usurpers.*
The emperor, after this discovery, which was more explicit than any
that he had hitherto made, of his intention to subvert the German constitu.
tion, as well as to extirpate the protestant religion, set out for Inspruck in
the Tyrol. He fixed his residence in that city [Novem.l, as, by its situation in the neighbourhood of Trent, and on the confines of Italy, it appeared
a commodious station, whence he might inspect the operations of the council, and observe the progress of the war in the Parmesan without losing sght
of such occurrences as might happen in Germany.t
During these transactions, the siege of Magdeburg was carried on with
various success. At the time when Charles proscribed the citizens of Magdeburg, and put them under the ban of the empire, he had exhorted and
even enjoined all the neighbouring states to take arms against them, as
rebels and common enemies. Encouraged by his exhortations as well as
promises, George of Mecklenburg, a younger brother of the reigning duke,
an active and ambitious prince, collected a considerable number of those
soldiers of fortune who had accompanied Henry of Brunswick in all his
wild enterprises; and though a zealous Lutheran himself, invaded the territories of the Magdeburgers, hoping that, by the merit of this service, he
might procure some part of their domains to be allotted to him as an establishment. The citizens, unaccustomed as yet to endure patiently the
calamities of war, could not be restrained from sallying out in order to
save their lands from being laid waste. They attacked the duke of Mecklenburg with more resolution than conduct, and were repulsed with great
slaughter. But as they were animated with that unconquerable spirit,
which flows from zeal for religion co-operating with the love of civil liberty,
far from being disheartened by their misfortune, they prepared to defend
themselves with vigour. Many of the veteran soldiers who had served in
the long wars between the emperor and king of France, crowding to their
standards under able and experienced officers, the citizens acquired mili
tary skill by degrees, and added all the advantages of that to the efforts of
undaunted courage. The duke of Mecklenburg, notwithstanding the severe
blow which he had given the Magdeburgers, not daring to invest a town
strongly fortified, and defended by such a garrison, continued to ravage the
open country.
As the hopes of booty drew many adventurers to the camp of this young
prince, Maurice of Saxony began to be jealous of the power which he possessed by being at the head of such a numerous body, and marching towards
Magdeburg with his own troops, assumed the supreme command of the
whole army, an honour to which his high rank and great abilities as well as
the nomination of the diet, gave him an indisputable title. With this united
force, he invested the town, and began the siege in form; claiming great
merit with the emperor on that account, as from his zeal to execute the
imperial decree, he was exposing himself once more to the censures and
maledictions of the party with which he agreed in religious sentiments.
But the approaches to the town went on slowly; the garrison interrupted
the besiegers by frequent sallies, in one of which George of Mecklenburg
was taken prisoner, levelled part of their works, and cut off the soldiers in
their advanced posts. While the citizens of Magdeburg, animated by the
discourses of their pastors, and the soldiers, encouraged by the example of
their officers, endured all the hardships of a siege without murmuring, and
defended themselves with the same ardour which they had at first dis
covered; the troops of the besiegers acted with extreme remissness, repining
at every thing that they suffered in a service which they disliked. They
broke out more than once into an open mutiny, demanding the arrears of
* Sleid. 516. 523. Thuan. 276.  t Sleid. 329.




396                THE REIGN OF THE                       [BOOKX
then pay, which, as tie members of the Germanic body sent in their con
tributions towards defraying the expenses of the war sparingly, and with
great reluctance, amounted to a considerable sum.*  Maurice, too, had
particular motives, though such as he durst not avow at that juncture, which
induced him not to push the siege with vigour, and made him choose rather
to continue at the head of an army exposed to all the imputations which
his dilatory proceedings drew upon him, than to precipitate a conquest that
might have brought him some accession of reputation, but would have
rendered it necessary to disband his forces.
At last, the inhabitants of the town beginning to suffer distress from want
of provisions, and Maurice, finding it impossible to protract matters any
longer without filling the emperor with such suspicions as might have disconcerted all his measures, he concluded a treaty of capitulation with the
city [Novem. 3], upon the following conditions; that the Magdeburgers
should humbly implore pardon of the emperor; that they should not for the
future take arms, or enter into any alliance against the house of  istria;
that they should submit to the authority of the Imperial chamber; that
they should conform to the decree of the diet at Augsburg with respect to
religion; that the new fortifications added to the town should be demolished;
that they should pay a fine of fifty thousand crowns, deliver up twelve
pieces of ordnance to the emperor, and set the duke of Mecklenbug,
together with their other prisoners, at liberty, without ransom. Next dav
their garrison marched out, and Maurice took possession of the town with
great military pomp.
Before the terms of capitulation were settled, Maurice had held many
conferences with Albert count Mansfeldt, who had the chief command in
Magdeburg. He consulted likewise with count Heideck, an officer who
had served with great reputation in the army of the league of Smalkalde,
whom the emperor had proscribed on account of his zeal for that cause,
but whom Maurice had, notwithstanding, secretly engaged in his service,
and admitted into the most intimate confidence. To them he communicated a scheme, which he had long revolved in his mind, for procuring
liberty to his father-in-law the landgrave, for vindicating the privileges oT
the Germanic body, and setting bounds to the dangerous encroachments of
the Imperial power. Having deliberated with them concerning the measures which might he necessary for securing the success of such an arduous
enterprise, he gave Mansfeldt secret assurances that the fortifications of
Magdeburg should not be destroyed, and that the inhabitants should neither
be disturbed in the exercise of their religion, nor be deprived of any of
their ancient immunities.  In order to engage Maurice more thoroughly
from considerations of interest to fulfil these engagements, the senate of
Magdeburg elected him  their burgrave, a dignity which had formerly
belonged to the electoral house of Saxony, and which entitled him to a
very ample jurisdiction not only in the city but in its dependencies.-'
Thus the citizens of Magdeburg, after enduring a siege of twelve months,
and struggling for their liberties, religious and civil, with an invincible for
titude, worthy of the cause in which it was exerted, had at last the good
fortune to conclude a treaty which left them in a better condition than the
rest of their countrymen, whom their timidity or want of public spirit had
betrayed into such mean submissions to the emperor. But while a great
part of Germany applauded the gallant conduct of the Magdeburgers, and
rejoiced in their having escaped the destruction with which they had been
threatened, all admired Maurice's address in the conduct of his negotiation
with them, as well as the dexterity with which he converted every event
to his own advantage. They saw  with amazement, that after having
* Thuan. 277. Sleid.514.  t Sleid. 528. Thuan. i 276. Obsidionis Magdeburgici DescriptiO
per Sebast Besselmeierun, ap. Scard. ii. 518.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             397
afflicted the Magdeburgers during many months with all the calamities of
war, he was at last, by their voluntary election, advanced to the station of
highest authority in that city which he had so lately besieged; that after
having been so long the object of their satirical invectives as an apostate
and an enemy to the religion which he professed, they seemed now to place
unbounded confidence in his zeal and good will.   At the same time, the
public articles in the treaty of capitulation were so perfectly conformable
to those which the emperor had granted to the other protestant cities, and
Maurice took such care to magnify his merit    having reduced a place
which had defended itself with so much obstinacy, that Charles, far from
suspecting any thing fraudulent or collusive in the terms of accommodation,
ratified them without hesitation, and absolved the Magdeburgers from the
sentence of ban which had been denounced against them.
The only point that now remained to embarrass Maurice was how to
keep together the veteran troops which had served under him, as well as
those which had been employed in the defence of the town. For this,
too, he found an- expedient with singular art and felicity. His schemes
against the emperor were not yet so fully ripened, that he durst venture to
disclose them, and proceed openly to carry them into execution. The
winter was approaching, which made it impossible to take the field immediately. He was afraid that it would give a premature alarm to the
emperor, if he should retain such a considerable body in his pay until the
season of action returned in the spring. As soon then as Magdeburg opened
its gates, he sent home his Saxon subjects, whom he could command to take
arms and reassemble on the shortest warning; and at the same time, paying
part of the arrears due to the mercenary troops, who had followed his
standard, as well as to the soldiers who had served in the garrison, he
absolved them from their respective oaths of fidelity, and disbanded them.
But the moment he gave them their discharge, George of Mecklenburg,
who was now set at liberty, offered to take them into his service, and to
become surety for the payment of what was still owing to them. As such
adventurers were accustomed often to change masters, they instantly
accepted the offer. Thus these troops were kept united, and ready to
march wherever Maurice should call them, while the emperor, deceived
by this artifice, and imagining that George of Mecklenburg had hired them
with an intention to assert his claim to a part of his brother's territories by
force of arms, suffered this transaction to pass without observation, as if it
had been a matter of no consequence.?
HaviAg ventured to take these steps, which were of so much consequence
towards the execution of his schemes, Maurice, that he might divert the
emperor from observing their tendency too narrowly, and prevent the suspicions which that must have excited, saw the necessity of employing some
new artifice in order to engage his attention, and to confirm him in his present security. As he knew that the chief object of the emperor's solicitude
at this juncture, was how he might prevail with the protestant states of
Germany to recognise the authority of the council of Trent, and to send
thither ambassadors in their own name, as well as deputies from their
~espective churches, he took hold of this predominating passion in order to
amuse and to deceive him. He affected a wonderful zeal to gratify Charles
in what he desired with regard to this matter; he nominated ambassadors
whom he empowered to attend the council; he made choice of Melanctlson
and some of the most eminent among his brethren to prepare a confession
of faith, and to lay it before that assembly. After his example, and probably in consequence of his solicitations, the duke of Wurtemberg, the
city of Strasburg, and other protestant states, appointed ambassadors and
* Arnolc vita Maurit. apud Menken. ii. 1227.  t Thuan. 278. Struv. Corp. Hist. Germ 1064
rnold' vita Mauritii apud Menken, ii. 1227.




398                 THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK X.
divines to attend the council. They all applied to the emperor for his
safe-conduct, which they obtained in the most ample form. This was
deemed sufficient for the security of the ambassadors, and they proceeded
accordingly on their journey; but a separate safe-conduct from the council
itself was demanded for the protestant divines. The fate of John Huss
and Jerome of Prague, whom the council of Constance, in the preceding
century, had condemned to the flames without regarding the Imperial
safe-conduct which had been granted them, rendered this precaution prudent and necessary. But as the pope was no less unwilling that the pro
testants should be admitted to a hearing in the council, than the emperor
had been eager in bringing them to demand it, the legate by promises and
threats prevailed on the fathers of the council to decline issuing a safeconduct in the same form with that which the council of Basil had granted
to the followers of Huss. The protestants, on their part, insisted upon the
council's copying the precise words of that instrument. The Imperial
ambassadors interposed in order to obtain what would satisfy them.
Alterations in the form of the writ were proposed; expedients were suggested; protests and counter-protests were taken: the legate, together with
his associates, laboured to gain their point by artifice and chicane; the
protestants adhered to theirs with firmness and obstinacy. An account of
every thing that passed in Trent was transmitted to the emperor at Inspruck,
who, attempting,'from an excess of zeal, or of confidence in his own
address, to reconcile the contending parties, was involved in a labyrinth of
inextricable negotiations. By means of this, however, Maurice gained all
that he had in view; the emperor's time was wholly engrossed, and his
attention diverted; while he himself had leisure to mature his schemes, to
carry on his intrigues, and to finish his preparations, before he threw off the
mask, and struck the blow which he had so long meditated.*
But previous to entering into any further detail concerning Maurice's
operations, some account must be given of a new revolution in Hungary,
which contributed not a little towards their producing such extraordinary
effects.  When Solyman, in the year 1541, by a stratagem, which suited
the base and insidious policy of a petty usurper, rather than the magnanimity of a mighty conqueror, deprived the young king of Hungary of the
dominions which his father had left him, he had granted that unfortunate
prince the country of Transylvania, a province of his paternal kingdom.
The government of this, together with the care of educating the young
king, for he still allowed him to retain that title, though he had rendered
it only an empty name, he committed to the queen and Martinuzzi bishop
of Waradin, whom the late king had appointed joint guardians of his son,
and regents of his dominions, at a time when those offices were of greater
importance. This co-ordinate jurisdiction occasioned the same dissensions
in a small principality as it would have excited in a great kingdom; an
ambitious young queen, possessed with a high opinion of her own capacity
for governing; and a high-spirited prelate, fond of power, contending who
should engross the greatest share in the administration. Each had their
partizans among the nobles; but as Martinuzzi, by his great talents, began
to acquire the ascendant, Isabella turned his own arts against him, and
courted the protection of the Turks.
The neighbouring bashas, jealous of the bishop's power as well as
abilities, readily promised her the aid which she demanded, and would
soon have obliged Martinuzzi to have given up to her the sole direction of
affairs, if his ambition, fertile in expedients, had not suggested to him a
new measure, and one that tended not only to preserve but to enlarge his
authority. Having concluded an agreement with the queen, by the
med iation of some of the nobles, who were solicitous to save their country
* S'eid i56 529. F.'Paul, 323. 338. Thuan. 286.




EMPEROR' HrlARLES V                              399
from the calamities of a civil war, he secretly despatched one cf his confidants to Vienna, and entered into a negotiation with Ferdinand. As it v as
ro difficult matter to persuade Ferdinand, that the same man whose enmity
and intrigues had driven him out of a great part of his Hungarian dominions, might, upon a reconciliation, become equally instrumental in
recovering them, he listened eagerly to the first overtures of a union with
that prelate.  Martinuzzi allured him by such prospects of advantage, and
engaged, with so much confidence, that he would prevail on the most
powerful of the Hungarian nobles to take arms in his favour, that Ferdinand, notwithstanding hNs truce with Solyman, agreed to invade Transylvania. The command of the troops destined for that service, consisting of
veteran Spanish and German soldiers, was given to Castaldo marquis de
Piadena, an officer formed by the famous marquis de Pescara, whom he
strongly resembled both in his enterprising genius for civil business, and in
his great knowledge in the art of war.  This army, more formidable by
the discipline of the soldiers, and the abilities of the general, than by its
numbers, was powerfully seconded by Martinuzzi and his faction among
the Hungarians. As the Turkish bashas, the sultan himself being at the
head of his army on the frontiers of Persia, could not afford the queen such
immediate or effectual assistance as the exigency of her affairs required,
she quickly lost all hopes of being able to retain any longer the authority
which she possessed as regent, and even began to despair of her son s
safety.
Martinuzzi did not suffer this favourable opportunity of accomplishing'
nis own designs to pass unimproved, and ventured, while she was in this
state of dejection, to lay before her a proposal, which at any other time
she would have rejected with disdain. He represented how impossible it
was for her to resist Ferdinand's victorious arms; that even if the Turks
should enable her to make head against them, she would be far from
changing her condition to the better, and could not consider them as
deliverers, but as masters, to whose commands she must submit; he conjured her, therefore, as she regarded her own dignity, the safety of her son,
or the security of Christendom, rather to give up Transylvania to Ferdinand, and to make over to him her son's title to the crown of Hungary, than
to allow both to be usurped by the inveterate enemy of the Christian faith.
At the same time he promised her, in Ferdinand's name, a compensation
for herself, as well as for her son, suitable to their rank, and proportional
to the value of what they were to sacrifice. Isabella, deserted by some
of her adherents, distrusting others, destitute of friends, and surrounded by
Castaldo's and Martinuzzi's troops, subscribed these hard conditions, though
with a reluctant hand.  Upon this, she surrendered such places of strength
as were still in her possession, she gave up all the ensigns of royalty, particularly a crown of goldwhich, as the Hungarians believed, had descended
from heaven, and conferred on him who wore it an undoubted right to the
throne. As she could not bear to remain a private person, in a country
where she had once enjoyed sovereign power, she instantly set out with
her son for Silesia, in order to take possession of the principalities of Oppelen
and Ratibor, the investiture of which Ferdinand had engaged to grant her
son, and likewise to bestow one of his daughters upon him in marriage.
Upon the resignation of the young king, Martinuzzi, and after his example
the rest of the Transylvanian grandees, swore allegiance to Ferdinand
who, in order to testify his grateful sense of the zeal as well as success.
with which that prelate had served him, affected to distinguish him by
every possible:mark of favour and confidence. He appointed him governor
of Transylvania, with almost unlimited authority; he publicly ordered
Castaldo to pay the greatest deference to his opinion and commands; he
increased his revenues, which were already very great, by new appoint
ments; he nominated him archbishop of Gran, and prevailed on the pope




THE REIGN OF THE                      [Boo. X
to raise him to the dignity of a cardinal. All this ostentation of good-will,
however, was void of sincerity and calculated to conceal sentiments the most
perfectly its reverse. Ferdinand dreaded Martinuzzi's abilities; distrusted
his fidelity; and foresaw, that as his extensive authority enabled him to
check any attempt towards circumscribing or abolishing the extensive privileges which the Hungarian nobility possessed, he would stand forth on every
occasion, the guardian of the liberties of his country, rather than act the
part of a viceroy devoted to the will of his sovereign.
For this reason, he secretly gave it in charge to Castaldo to watch his
motions, to guard against his designs, and to thwart his measures. But
Martinuzzi, either because he did not perceive tnat Castaldo was placed
as a spy on his actions, or because ne despised Ferdinand's insidious arts
assumed the direction of the war against the Turks with his usual tone of
authority, and conducted it with great magnanimity, and no less success.
He recovered some places of which the infidels nad taken possession; he
rendered their attempts to reduce others abortive; and established Ferdi
nand's authority not only in Transylvania, but in the Bannat of Temeswar,
and several of the countries adjacent. In carrying on these operations, he
often differed in sentiment from Castaldo and his officers, and treated the
Turkish prisoners with a degree not only of humanity, but even of generosity, which Castaldo loudly condemned.  This was represented at
Vienna as an artful method of courting the friendship of the infidels, that
by securing their protection, he might shake off all dependence upon the
sovereign whom he now acknowledged.  Though Martinuzzi, in justification of his own conduct, contended that it was impolitic by unnecessary
severities to exasperate an enemy prone to revenge, Castaldo's accusations
gained credit with Ferdinand, prepossessed already against Martinuzzi,
and jealous of every thing that could endanger his own authority in Hun
gary, in proportion as he knew it to be precarious and ill-established.
These suspicions Castaldo confirmed and strengthened, by the intelligence
which he transmitted continually to his confidants at Vienna. By misrepresenting what was innocent, and putting the worst construction on what
seemed dubious in -Martinuzzi's conduct; by imputing to him designs which
he never formed, and charging him with actions of which he was not
guilty; he at last convinced Ferdinand, that, in order to preserve his Hungarian crown, he must cut off that ambitious prelate. But Ferdinand,
foreseeing that it would be dangerous to proceed in the regular course of
law against a subject of such exorbitant power as mignt enable him to set
his sovereign at defiance, determined to employ violence in order to obtain
that satisfaction which the laws were too feeble to afford nim.
He issued his orders accordingly to Castaldo, who willingly undertook
that infamous service. Having communicated the design to some Italian
and Spanish officers whom he could trust, and concerted with them the
plan of executing it, they entered Martinuzzi's apartment, early one
morning [Dec. 18] under pretence of presenting to him some despatches
which were to be sent off immediately to Vienna; and while he perused
a paper with attention, one of their number struck him with a poniard in
the throat. The blow was not mortal. Martinuzzi started up with the
intrepidity natural to him, and grappling the assassin, threw him to the
ground. But the other conspirators rushing in, an old man, unarmed, and
alone, was unable long to sustain such an unequal conflict, and sunk under
the wounds which he received from so many fands. The Transylvanians
were restrained by dread of the foreign troops stationed in their country,
from rising in arms in order to take vengeance on the murderers of a
prelate who had long been the object of their love as well as veneration.
They spoke of the deed, however, with horror and execration; and
exclaimed against Ferdinand, whom neither gratitude for recent and important services, nor reverence for a character considered as sacred and invir



1EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             40
lable among Christians, could restrain from shedding the blood of a man,
whose only crime was attachment to his native country. The nobles
detesting the jealous as well as cruel policy of a court, which, upon uncertain and improbable surmises, had given up a person, no less conspicuous
for his merit than his rank, to be butchered by assassins, either retired to
their own estates, or if they continued with the Austrian army, grew cold
to the service.  The Turks, encouraged by the death of an enemy
whose abilities they knew and dreaded, prepared to renew hostilities
early in the spring; and instead of the security which Ferdinand had
expected from the removal of Martinuzzi, it was evident that his territories
in Hungary were about to be attacked with greater vigour, and defended
with less zeal than ever.*
By this time, Maurice having almost finished his intrigues and preparations, was on the point of declaring his intentions openly, and of taking
the field against the emperor. His first care, after he came to this resolution, was to disclaim that narrow and bigoted maxim of the confederates
of Smalkalde, which had led them to shun all connection with foreigners.
He had observed how fatal this had been to their cause; and, instructed
by their error, he was as eager to court the protection of Henry II. as they
had been solicitous to prevent the interposition of Francis L. Happily for
him, he found Henry in a disposition to listen to the first overture on his
part, and in a situation which enabled him to bring the whole force of the
French monarchy into action. Henry had long observed the progress of
the emperor's arms with jealousy, and wished to distinguish himself by
entering the lists against the same enemy, whom it had been the glory of his
father's reign to oppose. He had laid hold on the first opportunity in his
power of thwarting the emperor's designs, by taking the duke of Parma
under his protection; and hostilities were already begun, not only in that
dutchy, but in Piedmont. Having terminated the war with England by a
peace, no less advantageous to himself than honourable for his allies the
Scots, the restless and enterprising courage of,his nobles was impatient to
display itself on some theatre of action more conspicuous than the petty
operations in Parma or Piedmont afforded them.
John de Fienne, bishop of Bayonne, whom Henry had sent into Germany,
under pretence of hiring troops to be employed in Italy, was empowered
to conclude a treaty in form with Maurice and his associates. As it would
have been very indecent in a king of France to have undertaken the
defence of the protestant church, the interests of religion, how much soever
they might be affected by the treaty, were not once mentioned in any of
the articles. Religious concerns, they pretended to commit entirely to the
disposition of Divine Providence; the only motives assigned for their
present confederacy against Charles, were to procure the landgrave
liberty, and to prevent the subversion of the ancient constitution and laws
of the German empire. In order to accomplish these ends, it was agreed,
that all the contracting parties should, at the same time, declare war against
the emperor; that neither peace nor truce should be made but by common
consent, nor without including each of the confederates; that, in order to
guard against the inconveniences of anarchy, or of pretensions to joint command, Maurice should be acknowledged as head of the German confederates, with absolute authority in all military affairs; that Maurice and his
associates should bring into the field seven thousand horse, with a proportional
number of infantry, that, towards the subsistence of this army, during the
three first months of the war, Henry should contribute two hundred and forty
thousand crowns, and afterwards sixty thousand crowns a-month, as long as
they continued in arms; that Henry should attack the emperor on the side of
* Sleid. 535. Thuan. lib. ix. 309, &c. Istuanhaffii Hist. Regn. Hungarici, lib. xvl. 189, &t.
Kiem de Ribier, ii. 871. Natalis Comitis Hisloria, lib. iv. 84, &c.
VOL. II.-51




402.                THE REIGN OF THE                     IBoOK X.
Lorrain with a powerful army; that if it were found requisite to elect a new
emperor, such a person should be nominated as shall be agreeable to the kingl
of France.*  This treaty was concluded on the fifth of October, some time
before Magdeburg surrendered, and the preparatory negotiations were conducted with such profound secrecy, that, of all the princes who afterwards
acceded to it, Maurice communicated what he was carrying on to two
only, John Albert, the reigning duke of Mecklenburg, and William of
Hesse, the landgrave's eldest son. The league itself was no less anxiously
concealed, and with such fortunate care, that no rumour concerning it
reached the ears of the emperor or his ministers; nor do they seem to
have conceived the most distant suspicion of such a transaction.
At the same time, with a solicitude which was careful to draw some
accession of strength from every quarter, Maurice applied to Edward VI
of England, and requested a subsidy of four hundred thousand crowns for
the support of a confederacy formed in defence of the protestant religion.
But the factions which prevailed in the English court during the minority
of that prince, and which deprived both the councils and arms of the
nation of their wonted vigour, left the English ministers neither time nor
inclination to attend to foreign affairs, and prevented Maurice's obtaining
that aid, which their zeal for the reformation would have prompted them
to grant him.t
Maurice, however, having secured the protection of such a powerful
monarch as Henry II., proceeded with great confidence, but with equal
caution, to execute his plan. As he judged it necessary to make one effort
more, in order to obtain the emperor's consent that the landgrave should
be set at liberty, he sent a solemn embassy, in his own name and in that
of the elector of Brandenburg, to Inspruck [Decem.l. After resuming, at
great length, all the facts and arguments upon which they founded their
claim, and representing, in the strongest terms, the peculiar engagements
which bound them to be so assiduous in their solicitations, they renewed
their request in behalf of the unfortunate prison4, which they had so
often preferred in vain. The elector palatine, the duke of Wurtemberg,
the dukes of Mecklenburg, the dukes of Deux-Ponts, the marquis of Brandenburg Bareith, and the marquis of Baden, by their ambassadors, concurred
with them in their suit. Letters were likewise delivered to the same effect from
the king of Denmark, the duke of Bavaria, and the dukes of Lunenburg.
Even the king of the Romans joined in this application, being moved with
compassion towards the landgrave in his wretched situation, or influenced,
perhaps, by a secret jealousy of his brother's power and designs, which,
since his attempt to alter the order of succession in the.empire, he had
come to view with other eyes than formerly, and dreaded to a great
degree.
But Charles, constant to his own system with regard to the landgrave,
eluded a demand urged by such powerful intercessors; and having declared
that he would communicate his resolution concerning the matter to Maurice
as soon as he arrived at Inspruck, where he was every day expected, he
did not deign to descend into any more particular explication of his intentions.+ This application, though of no benefit to the landgrave, was of
great advantage to Maurice. It served to justify his subsequent proceedings,
and to demonstrate the necessity of employing arms in order to extort that
equitable concession, which his mediation or entreaty could not obtain.
It was of use, too, to confirm the emperor in his security, as both the
solemnity of the application, and the solicitude with which so many princes
were drawn in to enforce it, led him to conclude that they placed all
* Recueil des Traitez, torn. ii. 258. Thuan. lib. viii. 279.    f Burnet's Hist. of the Reform,
vol. ii. Append 37.: Sleid 531. Thuan. lib. viii. 280.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.
their hopes of restoring the landgrave to liberty, in gaining his conse
dismiss him.
1552.1  Maurice employed artifices still more refined to conceal his
machinations, to amuse the emperor, and to gain time. H. affected to be
more solicitous than ever to find out some expedient for removing the
difficulties with regard to the safe-conduct for the protestant divines
appointed to attend the council, so that they might repair thither without
any apprehension of danger. His ambassadors at Trent had frequent conferences concerning this matter with the Imperial ambassadors in that
city, and laid open their sentiments to them with the appearance of the
most unreserved confidence. He was willing, at last, to have it believed,
that he thought all differences with respect to this preliminary article were
on the point of being adjusted; and in order to give credit to this opinion,
he commanded Melancthon, together with his brethren, to set out on their
journey to Trent. At the same time he held a close correspondence with
the Imperial court atInspruck, and renewed on every occasion his professions not only of fidelity but of attachment to the emperor. He talked
continually of his intention of going to Inspruck in person; he gave orders
to hire a house for him in that city, and to fit it up with the greatest
despatch for his reception.But profoundly skilled as Maurice was in the arts of deceit, and impenetrable as he thought the veil to be, under which he concealed his designs,
there were several things in his conduct which alarmed the emperor
amidst his security, and tempted him frequently to suspect that he was
meditating something extraordinary. As these suspicions took their rise
from circumstances inconsiderable in themselves, or of an ambiguous as
well as uncertain nature, they were more than counterbalanced by.Maurice's address; and the emperor would not, lightly, give up his confidence
in a man, whom he had once trusted and loaded with favours. One particular alone seemed to be of such consequence, that he thought it neces
sary to demand an explanation with regard to it. The troops, which
George of Mecklenburg had taken into pay after the capitulation of Magdeburg, having fixed their quarters in Thuringia, lived at discretion on the
lands of the rich ecclesiastics in their neighbourhood. Their license and
rapaciousness were intolerable. Such as felt or dreaded their exactions,
complained loudly to the emperor, and represented them as a body of men
kept in readiness for some desperate enterprise.  But Maurice, partly by
extenuating the enormities of which they had been guilty, partly by representing the impossibility of disbanding these troops, or of keeping them to
regular discipline, unless the arrears still due to them by the emperor were
paid, either removed the apprehensions which this had occasioned, or, as
Charles was not in a condition to satisfy the demands of these soldiers;
obliged him to be silent with regard to the matter.t
The time of action was now  approaching. Maurice had privately
despatched Albert of Brandenburg to Paris, in order to confirm his league
with Henry, and to hasten the march of the French army. He had taken
measures to bring his own subjects together on the first summons; he had
provided for the security of Saxony, while he should be absent with the
army; and he held the troops in Thuringia, on which he chiefly depended,
ready to advance on a moment's warning. All these complicated operations were carried on without being discovered by the court at Inspruck.
and the emperor remained there in perfect tranquillity, busied entirely in
counteracting the intrigues of the pope's legate at Trent, and in settling
the conditions on which the protestant divines should be admitted into the
council, as if there had not been any transaction of greater moment in
agitation.
* Aroldi vita Maurit. ap. Menken, ii. 1229.    t Sleid. 549 Thuan. 339




404                 THE REIGN OF THE                       [BooK X
This credulous security in a prince, who, by his sagacity in observing
the conduct of all around him, was commonly led to an excess of distrust,
may seem  unaccountable, and has been imputed to infatuation. But
besides the exquisite address with which Maurice concealed his intentions,
two circumstances contributed to the delusion. The gout had returned
upon Charles soon after his arrival at Inspruck, with an increase of violence;
and his constitution being broken by such frequent attacks, he was seldom
able to exert his natural vigour of mind, or to consider affairs with his usual
vigilance and penetration; and Granvelle, bishop of Arras, his prime
minister, though one of the most subtle statesmen of that or perhaps of any
age, was on this occasion the dupe of his craft. He entertained such a
high opinion of his own abilities, and held the political talents of the Ger
mans in such contempt, that he despised all the intimations given him concerning Maurice's secret machinations, or the dangerous designs which he
was carrying on.  When the duke of Alva, whose dark suspicious mind
harboured many doubts concerning the elector's sincerity, proposed calling
him immediately to court to answer for his conduct, Granvelle replied
with great scorn, That these apprehensions were groundless, and that a
drunken German head was too gross to form any scheme which he could
not easily penetrate and baffle. Nor did he assume this peremptory tone
merely from confidence in his own discernment; he had bribed two of
Maurice's ministers, and received from them frequent and minute information concerning all their master's motions. But through this very channel,
by which he expected to gain access to all Maurice's counsels, and even
to his thoughts, such intelligence was conveyed to him as completed his
deception. Maurice fortunately discovered the correspondence of the two
traitors with Granvelle, but instead of punishing them for their crime, he
dexterously availed himself of their fraud, and turned his own arts against
the bishop. He affected to treat these ministers with greater confidence
than ever; he admitted them to his consultations; he seemed to lay open
his heart to them; and taking care all the while to let them be acquainted
with nothing but what was his interest should be known, they transmitted
to Inspruck such accounts as possessed Granvelle with a firm belief of his
sincerity as well as good intentions."  The emperor himself, in the fulness
of security, was so little moved by a memorial, in the name of the ecclesiastical electors, admonishing him to be on his guard against Maurice, that
he made light of this intelligence; and his answer to them abounds with
declarations of his entire and confident reliance on the fidelity as well as
attachment of that prince.4
At last Maurice's preparations were completed, and he had the satisfaction to find that his intrigues and designs were still unknown. But, though
now ready to take the field, he did not lay aside the arts which he had
hitherto employed; and by one piece of craft more, he deceived his enemies a few days longer. He gave out, that he was about' to begin that
journey to Inspruck of which he had so often talked, and he took one of the
ministers whom Granyelle had bribed. to attend him thither. After travelling post a iew states, he pretended to be indisposed by the fatigue of
the journey, and despatching the suspected minister t'o make his apology
to the emperor for this delay, and to assure him that he would be at
Inspruck within a few days; he mounted on horseback, as soon as this
spy on his actions was gone, rode full speed towards Thuringia,joined his
army, which amounted to twenty thousand foot and five thousand horse,
and put it immediately in motion [March 18].$
* Melvil's Memoirs, fol. edit. p. 12.  t Sleid. 535
MIelv. Mem. p. 13. These circumstances concerning the Saxon ministers whom Granvelle had
bribed, are not mentioned by the German historians; but as Sir James Melvil received his informa
tion from the elector Palatine, and as they are perfectly agreeable to the rest of Maurice's conduct
they may be considered as authentic.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               405
At the same time he published a manifesto containing his reasons for
taking arms.  These were three in number: that he might secure the
protestant religion, which was threatened with immediate destruction;
that he might maintain the constitution and laws of the empire, and save
Germany from being subjected to the dominion of an absolute monarch;
that he might deliver the landgrave of Hesse from the miseries of a long
and unjust imprisonment. By the first, he roused all the favourers of the
reformation, a party formidable by their zeal as well as numbers, and rendered desperate by oppression. By the second, he interested all the
friends of liberty, catholics no less than protestants, and made it their
interest to unite with him in asserting the rights and privileges common to
both.  The third, besides the glory which he acquired by his zeal to fulfil
his engagements to the unhappy prisoner, was become a cause of general
concern, not only from  the compassion which the landgrave's sufferings
excited, but from indignation at the injustice and rigour of the emperor's
proceedings against him. Together with Maurice's manifesto, another
appeared in the name of Albert marquis of Brandenburg Culmbach, who
had joined him with a body of adventurers whom he had drawn together.
The same grievances which Maurice had pointed out are mentioned in it,
but with an excess of virulence and animosity suitable to the character of
the prince in whose name it was published.
The king of France added to these a manifesto in his own name; m
which, after taking notice of the ancient alliance between the French and
German nations, both descended from the same ancestors; and after mentioning the applications which, in consequence of this, some of the most
illustrious among the German princes had made to him for his protection;
he declared, that he now took arms to re-establish the ancient constitution
of the empire, to deliver some of its princes from captivity, and to secure
the privileges and independence of all the members of the Germanic body.
In this manifesto, Henry assumed the extraordinary title of Protector of the
Liberties of Germany and of its captive Princes; and there was engraved
on it a cap, the ancient' symbol of freedom, placed between two daggers,
in order to intimate to the Germans, that this blessing was to be acquired
and secured by force of arms.?
Maurice had now to act a part entirely new; but his flexible genius was
capable of accommodating itself to every situation.  The moment he
took arms, he was as bold and enterprising in the field, as he had been
cautious and crafty in the cabinet. He advanced by rapid marches towards
the Upper Germany. All the towns in his way opened their gates to him.
He reinstated the magistrates whom the emperor had deposed, and gave
possession of the churches to the protestant ministers whom he had ejected.
He directed his march to Augsburg, and as the Imperial garrison, which
was too inconsiderable to think of defending it, retired immediately, he
took possession of that great city [April 1], and made the same changes
there as in the towns through which he had passed.t
No words can express the emperor's astonishment and consternation at
events so unexpected. He saw a great number of the German princes in
arms against him, and the rest either ready to join them, or wishing success
to their enterprise. He beheld a powerful monarch united with them in
close league, seconding their operations in person at the head of a formidable army, while he, through negligence and credulity, which exposed
him no less to scorn than to danger, had neither made, nor was in a condition to make, any effectual provision, either for crushing his rebellious
subjects, or resisting the invasion of the foreign enemy.  Part of his
Spanish troops had been ordered into Hungary against the Turks; the rest
had marched back to Italy upon occasiop of the war in the dutchy ot
* Sleid. 540. Thuan. lib. x. 339. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 371.    t Sleid. 555. Thuan. 342.




t06               TI1E l   E IGN  OF' THE              [BOOK X.
Parma. The bands of veteran Germans had been dismissed, because he
was not able to pay them; or had entered into Maurice's service after the
siege of Magdeburg; and he remained at Inspruck with a body of soldiers
hardly strong enough to guard his own person. His treasury was as much
exhausted, as his army was reduced. He had received no remittances for
some time from the new world. He had forfeited all credit with the
merchants of Genoa and Venice, who refused to lend him money, though
tempted by the offer of exorbitant interest. Thus Charles, though ui,doubtedly the most considerable potentate in Christendom, and capable
of exerting the greatest strength, his power, notwithstanding the violent
attack made upon it, being still unimpaired, found himself in a situation
which rendered him unable to make such a sudden and vigorous effort as
the juncture required, and was necessary to have saved him from the pre
sent danger.
In this situation, the emperor placed all his hopes upon negotiating; the
only resource of such as are conscious of their own weakness.  But
thinking it inconsistent with his dignity to make the first advances to subjects who were in arms against him, he avoided that indecorum  by
employing the mediation of his brother Ferdinand. Maurice confiding in
his own talents to conduct any negotiation in such a manner as to derive
advantage from it, and hoping that, by the appearance of facility in
hearkening to the first overture of accommodation, he might amuse the
emperor, and tempt him to slacken the activity with which he was now
preparing to defend himself, readily agreed to an interview with Ferdinand in the town of Lintz in Austria; and having left his army to proceed
on its march under the command of the duke of Mecklenburg, he repaired
thither.
Meanwhile the king of France punctually fulfilled his engagements to
the allies. He took the field early, with a numerous and well-appointed
army, and marching directly into Lorrain, Toul and Verdun opened their
gates at his approach. His forces appeared next before Mletz, and that
city, by a fraudulent stratagem of the constable Montmorency, who having
obtained permission to pass through it with a small guard, introduced as
many troops as were sufficient to overpower the garrison, was likewise
seized without bloodshed. Henry made his entry into all these towns
with great pomp; he obliged the inhabitants to swear allegiance to him,
and annexed those important conquests to the French monarchy. He left
a strong garrison in Metz. From thence he advanced towards Alsace, in
order to attempt new conquests, to which the success that had hitherto
attended his arms invited him."
The conference at Lintz did not produce an accommodation. Maurice,
when he consented to it, seems to have had nothing in view but to amuse
the emperor; for he made such demands, both in behalf of his confederates
and their ally the French king as he knew would not be accepted by a
prince, too haughty to submit, at once, to conditions dictated by an enemy.
But, however firmly Maurice adhered during the negotiation to the interest
of his associates, or how steadily soever he kept in view the objects which
had induced him to take arms, he often professed a strong inclination to
terminate the differences with the emperor in an amicable manner.
Encouraged by this appearance of a pacific disposition, Ferdinand proposed a second interview at Passau on the twenty-sixth of May, and that
a truce should commence on that day, and continue to the tenth of June, in
order to give them leisure for adjusting all the points in dispute.
Upon this, Maurice rejoined his army on the ninth of M]ay, which had
now advanced to Gundelfingen. He put his troops in motion next morning ^
and as sixteen days yet remained for action before the commencement ot
* Thuan 349.




EM3PEROR CHARLES V.                             407
the truce, he resolved during that period, to venture upon an enterprise,
the success of which would be so decisive, as to render the negotiations at
Passau extremely short, and entitle him to treat upon his own terms. He
foresaw that the prospect of a cessation of arms, which was to take place
sc soon, together with the opinion of his earnestness to re-establish peace,
with which he had artfully amused Ferdinand, could hardly fail of inspiring the emperor with such false hopes, that he would naturally become
remiss, and relapse into some degree of that security which had already
been so fatal to him. Relying on this conjecture, he marched directly at
the head of his army towards Inspruck, and advanced with the most rapid
motion that could be given to so great a body of troops. On the eighteenth, he arrived at Fiessen, a post of great consequence, at the entrance
into the Tyrolese. There he found a body of eight hundred men, whom
the emperor had assembled, strongly intrenched, in order to oppose his
progress. He attacked them instantly with such violence and impetuosity,
that they abandoned their lines precipitately, and falling back on a second
body posted near Ruten, communicated the panic terror with which they
themselves had been seized, to those troops; so that they likewise took
to fight, after a feeble resistance.
Elated with this success, which exceeded his most sanguine hopes,
Maurice pressed forward to Ehrenbergh, a castle situated on a high and
steep precipice, which commanded the only pass through the mountains.
As this fort had'been surrendered to the protestants at. the beginning of
the Smalkaldic war, because the garrison was then too weak to defend it,
the emperor, sensible of its importance, had taken care, at this juncture,
to throw into it a body of troops sufficient to maintain it against the greatest
army. But a shepherd, in pursuing a goat which had strayed from his flock,
having discovered an unknown path by which it was possible to ascend to
the top of the rock, came with this seasonable piece of intelligence to
Maurice. A small band of chosen soldiers, under the command of George
of Mecklenburg, was instantly ordered to follow this guide. They set out
in the evening, and clambering up the rugged track with infinite fatigue
as well as danger, they reached the summit unperceived; and at an hour
which had been agreed on, when Maurice began the assault on the one
side of the castle, they appeared on the other, ready to scale the walls,
which were feeble in that place, because it had been hitherto deemed
inaccessible. The garrison, struck with terror at the sight of an enemy
on a quarter'where they had thought themselves perfectly secure, imme
diately threw down their arms. Maurice, almost without bloodshed, and,
which was of greater consequence to him, without loss of time, took possession of a place, the reduction of which might have retarded him long,
and Inve required the utmost efforts of his valour and skill. 
Maurice was now only two days march from  Inspruck, and without
losing a moment he ordered his infantry to advance thither, having left
his cavalry, which was unserviceable in that mountainous country, at
Fiessen, to guard the mouth of the pass. He proposed to advance with
such rapidity as to anticipate any accounts of the loss of Ehrenbergh, and
to surprise the emperor, together with his attendants, in an open town
incapable of defence. But just as his troops began to move, a battalion of
mercenaries mutinied, declaring that they would not stir until they had
received the gratuity, which, according to the custom of that age, they
claimed as the recompense due to them for having taken a place by assault
It was with great difficulty, as well as danger, and not without some considerable loss of time, that Maurice quieted this insurrection, and prevailed
on the soldiers to follow him to a place where he promised them such rich
booty as wvould be an ample reward for all their services
* Arnoldi Vita Maurit 123




408                THE REIGN OF THE                     [BOOKX
To the delay, occasioned by this unforeseen accident, the emperor owed
his safety. He was informed of the approaching danger late in the
evening, and knowing that nothing could save him but a speedy flight, he
instantly left Inspruck, without regarding the darkness of the night, or the
violence of the rain which happened to fall at that time; and notwith
standing the debility occasioned by the gout, which rendered him unable
to bear any motion but that of a litter, he travelled by the light of torches,
taking his way over the Alps, by roads almost impassable. His courtiers
and attendants followed him with equal precipitation, some of them on
such horses as they could hastily procure, many of them on foot, and all in
the utmost confusion. In this miserable plight, very unlike the pomp with
which Charles had appeared during the five preceding years as the conqueror of Germany, he arrived at length with his dejected train at Villach
in Carinthia, and scarcely thought himself secure even at that remote inaccessible corner.I
Maurice entered Inspruck a few hours after the emperor and his attend
ants had left it; and enraged that the prey should escape out of his hands
when he was just ready to seize it, he pursued them  some miles; but
finding it impossible to overtake persons, to whom their fear gave speed,
he returned to the town, and abandoned all the emperor's baggage, together
with that of the ministers, to be plundered by the soldiers; while he
preserved untouched every thing belonging to the king of the Romans,
either because he.had formed some friendly connexion with that prince,
or because he wished to have it believed that such a connexion subsisted
between them. As there now remained only three days to the commencement of the truce, (with such nicety had Maurice calculated his operations,) he set out for Passau, that he might meet Ferdinand on the day
appointed.
Before Charles left Inspruck, he withdrew the guards placed on the
degraded elector of Saxony, whom, during five years, he had carried about
with him as a prisoner,.and set him entirely at liberty, either with an intention to embarrass Maurice by letting loose a rival, who might dispute his
title to his dominions and dignity, or from a sense of the indecency of
detaining him a prisoner, while he himself run the risk of being deprived
of his own liberty. But that prince, seeing no other way of escaping than
that which the emperor took, and abhorring the thoughts of falling into the
hands of a kinsman, whom he justly considered as the author of all his
misfortunes, chose rather to accompany Charles in his flight, and to expect
the final decision of his fate from the treaty which was now approaching.
These were not the only effects which Maurice's operations produced.
It was no sooner known at Trent that he had taken arms, than a general
consternation seized the fathers of the council. The German prelates immediately returned home, that they might provide for the safety of their
respective territories. The rest were extremely impatient to be gone:
and the legate, who had hitherto disappointed all the endeavours of the
Imperial ambassadors to procure an audience in the council for the protestant divines, laid hold with joy on such a plausible pretext for dismissing
an assembly, which he had found it so difficult to govern. In a congregation held on the twenty-eighth of April, a decree was issued proroguing
the council during two years, and appointing it to meet at the expiration
of that time, if peace were then re-established in Europe.* This prorogation, however, continued no less than ten years; and the proceedings of the
council, when reassembled in the year one thousand five hundred and
sixty-two, fall not within the period prescribed to this history.
he convocation of this assembly had been passionately desired by all
the states and princes in Christendom who, from the wisdom as well as
* F. Paul, 353.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              409
piety of prelates representing the whole body of the faithful, expected
some charitable and efficacious endeavours towards composing the dissensions which unhappily had arisen in the church. But the several popes by
whose authority it was called, had other objects in view. They exerted
all their power or policy to attain these; and by the abilities as well as
address of their legates, by the ignorance of many of the prelates, and by
the servility of the indigent Italian bishops, acquired such influence in the
council, that they dictated all its decrees, and framed them not with an
intention to restore unity and concord to the church, but to establish their
own dominion, or to confirm those tenets, upon which they imagined that
dominion to be founded. Doctrines which had hitherto been admitted
upon the credit of tradition alone, and received with some latitude of interpretation, were defined with a scrupulous nicety, and confirmed by the
sanction of authority. Rites, which had formerly been observed only in
deference to custom supposed to be ancient, were established by the
decrees of the church, and declared to be essential parts of its worship.
The breach, instead of being closed, was widened, and made irreparable.
In place of any attempt to reconcile the contending parties, a line was drawn
with such studied accuracy, as ascertained and marked out the distinction
oetween them. This still serves to keep them at a distance; and without,ome signal interposition of Divine Providence, must render the separation
perpetual.
Our knowledge of the proceedings of this assembly, is derived from three
different authors. Father Paul of Venice wrote his history of the council
of Trent, while the memory of what had passed there was recent, and some
who had been members of it were still alive. He has exposed the intrigues
and artifices by which it was conducted, with a fieedom and severity
which have given a deep wound to the credit of the council. He has
described its deliberations, and explained its decrees, with such perspicuity, and depth of thought, with such various erudition and such force of
reason, as have justly entitled his work to be placed among the most
admired historical compositions. About half a century thereafter, the Jesuit
Pallavicini published his history of the council, in opposition to that of
Father Paul, and by employing all the force of an acute and refining genius
to invalidate the credit, or to confute the reasonings of his antagonist, he
labours to prove, by artful apologies for the proceedings of the council, and
subtle interpretations of its decrees, that it deliberated with impartiality,
and decided with judgment aswell as candour. Vargas, a Spanish doctor
of laws, who was appointed to attend the Imperial ambassadors at Trent,
sent the bishop of Arras a regular account of the transactions there, explaining all the arts which the legate employed to influence or overawe the
council. His letters have been published, in which he inveighs against the
papal court with that asperity of censure, which was natural to a man whose
situation enabled him to observe its intrigues thoroughly, and who was
obliged to exert all his attention and talents in order to disappoint them.
But whichsoever of these authors an intelligent person takes for his guide,
in forming a judgment concerning the spirit of the council, he must discover
so much ambition as well as artifice among some of the members; so much
ignorance and corruption among others; he must observe such a large infusion of human policy and passions, mingled with such a scanty portion of
that simplicity of heart, sanctity of manners, and love of truth, which alone
qualify men to determine what doctrines are worthy of God, and what
worship is acceptable to him; that he will find it no easy matter to believe,
that any extraordinary influence of the Holy Ghost hovered over this
assembly, and dictated its decrees.
While Maurice was employed in negotiating with the king of the Romans
at Lmtz, or in making war on the emperor in the Tyrol, the French king
had advanced into Alsace as far as Strasburg; and having demanded leave
VOL. 1I. —52




410                THE  1REJC'  nF  THE                     [BOOK X.
of the senate to niarch through the city, h.e hoped that, by repeating the
same fraud which he had practised at Metz, he might render himself
master of the place, and by that means secure a passage over the Rhine
into the heart of Germany. But the Strasburgers, instructed and put on
their guard by the credulity and misfortune of their neighhours, shut their
gates; and having assembled a garrison of five thousand soldiers, repaired
their fortifications, rased the houses in their suburbs, and determined to
defend themselves to the utmost. At the same time they sent a deputat'on
of their most respectable citizens to the king, in order to divert him from
making any hostile attempt upon them.  The electors of Treves and
Cologne, the duke of Cleves, and other princes in the neighbourhood, interposed in their behalf; beseeching Henry that he would not forget so soon
the title which he had generously assumed; and instead of being the deliverer of Germany, become its oppressor. The Swiss Cantons seconded
them with zeal, soliciting Henry to spare a city which had long been connected with their community in friendship and alliance.
Powerful as this united intercession was, it would not have prevailed on
Henry to forego a prize of so much value, if he had been in a condition to
have seized it. But, in that age, the method of subsisting numerous armies
at a distance from the frontiers of their own country, was imperfectly understood, and neither the revenues of princes, nor their experience in the art
of war, were equal to the great and complicated efforts which such an
undertaking required. The French, though not far removed from their
own frontier, began already to suffer from scarcity of provisions, and had
no sufficient magazines collected to support them during a siege which
must necessarily have been of great length.* At the same time, the queen
of Hungary, governess of the Low-Countries, had assembled a considerable
body of troops, which, under the command of Martin de Rossem, laid
waste Champagne, and threatened  the adjacent provinces of France.
These concurring circumstances obliged the king, though with reluctance,
to abandon the enterprise. But being willing to acquire some merit with
his allies, by this retreat which he could not avoid, he pretended to the
Swiss that he had taken the resolution merely in compliance with their
request;t and then, after giving orders that all the horses in his army should
be led to drink in the Rhine, as a proof of his having pushed his conquest
so far, he marched back towards Champagne.
While the French king and the main army of the confederates were thus
employed, Albert of Brandenburg was intrusted with the command of a
separate body of eight thousand men, consisting chiefly of mercenaries who
had resorted to his standard, rather from  the hope of plunder, than the
expectation of regular pay. That prince, seeing himself at the head of
such a number of desperate adventurers, ready to follow wherever he should
lead them, soon began to disdain a state of subordination, and to form such
extravagant schemes of aggrandizing himself, as seldom occur, even to
ambitious minds, unless when civil war or violent factions rouse them to
bold exertions, by alluring them with immediate hopes of success. Full of
these aspiring thoughts, Albert made war in a manner very different from
the other confederates. He endeavoured to spread the terror of his arms
by the rapidity of his motions, as well asthe extent and rigour of his devastations; he exacted contributions wherever he came, in order to amass such.a sum of money, as would put it in his power to keep his army together;
he laboured to get possession of Nuremberg, Ulm, or some other of the free
cities in Upper Germany, in which, as a capital, he might fix the seat of
his power.  But, finding these cities onw their guard, and in a condition to
resist his attacks, he turned all his rage against the popish ecclesiastics,
whose territories he plundered with such wanton and merciless barbanrty
* Thuan l 331.3.  t Sliid 557 Blrant.oreo tom. vii. 39.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                411
as gave tnem a very unfavourable impression of the spirit of that reformation in religion, with zeal for which he pretended to be animated. The
bishops of Bambergh and Wurzburgh, by their situation, lay particularly
exposed to his ravages; he obliged the former to transfer to him, in property, almost one half of his extensive diocess; and compelled the latter
to advance a great sum of money in order to save his territories from ruin
and desolation. During all those wild sallies, Albert paid no regard either
to Maurice's orders, whose commands as generalissimo of the league he
had engaged to obey, or to the remonstrances of the other confederates;
and manifestly discovered, that he attended only to his own private emolument, without any solicitude about the common cause, or the general objects
which had induced them to take arms.*
Maurice having ordered his army to march back into Bavaria, and
having published a proclamation enjoining the Lutheran clergy and
instructers of youth, to resume the exercise of their functions, in all the
cities, schools, and universities from which they had been ejected, met
Ferdinand at Passau on the twenty-sixth day of May. As matters of the
greatest consequence to the future peace and independence of the empire
were to be settled in this congress, the eyes of all Germany were fixed
upon it. Besides Ferdinand and the Imperial ambassadors, the duke of
Bavaria, the bishops of Saltzburg and Aichstadt, the ministers of all the
electors, together with deputies from  most of the considerable princes
and free cities, resorted to Passau. Maurice, in the name of his associates,
and the king of the Romans as the emperor's representative, opened the
negotiation. The princes who were present, together with the deputies
of such as were absent, acted as intercessors or mediators between them
Maurice, in a long discourse, explained the motives of his own conduct
After having enumerated all the unconstitutional and oppressive acts of
the emperor's administration, he, agreeably to the manifesto which he
had published when he took arms against him, limited his demands tc
three articles: That the landgrave of Hesse should be immediately set at
liberty; that the grievances in the civil government of the empire should
be redressed; and that the protestants should be allowed the public exercise of their religion without molestation. Ferdinand and the Imperial
ambassadors discovering their unwillingness to gratify him with regard to
all these points, the mediators wrote a joint letter to the emperor, beseech
ing him to deliver Germany from the calamities of a civil war, by giving
such satisfaction to Maurice and his party as might induce them to lay
down their arms; and at the same time they prevailed upon Maurice to
grant a prolongation of the truce for a short, time, during which they
undertook to procure the emperor's final answer to his demands.
This request was presented to the emperor in the name of all the princes
of the empire, popish as well as protestant, in the name of such as had
lent a helping hand to forward his ambitious schemes, as well as of those
who had viewed the progress of his power with jealousy and dread. The
uncommon and cordial unanimity with which they concurred at this junc
ture in enforcing Maurice's demands, and in recommending peace, flowed
from different causes. Such as were most attached to the Roman catholic
church could not help observing, that the protestant confederates were at
the head of a numerous army, while the emperor was but just beginning to
provide for his own defence. They foresaw that great efforts would be
required of them, and would be necessary on their part, in order to cope
with enemies, who had been allowed to get the start so far, and to attain
such formidable power. Experience had taught them, that the fruit ot
all these efforts would be reaped by the emperor alone, and the more complete any victory proved which they should gain, the faster would they
* Sleid. 561. Thuan 357




412                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BOOK A.
bind then own fetters, and render them the more intolerable. These
reflections made them cautious how they contributed a second time, by
their indiscreet zeal, to put the emperor in possession of power which
would be fatal to the liberties of their country. Notwithstanding the
intolerant spirit of bigotry in that age, they chose rather that the protestants
should acquire that security for their religion which they demanded, than
by assisting Charles to oppress them, to give such additional force to the
Imperial prerogative, as would overturn the constitution of the empire. To
all these considerations, the dread of seeing Germany laid waste by a civil
war added new force. Many states of the empire already felt the destructive rage of Albert's arms, others dreaded it, and all wished for an accommodation between the emperor and Maurice, which they hoped would save
them from that cruel scourge.
Such were the reasons that induced so many princes, notwithstanding
the variety of their political interests, and the opposition in their religious
sentiments, to unite in recommending to the emperor an accommodation
with Maurice, not only as a salutary but as a necessary measure. The
motives which prompted Charles to desire it, were not fewer or of less
weight. He was perfectly sensible of the superiority which the confederates had acquired through his own negligence; and he now felt the
insufficiency of his own resources to oppose them. His Spanish subjects,
disgusted at his long absence, and weary of endless wars, which were of
little benefit to their country, refused to furnish him any considerable sup
ply either of men or money; and although by his address or importunity
he might have hoped to draw from them at last more effectual aid; that,
he knew, was too distant to be of any service in the present exigency of his
affairs. His treasury was drained; his veteran forces were dispersed or
disbanded, and he could not depend much either on the fidelity or courage
of the new levied soldiers whom he was collecting. There was no hope
of repeating with success the same artifices which had weakened and
ruined the Smalkaldic league. As the end at which he aimed was now
known, he could no longer employ the specious pretexts which had
formerly concealed his ambitious designs. Every prince in Germany was
alarmed and on his guard; and it was vain to think of blinding them a
second time to such a degree, as to rrlake one part of them instruments to
enslave the other. The spirit of a confederacy whereof Maurice was the
head, experience had taught him to be very different from that of the
league of Smalkalde; and from what he had already felt, he had no reason
to flatter himself that its councils would be as irresolute, or its efforts as
timid and feeble. If he should resolve on continuing the war, he might be
assured, that the most considerable states in Germany would take'part in
it against him; and a dubious neutrality was the utmost he could expect
from the rest. While the confederates found full employment for his arms
in one quarter, the king of France would seize the favourable opportunity,
and push on his operations in another, with almost certain success.  That
monarch had already made conquests in the empire, which Charles was
no less eager to recover, than impatient to be revenged on him for aiding
his malecontent subjects. Though Henry had now retired from the banks
of the Rhine, he had only varied the scene of hostilities, having invaded
the Low-Countries with all his forces. The Turks, roused by the solicitations of the French king, as well as stimulated by resentment against
Ferdinand for having violated the truce in Hungary, had prepared a
powerful fleet to ravage the coasts of Naples and Sicily, which he had
left almost defenceless, by calling thence the greatest part of the regular
troops o join the army which he was now assembling.
Ferdinand, who went in person to Villach, in order to lay before the
emperor the result of the conferences at Passau, had likewise reasons
peculiar to himself for desiring an accommodation.  These promised




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              413
him  to second, with the greatest earnestness, the arguments which the
princes assembled there had employed in recommending it. He had
observed, not without secret satisfaction, the fatal blow that had been
given to the despotic power which his brother had usurped in the empire.
He was extremely solicitous to prevent Charles frbm recovering his former
superiority,' as he foresaw  that amibitious prince would immediately
resume, with increased eagerness, and with a better chance of success,
his favourite scheme of transmitting that power to his son, by excluding
his brother from the right of succession to the Imperial throne. On this
account he was willing to contribute towards circumscribing, the Imperial
authority, in order to render his own possession of it certain.  Besides,
Solyman, exasperated at the loss of Transylvania, and still more at the
fraudulent arts by which it had been seized, had ordered into the field an
army of a hundred thousand men, which having defeated a great body of
Ferdinand's troops, and taken several places of importance, threatened not
only to complete the conquest of the province, but to drive them out of
that part of Hungary which was still subject to his jurisdiction. He was
unable to resist such a mighty enemy; the emperor, while engaged in a
domestic war, could afford him no aid; and he could not even hope to
draw from Germany the contingent, either of troops or money, usually
furnished to repel the invasions of the Infidels. Maurice, having observed
Ferdinand's perplexity with regard to this last point, had offered, if peace
were re-established on a secure foundation, that he would march in person
with his troops into Hungary against the Turks. Such was the effect of
this well-timed proposal, that Ferdinand, destitute of every other prospect
of relief, became the most zealous advocate whom the confederates could
have employed to urge their claims, and there was hardly any thing that
they could have demanded which he would not have chosen to grant,
rather than have retarded a pacification, to which he trusted as the only
means of saving his Hungarian crown.
When so many causes conspired in rendering an accommodation eligible,
it might have been expected that it would have taken place immediately.
But the inflexibility of the emperor's temper, together with his unwilling
ness at once to relinquish objects which he had long pursued with such
earnestness and assiduity, counterbalanced, for some time, the force of all
the motives which disposed him to peace, and not only put that event at
a distance, but seemed to render it uncertain.  When Maurice's demands,
together with the letter of the mediators at Passau, were presented to
him, he peremptorily refused to redress the grievances which were
pointed out, nor would he agree to any stipulation for the immediate
security of the protestant religion, but proposed referring both these to the
determination of a future diet. On his part, he required that instant reparation should be made to all who, during the present war, had suffered
either by the licentiousness of the confederate troops, or the exactions of
their leaders.
Maurice, who was well acquainted with the emperor's arts, immediately
concluded that he had nothing in view by these overtures but to amuse
and deceive; and, therefore, without listening to Ferdinand's entreaties,
he left Passau abruptly, and joining his troops, which were encamped a,
Mergentheim, a city in Franconia, belonging to the knights of the Teutonic order, he put them in motion, and renewed hostilities. As three
thousand men in the emperor's pay had thrown themselves into Frankfort
on the Maine, and might from thence infest the neighbouring country of
Hesse, he marched towards that city, and laid siege to it in form [July 17].
The briskness of this enterprise, and the vigour with which Maurice car,
ned on his approaches against the town, gave such an alarm to the
emperor, as. disposed him to lend a more favourable ear to Ferdinand's
arguments in behalf of an accommodation. Firm  and haughty as his




414                 THIE REIGN OF THE                        BooK X.
nature was, he found it necessary to bend, and signified his willingness to
make concessions on his part, if Maurice, in return, would abate somewhat of the rigour of his demands. Ferdinand, as soon as he perceived
that his brother began to yield, did not desist from his importunities, until
he prevailed on him to declare what was the utmost that he would grant
for the security of the confederates. Having gained this difficult point,
he instantly despatched a messenger to Maurice's camp, and, imparting
to him the emperor's final resolution, conjured him not to frustrate his
endeavours for the re-establishment of peace; or, by an unseasonable
obstinacy on his side, to disappoint the wishes of all Germany for that
salutary event.
Maurice, notwithstanding the prosperous situation of his affairs, was
strongly inclined to listen to this advice. The emperor, though overreached and surprised, had now begun to assemble troops, and however
slow his motions might be, while the first effects of his consternation
remained, he was sensible that Charles must at last act with vigour proportional to the extent of his power and territories, and lead into Germany
an army formidable by its numbers, and still more by the terror of his
name, as well as the remembrance of his past victories.  He could scarcely
hope that a confederacy composed of so many members would continue
to operate with union and perseverance sufficient to resist the consistent
and well-directed efforts of an army, at the absolute disposal of a leader
accustomed to command and to conquer.  He felt, already, although he
had not hitherto experienced the shock of any adverse event, that he himself was at the head of a disjointed body.  He saw, from the example of
Albert of Brandenburg, how difficult it would be, with all his address and
credit, to prevent any particular member from detaching himself from the
whole, and how impossible to recall him  to his proper rank and subordination.  This filled him  with apprehensions for the common cause.
Another consideration gave him no less disquiet with regard to his own
particular interests. By setting at liberty the degraded elector, and by
repealing the act by which that prince was deprived of his hereditary
honours and dominions, the emperor had it in his power to wound him in
the most tender part.  The efforts of a prince beloved by his ancient subiects, and revered by all the protestant party, in order to recover what
had been unjustly taken from  him, could hardly have failed of exciting
commotions in Saxony, which would endanger all that he had acquired
at the expense of so much dissimulation and artifice. It was no less in
the emperor's power to render vain all the solicitations of the confederates
in behalf of the landgrave.  He had only to add one act of violence more
to the injustice and rigour with which he had already treated him; and
he had accordingly threatened the sons of that unfortunate prince, that if
they persisted in their present enterprise, instead of seeing their father
restored to liberty, they should hear of his having suffered the punishment
which his rebellion had merited.*
Having deliberated upon all these points with nis associates, Maurice
thought it more prudent to accept of the conditions offered, though less
ad  antageous than those which he had proposed, than again to commit all to
the doubtful issue of war.t He repaired forthwith to Passau, and signed
the treaty of peace: of which the chief articles were, That before the
twelfth day of August, the confederates shall lay down their arms, and
disband their forces; That on or before that day the landgrave shall be
set at liberty, and conveyed in safety to his castle of Rheinfels; That a
diet shall be held within six months [August 2], in order to deliberate
concerning the most proper and effectual method of preventing for the
future all disputes and dissensions about religion; That in the mean time,
* Sleid. 571      t Sleid. Hist. 563, &e. Thuan. lib. x. 359, &c




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              415
neither the emperor, nor any other prince, shall upon any pretext whatever, offer any injury or violence to such as adhered to the confession of
Augsburg, but allow them to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise d
their religion;. That, in return, the protestants shall not molest the catholics
either in the exercise of their ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or in performing
their religious ceremonies; That the Imperial chamber shall administe
justice impartially to persons of both parties, and protestants be admitted
indiscriminately with the catholics to sit as judges in that court; That ii
the next diet should not be able to terminate the disputes with regard to
religion, the stipulations in the present treaty in behalf of the protestants
shall continue for ever in full force and vigour; That none of the confederates shall be liable to any action on account of what had happened
during the course of the war; That the consideration of those encroachments which had been made, as Maurice pretended, upon the constitution
and liberties of the empire,* shall be remitted to the approaching diet;
That Albert of Brandenburg shall be comprehended in the treaty, provided
he shall accede to it, and disband his forces before the twelfth of August.
Such was the memorable treaty of Passau, that overturned the vast
fabric, in erecting which Charles had employed so many years, and had
exerted the utmost efforts of his power and policy; that annulled all his
regulations with regard to religion; defeated all his hopes of rendering
the Imperial authority absolute and hereditary in his family; and established the protestant church, which had hitherto subsisted precariously
in Germany, through connivance, or by expedients, upon a firm and secure
basis. Maurice reaped all the glory of having concerted and completed
this unexpected revolution. It is a singular circumstance, that the reformation should be' indebted for its security and full establishment in Ger
many, to the same hand which had brought it to the brink of destruction,
and that both events should have been accomplished by the same arts of
dissimulation. The ends, however, which Maurice had in view, at those
different junctures, seem to have been more attended to than the means
by which he attained them; and he was now as universally extolled for
his zeal and public spirit as he had lately been condemned for his indifference and interested policy. It is no less worthy of observation, that the
French king, a monarch zealous for the catholic faith, should employ his
power in order to protect and maintainthe reformation in the empire, at
the very time when he was persecuting his own protestant subjects with
all the fierceness of bigotry, and that the league for this purpose, which
proved so fatal to the Romish church, should be negotiated and signed by
a Roman catholic bishop.  So wonderfully doth the wisdom  of Goc
superintend and regulate the caprice of human passions, and render them
subservient towards the accomplishment of his own purposes.
Little attention was paid to the interests of the French king during the
negotiations at Passau. Maurice and his associates, having gained what
they had in view, discovered no great solicitude about an ally, whom,
perhaps, they reckoned to be overpaid for the assistance which he had
given them, by his acquisitions in Lorrain. A short clause which they
procured to be inserted in the treaty, importing that the king of France
might communicate to the confederates his particular pretensions or causes
of hostility, which they would lay before the emperor, was the only sign
that they gave of their remembering how much they had been indebted
to him for their success. Henry experienced the same treatment which
every prince who lends his aid to the authors of a civil war may expect.
As soon as the rage of faction began to subside, and any prospect of
accommodation to open, his services were forgotten, and his associates
made a merit with their sovereign of the ingratitude with which they
* Recueil des Traitez, ii. 261.




416                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boo  XI..
abandoned their protector. But how much soever Henry might be enraged
at the perfidy of his allies, or at the impatience with which they hastened
to make their peace with the emperor, at his expense, he was perfectly
sensible that it was more his interest to keep well with the Germanic
body. than to resent the indignities offered him by any particular members
of it. For that reason, he dismissed the hostages which he had received
from Maurice and his associates, and affected to talk in the same strain as
formerly, concerning his zeal for maintaining the ancient constitution and
liberties of the empire.
BOOK XIo
As soon as the treaty of Passau was signed, Maurice, in consequence of
his engagements with Ferdinand, marched into Hungary with twenty
thousand men [Aug. 3]. But the great superiority of the Turkish armies,
the frequent mutinies both of the Spanish and German soldiers, occasioned
by their want of pay, together with the dissensions between Maurice and
Castaldo, who was piqued at being obliged of resign the chief command
to him; prevented his performing any thing in that country suitable to his
former fame, or of great benefit to the king of the Romans.*
When Maurice set out for Hungary, the prince of Hesse parted from
him with the forces under his command, and marched back into his own
country, that he might be ready to receive his father upon his return, and
give up to him the reins of government which he had held during his
absence. But fortune was not yet weary of persecuting the landgrave
A battalion of mercenary troops, which had been in the pay of Hesse,
being seduced by Reifenberg, their colonel, a soldier of fortune, ready to
engage in any enterprise, secretly withdrew from the young prince, as
he was marching homewards, and joined Albert of Brandenburg, who
still continued in arms against the emperor, refusing to be included in the
treaty of Passau. Unhappily for the landgrave, an account of this reached
the Netherlands,just as he was dismissed from the citadel of Mechlin,
where he had been confined, but before he had got beyond the frontiers
of that country.  The queen of Hungary, who governed there in her
brother's name, incensed at such an open violation of the treaty to which
he owed his liberty, issued orders to arrest him, and committed him again
to the custody of the same Spanish captain who had guarded him for five
years with the most severe vigilance. Philip beheld all the horrors of
his imprisonment renewed, and his spirits subsiding in the same proportion
as they had risen during the short interval in which he had enjoyed
liberty; he sunk into despair, and believed himself to be doomed to perpetual captivity.t But the matter being so explained to the emperor, as
fully satisfied him that the revolt of Reifenberg's mercenaries could be
imputed neither to the landgrave nor to his son, he gave orders for his
release; and Philip at last obtained the liberty for which he had so long
languished. But though he recovered his freedom, and was reinstated in
his dominions, his sufferings seem to have broken the vigour, and to have
extinguished the activity of his mind: from being the boldest as well as
most enterprising prince in the empire, he became the most timid and
cautious, and passed the remainder of his days in a pacific indolence.
The degraded elector of Saxony, likewise, procured his liberty in con
* Istuanhaffii Hist. HIungar. 288. Thuan. ib. x.. 371  t Sleld. 573. Belcarii Comment. 834.




EMPEROR CHARLES V                              417
sequence of the treaty of Passau. The emperor having been obliged tc
relinquish all his schemes for extirpating the protestant religion, had no
longer any motive for detaining him a prisoner; and being extremely solicitous, at that juncture, to recover the confidence and good-will of the
Germans, whose assistance was essential to the success of the enterprise
which he meditated against the king of France, he, among other expedients for that purpose, thought of releasing from  imprisonment a prince
whose merit entitled him no less to esteem, than his sufferings rendered
him the object of compassion. John Frederick took possession accordingly
of that part of his territories which had been reserved for him, when Maurice was invested with the electoral dignity. As in this situation he continued to display the same virtuous magnanimity for which he had been
conspicuous in a more prosperous and splendid state, and which he had
retained amidst all his sufferings, he maintained during the remainder ot
his life that high reputation to which he had so just a title.
The loss of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, had made a deep impression on
the emperor. Accustomed to terminate all. his operations against France
with advantage to himself, he thought that it nearly concerned his honour
not to allow Henry the superiority in this war, or to suffer his own administration to be stained with the infamy of having permitted territories of
such consequence to be dismembered from the empire. This was no less
I point of interest than of honour. As the frontier of Champagne was
more naked, and lay more exposed than that of any province in France,
Charles had frequently, during his wars with that kingdom, made inroads
upon that quarter with great success and effect; but if Henry were allowed
to retain his late conquests, France would gain such a formidable barrier
on that side, as to be altogether secure, where formerly she had been weakest..On the other hand, the empire had now lost as much, in point of
security, as France had acquired; and being stripped of the defence which
those cities afforded it, lay open to be invaded on a quarter, where all the
towns having been hitherto considered as interior, and remote from any
enemy, were but slightly fortified.  These considerations determined
Charles to attempt recovering the three towns of which Henry had made
himself master; and the preparations which he had made against Maurice
and his associates enabled him to carry his resolution into immediate execution.
As soon, then, as the peace was concluded at Passau, he left his inglorious retreat at Villach, and advanced to Augsburg, at the head of a considerable body of Germans which he had levied, together with all the troops
which he had drawn out of Italy and Spain. To these he added several
battalions, which having been in the pay of the confederates entered into
his service when dismissed by them; and he prevailed likewise on some
princes of the empire to join him with their vassals. In order to conceal
the destination of this formidable army, and to guard against alarming the
French king, so as to put him on preparing for the defence of his late conquests, he gave out that he was to march forthwith into Hungary, in order
to second Maurice in his operations against the Infidels. When he began
to advance towards the Rhine, and could no longer employ that pretext,
he tried a new artifice, and spread a report, that he took this route in order
to chastise Albert of Brandenburg, whose cruel exactions in that part of
the empire called loudly for his interposition to check them.
But the French having grown acquainted, at last, with arts by which
they had been so often deceived, viewed all Charles's motions wirl distrust. Henry immediately discerned the true object of his vast preparations, and resolved to defend the important conquests which he had gained
with vigour equal to that with which they were about to be attacked.
As he foresaw that the whole weight of the war would be turned against
Metz, by whose fate that of Toul-and Verdun would be determined, he
VOL. I1.-.53




418                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK X.
nominated Francis of Lorrain, duke of Guise, to take the command in that
city during the siege, the issue of which would equally affect the [onour
and interest of his country. His choice could not have fallen upon any
person more worthy of that trust. The duke of Guise possessed in a
high degree, all the talents of courage, sagacity, and presence of mind,
which render men eminent in military command. He was largely en.
dowed with that magnanimity of soul which delights in bold enterprises,
and aspires to fame by splendid and extraordinary actions. He repaired
with joy to the dangerous station assigned him, as to a theatre on which
he might display his great qualities under the immediate eye of his countrymen, all ready to applaud him. The martial genius of the French
nobility in that age, which considered it as the greatest reproach to remain
inactive, when there was any opportunity of signalizing their courage,
prompted great numbers to follow a leader who was the darling as wel'l
as the pattern of every one that courted military fame. Several princes
of the blood, many noblemen of the highest rank, and all the young officers who could obtain the king's permission, entered Metz as volunteers.
By their presence they added spirit to the garrison, and enabled the duke
of Guise to employ, on every emergency, persons eager to distinguish
themselves, and fit to conduct any service.
But with whatever alacrity the duke of Guise undertook the defence ot
Metz, he found every thing upon his arrival there, in such a situation, as
might have induced any person of less intrepid courage to despair of
defending it with success. The city was of great extent, with large suburbs; the walls were in many places feeble and without ramparts; the
ditch narrow; and the old towers, which projected instead of bastions,
were at too great distance from each other to defend the space between
them. For all these defects he endeavoured to provide the best remedy
which the time would permit. He ordered the suburbs, without sparing
the monasteries or churches, not even that of St. Arnulph, in which several
kings of France had been buried, to be levelled with the ground; but in
order to guard against the imputation of impiety, to which such a violation of so many sacred edifices, as well as of the ashes of the dead, might
expose him, he executed this with much religious ceremony. Having
ordered all the holy vestments and utensils, together with the bones of
the kings, and other persons deposited in these churches to be removed,
they were carried in solemn procession to a church within the walls, he
himself walking before them bare-headed, with a torch in his hand. He
then pulled down such houses as stood near the walls, cleared and enlarged
the ditch, repaired the ruinous fortifications, and erected new ones. As it
was necessary that all these works should be finished with the utmost
expedition, he laboured at them  with his own hands: the officers and
volunteers imitated his example, and the soldiers submitted with cheerfulness to the most severe and fatiguing service, when they saw that their
superiors did not decline to bear a part in it. At the same time he compelled all useless persons to leave the place; he filled the magazines with
provisions and military stores; he burnt the mills, and destroyed the corn
and forage for several miles round the town. Such were his popular talents,
as well as his arts of acquiring an ascendant over the minds of men, that
the citizens seconded him with no less ardour than the soldiers; and every
other passion being swallowed up in the zeal to repulse the enemy, with
which he inspired them, they beheld the ruin of their estates, together with
he havoc which he made among their public and private buildings, without any emotion of resentment.?
Meantime the emperor having collected all his forces, continued his
march towards Metz. As he passed through the cities on the Rhiue, he
* Thuan. xi. 387.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              419
saw the dismal effects of that licentious and wasteful war which Albert
had carried on in these parts. Upon his approach, that prince, though at
the head of twenty thousand men, withdrew into Lorrain, as if he had
intended to join the French king, whose arms he had quartered with his
own in all his standards and ensigns. Albert was not in a condition to
cope with the Imperial troops,? which amounted at least to sixty thousand
men, forming one of the most numerous and best appointed armies which
had been brought into the field during that age, in any of the wars among
Christian princes.
T'ne chief command, under the emperor, was committed to the duke of
Alva, assisted by the marquis de Marignano, together with the most experienced of the Italian and Spanish generals. As it was now towards the
end of October, these intelligent officers represented the great danger ot
beginning, at such an advanced season, a siege which could not fail to
prove very tedious. But Charles adhered to his own opinion with his
usual obstinacy, and being confident that he had made such preparations,
and taken such precautions, as would ensure success, he ordered the city
to be invested. As soon as the duke of Alva appeared [Oct. 19], a large
body of the French sallied out and attacked his van-guard with great
vigour, put it in confusion, and killed or took prisoners a considerable num
ber of men. By this early specimen which they gave of the conduct of
their officers, as well as the valour of their troops, they showed the Imperialists what an enemy they had to encounter, and how dear every advantage must cost them. The place, however, was completely invested, the
trenches were opened, and the other works begun.
The attention both of the besiegers and besieged was turned for some
time towards Albert of Brandenburg, and they strove with emulation which
should gain that prince, who still hovered in the neighbourhood, fluctuating
in all the uncertainty of irresolution, natural to a man, who, being swayed
by no principle, was allured different ways by contrary views of interest
The French tempted him  with offers extremely beneficial; the Imperialists scrupled at no promise which they thought could allure him. After
much hesitation he was gained by the emperor, from whom he expected
to receive advantages which were both more immediate and more permanent. As the French king, who began to suspect his intentions, had
appointed a body of troops under the duke of Aumale, brother to the
duke of Guise, to watch his motions, Albert fell upon them unexpectedly
with such vigour that he. routed them entirely [Nov. 4], killed many of the
officers, wounded Aumale himself, and took him prisoner. Immediately
after this victory, he marched in triumph to Metz, and joined his army to
that of the emperor. Charles, in reward for this service, and the great
accession of strength which he brought him, granted Albert a formal
pardon of all past offences, and confirmed him in the possession of the
territories which he had violently usurped during the war.t
The duke of Guise, though deeply affected with his brother's misfortune,
did not remit, in any degree, the vigour with which he defended the town.
He harassed the besiegers by frequent sallies, in which his officers were
s, eager to distinguish themselves, that his authority being hardly sufficient
to restrain the impetuosity of their courage, he was obliged at different
times to shut the gates, and to conceal the keys, in order to prevent the
princes of the blood, and noblemen of the first rank, from exposing them
selves to danger in every sally. He repaired in the night what the enemy's
artillery nad beat down during the day, or erected behind the ruined works
new fortifications of almost equal strength. The Imperialists, on theiz
part, pushed on the attack with great spirit, and carried forward, at once
approaches against different parts of the town. But the art of attacking
* Natal. Comitis, Hist. 127.  t Sleid 575. Thuan. lib.yxi. 389.39,




420                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK XI.
fortified p.aces was not then arrived at that degree of perfection to which
it was carried towards the close of he sixteenth century, during the long
war in the Netherlands. The besiegers, after the unwearied labour ot
many weeks, found that they had made but little progress; and although
their batteries had made breaches in different places, they saw, to their
astonishment, works suddenly appear, in demolishing which their fatigues
and dangers would be renewed. The emperor, enraged at the obstinate
resistance which his army met with, left Thionville, where he had been
confined by a violent fit of the gout, and though still so infirm that he was
obliged to be carried in a litter, he repaired to the camp [Nov. 26]; that,
by his presence, he might animate the soldiers, and urge on the attack
with greater spirit. Upon his arrival, new batteries were erected, and new
efforts were made with redoubled ardour.
But, by this time, winter had set in with great rigour; the camp was
alternately deluged with rain or covered with snow; at the same time
provisions were become extremely scarce, as a body of French cavalry
which hovered in the neighbourhood, often interrupted the convoys, or
rendered their arrival difficult and uncertain. Diseases began to spread
among the soldiers, especially among the Italians and Spaniards, unaccustomed to such inclement weather; great numbers were disabled from
serving, and many died. At length such breaches were made as seemed
practicable, and Charles resolved to hazard a general assault, in spite of all
the remonstrances of his generals against the imprudence of attacking a
numerous garrison, conducted and animated by the most gallant of the
French nobility, with an army weakened by diseases, and disheartened
with ill success. The duke of Guise, suspecting the emperor's intentions
from the extraordinary movements which he observed'in the enemy's camp,
ordered all his troops to their respective posts. They appeared immediately on the walls, and behind the breaches, with such a determined
countenance, so eager for the combat, and so well prepared to give the
assailants a warm  reception, that the Imperialists, instead of advancing
to the charge when the word of command was given, stood motionless in a
timid, dejected silence. The emperor, perceiving that he could not trust
troops whose spirits were so much broken, retired abruptly to his quarters,
complaining that he was now deserted by his soldiers, who deserved no
ionger the name of men.*
Deeply as this behaviour of his troops mortified and affected Charles,
Fe would not hear of abandoning the siege, though he saw  the
necessity of changing the method of attack. He suspended the fury of
his batteries, and proposed to proceed by the more secure but tedious
method of sapping. But as it still continued to rain or to snow almost
incessantly, such as were employed in this service endured incredible
hardships: and the duke of Guise, whose industry was not inferior to his
valour, discovering all their mines, counter-worked them, and prevented
their effect. At last, Charles finding it impossible to contend any longer
with the severity of the season, and with enemies whom he could neither
overpower by force, nor subdue by art, while at the same time a contagious distemper raged among his troops, and cut off daily great numbers
of the officers as well as soldiers, yielded to the solicitations of his general?,
who conjured him to save the remains of his army by a timely retreat;
" ortune," says he, "I now  perceive, resembles other females, and
chooses to confer her favours on young men, while she turns her back on
those who are advanced in years."
Upon this, he gave orders immediately to raise the siege [Dec 26], and
submitted to the disgrace of abandoning the enterprise, after having contiea   ity-i; ix days before the town, during which time he had lost upwards
* Thuan. 397.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              421
of thirty thousand men, who died of diseases, or were killed by the
enemy.  The duke of Guise, as soon as he perceived the intention of the
Imperialists, sent out several bodies both of cavalry and infantry to infest
their rear, to pick up stragglers, and to seize every opportunity of attacking
tlem with advantage.  Such was the confusion with which they made
their retreat, that the French might have harassed them in the most cruel
manner. But when they sallied out, a spectacle presented itself to their
view, which extinguished at once all hostile rage, and melted them into
tenderness and compassion. The Imperial camp was filled with the sick
and wounded, with the dead and the dying. In all the different roads by
which the army retired, numbers were found, who, having made an effort
to escape, beyond their strength, were left, when they could go no farther,
to perish without assistance.  This they received from their enemies, and
were indebted to them for all the kind offices which their friends had no
the power to perform. The duke of Guise immediately ordered propor
refreshments for such as were dying of hunger; he appointed surgeons to
attend the sick and wounded; he removed such as could bear it to the
adjacent villages; and those who would have suffered by being carried so
far, he admitted into the hospitals which he had fitted up in the city for
his own soldiers. As soon as they recovered, he sent them home under an
escort of soldiers, and with money to bear their charges. By these acts of
humanity, which were uncommon in that age, when war was carried on
with greater rancour and ferocity than at present, the duke of Guise completed the fame which he had acquired by his gallant and successful defence
of Metz, and engaged those whom he had vanquished to vie with his own
countrymen in extolling his name."
To these calamities in Germany, were added such unfortunate events
in Italy as rendered this the most disastrous year in the emperor's life.
During his residence at Villach, Charles had applied to Cosmo di Medici
for the loan of two hundred thousanid crowns. But his credit at that time
was so low, that in order to obtain this inconsiderable sum, he was obliged
to put him in possession of the principality of Piombino; and by giving up
that, he lost the footing which he had hitherto maintained in Tuscany, and
enabled Cosmo to assume, for the future, the tone and deportment of a
prince altogether independent. Much about the time that his indigence
constrained him to part with this valuable territory, he lost Sienna, which
was of still greater consequence, through the ill conduct of Don Diego de
Mendoza.f
Sienna, like most of the great cities in Italy, had long enjoyed a republican government, under the protection of the empire; but being torn in
pieces by the dissensions between the nobility and the people, which
divided all the Italian commonwealths, the faction of the people, which
gained the ascendant, besought the emperor to become the guardian of
the administration which they had established, and admitted into their
city a small body of Spanish soldiers, whom he had sent to countenance
the execution of the laws, and to preserve tranquillity among them.  The
command of these troops was given to Mendoza, at that time ambassador
for the emperor at Rome, who persuaded the credulous multitude, that it
was necessary for their security against any future attempt of the nobles,
to allow him to build a citadel in Sienna; and as he flattered himself that
by means of this fortress he might render the emperor master of the city,
he pushed on the works with all possible despatch. But he threw off tile
mask too soon. Before the fortifications were completed, he began to
indulge his natural haughtiness and severity of temper, and to treat the
* Sleid. 575. Thuan. lib, xi. 389, &c. Pere Daniel, Hist. de France, tor. iii. 392. Pere Danie's
Account of this siege is taken II'ml the journal of the Sieur de Salignac, who was present. Natal
oiomit. Hist 129       * +huan lib xi 376.




422                 THE REIGN OF THE                     [BOOK XI
citizens with great insolence. At the same time the soldiers in garrison
being paid as irregularly as the emperor's troops usually were, lived
almost at discretion upon the inhabitants, and were guilty of many acts oi
license and oppression.
These injuries awakened the Siennese to a sense of their danger. As
they saw the necessity of exerting themselves, while the unfinished fortifications of the citadel left them  any hopes of success, they applied to the
French ambassador at Rome, who readily promised them his master's protection and assistance.  At the same time, forgetting their domestic
animosities when such a mortal blow was aimed at the liberty and existence
of the republic, they sent agents to the exiled nobles, and invited them to
concur with them in saving their country from the servitude with which it
was threatened. As there was not a moment to lose, measures were concerted speedily, but with great prudence; and were executed with equal
vigour.  The citizens rose suddenly in arms: the exiles flocked into the
town from different parts with all their partizans, and what troops they
could draw together; and several bodies of mercenaries in the pay of
France appeared to support them. The Spaniards, though surprised, and
much inferior in number, defended themselves with great courage; but
seeing no prospect of relief, and having no hopes of maintaining their station
long in a half-finished fortress, they soon gave it up. The Siennese, with
the utmost alacrity, levelled it with the ground, that no monument might
remain of that odious structure, which had been raised in order to enslave
them. At the same time renouncing all connection with the emperor, they
sent ambassadors to thank the king of France as the restorer of their liberty,
and to entreat that he would secure to them the perpetual enjoyment ot
that blessing, by continuing his protection to their republic.~
To these misfortunes, one still more fatal had almost succeeded.  The
severe administration of Don Pedro de Toledo, viceroy of Naples, having
filled that kingdom with murmuring and disaffection, the prince of Salerno,
the head of the malecontents, had fled to the court of France, where all
who bore ill-will to the emperor or his ministers were sure of finding protection and assistance. That nobleman, in the usual style of exiles, boasting
much of the number and power of his partizans, and of his great influence
with them, prevailed on Henry to think of invading Naples, from an expectation of being joined by all those with whom the prince of Salerno held
correspondence, or who were dissatisfied with Toledo's government. But
though the first hint of this enterprise was suggested by the prince of
Salerno, Henry did not choose that its success should entirely depend upon
his being able to fulfil the promises which he had made. He applied for
aid to Solyman, whom he courted, after his father's example, as his most
vigorous auxiliary against the emperor, and solicited him to second his
operations, by sending a powerful fleet into the Mediterranean. It was
not difficult to obtain what he requested of the sultan, who, at this time,
was highly incensed against the house of Austria, on account of the proceedings in Hungary. He ordered a hundred and fifty ships to be
equipped, that they might sail towards the coast of Naples, at whatever
time Henry should name, and might co-operate with the French troops in
their attempts upon that kingdom. The command of this fleet was given
to the corsair Dragut, an officer trained up under Barbarossa, and scarcely
inferior to his master in courage, in talents, or in good fortune. He
appeared on the coast of Calabria at the time which had been agreed on,
landed at several places, plundered and burnt several villages; and at ast,
casting anchor in the bay of Naples, filled that city with consternation
But as the French fleet, detained by some accident, which the contem* Pecci Memorie de Sienna, vol. iii. p. 230. 261. Thelan. 375. 377, &c. Paruta. Hist Venet. 267
Mem (e Ribier, 424, &c.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             423
porary historians have not explained, did not join the Turks according to
concert, they, after waiting twenty days, without hearing any tidings of it,
set sail for Constantinople, and thus delivered the viceroy of Naples from
the terror of an invasion, which he was not in a condition to have resisted.*
1553.] As the French had never given so severe a check to the emperor
m any former campaign, they expressed immoderate joy at the success of
their arms. Charles himself, accustomed to a long series of prosperity,
felt the calamity most sensibly, and retired from  Metz into the LowCountries, much dejected with the cruel reverse of fortune which affected
him in his declining age, when the violence of the gout had increased to
such a pitch, as entirely broke the vigour of his constitution, and rendered
him peevish, difficult ot access, and often incapable of applying to business.
But whenever he enjoyed any interval of ease, all his thoughts were bent
on revenge; and he deliberated, with the greatest solicitude, concerning
the most proper means of annoying France, and of effacing the stain which
had obscured the reputation and glory of his arms. All the schemes concerning Germany which had engrossed him so long, being disconcerted by
the peace of Passau, the affairs of the empire became only secondary
objects of attention, and enmity to France was the predominant passion
which chiefly occupied his mind.
The turbulent ambition of Albert of Brandenburg excited violent commotions, which disturbed the empire during this year. That prince's
troops having shared in the calamities of the siege of Metz, were greatly
reduced in number. But the emperor, prompted by gratitude for his distinguished services on that occasion, or perhaps with a secret view ot
fomenting divisions among the princes of the empire, having paid up all
he money due to him, he was enabled with that sum to hire so many of
the soldiers dismissed from the Imperial army, that he was soon at the
nead of a body of men as numerous as ever. The bishops of Bamberg
and Wurtzburg having solicited the Imperial chamber to annul, by its
authority, the iniquitous conditions which Albert had compelled them to
sign, that court unanimously found all their engagements with him to be
void in their own nature, because they had been extorted by force;
enjoined Albert to renounce all claim to the performance of them; and, if
he should persist in such an unjust demand, exhorted all the princes of the
empire to take arms against him as a disturber of the public tranquillity.
To this decision, Albert opposed the confirmation of his transactions with
the two prelates, which the emperor had granted him as the reward of his
having joined the Imperial army at Metz; and in order to intimidate his
antagonists, as well as to convince them of his resolution not to relinquish
his pretensions, he put his troops in motion, that he might secure the territory in question. Various endeavours were employed, and many expedients proposed, in order to prevent the kindling a new war in Germany.
But the same warmth of temper which rendered Albert turbulent and
enterprising, inspiring him with the most sanguine hopes of success, even
in his wildest undertakings, he disdainfully rejected all reasonable overtures
of accommodation.
Upon this, the Imperial chamber issued its decree against him, and
required the elector of Saxony, together with several other princes mentioned by name, to take arms in order to carry it into execution. Maurice,
and those associated with him, were not unwilling to undertake this service.
They were extremely solicitous to maintain public order by supporting the
authority of the Imperial chamber, and saw the necessity of giving a timely
check to the usurpations of an ambitious prince, who had no principle of
action but regard to his own interest, and no motive to direct him but the
inpulse of ungovernable passions.  They had good reason to suspect, that
* Thuan. 375. 330. Mem de Ribier ii 403. Giannoie.




424                 THE REIGN OF THE                       [BOOK XI.
the emperor encouraged Albert in his extravagant and irregular pro
ceedings, and secretly afforded him assistance that, by raising him up to
rival Maurice in power, he might, in any future broil, make use of his
assistance to counterbalance and control the authority which the other had
acquired in the empire.*
These considerations united the most powerful princes in Germany in a
league against Albert, of which Maurice was declared generalissimo
[April 2]. This formidable confederacy, however, wrought no change in
Albert's sentiments; but as he knew that he could not resist so many
princes, if he should allow them time to assemble their forces, he endea
voured, by his activity, to deprive them of all the advantages which they
might derive from  their united power and numbers; and for that reason
marched directly against Maurice, the enemy whom he dreaded most. It
was happy for the allies that the conduct of their affairs was committed to
a prince of such abilities. He, by his authority and example, had inspired
them with vigour; and having carried on their preparations with a degree
of rapidity of which confederate bodies are seldom  capable, he was in
condition to face Albert before he could make any considerable progress.
Their armies, which were nearly equal in number, each consisting of
twenty-four thousand men, met at Seiverhausen, in the dutchy of Lunenburgh; and the violent animosity against each other, which possessed the
two leaders, did not suffer them  to continue long inactive.  The troops
inflamed with the same hostile rage, marched fiercely to the combat [June
9]; they fought with the greatest obstinacy; and as both generals were
capable of availing themselves of every favourable occurrence, the battle
remained long doubtful, each gaining ground upon the other alternately.
At last victory declared for Maurice, who was superior in cavalry, and
Albert's army fled in confusion, leaving four thousand dead in the field, and
their camp, baggage, and artillery in the hands of the conquerors.  The
allies bought their victory dear, their best troops suffered greatly, two sons
of the duke of Brunswick, a duke of Lunenburgh, and many other persons
of distinction, were among the number of the slain.t  But all these were
soon forgotten; for Maurice himself, as he led up to a second charge a
body of horse which had been broken, received a wound with a pistol
bullet in the belly, of which he died two days after the battle, in the thirty
second year of his age, and in the sixth after his attaining the electoral
dignity.
Of all the personages who have appeared in the history of this active
age, when great occurrences and sudden revolutions called forth extraordinary talents to view, and afforded them full opportunity to display themselves, Maurice may justly be considered as the most remarkable. If his
exorbitant ambition, his profound dissimulation, and his unwarrantable
usurpation of his kinsman's honours and dominions exclude him from being
praised as a virtuous man; his prudence in concerting his measures, his
vigour in executing them, and the uniform  success with which they were
attended, entitle him to the appellation of a great prince. At an age when
impetuosity of spirit commonly predominates over political wisdom, when
the highest effort even of a genius of the first order is to fix on a bold
scheme, and to execute it with. promptitude and courage, he formed and
conducted an intricate plan of policy, which deceived the most artful
monarch in Europe. At the very juncture when the emperor had attained
to almost unlimited despotism, Maurice, with power seemingly inadequate
to such an undertaking, compelled him to relinquish all his usurpations, and
established not only the religious but civil liberties of Germany on such
* Sleid. 585. Mem. de Ribler, ii. 442. Arnoldi vita Maurit. ap. Menken, ii. 1242.
t Historia pugnae infelicis inter Maurit. et Albert. Thom. Wintzero auctore apud Scard. ii. 55S
Sleid. 583. Ruscelli epistres aux Princes, 154. Arnoldi vita Maurit. 1245.




EMPEROR CIHARLES V.                              425
foundations as have hitherto remained unshaken. Although, at one period
of his life, his conduct excited the jealousy of the protestants, and at another
drew on him the resentment of the Roman catholics, such was his masterly
address, that he was the only prince of the age who in any degree possessed the confidence of both, and whom both lamented as the most able
as well as faithful guardian of the constitution and laws of his country.
The consternation which Maurice's death occasioned among his troops,
prevented them from making the proper improvement of the victory which
they had gained. Albert, whose active courage, and profuse liberality,
rendered him the darling of such military adventurers as were little solicitous about the justice of his cause, soon reassembled his broken forces,
and made fresh levies with such success that he was quickly at the head
of fifteen thousand men, and renewed his depredations with additional
fury. But Henry of Brunswick having taken the command of the allied
troops, defeated him in a second battle [Sept. 12] scarcely less bloody
than the former., Even then his courage did not sink, nor were his
resources exhausted.  He made several efforts, and some of them very
vigorous, to retrieve his affairs: but being laid under the ban of the
empire by the Imperial chamber; being driven by degrees out of all his
hereditary territories, as well as those which he had usurped; being forsaken by many of his officers, and overpowered by the number of his
enemies, he fled for refuge into France. After having been, for a considerable time, the terror and scourge of Germany, he lingered out some
years in an indigent and dependent state of exile, the miseries of which
his restless and arrogant spirit endured with the most indignant impa'
tience.  Upon his death without issue [Jan. 12, 1577], his territories,
which had been seized by the princes who took arms against him, were
restored, by a decree of the emperor, to his collateral heirs of the house
of Brandenburg.*
Miaurice having left only one daughter, who was afterwards married to
William prince of Orange, by whom she had a son who bore his grandfather's name, and inherited the great talents for which he was conspicu
ous, a violent dispute arose concerning the succession to his honours and
territories. John Frederick, the degraded elector, claimed the electoral
dignity, and that part of his patrimonial estate of which he had been violently stripped after the Smalkaldic war.  Augustus, Maurice's only
brother, pleaded his right not only to the hereditary possessions of their
family, but to the electoral dignity, and to the territories which Maurice
had acquired. As Augustus was a prince of considerable abilities, as well
as of great candour and gentleness of manners, the states of Saxony, forgetting the merits and sufferings of their former master, declared warmly in
his favour. His pretensions were powerfully supported by the king of
Denmark, whose daughter he had married, and zealously espoused by the
king of the Romans, out of regard to Maurice's memory.  The degraded
elector, though secretly favoured by his ancient enemy the emperor, was
at last obliged to relinquish his claim, upon obtaining a small addition to
the territories which had been allotted to him, together with a stipulation,
securing to his family the eventual succession, upon a failure of male heirs
in the Albertine line. That unfortunate, but magnanimous prince, died
next year, soon after ratifying this treaty of agreement; and the electoral
di nity is still possessed by the descendants of Augustus.t
During these transactions in Germany, war was carried on in the Low
Countries with considerable vigour.  The emperor, impatient to efface the
stain which his ignominious repulse at Metz left upon his military reputation, had an army early in the field, and laid siege to Terouane. Thougn
S Sleid. 592. 594. 599. Strtv. Corp. Hist. Germ. 1075.    t Sleid. 587. Thuan. 409. Struv
Corp. Hist. Germ.
VOL II. —54




426               rTHE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK XI
the town was of such importance, that Francis used to call it one of the two
pillows on which a king of France might sleep with security, the fortifications were in bad repair: Henry, trusting to what had happened at Metz,
thought nothing more was necessary to render all the efforts of the enemy
abortive, than to reinforce the garrison with a considerable number of the
young nobility. But d'Esse, a veteran officer who commanded them,
being killed, and the Imperialists pushing the siege with great vigour and.perseverance, the place was taken by assault [June 211. That it might
not fall again into the hands of the French, Charles ordered not only the
fortifications but the town itself to be rased, and the inhabitants to be dispersed in the adjacent cities. Elated with this success, the Imperialists
immediately invested Hesden, which, though defended with great bravery,
was likewise taken by assault, and such of the garrison as escaped the
sword were made prisoners.  The emperor intrusted the conduct of this
siege to Emanuel Philibert of Savoy, prince of Piedmont, who, on that
occasion, gave the first display of those great talents for military command,
which'soon entitled him to be ranked among the first generals of the age,
and facilitated his re-establishment in his hereditary dominions, the greater
part of which having been overrun by Francis in his expeditions into Italy,
were still retained by Henry.*
The loss of these towns, together with so many persons of distinction,
either killed or taken by the enemy, was no inconsiderable calamity to
France, and Henry felt it very sensibly; but he was still more mortified
at the emperor's having recovered his wonted superiority in the field so
soon after the blow at Metz, which the French had represented as fatal to
his power. He was ashamed too, of his own remissness and excessive
security at the opening of the campaign; and in order to repair that error,
ae assembled a numerous army, and led it into the Low-Countries.
Roused at the approach of such a formidable enemy, Charles left Brusiels, where he had been shut up so closely during seven months, that it
tame to be believed in many parts of Europe that he was dead; and
though he was so much debilitated by the gout that he could hardly bear
lhe motion of a litter, he hastened to join his army. The eyes of all
Europe were turned with expectation towards those mighty and exasperated rivals, between whom a decisive battle was now thought unavoidable. But Charles having prudently declined to hazard a general engagement, and the violence of the autumnal rains rendering it impossible for
the French to undertake any siege, they retired, without having performed
any thing suitable to the great preparations which they had made.t
The Imperial arms were not attended with the same success in Italy.
The narrowness of the emperor's finances seldom allowed him to act with
vigour in two different places at the same time; and having exerted himself to the utmost in order to make a great effort in the Low-Countries, his
operations on the other side of the Alps were proportionally feeble. The
viceroy of Naples, in conjunction with Cosmo di Medici, who was greatly
alarmed at the introduction of French troops into Sienna, endeavoured to
become master of that city. But, instead of reducing the Siennese, the
Imperialists were obliged to retire abruptly, in order to ddfend their own
country, upon the appearance of the Turkish fleet, which threatened the
coast of Naples, and lhe French not only established themselves more
firmly in Tuscany, but, by the assistance of the Turks, conquered a great
part of the island of Corsica, subject at that time to the Genoese.]
The affairs of the house of Austria declined no less in Hungary during
the course of this year. As the troops which Ferdinand kept in Transylvania received their pay very irregularly, they lived almost at discretion
upon the inhabitants; and their insolence and rapaciousness greatly dis
Thuan. 411. Harei Annales Brabant. 669.  t Haraeus, 672. Thuan. 414.  t Thuan. 417.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             427
gusted all ranks of men, and alienated them from their new sovereign, who,
instead of protecting, plundered his subjects. Their indignation at this
added to their desire of revenging Martinuzzi's death, wrought so much
upon a turbulent nobility impatient of injury, and upon a fierce people
prone to change, that they were ripe for a revolt. At that very juncture,
their late queen Isabella, together with her son, appeared in Transylvania.
Her ambitious mind could not bear the solitude and inactivity of a private
life; and repenting quickly of the cession which she had made of the.
crown in the year one thousand five hundred and fifty-one, she left the
place of her retreat, hoping that the dissatisfaction of the Hungarians with
the Austrian government would prompt them once more to recognise her
son's right to the crown. Some noblemen of great eminence declared
immediately in his favour. The basha of Belgrade, by Solyman's order,
espoused his cause, in opposition to Ferdinand; the Spanish and German
soldiers, instead of advancing against the enemy, mutinied for want of pay,
declaring that they would march back to Vienna; so that Castaldo, their
general, was obliged to abandon Transylvania to Isabella and the Turks,
and to place himself at the head of the mutineers, that by his authority he
might restrain them from plundering the Austrian territories through which
they passed.
Ferdinand's attention was turned so entirely towards the affairs of Germany, and his treasures so much exhausted by his late efforts in Hungary,
that he made no attempt to recover that valuable province, although a
favourable opportunity for that purpose presented itself, as Solyman was
then engaged in a war with Persia, and involved besides in domestic
calamities which engrossed and disturbed his mind. Solyman, though
distinguished by many accomplishments, from the other Ottoman princes,
had all the passions peculiar to that violent and haughty race. He
was jealous of his authority, sudden as well as furious in his anger, and
susceptible of all that rage of love, which reigns in the East, and often
produces the wildest and most tragical effects. His favourite mistress was
a Circassian slave of exquisite beauty, who bore him a son called Mustapha, whom, both on account of his birthright and merit, he destined to be
the heir of his crown. Roxalana, a Russian captive, soon supplanted the
Circassian, and gained the sultan's heart. Having the address to retain
the conquest which she had made, she kept possession of his love without
any rival for many years, during which she brought him several sons and
one daughter. All the happiness, however, which she derived from the
unbounded sway that she had acquired over the mind of a monarch whom
one half of the world revered or dreaded, was embittered by perpetual
reflections on Mustapha's accession to the throne, and the certain death of
her sons,'who, she foresaw, would be immediately sacrificed, according tc
the barbarous jealousy of Turkish policy, to the safety of the new emperor
By dwelling continually on this melancholy idea, she came gradually to
view Mustapha as the enemy of her children, and to hate him with more
than a stepmother's ill-will. This prompted her to wish his destruction,
in order to secure for one of her own sons the throne which was destined
for him. Nor did she want either ambition to attempt such a high enterprise, or the arts requisite for carrying it into execution. Having prevailed
on the sultan to give her only daughter in marriage to Rustan the grand
vizier, she disclosed her scheme to that crafty minister, who, perceiving
that it was his own interest to co-operate with. her, readily promised his
assistance towards aggrandizing that branch of the royal line to which he
was so nearly allied.
As soon as Roxalana had concerted her measures with this able confi
dant, she began to affect a wonderful zeal for the Mahometan religion, to
e Thuan. 430.




428              THE REIGN  OF THE                     [BOOK XI.
which Solyman was superstitiously attached, and proposed to found and
endow a royal mosque, a work of great expense, but deemed by the Turks
meritorious in the highest degree. The mufti whom  she consulted,
approved much of her pious intention; but having been gained and
instructed by Rustan, told her, that she being a slave could derive no
benefit herself from that holy deed, for all the merit of it would accrue to
Solyman, the master whose property she was. Upon this she seemed to
be overwhelmed with sorrow, and to sink into the deepest melancholy, as
f' she had been disgusted with life and all its enjoyments. Solyman, whe
was absent with the army, being informed of this dejection of mind, and
of the cause from which it proceeded, discovered all the solicitude of a
lover to remove it, and by a writing under his hand declared her a free
woman.  Roxalana having gained this point, proceeded to build the
mosque, and reassumed her usual gayety of spirit. But when Solyman, on
his return to Constantinople, sent a eunuch, according to the custom of the
seraglio, to bring her to partake of his bed, she seemingly with deep
regret, but in the most peremptory manner, declined to follow the eunuch,
declaring that what had been an honour to her while a slave, became a
crime as she was now a free woman, and that she would not involve either the
sultan or herself in the guilt that must be contracted by such an open violation of the law of their prophet. Solyman, whose passion this difficulty,
as well as the affected delicacy which gave rise to it, heightened and
inflamed, had recourse immediately to the mufti for his direction. He
replied, agreeably to the koran, the Roxalana's scruples were well founded,
but added, artfully, in words which Rustan had taught him to use, that it
was in the sultan's power toremove these difficulties, by espousing her as
his lawful wife. The amorous monarch closed eagerly with the proposal,
and solemnly married her, according to the form of the Mahometan ritual;
though, by doing so, he disregarded a maxim of policy which the pride
of the Ottoman blood had taught all the sultans since Bajazet I. to consider as inviolable.  From his time, none of the Turkish monarchs had
married, because, when he was vanquished and taken prisoner by Tamerlane, his wife had been abused with barbarous insolence by the Tartars.
That no similar calamity might again subject the Ottoman family to the
same disgrace, the sultans admitted none to their beds but slaves, whose
dishonour could not bring any such stain upon their house.
But the more uncommon the step was, the more it convinced Roxalana
of the unbounded influence which she had acquired over the sultan's
heart; and emboldened her to prosecute, with greater hope of success,
the scheme that she had formed in order to destroy Mustapha.  This
young prince having been intrusted by his father, according to the pracitice of the sultans in that age, with the government of several different
provinces, was at that time invested with the administration in Diarbequir,
the ancient Mesopotamia, which Solyman had wrested from the Persians,
and added to his empire. In all these different commands, Mustapha had
conducted himself with such cautious prudence as could give no offence
to his father, though, at the same time, he governed with so much moderation as well as justice, and displayed such valour and generosity, as rendered him  equally the favourite of the people and the darling of the
soldiery.
There was no room to lay any folly or vice to his charge, that could
impair the high opinion which his father entertained of him. Roxalana's malevolence was more refined; she turned his virtues against him,'
ind made use of these as engines for his destruction. She often mentioned,;r Solyman's presence, the splendid qualities of his son; she celebrated
his courage, his liberality, his popular arts, with malicious and exaggerated
praise. As soon as she perceived that the sultan heald these encomiums,
which were often repeated. with uneasiness  that suspician of his son




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              429
began to mingle itself with his former esteem; and that by degrees he
came to view him with jealousy and fear; she introduced, as by accident,
some discourse concerning the rebellion of his father Selim against Bajazet his grandfather: she took notice of the bravery of the veteran troops
under Mustapha's command, and of the neighbourhood of Diarbequir to
the territories of the Persian sophi, Solyman's mortal enemy. By these
arts, whatever remained of paternal tenderness was gradually extinguished,
and such passions were kindled in the breast of the sultan, as gave all
Roxalana's malignant suggestions the colour not only of probability but
of truth. His suspicions and fear of Mustapha settled into deep-rooted
hatred. He appointed spies to observe and report all his words and
actions; he watched and stood on his guard against him as his most dangerous enemy.
Having thus alienated the sultan's heart from  Mustapha, Roxalana ventured upon another step. She entreated Solyman to allow her own sons
the liberty of appearing at court, hoping that by gaining access to their
father, they might, by their good qualities and dutiful deportment, insinuate themselves into that place in his affections which Mustapha had
formerly held; and though what she demanded was contrary to the practice of the Ottoman family in that age, the uxorious monarch granted her
request. To all these female intrigues Rustan added an artifice still more
subtle, which completed the sultan s delusion, and heightened his jealousy
and fear. He wrote to the bashaws of the provinces adjacent to Diarbequir, instructing them  to send him  regular intelligence of Mustapha's
proceedings in his government, and to each of them  he gave a private
nint, flowing in appearance from  his zeal for their interest, that nothing
would be more acceptable to the sultan than to receive favourable accounts
of a son whom he destined to sustain the glory of the Ottoman name. The
bashaws, ignorant of his fraudulent intention, and eager to pay court to
their sovereign at such an easy price, filled their letters with studied but
fatal panegyrics of Mustapha, representing him as a prince worthy to
succeed such an illustrious father, and as endowed with talents which
might enable him to emulate, perhaps to equal, his fame. These letters
were industriously shown to Solyman, at the seasons when it was known
that they would make the deepest impression. Every expression in recommendation of his son wounded him to the heart; he suspected his principal
officers of being ready to favour the most desperate attempts of a prince
whom they were so fond of praising; and fancying that he saw them
already assaulting his throne with rebellious arms, he determined, while it
was yet in his power, to anticipate the blow, and to secure his own safety
by his son's death.
For this purpose, though under pretence of renewing the war against
Persia, he ordered Rustan to march towards Diarbequir at the head of a
numerous army, and to rid him of a son whose life he deemed inconsistent with his own safety. But that crafty minister did not choose to be
loaded with the odium of having executed this cruel order. As soon as
he arrived in Syria he wrote to Solyman, that the danger was so imminent
as called for his immediate presence; that the camp was full of Mustapha's emissaries; that many of the soldiers were corrupted; that the
affections of all leaned towards him; that he had discovered a negotiation which had been carried on with the sophi of Persia in order to marny
Mustapha with one of his daughters; that he already felt his own talents
as well as authority to be inadequate to the exigencies of such an arduous
conjuncture; that the sultan alone had sagacity to discern what resolution
should he taken in those circumstances, and power to carry that resolution
into execution.
This charge of courting the friendship of the sophi, Roxalana and
Rustan had reserved as the last and most envenomed of all their calum



430                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BOOK XI
nies. It operated with the violence which they expected from Solyman's
inveterate abhorrence of the Persians, and threw him into the wildest
transports of rage. He set out instantly for Syria, and hastened thither
with all the precipitation and impatience of fear and revenge. As soon
as he joined his army near Aleppo, and had concerted measures with
Rustan, he sent a chiaus, or messenger of the court, to his son, requiring
him to repair immediately to his presence. Mustapna, thougn no stranger
to his stepmother's machinations, or to Rustan's malice, or to his father's
violent temper, yet relying on his own innocence, and hoping to discredit
the accusations of his enemies by the promptitude of his obedience, followed the messenger without delay to Aleppo. The moment he arrived in
the camp, he was introduced into the sultan's tent. As he entered it, he
observed nothing that could give him any alarm; no additional crowd of
attendants, no body of armed guards, but the same order and silence
which always reign in the sultan's apartments.  In a few  minutes, however, several mutes appeared, at the sight of whom Mustapha, knowing
what was his doom, cried with a loud voice, "Lo, my death!" and
attempted to fly. The mutes rushed forward to seize him; he resisted
and struggled, demanding with the utmost earnestness to see the sultan;
and despair, together with the hope of finding protection from the soldiers,
if he could escape out of the tent, animated him with such extraordinary
strength, that for some time, he baffled all the efforts of the executioners.
Solyman was within hearing of his son's cries, as well as of the noise
which the struggle occasioned. Impatient of this delay of his revenge, and
struck with terror at the thoughts of Mustapha's escaping, he drew  aside
the curtain which divided the tent, and thrusting in his head, darted a
fierce look towards the mutes, and with wild and threatening gestures,
seemed to condemn their sloth and timidity. At sight of his father's
furious and unrelenting countenance, Mustapha's strength failed, and his
courage forsook him; the mutes fastened the bow-string about his neck,
and in a moment put an end to his life.
The dead body was exposed before the sultan's tent. The soldiers
gathered round it, and contemplating that mournful object with astonishment, and sorrow, and indignation, were ready, if a leader had not been
wanting, to have broke out into the wildest excesses of rage.  After
giving vent to the first expressions of their grief, they retired each man to
his tent, and shutting themselves up, bewailed in secret the cruel fate of
their favourite; nor was there one of them who tasted food or even water,
during the remainder of that day. Next morning the same solitude and
silence reigned in the camp; and Solyman, being afraid that some dreadful
storm would follow this sullen calm, in order to appease the enraged
soldiers, deprived Rustan of the seals, ordered him to leave the camp, and
raised Achmet, a gallant officer much beloved in the army, to the dignity
of vizier. This change, however, was made in concert with Rustan himself; that crafty minister suggesting it as the only expedient which could
save himself or his master. But within a few months, when the resentment of the soldiers began to subside, and the name of Mustapha to be
forgotten, Achmet was strangled by the sultan's command, and Rustan reinstated in the office of vizier. Together with his former power, he reassumed the plan for exterminating the race of Mustapha which he had
concelted with Roxalana; and as they were afraid that an only son whom
Mustapha had left, might grow up to avenge his death, they redoubled
their activity, and by employing the same arts against him which they had
practised against his father, they inspired Solyman with the same fears,
and prevailed on him to issue orders for putting to death that young-innocent prince. These orders were executed with barbarous zeal, by an
eunuch, who was despatched to Bursa, the place where the prince resided;




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               431
and no rival was left to dispute the Ottoman throne with the sons of
Roxalana.*
Such tragical scenes, productive of so deep distress, seldom occur but in
the history of the great monarchies of the East, where the warmth of the
climate seems to give every emotion of the heart its greatest force, and the
absolute power of sovereigns accustoms and enables them to gratify all
their passions without control. While this interesting transaction in the
court of Solyman engaged his whole attention, Charles was pursuing,
with the utmost ardour, a new scheme for aggrandizing his family. About
this time, Edward the sixth of England, after a short reign, in which he
displayed such virtues as filled his subjects with sanguine hopes of being
happy under his government, and made them bear with patience all that
they suffered from the weakness, the dissensions, and the ambition of the
ministers who assumed the administration during his minority, was seized
with a lingering distemper which threatened his life. The emperor no
sooner received an account of this, than his ambition, always attentive to
seize every opportunity of acquiring an increase of power, or of territories, to his son, suggested the thought of adding England to his other
kingdoms by the marriage of Philip with the princess Mary, the heir of
Edward's crown.  Being apprehensive, however, that his son, who was
then in Spain, might decline a match with a princess in her thirty-eighth
year, and eleven years older than himself;t Charles determined, notwithstanding his own age and infirmities, to make offer of himself as a husband
to his cousin.
But though Mary was so far advanced in years, and destitute of every
charm either of person or of manners that could win affection or command
esteem, Philip, without hesitation, gave his consent to the match proposed
by his father, and was willing, according to the usual maxim oi princes,
to sacrifice his inclination to his ambition. In order to ensure the success
of his scheme, the emperor, even before Edward's death, began to take
such steps as might facilitate it. Upon Edward's demise, Mary mounted
the throne of England; the pretensions of the lady Jane Grey proving as
unfortunate as they were ill-founded.1  Charles sent immediately a pompous embassy to London to congratulate Mary on her accession to the
throne, and to propose the alliance with his son. The queen, dazzled
with the prospect of marrying the heir of the greatest monarch in Europe;
fond of uniting more closely with her mother's family, to which she had
been always warmly attached; and eager to secure the powerful aid
which she knew would be necessary towards carrying on her favourite
scheme of re-establishing the Romish religion in England, listened in the
most favourable manner to the proposal.  Among her subjects, it met with
a very different reception. Philip, it was well known, contended for all
the tenets of the church of Rome with a sanguinary zeal which exceeded
the measure even of Spanish bigotry: this alarmed all the numerous partisans of the Reformation.  The Castilian haughtiness and reserve were
far from being acceptable to the English, who, having several times seen
their throne occupied by persons who were born subjects, had become
accustomed to an unceremonious and familiar intercourse with their
sovereigns. They could not think, without the utmost uneasiness, of admitting a foreign prince to that influence of their councils, which the
husband of their queen would naturally possess.  They dreaded, both
from Philip's overbearing temper, and from  the maxims of the Spanish
monarchy which he had imbibed, that he would infuse ideas into the
queen's mind, dangerous to the liberties of the nation, and would introduce
* Augerii Gislenii Busbequii Legationis Turcicre Epistolae iv. Frarc. 1615. p. 37. Thuan. lib.ii. p. 432. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 457. Mauroceni Histor. Veneta, lib.  ii. p. 60.  -f Palav list
Concil. Trid. v. ii. c. 13, p. 150.  4 Carte's Hist. of England, iii. 287,




432                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [Bo.T XI.
foreign troops and money into the kingdom, to assist her in any attempt
against them.
Full of these apprehensions, the house of commons, though in that age
extremely obsequious to the will of their monarchs, presented a warm
address against the Spanish match; many pamphlets were published,
representing the dangerous consequences of the alliance with Spain, and
describing Philip's bigotry and arrogance in the most odious colours  But
Mary, inflexible in all her resolutions, paid no regard to the remonstrances
of her commons, or to the sentiments of the people. The emperor, having'
secured, by various arts, the ministers whom she trusted most, they
approved warmly of the match, and large sums were remitted by him in
order to gain the rest of the council. Cardinal Pole, whom  the pope,
immediately upon Mary's accession, had despatched as his legate into
England, in order to reconcile his native country to the see of Rome, was
detained by the emperor's command at Dillinghen in Germany, lest by his
presence he should thwart Philip's pretensions, and employ his interest in
favour of his kinsman Courtnay earl of Devonshire, whom the English
ardently wished their sovereign to choose for a husband.*
As the negotiation did not admit of delay, it was carried forward with
the greatest rapidity, the emperor agreeing, without hesitation, to every
article in favour of England, which Mary's ministers either represented as
necessary to soothe the people and reconcile them to the match, or that was
suggested by their own fears and jealousy of a foreign master. The chief
articles were [Jan. 12, 1554], that Philip, during his marriage with the
queen, should bear the title of king of England, but the entire administration of affairs, as well as the sole disposal of all revenues, offices, and
benefices, should remain with the queen; that the heirs of the marriage
should, together with the crown of England, inherit the dutchy of Burgundy
and the Low-Countries; that if prince Charles, Philip's only son by a
former marriage, should die without issue, his children by the queen,
whether male or female, should succeed to the crown of Spain, and all the
emperor's hereditary dominions; that before the consummation of the
marriage, Philip should swear solemnly, that he would retain no domestic
who was not a subject of the queen, and would bring no foreigners into the
kingdom that might give umbrage to the English; that he would make no
alteration in the constitution or laws of England; that he would not carry
the queen, or any of the children born of this marriage, out of the kingdom;
that if the queen should die before him without issue, he would immediately leave the crown to the lawful heir, without claiming any right of
administration whatever; that in consequence of this marriage, England
should not be engaged in any war subsisting between France and Spain;
and that the alliance between France and England should remain in full
forced.
But this treaty, though both the emperor and Mary's ministers employed
their utmost address in framing it so as to please the English, was far from
quieting their fears and jealousies. They saw that words and promises
were a feeble security against the encroachments of an ambitious prince,
who, as soon as he got possession of the power and advantages which the
queen's husband must necessarily enjoy, could easily evade any of the
articles which either limited his authority or obstructed his schemes.
They were convinced that the more favourable the conditions of the present
treaty were to England, the more Philip would be tempted hereafter to
violate them. They dreaded that England, like Naples, Milan, and the
other countries annexed to Spain, would soon feel the dominion of that
crown to be intolerably oppressive, and be constrained, as these nad been,
to waste its wealth and vigour inwars wherein it had no interest, and from
* Carte, iii. 288.    f Rymer's Feed vol. xv. 377 393. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 498.




EMPLROR CHARLES V                               433
which it could derive no advantage. These sentiments prevailed so gene
rally that every part of the kingdom  was filled with discontent at the
match, and with indignation against the advisers of it. Sir Thomas Wyat,
a gentleman of some note, and of good intentions towards the public, took
advantage of this, and roused the inhabitants of Kent to arms, in order to
save their country from a foreign yoke. Great numbers resorted in a short
time to his standard; he marched to London with such rapidity, and the
queen was so utterly unprovided for defence, that the aspect of affairs was
extremely threatening; and if any nobleman of distinction had joined the
malecontents, or had Wyat possessed talents equal, in any degree, to the
boldness of his enterprise, the insurrection must have proved fatal to Mary's
power. But all Wyat's measures were concerted with so little prudence,
and executed with such irresolution, that many of his followers forsook
him; the rest were dispersed by a handful of soldiers; and he himself
was taken prisoner, without having made any effort worthy of the cause
that he had undertaken, or suitable to the ardour with which he engaged
in it. He suffered the punishment due to his rashness and rebellion. The
queen's authority was confirmed and increased by her success in defeating
this inconsiderate attempt to abridge it. The lady Jane Grey, whose
title the ambition of her relations had set up in opposition to that of the
queen, was, notwithstanding her youth and innocence, brought to the scaffold.
The lady Elizabeth, the queen's sister, was observed with the most jealoum
attention. The treaty of marriage was ratified by the parliament.
Philip landed in England with a magnificent retinue, celebrated his nup
tials with great solemnity; and though he could not lay aside his natura
severity and pride, or assume gracious and popular manners, he endea.
voured to conciliate the favour of the English nobility by his extraordinary
liberality.. Lest that should fail of acquiring him  such influence in the
government of the kingdom as he aimed at obtaining, the emperor kept a
body of twelve thousand men on the coast of Flanders in readiness to em
bark for England, and to support his son in all his enterprises.
Emboldened.by all these favourable circumstances, Mary pursued the
scheme of extirpating the protestant religion out of her dominions, with
the most precipitate zeal. The laws of Edward the Sixth, in favour of the
Reformation, were repealed; the protestant clergy ejected; all the forms
and rights of the popish worship were re-established; the nation was
solemnly absolved from the guilt which it had contracted during the period
of its apostacy, and was publicly reconciled to the church of Rome by
cardinal Pole, who immediately after the queen's marriage, was permitted
to continue his journey to England, and to exercise his legatine functions
with the most ample power. Not satisfied with having overturned the protestant church, and re-establishing the ancient system  on its ruins, Mary
insisted that all her subjects should conform to the same mode of worship
which she preferred; should profess their faith in the same creed which
she had approved; and abjure every practice or opinion that was deemed
repugnant to either of them. Powers, altogether unknown in the English
constitution, were vested in certain persons appointed to take cognizance
of heresy, and they proceeded to exercise them with more than inquisitorial severity. The prospect of danger, however, did not intimidate the
principal teachers of the protestant doctrines, who believed that they were
contending for truths of the utmost consequence to the happiness of mankind. They boldly avowed their sentiments, and' were condemned to that
cruel death which the church of Rome reserves for its enemies. This
shocking punishment was inflicted with that barbarity which the rancour
of false zeal alone can inspire. The English, who are inferior in humanity
to no people in Europe, and remarkable for the mildness of their public
executions, beheld with astonishment and horror, persons who had filled
the most respectable stations in their church, and who were venerable on
VOL. II.-55




434                 THE HREIGN   O'F THE                 [BooK XI.
account of their age, their piety, and their literature, condemned to enduie
torments to which their laws did not subject even the most atrocious
criminals.
This extreme rigour did not accomplish the end at which Mary aimed.
The patience and fortitude with which these martyrs for the Reformation
submitted to their sufferings, the heroic contempt of death expressed by
persons of every rank, and age, and sex, confirmed many more in the protestant faith, than the threats of their enraged persecutors could frighten
into apostacy. The business of such as were intrusted with trying of
heretics multiplied continually, and appeared to be as endless as it was
odious. The queen's ablest ministers became sensible how impolitic, as
well as dangerous, it was to irritate the people by the frequent spectacle of
public executions, which they detested as no less unjust than cruel. Even
Philip was so thoroughly convinced of her having run to an excess of
rigour, that on this occasion he assumed a part to which he was little
accustomed, becoming an advocate for moderation and lenity.'
But notwithstanding this attempt to ingratiate himself with the English,
they discovered a constant jealousy and distrust of all his intentions; and
when some members, who had been gained by the court, ventured to move
in the house of commons that the nation ought to assist the emperor, the
queen's father-in-law, in his war against France, the proposal was rejected'
with general dissatisfaction. A motion which was made, that the parliament should give its consent that Philip might be publicly crowned as the
queen's husband, met with such a cold reception that it was instantly withdrawn.t
The king of France had observed the progress of the emperor's nego.
tiation in England with much uneasiness. The great accession of territories as well as reputation which his enemy would acquire by the marriage
of his son with the queen of such a powerful kingdom, was obvious and
formidable. He easily foresaw that the English, notwithstanding all their
fears and precautions, would be soon drawn in to take part in the quarrels
on the continent, and be compelled to act in subserviency to the emperor's
ambitious schemes. For this reason, Henry had given it in charge to his
ambassador at the court of London, to employ all his address in order to
defeat or retard the treaty of marriage; and as there was not, at that time,
any prince of the blood in France whom he could propose to the queen as
a husband, he instructed him  to co-operate with such of the English as
wished their sovereign to marry one of her own subjects. But the queen's
ardour and precipitation in closing with the first overtures in favour of
Philip, having rendered all his endeavours ineffectual, Henry was so far
from thinking it prudent to give any aid to the English malecontents, though
earnestly solicited by Wyat and their other leaders, who tempted him to
take them under his protection, by offers of great advantage to France, that
he commanded his ambassador to congratulate the queen in the warmest
terms upon the suppression of the insurrection.
Notwithstanding these external professions, Henry dreaded so much the
consequence of this alliance, which more than compensated for all the
emperor had lost in Germany, that he determined to carry on his military
operations, both in the L6w-Countries and in Italy, with extraordinary
vigour, in order that he might compel Charles to accept of an equitable
peace, before his daughter-in-law could surmount the aversion of her subjects to a war on the continent, and prevail on them to assist the emperor
either with money or troops. For this purpose he exerted himself to the
utmost in order to have a numerous army early assembled on the frontiers
of the Netherlands, and while one part of it laid waste the open country
* Godwin's Annals of Q. Mary ap Kennet, v. ii. p. 329 Burnet's Hist. of Reiorm ii 298. 305' C irte's Hist. of England, iii. 314.




EMPEROR CHARL ES V.                            435
of Artois, the main body, under the constable Montmorency, advanced
towards the provinces of Liege and Hainault by the forest of Ardennes.
The campaign was opened with the siege of Mariemburg, a town which
the queen of Hungary, the governess of the Low-Countries, had fortified
at great expense; but, being destitute of a sufficient garrison, it surrendered in six days [June 28]. Henry, elated with this success, put himself
at the head of his army, and investing Bouvines, took it by assault, after a
short resistance. With equal facility he became master of Dinant; and
then, turning to the left, bent his march towards the province of Artois
The large sums which the emperor had remitted into England had so
exhausted his treasury, as to render his preparations at this juncture slower
and more dilatory than usual. He had no body of troops to make head
against the French at their first entrance into his territories; and though he
drew together all the forces in the country in the utmost hurry, and gave
the command of them to Emanuel Philibert of Savoy, they were in no
condition to face an enemy so far superior in number. The prince of
Savoy, however, by his activity and good conduct, made up for his want
of troops. By watching all the motions of the French at a distance, and
by choosing his own posts with skill, he put it out of their power either
to form any siege of consequence, or to attack him. Want of subsistence
soon obliged them to fall back towards their own frontiers, after having
burnt all the open towns, and having plundered the country through which
they marched with a cruelty and license more becoming a body of light
troops than a royal army led by a great monarch.
But Henry, that he might not dismiss his army without attempting some
conquest adequate to the great preparations, as well as sanguine hopes,
with which he had opened the campaign, invested Renti, a place deemed
in that age of great importance, as, by its situation on the confines of Artois
and the Boulonnois, it covered the former province, and protected the parties which made incursions into the latter. The town, which was strongly
fortified, and provided with a numerous garrison, made a gallant defence;
but being warmly pressed by a powerful army, it must soon have yielded.
The emperor, who at that time enjoyed a short interval of ease from the
gout, was so solicitous to save it, that, although he could bear no other
motion but that of a litter, he instantly put himself at the head of his army,
which, having received several reinforcements, was now strong enough to
approach the enemy. The French were eager to decide the fate of Renti
by a battle, and expected it from the emperor's arrival in his camp; but
Charles avoided a general action with great industry, and as he had nothing
in view but to save the town, he hoped to accomplish that, without exposing himself to the consequences of such a dangerous and doubtful
event.
Notwithstanding all these precautions. a dispute, about a post which
both armies endeavoured to seize, brought on an engagement [Aug. 131,
which proved almost general. The duke of Guise, who commanded tie
wing of the French which stood the brunt of the combat, displayed
valour and conduct worthy of the deander of Metz; the Imperialists,
after an obstinate struggle, were repulsed; the French remained masters
if the post in dispute, and if the constable, either from his natural caution
and slowness, or from unwillingness to support a rival whom he hated,
had not delayed bringing up the main body to second the impression
which Guise had made, the rout of the enemy must have been complete.
The emperor, notwithstanding the loss which he had sustained, continued
in the same camp; and the French, being straitened for provisions, and
inding it impossible to carry on the siege in the face of a hostile army,
quitted their entrenchments.  They retired openly, courting the enemy
o approach, rather than shunning an engagement.
But Charles, having gained his end, suffered them to march off unmo



436                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    Boox Xi.
tested. As soon as his troops entered their own country, Henry threw
garrisons into the frontier towns, and dismissed the rest of the army. This
encouraged the Imperialists to push forward with a considerable body of
troops into Picardy, and by laying waste the country with fire and sword,
they endeavoured to revenge themselves for the ravages which the French
had committed in Hainault and Artois.x  But, as they were not able to
reduce any place of importance, they gained nothing more than the enemy
had done by this cruel and inglorious method of carrying on the war.
The arms of France were still more unsuccessful in Italy. The footing
which the French had acquired in Sienna occasioned much uneasiness to
Cosmo di Medici, the most sagacious and enterprising of all the Italian
princes. He dreaded the neighbourhood of a powerful people, to whom
all who favoured the ancient republican government in Florence would
have recourse, as to their natural protectors, against that absolute authority
which the emperor had enabled him to usurp; he knew how odious he
was to the French, on account of his attachment to the Imperial party,
and he foresaw that, if they were permitted to gather strength in Sienna,
Tuscany would soon feel the effects of their resentment. For these
reasons, he wished with the utmost solicitude for the expulsion of the
French out of the Siennese, before they had time to establish themselves
thoroughly in the country, or to receive such reinforcements from France
as would render it dangerous to attack them. As this, however, was
properly the emperor's business, who was called by his interest as well
as honour to dislodge those formidable intruders into the heart of his
dominions, Cosmo laboured to throw the whole burden of the enterprise
on him; and on that account had given no assistance during the former
campaign but by advancing some small sums of money towards the payment of the Imperial troops.
But as the defence of the Netherlands engrossed all the emperor's
attention, and his remittances into England had drained his treasury, it
was obvious that his operations in Italy would be extremely feeble; and
Cosmo plainly perceived, that if he himself did not take part openly in
the war, and act with vigour, the French would scarcely meet with any
annoyance. As his situation rendered this resolution necessary and unavoidable, his next care was to execute it in such a manner, that he might
derive from  it some other advantage, beside that of driving the French
Jut of his neighbourhood. With this view, he despatched an envoy to
Charles, offering to declare war against France, and to reduce Sienna at
his own charges, on condition that he should be repaid whatever he should
expend in the enterprise, and be permitted to retain all his conquests until
his demands were fully satisfied. Charles, to whom, at this juncture, the
war against Sienna was an intolerable burden, and who had neither expe
dient nor resource that could enable him to carry it on with proper vigour,
closed gladly with this overture; and Cosmo, well acquainted with the,ow state of the Imperial finances, flattered himself that the emperor, finding it impossible to reimburse him, would suffer him to keep quiet possession of whatever places he should conquer.t
Full of these hopes, he made great preparations for war, and as the
French king had turned the strength of his arms against the Netherlands,
he did not despair of assembling such a body of men as would prove more
than a sufficient match for any force which Henry could bring mto
the field in Italy.  He endeavoured, by giving one of his daughters
to the pope's nephew, to obtain assistance from the holy see, or at least
to secure his remaining neutral. He attempted to detach the duke of
Orsini, whose family had been long attached to the French party, from
his ancient confederates, by bestowing on him another of his daughters
* Thuan. 460, &c. Halrei Ann. Brab. 674   t Adriani Istoria de suoi Tempi, vol. i. 669




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               437
and what was of greater consequence than either of these, he engaged
John James Medecino, marquis of Marignano, to take the command of
his army.*  This officer, from  a very low  condition in life, had raised
himself, through all the ranks of service, to high command, and had displayed talents, and acquired reputation in war, which entitled him to be
placed on a level with the greatest generals in that martial age. Having
attained a station of eminence so disproportionate to his birth, he laboured
with a fond solicitude to conceal his original obscurity, by giving out that
he was descended of the family of Medici, to which honour the casual
resemblance of his name was his only pretension.  Cosmo, happy that he
could gratify him  at such an easy rate, flattered his vanity in this point,
acknowledged him as a relation, and permitted him  to assume the arms
of his family: Medecino, eager to serve the head of that family of which
he now considered himself as a branch, applied with wonderful zeal and
assiduity to raise troops; and as, during his long service, he had acquired
great credit with the leaders of those mercenary bands which formed the
strength of Italian armies, he engaged the most eminent of them to follow
Cosmo's standard.
To oppose this able general, and the formidable army which he had
assembled, the king of France made choice of Peter Strozzi, a Florentine
nobleman, who had resided long in France as an exile, and who had risen
by his meritto high reputation aswell as command in the army. He was
the son of Philip Strozzi; who, in the year one thousand five hundred and
thirty-seven, had concurred with such ardour in the attempt to expel the
family of Medici out of Florence, in order to re-establish the ancient
republican form of government; and who had perished in the undertaking
The son inherited the implacable aversion to the Medici, as well as the
same enthusiastic zeal for the liberty of Florence, which. had animated his
father, whose death he was impatient to revenge. Henry flattered himself
that his army would make rapid progress under a general whose zeal to
promote his interest was roused and seconded by such powerful passions;
especially as he had allotted him, for the scene of action, his native country, in which he had many powerful partisans, ready to facilitate all his
operations.
But how  specious soever the motives might appear which induced
Henry to make this choice, it proved fatal to the interests of France in
Italy.  Cosmo, as soon as he heard that the mortal enemy of his family
was appointed to take the command in Tuscany, concluded that the king
of France aimed at something more than the protection of the Siennese,
and saw  the necessity of making extraordinary efforts, -not merely to
reduce Sienna, but to save himselffrom destruction.t  At the same time,
the cardinal of Ferrara, who had the entire direction of the French affairs
in Italy, considered Strozzi as a formidable rival in power, and in order
to prevent his acquiring any increase of authority from  success, he was
extremely remiss in supplying him either with money to pay his troops, or
with provisions to support them. Strozzi himself, blinded by his resentment against the Medici, pushed on his operations with the impetuosity of
revenge, rather than with the caution and prudence becoming a great
general.
At first, however, he attacked several towns in the territory of Florence
with such vigour as obliged Medecino, in order to check his progress, to
withdraw the greater part of his army from Sienna, which he had invested
before Strozzi's arrival in Italy.  As Cosmo sustained the whole, burden
of military operations, the expense of which must soon have exhausted his
revenues; as neither the viceroy of Naples nor governor of Milan were in
condition to afford him any effectual aid; as the troops which Medecine
* Adriani Istoria, vol. i. p. 663.  t Pecci Memo'ie di Sienna, vol. iv. p. 103, &c,




438                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK XI
had left in the camp before Sienna could attempt nothing against it during
his absence; it was Strozzi's business to have protracted the war, and to
have transferred the seat of it into the territories of Florence. But the
hope of ruining his enemy by one decisive blow, precipitated him into a
general engagement [Aug. 3] not far from Marciano. The armies were
nearly equal in number; but a body of Italian cavalry, in which Strozzi
placed great confidence, having fled without making any resistance, either
through the treachery or cowardice of the officers who commanded it, his
infantry remained exposed to the attacks of all Medecino's troops. Encou
raged, however, by Strozzi's presence and example, who, after receiving a
dangerous wound in endeavouring to rally the cavalry, placed himself at
the head of the infantry, and manifested an admirable presence of mind,
as well as extraordinary valour, they stood their ground with great firmness, and repulsed such of the enemy as ventured to approach them. But
those gallant troops being surrounded at last on every side, and torn in
pieces by a battery of cannon which Medecino brought to bear upon them
the Florentine cavalry broke in on their flanks, and a general route ensued.
Strozzi, faint with the loss of blood, and deeply affected with the fatal
consequences of his own rashness, found the utmost difficulty in making his
escape with a handful of men.?
Medecino returned immediately to the siege of Sienna with his victorious
forces, and as Strozzi could not, after the greatest efforts of activity, collect
as many men as to form the appearance of a regular army, he had leisure
to carry on his approaches against the town without molestation.  But the
Siennese, instead of sinking into despair upon this cruel disappointment of
their only hope of obtaining relief, prepared to defend themselves to the
utmost extremity, with that undaunted fortitude which the love of liberty
alone can inspire. This generous resolution was warmly seconded by
Monluc, who commanded the French garrison in the town.  The active
and enterprising courage which he had displayed on many occasions, had
procured him this command; and as he had ambition which aspired at the
highest military dignities, without any pretensions to attain them but what
he could derive from merit, he determined to distinguish his defence of
Sienna by extraordinary efforts of valour and perseverance. For this purpose, he repaired and strengthened the fortifications with unwearied industry; he trained the citizens to the use of arms, and accustomed them to go
through the fatigues and dangers of service in common with the soldiers;
and as the enemy were extremely strict in guarding all the avenues to the
city, he husbanded the provisions in the magazines with the most parsimonious economy, and prevailed on the soldiers, as well as the citizens, to
restrict themselves to a very moderate daily allowance for their subsistence.
Medecino, though his army was not numerous enough to storm the town by
open force, ventured twice to assault it by surprise; but he was received
each time with so much spirit, and repulsed with such loss, as discouraged
him from repeating the attempt, and left him no hopes of reducing the town
but by fanrr e.
With thilview he fortified his own camp with great care, occupied all
the posts of strength round the place, and having entirely cut off the besieged
from any communication with the adjacent country, he waited patiently
until necessity should compel them to open their gates. But their enthusiastic zeal for liberty made the citizens despise the distresses occasioned
by the scarcity of provisions, and supported them long under all the miseries
of famine; Monluc, by his example and exhortations, taught his soldiers to
vie with him in patience and abstinence; and it was not until they had
withstood a siege of ten months, until they had eaten up all the horses,
dogs, and other animals in the place, and were reduced almost to their last
*   Pecci Meinoire della Sienna, vol iv. p. 157.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             43
morsel of bread, that they proposed a capitulation [1555]. Even then they
demanded honourable terms; and as Cosmo, though no stranger to the
extremity of their condition, was afraid that despair might prompt them to
venture upon some wild enterprise, he immediately granted them conditions more favourable than they could have expected.
April 22.1  The capitulation was made in the emperor's name, who
engaged to take the republic of Sienna under the protection of the empire,
he promised to maintain the ancient liberties of the city, to allow the
magistrates the full exercise of thek former authority, to secure the citizens
in the undisturbed possession of their privileges and property; he granted
an ample and unlimited pardon to all who had borne arms against him; he
reserved to himself the right of placing a garrison in the town, but engaged
not to rebuild the citadel without the consent of the citizens. Monluc and
his French garrison were allowed to march out with all the honours of war.
Medecino observed the articles of capitulation, as far as depended or
him, with great exactness. No violence or insult whatever was offered to
the inhabitants, and the French garrison was treated with all the respect
due to their spirit and bravery. But many of the citizens suspecting, from
the extraordinary facility with which they had obtained such favourable
conditions, that the emperor, as well as Cosmo, would take the first opportunity of violating them, and disdaining to possess a precarious liberty,
which depended on the will of another, abandoned the place of their
nativity, and accompanied the French to Monte-Alcino, Porto Ercole, and
other small towns in the territory of the republic. They established in
Monte-Alcino, the same model of government to which they had been
accustomed at Sienna, and appointing magistrates with the same titles and
lurisdiction, solaced themselves with this image of their ancient liberty.
The fears of the Siennese concerning the fate of their country were not
imaginary, or their suspicion of the emperor and Cosmo ill founded; for no
sooner had the Imperial troops taken possession of the town, than Cosmo,
without regarding the articles of capitulation, not only displaced the
magistrates who were in office, and nominated new ones devoted to his own
interest, but commanded all the citizens to deliver up their arms to persons
whom he appointed to receive them. They submitted to the former from
necessity, though with all the reluctance and regret which men accustomed
to liberty feel in obeying the first commands of a master. They did not
yield the same tame jedience to the latter; and many persons of distinction, rather than degrade themselves from the rank of freemen to the condition of slaves by surrendering their arms, fled to their countrymen at MonteAlcino, and chose to endure all the hardships, and encounter all the dangers
which they had reason to expect in that new station, where they had fixed
the seat of their republic.
Cosmo, not reckoning himself secure while such numbers of implacable
and desperate enemies were settled in his neighbourhood, and retained any
degree of power, solicited Medecino to attack them in their different places
of retreat, before they had time to recruit their strength and spirits, after
the many calamities which they had suffered. He prevailed on him, though
his army was much weakened by hard duty during the siege of Sienna, to
invest Porto Ercole; and the fortifications being both slight and incomplete, the besieged were soon compelled to open their gates [June 13]. An
unexpected order, which Medecino received from the emperor to detach
the greater part of his troops into Piedmont, prevented farther operations,
and permitted the Siennese exiles to reside for some time undisturbed in
Monte-Alcino. But their unhappy countrymen who remained at Sienna
were not yet at the end of their sufferings; for the emperor, instead of
adhering to the articles of capitulation, granted his son Philip the investibure of that city and all its dependencies; and Francis de Toledo, in the
Lame of their new master, proceeded to settle thX civil and nliitary govern




44C                THE REIGN OF THE                      LBooK XI.
tnent, treated them like a conquered people, and subjected them to the
Spanish yoke, without paying any regard whatever to their privileges or
ancient form of government."
The Imperial army in Piedmont had been so feeble for some time, and
its commander so inactive, that the emperor, in order to give vigour to his
operations in that quarter, found it necessary not only to recall Medecino's
troops from Tuscany, while in the career of conquest, but to employ in
Piedmont a general of such reputation and abilities, as might counterbalance
the great military talents of the marechal Brissac, who was at the head oi
the French forces in that country.
He pitched on the duke of Alva for that purpose; but that choice was
as much the effect of a court intrigue, as of his opinion with respect to the
duke's merit. Alva had long made court to Philip with the utmost assi
duity, and had endeavoured to work himself into his confidence by all the
insinuating arts of which his haughty and inflexible nature was capable. As
he nearly resembled that prince in many features of his character, he began
to gain much of his good-will. Ruy Gomez de Silva, Philip's favourite,
who dreaded the progress which this formidable rival made in his master's
affections, had the address to prevail with the emperor to name Alva to
this command. The duke, though sensible that he owed this distinction to
the malicious arts-of an enemy, who had no other aim than to remove him
at a distance from court, was of such punctilious honour, that he would not
decline a command that appeared dangerous and difficult, but, at the same
ime, was so haughty, that he would not accept of it but on his own terms,
insisted on being appointed the emperor's vicar-general in Italy, with the
supreme military command in all the Imperial and Spanish territories in
that country. Charles granted all his demands; and he took possession of
his new dignity with almost unlimited authority.
His first operations, however, were neither proportioned to his former
reputation and the extensive powers with which he was invested, nor did
they come up to the emperor's expectations. Brissac had under his command an army which, though inferior in number to the Imperialists, was
composed of chosen troops, which having grown old in service in that
country, where every town was fortified, and every castle capable of being
defended, were perfectly acquainted with the manner of carrying on war
there. By their valour, and his own good conduct, Brissac not only defeated
all the attempts of the Imperialists, but added new:onquests to the territories of which he was formerly master. Alva, after having boasted, with
his usual arrogance, that he would drive the French out of Piedmont, in a
few weeks, was obliged to retire into winter-quarters, with the mortification. of being unable to preserve entire that part of the country of which
the emperor had hitherto kept possession. 
As the operations of this campaign in Piedmont were indecisive, those in
the Netherlands were inconsiderable, neither the emperor nor king of
France being able to bring into the field an army strong enough to undertake any enterprise of moment. But what Charles wanted in force, he
endeavoured to supply by a bold stratagem, the success of which would
have been equal to that of the most vigorous campaign. During the siege
of Metz, Leonard, father guardian of a convent ofFranciscans in that city,
had insinuated himself far into the esteem and favour of the duke of Guise,
by his attachment to the French. Being a man of an active and intriguing
spirit, he had been extremely useful both in animating the inhabitants to
sustain with patience all the hardships of the siege, and in procuring intelligence of the enemy's designs and motions. The merit of those important
services, together with the warm recommendations of the duke of Guise,
*. Sleid. 617. Thuan. lib. xv. 525. 537. Joan. Camerarii adnot. rer. precipuarum ab anno 1550 ai
1561 ap. Freherum, vol. iii. p. 564. Pecci Memoire della Sienna, iv 64, &c   t Thuan. lib. xv
529. Guichenon Hist. de Savoye, ton i 670




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              441
secured him  such high confidence with Vielleville, who was appointed
governor of Metz when Guise left the town, that he was permitted to converse or correspond with whatever persons he thought fit, and nothing that
he did created any suspicion. This monk, from the levity natural to hold
and projecting adventurers; or from resentment against the French, who
had not bestowed on him such rewards as he thought due to his own merit;
or tempted by the unlimited confidence which was placed in him, to imagine that he might carry on and accomplish any scheme with perfect
security, formed a design of betraying Metz to the Imperialists.
He communicated his intention to the queen-dowager of Hungary, who
governed the Low-Countries in the name of her brother. She approving
without any scruple, an act of treachery, from which the emperor might
derive such signal advantage, assisted the father guardian in concerting
the most proper plan for ensuring its success. They agreed, that the
father guardian should endeavour to gain his monks to concur in promoting
the design, that he should introduce into the convent a certain number of
chosen soldiers, disguised in the habit of friars; that when every thing
was ripe for execution, the governor of Thionville should march towards
Metz in the night with a considerable body of troops, and attempt to scale
the ramparts; that while the garrison was employed in resisting the
assailants, the monks should set fire to the town in different places; that
the soldiers who lay concealed should sally out of the convent, and attack
those who defended the ramparts in the rear. Amidst the universal terror
and confusion which events so unexpected would occasion, it was not
doubted but that the Imperialists might become masters of the town. As
a recompense for this service, the father guardian stipulated that he should
be appointed bishop of Metz, and ample rewards were promised to such
of his monks as should be most active in co-operating with him.
The father guardian accomplished what he had undertaken to perform
with great secrecy and despatch. By his authority and arguments, as well
as by the prospect of wealth or honours which he set before his monks,
he prevailed on all of them to enter into the conspiracy. He introduced
into the convent, without being suspected, as many soldiers as were thought
sufficient. The governor of.'hionville, apprized in due time of the design,
had assembled a proper number of troops for executing it; and the moment
approached, which probably would have wrested from Henry the most
important of all his conquests.
But, happily for France, on the very day that was fixed for striking the
blow, Vielleville, an able and vigilant officer, received information from a
spy whom he entertained at Thionville, that certain Franciscan friars resorted frequently thither and were admitted to many private conferences
with the governor, who was carrying on preparations for some military
enterprise with great despatch, but with a most mysterious secrecy. This
was sufficient to awaken Vielleville's suspicions. Without communicating
these to any person, he instantly visited the convent of Franciscans; detected the soldiers who were concealed there; and forced them to discover
as much as they knew concerning the nature of the enterprise.  The father
guardian, who had gone to Thionville that he might put the last hand to
his machinations, was seized at the gate as he returned; and he, in order
to save himself from the rack, revealed all the circumstances of the conspiracy.
Vielleville, not satisfied with having seized the traitors, and having
frustrated their schemes, was solicitous to take advantage of the discoveries
which he had made, so as to be revenged on the Imperialists. For this
purpose he marched out with the best troops in his garrison, and placing
these in ambush near the road, by which the father guardian had informed
him that the governor of Thionville would approach Metz, he fell upon
the Imperialists with great fury, as they advanced in perfect security
VOL. II.-56




442                  THE REIGN OF THE                       [BOK XI.
without suspecting any danger to be near.  Confounded at this sudden
attack, by an enemy whom  they expected to surprise, they made little
resistance; and a great part of the troops employed in this service, among
whom  were many persons of distinction, was killed or taken prisoners.
Before next morning, Vielleville returned to Metz in triumph.
No resolution was taken for some time concerning the fate of the father
guardian and his monks, the framers and conductors of this dangerous
conspiracy.  Regard for the honour of a body so numerous and respectable
as the Franciscans, and unwillingness to afford a subject of triumph to the
enemies of the Romish church by their disgrace, seem to have occasioned
this delay. But at length, the necessity of inflicting exemplary punishment upon them, in order to deter others from venturing to commit the
same crime, became so evident, that orders were issued to proceed to their
trial.  The guilt was made apparent by the clearest evidence; and sentence
of death was passed upon the father guardian, together with twenty
monks.  On the evening previous to the day fixed for their execution, the
jailer took them  out of the dungeons in which they had hitherto been
confined separately, and shut them all up in one great room, that they
might confess their sins to one another, and join together in preparing for
a future state. But as soon as they were left alone, instead of employing
themselves in the religious exercises suitable to their condition, they began
to reproach the father guardian, and four of the senior monks who had
been most active in seducing them, for their inordinate ambition, which
had brought such misery on them, and such disgrace upon their order.
From reproaches they proceeded to curses and execrations, and at last, in
a frenzy of rage and despair, they fell upon them with such violence, that
they murdered the father guardian on the spot, and so disabled the other
four, that it became necessary to carry them  next morning in a cart, together with the dead body of the father guardian, to the place of execution.
Six of the youngest were pardoned, the rest suffered the punishment which
their crime merited.*
Though both parties, exhausted by the length of the war, carried it on
in this languishing manner, neither of them showed any disposition to
listen to overtures of peace. Cardinal Pole indeed laboured with ail the
zeal becoming his piety and humanity, to re-establish concord among the
princes of Christendom.  He had not only persuaded his mistress, the
queen of England, to enter warmly into his sentiments, and to offer her
mediation to the contending powers, but had prevailed both on the emperor and the king of France to send their plenipotentiaries to a village
between Gravelines and Ardres.  He himself, together with Gardiner
bishop of Winchester, repaired thither in order to preside as mediators in
the conferences which were to be held for adjusting all the points in difference. But though each of the monarchs committed this negotiation to
some of their ministers, in whom they placed the greatest confidence, it
was soon evident that they came together with no sincere desire of accommodation.  [May 21.] Each proposed articles so extravagant that they could
iave no hopes of their being accepted.  Pole, after exerting in vain all hi?
zeal and address, in order to persuade them to relinquish such extravagant
demands, and to consent to the substitution of more equal conditions,
became sensible of the folly of wasting time, in attempting to re-establish
concord between those whom their obstinacy rendered irreconcilable, broke
off the conference, and returned into England.t
During these transactions in other parts of Europe, Germany enjoyed
such profound tranquillity, as afforded the diet full leisure to deliberate,
Thuan. lib. xv. p. 522. Belcar. Com. Rer. Gal. 866. Memoirs du Marech Vielleville, par M
Charloix, tom. iii. p. 249, &c. p. 347. Par. 1757.  t Thuan. lib. xv. p. 523. Mem. de Ribiel
tom. ii, p. 613.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              443
and to establish proper regulations concerning a point of the greatest consequence to the internal peace of the empire. By the treaty of Passau in?ne thousand-five hundred and fifty-two, it had been referred to the next
diet of the empire to confirm and perfect the plan of religious pacification,
which was there agreed upon. The terror and confusion with which the
violent commotions excited by Albert of Brandenburg had filled Germany,
as well as the constant attention which Ferdinand was obliged to give to
the affairs of Hungary, had hitherto prevented the holding a diet, though
it had been summoned, soon after the conclusion of the treaty, to meet at
Augsburg.
But as a diet was now necessary on many accounts, Ferdinand, about
the beginning of this year, had repaired to Augsburg.  Though few of the
princes were present, either in person or by their deputies, he opened the
assembly by a speech, in which he proposed a termination of the dissensions to which the new tenets and controversies with regard to religion
had given rise, not only as the first and great business of the diet, but as
the point which both the emperor and he had most at heart. He represented the innumerable obstacles which the emperor had to surmount
before he could procure the convocation of a general council, as well as
the fatal accidents which had for some time retarded, and had at last suspended the consultations of that assembly. He observed, that experience
had already taught them how vain it was to expect any remedy for evils
which demanded immediate redress from a general council, the assembly
of which would either be prevented, or its deliberations be interrupted by
the dissensions and hostilities of the princes of Christendom: that a
national council in Germany, which, as some imagined, might be called
with greater ease, and deliberate with more perfect security, was an
assembly of an unprecedented nature, the jurisdiction of which was uncertain in its extent, and the form of its proceedings undefined: that in
his opinion there remained but one method for composing their unhappy
differences, which though it had been often tried without success, might
yet prove effectual if it were attempted with a better and more pacific
spirit than had appeared qp former occasions, and that was to choose a
few men of learning, abilities, and moderation, who, by discussing the
disputed articles, in an amicable conference, might explain them in such a
manner as to bring the contending parties either to unite in sentiment, or
to differ with charity.
This speech being printed in common form, and dispersed over the
empire, revived the fears and jealousies of the protestants; Ferdinand,
they observed with much surprise, had not once mentioned, in his address
to the diet, the treaty of Passau, the stipulations of which they considered
as the great security of their religious liberty. The suspicions to which
this gave rise were confirmed by the accounts which they daily received
of the extreme severity with which Ferdinand treated their protestant
brethren in his hereditary dominions, and, as it was natural to consider his
actions as the surest indication of his intentions, this diminished their confidence in those pompous professions of moderation or of zeal for the
re-establishment of concord, to which his practice seemed to be so re
punnant.
The arrival of the cardinal Morone, whom the pope had appointed to
attend the diet as his nuncio, completed their conviction, and left them no
room to doubt that some dangerous machination was forming against the
peace or safety of the protestant church. Julius, elated with the unexpected return of the English nation from apostacy, began to flatter himself,
that the spirit of mutiny and revolt having now spent its force, the happy
period was come when the church might resume its ancient authority, and
be obeyed by the people with the same tame submission as formerly.
Vull of these hopes, he had sent Morone to Augsburg, with instructions to




444                THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK X1.
employ his eloquence to excite the Germans to imitate the laudable example
of the English, and his political address in order to prevent any decree
of the diet to the detriment of the catholic faith. As Morone inherited
from his father, the chancellor of Milan, uncommon talents for negotiation
and intrigue, he could hardly have failed from embarrassing the measures
of the protestants in the diet, or of defeating whatever they aimed at
obtaining in it for their farther security.
But an unforeseen event delivered them from all the danger which they
had reason to apprehend from Morone's presence. Julius, by abandoning
himself to pleasures and amusements, no less unbecoming his age than his
character, having contracted such habits of' dissipation, that any serious
occupation, especially if attended with difficulty, became an intolerable
burden to him, had long resisted the solicitations of his nephew to hold a
consistory, because he expected there a violent opposition to his shemes
in favour of that young man. But when all the pretexts which he could
invent for eluding this request were exhausted, and at the same time his
indolent aversion to business continued to grow upon him, he feigned
indisposition rather than yield to his nephew's importunity; and that he
might give the deceit a greater colour of probability, he not only confined
himself to his apartment, but changed his usual diet and manner of life.
By persisting too long in acting this ridiculous part, he contracted a real
disease, of which he died in a few days [March 23], leaving his infamous
minion the cardinal de Monte to bear his name, and to disgrace the dignity
which he had conferred upon him.*  As soon as Morone heard of his
death, he set out abruptly from Augsburg, where he had resided only a
few days, that he might be present at the election of a new pontiff.
One cause of their suspicions and fears being thus removed, the protestants soon became sensible that their conjectures concerning Ferdinand's
intentions, however specious, were ill-founded, and that he had no thoughts
of violating the articles favourable to them  in the treaty of Passau.
Charles, from the time that Maurice had defeated all his schemes in the
empire, and.overturned the great system of religious and civil despotism,
which he had almost established there, gave little attention to the internal
government of Germany, and permitted his brother to pursue whatever
measures he judged most salutary and expedient. Ferdinand, less ambitious and enterprising than the emperor, instead of resuming a plan which
he with power and resources so far superior had failed of accomplishing,
endeavoured to attach the princes of the empire to his family by an
administration uniformly moderate and equitable. To this he gave, at
present, particular attention, because his situation at this juncture rendered
it necessary to court their favour and support with more than usual
assiduity.
Charles had again resumed his favourite project of acquiring the Impe
rial crown for his son Philip, the prosecution of which, the reception it
had met with when first proposed had obliged him to suspend, but had
not induced him to relinquish. This led him warmly to renew his request
to his brother that he would accept of some compensation for his prior
right of succession, and sacrifice that to the grandeur of the house of
Austria. Ferdinand, who was as little disposed as formerly to give such
an extraordinary proof of self-denial, being sensible that, in order to defeat
this scheme, not only the most inflexible firmness on his part, but a vigorous
declaration from the princes of the empire in behalf of his title, were
requisite, was willing to purchase their favour by gratifying them in every
point that they deemed interesting or essential.
At the same time he stood in need of immediate and extraordinary aid
from the Germanic body, as the Turks, after having wrested from him
*Onuphr Panvinius de Vitis Pontificum, p. 320. Thuan. lib. xv. 517




EMPEROR/CHARLES V.                              445
great part of his Hungarian territories, were ready to attack the provinces
still subject to his authority with a formidable army, against which he
could bring no equal force into the field. For this aid from Germany he
could not hope, if the internal peace of the empire were not established
on a foundation solid in itself, and which should appear, even to the protestants, so secure and so permanent, as might not only allow them  to
engage in a distant war with safety, but might encourage them to act in it
with vigour.
A step taken by the protestants themselves, a short time after the open.
ing of the diet, rendered him still more cautious of giving them any new
cause of offence.  As soon as the publication of Ferdinand's speech
awakened the fears and suspicions which have been mentioned, the
electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, together with the landgrave of Hesse,
met at Naumburgh, and confirming the ancient treaty of confraternity
which had long united their families, they added to it a new article, by
which the contracting parties bound themselves to adhere to the confession
of Augsburg, and to maintain the doctrine which it contained in their
respective dominions.?
Ferdinand, influenced by all these considerations, employed his utmost
address in conducting the deliberations of the diet, so as not to excite the
jealousy of a party on whose friendship he depended, and whose enmity,
as they had not only taken the alarm, but had begun to prepare for their
defence. he had so much reason to dread. The members of the diet
readily agreed to Ferdinand's proposal of taking the state of religion into
consideration, previous to any other business. But as soon as they entered
upon it, both parties discovered all the zeal and animosity which a subject
so interesting naturally engenders, and which the rancour of controversy,
together with the violence of civil war, had inflamed to the highest pitch.
he protestants contended, that the security which they claimed in consequence of the treaty of Passau, should extend, without limitation, to all
who had hitherto embraced the doctrine of Luther, or who should here
after embrace it. The Catholics, having first of all asserted the pope's
right as the supreme and final judge with respect to all articles of faith,
declared, that though, on account of the present situation of the empire,
for the sake of peace, they were willing to confirm the toleration granted
by the treaty of Passau, to such as had already adopted the new opinions 
they must insist that this indulgence should not be extended either to those
cities which had conformed to the Interim, or to such ecclesiastics as
should for the future apostatize from the church of Rome. It was no
easy matter to reconcile such opposite pretensions, which were supported,
on each side, by the most elaborate arguments, and the greatest acrimony
of expression, that the abilities or zeal of theologians long exercised in
disputation could suggest. Ferdinand, however, by his address and perseverance; by softening-some things on each side, by putting a favourable
meaning upon others; by representing incessantly the necessity as well as
the advantages of concord; and by threatening, on some occasions, when
all other considerations were disregarded, to dissolve the diet, brought
them at length to a conclusion in which they all agreed.
Conformably to this, a recess was framed, approved of and published
with the usual formalities [Sept. 25]. The following are the chief articles
which it contained: That such princes and cities as have declared their
approbation of the confession of Augsburg, shall be permitted to profess
the doctrine and exercise the worship which it authorizes, without interruption or molestation from the emperor, the king of the Romans, or any
power or person whatsoever; That the protestants, on their part, shal
give no disquiet to the princes and states who adhere to the tenets and rites
* Chytrii Saxonia, 480.




446                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BOOK XI
of the church of Rome; That, for the future, no attempt shall be made
towards terminating religious differences, but by the gentle and pacific
methods of persuasion and conference; That the popish ecclesiastics shall
claim  no spiritual jurisdiction in such states as receive the confession of
Augsburg; That such as had seized the benefices or revenues of the
church, previous to the treaty of Passau, shall retain possession of them,
and be liable to no prosecution in the Imperial chamber on that account;
That the supreme civil power in every state shall have right to establish
what form of doctrine and worship it shall deem proper, and if any of its
subjects refuse to conform to these, shall permit them to remove with all
their effects, whithersoever they shall please; that if any prelate or ecclesiastic shall hereafter abandon the Romish religion, he shall instantly relinquish his diocess or benefice, and it shall be lawful for those in whom the
right of nomination is vested, to proceed immediately to an election, as i;
the office were vacant by death or translation, and to appoint a successor
of undoubted attachment to the ancient system.s
Such are the capital articles in this famous recess, which is the basis of
religious peace in Germany, and the bond of union among its various
states, the sentiments of which are so extremely different with respect to
points the most interesting as well as important. In our age and nation, to
which the idea of toleration is familiar, and its beneficial effects well
known, it may seem strange, that a method of terminating their dissensions,
so suitable to the mild and charitable spirit of the Christian religion, did
not sooner occur to the contending parties. But this expedient, however
salutary, was so repugnant to the sentiments and practice of Christians
during many ages, that it did not lie obvious to discovery.  Among the
ancient heathens, all whose deities were local and tutelary, diversity of
sentiment concerning the object or rites of religious worship seems to have
been no source of animosity, because the acknowledging veneration to be
due to any one God, did not imply denial of the existence or the power
of any other God; nor were the modes and rites of worship established
in one country incompatible with those which other nations approved of
and observed.  Thus the errors in their system of theology were of such
a nature as to be productive of concord; and notwithstanding the amazing
number of their deities, as well as the infinite variety of their ceremonies,
a sociable and tolerating spirit subsisted almost universally in the pagan
world.
But when the Christian revelation declared one Supreme Being to be
the sole object of religious veneration, and prescribed the form of worship
most acceptable to him, whoever admitted the truth of it, held, of consequence, every other system of religion as a deviation from what was established by divine authority, to be false and impious. Hence arose the zeal
of the first converts to the Christian faith in propagating its doctrines, and
the ardour with which they laboured to overturn every other form of worship.  They employed, however, for this purpose, no methods but such as
suited the nature of religion. By the force of powerful arguments, they
convinced the understandings of men; by the charms of superior virtue,
they allured and captivated their hearts.  At length the civil power
declared in favour of Christianity; and though numbers, imitating the
example of their superiors, crowded into the church, many still adhered
to their ancient superstitions.  Enraged at their obstinacy, the ministers of
religion, whose zeal was still unabated, though their sanctity and virtue
were much diminished, forgot so far the nature of their own mission, and
of the arguments which they ought to have employed, that they armed the
Imperial power against these unhappy men, and as they could not per
suade, they tried to compel them to believe.
* Sleid. 620. F. Paul, 368. Pallav. p. 11. 161.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               447
At the same time, controversies concerning articles of faith multiplied,
from various causes, among Christians themselves, and the same unhallowed
weapons which had at first been used against the enemies of their religion, were turned against each other. Every zealous disputant endeavoured to interest the civil magistrate in his cause, and each in his turn
employed the secular arm to crush or to exterminate his opponents. Not
long after, the bishops of Rome put in their claim to infallibility in
explaining articles of faith, and deciding points in controversy; and, bold
as the pretension was, they, by their artifices and perseverance, imposed
on the credulity of mankind, and brought them  to recognise it.  To
doubt or to deny any doctrine to which these unerring instructers had
given the sanction of their approbation, was held to be not only a resisting
of truth, but an act of rebellion against their sacred authority; and the
secular power, of which by various arts they had acquired the absolute
direction, was instantly employed to avenge both.
Thus Europe had been accustomed, during many centuries, to see speculative opinions propagated or defended by force; the charity and mutual
forbearance which Christianity recommends with so much warmth, were
forgotten, the sacred rights of conscience and of private judgment were
unheard of, and not only the idea of toleration, but even the word itself,
in the sense now affixed to it, was unknown. A right to extirpate error
by force was universally allowed to be the prerogative of such as possessed the knowledge of truth; and as each party of Christians believed
that they had got possession of this invaluable attainment, they all claimed
and exercised, as far as they were able, the rights which it was supposed
to convey. The Roman catholics, as their system rested on the decisions
of an infallible judge, never doubted that truth was on their side, and
openly called on the civil power to repel the impious and heretical innovators who had risen up against it. The protestants, no less confident that
their doctrine was well founded, required, with equal ardour, the princes
of their party to check such as presumed to impugn it. Luther, Calvin,
Cranmer, Knox, the founders of the reformed church in their respective
countries, as far as they had power and opportunity, inflicted the same
punishments upon such as called in question any article in their creeds,
which were denounced against their own disciples by the church of Rome
To their followers, and perhaps to their opponents, it would have appeared
a system of diffidence in the goodness of their cause, or an acknowledgment that it was not well founded, if they had not employed in its defence
all those means which it was supposed truth had a right to employ.
It was towards the close of the seventeenth century, before toleration,
under its present form, was admitted first into the republic of the United
Provinces, and from thence introduced into England. Long experience
of the calamities flowing from  mutual persecution, the influence of free
government, the light and humanity acquired by the progress of science,
together with the prudence and authority of the civil magistrate, were all
requisite in order to establish a regulation, so repugnant to the ideas which
all the different sects had adopted, from mistaken conceptions concerning
the nature of religion and the rights of truth, or which all of them had
derived fiom the erroneous maxims established by the church of Rome.
The recess of Augsburg, it is evident, was founded on no such liberal
and enlarged sentiments concerning freedom of religious inquiry, or the
nature of toleration. It was nothing more than a scheme of pacification,
which political considerations alone had suggested to the contending parties, and regard for their mutual tranquillity and safety had rendered necessary. Of this there can be no stronger proof than an article in the recess
itself, by which the benefits of the pacification are declared to extend only
to the catholics on the one side, and to such as adhered to the confession
of Augsburg on the o+her. The followers of Zuinglius and Calvin remain




448                 THE REIGN OF THE                        [BooK XI.
ed, in consequence of that exclusion, without any protection from the rigour
of the laws denounced against heretics. Nor did they obtain any legal
security, until the treaty of Westphalia, near a century after this period
provided, that they should be admitted to enjoy, in as ample a manner a?
the Lutherans, all the advantages and protection which the recess of Augsburg affords.
But if the followers of Luther were highly pleased with the security
which they acquired by this recess, such as adhered to the ancient system
had no less reason to be satisfied with that article in it, which preserved
entire to the Roman catholic church the benefices of such ecclesiastics as
should hereafter renounce itr doctrines.  This article, known in Germany
by the name of the Ecclesiasical Reservation, was apparently so conformable to the idea and to the rights of an established church, and it seemed
so equitable to prevent revenues, which had been originally appropriated
for the maintenance of persons attached to a certain system, from being
alienated to any other purpose,. that the protestants, though they foresaw
its consequences, were obliged to relinquish their opposition to it. As the
Roman catholic princes of the empire have taken care to see this article
exactly observed in every case where there was an opportunity of putting
it in execution, it has proved the great barrier of the Romish church in
Germany against the reformation; and as, from  this period, the same
temptation of interest did not allure ecclesiastics to relinquish the established system, there have been few of that order, who have loved truth
with such disinterested and ardent affection, as, for its sake, to abandon
the rich benefices which they had in possession.
During the sitting of the diet [April 9], Marcellus Cervino, cardinal cf
St. Croce, was elected pope in the room of Julius.  He, in imitation of
Adrian, did not change his name on being exalted to the papal chair. As
he equalled that pontiff in purity of intention, while he excelled him much
in the arts of government, and still more in knowledge of the state and
genius of the papal court; as he had capacity to discern what reformation
it needed, as well as what it could bear; such regulations were expected
from his virtue and wisdom, as would have removed many of its grossest
and most flagrant corruptions, and have contributed towards reconciling to
the church such as, from indignation at these enormities, had abandoned
its communion.  But this excellent pontiff was only shown to the church,
and immediately snatched away. The confinement in the conclave had
impaired his health, and the fatigue of tedious ceremonies upon his accession, together with too intense arid anxious application of mind to the
schemes of improvement which he meditated, exhausted so entirely the
vigour of his feeble constitution, that he sickened on the twelfth, and died
on the twentieth day after his election.*
All the refinements in artifice and intrigue, peculiar to conclaves, were
displayed in that which was held for electing a successor to Marcellus;
the cardinals of the Imperial and French factions labouring, with equal
ardour, to gain the necessary number of suffrages for one of their own
party. But, after a struggle of no long duration, though conducted with
all the warmth and eagerness natural to men contending for so great an
object, they united in choosing John Peter Caraffa [May 231s the eldest
member of the sacred college, and the son of count Montorio, a nobleman
of an illustrious family in the kingdom of Naples.  The address and influence of cardinal Farnese, who favoured his pretensions, Caraffa's own
merit, and perhaps his great age, which soothed all the disappointed candidates with the near prospect of a new vacancy, concurred in bringing
about this speedy union of suffrages.  In order to testify his respect for the
memory of Paul III. by whom he had been created cardinal, as well as
* Thuan. 5.20 F. Paul, 365. Onuph. Panvin. 321, &ce




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                449
his gratitude to the family of Farnese, he assumed the name of Paul the
Fourth.
The choice of a prelate of such a singular character, and who had long.eld a course extremely different from that which usually led to the dignity now conferred upon him, filled the Italians, who had nearest access to
observe his manners and deportment, with astonishment, and kept them in
suspense and solicitude with regard to his future conduct. Paul, though
born in a rank of life which, without any other merit, might have secured
to him the highest ecclesiastical preferments, had, from his early years,
applied to study with all the assiduity of a man who had nothing but his
personal attainments to render him conspicuous. By means of this, he not
only acquired profound skill in scholastic theology, but added to that a
considerable knowledge of the learned languages and of polite literature,
the study of which had been lately revived in Italy, and was pursued at
this time with great ardour. His mind, however, naturally gloomy and
severe, was more formed to imbibe the sour spirit of the former, than to
receive any tincture of elegance or liberality of sentiment from the latter;
so that he acquired rather the qualities and passions of a recluse ecclesiastic, than the talents necessary for the conduct of great affairs. Accord
ingly, when he entered into orders, although several rich benefices were
bestowed upon him, and he was early employed as nuncio in different
courts, he Eoon became disgusted with that course.of life, and languished
to be in a situation more suited to his taste and temper. With this view,
he resigned at once all his ecclesiastical preferments; and having instituted
an vrder of regular priests, whom he denominated Theatines, from the
name of the archbishopric which he had held, he associated himself as a
member of their fraternity, conformed to all the rigorous rules to which he
had subjected them, and preferred the solitude of a monastic life, with the
honour of being the founder of a new order, to all the great objects which
the court of Rome presented to his ambition.
In this retreat he remained for many years, until Paul III., induced by
the fame of his sanctity and knowledge, called him to Rome, in order to
consult with him concerning the measures which might be most proper and
effectual for suppressing heresy, and re-establishing the ancient authority
of the church. Having thus allured him from his solitude, the pope, partly
by his entreaties, and partly by his authority, prevailed on him to accept
of a cardinal's hat, to reassume the benefices which he had resigned, and
to return again into the usual path of ecclesiastical ambition which he
seemed to have relinquished.  But, during two successive pontificates,
under the first of which the court of Rome was the most artful and interested, and under the second the most dissolute of any in Europe, Caraffa
retained his monastic austerity. He was an avowed and bitter enemy not
only of all innovation in opinion, but of every irregularity in practice; he
was the chief instrument in establishing the formidable and odious tribunal
of the inquisition in the papal territories; he appeared a violent advocate
on all occasions for the jurisdiction and discipline of the church, and a
severe censurer of every measure which seemed to flow from motives of
policy or interest, rather than from zeal for the honour of the ecclesiastical
order, and the dignity of the holy see. Under a prelate of such a character, the Roman courtiers expected a severe and violent pontificate, during
which the principles of sound policy would be sacrificed to the narrow
prejudices of priestly zeal; while the people of Rome were apprehensive
of seeing the sordid and forbidding rigour of monastic manners substituted
in place of the gayety or magnificence to which they had long been accustomed in the papal court. These apprehensions Paul was extremely soli
citous to remove. At his first entrance upon the administration, he laid
aside that austerity which had hitherto distinguished his person and family,
and when the master of his household inquired in what manner he would
VOL. II.-57




450             THE REIGN O  THE                       [Boox XI
choose to live, he haughtily replied, "As becomes a great prince."  He
ordered the ceremony of his coronation to be conducted with more than
usual pomp; and endeavoured to render himself popular by several acts
of liberality and indulgence towards the inhabitants of Rome.k
His natural severity of temper, however, would have soon returned upon
him, and would have justified the conjectures of the courtiers, as well as
the fears of the people, if he had not, immediately after his election, called
to Rome two of his nephews, the sons of his brother the count of Montcrio.
The eldest he promoted t6 be governor of Rome. The youngest, who
had hitherto served as a soldier of fortune in the armies of Spain or France,
and whose disposition as well as manners were still more foreign from the
clerical charace-' than his profession, he created a cardinal, and appointed
him legate of Bologna, the second office in power and dignity which a
pope can bestow. These marks of favour, no less sudden than extravagant, he accompanied with the most unbounded confidence and attachment, and forgetting all his former severe maxims, he seemed to have no
other object than the aggrandizement of his nephews. Their ambition,
unfortunately for Paul, was too aspiring to be satisfied with any moderate
acquisition. They had seen the family of Medici raised by the interest
of the popes of that house to supreme power in Tuscany; Paul III. had,
by his abilities and address, secured the dutchies of Parma and Placentia
to the family of Farnese.  They aimed at some establishment for themselves, no less considerable and independent; and as they could not expect
that the pope would carry his indulgence towards them so far as to secularize any part of the patrimony of the church, they had no prospect of
attaining what they wished, but by dismembering the Imperial dominions
in Italy, in hopes of seizing some portion of them. This alone they would
have deemed a sufficient reason for sowing the seeds of discord between
their uncle and the emperor.
But cardinal Caraffa had, besides, private reasons which filled him with
hatred and enmity to the emperor. While he served in the Spanish troops
he had not received such marks of honour and distinction as he thought
due to his birth and merit. Disgusted with this ill usage, he had abruptly
quitted the Imperial service; and entering into that of France, he had not
only met with such a reception as soothed his vanity, and attached him to
the French interest, but by contracting an intimate friendship with Strozzi,
who commanded the French army in Tuscany, he had imbibed a mortal
antipathy to the emperor as the great enemy to the liberty and independence
of the Italian states. Nor was the pope himself indisposed to receive impressions unfavourable to the emperor. The opposition given to his election
by the cardinals of the Imperial faction, left in his mind deep resentment,
which was heightened by the remembrance of ancient injuries from Charles
or his ministers.
Of this his nephews took advantage, and employed various devices, in
order to exasperate him beyond a possibility of reconciliation. They aggravaLed every circumstance which could be deemed any indication of the
emperor's dissatisfaction with his promotion; they read to him an intercepted letter, in which Charles taxed the cardinals of his party with negligence or incapacity in not having defeated Paul's election: they pretended,
at one time, to have discovered a conspiracy formed by the Imperial
minister and Cosmo di Medici against the pope's life; they alarmed him,
at another, with accounts of a plot for assassinating themselves. By these
artifices, they kept his mind, which was naturally violent, and become
suspicious from old age, in such perpetual agitation, as precipitated him
mnto measures which otherwise he would have been the first person to condemn.t He seized some of the cardinals who were most attached to the
* Platina, p. 327. Castaldo Vita di Paolo IV. Rom. 1615, p. 70.   t Ripamontii Hist. Patria
lib iii. 1146 ap. Graev. Thes. vol. ii. Merm. de Ribier, ii. 615. Adriani Istor. i. 906




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             451
emperor, and confined them in the castle of St. Angelo; he persecuted the
Colonnas and other Roman barons, the ancient retainers to the Imperia.
faction, with the utmost severity; and discovering on all occasions, his
distrust, fear, er hatred of the emperor, he began at last to court the friendship of the French king, and seemed willing to throw himself absolutely
upon him for support and protection.
This was the very point to which his nephews wished to bring him, as
most favourable to their ambitious schemes; and as the accomplishment of
these depended on their uncle's life, whose advanced age did not admit of
losing a moment unnecessarily in negotiations, instead of treating at secondhand with the French ambassador at Rome, they prevailed on the pope to
despatch a person of confidence directly to the court of France, with such
overtures on his part as they hoped would not be rejected. He proposed
an alliance offensive and defensive between Henry and the pope; that they
should attack the dutchy of Tuscany and the kingdom  of Naples with
their united forces; and if their arms should prove successful, that the
ancient republican form of government should be re-established in the
former, and the investiture of the latter should be granted to one of the
French king's sons, after reserving a certain territory which should be
annexed to the patrimony of the church, together with an independent and
princely establishment for each of the pope's nephews.
The king, allured by these specious projects, gave a most favourable
audience to the envoy. But when the matter was proposed in council,
the constable Montmorency, whose natural caution and aversion to daring
enterprises increased with age and experience, remonstrated with great
vehemence against the alliance. He put Henry in mind how fatal to France
every expedition into Italy had been during three successive reigns, and if
such an enterprise had proved too great for the nation even when its
strength and finances were entire, there was no reason to hope for success,
if it should be attempted now, when both were exhausted by extraordinary
efforts during wars, which had lasted, with little interruption, almost half
a century. He represented the manifest imprudence of entering into
engagements with a pope of fourscore, as any system which rested on no
better foundation than his life, must be extremely precarious, and upon the
event of his death, which could not be distant, the face of things, together
with the inclination of the Italian states, must instantly change, and the
whole weight of the war be left upon the king alone. To these considerations he added the near prospect which they now had of a final accommodation with the emperor, who, having taken the resolution of retiring from
the world, wished to transmit his kingdoms in peace to his son; and he
concluded with representing the absolute certainty of drawing the arms
of England upon France, if it should appear that the re-establishment of
tranquillity in Europe was prevented by the ambition of its monarch.
These arguments, weighty in themselves, and urged by a minister of
great authority, would probably have determined the king to decline any
connection with the pope. But the duke of Guise, and his brother the
cardinal of Lorrain, who delighted no less in bold and dangerous undertakings than Montmorency shunned them, declared warmly for an alliance
with the pope. The cardinal expected to be intrusted with the conduct
of the negotiations in the court of Rome to which this alliance would give
rise; the duke hoped to obtain the command of the army which would be
appointed to invade Naples; and considering themselves as already in
these stations, vast projects opened to their aspiring and unbounded ambition. Their credit, together with the influence of the king's mistress, the
famous Diana of Poitiers, who was, at that time, entirely devoted to the
interest of the family of Guise, more than counterbalanced all Montmorency's
prudent remonstrances, and prevailed on an inconsiderate prince to listen
tb the overtures of the pope's envoy.




4'               THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK XI.
The cardinal of Lorrain, as he had expected, was immediately sent'to
Rome with full powers to conclude the treaty, and to concert measures for
carrying it into execution. Before he could reach that city, the pope,
either from reflecting on the danger and uncertain issue of all military
operations, or through the address of the Imperial ambassador, who had
been at great pains to soothe him, had not only begun to lose much of the
ardour with which he had commenced the negotiation with France, but
even discovered great unwillingness to continue it. In order to rouse him
from this fit of despondency, and to rekindle his former rage, his nephews
had recourse to the arts which they had already practised with so much
success. They alarmed him with new representations of the emperor's
hostile intentions, with fresh accounts which they had received of threats
uttered against him by the Imperial ministers, and with new discoveries
which they pretended to have made of conspiracies formed, and just ready
to take effect against his life.
But these artifices, having been formerly tried, would not have operated
a second time with the same force, nor have made the impression which
they wished, if Paul had not been excited by an offence of that kind
which he was least able to bear. He received advice of the recess of the
diet of Augsburg, and of the toleration which was thereby granted to the
protestants; and this threw him at once into such transports of passion
against the emperor and the king of the Romans, as carried him headlong
into all the violent measures of his nephews. Full of high ideas with
respect to the papal prerogative, and animated with the fiercest zeal
against heresy, he considered the liberty of deciding concerning religious
matters, which had been assumed by an assembly composed chiefly
of laymen, as a presumptuous and unpardonable encroachment on
that jurisdiction which belonged to him  alone; and regarded the
indulgence which had been given to the protestants as an impious act
of that power which the diet had usurped. He complained loudly ot
both to the Imperial ambassador. He insisted that the recess of the diet
should immediately be declared illegal and void. He threatened the
emperor and king of the Romans, in case they should either refuse or
delay to gratify him in this particular, with the severest effects of his
vengeance. He talked in a tone of authority and command which might
have suited a pontiff of the twelfth century, when a papal decree was
sufficient to have shaken, orto have overturned, the throne of the greatest
monarch in Europe; but which was altogether improper in that age, especially when addressed to the minister of a prince who had so often made
pontiffs more formidable than Paul feel the weight of his power. The
ambassador, however, heard all his extravagant propositions and menaces
with much patience, and endeavoured to soothe him, by putting him in
mind of the extreme distress to which the emperor had been reduced
at Inspruck, of the engagements which he had come under to the protestants, in order to extricate himself, of the necessity of fulfilling these, and
of accommodating his conduct to the situation of his affairs. But weighty
as these considerations were, they made no impression on the mind of the
haughty and bigoted pontiff, who instantly replied that he would absolve
him by his apostolic authority from those impious engagements, and even
command himmnot to perform them; that in carrying on the cause of God
and of the church, no regard ought to be had to the maxims of worldly
prudence and policy; and that the ill success of the emperor's schemes in
Germany might justly be deemed a mark of the divine displeasure against
him, on account of his having paid little attention to the former, while he
regulated his conduct entirely by the latter. Having said this, ne turned
from the ambassador abruptly without waiting for a reply.
His nephews took care to applaud and cherish these sentiments, and
easily wrought up his arrogant mind, fraught with all the monkish ideas




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                455
~oncernirLg the extent of the papal supremacy, to such a pitch of resentment against the house of Austria, and to such a high opinion of his own
power, that he talked continually of his being the successor of those who
had deposed kings and emperors; that he was exalted as head over them
all, and would trample such as opposed him under his feet. In this disposition. the cardinal of Lorrain found the pope, and easily persuaded him
to sign a treaty [Dec. 15] which had for its object the ruin of a prince,
against whom  he was so highly exasperated.  The stipulations in this
treaty were much the same as had been proposed by the pope's envoy at
Paris; and it was agreed to keep the whole transaction secret until their
united forces should be ready to take the field."
During the negotiation of this treaty at Rome and Paris, an event hap
pened which seemed to render the fears that had given rise to it vain, and
the operations which were to follow upon it unnecessary. This was the
emperor's resignation of his hereditary dominions to his son Philip:
iogether with his resolution to withdraw entirely from any concern in
business or the affairs of this world, in order that he might spend the
remainder of his days in retirement and solitude. Though it requires
neither deep reflection nor extraordinary discernment to discover that the
state of royalty is not exempt from cares and disappointment; though
most of those who are exalted to a throne find solicitude, and satiety, and
disgust to be their perpetual attendants in that envied pre-eminence; yet
to descend voluntarily from the supreme to a subordinate station, and to
relinquish the possession of power in order to attain the enjoyment of
happiness, seems to be an effort too great for the human mind. Several
instances, indeed, occur in history, of monarchs who have quitted a throne,
and have ended their days in retirement.  But they were either weak
princes who took this resolution rashly, and repented of it as soon as it
was taken; or unfortunate princes, from whose hands some stronger rival
had wrested their sceptre, and compelled them to descend with reluctance
into a private station. Dioclesian is perhaps the only prince capable of
holding the reins of government, who ever resigned them from deliberate
choice, and who continued during many years to enjoy the tranquillity of
retirement without fetching one penitent sigh, or casting back one look of
desire, towards the power or dignity which he had abandoned.
No wonder, then, that Charles's resignation should fill all Europe with
astonishment, and give rise, both among his contemporaries, and among the
historians of that period, to various conjectures concerning the motives
which determined a prince, whose ruling passion had been uniformly the
love of power, at the age of fifty-six, when objects of ambition continue
to operate with full force on the mind, and are pursued with the greatest
ardour, to take a resolution so singular and unexpected. But while many
authors have imputed it to motives so frivolous and fantastical, as can
hardly be supposed to influence any reasonable mind; while others have
imagined it to be the result of some profound scheme of policy; historians
more intelligent and better informed, neither ascribe it to caprice, nor search
for mysterious secrets of state, where simple and obvious causes will fully
account for the emperor's conduct. Charles had been attacked early in
life with the gout, and notwithstanding all the precautions of the most
skilful physicians, the violence of the distemper increased as he advanced
in age, and the fits became every year more frequent, as well as more
severe. Not only was the vigour of his constitution broken, but the facul
ties of his mind were impaired by the excruciating torments which he
endured. During the continuance of the fits, he was altogether incapabie,f applying to business, and even when they began to abate, as it was only
* Pallav. lib. xiii. p. 163. F. Paul, 365. Thuan. lib xv. 53. ho. vi. 540. Mem. de Ribier, i.
i09, &c.




454' THE RETGN OF THE                           [Boo XI.
at intervals that he could attend to what was serious, he gave up a great
part of his time to trifling and even childish occupations, which served to
relieve or to amuse his mind, enfeebled and worn out with excess oi pain
Under these  circumstances, the conduct of such affairs as occurred of
course, in governing so many kingdoms, was a burden more than sufficient:
but to push forward and complete the vast schemes which the ambition ot
his more active years had formed, or to keep in view and carry on the same
great system of policy, extending to every nation in Europe, and connected
with the operations of every different court, were functions which so far
exceeded  his strength, that they oppressed and overwhelmed his mind.
As he had been  long accustomed to view  the business of every department, whether civil, or military, or ecclesiastical, with his own eyes, and
to decide concerning it according to his own ideas, it gave him the utmost
pain when he felt his infirmities increase so fast upon him, that he was
obliged to commit the conduct of all affairs to his ministers.  He imputed
every misfortune which befell him, and every miscarriage that happened,
even when the former was unavoidable and the latter accidental, to his
inability to take the inspection of business himself. He complained ot
his hard fortune, in being opposed, in his declining years, to a rival, who
was in the full vigour of life, and that while Henry could take and execute all his resolutions in person, he should now be reduced, both in council and in action, to rely on the talents and exertions of other men. Having
thus grown old before his time, he wisely judged it more decent to conceal his infirmities in some solitude, than to expose them  any longer to the
public eye; and prudently determined not to forfeit the fame, or lose the
acquisitions of his better years, by struggling, with a vain obstinacy, tc
retain the reins of government, when he was no longer able to hold them
with steadiness, or to guide them with address.?'But though Charles had revolved  this scheme in his mind for several
years, and had communicated it to his sisters the dowager queens of France
and  Hungary, who not only  approved  of his intention, but offered  to
accompany him  to whatever place of retreat he should choose; several
things had hitherto prevented his carrying it into execution. He could not
think of loading his son with the government of so many kingdoms, until
he should attain such maturity of age, and of abilities, as would enable him
to sustain  that weighty  burden.  But as Philip had  now  reached  his
twenty-eighth year, and had been early accustomed to business, for which
he discovered both inclination and capacity, it can hardly be imputed to
the partiality of paternal affection, that his scruples, with regard to this
point, were entirely removed; and that he thought he might place his son,
without further hesitation or delay, on the throne wvhich he himself was
about to abandon.  His mother's situation had been another obstruction in
his way.  For although she had continued almost fifty years in confinement, and under the same disorder of mind which concern for her hus* Don Levesque, in his memoirs of cardinal Granvelle, gives a reason for the emperor's resignation, which, as far as I recollect, is notmentioned by any other historian. He says, that the emperor
having ceded the government of the kingdom of Naples and the dutchy of Milan to his son, upon
his marriage with the queen of England; Philip, notwithstanding the advice and entreaties of his
father, removed most of the ministers and offices whom he had employed in those countries, and
appointed creatures of his own, to fill the places which they held. That he aspired openly, and with
little delicacy, to obtain a share in -the administration of affairs in the Low-Countries. That he
endeavoured to thwart the emperor's measures, and to limit his authority, behaving towards him
sometimes with inattention, and sometimes with haughtiness. That Charles finding that he must
either yield on every occasion to his son, or openly contend with him, in order to avoid either of
these, which were both disagreeable and mortifying to a father, he took the resolution of resigning
his crowns, and of retiring from the world, vol. i. p. 24, &c. Don Levesque derived his information
concerning these curious facts, which he relates very briefly, from the original papers of cardinal
GranVelle. But as that vast collection of papers, which has been preserved and arranged by M.
l'abb6 Boizot of Besancon, though one of the most valuable historical monuments of the sixteenth
century, and which cannot fail of throwing much light on the transactions of Charles V., is not
published, I cannot determine what degree of credit should be given to this account of Charles's
oesignation. I have therefore taken no notice of it in relating this event.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              455
band's death had brought upon her, yet the government of Spain was still
invested in her jointly with the emperor; her name was inserted together
with his in all the public instruments issued in that kingdom; and such
was the fond attachment of the Spaniards to her, that they would probably
have scrupled to recognise Philip as their sovereign, unless she had consented to assume him as her partner on the throne. Her utter incapacity
for business rendered it impossible to obtain her consent. But her death,
which happened this year, removed this difficulty; and as Charles, upon
that event, became sole monarch of Spain, it left the succession open to his
son. The war with France had likewise been a reason for retaining the
administration of affairs in his own hand, as he was extremely solicitous to
have terminated it, that he might have given up his kingdoms to his son at
peace with all the world. But as Henry had discovered no disposition to
close with any of his overtures, and had even rejected proposals of peace,
which were equal and moderate, in a tone that seemed to indicate a fixed
purpose of continuing hostilities, he saw that it was vain to wait longer
m expectation of an event, which, however desirable, was altogether
uncertain.
As this, then, appeared to be the proper juncture for executing the scheme
which he had long meditated, Charles resolved to resign his kingdoms te
his son, with a solemnity suitable to the importance oithe transaction, and
to perform  this last act of sovereignty with such formal pomp, as might
leave a lasting impression on the minds not only of his subjects but of his
successor.  With this view he called Philip out of England, where the
peevish temper of his queen, which increased with her despair of having
issue, rendered him extremely unhappy; and the jealousy of the English
left him no hopes of obtaining the direction of their affairs. Having
assembled the States of the Low-Countries at Brussels, on the twenty-fifth
of October, Charles seated himself, for the last time, in the chair of state,
on one side of which was placed his son, and on the other his sister, thequeen of Hungary, regent of the Netherlands, with a splendid retinue of
the princes of the empire and grandees of Spain standing behind him.
The president of the council of Flanders, by his command, explained, in
a few words, his intention in calling this extraordinary meeting of the
States. He then read the instrument of resignation, by which Charles
surrendered to his son Philip all his territories, jurisdiction, and authority in
the Low-Countries, absolving his subjects there from their oath of allegiance to him, which he required them to transfer to Philip his lawful heir,
and to serve him wltn the same loyalty and zeal which they had manifested, during so long a course of years, in support of his government.
Charles then rose from his seat, and leaning on the shoulder of the prince
of Orange, because he was unable to stand without support, he addressed
himself to lhe audience, and from a paper which he held in his hand, in
order to assist his memory, he recounted, with dignity, but without ostentation, all the great things which he had undertaken and performed since
the commencement of his administration. He observed, that from the
seventeeth year of his age, he had dedicated all his thoughts and attention
to public objects, reserving no portion of his time for the indulgence of
his ease, and very little for the enjoyment of private pleasure; that either
in a pacific or hostile manner, he had visited Germany nine times, Spair,
six times, France four times, Italy seven times, the Low-Countries ten
times, England twice, Africa as often, and had made eleven voyages by
sea; that while his health permitted him to discharge his duty, and the
vigour of his constitution was equal, in any degree, to the arduous office cf
governing such extensive dominions, he had never shunned labour, nor
repined under fatigue; that now, when his health was broken, and his
vigour exhausted by the rage of an incurable distemper, his growing infirmities admonished him to retire, nor was he so fond of reigning, as to retain




456                 THE REIGN OF THE                     [BOOK XI.
the sceptre in an impotent hand, which was no longer able to protect his
subjects, or to secure to them the happiness which he wished they should
enjoy; that instead of a sovereign worn out with disease, and scarcely half
alive, he gave them one in the prime of life, accustomed already to govern,
and who added to the vigour of youth all the attention and sagacity of
maturer years; that if, during the course of a long administration, he had
committed any material error in government, or if, under the pressure of
so many and great affairs, and amidst the attention which he had been
obliged to give to them, he had either neglected or injured any of his subjects, he now implored their forgiveness; that, for his part, he should ever
retain a grateful sense of their fidelity and attachment, and would carry
the remembrance of it along with him to the place of his retreat, as his
sweetest consolation, as well as the best reward for all his services, and in
his last prayers to Almighty God would pour forth his most earnest petitions for their welfare.
Then turning towards Philip, who fell on his knees and kissed his
father's hand, "If," says he, "I had left you by death this rich inheritance,
to which I have made such large additions, some regard would have been
justly due to my memory on that account; but now, when I voluntarily
resign to you, what I might have still retained, I may well expect the
warmest expression of thanks on your part. With these, however, I dispense, and shall consider your concern for the welfare of your subjects,
and your love of them, as the best and most acceptable testimony of your
gratitude to me. It is in your power, by a wise and virtuous administration,
to justify the extraordinary proof which I, this day, give of Iny paternal
affection, and to demonstrate that you are worthy of the confidence which
I repose in you. Preserve an inviolable regard for religion; maintain the
catholic faith in its purity; let the laws of your country be sacred in your
eyes; encroach not on the rights and privileges of your people; and if the.time should ever come when you shall wish to enjoy the tranquillity of
private life, may you have a son endowed with such qualities, that you
can resign your sceptre to him with as much satisfaction as I give up mine
to you.'
As soon as Charles had finished this long address to his subjects and to
their new sovereign, he sunk into the chair, exhausted and ready to faint
with the fatigue of such an extraordinary effort. During his discourse, the
whole audience melted into tears, some from admiration of his magnanimity, others softened by the expressions of tenderness towards his son,
and of love to his people; and all were affected with the deepest sorrow
at losing a sovereign, who, during his administration, had distinguished the
Netherlands, his native country, with particular marks of his regard and
attachment.
Philip then arose from his knees, and after returning thanks to his father,
with a low and submissive voice, for the royal gift which his unexampled
bounty had bestowed upon him, he addressed the assembly of the States, and
regretting his inability to speak the Flemish language with such facility as
to express what he felt on this interesting occasion, as well as what he
owed to his good subjects in the Netherlands, he begged that they would
permit Granvelle bishop of Arras to deliver what he had given him in
charge.o speak in his name. Granvelle, in a long discourse, expatiated
on the zeal with which Philip was animated for the good of his subjects,
on his resolution to devote all his time and talents to the promoting of their
happiness, and on his intention to imitate his father's example in distinguishing the Netherlands with peculiar marks of his regard. Maeis, a
lawyer of great eloquence, replied, in the name of the States, with large
professions of their fidelity and affection to their new sovereign.
1556.1 Then Mary, queen-dowager of Hungary, resigned the regency
with which she had been intrusted by her brother during the space ol




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                          457
twenty-five years.  Next day [Jan. 6.] Philip, In presence of the States,
took the usual oaths to maintain the rights and privileges of his subjects;
and all the members, in their own name, and in that of their constituents,
swore allegiance to him.?
A  few  weeks after this transaction, Charles, in an  assembly  no less
splendid, and with a ceremonial equally pompous, resigned to his son the
crowns of Spain, with all the territories depending on them, both in the
old and  in the new  world.  Of all these vast possessions, he  reserved
nothing for himself but an annual pension of a hundred thousand crowns,
to defray the charges of his family, and to afford him  a small sum  for acts
of beneicence and charity.t
As he had fixed on a place of retreat in Spain, hoping that the dryness
of the air and the warmth of the climate in that country might mitigate the
violence of his disease, which had been much increased by the moisture
of the air and the rigour of the winters in the Netherlands, he was extremely
impatient to embark for that kingdom, and to disengage himself entirely
from business, which he found to be impossible while he remained in Brussels.  But his physicians remonstrated so strongly against his venturing to
sea at that cold and boisterous season of the year, that he consented, though
with reluctance, to put off his voyage for some months.
Byyielding to their entreaties, he had the satisfaction, before he left the
Low-Countries, of taking a considerable step towards a peace with France,
which he ardently wished for, not only on his son's account, but that he
might have the merit, when quitting the world, of re-establishing that tranquillity in Europe, which he had banished out of it almost from the time
that he had assumed the administration of affairs.  Previous to his resigna
tion, commissioners had been  appointed by him  and by the French king,
in order to treat of an exchange of prisoners. In their conference at the
Abbey of Vaucelles, near Cambray, an expedient was accidentally proposed
for terminating hostilities between  the contending monarchs, by a long
truce, during the subsistence of which, and without discussing their respective claims, each should retain what was now in his possession. Charles.
sensible how  much his kingdoms were exhausted by the expensive and
almost continual wars in which his ambition had engaged him, and eager
to gain for his son a short interval of peace, that he might establish himself
frmly on his throne, declared warmly for closing with the overture, though
* Godleveus Relatio Abdicationis Car. V. ap. Goldast. Polit, Imper. p. 377. Strada de Bello
Belgico, lib. i. p. 5.
t The emperor's resignation is an event not only ofsuch importance, but of such a nature, that the
precise date of it, one would expect, should have been ascertained by historians with the greatest
accuracy. There is, however, an amazing and an unaccountable diversity among them with
regard to this point. All agree, that the deed by which Charles transferred to his son his dominions
in the Netherlands, bears date at Brussels the 25th of October. Sandoval fixes on the 28th of Octo
ber as the day on which the ceremony of resignation happened, and he was present at the transaction, vol. ii. p. 592. Godleveus, who published a treatise de Abdicatione Caroli V. fixed the public
ceremony, as well as the date of the instrument of resignation, on the 25th. Pere Barre, I know not
upon what authority, fixesit on the 24th of November, Hist. d'Alem. viii. 976. Herrera agrees with
Godleveus in his account of this matter, tom. i. 155. as likewise does Pallavicini, whose authority
with respect to dates, and every thing where a minute accuracy is requisite, is of great weight, Hist.
lib. xvi. p. 168. Historians differ no less with regard to the day on which Charles resigned the crown
of Spain to his son. According to M. de Thou, it was a month after his having resigned his domi
nions in the Netherlands, i. e. about the 25th of November, Thuan. lib. xvi. p. 571. According to
Saudoval, it was on the 16th of January, 1556, Sand. ii. 603. Antonio de Vera agrees with him,
Epitome del Vida del Car. V. p. 110. According to Pallavicini, it was on the 17th, Pal. lib. xvi. p.
168. and with him Herrera agrees, Vida del D. Felipe, tom. i. p. 233. But Ferreras fixes it on the first
day of January, Hist. Gener. tom. ix. p. 371. M. de.Beaucaire supposes the resignation of the crown
of Spain to have been executed a few days after the resignation of the Netherlands. Com. de Reb.
Gall. p. 879. It is remarkable, that in the treaty of truce at Vaucelles, though Charles had made
over all his dominions to his son some weeks previous to the conclusion of it, all the stipulations are
in the emperor's name, and Philip is only styled king of England and Naples. It is certain Philip
was not proclaimed king of Castile, &c. at Valladolid sooner than the 24th of March, Sandov. ii. p
606; and previous to that ceremony, he did not choose, it should seem, to assume the title of king of
any of his Spanish kingdoms, or to perform any act of royal jurisdiction. In a deed annexed to the
treaty of truce, dated April 19, he assumes the title of king of Castile, &c. in the usual style of the
Spanish monarchs in that age. Corps Dipl. tom. iv. Append. p. 85.
VOL. II. —68




458                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                    [13ooK XI
manifestly dishonourable as well as disadvantageous; and such was the
respect due to his wisdom and experience, that Philip, notwithstanding his
unwillingness to purchase peace by such concessions, did not presume to
urge his opinion in opposition to that of his father.
Henry could not have hesitated one moment about giving his consent to
a truce on such conditions, as would leave him in quiet possession of the
greater part of the duke of Savoy's dominions, together with the important
conquests which he had made on the German frontier.  But it was no easy
matter to reconcile such a. step with the engagements which he had come
under to the pope in his late treaty "with him.  The constable Montmorency, however, represented in such a striking light the imprudence of
sacrificing the true interests of his kingdom to these rash obligations, and
took such advantage of the absence of the cardinal of Lorrain, who had
seduced the king into his alliance with the Caraffas, that Henry, who was
naturally fluctuating and unsteady, and apt to be influenced by the advice
last given him, authorized his ambassadors [5th Feb.] to sign a treaty of
truce with the emperor for five years, on the terms which had been promised. But that he might not seem to have altogether forgotten his ally
the pope, who, he foresaw, would be highly exasperated, he, in order to
soothe him, took care that he should be expressly included in the truce.*
The count of Lalain repaired to Blois, and the admiral Coligny to Brussels, the former to be present when the king of France, and the latter when
the emperor and his son ratified the treaty and bound themselves by oath
to observe it.t
When an account of the conference at Vaucelles, and of the conditions of
truce which had been proposed there, were first carried to Rome, it gave
the pope no manner of disquiet. He trusted so much to the honour of the
French monarch, that he would not allow himself to think that Henry could
forget so soon, or violate so shamefully, all the stipulations in his league
with him. He had such a high opinion of the emperor's.wisdom, that he
made no doubt of his refusing his consent to a truce, on such unequal terms:
and on both these accounts he confidently pronounced that this, like many
preceding negotiations, would terminate in nothing. But later and more
certain intelligence soon convinced him that no reasoning in political affairs
is more fallacious, than, because an event is improbable, to conclude that it
will not happen.  The sudden and unexpected conclusion of the truce
filled Paul with astonishment and terror.  The cardinal of Lorrain durst
not encounter that storm of indignation, to which he knew that he should
be exposed from the haughty pontiff, who had so good reason to be incensed;
but departing abruptly from Rome, he left to the cardinal Tournon the difficult task of attempting to soothe Paul and his nephews. They were
fully sensible of the perilous situation in which they now stood. By their
engagements with France, which were no longer secret, they had highly
irritated Philip. They dreaded the violence of his implacable temper. The
duke of Alva. a minister fitted, as well by his abilities as by the severity
of his nature, for executing all Philip's rigorous schemes, had advanced from
Milan to Naples, and began to assemble troops on the frontiers of the ecclesiastical state: while they, if deserted by France, must not only relinquish
all the hopes of dominion and sovereignty to which their ambition aspired,
but remained exposed to the resentment of the Spanish monarch, without
one ally to protect them against an enemy with whom they were so little
able to contend.
Under these circumstances, Paul had recourse to the arts of negotiation
* Mem. de Ribier, ii. 626. Corps Diplom. tom. iv. App. 81.
t One of admiral de Coligny's attendants, who wrote the court of France an account of what happened while they resided at Brussels, takes notice, as an instance of Philip's unpoliteness, that he
received the French ambassador in an apartment hung with tapestry, which represented the battle
of Pavia, the manner in which Francis I. was taken prisoner, his voyage to Spain, with all the
mortifying circumstances of his captivity and imprisonment at Madrid. Mem. de Ribier, ii. 634.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              459
ana intrigue, of which the papal court knows well how to avail itself in
order to ward off any calamity threatened by an enemy superior in power.
He affected to approve highly of the truce, as a happy expedient for putting
a stop to the effusion of Christian blood. He expressed his warmest wishes
that it might prove the forerunner of a definitive peace. He exhorted the
rival princes to embrace this favourable opportunity of setting on foot a
negotiation for that purpose, and offered, as their common father, to be
mediator between them. Under this pretext, he appointed cardinal
Rebiba his nuncio to the court of Brussels, and his nephew cardinal Caraffa
to that of Paris. The public instructions given to both were the same;
that they should use their utmost endeavours to prevail with the two
monarchs to accept of the pope's mediation, that, by means of it, peace
might be re-established, and measures might be taken for assembling a
general council. But under this specious appearance of zeal for attaining
objects so desirable in themselves, and so becoming his sacred character
to pursue, Paul concealed very different intentions. Caraffa, besides his
public instructions, received a private commission to solicit the French
king to renounce the treaty of truce, and to renew his engagements with
the holy see; and he was empowered to spare neither entreaties, nor
promises, nor bribes, in order to gain that point. This, both the uncle and
the nephew considered as the real end of the embassy; while the other
served to amuse the vulgar, or to deceive the emperor and his son. The
cardinal, accordingly, set out instantly for Paris [11th March], and travelled
with the greatest expedition, while Rebiba was detained some weeks at
Rome; and when it became necessary for him to begin his journey, he
received secret orders to protract it as much as possible, that the issue of
Caraffa's negotiation might be known before he might reach Brussels, and
according to that, proper directions might be given to him with regard to
the tone which he should assume, in treating with the emperor and his son.*
Caraffa made his entrance into Paris with extraordinary pomp: and
having presented a consecrated sword to Henry, as the protector on whose
aid the pope relied in the present exigency, he besought him not to disre 
gard the entreaties of a parent in distress, but to employ that weapon which
he gave him in his defence. This he represented not only as a duty of
filial piety, but as an act of justice. As the pope, from confidence in the
assistance and support which his late treaty with France entitled him to
expect, had taken such steps as had irritated the king of Spain, he conjured
Henry not to suffer Paul and his family to be crushed under the weight of
that resentment which they had drawn on themselves merely by their
attachment to France. Together with this argument addressed to his
generosity, he employed another which he hoped would work on his ambition. He affirmed that now was the time, when, with the most certain
prospect of success, he might attack Philip's dominions in Italy; that the
flower of the veteran Spanish bands had perished in the wars of Hungary,
Germany, and the Low-Countries; that the emperor had left his son an
exhausted treasury, and kingdoms drained of men; that he had no longer
to contend with the abilities, the experience, and good fortune of Charles,
but with a monarch scarcely seated on his throne, unpractised in command, odious to many of the Italian States, and dreaded by all. He promised that the pope, who had already levied soldiers, would bring a consi.
derable army into the field, which, when joined by a sufficient number of
French troops, might, by one brisk and sudden effort, drive the Spaniards
out of Naples, and add to the crown of France a kingdom, the conquest of
which had been the great object of all his predecessors during half a century, and the chief motive of all their expeditions into Italy.
July 31.] Every word Caraffa spoke made a deep impression on Henry
Pallav. lib xiii p 169. Burnet Hist. of Reform.i..App. 309




460                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [BO)K XI.
conscious on the one hand, that the pope had just cause to reproach him
with having violated the laws not only of generosity but of decency, when
lie renounced his league with him, and had agreed to the truce of Vaucelles; and eager on the other hand, not only to distinguish his reign by a
conquest which three former monarchs had attempted without success, but
likewise to acquire an establishment of such dignity and value for one of
his sons.  Reverence, however, for the oath, by which he had so lately
confirmed the truce of Vaucelles; the extreme old age of the pope, whose
death might occasion an entire revolution in the political system of Italy;
together with the representations of Montmorency, who repeated all the
arguments he had used against the first league with Paul, and pointed out
the great and immediate advantages which France derived from the truce;
kept Henry for some time in suspense, and might possibly have outweighed all Caraffa's arguments. But the cardinal was not such a novice in the
arts of intrigue and negotiation, as not to have expedients ready for removing or surmounting all these obstacles.  To obviate the king's scruple
with regard to his oath, he produced powers from the pope, to absolve
him from  the obligation of it. By way of security against any danger
which he might apprehend from  the pope's death, he engaged that his
uncle would make such a nomination of cardinals, as should give Henry
the absolute command of the next election, and enable him to place in
the papal chair a person entirely devoted to his interest.
In order to counterbalance the effect of the constable's opinion and influ
ence, he employed not only the active talents of the duke of Guise and
the eloquence of his brother the cardinal of Lorrain, but the address of the
queen, aided by the more powerful arts of Diana of Poitiers, who, unfortunately for France, co-operated with Catherine in this point, though she
took pleasure, on almost every other occasion, to thwart and mortify her.
They, by their united solicitations, easily swayed the king, who leaned, of
his own accord, to that side towards which they wished him to incline.
All Montmorency's prudent remonstrances were disregarded; the nuncio
absolved Henry from his oath; and he signed a new  league with the
pope, which  rekindled the flames of war both  in Italy and in the
Low-Countries.
As soon as Paul was informed by his nephew  that there was a fair
prospect of succeeding in this negotiation, he despatched a messenger
after the nuncio Rebiba [July 31], with orders to return to Rome, without
proceeding to Brussels. As it was now no longer necessary to preserve
that tone of moderation, which suited the character of a mediator, and
which he had affected to assume, or to put any farther restraint upon his
resentment against Philip, he boldly threw off the mask, and took such
violent steps as rendered a rupture unavoidable. He seized and imprisoned the Spanish envoy at his court. He excommunicated the Colonnas;
and having deprived Mark Antonio, the head of that family, of the duke
dom of Paliano, he granted that dignity, together with the territory annexed to it, to his nephew  the count of Montorio.  He ordered a legal
information to be presented in the consistory of cardinals against Philip,
setting forth that he, notwithstanding the fidelity and allegiance due by
aim to the holy see, of which he held the kingdom of Naples, had no*
only afforded a retreat in his dominions to the Colonnas, whom the pope
nad excommunicated and. declared rebels, but had furnished them with
arms, and was ready in conjunction with them, to invade the ecclesiastical
state in a hostile manner; that such conduct in a vassal was to be deemed
treason against his liege lord, the punishment of which was the forfeiture
of his fief. Upon this, the consistorial advocate requested the pope to
take cognizance' of the cause, and to appoint a day for hearing of it, when
he would make good every article of the charge, and expect from his justice.that sentence which the heinousness of Philip's crimes merited




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              461
F'aul, whose pride was highly flattered with the idea ot trying and passing
judgment on so great a king, assented to his request [July 27], and as if it
had been no less easy to execute than to pronounce such a sentence,
declared that he would consult with the cardinals concerning the formali
ties requisite in conducting the trial.*
But while Paul allowed his pride and resentment to drive him on with
such headlong impetuosity, Philip discovered an amazing moderation on
his part. He had been taught by the Spanish ecclesiastics, who had the
charge of his education, a profound veneration for the holy see. This
sentiment, which had been early infused, grew up with him as he advanced
in years, and took full pbssession of his mind, which was naturally thought
ful,. serious, and prone to superstition. When he foresaw a rupture with
the pope approaching, he had such violent scruples with respect to the
lawfulness of taking arms against the vicegerent of Christ, and the common father of all Christians, that he consulted some Spanish divines upon
that point. They, with the usual dexterity of casuists in accommodating
their responses to the circumstances of those who apply to them for direction, assured him that, after employing prayers and remonstrances in order
to bring the pope to reason, he had full right, both by the laws of nature
and of Christianity, not only to defend himself when attacked, but to begin
hostilities, if that were judged the most proper expedient for preventing
the effects of Paul's violence and injustice. Philip, nevertheless, continued
to deliberate and delay, considering it as a most cruel misfortune, that his
administration should open with an attack on a person, whose sacred function and character he so highly respected.t
At last the duke of Alva, who, in compliance with his master's scruples.
had continued to negotiate long after he should have begun to act, finding
Paul inexorable, and that every overture of peace, and every appearance
of hesitation on his part, increased the pontiff's natural arrogance, took the
field [Sept. 5] and entered the ecclesiastical territories. His army did
not exceed twelve thousand men, but it was composed of veteran soldiers,
and commanded chiefly by those Roman barons, whom  Paul's violence
had driven into exile. The valour of the troops, together with the animosity of their leaders, who fought in their own quarrel, and to recover
their own estates, supplied the want of numbers. As none of the French
forces were yet arrived, Alva soon became master of the Campagna Romana; some cities being surrendered through the cowardice of the garrisons, which consisted of raw soldiers, ill disciplined, and worse commanded; the gates of others being opened by the inhabitants, who were eager
to receive back their ancient masters. Alva, that he might not be taxed
with impiety in seizing the patrimony of the church, took possession of
the towns which capitulated, in the name of the college of cardinals, to
which, or to the pope that should be chosen to succeedPaul, he declared
that he would immediately restore them.
The rapid progress of the Spaniards, whose light troops made excursions
even to the gates of Rome, filled that city with consternation. Paul,
though inflexible and undaunted himself, was obliged to give way so far
to the fears and solicitations of the cardinals, as to send deputies to Alva in
order to propose a cessation of arms. The pope yielded the more readily,
as he was sensible of a double advantage which might be derived from
obtaining that point. It would deliver the inhabitants of Rome from their
present terror, and would afford time for the arrival of the succours which he
expected from France. Nor was Alva unwilling to close with the overture, both as he knew how desirous his master was to terminate a war,
which he had undertaken with reluctance, and as his army was so much
weakened by garrisoning the great number of towns which he had reduced,
* Pallav. lib. xiii. 171.    t Ferrer. Hist. de EFpagne, ix. 373. Herrera, i. 308




462               THE REIGN OF THE                     tBooK XII.
that ft was hardly in a condition to keep the field without fresh recrulis.
A truce was accordingly concluded [Nov. 19], first for ten, and afterwards
for forty days, during which, various schemes of peace were proposed,
and perpetual negotiations were carried on, but with no sincerity on the
part of the pope. The return of his nephew the cardinal to Rome, the
receipt of a considerable sum remitted by the king of France, the arrival
of one body of French troops, together with the expectation of others
which had begun their march, rendered him more arrogant than ever, and
banished all thoughts from his mind, but those of war and revenge.*
BooK X1I.
WHILE these operations or intrigues kept the pope and Philip busy
and attentive, the emperor disentangled himself finally from all the affairs
of this world, and set out for the place of his retreat. He had hitherto
retained the Imperial dignity, not from any unwillingness to relinquish it,
for, after having resigned the real and extensive authority that he enjoyed
in his hereditary dominions, to part with the limited and often ideal jurisdiction which belongs to an elective crown, was no great sacrifice. His
sole motive for delay was to gain a few months, for making one trial more
in order to accomplish his favourite scheme in behalf of his son. At the
very time Charles seemed to be most sensible of the vanity of worldly
grandeur, and when he appeared to be quitting it not only with indifference, but with contempt, the vast schemes of ambition, which had so long
occupied and engrossed his mind, still kept possession of it. He could
not think of leaving his son in a rank inferior to that which he himself had
held among the princes of Europe. As he had, some years before, made
a fruitless attempt to secure the Imperial crown to Philip, that by uniting
it to the kingdoms of Spain, and the dominions of the house of Burgundy,
he might put it in his power to prosecute, with a better prospect of success, those great plans, which his own infirmities had obliged him to aban
don, he was still unwilling to relinquish this flattering project as chimerical
or unattainable.
Notwithstanding the repulse which he had formerly met with from his
brother Ferdinand, he renewed his solicitations with fresh importunity;
and, during the summer, had tried every art, and employed every argument, which he thought could induce him to quit the Imperial throne to
Philip, and to accept of the investiture of some province, either in Italy,
or in the Low-Countries, as an equivalent.t But Ferdinand, who was so
firm and inflexible with regard to this point, that he had paid no regard to
the solicitations of the emperor, even when they were enforced with all the
weight of authority which accompanies supreme power, received the
overture that now  came from  him  in the situation to which he had
descended, with greater indifference, and would hardly deign to listen to
it. Charles, ashamed of his own credulity in having imagined that he might
accomplish that now, which he attempted formerly without success, desisted
finally from his scheme. He then resigned the government of the empire,
and having transferred all his claims of obedience and allegiance from the
Germanic body, to his brother the king of the Romans, he executed a deed
* Pallav. lib. xiii. 177. Thuan. lib. xvii. 588. Mem. de Rihier. ii 664.    1 Ambassades des
Noailles, tom. v. 356,




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              463
to that effect [Aug. 27], with all the formalities requisite in such an important transaction. The instrument of resignation he committed to William
prince of Orange, and empowered him  to lay it before the college of
electors.?
Nothing now remained to detain Charles from that retreat for which he
languished.  The preparations for his voyage having been made. for some
time, he set out for Zuitburg in Zealand, where the fleet which was to
convoy him had orders to assemble. In his way thither he passed through
Ghent, and after stopping there a few days, to indulge that tender and
pleasing melancholy, which arises in the mind of every man in the decline
of life, on visiting the place of his nativity, and viewing the scenes and
objects familiar to him in his early youth, he pursued his journey, accompanied by his son Philip, his daughter the archdutchess, his sisters the
dowager queens of France and Hungary, Maximilian his son-in-law, and a
numerous retinue of the Flemish nobility.  Before he went on board, he dis
missed them, with marks of his attention or regard, and taking leave of
Philip with all the tenderness of a father who embraced his son for the
last time, he set sail on the seventeenth of September, under convoy of a
large fleet of Spanish, Flemish, and English ships.  He declined a pressing
invitation from the queen of England, to land in some part of her dominions
in order to refresh himself, and that she might have the comfort of seeing
him once more. "It cannot surely," said he, "be agreeable to a queen'to receive a visit from a father-in-law, who is now nothing more than a
private gentleman."
His voyage was prosperous, and he arrived at Laredo in Biscay on the
eleventh day after he left Zealand. As soon as he landed, he fell prostrate
on the ground; and considering himself now as dead to the world, he kissed
the earth, and said, " Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked
I now return to thee, thou common mother of mankind." From Laredo he
pursued his journey to Burgos, carried sometimes in a chair, and sometimes in a horse litter, suffering exquisite pain at every step, and advancing
with the greatest difficulty. Some of the Spanish nobility repaired to
Burgos, in order to pay court to him, but they were so few in number, and
their attendance was so negligent, that Charles observed it, and felt, for
the first time, that he was no longer a monarch. Accustomed from his
early youth to the dutiful and officious respect with which those who possess sovereign power are attended, he had received it with the credulity
common to princes, and was sensibly mortified, when he now discovered,
that he had been indebted to his rank and power for much of that obsequious regard which he had fondly thought was paid to his personal
qualities. But though he might have soon learned to view with unconcern
the levity of his subjects, or to have despised their neglect, he was more
deeply afflicted with the ingratitude of his son, who, forgetting already how
much he owed to his father's bounty, obliged him to remain some weeks
at Burgos, before he paid him the first moiety of that small pension, which
was all that he had reserved of so many kingdoms. As without this sum,
Charles could not dismiss his domestics with such rewards as their services
merited or his generosity had destined for them, he could not help expressing both surprise and dissatisfaction.] At last the money was paid, and
Charles having dismissed a great number of his domestics, whose attend
ance he thought would be superfluous or cumbersome in his retirement, he
proceeded to Valladolid. There he took a last and tender leave of h':
two sisters, whom he would not permit to accompany him to his solitude,
though they requested him with tears, not only that they might have the
consolation of contributing by their attendance and care to mitigate or
to soothe his sufferings, but that they might reap instruction and benefit by
* Goldast. Constit. Imper pars i. 576.  t Strada de Bello Belg. lib. I




464                THE REIGN OF THE                    [BooK XIL
joining with him in those pious exercises to which he had consecrated the
remainder of his days.
1557.] From Valladolid he continued his journey to Placentia in Estremadura. He had passed through this place a great many years before,
and having been struck at that time with the delightful situation of the
monastery of St. Justus, belonging to the order of St. Jerome, not many
miles distant from the town, he had then observed to some of his attendants,
that this was a spot to which Dioclesian might have retired with pleasure.
The impression had remained so strong on his mind, that he pitched upon
it as the place of his own retreat. It was seated in a vale of no great
extent, watered by a small brook, and surrounded by rising grounds,
covered with lofty trees; from the nature of the soil, as well as the temperature of the climate, it was esteemed the most healthful and delicious
situation in Spain. Some months before his resignation he had sent an
architect thither to add a new apartment to the monastery, for his accommodation; but he gave strict orders that the style of the building should
be such as suited his present station, rather than his former dignity. It
consisted only of six rooms, four of them in the form of friars' cells, with
naked walls; the other two, each twenty feet square, were hung with
brown cloth, and furnished in the most simple manner. They were all on
a level with the ground; with a door on one side into a garden, of which
Charles himself had given the plan, and had filled it with various plants,
which he intended to cultivate with his own hands. On the other side'
they communicated with the chapel of the monastery, in which he was to
perform his devotions. Into this humble retreat, hardly sufficient for the
comfortable accommodation of a private gentleman, did Charles enter
[Feb. 24,] with twelve domestics only. He buried there, in solitude and
silence, his grandeur, his ambition, together with all those vast projects,
which, during almost half a century, had alarmed and agitated Europe,
filling every kingdom in it, by turns, with the terror of his arms, and the
dread of being subdued by his power.?
The contrast between Charles's conduct and that of the pope at this
juncture was so obvious, that it struck even the most careless observers,
nor was the comparison which they made to the advantage of Paul. The
former, a conqueror, born to-reign, long accustomed to the splendour which
accompanies supreme power, and to those busy and interesting scenes in
which an active ambition had engaged him, quitted the world at a period of
life not far advanced, that he might close the evening of his days in tranquillity, and secure some interval for sober thought and serious recollection. The latter a priest, who had passed the early part of his life in the
shade of the schools, and in the study of the speculative sciences, who was
seemingly so detached from the world, that he had shut himself up for
many years in the solitude of a cloister, and who was not raised to the
papal throne until he had reached the extremity of old age, discovered at
once all the impetuosity of youthful ambition, and formed extensive
schemes, in order to accomplish which, he scrupled not to scatter the
seeds of discord, and to kindle the flames of war, in every corner of
Europe. But Paul, regardless of the opinion or censures of mankind,
held on his own course with his wonted arrogance and violence.  These.
although they seemed already to have exceeded all bounds, rose to a still
greater height, upon the arrival of the duke of Guise in Italy.
That which the two princes of Lorrain foresaw and desired had happened.  The duke of Guise was intrusted with the command of the army
appointed to march to the pope's assistance. It consisted of twenty
thousand men, of the best troops in the service of France. So  igh was
the duke's reputation, and such the general expectation of beholding some
* Sandov. ii. 607. & Zuniga, 100. Thuan. lib. xvii G.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             465
extraoldinary exertion of his courage and abilities in a war into which he
had precipitated his country, chiefly with the design of obtaining a field
where he might display his own talents, that many of the French nobility
who had no command in the troops employed, accompanied him as volun.
teers. This army passed the Alps in an inclement season, and advanced
towards Rome without any opposition from the Spaniards, who, as they
were not strong enough to act in different parts, had collected all their
forces in one body on the frontiers of Naples, for the defence of that
kingdom.
emboldened by the approach of the French, the pope let loose all the
fury of his resentment against Philip, which, notwithstanding the natural
violence of his temper, prudential considerations had hitherto obliged him
to keep under some restraint. He named commissioners [Feb. 12J, whom
he empowered to pass judgment in the suit, which the consistorial advocate had commenced against Philip, in order to prove that he had forfeited
the crown of Naples, by taking arms against the holy see, of which he was
a vassal. He recalled all the nuncios [April 9] residing in the courts of
Charles V., of Philip, or any of their allies. This was levelled chiefly
against cardinal Pole, the papal legate in the court of England, whose great
merit, in having contributed so successfully to reconcile that kingdom to
the church of Rome, together with the expectation of farther services,
which he might perform, was not sufficient to screen him from the resentment that he had incurred by his zealous endeavours to establish peace
between the house of Austria and France. He commanded an addition to
be made to the anathemas annually denounced against the enemies of the
church on launday Thursday, whereby he inflicted the censure of excommunication on the authors of the late invasion of the ecclesiastical territories, whatever their rank or dignity might be; and in consequence of this,
the usual prayers for the emperor were omitted next day in the pope's
chapel.But while the pope indulged himself in those wild and childish sallies
of rage, either he neglected, or found that it exceeded his power, to take
such measures as would have rendered his resentment really formidable,
and fatal to his enemies. For when the duke of Guise entered Rome,
where he was received with a triumphal pomp, which would have been
more suitable if he had been returning after having terminated the war
with glory, than when he was going to begin it with a doubtful chance of
success, he found none of the preparations for war in such forwardness as
cardinal Caraffa had promised, or he had expected. The papal troops
were far inferior in number to the quota stipulated; no magazines sufficient for their subsistence were formed; nor was money for paying them
provided.  The Venetians, agreeably to that cautious maxim which the
misfortunes of their state had. first led them to adopt, and which was now
become a fundamental principle in their policy, declared their resolution
to preserve an exact neutrality, without taking any part in the quarrels of
princes, so far superior to themselves in power. The othei Italian states
were either openly united in league with Philip, or secretly wished suce
cess to his arms against a pontiff, whose inconsiderate ambition had rendered Italy once more the seat of war.
The duke of Guise perceived that the whole weight of the war would
devolve on the French troops under his command; and became sensible,
though too late, how imprudent it is to rely, in the execution of great
enterprises, on the aid of feeble allies. Pushed on, however, by the pope's
impatience for action, as well as by his own desire of performing some part
of what he had so confidently undertaken, he marched towards Naples
[April 13], and began his operations. But the success of these fell far
* Pal. lib. xiiii. IO.  Aen  de Ribier, ii. 678.
VoL. I — 59




466                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BooK Xli.
short of his former reputation, of what the world expected, and of what he
nimself had promised. He opened the campaign with the siege of Civitella, a town of some importance on the Neapolitan frontier. But the
obstinacy with which the Spanish governor defended it, baffled all the impetuous efforts of the French valour, and obliged the duke'of Guise, after
a siege of three weeks, to retire from the town with disgrace. He endeavoured to wipe off that stain, by advancing boldly towards the duke of
Alva's camp, and offering him battle. But that prudent commander, sensible of all the advantages of standing on the defensive before an invading
enemy, declined an engagement, and kept within his entrenchments; and
adhering to his plan with the steadiness of a Castilian, eluded, with great
address, all the duke of Guise's stratagems to draw him into action.*  By
this time sickness began to waste the French army; violent dissensions had
arisen between the duke of Guise and the commander of the pope's
forces; the Spaniards renewed their incursions into the ecclesiastical
state; the pope, when he found, instead of the conquests and triumphs
which he had fondly expected, that he could not secure his own territories
from  depredation, murmured, complained, and began to talk of peace.
The duke of Guise, mortified to the last degree with having acted such
an inglorious part, not only solicited his court either to reinforce his army,
or to recall him, but urged Paul to fulfil his engagements; and called on
cardinal Caraffa, sometimes with reproaches, sometimes with threats, to
make good those magnificent promises, from a rash confidence in which he
had advised his master to renounce the truce of Vaucelles, and to join in
league with the pope.4
But while the French affairs in Italy were in this wretched situation, an
unexpected event happened in the Low-Countries, which called the duke
of Guise from a station wherein he could acquire no honour, to the most
dignified and important charge which could be committed to a subject.
As soon as the French had discovered their purpose of violating the truce
of Vaucelles, not only by sending an army into Italy, but by attempting
to surprise some of the frontier towns in Flanders, Philip, though willing
to have avoided a rupture, determined to prosecute the war with such
spirit, as should make his enemies sensible that his father had not erred,
when he judged him to be so capable of government, that he had given
up the reins into his hands. As he knew that Henry had been at great
expense in fitting out the army under the duke of Guise, and that his treasury was hardly able to answer the exorbitant and endless demands of a
distant war, he foresaw that all his operations in the Low-Countries must,
of consequence, prove feeble, and be considered only as secondary to
those in Italy. For that reason, he prudently resolved to make his principal effort in that place where he expected the French to be weakest,
and te bend his chief force against that quarter where they would feel a
blow most sensibly. With this view, he assembled in the Low-Countries
an army of about fifty thousand men, the Flemings serving him on this
occasion with that active zeal which subjects are wont to exert in obeying
the first commands of a new sovereign. But Philip, cautious and provident, even at this early period of life, did not rest all his hopes of success
on that formidable force alone.
He had been labouring for some time to engage the English to espouse
nis quarrel; and though it was manifestly the interest of that kingdom to
maintain a strict neutrality, and the people themselves were sensible of
the advantages which they derived from it; though he knew how od'ous
his name was to the English, and how averse they would be to co-operate
with him in any measure, he nevertheless dict not'espair of accomplishing
* Heerrera Vida de Felipe, 181.  t Thuan. lib. xxviYf. 5?' alv. lib. xiii. 181. Burn. ii
App. 317.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             467
his point. He relied on the affection with which the queen doated on
him, which was sd violent, that even his coldness and neglect had not
extinguished it; he knew her implicit reverence for his opinion, and her
fond desire of gratifying him in every particular. That he might work on
these with greater facility and more certain success, he set out for England. The queen, who, during her husband's absence, had languished in
perpetual dejection, resumed fresh spirits on his arrival; and, without
paying the least attention either to the interest or to the inclinations of her
pecple, entered warmly into all his schemes. In vain did her privy
council remonstrate against the imprudence as  ell as danger of involving
the nation in an unnecessary war; in vain did they put her in mind of the
solemn treaties of peace subsisting between England and France, which
the conduct of that nation had afforded her no pretext to violate. Mary,
soothed by Philip's caresses, or intimidated by the threats which his
ascendant over her emboldened him at some times to throw out, was deaf
to every thing that could be urged in opposition to his sentiments, and
insisted with the greatest vehemence on an immediate declaration of war
against France.  The council, though all Philip's address and Mary's
authority were employed to gain or overawe them, after struggling long,
yielded at last, not from conviction, but merely from deference to the will
of their sovereign. War was declared against France [June 20], the only
one perhaps against that kingdom into which the English ever entered
with reluctance. As Mary knew the aversion of the nation to this measure, she durst not call a parliament in order to raise money for carrying
on the war. She supplied this want, however, by a stretch of royal prerogative, not unusual in that age; and levied large sums on her subjects
by her own authority. This enabled her to assemble a sufficient body of
troops, and to send eight thousand men under the conduct of the earl of
Pembroke to join Philip's army.?
Philip, who was not ambitious of military glory, gave the command of
his army to Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, and fixed his own residence at Cambray, that he might be at hand to receive the earliest intelligence of his motions, and to aid him with his councils. The duke opened
the campaign with a masterly stroke of address, which justified Philip's
choice, and discovered such a superiority of genius over the French generals, as almost insured success in his subsequent operations. He appointed
the general rendezvous of his troops at a place considerably distant from
the country which he destined to be the scene of action; and having kept
the enemy in suspense for a good time with regard to his intentions, he at
last deceived them so effectually by the variety of his marches and countermarches, as led them  to conclude that he meant to bend all his force
against the province of Champagne, and would attempt to penetrate into
the. kingdom on that side. In consequence of this opinion, they drew all
their strength towards that quarter, and reinforcing the garrisons there, left
the towns on other parts of the frontier destitute of troops sufficient to
defend them.
The duke of Savoy, as soon as he perceived that this feint had its full
effect, turned suddenly to the right, advanced by rapid marches into
Picardy, and sending his cavalry, in which he was extremely strong, before
him, invested St. Quintin. This was a town deemed in that age of considerable strength, and of great importance, as there were few fortified
cities between it and Paris. The fortifications, however, had been much
neglected; the garrison, weakened by draughts sent towards Champagne,
did not amount to a fifth part of the number requisite for its defence; and
the governor, though a brave officer, was neither of rank nor authority
equal to the command in a place of so much consequence, besieged by
* Carte, iii. 337.




468                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                 [Boox XII
such a formidable army. A few days must have put the duke of Satoe
in possession of the town, if the admiral de Coligny, who thought it con.
cerned his honour to attempt saving a place oi such importance to his
country, and which lay within his jurisdiction as governor of Picardy, has
not taken the gallant resolution of throwing himself into it, with such a
body of men as he could collect on a sudden. This resolution he executed
with great intrepidity, and, if the nature of the enterprise be considered,
with no contemptible success; for though one half of his small body of
troops were cut off, he, with the other, broke through the enemy, and
entered thb town. The unexpected arrival of an officer of such high rank
and reputation, and who had exposed himself to such danger in order to
join them, inspired the desponding garrison with courage. Every thing
that the admiral's great skill and experience in the art of war could suggest, for annoying the enemy, or defending the town, was attempted; ane
the citizens, as well as the garrison, seconding his zeal with equal ardour,
seemed to be determined that they would hold out to the last, and sacrifice themselves in order to save their country.?
The duke of Savoy, whom the English, under the earl of Pembroke,
joined about this time, pushed on the siege with the greatest vigour. An
army so numerous, and so well supplied with every thing requisite, carried
on its approaches with great advantage against a garrison which was still
so feeble that it durst seldom venture to disturb or retard the enemy's operations by sallies. The admiral, sensible of the approaching danger, and
unable to avert it, acquainted his uncle the constable Montmorency, who
had the command of the French army, with his situation, and pointed out
to him a method by which he might throw relief into the town. The constable solicitous to save a town, the loss of which would open a passage for
the enemy into the heart of France; and eager to extricate his nephew out
of that perilous situation, in which zeal for the public had engaged him;
resolved, though aware of the danger, to attempt what he desired. With
this view, he marched from La Fere towards St. Quintin at the head of his
army, which was not by one half so numerous as that of the enemy, and
having given the command of a body of chosen men to Coligny's brother
Dandelot, who was colonel-general of the French infantry, he ordered him
to force his way into the town by that avenue which the admiral had represented as most practicable, while he himself, with the main army,
would give the alarm  to the enemy's camp on the opposite side, and
endeavour to draw all their attention towards that quarter. Dandelot
executed his orders with greater intrepidity than conduct. [Aug. 10.] He
rushed on with such headlong impetuosity, that, though it broke the first
body of the enemy which stood in their way, it threw his own soldiers
into the utmost confusion; and as they were attacked in that situation by
fresh troops which closed in upon them on every side, the greater part of
them were cut in pieces, Dandelot with about five hundred of the most
adventurous and most fortunate, making good his entrance into the town.
Meanwhile the constable, in executing his pait of the plan, advanced so
near the camp of the besiegers, as rendered it impossible to retreat with
safety in the face of an enemy so much superior in number. The duke of
Savoy instantly perceived Montmorency's error, and prepared, with the
presence of mind and abilities of a great general, to avail himself of it
He drew up his army in order of battle, with the greatest expedition, and
watching the moment when the French began to file off towards La Fere,
he detached all his cavalry under the command of the count of Egmont,
to fall on their rear, while he himself, at the head of his infantry, advanced
to support him. The French at first retired in perfect order, and with a
good countenance; but when they saw Egmont draw near with his formsi
* Thuan. lib. xix. 647




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             469
dable body of cavalry, the shock of which they were conscious that they
could not withstand, the prospect of imminent danger, added to distrust oi
their general, whose imprudence every soldier now perceived, struck their
with general consternation. They began insensibly to quicken their pace,
and those in the rear pressed so violently on such as were before them,
that in a short time their march resembled a flight rather than a retreat.
Egmont, observing their confusion, charged them with the greatest fury,
and in a moment all their men at arms, the pride and strength of the
French troops in that age, gave way and fled with precipitation. The
infantry, however, whom the constable, by his presence and authority,
kept to their colours, still continued to retreat in good order, until the
enemy brought some pieces of cannon to bear upon their centre, which
threw them into such confusion, that the Flemish cavalry, renewing their
attack, broke in, and the rout became universal. About four thousand of
the French fell in the field, and among these the duke of Anguien, a prince
of the blood, together with six hundred gentlemen. The constable, as
soon as he perceived the fortune of the day to be irretrievable, rushedinto
the thickest of the enemy, with a resolution not to survive the calamity
which his ill conduct had brought upon his country; but having received
a dangerous wound, and being wasted with the loss of blood, he was surrounded by some Flemish officers, to whom he was known, who protected
him  fromn the violence of the soldiers, and obliged him to surrender.
Besides the constable, the dukes of Montpensier and Longueville, the
marechal St. Andre, many officers of distinction, three hundred gentlemen,
and near four thousand private soldiers, were taken prisoners. All the
colours belonging to the infantry, all the ammunition, and all the canno;;
two pieces excepted, fell into the enemy's hands. The victorious army
did not lose above fourscore men.*
This battle, no less fatal to France than the ancient victories of Crecy and
Agincourt, gained by the English on the same frontier, bore a near resemblance to those disastrous events in the suddenness of the rout; in the illconduct of the commander in chief; in the number of persons of note
slain or taken; and in the small loss sustained by the enemy. It filled
France with equal consternation. Many inhabitants of Paris, with the
same precipitancy and trepidation as if the enemy had been already at
their gates, quitted the city and retired into the interior provinces. The
king, by his presence and exhortations, sndeavoured to console and to
animate such as remained, and applying himself with the greatest diligence
to repair the ruinous fortifications of the city, prepared to defend it against
the attack which he instantly expected. But happily for France, Philip's
caution, together with the intrepid firmness of the admiral de Coligny, not
only saved the capital from the danger to which it was exposed, but
gained the nation a short interval, during which the people recovered from
the terror and dejection occasioned by a blow no less severe than unexpected, and Henry had leisure to take measures for the public security
with the spirit which became the sovereign of a powerful and martial
people.
Philip, immediately after the battle, visited the camp at St. Quintin,
where he was received with all the exultation of military triumph; and
such were his transports of joy on account of an event which threw so
much lustre on the beginning of his reign, that they softened his severe
and haughty temper into an unusual flow of courtesy.  When the duke ot
Savoy approached, and was kneeling to kiss his hands, he caught him in
his arms, and embracing him with warmth, "It becomes me," says he,
"rather to kiss your hands, which have gained me such a glorious and
almost bloodless victory." -
* Than. 650. Haraei Annal. Brabant. ii. 692. Herrera 292.




470                THE REIGN OF THE                     [BOOK Xll.
As soon as the rejoicings and congratulations on Philip's arrival were
over, a council of war was held, in order to determine how they might
improve their victory to the best advantage.  The duke of Savoy,
seconded by several of the ablest officers formed under Charles V. insisted
that they should immediately relinquish the siege of St. Quintin, the reduction of which was now an object below their attention, and advance
directly towards Paris; that as there were neither troops to oppose, nor
any town of strength to retard their march, they might reach that capitai
while under the full impression of the astonishment and terror occasioned
by the rout of the army, and take possession of it without resistance.
But Philip, less adventurous or more prudent than his generals, preferred
a moderate but certain advantage, to an enterprise of greater splendour,
but of more doubtful success. He represented to the council the infinite
resources of a kingdom so powerful as France; the great number as well
as martial spirit of its nobles; their attachment to their sovereign; the
manifold advantages with which they could carry on war in their own
territories; and the unavoidable destruction which must be the consequence
of their penetrating too rashly into the enemy's country, before they had
secured such a communication with their own as might render a retreat
safe, if, upon any disastrous event, that measure should become necessary.
On all these accounts, he advised the continuance of the siege, and his
generals acquiesced the more readily in his opinion, as they made no doubt
of being masters of the town in a few days, a loss of time of so little consequence in the execution of their plan, that they might easily repair it by
their subsequent activity.*
The weakness of the fortifications, and the.small number of the garrison,
which could no longer hope either for reinforcement or relief, seemed to
authorize this calculation of Philip's generals. But, in making it, they did
not attend sufficiently to the character of admiral de Coligny, who commanded in the town. A courage undismayed, and tranquil amidst the
greatest dangers, an invention fruitful in resources, a genius which roused
and seemed to acquire new force upon every disaster, a talent of governing
the minds of men, together with a capacity of maintaining his ascendant
over them even under circumstances the most adverse and distressful, were
qualities which Coligny possessed in a degree superior to any general of
that age. These qualities were peculiarly adapted to the station in which
he was now placed; and as he knew the infinite importance to his country
of every hour which he could gain at this juncture, he exerted himself to
the utmost in contriving how to protract the siege, and to detain the enemy
from attempting any enterprise more dangerous to France. Such were the
perseverance and skill with which he conducted the defence, and such the
fortitude as well as patience with which he animated the garrison, that
though the Spaniards, the Flemings, and the English, carried on the attack
with all the ardour which national emulation inspires, he held out the
town seventeen days. He was taken prisoner at last [Aug. 27], on the
breach, overpowered by the superior number of the enemy.
Henry availed himself, with the utmost activity, of the interval which
the admiral's well-timed obstinacy had afforded him. He appointed officers to collect the scattered remains of the constable's army; he issued
orders for levying soldiers in every part of the kingdom; he commanded
the ban and arriere ban of the frontier provinces instantly to take the field,
and to join the duke of Nevers at Laon in Picardy; he recalled the
greater part of the veteran troops which served under the marechal Bris-ac in Piedmont; he sent courier after courier to the duke of Guise, requirng him, together with all his army. to return instantly for the defence d
their country; he oespa-ched one envoy to the-grand seign'or, to solicit the
* Belcar. C^namentar. de Reb. gallic. 901.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             471
assistance of his fleet, and the loan of a sum of money; he sent another
into Scotland, to incite the Scots to invade the north of England, that, by
drawing Mary's attention to that quarter, he might prevent her from reinforcing her troops which served under Philip. These efforts of the king
were warmly seconded by the zeal of his subjects. The city of Paris
granted him a free gift of three hundred thousand livres. The other great
towns imitated the liberality of the capita], and contributed in proportion.
Several noblemen of distinction engaged, at their own expense, to garrison
and defend the towns which lay most exposed to the enemy. Nor was
the general concern for the public confined to corporate bodies alone, or to
those in the higher sphere of life, but diffusing itself among persons of
every rank, each individual seemed disposed to act with as much vigour
as if the honour of the king, and the safety of the state, had depended
solely on his single efforts."
Philip, who was no stranger either to the prudent measures taken by the
French monarch for the security of his dominions, or to the spirit with
which his subjects prepared to defend themselves, perceived, when it was
too late, that he had lost an opportunity which could never be recalled, and
that it was now vain to think of penetrating into the heart of France. He
abandoned, therefore, without much reluctance, a scheme which was too
bold and hazardous to be perfectly agreeable to his cautious temper; and
employed his army, during the remainder of the campaign, in the sieges
of Ham and Catelet. Of these, he soon became master; and the reduction of two such petty towns, together with the acquisition of St. Quintin,
were all the advantages which he derived from one of the most decisive
victories gained in that century. Philip himself, however, continued in
high exultation on account of his success; and as all his passions were
tinged with superstition, he, in memory of the battle of St. Quintin, which
had been fought on the day consecrated to St. Laurence, vowed to build a.
church, a monastery, and a palace, in honour of that saint and martyr.
Before the expiration of the year, he laid the foundation of an edifice, in
which all these were united, at the Escurial in the neighbourhood of
Madrid; and the same principle which dictated the vow, directed the
building. For the plan of the work was so formed as to resemble a gridiron, which, according to the legendary tale, had been the instrument of
St. Lauience's martyrdom. Notwithstanding the great and expensive
schemes in which his restless ambition involved him, Philip continued the
Juilding with such perseverance for twenty-two years, and reserved such
large sums for this monument of his devotion and vanity, that the monarchs
of Spain are indebted to him for a royal residence, which, though not the
most elegant, is certainly the most sumptuous and magnificent of any in
Europe.The first account of that fatal blow which the French had received at
St. Quintin was carried to Rome by the courier whom Henry had sent to
recall the duke of Guise. As Paul, even with the assistance of his French
auxiliaries, had hardly been able to check the progress of the Spanish
arms, he foresaw that, as soon as he was deprived of their protection, his
territories must be overrun in a moment. He remonstrated, therefore,
with the greatest violence against the departure of the French army, reproaching the duke of Guise for his ill conduct, which had brought him.nh) such an unhappy situation; and complaining of the king for deserting
him  so ungenerously under such circumstances. The duke of Guise's
orders, however, were peremptory. Paul, inflexible as he was, found it
necessary to accommodate his conduct to the exigency of his affairs, and
io employ the mediation of the Venetians, and of Cosmo di Medici, in
Order to obtain peace. Philip, who had been forced unwillingly to a rup
* Mem. de Ribier, ii. 701. 703.  t Colmenar Annales d'Espagne, tom. ii. p. 13(.




472                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                 [BOOK XJI
ture with the pope, and who, even while success crowned his arms,
doubted so much the justice of his own cause, that he had made frequent
overtures of pacification, listened eagerly to the first'proposals of this nature
from Paul, and discovered such moderation in his demands, as could hardly
have been. expected from a prince elated with victory.
The duke of Alva on the part of Philip, and the cardinal Caraffa in the
name of his uncle, met at Cavi, and both being equally disposed tc peace,
they, after a short conference, terminated the war by a treaty on the following terms: That Paul should renounce his league with France, and
maintain for the future such a neutrality as became the common father of
Christendom; That Philip should instantly restore all the towns of the
ecclesiastical territory of which he had taken possession; That the claims
of the Caraffas to the dutchy of Paliano, and other demesnes of the Colonnas, should be referred to the decision of the republic of Venice; That
the duke of Alva should repair in person to Rome, and after asking pardon of Paul in his own name, and in that of his master, for having invaded
the patrimony of the church, should receive the pope's absolution from
that crime.  Thus Paul, through Philip's scrupulous timidity, finished an
unprosperous war without any detriment to the papal see. The conqueror
appeared humble, and acknowledged his error; while he who had been
vanquished retain d his usual haughtiness, and was treated with every
mark of superiority.'  The duke of Alva, in terms of the treaty, repaired
to Rome, and, in the posture of a supplicant, kissed the feet, and implored
the forgiveness of that very person whom his arms had reduced to the last
extremity. Such was the superstitious veneration of the Spaniards for the
papal character, that Alva, though perhaps the proudest man of the age,
and accustomed from his infancy to a familiar intercourse with princes,
acknowledged that when he approached the pope, he was so much overawed, that his voice failed, and his presence of mind forsook him.f
But though this war, which at its commencement threatened mighty
revolutions, was brought to an end without occasioning any alteration in
those states which were its immediate object, it had produced during its
progress effects of considerable consequence in other parts of Italy. As
Philip was extremely solicitous to terminate his quarrel with Paul as
speedily as possible, he was willing to make any sacrifice in order to gain
those princes, who, by joining their troops to the papal and French army,
might have prolonged the war. With this view, he entered into a negotiation with Octavio Farnese, duke of Parma, and in order to seduce him
from his alliance with France, he restored to him the city of Placentia,
with the territory depending on it, which Charles V. had seized in the
year one thousand five hundred and forty-seven, had kept from that time
in his possession, and had transmitted, together with his other dominions,
to Philip.
This step made such a discovery of Philip's character and views to
Cosmo di Medici, the most sagacious as well as provident of all the Italian
princes, that he conceived hopes of accomplishing his favourite scheme of
adding Sienna and its territories to his dominions in Tuscany. As his success in this attempt depended entirely on the delicacy of address with
which it should be conducted, he employed all the refinements of policy
in the negotiation which he set on foot for this purpose. He began with
soliciting Philip, whose treasury he knew to be entirely drained by the
expense of the war, to repay the great sums which he had advanced to
the emperor during the siege of Sienna. When Philip endeavoured to
elude a demand which he was unable to satisfy, Cosmo affected to be extremely disquieted, and making no secret of his disgust, instructed his
I'allav. lib. xiii. 183.  F.   aul, 380.   Herrera, vol. i. 310.  t Pallav, lib  xiii. 185,  Suw
monto Istoria de Napoli, iv. 286.




EMPEROR CHARLES V                              473
ambassador at Rome to open a negotiation with the pope which seemed to
be the effect of it. The ambassador executed his commission with such
dexterity, that Paul, imagining Cosmo to be entirely alienated from the
Spanish interest, proposed to him an alliance with France which should be
cemented by the marriage of his eldest son to one of Henry's daughters.
Cosmo received the overture with such apparent satisfaction, and with so
many professions of gratitude for the high honour of which he had the
prospect, that not only the pope's ministers, but the French envoy at Rome,
talked confidently, and with little reserve, of the accession of that important ally, as a matter certain and decided. The account of this was quickly
"arried to Philip; and Cosmo, who foresaw how much it would alarm
nim, had despatched his nephew Ludovico de Toledo into the Netherlands,
that he might be at hand to observe and take advantage of his consternation, before the first impression which it made should in any degree abate.
Cosmo was extremely fortunate in the choice of the instrument whom he
employed. Toledo waited, with patience, until he discovered with certainty, that Philip had received such intelligence of his uncle's negotiations at Rome, as must have filled his suspicious mind with fear and
jealousy; and then craving an audience, he required payment of the money
which had been borrowed by the emperor, in the most earnest and peremptory terms. In urging that point, he artfully. threw out several dark hints
and ambiguous declarations, concerning the extremities to which Cosmo
might be driven by a refusal of this just demand, as well as by other
grievances of which he had good reason to complain.
Philip, astonished at an address in such a strain from a prince so far his
inferior as the duke of Tuscany, and comparing what he now heard with
the information which he had received from Italy, immediately concluded
that Cosmo had ventured to assume this bold and unusual tone on the
prospect of his union with France.. In order to prevent the pope and
Henry from acquiring an ally, who, by his abilities, as well as the situation
of his dominions, would have added both reputation and strength to their
confederacy, he offered to grant Cosmo the investiture of Sienna, if he
would consent to accept of it as an equivalent for the sums due to him,
and engage to furnish a body of troops towards the defence of Philip's
territories in Italy, against any power who should attack them. As soon
as Cosmo had brought Philip to make this concession, which was the
object of all his artifices and intrigues, he did not protract the negotiation
by any unnecessary delay, or any excess of refinement,but closed eagerly
with the proposal, and Philip, in spite of the remonstrances of his ablest
counsellors, signed a treaty with him to that effect."
As no prince was ever more tenacious of his rights than Philip, or less
willing to relinquish any territory which he possessed, by what tenure soever
he held it, these unusual concessions to the dukes of Parma and Tuscany,
oy which he wantonly gave up countries, in acquiring or defending which
his father had employed many years, and wasted much blood and treasure,
cannot be accounted for from any motive, but,his superstitious desire of
extricating himself out of the war which he had been forced to wage against
the pope. By these treaties, however, the balance of power among the
Italian states was poised with greater equality, and rendered less variable
than it had been since it received the first violent shock from the invasion
of Charles VIII. of France. From this period Italy ceased to be the great
theatre, on which the monarchs of Spain, France, and Germany, contended
for power or for fame. Their dissensions and hostilities, though as frequent
and violent as ever, being excited by new objects, stained other regions of
Europe with blood, and rendered them miserable, in their turn, by the
devastations of war.
* Thuan. li. xviii. 624. Herrera,. 23. 275. Pallav. lib. xii. 180.
VoL II. —60




474               THE REIGN OF THE                      [BooK X11
The duke of Guise left Rome on the same day [Sept. 29] that his adver
sary the duke of Alva made his humiliating submission to the pope. He was
received in France as the guardian angel of the kingdom. His late ill success in Italy seemed to be forgotten, while his former services, particularly
his defence of Metz, were recounted with exaggerated praise; and he was
welcomed in every city through which he passed, as the restorer of public
security, who, after having set bounds by his conduct and valour to the vie
torious arms of Charles V., returned now, at the call of his country, to check
the formidable progress of Philip's power. The reception which he met
with from Henry was no less cordial and honourable. New titles were
invented, and new dignities created, in order to distinguish him. He was
appointed lieutenant-general in chief both within and without the kingdom,
with a jurisdiction almost unlimited, and hardly inferior to that which was
possessed by the king himself. Thus, through the singular felicity which
attended the princes of Lorrain, the miscarriage of their own schemes contributed to aggrandize them. The calamities of his country and the ill
conduct of his rival the constable, exalted the duke of Guise to a height of
dignity and power, which he could not have expected to attain by the most
fortunate and most complete success of his own ambitious projects.
The duke of Guise, eager to perform something suitable to the high
expectations of his countrymen, and that he might justify the extraordinary
confidence which the king had reposed in him, ordered all the troops, which
could be got together, to assemble at Compeigne. Though the winter was
well advanced, and had set in with extreme severity, he placed himself at
their head and took the field. By Henry's activity and the zeal of his subjects, so many soldiers had been raised in the kingdom, and such considerable reinforcements had been drawn from Germany and Switzerland, as
formed an army respectable even in the eyes of a victorious enemy. Philip,
alarmed at seeing it put in motion at such an uncommon season, began to
tremble for his new conquests, particularly St. Quintin, the fortifications of
which were hitherto but imperfectly repaired.
But the duke of Guise meditated a more important enterprise; and aftei
amusing the enemy with threatening successively different towns on the
frontiers of Flanders, he turned suddenly to the left, and invested Calais
with his whole army [Jan. 1,1558]. Calais had been taken by the English under Edward III. and was the fruit of that monarch's glorious victory
at Crecy. Being the only place that they retained of their ancient and
extensive territories in France, and which opened to them, at all times, an
easy and secure passage into the heart of that kingdom, their keeping possession of it soothed the pride of the one nation as much as it mortified the
vanity of the other. Its situation was naturally so strong, and its fortifications deemed so impregnable, that no monarch of France, how adventurous
soever, had been bold enough to attack it. Even when the domestic
strength of England was broken and exhausted by the bloody wars between
the houses of York and Lancaster, and its attention entirely diverted from
foreign objects, Calais had remained undisturbed and unthreatened. Mary
and her council, composed chiefly of ecclesiastics, unacquainted with military affairs, and whose whole attention was turned towards extirpating
heresy out of the kingdom, had not only neglected to take any precautions
for the safety of this important place, but seemed to think that the reputation of its strength was alone sufficient for its security. Full of this opinion,'hey ventured, even after the declaration of war, to continue a practice which
the low state of the queen's finances had introduced in times of peace. As
the country adjacent to Calais was overflowed during the winter, and the
narshes around it became impassable, except by one avenue, which the
brts of St. Agatha and Newnham-bridge commanded, it had been the custom
bf the English to dismiss the greater part of the garrison towards the end
of autumn, and to replace it in the spring. In vain did Lord Wentworth,




EMPEROR CHARLES V                               475
the governor of Calais, remonstrate against this ill-timed parsimony, and
represent the possibility of his being attacked suddenly, while he had not
troops sufficient to man the works. The privy-council treated these remonstrances with scorn, as if they had flowed from the timidity or the rapa
ciousness of the governor; and some of them, with that confidence which is
the companion of ignorance, boasted that they would defend Calais with
their white rods against any enemy who should approach it during winter.*
In vain did Philip, who had passed through Calais as he returned from
England to the oNetherlands, warn the queen of the danger to which it was
exposed; and acquainting her with what was necessary for its security, in
vain did he offer to reinforce the garrison during winter with a detachment
of his own troops. Mary's counsellors, though obsequious to her in all
points wherein religion was concerned, distrusted, as much as the rest of
their countrymen, every proposition that came from her husband; and suspecting this to be an artifice of Philip's in order to gain the command of the
town, they neglected his intelligence, declined his offer, and left Calais with
less than a fourth part of the garrison requisite for its defence.
His knowledge of this encouraged the duke of Guise to venture on an
enterprise, that surprised his own countrymen no less than his enemies As
he knew that its success depended on conducting his operations with such
rapidity as would afford the English no time for throwing relief into the
town by sea, and prevent Philip Tfrom giving him any interruption by land,
he pushed the attack with a degree of vigour little known in carrying on
sieges during that age. He drove the English from fort St. Agatha, at
the first assault. He obliged them to abandon the fort of Newnham-bridge
after defending it only three days. He took the castle which commanded
the harbour by storm; and on the eighth day after he appeared before
Calais, compelled the governor to surrender, as his feeble garrison, which
did not exceed five hundred men, was worn out with the fatigue of sustaining so many attacks, and defending such extensive works.
The duke of Guise, without allowing the English time to recover from
the consternation occasioned by this blow, immediately invested Guisnes, the
garrison of which, though more numerous, defended itself with less vigour,
and after standing one brisk assault, gave up the town. The castle ot
Hames was abandoned by the troops posted there, without waiting the
approach of the enemy.
Thus in a few days, during the depth of winter, and at a time when the
fatal battle of St. Quintin had so depressed the sanguine spirit of the French,
that their utmost aim was to protect their own country, without dreaming
of making conquests on the enemy, the enterprising valour of one man drove
the English out of Calais, after they had held it two hundred and ten years,
and deprived them of every foot of land in a kingdom, where their dominions had been once very extensive. This exploit, at the same time that
it gave a high idea of the power and resources of France to all Europe, set
the duke of Guise, in the opinion of his countrymen, far above ail the generals
of the age. They celebrated his conquests with immoderate transports of
joy; while the English gave vent to all the passions which animate a highspirited people, when any great national calamity is manifestly owing to the
dl conduct of their rulers. Mary and her ministers, formerly odious, were
now contemptible in their eyes. All the terrors of her severe and arbitrary
administration could not restrain them from uttering execrations and threats
against those, who, having wantonly involved the nation in a quarrel wherein
it was noways interested, had by their negligence or incapacity brought
irreparable distress on their country, and lost the most valuable possession
belonging to the English crown.
The king of France imitated the conduct of its former conqueror, Edward
*'arte, iii. 345,




476                 THE REIGN OF THE                    LBooK Xil.
III., with regard to Calais. He commanded all the English inhabitants to
quit the town, and giving their houses to his own subjects, whom he allured
to settle there by granting them various immunities, he left'a numerous garrison, under an experienced governor, for their defence. After this, his
victorious army was conducted into quarters of refreshment, and the usual
inaction of winter returned.
During these various operations, Ferdinand assembled the college of
electors at Frankfort [Feb. 24], in order to lay before them the instrument
whereby Charles V. had resigned the Imperial crown, and transferred it
to him. This he had hitherto delayed on account of some difficulties which
had occurred concerning the formalities requisite in supplying a vacancy
occasioned by an event, to which there was no parallel in the annals of the
empire.  These being at length adjusted, the prince of Orange executed
the commission with which he had been intrusted by Charles; the electors
accepted of his resignation; declared Ferdinand his lawful successor; and
put him in possession of all the ensigns of the Imperial dignity.
But when the new emperor sent Gusman his chancellor to acquaint the
pope with this transaction, to testify his reverence towards the holy see,
and to signify that, according to form, he would soon despatch an ambassador extraordinary to treat with his holiness concerning his coronation;
Paul, whom neither experience nor disappointments could teach to bring
down his lofty ideas of the papal prerogative to such a moderate standard
as suited the genius of the times, refused to admit the envoy into his presence, and declared all the proceedings at Frankfort irregular and invalid.
He contended that the pope, as the vicegerent of Christ, was intrusted with
the keys both of spiritual and of civil government; that from him the Imperial jurisdiction was derived; that though his predecessors had authorized
the electors to choose an emperor whom the holy see confirmed, this privilege was confined to those cases when a vacancy was occasioned by death;
that the instrument of Charles's resignation had been presented in an improper court, as it belonged to the pope alone to reject or to accept of it,
and to nominate a person to fill the Imperial throne; that setting aside all
these objections, Ferdinand's election laboured under two defects which
alone were sufficient to render it void, for the protestant.electors had been
admitted to vote, though, by their apostacy from the catholic faith, they had
forfeited that and every other privilege of the electoral office: and Ferdinand, by ratifying the concessions of several diets, in favour of heretics, had
rendered himself unworthy of the Imperial dignity, which was instituted
for the protection, not for the destruction of the church. But after thundering out these extravagant maxims, he added, with an appearance of condescension, that if Ferdinand would renounce all title to the Imperial
crown, founded on the election at Frankfort, make professions of repentance
for his past conduct,. and supplicate him, with due humility, to confirm
Charles's resignation, as well as his own assumption to the empire, he might
expect every mark of favour from his paternal clemency and goodness.
Gusman, though he had foreseen considerable difficulties in his negotiation
with the pope, little expected that he would have revived those antiquated
and wild pretensions, which astonished him so much that he hardly knew
in what tone he ought to reply. He prudently declined entering into any
controversy concerning the nature or extent of the papal jurisdiction, and
confined himself to the political considerations, which should determine the
pope to recognise an emperor already in possession, he endeavoured to
place them in smch.a light, as ihe imagined could scarcely fail to strike
Paul, if he were not altogether blind to his own interest. Philip seconded
Gusman's arguments with great earnestness, by an ambassador whom he
sent to Rome on purpose, and besought the pope to desist from claims so
unseasonable, as might not only irritate and alarm Ferdinand and the princes
of the empire, but furnish the enemies of the holy see with a new reason




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              477
for representing its jurisdiction as incompatible with the rights of princes,
and subversive of all civil authority. But Paul, who deemed it a crime to
attend to any consideration suggested by human prudence or policy, when
he thought himself called upon to assert the prerogatives of the papal see
remained inflexible; and during his pontificate, Ferdinand was not acknow
ledged as emperor by the court of Riome.1
While Henry was intent upon his preparations for the approaching cam
paign, he received accounts of the issue of his negotiations in Scotland
Long experience having at last taught the Scots the imprudence of involving
their country in every quarrel between France and England, neither the
solicitations of the French ambassador, nor the address and authority of the
queen regent, could prevail on them to take arms against a kingdom with
which they were at peace. On this occasion, the ardour of a martial nobility,
and of a turbulent people was restrained by regard for the public interest and
tranquillity, which in former deliberations of this kind had been seldom
attended to by a nation always prone to rush into every new war. But
though the Scots adhered with steadiness to their pacific system, they were
extremely ready to gratify the French king in another particular which he
had given in charge to his ambassador.
The young queen of Scots had been affianced to the dauphin in the year
one thousand five hundred and forty-eight, and having been educated since
that time in the court of France, she had grown up to be the most amiable,
and one of the most accomplished princesses of that age. Henry demanded
the consent of her subjects to the celebration of the marriage, and a parliament, which was held for that purpose, appointed eight commissioners to
represent the whole body of the nation at that solemnity, with power to
sign such deeds as might be requisite before it was concluded. In settling
the articles of the marriage, the Scots took every precaution that prudence
could dictate, in order to preserve the liberty and independence of their
country; while the French used every art to secure to the dauphin the conduct of affairs during the queen's life, and the succession of the crown op
the event of her demise. [April 14.] The marriage was celebrated with
pomp suitable to the dignity of the parties, and the magnificence of a court
at that time the most splendid in Europe.t  Thus Henry, in the course of
a few months, had the glory of recovering an important possession which
had anciently belonged to the crown of France, and of adding to it the
acquisition of a new kingdom. By this event, too, the duke of Guise
acquired new consideration and importance; the marriage of his niece to
the apparent heir of the crown, raising him so far above the condition of
other subjects, that the credit which he had gained by his great actions,
seemed thereby to be rendered no less permanent than it was extensive.
When the campaign opened soon after the dauphin's marriage, the duke
of Guise was placed at the head of the army, with the same unlimited
powers as formerly. Henry had received such liberal supplies from his
subjects, that the troops under his command were both numerous and well
appointed; while Philip, exhausted by the extraordinary efforts of the proceding year, had been obliged to dismiss so many of his forces during the
winter, that he could not bring an army into the field capable of making
head against the enemy. The duke of Guise did not lose the favourable
opportunity which his superiority afforded him. He invested Thionville in
the dutchy of Luxemburg, one of the strongest towns on the frontier of the
Netherlands, and of great importance to France by its neighbourhood to
Metz; and, notwithstanding the obstinate valour with which it was
defended, he forced it to capitulate [June 22] after a siege of three weeks.:
But the success of this enterprise, which it was expected would lead to
* Godleveus de Abdicat. Car. V. ap. Gold. Polit. Imper. 392. Pallav. lib. xiii. 189. Ribier, ii
746. 759.  t Keith's History of Scotland, p 73. Append. 13. Corps Diplom. v. 21. t Thuan
lib. xx. 690.




478                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                [BooK Xll.
other conquests, was more than counterbalanced by an event which happened in another part of the Low-Countries. The marechal de Termes,
governor of Calais, having penetrated into Flanders without opposition,
invested Dunkirk with an army of fourteen thousand men, and took it by
storm on the fifth day of the siege. Hence he advanced towards Nieuport, which must have soon fallen into his hands, if the approach of the
count of Egmont with a superior army had not made it prudent to retreat.
The French troops were so much encumbered with the booty which they
had got at Dunkirk, or by ravaging the open country, that they moved
slowly; and Egmont, who had left his heavy baggage and artillery behind
him, marched with such rapidity, that he came up with them near Gravelines, and attacked them with the utmost impetuosity. De Termes, who
had the choice of the ground, having posted his troops to advantage in the
angle formed by the mouth of the river Aa and the sea, received him with
great firmness. Victory remained for some time in suspense, the desperate
valour of the French, who foresaw the unavoidable destruction that must
tollow upon a rout in an enemy's country, counterbalanced the superior
number of the Flemings, when one of those accidents to which human prudence does not extend, decided the contest in favour of the latter. A
squadron of English ships of war, which was cruising on the coast, being
drawn by the noise of the firing towards the place of engagement, entered
the river Aa, and turning its great guns against the right wing of the French,
with such effect, as immediately broke that body, and spread terror and
confusion through the whole army. The Flemings, to whom assistance,
so unexpected, and so seasonable, gave fresh spirit, redoubled their efforts,
that they might not lose the advantage which fortune had presented them,
or give the enemy time to recover from their consternation, and the rout of
the French soon became universal. Near two thousand were killed on the
spot; a greater number fell by the hands of the peasants, who, in revenge
for the cruelty with which their country had been plundered, pursued the
fugitives, and massacred them without mercy; the rest were taken prisoners, together with De Termes their general, and many officers of
distinction.*
This signal victory, for which the count of Egmont was afterwards so.11
requited by Philip, obliged the duke of Guise to relinquish all other
schemes, and to hasten towards the frontier of Picardy, that he might oppose
the progress of the enemy in that province. This disaster, however,
reflected new lustre on his reputation, and once more turned the eyes of his
countrymen towards him, as the only general on whose arms victory always
attended, and in whose conduct, as well as good fortune, they could confide in every danger. Henry reinforced the duke of Guise's army with
so many troops drawn from the adjacent garrisons, that it soon amounted to
forty thousand men. That of the enemy, after the junction of Egmont with
the duke of Savoy, was not inferior in number. They encamped at the
distance of a few leagues from one another; and each monarch having
joined his respective army, it was expected, after the vicissitudes of good
and bad success during this and the former campaign, that a decisive battle
would at last determine, which of the rivals should take the ascendant for
the future, and give law to Europe. But though both had it in their
power, neither of them discovered any inclination to bring the determination of such an important point to depend upon the uncertain issue of a
single battle. The fatal engagements at St. Quintin and Gravelines were
tco recent to be so soon forgotten, and the prospect of encountering the same
troops, commanded by the same generals who had twice triumphed over
his arms, inspired Henry with a degree of caution which was not common
to him. Philip, of a genius averse to bold operations in war, naturally
*Thuan. lib. xx. 694.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              479
leaned to cautious measures, and was not disposed to hazard any thing
against a general so fortunate and successful as the duke of Guise. Both
monarchs, as if by agreement, stood on the defensive, and fortifying their
camps carefully, avoided every skirmish or rencounter that might bring on
a general engagement.  
While the armies continued in this inaction, peace began to be mentioned in each camp, and both Henry and Philip discovered an inclination
to listen to any overture that tended to re-establish it. The kingdoms of
France and Spain had been engaged during half a century in almost continual wars, carried on at great expense, and productive of no considerable
advantage to either. Exhausted by extraordinary and unceasing efforts,
which far exceeded those to which the nations of Europe had been accustomed before the rivalship between Charles V. and Francis I., both
nations longed so much for an interval of repose, in order to recruit their
strength, that their sovereigns drew from them with difficulty the supplies
necessary for carrying on hostilities. -The private inclinations of both the
kings concurred with those of their people. Philip was prompted to wish
for peace by his fond desire of returning to Spain. Accustomed from his
infancy to the climate and manners of that country, he was attached to it
with such extreme predilection, that he never felt himself at ease in any
other part of his dominions. But as he could not quit the Low-Countries,'either with decency or safety, and venture on a voyage to Spain during
the continuance of war, the prospect of a pacification which would put it
in his power to execute his favourite scheme, was highly acceptable.
Henry was no less desirous of being delivered from the burden and occupations of war, that he might have leisure to turn all his attention, and
bend the whole force of his government, towards suppressing the opinions
of the reformers, which were spreading with such rapidity in Paris and
other great towns of France, that they began to grow formidable to the
established church.
Besides these public and avowed considerations, arising from the state
of the two hostile kingdoms, or from the wishes of their respective
monarchs, there was a secret intrigue carried on in the court of France,
which contributed as much as either of the other, to hasten and to facilitate
the negotiation of a peace. The constable Montmorency, during his captivity, beheld the rapid success and growing favour of the duke of Guise
with the envy natural to a rival. Every advantage gained by the princes
of Lorrain he considered as a fresh wound to his own reputation, and he
knew with what malevolent address it would be improved to diminish his
credit with the king, and to augment that of the duke of Guise. These
arts, he was afraid, mighty by degrees, work on the easy and ductile mind
of Henry, so as to efface all remains of his ancient affection towards himself. But he could not discover any remedy for this, unless he were
allowed to return home, that he might try whether by his presence he
could defeat the artifices of his enemies, and revive those warm and tender
sentiments which had long attached Henry to him, with a confidence so
entire, as resembled rather the cordiality of private friendship, than the
cold and selfish connection between a monarch and one of his courtiers.
While Montmorency was forming schemes and wishes for his return to
France with much anxiety of mind, but little hope of success, an unexpected incident prepared the way foi it. The cardinal of Lorrain, who
had shared with his brother in the king's favour, and participated of the
power which that conferred, did not bear prosperity with the same discretion as the duke of Guise. Intoxicated with their good fortune, he
forgot how much they had been indebted for their present elevation to
their connexions with the dutchess of Valentinois, and vainly ascribed all
to the extraordinary merit of their family. This led him not only to
neglect his benefactress, but to thwart her schemes, and to talk with a




480                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                 [Boox XII,
sarcastic liberty of her character and person. That singular woman, who
if we may believe contemporary writers, retained the beauty and charms
of youth at the age of threescore, a-nd on whom it is certain that Henry
still doated with all the fondness of love, felt this injury with sensibility,
and set herself with eagerness to inflict the vengeance wnicn it merited.
As there wos no method of supplanting the princes of Lorrain so effectually as by a coalition of interests with the constable, she proposed the
marriage of her granddaughter with one of his sons, as the bond of their
future union; and Montmorency readily gave his consent to the match.
tIlving thus cemented their alliance, the dutchess employed all her influence with the king, in order to confirm his inclinations towards peace, and
induce him to take the steps necessary for attaining it. She insinuated
that any overture of that kind would come with great propriety from the
constable, and if intrusted to the conduct of his prudence, could hardly
fail of success.
Henry, long accustomed to commit all affairs of importance to the
management of the constable, and needing only this encouragement to
return to his ancient habits, wrote to him  immediately with his usual
familiarity and affection, empowering him at the same time to take the first
opportunity of sounding Philip and his ministers with regard to peace.
Montmorency made his application to Philip by the most proper channel.
He opened himself to the duke of Savoy, who, notwithstanding the high
command to which he had been raised, and the military glory which he
had acquired in the Spanish service, was weary of remaining in exile, and
languished to return into his paternal dominions. As there was no prospect
of his recovering possession of them by force of arms, he considered a definitive treaty of peace between France and Spain as the only event by
which he could hope to obtain restitution. Being no stranger to Philip's
private wishes with regard to peace, he easily prevailed on him not only
to discover a disposition on his part towards accommodation, but to permit
Montmorency to return, on his parole, to France, that he might confirm his
own sovereign in his pacific sentiments. Henry received the constable
with the most flattering marks of regard; absence, instead of having abated
or extinguished the monarch's friendship, seemed to have given it new
ardour. Montmorency, from  the moment of his appearance in court,
assumed, if possible, a higher place than ever in his affection, and a more
perfect ascendant over his mind. The cardinal of Lorrain and the duke ot
Guise prudently gave way to a tide of favour too strong for them to oppose,
and confining themselves to their proper departments, permitted, without
any struggle, the constable and dutchess of Valentinois to direct public
affairs at their pleasure. They soon prevailed on the king to nominate
plenipotentiaries to treat of peace. Philip did the same. The abbey of
Cercamp was fixed on as the place of congress; and all military operations
were immediately terminated by a suspension ofarms.
While these preliminary steps were taking towards a treaty which
restored tranquillity to Europe, Charles V., whose ambition had so long
disturbed it, ended his days in the monastery of St. Justus. When Charles
entered this retreat, he formed such a plan of life for himself, as would
have suited the condition of a private gentleman of a moderate fortune
His table was neat, but plain; his domestics few; his intercourse with
them familiar; all the cumbersome and ceremonious forms of attendance
on his person were entirely abolished, as destructive of that social ease and
tranquillity which he courted, in order to soothe the remainder of his days.
As the mildness of the climate, together with his deliverance from the burdens and cares of government, procured him, at first, a considerable remission from the acute pains with which he had been long tormented; he
eIjoyed, perhaps, more complete satisfaction in this humble solitude, than
all his grandeur had ever yielded him. The ambitious thoughts and




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             481
projects which had so long engrossed and disquieted him, were quite
effaced from his mind; far from taking any part in the political transactions of the princes of Europe, he restrained his curiosity even from any
inquiry concerning them; and he seemed to view the busy scene which
he had abandoned with all the contempt and indifference arising from his
thorough experience of its vanity, as well as from the pleasing reflection oi
having disentangled himself from its cares.
Other amusements and other objects now occupied him. Sometimes he
cultivated the plants in his garden with his own hands; sometimes he rode
out to the neighbouring wood on a little horse, the only one that he kept,
attended by a single servant on foot. When his infirmities confined him to
his apartment, which often happened, and deprived him of these more
active recreations, he either admitted a few gentlemen who resided near
the monastery to visit him, and entertained them familiarly at his table;
or he employed himself in studying mechanical principles, and in forming
curious works of mechanism, of which he had always been remarkably
fond, and to which his genius was peculiarly turned. With this view he
had engaged Turriano, one of the most ingenious artists of that age, to
accompany him in his retreat. He laboured together with him in framing
models of the most useful machines, as well as in making experiments
with regard to their respective powers, and it was not seldom that the
ideas of the monarch assisted or perfected the inventions of the artist. He
relieved his mind, at intervals, with slighter and more fantastic works of
mechanism, in fashioning puppets, which, by the structure of internal
springs, mimicked the gestures and actions of men, to the astonishment ot
the ignorant monks, who, beholding movements which they could not
comprehend, sometimes distrusted their own senses, and sometimes suspected Charles and Turriano of being in compact with invisible powers.
He was particularly curious with regard to the construction of clocks and
watches; and having found, after repeated trials, that he could not bring
any twvo of them to go exactly alike, he reflected, it is said, with a mixture of surprise as well as regret, on his own folly, in having bestowed so
much time and labour on the more vain attempt of bringing mankind to a
precise uniformity of sentiment concerning the profound and mysterious
doctrines of religion.
But in what manner soever Charles disposed of the rest of his time, he
constantly reserved a considerable portion of it for religious exercises.
He regularly attended divine service in the chapel of the monastery, every
morning and evening; he took great pleasure in reading books of devotion,
particularly the works of St. Augustin, and St. Bernard; and conversed
much with his confessor, and the prior of the monastery, on pious subjects.
Thus did Charles pass the first year of his retreat, in a manner not unbecoming a man perfectly disengaged from the affairs of the present life, and
standing on the confines of a future world; either in innocent amusements,
which soothed his pains, and relieved a mind worn out with excessive
application to business; or in devout occupations, which he deemed necessary in preparing for another state.
But about six months before his death, the gout, after a longer intermission than usual, returned with a proportional increase of violence. His
shattered constitution had not vigour enough remaining to withstand such
a shock. It enfeebled his mind as much as his body, and from this period
we hardly discern any traces of that sound and masculine understanding,
which distinguished Charles among his contemporaries. An illiberal and
lmtnid superstition depressed his spirit. He had no relish for amusements
of any kind. He endeavoured to conform, in his manner of living, to al'
the rigour of monastic austerity. He desired no other society than that o.
monks, and was almost continually employed with them in chanting the
hymns of the Missal. As an expiation for his sins, he gave himself the
VOL. 11~-61




482'THEREIGN  OF  THE                     [BOOK XII.
discipline in secret with such severity, that the whip of cords which he
employed as the instrument of his punishment, was found after his decease
tinged with his blood. Nor was he satisfied with these acts of mortification, which, however severe, were not unexampled.  The timorous and
distrustful solicitude which always accompanies superstition, still continued
to disquiet him, and depreciating all the devout exercises in which he had
hitherto been engaged, prompted him to aim at something extraordinary,
at some new and singular act of piety that would display his zeal, and
merit the favour of Heaven. The act on which he fixed was as wild and
uncommon as any that superstition ever suggested to a weak and disor
dered fancy. He resolved to celebrate his own obsequies before his death.
He ordered his tomb to be erected in the chapel of the monastery.  His
domestics marched thither in funeral procession, with black tapers in their
hands. He himself followed in his shroud. He was laid in his coffin with
much solemnity.  The service for the dead was chanted, and Charles
joined in the prayers which were offered up for the rest of his soul, min
gling his tears with those which his attendants shed, as if they had been
celebrating a real funeral. The ceremony closed with sprinkling holy
water on the coffin in the usual form, and all the assistants retiring, the;
doors of the chapel were shut. Then Charles rose out of the coffin, and'
withdrew to his apartment, full of those awful sentiments which such a
singular solemnity was calculated to inspire. But either the fatiguing
length of the ceremony, or the impression which this image of death left
on his mind, affected him so much, that next day he was seized with a
fever. His feeble frame could not long resist its violence, and he expired
on the twenty-first of September, after a life of fifty-eight years, six
months, and twenty-five days.*
As Charles was the first prince of the age in rank and dignity, the part
which he acted, whether we consider the greatness, the variety, or the success of his undertakings, was the most conspicuous. It is from an attentive observation of his conduct, not from  the exaggerated praises of the
Spanish historians, or the undistinguishing censure of the French, that a
iust idea of Charles's genius and abilities is to be collected.  He possessed
qualities so peculiar, that they strongly mark his character, and not only
distinguish him from the princes who were his contemporaries, but account
for that superiority over them which he so long maintained.  In forming
his schemes, he was, by nature, as well as by habit, cautious and considerate. Born with talents which unfolded themselves slowly, and were late
in attaining to maturity, he was accustomed to ponder every subject that
demanded his consideration, with a careful and deliberate attention. He
bent the whole force of his mind towards it, and dwelling upon it with a
serious application, undiverted by pleasure, and hardly relaxed by any
amusement, he revolved it, in silence, in his own breast. He then commumcated the matter to his ministers, and.after hearing their opinions, took
his resolution with a decisive firmness, which seldom follows such slow and
seemingly hesitating consultations. Of consequence, Charles's measures,
instead of resembling the desultory and irregular sallies of Henry VIII.
or Francis I., had the appearance of a consistent system, in which all the
parts were arranged, all the effects were foreseen, and even every accident was provided for. His promptitude in execution was no less remarkable than his patience in deliberation.  He did not discover greater saga
city in his choice of the measures which it is proper to pursue, than fer
tiley of genius in finding out the means for rendering his pursuit of them
successful.  Though he had naturally so little of the martial turn, that
during the most ardent and bustling period of life, he remained in the
* Strada d Be BellBelg. lib. i. p. 11. Thuan. 723. Sandov. ii. 609, &c. Miniana Contin. Mariana, vol. iv. 216. Vera y Zuniga Vida de Carlos, p. 111.




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                483
cabinet inactive, yet when he chose at length to appear at the head of his
armies, his mind was so formed for vigorous exertions in every direction,
that he acquired such knowledge in the art of war, and such talents for
command, as rendered him equal in reputation and success to the most able
generals of the age. But Charles possessed, in the most eminent degree,
the science which is of the greatest importance to a monarch, that of
knowing men, and of adapting their talents to the various departments
which he allotted to them. From the death of Chievres to the end of his
reign,. he employed no general in the field, no minister in the cabinet, no
ambassador to a foreign court, no governor of a province, whose abilities
were inadequate to the trust which he reposed in them.  Though destitute of that bewitching affability of manners, which gained Francis the
hearts of all who approached his person, he was no stranger to the virtues
which secure fidelity and attachment. He placed unbounded confidence
in his generals; he rewarded their services with munificence; he neither
envied their fame, nor discovered any jealousy of their power. Almost
all the generals who conducted his armies, may be placed on a level with
those illustrious personages who have attained the highest eminence of
military glory; and his advantages over his rivals are to be ascribed so
manifestly to the superior abilities of the commanders whom he set in
opposition to them, that this might seem to detract, in some degree, from
his own merit, if the talent of discovering, and steadiness in employing
such instruments were not the most undoubted proofs of a capacity for
government.
There were, nevertheless, defects in his political character which must
considerably abate  the admiration due to his extraordinary  talents.
Charles's ambition was insatiable; and though there seems to be no foun
dation for an opinion prevalent in his own age, that he had formed the chi
merical project of establishing a universal monarchy in Europe, it is cer
tain that his desire of being distinguished as a conqueror involved him in
continual wars, which not only exhausted and oppressed his subjects, but
left him little leisure for giving attention to the interior police and improvement of his kingdoms, the great objects of every prince who makes the
happiness of his people the end of his government. Charles, at a very
early period of life, having added the Imperial crown to the kingdoms ot
Spain, and to the hereditary dominions of the houses of Austria and Burgundy, this opened to him such a vast field of enterprise, and engaged him
in schemes so complicated as well as arduous, that feeling his power to be
unequal to the execution of them, he had often recourse to low artifices,
unbecoming his superior talents, and sometimes ventured on such deviations from integrity, as were dishonourable in a great prince. His insidious and fraudulent policy appeared more conspicuous, and was rendered
more odious by a comparison with the open and undesigning character of
his contemporaries Francis I. and Henry VIII. This.difference, though
occasioned chiefly by the diversity of their tempers, must be ascribed in
some degree, to such an opposition in the principles of their political conduct as affords some excuse for this defect in Charles's behaviour, though it
cannot serve as a justification of it. Francis and Henry seldom acted but
from the impulse of their passions, and rushed headlong towards the object
in view. Charles's measures, being the result of cool reflection, were disposed into a regular system, and carried on upon a concerted plan. Persons who act in the former manner, naturally pursue the end in view, without assuming any disguise, or displaying much address. Such as hold the
latter course, are apt, in forming, as well as in executing their designs, to
employ such refinements as always lead to artifice in conduct, and often
degenerate into deceit.
The circumstances transmitted to us, with respect to Charles's private
deportment and character, are fewer and less interesting, than might have




484                THE REIGN OF THE    [BooKXIl
been expected from the great number of authors who have undertaken to
write an account of his life. These are not the object of this history,
which aims more at representing the great transactions of the reign of
Charles V., and pointing out the manner in which they affected the political
state of Europe, than at delineating his private virtues or defects.
The plempotentiaries of France, Spain, and England, continued their
conferences at Cercamp; and though each of them, with the usual art of
negotiators, made at first very high demands in the name of their respective courts, yet as they were all equally desirous of peace, they would
have consented reciprocally to such abatements and restrictions of their
claims, as must have removed every obstacle to an accommodation. The
death of Charles V. was a new motive with Philip to hasten the conclusion of a treaty, as it increased his impatience for returning into Spain,
where there was now no person greater or more illustrious than himself.
But in spite of the concurring wishes of all the parties interested, an event
happened which occasioned an unavoidable delay in their negotiations.
About a month after the opening of the conferences at Cercamp, Mary oi
England ended her short and inglorious reign [Nov. 17], and Elizabeth, her
sister, was immediately proclaimed queen with universal joy. As the
powers of the English plenipotentiaries expired on the death of their mistress, they could not proceed until they received a commission and instructions from their new sovereign.
Henry and Philip beheld Elizabeth's elevation to the throne with equal
solicitude. As during Mary's jealous administration, under the most diffi.
cult circumstances, and in a situation extremely delicate, that princess had
conducted herself with prudence and address far exceeding her years, they
had conceived a high idea of her abilities, and already formed expectations
of a reign very different from that of her sister. Equally sensible of the
importance of gaining her favour, both monarchs set themselves with emulation to court it, and employed every art in order to insinuate themselves
into her confidence. Each of them had something meritorious, with regard
to Elizabeth, to plead in his own behalf. Henry had offered her a retreat
in his dominions, if the dread of her sister's violence should force her to
fly for safety out of England.  Philip, by his powerful intercession, had prevented Mary from proceeding to the most fatal extremities against-her sister.
Each of them endeavoured now to avail himself of the circumstances in
his favour. Henry wrote to Elizabeth soon after her accession, with the
warmest expressions of gratitude and friendship. He represented the war
which had unhappily been kindled between their kingdoms, not as a
national quarrel, but as the effect of Mary's blind partiality to her husband,
and fond compliance with all his wishes. He entreated her to disengage
herself from an alliance which had proved so unfortunate to England, and
to consent to a separate peace with him, without mingling her interests with
those of Spain, from which they ought now to be altogether disjoined.
Philip on the other hand, unwilling to lose his connection with England,
the importance of which, during a rupture with France, he had so recently
experienced, not only vied with Henry in declarations of esteem for Elizabeth, and in professions of his resolution to cultivate the strictest amity with
her, but, in order to confirm and perpetuate their union, he offered himself
to her in marriage, and undertook to procure a dispensation from the pope
for that purpose.
Elizabeth weighed the proposals of the two monarchs attentively, and
with that provident discernment of her true interest, which was conspicuous
in all her deliberations.  She gave some encouragement to Henry's overture of a separate negotiation, because it opened a channel of correspondence with France, which she might find to be of great advantage, if Philip
should not discover sufficient zeal and solicitude for securing to her proper
terms in the joint treaty. But she ventured on this step with the most




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                                485
cautious reserve. that she might not alarm Philip's suspicious temper, and
lose an ally in attempting to gain an enemy.?  Henry himself, by an unpardonable act of indiscretion, prevented her from carrying her intercourse
with him to such a length as might have offended or alienated Philip. At
the very time when he was courting Elizabeth's friendship with the greatest
assiduity, he yielded with an inconsiderate facility to the solicitations of
the princes of Lorrain, and allowed his daughter-in-law the queen cf Scots
to assume the title and arms of queen of England. This ill-timed pretension, the source of many calamities to the unfortunate queen of Scots,
extinguished at once all the confidence that might have grown between Henry
and Elizabeth, and left in its place distrust, resentment, and antipathy.
Elizabeth soon found that she must unite her interests closely with Philip's,
and expect peace only from negotiations carried on in conjunction with him.t
As she had granted a commission, immediately after her accession, to the
same plenipotentiaries whom her sister had employed, she now instructed
them to act in every point in concert with the plenipotentiaries of Spain,
and to take no step until they had previously consulted with them.t But
though she deemed it prudent to assume this appearance of confidence in
the Spanish monarch, she knew precisely how far to carry it; and discovered no inclination to accept of that extraordinary proposal of marriage
which Philip had made to her.  The English had expressed so openly
their detestation of her sister's choice of him, that it would have been
highly imprudent to have exasperated them by renewing that odious alliance.  She was too well acquainted with Philip's harsh imperious temper,
to think of him for a husband. Nor could she admit a dispensation from
the pope to be sufficient to authorize her marrying him, without condemning her father's divorce from Catherine of Arragon, and acknowledging of
consequence that her mother's marriage was null, and her own birth illegitimate. But though she determined not to yield to Philip's addresses,
the situation of her affairs rendered it dangerous to reject them; she returned
her answer, therefore, in terms which were evasive, but so tempered with
respect, that though they gave him no reason to be secure of success, they
did not altogether extinguish his hopes.
By this artifice, as well as by the prudence with which she concealed
her sentiments and intentions concerning religion, for some time after her
accession, she so far gained upon Philip, that he warmly espoused her
interest in the conferences which were renewed at Cercamp, and afterwards removed to Chateau-Cambresis [Feb. 6, 1559]. A definitive treaty,
which was to adjust the claims and pretensions of so many princes, required
the examination of such a variety of intricate points, and led to such infinite and minute details, as drew out the negotiations to a great length.
But the constable Montmorency exerted himself with such indefatigable
zeal and industry, repairing alternately to the courts of Paris and Brussels,
in order to obviate or remove every difficulty, that all the points in dispute
were adjusted at length in such a manner, as to give entire satisfaction in
every particular to Henry and Philip; and the last hand was ready to be
put to the treaty between them.
The claims of England remained as the only obstacle to retard it. Elizabeth demanded the restitution of Calais in the most peremptory tone, as an
essential condition of her consenting to peace; Henry refused to give up
that important conquest; and both seemed to have taken their resolution
with unalterable firmness. Philip warmly supported Elizabeth's pretensions to Calais, not merely from a principle of equity towards the English
nation, that he might appear to have contributed to their recovering what
they had lost by espousing his cause; nor solely with a view of soothing
* Forbes, i p. 4.? Strype's Annals of the Reformation, i. 11. Carte's Hist. of England, vo,
ll. p. 375   t Forbes's Fill View, i. p. 37. 40.




486                THE REIGN QF THE                      [BOOK XII.
Elizabeth by his manifestation of zeal for her interest; but in order to
render France less formidable, by securing to her ancient enemy this easy
access into the heart of the kingdom.  The earnestness, however, with
which he seconded the arguments of the English plenipotentiaries, soon
began to relax.  During the course of the negotiation, Elizabeth, who now
felt herself firmly seated on her throne, began to take such open and vigorous
measures.not only for overturning all that her sister had done in favour cf
popery, but for establishing the protestant church on a firm foundation, as
convinced Philip that his hopes of a union with her had been from the
beginning vain, and were now desperate. From that period, his interpositions in her favour became more cold and formal, flowing merely from a
regard to:decorum, or frort the consideration of remote political interests.
Elizabeth having reason to expect such an alteration in his conduct, quickly
perceived' it. But as nothing would have been of greater detriment to her
people, or more inconsistent with her schemes of domestic administration,
than the continuance of war, she saw the necessity of submitting to such conditions as the situation of her affairs imposed, and that she must'reckon
upon being deserted by an ally who was now united to her by a very feeble
tie, if she did not speedily reduce her demands to what was moderate and
attainable. She accordingly gave new instructions to her ambassadors;
and Philip's plenipotentiaries acting as mediators between the French and
them,? an expedient was fallen upon which, in some degree, justified Elizabeth's departing from the rigour of her firs. demand with regard to
Calais.. All lesser articles were settled without mucn discussion or'delay
Philip, that he might not appear to have abandoned the English,;nsisted
that the treaty between Henry and Elizabeth should be concluded in form,
before that between the French monarch and himself.  The one was signed
on the second day of April, the other on the day following.
The treaty of peace between France and England contained no articles
of real importance, but that which respected Calais. It was stipulated,
That'the:king of France should retain possession of that town, with all its
dependencies, during eight years; That at the expiration of that term, he
should restore it to England; That in case of non-performance, he should
forfeit five hundred thousand crowns, for payment of which sum, seven or
eight wealthy merchants, who were not his subjects, should grant security;
That five persons of distinction should be given as hostages until that security were provided; That, although the forfeit of five hundred thousand
crowns should be paid, the right of England to Calais should still remain
entire, in the same manner as if the term of eight years were expired;
That the king and queen of Scotland should be included in the treaty;
That-if they, or the French king, should violate the peace by any hostile
action, Henry should be obliged instantly to restore Calais; That on the
other hand, if any breach of the treaty proceeded from Elizabeth, then
Henry, and the king and queen of Scots were absolved from all the engagements which they had come under by this treaty.
Notwithstanding the'studied attention with which so many precautions
were taken, it is evident that Henry did not intend the restitution of Calais,
nor is- it.probable that Elizabeth expected it. It was hardly possible that
she could maintain, during the course of eight years, such perfect concord
both with France and Scotland, as not to afford Henry some pretext for
alleging that she had violated the m"eaty. But even if that term  should
elapse without any ground for. complaint, Henry might then choose to pay
the sum stipulated, and Elizabeth had no method of asserting her right but
by force of arms. However, by throwing the articles in the treaty with
regard to Calais into this form, Elizabeth satisfied her subjects of every
delnomiination; she gave men of discernment a striking proof of her address,
* Forbes, 1 59




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             487
mn palliating what she could not prevent; and amusing the multitude, tc
whom the cession of such an important place would have appeared alto.
gether infamous, with the prospect of recovering in a short time that
favourite possession.
The expedient which Montmorency employed, in order to facilitate
the conclusion of peace between France and Spain, was the negotiating
two treaties of marriage, one between Elizabeth, Henry's eldest daughter,
and Philip, who supplanted his son, the unfortunate Don Carlos, to whom
that princess had been promised in the former conferences at Cercamp;
the other between Margaret, Henry's only sister, and the duke of Savoy.
For however feeble the ties of blood may often be among princes, or how
little soever they may regard them when pushed on to act by motives of
ambition, they assume on other occasions the appearance of being so far
influenced by these domestic affections as to employ them to justify measures and concessions which they find to be necessary, but know to be
impolitic or dishonourable. Such was the use Henry made of the two
marriages to which he gave his consent. Having secured an honourable
establishment for his sister and his daughter, he, in consideration of these,
granted terms both to Philip and the duke of Savoy, of which he would
not, on any other account, have ventured to approve.
The principal articles in the treaty between France and Spain were,
That sincere and perpetual amity should be established between the two
crowns and their respective allies; That the two monarchs should labour
in concert to procure the convocation of a general council, in order to
check the progress of heresy, and restore unity and concord to the Christian church; That all conquests made by either party, on this side of the
Alps, since the commencement of the war in one thousand five hundred
and fifty-one, should be mutually restored; That the dutchy of Savoy, the
principality of Piedmont, the country of Bresse, and all the other territories
formerly subject to the dukes of Savoy, should be restored to Emanuel
Philibert, immediately after the celebration of his marriage with Margaret
of France, the towns of Turin, Quiers, Pignerol, Chivaz, and Villanova
excepted, of which Henry should keep possession until his claims to these
places, in right of his grandmother, should be tried and decided in course
of law; That as long as Henry retained these places in his hands, Philip
should be at liberty to keep garrisons in the towns of Varcelli and Asti 
That the French king should immediately evacuate all the places which
he held in Tuscany and the Siennese, and renounce all future pretensions
to them; That' he should restore the marquisate of Montferrat to the duke
of Mantua; That he should receive the Genoese into favour, and give up
to them the towns which he had conquered in the island of Corsica; That
none of the princes or states, to whom these cessions were made, should
call their subjects to account for any part of their conduct while under the
dominion of their enemies, but should bury all past transactions in oblivion.
The pope, the emperor, the kings of Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Portugal,
the king and queen of Scots, and almost every prince and state in Christendom, were comprehended in this pacification as the allies either of
Henry or of Philip.
Thus, by this famous treaty, peace was re-established in Europe. All
the causes of discord which had so long embroiled the powerful monarchs
of France and Spain, which had transmitted hereditary quarrels and wars
orom Charles to Philip, and from Francis to Henry, seemed to be wholly
removed, or finally terminated. The French alone complained of the
unequal conditionsl of a treaty, into which an ambitious minister, in order
to recover his liberty, and an artful mistress, that she might gratify her
resentment, had seduced their too easy monarch. They exclaimed loudly
Recueil des Traitez, tom.'i. p. 287.




488                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                  [BOOK XII.
against the tolly of giving up to the enemies of France a hundred and
eighty-nine fortified places, in the Low-Countries or in Italy, in return for
the three insignificant towns of St. Quintin, Ham, and Catelet. They considered it as an indelible stain upon the glory of the nation, to renounce in
one day territories so extensive, and so capable of being defended, that the
enemy could not have hoped to wrest them out of their hands, after many
years of victory.
But Henry, without regarding the sentiments of his people, or being
moved by the remonstrances of his council, ratified the treaty, and executed
with great fidelity whatever he had stipulated to perform. The duke of
Savoy repaired with a numerous retinue to Paris, in order to celebrate his
marriage with Henry's sister. The duke of Alva was sent to the same
capital, at the head of a splendid embassy, to espouse Elizabeth in the
name of his master.  They were received with extraordinary magnificence
by the French court. Amidst the rejoicings and festivities on that occa
sion, Henry's days were cut short by a singular and tragical accident [July
10]. His son, Francis II. a prince under age, of a weak constitution, and
of a mind still more feeble, succeeded him. Soon after, Paul ended his
violent and Imperious pontificate, at enmity with all the world, and disgusted even with his own nephews. They, persecuted by Philip, and
deserted by the succeeding pope, whom they had raised by their influence
to the papal throne, were condemned to the punishment which their crimes
and ambition had merited, and their death was as infamous as their lives
had been criminal. Thus most of the personages, who had long sustained
the principal characters on the great theatre of Europe disappeared about
the same time. A more known period of history opens at this era; other
actors enter upon the stage, with different views, as well as different passions; new contests arose, and new schemes of ambition occupied and
disquieted mankind.
Upon reviewing the transactions of any active period, in the history of
civilized nations, the changes which are accomplished appear wonderfully
disproportioned to the efforts which have been exerted. Conquests are
never very extensive or rapid, but among nations whose progress in
improvement is extremely unequal. When Alexander the Great, at the
head of a gallant people, of simple manners, and formed to war by admi
rable military institutions, invaded a state sunk in luxury, and enervated
by excessive refinement; when Ghenchizcan and Tamerlane, with their
armies of hardy barbarians, poured in upon nations, enfeebled by the
climate in which they lived, or by the arts and commerce which they
cultivated, these conquerors, like a torrent, swept every thing before them,
subduing kingdoms and provinces in as short a space of time as was requisite to march through them. But when nations are in a state similar to
each other, and keep equal pace in their advances towards refinement,
they are not exposed to the calamity of sudden conquests.  Their acquisitions of knowledge, their progress in the art of war, their political sagacity
and address, are nearly equal. The fate of states in this situation, depends
not on a single battle. Their internal resources are many and various.
Nor are they themselves alone interested in their own safety, or active in
their own defence. Other states interpose, and balance any temporary
advantage which either party may have acquired. After the fiercest and
most lengthened contest, all the rival nations are exhausted, none are conquered. At length they find it necessary to conclude a peace, which
restores to each almost the same power and the same territories of which
they were formerly in possession.
Such was the state of Europe during the reign of Charles V. No prince
was so much superior to the rest in power, as to render his efforts irresist
ible, and his conquests easy. No nation had made progress in improve




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             489
ment so far beyond its neighbours, as to have acquired avery manifest
pre-eminence. Each state derived some advantage, or was subject to
some inconvenience from its situation or its climate; each was distinguished
by something peculiar in the genius of its people, or the constitution of its
government. But the advantages possessed by one state, were counter.
balanced by circumstances favourable to others; and this prevented any
from  attaining such superiority as might have been fatal to all. The
nations of Europe in that age, as in the present, were like one great family:
there were some features common to all, which fixed a resemblance; there
were certain peculiarities conspicuous in each, which marked a distinction.
But there was not among them that wide diversity of character and of
genius which, in almost every period of history, hath exalted the Europeans above the inhabitants of the other quarters of the globe, and seem~
to have destined the one to rule, and the other to obey.
But though the near resemblance and equality in improvement among
the different nations of Europe prevented the reign of Charles V. from
being distinguished by such sudden and extensive conquests as occur in
some other periods of history, yet, during the course of his administration,
all the considerable states in Europe suffered a remarkable change in their
political situation, and felt the influence of events, which have not hitherto
spent their force, but still continue to operate in a greater or in a less
degree. It was during his reign, and in consequence of the perpetual
efforts to which his enterprising ambition roused him, that the different
kingdoms of Europe acquired internal vigour; that they discerned the
resources of which they were possessed; that they came both to feel their
own strength, and to know how to make it formidable to others. It was
during his reign, too, that the different kingdoms of Europe, which in
former times seemed frequently to act as if they had been single and dis
joined, became so thoroughly acquainted, and so intimately connected with
each other, as to form one great political system, in which each took a
station, wherein it has remained since that time with less variation than
could have been expected after the events of two active centuries.
The progress, however, and acquisitions of the house of Austria, were
not only greater than those of any other power, but more discernible and
conspicuous. I have already enumerated the extensive territories which
descended to Charles from his Austrian, Burgundian, and Spanish ancestors.O  To these he himself added the Imperial dignity; and, as if all this
had been too little, the bounds of the habitable globe seemed to be
extended, and a new world was subjected to his command. Upon his
resignation, the Burgundian provinces, and the Spanish kingdoms with their
dependencies, both in the old and new worlds, devolved to Philip. But
Charles transmitted his dominions to his son, in a condition very different
from that in which he himself had received them. They were augmented
by the accession of new provinces; they were habituated to obey an
administration no less vigorous than steady; they were accustomed to
expensive and persevering efforts, which, though necessary in the contests
between civilized nations, had been little known in Europe before the
sixteenth century. The provinces of Friesland, Utrecht, and Overyssel
which he acquired by purchase from their former proprietors, and the
dutchy of Gueldres, of which he made himself master, partly by force of
arms, partly by the arts of negotiation, were additions of great value to his
Burgundian dominions. Ferdinand and Isabella transmitted to him all the
provinces of Spain, from the bottom of the Pyrenees to the frontiers of
Port gal; but as he maintained a perpetual peace with that kingdom, amidst
the various efforts of his enterprising ambition, he made no acquisition of
territory in that quarter.
* See p. 89
VOL 1I. —62




490                THE  REIGN  OF  THE                [BooK XI1.
Charles had gained, however, a vast accession of power in this part of
his dominions. By his success in the war with the commons of Castile.
ne exalted the regal prerogative upon the ruins of the privileges which
formerly belonged to the people. Though he allowed the name of the
Cortes to remain, and the formality of holding it to be continued; he reduced
its authority and jurisdiction almost to nothing, and modelled it in such a
manner, that it became rather a junto of the servants of the crown, than
an assembly of the representatives of the people. One member of the
constitution being thus lopped off, it was impossible but that the other
must feel the stroke, and suffer by it. The suppression of the popular
power rendered the aristocratical less formidable. The grandees, prompted
by the warlike spirit of the age, or allured by the honours which they
enjoyed in a court, exhausted their fortunes in military service, or in
attending on the person of their prince. They did not dread, perhaps did
not observe, the dangerous progress of the royal authority, which, leaving
them the vain distinction of being covered in presence of their sovereign,
stripped them, by degreesi of that real power which they possessed while
they formed one body, and acted in concert with the people. Charles's success in abolishing the privileges of the commons, and in breaking the
power of the nobles of Castile, encouraged Philip to invade the liberties
of Arragon, which were still more extensive. The Castilians, accustomed
to subjection themselves, assisted in imposing the yoke on their more
happy and independent neighbours. The will of the sovereign became
the supreme law in all the kingdoms of Spain; and princes who were not
checked in forming their plans by the jealousy of the people, nor controlled
in executing them by the power of the nobles, could both aim at great
objects, and call forth the whole strength of the monarchy in order to
attain them.
As Charles, by extending the royal prerogative, Iendered the monarchs
of Spain masters at home, he added new dignity and power to their crown
by his foreign acquisitions. He secured to Spain the quiet possession of
the kingdom of Naples, which Ferdinand had usurped by fraud, and held
with difficulty. He united the dutchy of Milan, one of the most fertile
and populous Italian provinces, to the Spanish crown; and left his successors, even without taking their other territories into the account, the
most considerable provinces in Italy, which had been long the theatre ot
contention to the great powers of Europe, and in which they had struggled
with emulation to obtain the superiority. When the French, in conformity
to the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis, withdrew their forces out of Italy
and finally relinquished all their schemes of conquest on that side of the
Alps, the Spanish dominions then rose in importance, and enabled their
kings, as long as the monarchy retained any degree of vigour, to preserve
the chief sway in all the transactions of that country. But whatever accession, either of interior authority or of foreign dominion, Charles gained
for the monarchs of Spain in Europe, was inconsiderable when compared
with his acquisitions in the new world. He added there, not provinces,
but empires to his crown. He conquered territories of such immense
extent; he discovered such inexhaustible veins of wealth, and opened
such boundless prospects of every kind, as must have roused his successor,
and have called him forth to action, though his ambition had been much
less ardent than that of Philip, and must have rendered him not only enterprising but formidable.
While the elder branch of the Austrian family rose to such pre-eminence
in Spain, the younger, of which Ferdinand was the head, grew to be con
siderable in Germany;' the ancient hereditary dominions of the house of
Austria in Germany, united to the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia,
which Ferdinand had acquired by marriage, formed a respectable power;
and when the Imperial dignity was added to these, Ferdinand possessed




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                              491
territories more extensive than had belonged to any prince, Charles V. excepted. who had been at the head of the empire for several ages. Fortunately for Europe, the disgust which Philip conceived on account of
Ferdinand's refusing to relinquish the Imperial crown in his favour, no;only
prevented for some time the separate members of the house of Austria
from acting in concert, but occasioned'between them a visible alienation
and rivalship. By degrees, however, regard to the interest of tneir family
extinguished this impolitical animosity. The confidence, which was
natural, returned; the aggrandizing of the house of Austria became the
common object of all their schemes; they gave and received assistance
alternately towards the execution of them; and each derived consideration
and importance from the other's success.  A family so great and so
aspiring, became the general object of jealousy and terror. All the power,
as well as policy, of Europe were exerted during a century, in order to
check and humble it. Nothing can give a more striking idea of the ascendant which it had acquired, and of the terror which it had inspired,
than that after its vigour was spent with extraordinary exertions of its
strength, after Spain was become only the shadow of a great name, and
its monarchs were sunk into debility and dotage, the house of Austria still
continued to be formidable. The nations of Europe had so often felt its
superior power, and had been so constantly employed in guarding against
it, that the dread of it became a kind of political habit, the influence of
which remained when the causes which had formed it ceased to exist.
WThile the house of Austria went on with such success in enlarging its
dominions, France made no considerable acquisition of new territory. All
its schemes of conquest in Italy had proved abortive; it had hitherto
obtained no establishment of consequence in the new world; and after the
continued and vigorous efforts of four successive reigns, the confines of the
kingdom were much the same as Louis XI. had left them  But though France
made not such large strides towards dominion as the house of Austria, it
continued to advance by steps which were more secure, because they were
gradual and less observed. The conquest of Calais put it out of the
power of the English to invade France but at their utmost peril, and delivered the French from the dread of their ancient enemies, who, previous
to that event, could at any time penetrate into the kingdom by that avenue,
and thereby retard or defeat the execution of their best concerted enterprises against any foreign power.  The important acquisition of Metz
covered that part of their frontier which formerly was most feeble, and
lay most exposed to insult. France, from the time of its obtaining these
additional securities against external invasion, must be deemed the most
powerful kingdom in Europe, and is more fortunately situated than any
on the continent either for conquest or defence.  From  the confines of
Artois to the bottom of the Pyrenees, and from the British channel to the
frontiers of Savoy and the coast of the Mediterranean, its territories lay
compact and unmingled with those of any other power. Several of the
considerable provinces, which had contracted a spirit of independence by
their having been long subject to the great vassals of the crown, who
were often at variance or at war with their master, were now accustomed
o recognise and to obey one sovereign. As they became members of the
sane monarchy, they assumed the sentiments of that body into which they
were incorporated, and co-operated with. zeal towards promoting its
interest and honour. The power and influence wrested from the nobles
were seized by the crown. The people were not admitted to share in
these spoils; they gained no new privilege; they acquired no additional
weight in the legislature. It was not for the sake of the people, but in
order to extend their own prerogative, that the monarchs of France had
laboured to humble their great vassals. Satisfied with naving brought
therneunder entire subjection to the crown, they discovered,o solicitude




492               r I E  REIGN  OF  THE                 [Boon XII
to free the people from their ancient dependence on the nobles of whom'hey held, and by whom they were often oppressed.
A monarch at the head of a kingdom thus united at home and secure
from abroad, was entitled to form great designs, because he felt himself
in a condition to execute them. The foreign wars which had continued
with little interruption from the accession of Charles VIII. had not only
cherished and augmented the martial genius of the nation, but by inuring
the troops during the course of long service to the fatigues of war, and
accustoming them to obedience, had added the force of discipline to their
natural ardour. A gallant and active body of nobles, who considered
themselves as idle and useless, unless when they were in the field; who
were hardly acquainted with any pastime or exercise but what was miiitary; and who knew no road to power, or fame, or wealth, but war,
would not have suffered their sovereign to remain long in inaction. The
people, little acquainted with the arts of peace, and always ready to take
arms at the command of their superiors, were accustomed, by the expense
of long wars carried on in distant countries, to bear impositions, which,
however inconsiderable they may seem if estimated by the exorbitant
rate of modern exactions, appear immense when compared with the sums
levied in France, or in any otner country of Europe, previous to the reign
of Louis XI. As all the members of which the state was composed were
thus impatient for action, and capable of great efforts, the schemes and
operations of France must have been no less formidable to Europe than
those of Spain. The superior advantages of its situation, the contiguity
and compactness of its territories, together with the peculiar state of its
political constitution at that juncture, must have rendered its enterprises
still more alarming and more decisive. The king possessed such a degree
of power as gave him the entire command of his subjects; the people
were strangers to those occupations and habits of life which render men
averse to war, or unfit for it; and the nobles, though reduced to the subordination necessary in a regular government, still retained the high, undaunted spirit which was the effect of their ancient independence. The
vigour of the feudal times remained, their anarchy was at an end; and the
kings of France could avail themselves of the martial ardour which that singular institution had kindled or kept alive, without being exposed to any of the
dangers or inconveniences which are inseparable from it when in entire force.
A kingdom in such a state is, perhaps, capable of greater military efforts
than at any other period in its progress. But how formidable or how fatal
soever to the other nations of Europe the power of such a monarchy might
have been, the civil wars which broke out in France saved them at that
juncture from feeling its effects. These wars, of which religion was the
pretext and ambition the cause, wherein great abilities were displayed by
the leaders of the different factions, and little conduct or firmness were
[manifested by the crown under a succession of weak princes, kept France
toccupied and embroiled for half a century. During these commotions the
iinternal btrength of the kingdom was much wasted, and such a spirit of anarchy
was spread among the nobles, to whom rebellion was familiar, and the
restraint of laws unknown, that a considerable interval became requisite
not only for recruiting the internal vigour of the nation, but for re-establishing the authority of the prince; so that it was long before France could
turn her whole attention towards foreign transactions, or act with her proper force in foreign wars. It was long before she rose to that ascendant
in Europe which she has maintained since the administration of Cardinal
Richlieu, and which the situation as well as extent of the kingdom, the
nature of her government, together with the character of her'people, entitle
her to maintain.
While the kingdoms on the continent grew into power and consequence,
England likewise made considerable progress towards regular government




EMPEROR CHARLES V                                 493
and interior strength. Henry VIII., probably without intention, and certainly without any consistent plan, of which his nature was incapable,
pursued the scheme of depressing the nobility, which the policy of his
father Henry VII. had begun.  The pride and caprice of his temper led
him to employ chiefly new men in the administration of affairs, because
he found them most obsequious, or least scrupulous; and he not only conferred on them such plenitude of power, but exalted them to such preeminence in dignity, as mortified and degraded the ancient nobility. By
the alienation or sale of the church lands, which were dissipated with a
profusion not inferior to the rapaciousness with which they had been seized,
as well as by the privilege granted to the ancient landholders of selling
their estates, or disposing of them by will, an immense property, formerly
locked up, was brought into circulation.  This put the spirit of industry
and commerce in motion, and gave it some considerable degree of vigour.
-The road to power and to opulence became open to persons of every condition. A sudden and excessive flow of wealth from  the West Indies
proved fatal to industry in Spain; a moderate accession in England to the
sum in circulation gave life to commerce, awakened the ingenuity of the
nation, and excited it to useful enterprise. In France, what the nobles
lost the crown gained.  In England, the commons were gainers as well as
the king.  Power and influence accompanied of course the property
which they acquired.  They rose to consideration among their fellow
subjects; they began to feel their own importance; and extending their
influence in the legislative body gradually, and often when neither they
themselves nor others foresaw all the effects of their claims and pretensions,
they at last attained that high authority to which the British constitution is
indebted for the existence, and must owe the preservation of its liberty.
At the same time that the English constitution advanced towards perfection,
several circumstances brought on a change in the ancient system with
respect to foreign powers, and introduced another more beneficial to the
nation. As soon as Henry disclaimed the supremacy of the papal see,
and broke off all connexion with the papal court, considerable sums were
saved to the nation, of which it had been annually drained by remittances
to Rome for dispensations and indulgences, by the expense of pilgrimages
into foreign countries," or by payment of annates, first fruits, and a thousand
other taxes which that artful and rapacious court levied on the credulity
of mankind.  The exercise of a jurisdiction different from that of the civil
power, and claiming not only to be independent of it, but superior to it,
a wild solecism in government, apt not only to perplex and disquiet weak
minds, but tending directly to disturb society, was finally abolished.
Government became more simple as well as more respectable, when no
rank or character exempted any person from being amenable to the same
courts as other subjects, from being tried by the same judges, and from
being acquitted or condemned by the same laws.
By the loss of Calais the English were excluded from  the continent.
All schemes for invading France became of course as chimerical as they
had formerly been pernicious. The views of the English were confined,
first, by necessity, and afterwards from choice, within their own island.
That rage for conquest which had possessed the nation during many
centuries, and wasted its strength in perpetual and fruitless wars, ceased
at length. Those active spirits which had known and followed no profession but war, sought for occupation in the arts of peace, and their
country was benefited as much by the one as it had suffered by the other.
The nation, which had been exhausted by frequent expeditions to the
* The loss which the nation sustained by most of these articles is obvious, and must have been
great. Even that by pilgrimages was not inconsiderable. In the year 1428, license was obtained
By no fewer than 916 persons to visit the shrine of St. James of Compostella in Spain. Rymer. vol.:. In 1434, the number of pilgrims to the same place was2460. Ibid. In 1445, they were 2100. vol. xi




494                THE REIGN OF THE                     [BOOK XII.
continent, recruited its numbers, and acquired new strength; and when
roused by any extraordinary exigency to take part in foreign operations,
the vigour of its efforts was proportionally great, because they were only
occasional and of a short continuance.
The same principle which had led England to adopt this new system
with regard to the powers on the continent, occasioned a change in its
plan of conduct with respect to Scotland., the only foreign state with
which, on account of its situation in the same island, the English had such
a close connection as demanded their perpetual attention. Instead of
prosecuting the ancient scheme of conquering that kingdom, which the
nature of the country, defended by a brave and hardy people, rendered
dangerous if not impracticable; it appeared more eligible to endeavour at
obtaining such influence in Scotland as might exempt England from any
danger or disquiet from that quarter. The national poverty of the Scots,
together with the violence and animosity of their factions, rendered the
execution of this plan easy to a people far superior to them in wealth.
The leading men of greatest power and popularity were gained; the
ministers and favourites of the crown were corrupted; and such absolute
direction of the Scottish councils was acquired, as rendered the operations
of the one kingdom dependent, in a great measure, on the sovereign of the
other. Such perfect external security, added to the interior advantages
which England now possessed, must soon have raised it to new consideration and importance; the long reign of Elizabeth, equally conspicuous for
wisdom, for steadiness, and for vigour, accelerated its progress, and carried
it with greater rapidity towards that elevated station which it hath since
held among the powers of Europe.
During the period in which the political state of the great kingdoms
underwent such changes, revolutions of considerable importance happened
in that of the secondary or inferior powers. Those in the papal court are
most obvious, and of most extensive consequence.
In the Preliminary Book, I have mentioned the rise of that spiritual
jurisdiction which the popes claim as vicars of Jesus Christ, and have
traced the progress of that authority which they possess as temporal
princes.i Previous to the reign of Charles V. there was nothing that
tended to circumscribe or to moderate their authority, but science and
philosophy, which began to revive and.be cultivated. The progress of
these, however, was still inconsiderable; they always operate slowly;
and it is long before their influence reaches the people, or can produce any
sensible effect upon them. They may perhaps gradually, and in a long
course of years, undermine and shake an established system of false religion, but there is no instance of their having overturned one. The battery
is too feeble to demolish those fabrics which superstition raises on deep
foundations, and can strengthen with the most consummate art.
Luther had attacked the papal supremacy with other weapons, and
with an impetuosity more formidable.  The time and manner of his attack
concurred with a multitude of circumstances, which have been explained,
in giving him immediate success. The charm which had bound mankind
for so many ages was broken at once. The human mind, which had continued long as tame and passive as if it had been formed to believe whatever was taught, and to bear whatever was imposed, roused of a sudden
and became inquisitive, mutinous, and disdainful of the yoke to which it
had hitherto submitted. That wonderful ferment and agitation of mind,
which, at this distance of time, appears unaccountable, or is condemned
as extravagant, was so general, that it must have been excited by causes
which were natural and of powerful efficacy. The kingdoms of Denmark,
Sw3ed:n, England, and Scotland, and almost one half of Germany, threw
* Se p.59




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                               495
ofi their allegiance to the pope, abolished his jurisdiction within their territories, and gave the sanction of law to modes of discipline and systems of
doctrine which were not only independent of his power, but hostile to it.
Nor was this spirit of innovation confined to those countries which openly
revolted from the pope; it spread through all Europe, and broke out in
every part of it with various degrees of violence. It penetrated early
into France, and made a quick progress there. In that kingdom, the
number of converts to the opinions of the reformers was so great, their
zeal so enterprising, and the abilities of their leaders so distinguished,
that they soon ventured to contend for superiority with the established
church, and were sometimes on the point of obtaining it.  In all the provinces of Germany which continued to acknowledge the papal supremacy,
as well as in the Low-Countries, the protestant doctrines were secretly
taught, and had gained so many proselytes, that they were ripe for revolt,
and were restrained merely by the dread of their rulers from imitating the
example of their neighbours, and asserting their independence. Even in
Spain and Italy, symptoms to shake off the yoke appeared. The preten
sions of the pope to infallible knowledge and supreme power were treated
by many persons of eminent learning and abilities with such scorn, or
attacked with such vehemence, that the most vigilant attention of the civil
magistrate, the highest strains of pontifical authority, and all the rigour ol
inquisitorial jurisdiction were requisite to check and extinguish it.
The defection of so many opulent.and powerful kingdoms from  the
papal see, was a fatal blow to its grandeur and power. It abridged the
dominions of the popes in extent, it diminished their revenues, and left
them fewer rewards to bestow on the ecclesiastics of various denominations, attached to them by vows of obedience as well as by ties of interest,
and whom they employed as instruments to establish or. support their usurpations in every part of Europe.  The countries too which now disclaimed
their authority, were those which formerly had been most devoted to it.
The empire of superstition differs from every other species of dominion;
its power is often greatest and most implicitly obeyed in the provinces
most remote from  the seat of government; while such as are situated
nearer to that are more apt to discern the artifices by which it is upheld,
or the impostures on which it is founded. The personal frailties or vices
of the popes, the errors as well as corruption of their administration, the
ambition, venality, and deceit which reigned in their courts, fell immediately under the observation of the Italians, and could not fail of diminishing
that respect which befets submission. But in Germany, England, and the
more remote parts of Europe, these were either altogether unknown, or
being only known by report, made a slighter impression. Veneration for
the papal dignity increased accordingly in these countries in proportion to
their distance from Rome; and that veneration, added,'to their gross igno.rance, rendered them  equally credulous and passive., In tracing the
progress of the papal domination, the boldest and most successful instances
of encroachment are to be found in Germany and.other countries distant
from Italy.  In these its impositions were heaviest and its exactions the
most rapacious; so that in estimating the diminution of power which the
court of Rome suffered in consequence of the reformation, not only the
number but the character. of the people who revolted, not only the great
extent of territory, but the extraordinary obsequiousness of the subjects
which it lost, must be taken into the account.
Nor was it only by this defection of so many kingdoms.and states which
the'reformation occasioned, that it contributed to diminish the power of
the Roman pontiffs.  It obliged them  to adopt a different system  of
conduct towards the nations which still continued to recognise their jurisdiction, and to govern them by new maxims and with a milder spirit,
The reformation taught them, by a fatal example, what they seem  not




496                THE REIGN  OF  THE                   [Boon  XI.
before to have apprehended, that the credulity and patience of mankind
might be overburdened and exhausted.  They became afraid of venturing
upon any such exertion of their authority as might alarm or exasperate
their subjects, and excite them to a new revolt. They saw a rival church
established in many countries of Europe, the members of which were on
the watch to observe any errors in their administration, and eager to expose
them. They were sensible that the opinions, adverse to their power and
usurpations, were not adopted by their enemies alone, but had spread
even among the people who still adhered to them. Upon all these accounts, it was no longer possible to lead or to govern their flock in the
same manner as in those dark and quiet ages when faith was implicit, when
submission was unreserved, and all tamely followed and obeyed the voice
of their pastor. From the era of the reformation, the popes have ruled
rather by address and management than by authority. Though the style
of their decrees be still the same, the effect of them  is very different.
Those bulls and interdicts which, before the reformation, made the greatest
princes tremble, have since that period been disregarded or despised by
the most inconsiderable. Those bold decisions and acts of jurisdiction
which, during many ages, not only passed uncensured, but were revered
as the awards of a sacred tribunal, would, since Luther's appearance, be
treated by one part of Europe as the effect of folly or arrogance, and be
detested by the other as impious and unjust. The popes, in their admin
istration, have been obliged not only to accommodate themselves to the
notions of their adherents, but to pay some regard to the prejudices ol
their enemies. They seldom venture to claim new powers, or even to
insist obstinately on their ancient prerogatives, lest they should irritate the
former; they carefully avoid every measure that may either excite the
indignation or draw on them the derision of the latter. The policy of the
court of Rome has becJmrne as cautious, circumspect, and timid, as it was
once adventurous and violent; and though their pretensions to infallibility,
on which all their authority is founded, does not allow them to renounce
any jurisdiction, which they have at any time claimed or exercised, they
find it expedient to suffer many of their prerogatives to lie dormant, and
not to expose themselves to the risk of losing that remainder of power
which they still enjoy, by ill-timed attempts towards reviving obsolete
pretensions.  Before the sixteenth century, the popes were the movers
and directors in every considerable enterprise; they were at the head of
every great alliance; and being considered as arbiters in the affairs of
Christendom, the court of Rome was the centre of political negotiation
and intrigue. Since that time, the greatest operations in Europe have
been carried on independent of them; they have sunk almost to a level
with the other petty princes of Italy; they continue to claim, though they
dare not exercise, the same spiritual jurisdc'1cn, but hardly retain any
shadow of the temporal power which they anciently possessed.
But how fatal soever the reformation may have been to the power of
the popes, it has contributed to improve the church of Rome both in
science and in morals. The desire of equalling the reformers in those
talents which had procured them respect; the necessity of acquiring the
knowledge requisite for defending their own tenets, or refuting the arguments of their opponents; together with the emulation natural between
two rival churches, engaged the Roman catholic clergy to apply themselves
to the study of useful science, which they cultivated with such assiduity
and success, that they have gradually become as eminent in literature, as
they were in some periods infamous for ignorance. The same principle
occasioned a change no less considerable in the morals of the Romlish
clergy. Various causes which have formerly been enumerated, had concurred in introducing great irregularity, and even dissolution of manners,
among the popish clergy. Luther and his adherents began their attack on




EMPEROR CHARLES V.                             497
the church with such vehement invectives against these, that, in order to
remove the scandal, and silence their declamations, greater decency ot
conduct became necessary. The reformers themselves were so eminent
not only for the purity but even austerity of their manners, and had acquired such reputation among the people on that account, that the Roman
Catholic clergy must have soon lost all credit, if they had not endeavoured
to conform in some measure to their standard. They knew that all their
actions fell under the severe inspection of the protestants, whom enmity
and emulation prompted to observe every vice, or even impropriety in
their conduct; to censure them without indulgence, and expose them
without mercy.  This rendered them, of course, not only cautious tc
avoid such enormities as might give offence, but studious to acquire the
virtues which might merit praise.  In Spain and Portugal, where the
tyrannical jurisdiction of the inquisition crushed the protestant faith as
soon as it appeared, the spirit of popery continues invariable; science has
made small progress, and the character of ecclesiastics has undergone little
change. But in those countries where the members of the two churches
have mingled freely with each other, or have carried on any considerable
intercourse, either commercial or literary, an extraordinary alteration in
the ideas, as well as in the morals of, the popish ecclesiastics, is manifest
In France, the manners of the dignitaries and secular clergy have become
decent and exemplary in a high degree. Many of them have been distinguished for all the accomplishments and virtues which can adorn their pro
fession; and differ greatly from their predecessors before the reformation,
both in their maxims and in their conduct.
Nor has the influence of the reformation been felt only by the inferior
members of the Roman catholic church; it has extended to the see of
Rome, to the sovereign pontiffs themselves. Violations of decorum, and
even trespasses against morality, which passed without censure in those
ages, when neither the power of popes, nor the veneration of the people
for their character, had any bounds; when there was no hostile eye to
observe the errors in their conduct, and no adversaries zealous to inveigh
against them; would be liable now to the severest animadversion, and
excite general indignation or horror. Instead of rivalling the courts of
temporal princes in gayety, and surpassing them in licentiousness, the popes
have studied to assume manners more severe and more suitable to their
ecclesiastical character. The chair of St. Peter hath not been polluted
during two centuries, by any pontiff that resembled Alexander VI. or
several of his predecessors, who were a disgrace to religion and to human
nature.' Throughout this long succession of popes, a wonderful decorum
of conduct, compared with that of preceding ages, is observable. Many
of'them, especially among the pontiffs of the present century, have been
conspicuous for all the virtues becoming their high station; and by their
humanity, their love of literature, and their moderation, have made some
atonement to mankind for the crimes of their predecessors.  Thus the
beneficial influences of the reformation have been more extensive than
they appear on a superficial view; and this great division in the Christian
church hath contributed, in some measure, to increase purity of manners,
to diffuse science, and to inspire humanity. History recites such a number
of shocking events occasioned by religious dissensions, that it must afford
peculiar satisfaction to trace any one salutary or beneficial effect to that
source from which so many fatal calamities have flowed.
The republic of Venice, which, at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
had appeared so formidable, that almost all the potentates of Europe
united in a confederacy for its destruction, declined gradually from its
ancient power and splendour. The Venetians not only lost a great part
of their territory in the war excited by the league of Cambray, but the
revenues as well as vigour of the state were exhausted by their extraordi
VoL II.-63




498                 THE  REIGN  OF  THE                   [BooK XII.
nary and long-continued efforts in their own defence; and that commerce
by which they had acquired their wealth and power began to decay, without any hopes of its reviving. All the fatal consequences to their republic,
which the sagacity of the Venetian senate foresaw on the first discovery
of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, actually took
place.  Their endeavours to prevent the Portuguese from  establishing
themselves in the East Indies, not only by exciting the Soldans of Egypt,
and the Ottoman monarchs, to turn their arms: against such dangerous
intruders, but by affording secret aid to the infidels in order to insure their
success,? proved ineffectual.  The activity and valour of the Portuguese
surmounted every obstacle, and obtained such a firm footing in that fertile
country, as secured to them large possessions, together with an influence
till more extensive. Lisbon, instead of Venice, became the staple for the
precious commodities of the East. The Venetians, after having possessed,
for many years, the monopoly of that beneficial commerce, had the mortification to be excluded from almost any share in it. The discoveries of the
Spaniards in the Western world proved no less fatal to inferior branches
of their commerce. The original defects which were formerly pointed
out in the constitution of the Venetian republic still continued, and the disadvantages with which it undertook any great enterprise increased, rather
than diminished. The sources from which it derived its extraordinary
riches and power being dried up, the interior vigour of the state declined,
and, of course, its external operations became less formidable.  Long
before the middle of the sixteenth century, Venice ceased to be one of the
principal powers in Europe, and dwindled into a secondary and subaltern
state. But as the senate had the address to conceal the diminution of its
power, under the veil of moderation and caution; as it made no rash effort
that could discover its weakness; as the symptoms of political decay in
states are not soon observed, and are seldom so apparent to their neighbours
as to occasion any sudden alteration in their conduct towards them, Venice
continued long to be considered and respected.  She was treated not
according to her present condition, but according to the rank which she
had formerly held. Charles V. as well as the kings of France his rivals,
courted her assistance with emulation and solicitude in all their enterprises.
Even down to the close of the century, Venice remained not only an object
of attention, but a considerable seat of political negotiation and intrigue.
That authority which the first Cosmo di Medici, and Laurence, his
grandson, had acquired in the republic of Florence, by their beneficence
and abilities, inspired their descendants with the ambition of usurping the
sovereignty in their country, and paved their way towards it. Charles V.
placed Alexander di Medici at the head of the republic [A. D. 1550], and
to the natural interest and power of the family added the weight as well
as credit of the Imperial protection. Of these, his successor Cosmo, surnamed the Great, availed himself; and establishing his supreme authority
on the ruins of the ancient republican constitution, he transmitted that,
together with the title of grand duke of Tuscany, to his descendants
Their dominions were composed of the territories which had belonged to
the three commonwealths of Florence, Pisa, and Sienna, and formed one
cf the most respectable of the Italian states.
The dukes of Savoy, during the former part of the sixteenth century
possessed territories which were not considerable either for extent or
value; and the French, having seized the greater part of them, obliged
the reigning duke to retire for safety to the strong fortress of Nice, where
he shut himself up for several years, while his son, the prince of Piedmont,
endeavoured to better his fortune, by serving as an adventurer in the
armies of Spain. The peace of Chateau-Cambresis restored to him  his
paternal dominions. As these are environed on every hand by powerful
* Freher. Script. Rer. German. vol. ii 529




EMPEIOR CHARLES V.                             499
neighbours, all whose motions the dukes of Savoy must observe with the
greatest attention, in order not only to guard against the danger of beirg
surprised and overpowered, but that they may choose their side with
discernment in those quarrels wherein it is impossible for them to avoid
taking part, this peculiarity in their situation seems to have had no inconsiderable influence on their character. By rousing them to perpetual attention, by keeping their ingenuity always on the stretch, and engaging them
in almost continual action, it hath formed a race of princes more sagacious
in discovering their true interest, more decisive in their resolutions, and
more dexterous in availing themselves of every occurrence which presented itself, than any perhaps that can be singled out in the history oL
Europe. By gradual acquisitions the dukes of Savoy have added to their
territories, as well as to their own importance; and aspiring at length to
regal dignity, which they obtained about half a century ago, by the title
of kings of Sardinia, they hold now no inconsiderable rank among the
monarchs of Europe.
The territories which form the republic of the United Netherlands were
lost during the first part of the sixteenth century, among the numerous
provinces subject to the house of Austria; and were then so inconsiderable, that hardly one opportunity of mentioning them hath occurred in all
the busy period of this history. But soon after the peace of Chateau-Cambresis, the violent and bigoted maxims of Philip's government, being carried into execution with unrelenting rigour by the duke of Alva, exasperated the free people of the Low-Countries to such a degree, that they
threw off the Spanish yoke, and asserted their ancient liberties and laws.
These they defended with a persevering valour, which gave employment
to the arms of Spain during half a century, exhausted the vigour, ruined
the reputation of that monarchy, and at last constrained their ancient masters to recognise and to treat with them as a free independent state.
This state, founded on liberty, and reared by industry and economy, grew
into great reputation, even while struggling for its existence. But when
peace and security allowed it to enlarge its views, and to extend its com
merce, it rose to be one of the most respectable as well as enterprising
powers in Europe.
The transactions of the kingdoms in the North of Europe have been
seldom attended to in the course of this history.
Russia remained buried in that barbarism and obscurity, from which it
was called about the beginning of the present century, by the creative
genius of Peter the Great, who made his country known and formidable to
the rest of Europe.
In Denmark and Sweden, during the reign of Charles V., great revolutions happened in their constitutions, civil as well as ecclesiastical. In the
former kingdom, a tyrant being degraded from the throne, and expelled
the country, a new prince was called by the voice of the people to
assume the reins of government. In the latter, a fierce people roused to
arms by injuries and oppression, shook off the Danish yoke, and conferred the
regal dignity on its deliverer Gustavus Ericson, who had all the virtues of a
hero, and of a patriot. Denmark, exhausted by foreign wars, or weakened
by the dissensions between the king and the nobles, became incapable of
such efforts as were requisite in order to recover the ascendant which it
had long possessed in the North of Europe. Sweden, as soon as it was
freed from the dominion of strangers, began to recruit its strength, aird
acquired in a short time such internal vigour, that it became the first kingdom in the North. Early in the subsequent century, it rose to such a high
rank among the powers of Europe, that it had the chief merit in forming,
as well as conducting, tlat powerful leagule, which protected not only the
protestant religion, but the liberties of Germany, against the bigotry and
ambition of the house of Austria.




L 500 ]
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
NOTE [1]. PXGE 8.
T RE consternation of the Britons, when invaded by the Picts and Caledonians
after the Roman legions were called out of the islands, may give some idea of
the degree of debasement to which the human mind was reduced by long servitude under the Romans. In their supplicatory letter to Actius, which they
call the Groans of Britain, " We know not," say they, " which way to turn us.
The barbarians drive us to the sea, and the sea forces us back on the barbarians;
between which we have only the choice of two deaths, either to be swallowed
up by the waves, or to be slain by the sword.". Histor. Gilss, ap. Gale, Hist.
Britain. Script. p. 6.-One can hardly believe this dastardly race to be the descendants of that gallant people, who repulsed Caesar, and dltfended their liberty
so long against the Roman arms.
NOTE [2]. PAGE 8.
THE barbarous nations were not only illiterate, but regarded literature with
contempt. They found the inhabitants of all the provinces of the empire sunk
in effeminacy, and averse to war. Such a character wILs the object of scorn
to a high-spirited and gallant race of men. " When we would brand an
enemy," says Liutprandus, " with the most disgraceful and contumelious appellation, we call him a Roman; hoc solo, id est Romani nomine, quicquid
ignobilitatis, quicquid timiditatis, quicquid avaritim, quicquid luxuriae, quicquid
mendacii, immo quicquid vitiorum est comprehendentes."  Liutprandi Legatio
apud Murat. Scriptor.  Italic. vol. ii. pars 1. p. 481.  This degeneracy of
manners, illiterate barbarians imputed to their love of learning. Even after
they settled in the countries which they had conquered, they woald not permit
their children to be instructed in any science; " for," said they, " instruction
in the sciences tends to corrupt, enervate, and depress the mind; and he who
has been accustomed to tremble under the rod of a pedagogue, will never look
on a sword or spear with an undaunted eye." Procop. de bello Gothor. lib. i. p.
4. ap. Scrip. Byz. edit. Vennet. vol. i. A considerable number of years elapsed,
before nations so rude, and so unwilling to learn, could produce historians
capable of recording their transactions, or of describing their manners and institutions. By that time, the memory of their ancient condition was in a great
measure lost, and few monuments remained to guide their first writers to any
certain knowledge of it. If one expects to receive any satisfactory account of
the manners and laws of the Goths, Lombards, or Franks, during their residence
in those countries where they were originally seated, from Jornandes, Paulus
Warnefridus, or Gregory of Tours, the earliest and most authentic historians
of these people, he will be miserably disappointed. Whatever imperfect knowledge has been conveyed to us of their ancient state, we owe not to their own
writers, but to the Greek and Roman historians.
NOTE [3]. PAGE 8.
- A CIRCUMSTANCE, related by Priscus in his history of the embassy to Attila
king of the Huns, gives a striking view of the enthusiastic passion for war which
prevailed among the barbarous nations. When the entertainment, to which
that ferce conqueror admitted the Roman ambassadors, was ended, two Scythians advanced towards Attila, and recited a poem in which they celebrated
nis victories and military virtues. All the Huns fixed their eyes with attention
on the bards. Some seemed to be delighted with the verses; others, remembering their own battles and exploits. exulted with joy; while such as were become




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                501
feeble through age, burst into tears, bewailing the decay of their vigour, and
the state of inactivity in which they were now obliged to remain. Excerpta
ax historia Prisci Rhetoris ap. Byzant. Histor. Script. vol. i. p. 45.
NOTE [4]. PAGE 11.
A REMARKABLE confirmation of both parts of this reasoning occurs in the
history of England. The Saxons carried on the conquest of that country,
with the same destructive spirit which distinguished the other barbarous nations. The ancient inhabitants of Britain were either exterminated, or forced
to take shelter among the mountains of Wales, or reduced to servitude. The
Saxon government, laws, manners and language were of consequence introduced into Britain; and were so perfectly established, that all memory of the
institutions previous to their conquest of the country, was in a great measure.bst. The very reverse of this happened in a subsequent revolution. A single
victory placed William the Norman on the throne of England. The Saxon
inhabitants, though oppressed, were not exterminated. William employed the
utmost efforts of his power and policy to make his new subjects conform in
every thing to the Norman standard, but without success. The Saxons, though
vanquished, were far more numerous than their conquerors; when the two
races began to incorporate, the Saxon laws and manners gradually gained
ground. The Norman institutions became unpopular and'odious; many of
them fell into disuse, and in the English constitution and language, at this day,
many essential parts are manifestly of Saxon, not of Norman extraction.
NOTE [5]. PAGE 11.
ProcoPIus, the historian, declines, from a principle of benevolence, to give
any particular detail of the cruelties of the Goths: "Lest," says he, " I should
transmit a monument and example of inhumanity to succeeding ages."  Proc.
de bello Goth. lib. iii. cap. 10. ap. Byz. Script. vol. i. p. 126. But as the change,
which I have pointed out as a consequence of the settlement of the barbarous
nations in the countries formerly subject to the Roman empire, could not have
taken place, if the greater part of the ancient inhabitants had not been extirpated, an event of such importance and influence merits a more particular
illustration. This will justify me for exhibiting some part of that melancholy
spectacle, over which humanity prompted Procopius to draw a veil. I shall
not, however, disgust my readers by a minute narration; but rest satisfied witi
collecting some instances of the devastations made by two of the many nations
which settled in the empire. The Vandals were the first of the barbarians who
invaded Spain. It was one of the richest and most populous of the Roman
provinces; the inhabitants had been distinguished for courage, and had defended
their liberty against the arms of Rome, with greater obstinacy and during a
longer course of years, than any nation in Europe.  But so entirely were they
enervated by their subjection to the Romans, that the Vandals, who entered
the kingdom, A. D. 409, completed the conquest of it with such rapidity, that
in the year 411, these barbarians divided it among them by casting lots. The
desolation occasioned by their invasion, is thus described by Idatius an eyewitness: " The barbarians wasted every thing with hostile cruelty. The pestilence was no less destructive. A dreadful famine raged, to such a degree, that
the living were constrained to feed on the dead bodies of their fellow-citizens;
and all those terrible plagues desolated at once the unhappy kingdoms." Idatii
Chron. ap. Biblioth. Patrum. vol. vii. p. 1233. edit. Ludg. 1677. The Goths
having attacked the Vandals in their new settlements a fierce war ensued; the
country was plundered by both parties; the cities which had escaped from destruction in the first invasion of the Vandals, were now laid in ashes, and the
inhabitants exposed to suffer every thing that the wanton cruelty of barbarians
could inflict. Idatius describes these scenes of inhumanity, ibid. p. 1235. b.
1236. c. f. A similar account of their devastation is given by Isidorus Hispalensis, and other contemporary writers. Isid. Chron. ap. Grot. hist. Goth. 732.
From Spain the Vandals passed over into Africa, A. D. 428. Africa was, next
to Egypt, the most fertile of the Roman provinces. It was one of the granaries of the empire, and is called by an ancient writer the soul of the commonwealth. Though the army with which the Vandals invaded it did not exceed




502          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
20,000 fighting men, they became absolute masters of the province.n less than
two years. A contemporary author gives a deadful account of the havoc which
they made: "' They found a province well cultivated, and enjoying plenty, the
beauty of the whole earth. They carried their destructive arms into every
corner of it; they dispeopled it by their devastations; exterminating every
thing with fire and sword. They did not even spare the vines and fruit trees,
that those to whom caves and inaccessible mountains had afforded a retreat,
might find no nourishment of any kind. Their hostile rage could not be satiated, and there was no place exempted from the effects of it. They tortured
their prisoners with the most exquisite cruelty, that they might force from them
a discovery of their hidden treasures. The more they discovered the more
they expected, and the more implacable they became. Neither the infirmities
of age nor of sex; neither the dignity of nobility, nor the sanctity of the
sacerdotal office, could mitigate their fury; but the more illustrious their
prisoners were, the more barbarously they insulted them. The public buildings which resisted the violence of the flames, they levelled with the ground.
They left many cities without an inhabitant.  When they approached any
fortified place, which their undisciplined army could not reduce, they gathered
together a multitude of prisoners, and putting them to the sword, left their
bodies unburied, that the stench of the carcasses might oblige the garrison to
abandon it." Victor Vitensis de persecutione Africana, ap. Bibl. Patrum,
vol. viii. p. 666. St. Augustin, an African, who survived the conquest of his
country by the Vandals some years, gives a similar description of their cruelties,
Opera, vol. x. p. 372. edit. 1616.-About a hundred years after the settlement
of the Vandals in Africa, Belisarius attacked and dispossessed them. Procopius, a contemporary historian, describes the devastation which that war occasioned. "Africa," says he, " was so entirely dispeopled that one might
travel several days in it without meeting one man; and it is no exaggeration
to say, that in the course of the war five millions of persons perished! Proc.
Hist. Arcana, cap. 18. ap. Byz. Script. vol. i. 315.-I have dwelt longer upon the
calamities of this province, because they are described not only by contemporary authors, but by eye-witnesses. The present state of Africa confirms their
testimony. Many of the most flourishing and populous cities with which it
was filled, were so entirely ruined, that no vestiges remain to point out where
they were situated. That fertile territory which sustained the Roman empire,
still lies in a great measure uncultivated; and that province, which Victor, in
his barbarous Latin, called Speciositas totius terrceSforentis, is now the retreat of
pirates and banditti.
While the Vandals laid waste a great part of the empire, the Huns desolated
the remainder. Of all the barbarous tribes they were the fiercest and most
formidable. Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary author, and one of the
best of the later historians, gives an account of their policy and manners;
which nearly resembled those of the Scythians described by the ancients, and
of the Tartars known to the moderns. Some parts of their character, and
several of their customs are not unlike those of the Savages in North America.
Their passion for war was extreme.  "As in polished societies" says Amnmianus, "ease and tranquillity are courted, they delight in war and dangers.
He who falls in battle is reckoned happy. They who die of old age or of disease are deemed infamous. They boast, with the utmost exultation, of the
number of enemies whom they have slain, and, as the most glorious of all
ornaments, they fasten the scalps of those who have fallen by their hands to
the trappings of their horses."  Ammian. Marc. lib. xxxi. p. 477. edit. Gronov
Lugd. 1693.-Their incursions into the empire began in the fourth century;
and the Romans, though no strangers, by that time, to the effects of barbarous
rage, were astonished at the cruelty of their devastations. Thrace, Panncnia,
and Illyricum, were the countries which they first laid desolate. As they had
at first lno intention of settling in Europe, they made only inroads of short con-,nuance into the empire, but these were frequent, and Procopius computes
that in each of these, at a medium, two hundred thousand persons perished,
or were carried off as slaves. Procop. Hist. Arcan. ap. Byz. Script. vol. i. 316.
Thrace, the best cultivated province in that quarter of the empire, was converted into a desert, and, when Priscus accompanied the ambassadors sent to




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                               503
Attila, thers were no inhabitants in some of the cities but a few miserable people who had taken shelter among the ruins of the churches; and the fields
were covered with the bones of those who had fallen by the sword. Priscus
ap. Byz. Script. vol. i. 34. Attila became king of the Huns, A. D. 434. He is
one of the greatest and most enterprising conquerors mentioned in history. He
extended his empire over all the vast countries comprehended under the gene.
ral names of Scythia and Germany in the ancient division of the. world.
While he was carrying on his wars against the barbarous nations, he kept the
Roman empire under perpetual apprehensions, and extorted enormous subsidies from the timid and effeminate monarchs who governed it. In the year
451, he entered Gaul, at the head of an army composed of all the various
nations which he had subdued. It was more numerous than any with which
the barbarians had hitherto invaded the empire. The devastations which he
committed were horrible; not only the open country, but the most flourishing
cities, were desolated. The extent and cruelty of his devastations are described by Salvianus de Gubernat. Dei, edit. Baluz. Par. 16691p. 139, &c. and
by Idatius, ubi supra, p. 1235. Aetius put a stop to his progress in that country
by the famous battle of Chalons, in which, (if we may believe the historians
of that age) three hundred thousand persons perished. Idat. Ibid. Jornandes
de Rebus Geticis. ap. Grot. Hist. Gothr. p. 671. Amst. 1665. But the next
year he resolved to attack the centre of the empire, and marching into Italy,
wasted it with rage, inflamed by the sense of his late disgrace. What Italy
suffered by the Huns, exceeded all the calamities which the preceding barbarians had brought upon it. Conringius has collected several passages from
the ancient historians, which prove that the devastations committed by the
Vandals and Huns, in the countries situated on the banks of the Rhine, were
no less cruel and fatal to the human race. Exercitatio de urbibus Germanise,
Opera, vol. i. 488. It is endless, it is shocking, to follow these destroyers of
mankind through so many scenes of horror, and to contemplate the havoc
which they made of the human species.
But the state in which Italy appears to have been, during several ages after
the barbarous nations settled in it, is the most decisive proof of the cruelty as
well as extent of their devastations. Whenever any country is thinly inhabited,
trees and shrubs spring up in the uncultivated fields, and spreading by degrees,
form large forests; by the overflowing of rivers, and the stagnating of waters,
other parts of it are converted into lakes and marshes. Ancient Italy, which
the Romans rendered the seat of elegance and luxury, was cultivated to the
highest pitch. But so effectually did the devastations of the barbarians destroy
all the effects of Roman industry and cultivation, that in the eighth century a
considerable part of Italy appears to have been covered with forests and
marshes of great extent. Muratori enters into a minute detail concerning the
situation and limits of several of these; and proves by the most authentic
evidence, that great tracts of territory, in all the different provinces of Italy,
were either overrun with wood, or laid under. water. Nor did these occupy
parts of the country naturally barren or of little value, but were spread over
districts which ancient writers represent as extremely fertile, and which at
present are highly cultivated. Muratori Antiquitates Italicme medii aevi, dissert.
xxi. v. ii. p. 149. 153, &c. A strong proof of this occurs in a description of the
city of Modena, by an author of the tenth century. Murat. Script. Rerum
Italic. vol ii. pars ii. p. 691. The state of desolation in other countries of
Europe seems to have been the same. In many of the most early charters
now extant, the lands granted to monasteries, or to private persons, are distinguished into such as are cultivated or inhabited, and such as were eremi,
desolate. In many instances, lands are granted to persons because they had
taken them from the desert, ab eremo, and had cultivated and planted them
with inhabitants. This appears from a charter of Charlemagne, published by
Eckhart de Rebus Francira Orientalis, vol. ii. p. 864, and from many charters
of his successors quoted by Du Cange, voc. eremus.-Wherever a right of property in land can be thus acquired, it is evident that the country must be extremely desolate and thinly peopled. The first settlers in America obtained
possession of land by such a title. Whoever was able to clear and cultivate a
field, was recognised as the proprietor. His industry merited such a recoin



504          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
pense. The grants in the charters which I have mentioned flow from a similar
principle, and there must have been some resemblance in the state of the
countries.
Muratori adds, that during the eighth and ninth centuries, Italy was greatly
infested with wolves and other wild beasts; another mark of its being destitute
of inhabitants. Murat. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 163. Thus Italy, the pride of the
ancient world for its fertility and cultivation, was reduced to the state of a
country newly peopled and lately rendered habitable.
I am sensible, not only that some of these descriptions of the devastations,
which I have quoted, may be exaggerated, but that the barbarous tribes, in
making their settlements, did not proceed invariably in the same manner.
Some of them seemed to be bent on exterminating the ancient inhabitants;
others were more disposed to incorporate with them. It is not my province
either to inquire into the causes which occasioned this variety in the conduct
of the conquerors, or to describe the state of those countries where the ancient
inhabitants wer4 treated most mildly. The facts which I have produced are
sufficient to justify the account which I have given in the text, and to prove,
that the destruction of the human species, occasioned by the hostile invasions
of the northern nations and their subsequent settlements, was much greater
than many authors seem to imagine.
NOTE [6]. PAGE 12.
I HAVE observed, Note [2.] that our only certain information concerning the
ancient state of the barbarous nations must be derived from the Greek and
Roman writers. Happily an account of the institutions and customs of one
people, to which those of all the rest seem to have been in a great measure
similar, has been transmitted to us by two authors, the most capable, perhaps,
that ever wrote, of observing them with profound discernment, and of describing them with propriety and force. The reader must perceive that Casar and
Tacitus are the authors whom I have in view. The former gives a short account of the ancient Germans in a few chapters of the sixth book of his Commentaries; the latter wrote a treatise expressly on that subject. These are the
most precious and instructive monuments of antiquity to the present inhabitants
of Europe. From them we learn,
1. That the state of society among the ancient Germans was of the rudest
and most simple form. They subsisted entirely by hunting or by pasturage.
Caes. lib. vi. c. 21. They neglected agriculture, and lived chiefly on milk.
cheese, and flesh. Ibid. c. 22. Tacitus agrees with him in most of these
points. De Morib. Germ. c. 14, 15. 23. The Goths were equally negligent of
agriculture. Prisc. Rhet. ap. Byz. Script. v. i. p. 31. B. Society was in the
same state among the Huns, who disdained to cultivate the earth, or to touch
a plough. Amm. Marcel. lib. xxxi. p. 475. The same manners took place'
among the Alans; ibid. p. 477. While society remains in this simple state, men
by uniting together scarcely relinquish any portion of their natural independence. Accordingly we are informed, 2. That the authority of civil government
was extremely limited among the Germans. During times of peace they had
no common or fixed magistrate, but the chief men of every district dispensed
justice and accommodated differences, Cws. ibid. c. 23. Their kings had not
absolute or unbounded power; their authority consisted rather in the privilege
of advising, than in the power of commanding. Matters of small consequence
were determined by the chief men; affairs of importance by the whole community. Tacit. c. 7. 11. The Huns, in like manner, deliberated in common
concerning every business of moment to the society; and were not subject to
the rigour of regal authority. Amm. Marcel. lib. xxxi. p. 474. 3. Every individual among the ancient Germans was left at liberty to choose whether he
would take part in any military enterprise which was proposed; there seems to
have been no obligation to engage in it imposed on him by public authority.
L4 When any of the chief men propose an expedition, such as approve of the
cause and of the leader rise up, and declare their intention of following him;
after coming under this engagement, those who do not fulfil it, are considered
as deserters and traitors, and are looked upon as infamous."  Cts. ibid. c. 23.
Tacitus plainly points at the same custom, though in terms more obscure




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.    505
Tacit.,, c. 11. 4. As every individual was so independent, and master in so
great a degree of his own actions, it became of consequence, the great object
of every person among the Germans, who aimed at being a leader, to gain adherents and attach them to his person and interest. These adherents Caesar
calls JAmbacti and Clientes, i. e. retainers or clients; Tacitus, Comites, or corn
panions. The chief distinction and power of the leaders consisted in being
attended by a numerous band of chosen youth. This was their pride as well
as ornament during peace and their defence in war. The leaders gained or
preserved the favour of these retainers by presents of armour and of horses;
or by the profuse though inelegant hospitality with which they entertained
theinm    Tacit. c. 14, 15. 5. Another consequence of the personal liberty and
independence which the Germans retained, even after they united in society,
was their circumscribing the criminal jurisdiction of the magistrate within very
narrow limits, and their not only claiming but exercising almost all the rights
of private resentment and revenge. Their magistrates had not the power either
of imprisoning or of inflicting any corporal punishment on a free man.
Tacit. c. 7. Every person was obliged to avenge the wrongs which his parents
or friends had sustained. Their enemies were hereditary, but not irreconcilable.
Even murder was compensated by paying a certain number of cattle.  Tacit.
c. 21. A part of the fine went to the king, or state, a part to the person who
had been injured, or to his kindred. Ibid. c. 12.
Those particulars concerning the institutions and manners of the Germans,
though well known to every person conversant in ancient literature, I have
thought proper to arrange in this order, and to lay before such of my readers as
may be less acquainted with these facts, both because they confirm the account
which I have given of the state of the barbarous nations, and because they tend
to illustrate all the observations I shall have occasion to make concerning the
various changes in their government and customs. The laws and customs introduced by the barbarous nations into their new settlements, are the best commentary on the writings of Caesar and Tacitus; and their observations are the
best key to a perfect knowledge of these laws and customs.
One circumstance, with respect to the testimony of Caesar and Tacitus, concerning the Germans, merits attention.  Cessar wrote his brief account of their
manners more than a hundred years before Tacitus composed his treatise De
Moribus Germanorum.  A hundred years make a considerable period in the
progress of national manners,-especially if, during that time, those people who
are rude and unpolished have had much communication with more civilized
states.  This was the case with the Germans.  Their intercourse with the
Romans began when Caesar crossed the Rhine, and increased greatly during
the interval between that event and the time when Tacitus flourished. We
may accordingly observe, that the manners of the Germans, in his time, which
Ceasar describes, were less improved than those of the same people as delineated
by Tacitus.  Besides this, it is remarkable that there was a considerable difference in the state of society among the different tribes of Germans. The Suiones were so much improved, that they began to be corrupted. Tac. cap. 44.
The Fenni were so barbarous, that it is wonderful how they were able to subsist.  Ibid. cap. 46. Whoever undertakes to describe the manners of the Germans' or to found any political theory upon the state of society among them,
ought carefully to attend to both these circumstances.
Before I quit this subject, it may not be improper to observe, that though
successive alterations in their institutions, together with the gradual progress of
refinement, have made an entire change in the manners of the various people
who conquered the Roman empire, there is still one race of men nearly in the
same political situation with theirs, when they first settled in their new conquests; I mean the various tribes and nations of savages in North America.
It cannot then be considered either as a digression, or as an improper indulgence of curiosity, to inquire whether this similarity in their political state has
occasioned any resemblance between their character and manners. If the
likeness turns out to be striking, it is a stronger proof that a just account has
ocen given of the ancient inhabitants of Europe, than the testimony even of
Cuesar or Tacitus.
1. The Americans subsist chiefly by hunting and fishing. Some tribes
VOL. II. —64




606            PROOF S AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
neglect agriculture entirely. Among those who cultivate some small spot near
their huts, that, together with all works of labour, is performed by the women.
P. Charlevoix Journal Historique d'un Voyage de l'Amerique, 4to. Par. 1774,
p. 334. In such a state of society, the common wants of men being few, and
their mutual dependence upon each other small, their union is extremely im.
perfect and  feeble, and they continue to enjoy their natural liberty almost unimpaired. It is the first idea of an American, that every man is born free and
independent, and that no power on earth hath any right to diminish or circumscribe his natural liberty. There is hardly any appearance of subordination
either in civil or domestic government. Every one does what he pleases. A
father and mother live with their children, like persons whom  chant has
brought together, and whom no common bond unites. Their manner of educating their children is suitable to this principle. They never chastise or punish
them, even during their infancy. As they advance in years, they continue to
be entirely masters of their own actions, and seem not to be conscious of being
responsible for any part of their conduct. Id. p. 272, 273.-2. The power
of their civil magistrates is extremely limited. Among most of their tribes,
the sachem or chief is elective. A council of old men is chosen to assist him,
without whose advice he determines no affair of importance.  The sachems
neither possess nor claim any great degree of authority. They propose and
entreat, rather than command.  The obedience of their people is altogether
voluntary. Ibid. p. 266. 268.-3. The savages of America engage in their
military enterprises, not from constraint, but choice. When war is resolved,
a chief arises, and offers himself to be the leader. Such as are willing (for
they compel no person) stand up one after another, and sing their war song.
But if, after this, any of these should refuse to follow the leader to whom they
have engaged, his life would be in danger, and he would be considered as the
most infamous ofmen. Id. p. 217, 218.-4. Such as engage to follow any
leader, expect to be treated by him with great attention and respect; and he is
obliged to make them presents of considerable value. Id. p. 218. —5. Among
the Americans, the magistrate has scarcely any criminal jurisdiction. Ibid. p.
272. Upon receiving any injury, the person or family offended may inflict
what punishment they please on the person who was the author of it. Ibido
p. 274. Their resentment and desire of vengeance are excessive and implacable.
Time can neither extinguish nor abate it. It is the chief inheritance parents
leave to their children; it is transmitted from generation to generation, until an
occasion be found of satisfying it. Ibid. p. 309.  Sometimes, however, the
offended party is appeased. A compensation is paid for a murder that has
been committed. The relations of the deceased receive it; and it consists most
commonly of a captive taken in war, who, being substituted in place of the
person who was murdered, assumes his name, and is adopted into his family.
Ibid. p. 274. The resemblance holds in many other particulars. It is sufficient
for my purpose to have pointed out the similarity of those great features which
distinguish and characterize both people. Bochart, and other philologists of
the last century, who, with more erudition than science, endeavoured to trace
the migration of various nations, and who were apt, upon the slightest appearance of resemblance, to find an affinity between nations far removed from
each other, and to conclude that they were descended from the same ancestors,
would hardly have failed, on viewing such an amazing similarity, to pronounce
with confidence, " That the Germans and Americans must be the same people."
But a philosopher will satisfy himself with observing, " That the characters of
nations depend on the state of society in which they live, and on the political
institutions established among them; and that the human mind, whenever it is
placed in the same situation, will, in ages the most distant, and in countries
the most remote, assume the same form, and be distinguished by the same
manners."
I have pushed the comparison between the Germans and Americans no farther than was necessary for the illustration of my subject. I do not pretend
that the state of society in the two countries was perfectly similar in every
respect. Many of the German tribes were more civilized than the Americans.
Some of them were not unacquainted with agriculture; almost all of them
had flocks of tame cattle, and depended upon them for the chief part of their




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                507
subsistence. Most of the American tribes subsist by hunting, and are in a
ruder and more simple state than the ancient Germans. The resemblances
however, between their condition, is greater, perhaps, than any that history
affords an opportunity of observing between any two races of uncivilized people, and this has produced a surprising similarity of manners.
NOTE [7]. PAGE 12.
THE booty gained by an army belonged to the army. The king himself had
no part of it but what he acquired by lot. A remarkable instance of this oc
curs in the history of the Franks. The army of Clovis, the founder of'he
French monarchy, having plundered a church, carried off, among other sacred
utensils, a vase of extraordinary size and beauty. The bishop sent deputies
to Clovis, beseeching him to restore the vase, that it might be again employed
in the sacred services to which it had been consecrated. Clovis desired the
deputies to follow him to Soissons, as the booty was to be divided in that
place, and promised, that if the lot should give him the disposal of the vase
he would grant what the bishop desired. When he came to Soissons, and all
the booty was placed in one great heap, in the middle of the army, Clovis entreated, that before making the division, they would give him that vase over
and above his share. All appeared willing to gratify the king, and to comply
with his request, when a fierce and haughty soldier lifted up his battle-axe, and
striking the vase with the utmost violence, cried out with a loud voice, "You
shall receive nothing here but that to which the lot gives you a right." Greo
gor. Turon. Histor. Francorum, lib. ii. c. 27. p. 70. Par. 1610.
NOTE [8]. PAGE 13.
THE history of the establishment and progress of the feudal system is aa
interesting object to all the nations of Europe. In some countries, their jurisprudence and laws are still in a great measure feudal. In others, many forms
and practices established by custom, or founded on statutes, took their rise
from the feudal law, and cannot be understood without attending to the ideas
peculiar to it. Several authors of the highest reputation for genius and erudition, have endeavoured to illustrate this subject, but still many parts of it are
obscure. I shall endeavour to trace, with precision, the progress and variation
of ideas concerning property in land among the barbarous nations; and shall
attempt to point out the causes which introduced these changes, as well as the
effects which followed upon them. Property in land seems to have gone through
four successive changes among the people who settled in the various provinces
of the Roman empire.
I. While the barbarous nations remained in their original countries, their
property in land was only temporary, and they had no certain limits to their
possessions. After feeding their flocks in one great district, they removed with
them, and with their wives and families, to another; and abandoned that likewise in a short time. They were not, in consequence of this imperfect species
of property, brought under any positive or formal obligation to serve the community; all their services were purely voluntary. Every individual was at
liberty to choose how far he would contribute towards carrying on any military
enterprise. If he followed a leader in any expedition, it was from attachment,
not from a sense of obligation. The clearest proof of this has been produced
in Note [6]. While property continued in this state, we can discover nothing
that bears any resemblance to a feudal tenure, or to the subordination and
military service which the feudal system introduced.
II. Upon settling in the countries which they had subdued, the victorious
troops divided the conquered lands. Whatever portion of them fell to a soldier,
lie seizod as the recompense due to his valour, as a settlement acquired by his
own sword. He took possession of it as a freeman in full property. He enjoyed it during his own life, and could dispose of it at pleasure, or transmit it
as an inheritance to his children. Thus property in land became fixed. It was
at the same time allodial, i. e. the possessor had the entire right of property
and dominion, he held of no sovereign or superior lord, to whom he was bound
to do homage and perform service. But as these new proprietors were in some
danger (as has been observed in the text) of being disturbed by the remainder




508          PPROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
of bhe ancient inhabitants, and in still greater danger of being attacked by successive colonies of barbarians as fierce and rapacious as themselves, they saw
the necessity of coming under obligations to defend the community, more explicit than those to which they had been subject in their original habitations.
On this account, immediately upon their fixing in their new settlements, every
freeman became bound to take arms in defence of the community, and, if he
refused or neglected so to do, was liable to a considerable penalty. I do not
mean that any contract of this kind was formally concluded, or mutually ratified by any legal solemnity. It was established by tacit consent, like the other
compacts which hold society together. Their mutual security and preservation
made it the interest of all to recognise its authority, and to enforce the observation of it. We can trace back this new obligation on the proprietors of land
to a very early period in the history of the Franks. Chilperic, who began his
reign A. D. 562, exacted a fine, bannos jussit exigi, from certain persons who
had refused to accompany him in an expedition.  Gregor. Turon. lib. v. c. 26.
p. 211. Childebert, who began his reign A.. 576, proceeded in the same
manner against others who had been guilty of a like crime. Id. lib. vii. c. 42.
p. 342. Such a fine could not have been exacted while property continued in
its first state, and military service was entirely voluntary. Charlemagne ordained, that every freeman who possessed five mansi, i. e. sixty acres of land
in property, should march in persol against the enemy. Capitul. A. D. 807.
Louis le Debonnaire, A. D. 815, graited lands to certain Spaniards, who fled
from tne Saracens, and allowed them to settle in his territories, on condition
that they should serve in the army like other freemen. Capitul. vol. i. p. 500.
By land possessed in property, which is mentioned in the law of Charlemagne,
we are to understand, according to the style of that age, allodial land; alodes
and proprietas, alodum and proprium being words perfectly synonymous. Du
Cange, voce Alodis. The clearest proof of the distinction between allodial and
beneficiary possession, is contained in two charters published by Mluratori, by
which it appears, that a person might possess one part of his estate as allodial,
which he could dispose of at pleasure, the other as a beneJicium, of which he
had only the usufruct, the property returning to the superior lord on his
demise. Antiq. Ital. medii ievi, vol. i. p. 559. 565. The same distinction is
pointed odt in a Capitulare of Charlemagne, A. D. 812, edit. Baluz. vol. i.
p. 491. Count Everard, who married a daughter of Louis le Debonnaire, in
the curious testament, by which he disposes of his vast estate among his children, distinguishes between what he possessed proprietate, and what he held
beneficio; and it appears that the greater part was allodial, A. D. 837. Aub.
Mirsi Opera Diplomatica, Lovan. 1723. vol. i. p. 19.
In the same manner Liber homo is commonly opposed to Vassus or Vassallus;
the former denotes an allodial proprietor, the latter one who held of a superior.
These-free men were under an obligation to serve the state; and this duty was
considered as so sacred, that freemen were prohibited from entering into holy
orders unless they had obtained, the consent of the sovereign. The reason
given for this in the statute is remarkable, "For we are informed that some
do so, not so much out of devotion, as in order to avoid that military service
which they are bound to perform." Capitul. lib. i. ~ 114. If, upon being summoned into the field, any freeman refused to obey, a full Herebannum, i. e. a
fine of sixty crowns, was to be exacted from him according to the law of the
Franks. Capit. Car. Magn. ap. Leg. Longob. lib. i. tit. 14. ~ 13. p. 539. This
expression, according to the law of the Franks, seems to imply, that both the
obligation to serve, and the penalty on those who disregarded it, were coeval
with the laws made by the Franks at their first settlement in Gaul. This fine
was levied with such rigour, " That if any person convicted of this crime was
insolvent, he was reduced to servitude, and continued in that state until such
time as his labour should amount to the value of the herebannum."  Ibid. The
emperor Lotharius rendered the penalty still more severe; and if any person
possessing such an extent of property as made it incumbent on him to take
the field in person, refused to obey the summons, all his goods were declared to
be forfeited, and he himself might be punished with banishment. Murat.
Script. Ital. vol. i. pars ii. p. 153.
III. Property in land having thus become fixed, and subject to military ser



PROOFS,AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                              509
sice, another change was introduced, though slowly, and step by step. We
learn from Tacitus, that the chief men among the Germans endeavoured to
attach to their persons and interests certain adherents whom he calls Comites.
These fought under their standard, and followed them in all their enterprises.
The same custom  continued among them in their new settlements and those
attached or devoted followers were calledfideles, antrustiones, homines in trwste
Dominica, leudes. Tacitus informs us, that the rank of a Comes was deemed
honourable; De Morib. Germ. c. 13. The composition, which is the standaid
by which we must judge of the rank and condition of persons in the middle
ages, paid for the murder of one in truste Dominica, was triple to that paid for
the murder of a freeman. Leg. Salicor. Tit. 44. ~ 1, 2. While the Germans
remained in their own country, they courted the favour of these Comites, by
presents of arms and horses, and by hospitality. See Note VI. As long as
they had no fixed property in land, these were the only gifts that they could
bestow, and the only reward which their followers desired. But upon their
settling in the countries which they conquered, and when the value of property
came to be understood among them, instead of those slight presents, the kings
and chieftains betowed a more substantial recompense in land on their adhe-ents. These grants were called beneficia, because they were gratuitous donations; and honores, because they were regarded as marks of distinction. What
were the services originally exacted in return for these beneficia cannot be determined with absolute precision; because there are no records so ancient.
When allodial possessions were first rendered feudal, they were not, at once,
subjected to all the feudal services. The transition here, as in all other changes
of importance, was gradual. As the great object of a feudal vassal was to obtain protection, when allodial proprietors first consented to become vassals of
any powerful leader, they continued to retain as much of their ancient independence as was consistent with that new relation. The homage which they
did to the superior of whom they chose to hold, was called homagium planum,
and bound themn to nothing more than fidelity, but without any obligation either
of military service, or attendance in the courts of their superior. Of this
homagium planum some traces, though obscure, may still be discovered. Brussel, tom. i. p. 97.  Among the ancient writs published by D. D. De Vic and
Vaisette hist. de Lanqued. are a great many which they call homagia. They
seem to be an intermediate step between the howmgium planum  mentioned
by Brussel, and the engagement to perform  complete feudal service. The
one party promises protection, and grants certain castles or lands; the other
engages to defend the person of the grantor, and to assist him likewise in
defending his property as often as he shall be summoned to do so. But
these engagements are accompanied with none of the feudal formalities, and
no mention is made of any of the other feudal services. They appear rather
to be a mutual contract between equals, than the engagement of a vassal t(
perform  services to a superior lord.  Preuves de PHist. de Lang. tom. ii.
173. et passim. As soon as men were accustomed to these, the other feudal
services were gradually introduced.  M. de Montesquieu considers these
benesficia as fiefs, which originally subjected those who held them to military
service. L'Esprit des Loix, 1. xxx. c. 3. 16. M. l'Abbd de Mably contends
that such as held these were at first subjected to no other service than what
was incumbent on every freeman. Observations sur l'Histoire de France, i.
356. But, upon comparing their proofs and reasonings and conjectures, it
seems to be evident, that as every freeman, in consequence of his allodial property, was bound to serve the community under a severe penalty, no good reason
can be assigned for conferring these beneficia, if they did not subject such as
received them to some new obligation. Why should a king have stripped himself of his domain, if he had not expected that, by parcelling it out, he might
acquire a right to services, to which he had formerly no title? We may then
warrantably conclude, " That as allodial property subjected those who possessed it to serve the community, so beneficia subjected such as held them to
personal service and fidelity to him from whom they received these lands.'
These beneficia were granted originally only during pleasure. No circumstance
relating to the customs of the middle ages is better ascertained than this; and
innumerable proofs of it might be added to those produced in L'EEprit des
Loix. 1. xxx. c. 16. and by Du Cange, voc. Beneficium etfeudum.




&10         )PROOFS AND. ILLUSTRATIONS.
IV. But the possession of benefices did not continue long in this state. A
precarious tenure during pleasure was not sufficient to satisfy such as held
lands, and by various means they gradually obtained a confirmation of their
benefices during life. Feudor. lib. tit. i. Du Cange produces several quotations
from ancient charters and chronicles in proof of this; Glos. voc. Beneficium.
After this it was easy to obtain or extort charters rendering beneficia hereditary,
first in the direct line, then in the collateral, and at last in the female line. Leg.
Longob. lib. iii. tit. 8. Du Cange, voc. Benejicium.
It is no easy matter to fix the precise time when each of these changes took
place. M. l'Ab. Mably conjectures, with some probability, that Charles Martel
first introduced the practice of granting benejicia for life; Observat. tom. i. p.
103. 160; and that Louis le Debonnaire was-among the first who rendered
them hereditary, is evident from the authorities to which he refers; Id. 429.
Mabillon, however, has published a placitum of Louis le Debonnaire, A. D. 860,
by which it appears that he still continued to grant some bcneficia only during
life. De Re Diplomatica, lib. vi. p. 353. In the year 889, Odo king of France
granted lands to Ricabodo, fideli suo, jure beneficiario et fructuario, during his
own life; and if he should die, and a son were born to him, that right was to
continue during the life of his son. Mabillon ut supra, p. 556. This was an
intermediate step between fiefs merely during life, and fiefs hereditary to perpetuity.  While beneficia continued under their first form, and were held only
during pleasure, he who granted them not only exercised the dominiurn or prerogative of superior lord, but he retained the property, giving his vassal only
the usufruct.-But under the latter form, when they became hereditary, although
feudal lawyers continued to define a beneficium agreeably to its original nature,
the property was in effect taken out of the hands of the superior lords, and
lodged in those of the vassal. As soon as the reciprocal advantages of the
feudal mode of tenure came to be understood by superiors as well as vassals,
that species of holding became so agreeable to both, that not only lands, but
casual rents, such as the profits of a toll, the fare paid at ferries, &c. the salaries or perquisites of offices, and even pensions themselves, were granted and
held as fiefs; and military service was promised and exacted on account of
these.  Morice mem. pour servir de preuves a lhist. de Bretagne, tom. ii. 78.
690. Brussel, tom. i. p. 41. How absurd soever it may seem to grant or to hold
such precarious and casual property as a fief, there are instances of feudal
tenures still more singular. The profits arising from the masses said at an
altar were properly an ecclesiastical revenue, belonging to the clergy of the
church or monastery which performed that duty; but these were sometimes
seized by the powerful barons.  In order to ascertain their right to them, they
held them as fiefs of the church, and parcelled them out in the same manner;-4L other property to their sub-vassals.  Bouquet, recueil des hist. vol. x. 238.
480. The same spirit of encroachment which rendered fiefs hereditary, led
the nobles to extort from their sovereigns hereditary grants of offices. Many
of the great offices of the crown became hereditary in most of the kingdoms
in Europe; and so conscious were monarchs of this spirit of usurpation
among the nobility, and so solicitous to guard against it, that on some occa
sions, they obliged the persons whom they promoted to any office of dignity,
to grant an obligation, that neither they nor their heirs should claim it as
belonging to them by hereditary right. A remarkable instance -of this is pro:
duced, Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. xxx. p. 595. Another occurs in the
Thesaur. anecdot. published by Martene and Durand, vol. i. p. 873.-This re
volution in property occasioned a change corresponding to it in political government; the great vassals of the crown, as they acquired such extensive possessions, usurped a proportional degree of power, depressed the jurisdiction of
the crown, and trampled on the privileges of the people. It is on account of
this connection, that it becomes an object of importance in history to trace the
progress of feudal property; for upon discovering in what state property was
at any particular period, we may determine with precision what was the degree
of power possessed by the king or by the nobility at that juncture.
One circumstance more, with respect to the changes which property underwent, deserves attention. I have shown, that when the various tribes of barbarians divided their conquests in the fifth and sixth centuries, the property
which they acquired was allodial; but in several parts of Europe, property




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIonb.                                511
had become almost entirely feudal by the beginning of the tenth century. The
former species of property seems to be so much better and more desirable than
the latter, that such a change appears surprising, especially when we are informed that allodial property was frequently converted into feudal, by a voluntary deed of the possessor. The motives which determined them to a choice sc
repugnant to the ideas of modern times concerning property, have been investigated and explained by M. de Montesquieu, with his usual discernment and
accuracy, lib. xxxi. c. 8. The most considerable is that of which we have a hint
in Lambertus Ardensis, an ancient writer quoted by Du Cange, voce Alodis. In
those times of anarchy and disorder which became general in Europe after the
death of Charlemagne, when there was scarcely any union among the different
members of the community, and individuals were exposed,single and undefended
by government, to rapine and oppression, it became necessary for every man
to have a powerful protector, under whose banner he might range himself, and
obtain security against enemies whom singly he could not oppose. For this
reason he relinquished his allodial independence, and subjected himself to the
feudal services, that he might find safety under the patronage of some respectable superior. In some parts of Europe, this change from allodial to feudal
property became so general, that he who possessed land had no longer any
liberty of choice left. He was obliged to recognise some liege lord, and to
hold of him. Thus Beaumanoir informs us, that in the counties of Clermont
and Beauvois, if the lord or count discovered any lands within his jurisdiction,
for which no service was performed, and which paid to him no taxes or customs, he might instantly seize it as his own; for, says he, no man can hold
allodial property. Coust. ch. 24. p. 123. Upon the same principle is founded
a maxim, which has at length become general in the law of France, JVulle terrl
sans Seigneur. In other provinces of France, allodial property seems to have
remained longer unalienated, and to have been more highly valued. A great
number of charters, containing grants, or sales, or exchanges of allodial lands
in the province of Languedoc, are published. Hist. gener. de Langued. par.
D. D. De Vic et Vaisette, tom. ii. During the ninth, tenth, and great part of
the eleventh century, the property in that province seems to have been entirely
allodial; and scarcely any mention of feudal tenures occurs in the deeds of
that country. The state of property, during these centuries, seems to have
been perfectly similar in Catalonia and the country of Roussillon, as appears
from the original charters published in the Appendix to Petr. de la Marca's
treatise de Marca sive limite Hispanico. Allodial property seems to have continued in the Low-Countries to a period still later. During the eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, this species of property seems to have been
of considerable extent. Miraei opera diplom. vol. i. 34. 74, 75. 83. 296. 817.
842. 847. 578. Some vestiges of allodial. property appear there as late as the
fourteenth century. Ibid. 218. Several facts which prove that allodial property subsisted in different parts of Europe long after the introduction of feudal
tenures, and which tend to illustrate the distinction between these two dfferent
species of possession, are produced by M. Houard, Anciennes Loix des Franqois, conservees dans les Coutumes Angloises, vol. i. p. 192, &c. The notions
of men with respect to property vary according to the diversity of their understandings, and the caprice of their passions. At the same time that some
persons were fond of relinquishing allodial property, in order to hold it by
feudal tenure, others seem to have been solicitous to convert their fiefs into allodial property. An instance of this occurs in a charter of Louis le Debonnaire,
published by Eckhard, Commentarii de rebus Francia Orientalis, vol. ii. p. 885..
Another occurs in the year 1299, Reliquie MSS. omnis evi, by Ludwig, vol. i.
p. 209; and even one as late as the year 1337, ibid. vol. vii. p. 40. The same
thing took place in the Low-Countries. Mirmei oper. 1. 52.
In tracing these various revolutions of property, I have hitherto chiefly confined myself to what happened in France, because the ancient monuments ol
that nation have either been more carefully preserved, or have been more
clearly illustrated than those of any people in Europe.
In Italy, the same revolutions happened in property, and succeeded each
other in the same order. There is some ground, however, for conjecturing that
allodial property continued longer in estimation among the Italians, than




512           PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
among the French. It appears, that many of the charters granted by the emperors in the ninth century, conveyed an allodial right to land. Murat. Antiq
med. avi, v. i. p. 575, &c. But in the eleventh century we find some examples
of persons who resigned their allodial property, and returned it back as a feudal tenure. Id. p. 610, &c. Muratori. observes, that the word feudum, which
came to be substituted in place of beneficium, does not occur in any authentic
charter previous to the eleventh century. Id. 594. A charter of king Robert
of France, A. D. 1008, is the earliest deed in which I have met with the word
feudum.' Bouquet recueil des historiens de Gaule et de la France, tom. x. p.
593. b. This word occurs indeed in an edict, A. D. 790, published by Brussel,
vol. i. p. 77. But the authenticity of that deed has been called in question,
and perhaps the frequent use of the wordfeudum in it is an additional reason
for doing so. The. account which I have give' of the nature both of allodial
and feudal possessions receives some confirmation from the etymology of the
words themselves..lode or allodium is compounded of the German particle
an and lot, i. e. land obtained by lot. Wachteri Glossar. Germanicum, voc.
4llodiurn, p. 35. It appears from the authorities produced by him, and by Du
Cange, voc. Sors, that the northern nations divided the lands which they had
conquered in this manner. Feodum is compounded of od possession or estate,
andfco wages, pay; intimating that it was stipendary, and granted a recompense for service. Wachterus, ibid. voc. Feodum, p. 441.
The progress of the feudal system among the Germans was perfectly similar
to that which we have traced in France. But as the emperors of Germany,
especially after the Imperial crown passed from the descendants of Charlemagne
to the house of Saxony, were far superior to the contemporary monarchs of
France in abilities, the Imperial vassals did not aspire so early to independence,
nor did they so soon obtain the privilege of possessing their benefices by hereditary right. According to the compilers of the Libri Feudorum, Conrad II. or
the Salic, was the first emperor who rendered fiefs hereditary. Lib. i. tit. i.
Conrad began his reign A. D. 1024.  Ludovicus Pius, under whose reign
grants of hereditary fiefs were frequent in France, succeeded his father A. D.
814. Not only was this innovation so much later in being introduced among
the vassals of the German emperors, but even after Conrad had established it,
the law continued favourable to the ancient practice; and unless the charter of
the vassal bore expressly that the fief descended to his heirs, it was presumed
to be granted only during life. Lib. feud. ibid. Even after the alteration made
by Conrad, it was not uncommon in Germany to grant fiefs only for life; a
charter of this kind occurs as late as the year 1376. Charta ap. Boehmer.
Princip. Jur. feud. p. 361. The transmission of fiefs to collateral and female
heirs, took place very slowly among the Germans. There is extant a charter,
A. D. 1201, conveying the right of succession to females, but it is granted as
an extraordinary mark of favour, and in reward of uncommon services.
Boehmer. ibid. p. 365. In Germany, as well as in France and Italy, a considerable part of the lands continued to be allodial long after the feudal mode
of tenure was introduced.  It appears from the Codex Diplomaticus Monasterii
Buch, that a great part of the lands in the Marquisate of Misnia was still
allodial as late as the thirteenth century.  No. 31. 36, 37. 46, &c. ap. Scriptores
hist. German. cura Schoetgenii et Kreysigii. Altenb. 1755. vol. ii. 183, &c.
Allodial property seems to have been common in another district of the same
-rovince, during the same period.  Reliquiae Diplomatice  Sanctimonial.
Beutiz. No. 17. 36. 58. ibid. 374, &c.
NOTE [9]. PAGE 13.
As I shall have occasion, in another Note, to represent the condition of thai
part of the people who dwelt in cities, I will confine myself in this to consider
the state of the inhabitants of the country. The persons employed in cultivating the ground during the ages under review may be divided into three
classes; 1. servi or slaves. This seems to have been the most numerous class.
and consisted either of captives taken in war, or of persons the property in
whom was acquired in some one of the various methods enumerated by Du
Cange, voc. Servus, v. 6. p. 447. The wretched condition of this numerous
race of men will appear from several circumstances.  1. Their masters hao




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                 513
absolute dominion over their persons. They had the power of punishing their
slaves capitally, without the intervention of any judge. This dangerous right
they possessed not only in the more early periods, when their manners were
fierce, but it continued as late as the twelfth century. Joach. Potgiesserus de
statu servorum.  Lemgov. 1737. 4to. lib. ii. cap. i. sect. 4. 10. 13. 24.  Even
after this jurisdiction of masters came to be restrained, the life of a slave was
deemed to be of so little value, that a very slight compensation atoned for
taking it away. Idem, lib. iii. c. 6. If masters had power over the lives of
their slaves, it is evident that almost no bounds would be set to the rigour of
the punishments which they might inflict upon them.  The codes of ancient
laws prescribed punishments for the crimes of slaves different from those which
were inflicted on free men. Tie latter paid only a fine or compensation; the
former were subjected to corporal punishments. The cruelty of these was in
many instances excessive.  Slaves might be put to the rack on very slight
occasions. The laws with respect to these points are to be found in Potgiesserus, lib. iii. cap. 7. and are shocking to humanity. 2. If the dominion of
masters over the lives and persons of their slaves was thus extensive, it was no
less so over their actions and property. They were not originally permitted to
marry. Male and female slaves were allowed and even encouraged to cohabit
together. But this union was not considered as a marriage, it was called contubernium, not nuptice or matrimonium. Potgiess. lib. ii. c. ii. sect. 1. This
notion was so much established, that, during several centuries after the barbarous nations embraced the Christian religion, slaves, who lived as husband
and wife, were not joined together by any religious ceremony, and did not
receive the nuptial benediction from a priest. Ibid. sect. 10, 11.' When this
conjunction between slaves came to be considered as a lawful marriage, they
were not permitted to marry without the consent of their master; and such as
ventured to do so, without obtaining that, were punished with great severity,
and sometimes were put to death.  Potgiess. ibid. sect. 12, &c.  Gregor. Turon.
Hist. lib. v. c. 3. When the manners of the European nations became more
gentle, and their ideas more liberal, slaves who married without their master's
consent were subjected only to a fine. Potgiess. ibid. sect. 20. Du Cange
Gloss. voc. Forismaritagium. 3. All the children of slaves were in the same
condition with their parents, and became the property of the master.  Du
Cange Gloss. voc. Servus, vol. vi. 450. Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. i. 766. 4.
Slaves were so entirely the property of their masters, that they could sell them
at pleasure. While domestic slavery continued, property in a slave waS sold
in the same manner with that which a person had in any other moveable.
Afterwards slaves became adscripti glebce, and were conveyed by sale, together
with the farm or estate to which they belonged. Potgiesserus has collected
the laws and charters which illustrate this well-known circumstance in the condition of slaves. Lib. ii. c. 4. 5. Slaves had a title to nothing but subsistence
and clothes from their master; all the profits of their labour accrued to him.
If a master, from indulgence, gave his slaves any peculium, or fixed allowance
for their subsistence, they had no right of property in what they saved out of
that.  All that they accumulated belonged to their master. Potgiess. lib. ii. c.
10. Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. i. 768. Du Cange, voc. Servus, vol. vi. p. 451.
Conformably to the same principle, all the effects of slaves belonged to their
master at their death, and they could not dispose of them by testament.  Potgiess. lib. ii. c. 11. 6. Slaves were distinguished from free men by a peculiar
dress. Among all the barbarous nations, long hair was a mark of dignity and
of freedom; slaves were for that reason obliged to shave their heads; and by this
distinction, how indifferent soever it may be in its own nature, they, were reminded every moment of the inferiority of their condition. Potgies. lib. iii. c. 4,
For the same reason it was enacted in the laws of almost all the nations of Europe,
that no slave should be admitted to give evidence against a free man in a court
of justice.  Du Cange, voc. Servus, vol. vi. p. 451. Potgiess. lib. iii. c. 3.
2. Villani. They were likewise adscripti glebce or villce, from which they derived their name, and were transferable along with it. Du Cange, voc. JVillanus,
But in this they differed from slaves, that they paid a fixed rent to their master
for the land which they cultivated, and, after paying that, all the fruits of their
labour and industry belonged to themselves in property. This distinction is
VOL II. 65




o14            PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
marked by Pierre de Fontain's Conseil. Vie de St, Louis par Joinville, p,
119. edit. de Du Cange. Several cases decided agreeably to this principle are
mentioned by Murat. ib. p. 773.
3. The last class of persons employed in agriculture were free men. These
are distinguished by various names among the writers of the middle ages,
Jlrimanni, conditionales, originarii, tributales, &c. These seem  to have been
persons who possessed some small allodial property of their own, and besides
that, cultivated some farm belonging to their more wealthy neighbours, for
which they paid a fixed rent; and bound themselves likewise to perform several small services in prato vel in messe, in aratura vel in vinea, such as ploughing
a certain quantity of their landlord's ground, assisting him in harvest and
vintage work, &c. The clearest proof of this may be found in Muratori, v. i.
p. 712. and in Du Cange under the respective words above mentioned. I have
not been able to discover whether these arimanni, &c. were removable at
pleasure, or held their farms by lease for a certain number of years. The
former, if we may judge from the genius and maxims of the age, seems to be
most probable. These persons, however, were considered as free men in the
most honourable sense of the word; they enjoyed all the privileges of that
condition, and were even called to serve in war; an honour to which no slave
was admitted. Murat. Antiq. vol. i. p. 743. vol. ii. p. 446. This account of
the condition of these three different classes of persons, will enable the reader
to apprehend the full force of an argument which I shall produce in confirmation of what I have said in the text concerning the wretched state of the people during the middle ages. Notwithstanding the immense difference between
the first of these classes and the third, such was the spirit of tyranny which
prevailed among the great proprietors of lands, and so various their opportunities of oppressing those who were settled on their estates, and of rendering
their condition intolerable, that many free men, in despair renounced their
liberty, and voluntarily surrendered themselves as slaves to their powerful
masters. This they did, in order that their masters might become more immediately interested to afford them  protection, together with the means of
subsisting themselves and their families. The forms of such a surrender, or
obnoxiatio, as it was then called, are preserved by Marculfus, lib. ii. c. 28; and
by the anonymous author published by M. Bignon, together with the collection
offormulce compiled by Marculfus, c. 16. In both, the reason given for the
obnoxiatio, is the wretched and indigent condition of the person who gives up
his lib'erty. It was still more common for free men to surrender their liberty
to bishops or abbots, that they might partake o' the security which the vassals
and slaves of churches and monasteries enjoyed, in consequence of the super.stitious veneration paid to the saint under whose immediate protection they
were supposed to be taken. Du Cange, voc. Oblatus, vol. iv. p. 1286. That
condition must have been miserable indeed, which could induce a free man
voluntarily to renounce his liberty, and to give up himself as a slave to the
disposal of another. The number of slaves in every nation of Europe was
immense. The greater part of the inferior class of people in France were
reduced to this state at the commencement of the third race of kings. L'Espr.
des Loix. liv. xxx. c. 11. The same was the case in England. Brady Pref. to
Gen. Hist. Many curious facts, with respect to the ancient state of villains,
or slaves in Ergland, are published in Observations on the Statutes, chiefly the
more ancient, third edit. p. 269, &c.
NOTE [10]. PAGE 14.
INNUMERABLE proofs of this might be produced. Many charters, granted by
persons of the highest rank, are preserved, from which it appears that they
could not subscribe their name. It was usual for persons, who could not write,
to make the sign of the cross, in confirmation of a charter. Several of these
remain, w here kings and persons of great eminence affix signum crucis manu
propria pro ignoratione literarum. Du Cange, voc. Crux, vol. iii. p. 1191.
From this is derived the phrase of signing instead of subscribing a paper. In
the ninth century, Herbaud Comes Palatii, though supreme judge of the empire by virtue of his office, could not subscribe his aame. Nouveau Traitd de
Diplomatique par deux Benedictins, 4to. tom. i' p. 422. As late as the four



PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                515
teenth century Du Guesclin, constable of France, the greatest'man in the state,
and one of the greatest men of his age, could neither read nor write. St.
Palaye Memoires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie, tit. ii. p. 82. Nor was this ignorance confined to laymen; the greater part of the clergy was not many degrees
superior to them in science. Many dignified ecclesiastics could not subscribe
the canons of those councils, in which they sat as members. Nouv. Trait4
de Diplom. tom. ii. p. 424. One. of the questions appointed by the canons to
be put to persons who were candidates for orders was this, "Whether they
could read the gospels and epistles, and explain the sense of them, at least
literally?" Regino Prumiensis ap. Bruck. Hist. Philos. v. iii. p. 631. Alfred
the Great complained, that from the Humber to the Thames there- was not a
priest who understood the liturgy in his mother-tongue, or who could translate
the easiest piece of Latin; and that from the Thames to the sea, the ecclesiastics were still more ignorant. Asserius de rebus gestis Alfredi, ap. Camdeni
Anglica, &c. p. 25. The ignorance of the clergy is quaintly described by an
author of the dark ages:" Potius dediti gul quam glossas; potius coiligunt
libras quam legunt libros; libentius intuentur Maithamquam Marcum; malunt
legere in Salmone quam in Solomone."  Alanus de Art. Predicat. ap. Lebeuf
Dissert. tom. ii. p. 21. To the obvious causes of such universal ignorance,
arising from the state of government and manners, from the seventh to the
eleventh century, we may add the scarcity of books during: that period, and
the difficulty of rendering them  more common. The Romans wrote their
books either on parchment or on paper made of the Egyptian papyrus. The
latter being the cheapest, was of course the most commonly used. But after the
Saracens conquered Egypt in the seventh century, the communication between
that country and the people settled in Italy, or in other parts of Europe, was
almost entirely broken off, and the papyrus was no longer in use among them.
They were obliged, on that account, to write all their books upon parchment,
and, as the price of that was high, books became extremely rare and of great
value. We may judge of the scarcity of the materials for'writing them from
one circumstance. There still remain several manuscripts of'the eighth, ninth,
and following centuries, written on parchment, from which some former writing
had been erased, in order to substitute a new composition in its place. In this
manner it is probable that several works of the ancients perished. A book of
Livy or of Tacitus might be erased, to make room for the legendary tale of a
saint, or the superstitious prayers of a missal. Murat. Antiq. Ital. v. iii. p. 833.
P. de Montfaucon affirms, that the greater part of the manuscripts on parchment
which he has seen, those of an ancient date' excepted, are written on parchment
from which some former treatise had been erased. Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. ix. p. 325. As the want of materials for writing is one reason
why so many of the works of the ancients have perished, it accounts likewise
for the small number of manuscripts of any kind, previous to the eleventh century, when they began to multiply from a cause,which shall be mentioned.
Histor. Liter. de France, tom. vi. p. 6. Many circumstances prove the scarcity
of books during these ages. Private persons seldom  possessed any books
whatever. Even monasteries of considerable note had'only one missal. Murat.
Antiq. v. ix. p. 789. Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, in a letter to the pope, A. D.
855, beseeches him to lend him a copy of Cicero de Oratore and Quintilian's
Institutions, " for," says he, " although we have parts of those books, there is
no complete copy of them in all France."  Murat. Antiq. v. iii. p. 835. The
price of books became so high, that persons of a moderate fortune could not
afford to purchase them. The Countess of Anjou paid for a copy of the homi
lies of Haimon, bishop of Alberstadt, two hundred sheep, five quarters of wheat,
and the same quantity of rye and millet. Histoire Literaire de France par
des Religieux Benedictins, tom. vii. p. 3. Even so late as the year 1471, when
Louis XI. borrowed the works of Rasis, the Arabian physician, from the faculty
of medicine in Paris, he not only deposited in pledge a considerable quantity
of plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as surety in
a deed, binding himself under a great forfeiture to restore it. Gabr. Naude
Addit. a l'Histoire de Louys XI. par Comiiines, edit. de Fresnoy, tom. iv. p. 281.
Many curious circumstances, with respect to the extravagant price of books in
the middle ages, are collected by that industrious compiler, to whom  I refe?




516          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
such of my readers as deem this small branch of literary history an object of
curiosity. When any person made a present of a book to a church or a
monastery, in which were the only libraries during several ages, it was deemed
a donative of such value that he offered it on the altar pro remedio animex sue,
in order to obtain the forgiveness of his sins. Murat. vol. iii. p. 836. Hist.
Lit. de France, tom. vi. p. 6. Nouv. Trait. du Diplomat. par deux Benedictins,
4to. tom. i. p. 481. In the eleventh century, the art of making paper, in the
manner now become universal, was invented; by means of that, not only the
number of manuscripts increased, but the study of the sciences was wonderfully facilitated. Murat. ib. p. 871. The invention of the art of making
paper, and the invention of the art of printing, are two considerable events in
literary history. It is remarkable that the former preceded the first dawning
of letters and improvement in knowledge towards the close of the eleventh
century; the latter ushered in the light which spread over Europe at the era
of the reformation.
NOTE [11]. PAGE 15.
ALL the religious maxims and practices of the dark ages are a proof of this
I shall produce one remarkable testimony in confirmation of it, from an author
canonized by the church of Rome, St. Eloy, or Egidius, bishop of Noyon, in
the seventh century. " He is a good Christian who comes frequently to church;
who presents the oblation which is offered to God upon the altar; who doth
not taste of the fruits of his own industry until he has consecrated a part of
them to God, who, when the holy festivals approach, lives chastely even with
his own wife during several days, that with a safe conscience he may draw near
the altar of God; and who, in the last place, can repeat the Creed and the
Lord's Prayer. Redeem then your souls from destruction, while you have the
means in your power; offer presents and tithes to churchmen; come more frequently to church; humbly implore the patronage of the saints; for, if you
observe these things, you may come with security in the day of retribution to
the tribunal of the eternal Judge, and say,' Give to us, O Lord, for we have
given unto thee.'" Dacherii Spicelegium Vet. Script. v. ii. p. 94. The learned
and judicious translator of Dr. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, to one of
whose additional notes I am indebted for my knowledge of this passage,'subjoins a very proper reflection: "We see here a large and ample description
of a good Christian, in which there is not the least mention of the love of
God, resignation to his will, obedience to his laws, or of justice, benevolence,
and charity towards men."  Mosh. Eccles. Hist. v. i. p. 324.
NOTE [12]. PAGE 15.
THAT infallibility in all its determinations, to which the church of Rome
pretends, has been attended with one unhappy consequence. As it is impossi
ble to relinquish any opinion, or to alter any practice which has been established
by authority that cannot err, all its institutions and ceremonies must be im
mutable and everlasting, and the church must continue to observe, in enlight
ened times, those rights which were introduced during the ages of darkness
and credulity. What delighted and edified the latter, must disgust and shock
the former. Many of the rites observed in the Romish church appear manifestly to have been introduced by a superstition of the lowest and most illiberal
species. Many of them were borrowed, with little variation, from the religious
ceremonies established among the ancient heathens. Some were so ridiculous,
that if every age did not furnish instances of the fascinating influence of superstition, as well as of the whimsical forms which it assumes, it must appear incredible that they should have been ever received or tolerated. In several
churches of France, they celebrated a festival in commemoration of the Virgin
Mary's flight into Egypt. It was called the feast of the Ass. A young girl
richly dressed, with a child in her arms, was set upon an ass superbly caparisoned. The ass was led to the altar in solemn procession. High mass was
said with great pomp. The ass was taught to kneel at proper places; a hymn
no less childish than impious was sung in his praise; and when the ceremony
was ended, the priest, instead of the usual words with which he dismissed the
people, brayed three times like an ass, and the people. instead of the usua'




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                               517
response, We bless the Lord, brayed three times in the same manner. Du
Cange, voc. Festum, v. iii. p. 424.  This ridiculous ceremony was not, like the
festival of fools, and some other pageants of those ages, a mere farcical entertainment exhibited in a church, and mingled, as was then the custom, with an
imitation of some religious rites; it was an act of devotion, performed by the
ministers of religion, and by the authority of the church. However, as this
practice did not prevail universally in the Catholic church, its absurdity contributed at last to abolish it.
NOTE [13]. PAGE 17.
As there is no event in the history of mankind more singular than that of
the crusades, every circumstance that tends to explain or to give any rational
account of this extraordinary frenzy of the human mind is interesting. I have
asserted in the text, that the minds of men were prepared gradually for the
amazing effort which they made in consequence of the exhortations of Peter
the hermit, by several occurrences previous to his time. A more particular
detail of this curious and obscure part of history, may perhaps appear to some
of my readers to be of importance. That the end of the world was expected
about the close of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century; and that
this occasioned a general alarm, is evident from the authors to whom I have
referred in the text. This belief was so universal and so strong, that it mingled
itself with civil transactions. Many charters in the latter part of the tenth
century begin in this manner: " Appropinquante mundi termino," &c. As the
end of the world is now at hand, and by various calamities and judgments the
signs of its approach are now manifest. Hist. de Langued. par D. D. de Vie. et
Vaisette. tom. ii. Preuves, p. 86. 89, 90. 117. 158, &c. One effect of this opinion
was, that a great number of pilgrims resorted to Jerusalem with a resolution
to die there, or to wait the coming of the Lord; kings, earls, marquisses,
bishops, and even a great number of women, besides persons of inferior rank.,flocked to the Holy Land.  Glaber. Rodulph. Hist. chez Bouquet Recueil,
tom. x. p. 50. 52. Another historian mentions- a vast cavalcade of pilgrims
who accompanied the count of Angouleme to Jerusalem in the year 1026.
Chronic. Ademari, ibid. p. 162. Upon their return, these pilgrims filled Europe
with lamentable accounts of the state of Christians in the Holy Land. Willerm. Tyr. Hist. ap. Gest. Dei per France, vol. ii. p. 636.  Guibert. Abbat.
Hist. ibid. vol. i. p. 476. Besides this, it was usual for many of the Christian
inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as of other cities in the East, to travel as
mendicants through Europe; and by describing the wretched condition of the professors of the Christian faith under the dominion of Infidelst to extort charity,
and to excite zealous persons to make some attempt in order to deliver them
from oppression. Baldrici Archiepiscopi Histor. ap. Gesta Dei, &c. vol. i. p.
86. In the year 986, Gerbert, archbishop of Ravenna, afterwards Pope Silvester
II. addressed a letter to all Christians in the name of the church of Jerusalem.
It is eloquent and pathetic, and contains a formal exhortation to take arms
against the Pagan oppressors, in order to rescue the holy city from their yoke.
Gerberti Epistolse ap. Bouquet Recueil, tom. x. p. 426. In consequence of this
spirited call, some subjects of the republic of Pisa equipped a fleet, and invaded
the territories of the Mahometans in Syria. Murat. Script. Rer. Italic. vol. iii.
p. 400. The alarm was taken in the East, and an opinion prevailed, A. D. 1010.
that all the forces of Christendom were to unite, in order to drive the Mahometans out of Palestine. Chron. Ademari ap Bouquet, tom. x. p. 152. It is
evident from all these particulars, that the ideas which led the crusaders to
undertake their wild enterprise did not arise, according to the description of
many authors, from  a sudden fit of frantic enthusiasm, but were gradually
formed; so that the universal concourse to the standard of the cross, whe.
erected by Urban II. will appear less surprising.
If the various circumstances which I have enumerated in this note, as well
as in the history, are sufficient to account for the ardour with which such vast
numbers engaged in such a dangerous undertaking, the extensive privileges and
immunities granted to the persons who assumed the cross, served to account
for the long continuance of this spirit in Europe. 1. They were exempted
from  prosecutions on account of debt, during the time of their being engaged




51it        PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
in this holy service. Du Cange voc. Crucis privilegium, v. ii. p. 1194.-2.
They were exempted from paying interest for the money which they had
borrowed, in order to fit them for this sacred warfare. Ibid.-3. They were
exempted either entirely, or at least during a certain time, from the payment of
taxes. Ibid. Ordonnances des Rois de France, tom. i. p. 33 —4.  They might
alienate their lands without the consent of the superior lord of whom they held,
Ibid.-5.  Their persons and effects were taken under the protection of St,
Peter, and anathemas of the church were denounced against all who should
molest them, or carry on any quarrel or hostility against them, during their
absence on account of the holy war. Du Cange, Ibid. Guibertus Abbas ap.
Bongars. i. p. 480. 482.-6. They enjoyed all the privileges of ecclesiastics,
and were not bound to plead in any civil court, but were declared subject to
the spiritual jurisdiction alone. Du Cange, Ib. Ordon. des Rois, tom. i. p.
34. 174.-7. They obtained a plenary remission of all their sins, and the
gates of heaven were set open to them, without requiring any other proof of
their penitence, but their engaging in this expedition; and thus, by gratifying
their favourite passion, the love of war, they secured to themselves civil rights
of great value, and religious immunities, which were not usually obtained, but
by paying large sums of money, or by undergoing painfufl penances.  Guibert.
Abbas, p. 480. When we behold the civil and ecclesiastical powers vying with
each other, and straining their invention in order to devise expedients for
encouraging and adding strength to the spirit of superstition, can we be surprised that it should become so general as to render it infamous, and a mark
of cowardice, to decline engaging in the holy war? Willierm. Tyriensis ap,
Bongars, vol. ii. p. 641.  The histories of the crusades, written by modern
authors, who are apt to substitute the ideas and maxims of their own age in
the place of those which influenced the persons whose actions they attempt to
relate, convey a very imperfect notion of the spirit at that time predominant
in Europe. The original historians who were animated themselves with the
same passions which possessed their contemporaries, exhibit to us a more
striking picture of the times and manners which they describe. The enthusiastic rapture with which they account for the effects of the pope's discourse in
the council;of Clermont; the exultation with which they mention the numbers
who devoted themselves to this holy warfare; the confidence with which. they
express their reliance on the Divine protection  the. ecstasy of joy with which
they describe their taking possession of the holy city, will enable us to conceive, in some degree, the extravagance of that zeal which agitated the minds
of men with such violence, and will suggest as many singular reflections to a
philosopher, as any occurrence in the history of mankind. It is unnecessary
to select the particular passages in the several historians, which confirm this
observation. But lest those authors may be suspected of adorning their narrative with any exaggerated description, I shall appeal to one of the leaders
who conducted the enterprise. There is extant a letter from Stephen, the earl
of Chartres and Blois, to Adela his wife, in which he gives her an account of
the progress of the crusaders.  He describes the crusaders as the chosen
army of Christ, as the servants and soldiers of God, as men who marched
under the immediate protection of the Almighty, being conducted by his hand
to victory and conquest. He speaks of the Turks as accursed, sacrilegious,
and devoted by Heaven to destruction: and when he mentions the soldiers in
the Christian army who had died, or were killed, he is confident that their souls
were admitted directly into the joys of Paradise.  Dacherii Spicelegium, vol.
iv. p. 257.
The expense of conducting numerous bodies of men from Europe to Asia,
must have been excessive, and the difficulty of raising the necessary sums
must have been proportionally great, during ages when the public revenues in
every nation of Europe were extremely small..Some account is preserved of
the expedients employed by Humbert II. dauphin of Vienne, in order to levy
the money requisite towards equipping him  for the crusade, A. D. 1346.
These I shall mention, as they tend to show the considerable influence which
the crusades had, both on the state of property, and of civil government. 1.
lif exposed to sale part of his domains; and as the price was destined for
such a sacred service, he obtained the consent of the French king, of whom




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                               519
these lands were held, ratifying the alienation.  Hist. de Dauphine, tom. i. p,
332. 335.-2. He issued a proclamation, in which he promised to grant new
privileges to the nobles, as well as new immunities to the cities and towns, in
his territories, in consideration of certain sums which they were instantly to
pay on that account. Ibid. tom. ii. p. 512. Many of the charters of community, which I shall mention in another Note, were obtained in this manner.-3.
He exacted a contribution towards defraying the charges of the expedition
from all his subjects, whether ecclesiastics or laymen, who did not accompany
him in person to the East. Ibid. torn. i. p. 335.-4. He appropriated a considerable part of his usual revenues for the support of the troops to be employed in this service. Ibid. tom. ii. p. 518.-5.  He exacted considerable
sums not only of the Jews settled in his dominions, but also of the Lombards
and other bankers who had fixed their residence there.' Ibid. tom. i. p. 338.
tom. ii. 528. Notwithstanding the variety of their resources, the dauphin was
involved in such expense by this expedition, that on his return he was obliged
to make new demands on his subjects, and to pillage the Jews by fresh exactions.
Ibid. torn. i. p. 344. 347. When the count de Foix engaged in the first crusade,
he raised the money necessary for defraying the expenses of that expedition,
by alienating part of his territories. Hist. de Langued. par D. D. de Vic and
Vaisette, tom. ii. p. 287. In like manner Baldwin, count of Hainault, mortgaged or sold a considerable portion of his dominions to the bishop of Liege,
A. D. 1096. Du Mont, Corps Diplomatique, tom. i. p. 53. At a later period,
Baldwin, count of Namur, sold part of his estate to a monastery when he
intended to assume the cross, A. D. 1239. Miraei Oper. i. 313.
NOTE [14J. PAGE 19.
THE usual method of forming an opinion concerning the comparative state
of manners in two different nations, is by attending to the facts which historians
relate concerning each of them. Various passages might be selected from the
Byzantin historians, describing the splendour and magnificence of the Greek
empire. P. de Montfaucon has produced from the writings of St. Chrysostom
a very full account of the elegance and luxury of the Greeks in his age. That
father in his sermons enters into such minute details concerning the manners
and customs of his contemporaries, as appear strange in discourses from the
pulpit. P. de Montfaucon has collected these descriptions, and ranged them
under different heads. The court of the more early Greek emperors seems to
have resembled those of Eastern monarchs, both in magnificence and in corruption of manners.  The emperors in the eleventh century, though inferior in
power, did not yield to them  in ostentation and splendour. Memoires de
l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. xx. p. 197.-But we may decide concerning the
comparative state of manners in the eastern empire, and among the nations
in the west of Europe by another method, which, if not more certain, is at
least more striking. As Constantinople was the place of rendezvous for all
the armies of the crusaders, this brought together the people of the East and
West as to one great interview.  There are extant several contemporary authors
both among the Greeks and Latins, who were witnesses of this singular congress of people, formerly strangers, in a great measure, to each other. They
describe with simplicity and candour, the impression which that new spectacle
made upon their own minds.  This may be considered as a most lively and
just picture of the real character and manners of each people. When the
Greeks speak of the Franks, they describe them as barbarians, fierce, illiterate,
impetuous, and savage. They assume a tone of superiority, as a more polished
people, acquainted with the arts both of government and of elegance, of which
the other was ignorant. It is thus Anna Comnena describes the manners of
the Latins, Alexias, p. 224. 231. 237. ap. Byz. Script. vol. xi. She always
views them with contempt as a rude people, the very mention of whose names
was sufficient to contaminate the beauty and elegance of history, p. 229.
Nicetas Choniatus inveighs against them with' still more violence, and gives
an. account of their ferocity and devastations, in terms not unlike those which
preceding historians had employed in describing the incursions of the Goths
and Vandals. Nicet. Chon. ap. Byz. Script. vol. iii. p. 302, &c. But on the
other hand, the Latin historians were struck with astonishment at the magnifi




520          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
cence, wealth, and elegance which they discovered in the eastern empire. " O
what a vast city is Constantinople (exclaims Fulcherius Carnotensis, when he
first beheld it), and how beautiful! How many monasteries are there in it, and
how many palaces built with wonderful art! How many manufactures are
there in the city amazing to behold I It would be astonishing to relate how it
abounds with all good things, with gold, silver, and stuffs of various kinds;
for every hour ships arrive in its port laden with all things necessary for the
use of man."  Fulcher. ap. Bongars. vol. i. p. 386. Willermus, archbishop of
Tyre, the most intelligent historian of the crusades, seems to be fond on every
occasion of describing the elegance and splendour of the court of Constantinople, and adds, that what he and his countrymen observed there exceeded any
idea which they could have formed of it, " nostrarum enim rerum modum et
dignitatem excedunt." Willerm. Tyr. ap. Bong. vol. ii. p. 657. 664. Benjamin
the Jew, of Tudela in Navarre, who began his travels A. D. 1173, appears to
have been equally astonished at the magnificence of that city, and gives a description of its splendour, in terms of high admiration. Benj. Tudel. chez les
Voyages faits en 12, 13, &c. Siecles, par Bergeron, p. 10, &c. Guntherus, a
French monk, who wrote a history of the conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders in the thirteenth century, speaks of the magnificence of that city in the
same tone of admiration: " Structuram autem aedificiorum in corpore civitatis,
in ecclesiis videlicet, et turribus, et in domibus magnatorum, vix ullus vel describere potest, vel credere describenti, nisi qui ea oculata fide cognoverit."  Hist.
Constantinop. ap. Canisii Lectiones Antiquas, fol. Antw. 1725. vol. iv. p. 14.
Geoffrey de Villehardouin, a nobleman of high rank, and accustomed to all the
magnificence then known in the West, describes, in similar terms, the astonishment
and admiration of such of his fellow-soldiers as beheld Constantinople for the first
time: " They could not have believed," says he, " that there was a city so beautiful and so rich in the whole world. When they viewed its high walls, its lofty
towers, its rich palaces,its superb churches, all appeared so great, that they could
have formed no conception of this sovereign city,unless they had seen it with their
own eyes." Histoire de la Conquete de Constant. p.49. From these undisguised
representations of their own feelings, it is evident that to the Greeks the crusaders appeared to be a race of rude, unpolished barbarians; whereas the latter,
how much soever they might contemn the unwarlike character of the former,
could not help regarding them as far superior to themselves in elegance and
arts.-That the state of government and manners were much more improved
in Italy than in the other countries of Europe, is evident not only from the
facts recorded in history, but it appears that the more intelligent leaders of the
crusaders were struck with the difference. Jacobus de Vitriaco, a French historian of the holy war, makes an elaborate panegyric on the character and
manners of the Italians. He views them as a more polished people, and particularly celebrates them for their love of liberty, and civil wisdom; " in consiliis circumspecti, in re sua publica procuranda diligentes et studiosi; sibi in
posterum providentes; aliis subjici renuentes; ante omnia libertatem  sibi
defendentes; sub uno quem eligunt capitaneo, communitati sue jura et instituta dictantes et similiter observantes." Histor. Hierosol. ap. Gesta Dei per
Francos, vol. ii. p. 1085.
NOTE [15]. PAGE 20.
THE different steps taken by the cities of Italy in order to extend their power
and dominions are remarkable. As soon as their liberties were established,
and they began to feel their own importance, they endeavoured to render themselves masters of the territory round their walls. Under the Romans, when
cities enjoyed municipal privileges and jurisdiction, the circumjacent lands
belonged to each town, and were the property of the community. But as it
was not the genius of the feudal policy to encourage cities, or to show any
regard for their possessions and immunities, these lands had been seized, and
shared among the conquerors. The barons to whom they were granted, erected
their castles, almost at the gates of the city, and exercised their jurisdiction
there. Under pretence of recovering their ancient property, many of the
cities in Italy attacked these troublesome neighbours, and dispossessing them,
annexed their territories to the communities, and made thereby a considerable




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                               521
addition to their power. Several instances of this occur in the eleventh, and
beginning of the twelfth centuries. Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. iv. p. 159, &c.
Their ambition increasing together with their power, the cities afterwards
attacked several barons situated at a greater distance from  their walls, and
obliged them to engage that they would become members of their community;
that they would take the oath of fidelity to their magistrates; that they would
subject their lands to all burdens and taxes imposed by common consent; that
they would defend the community against all its enemies; and that they would
reside within the city during a certain specified time in each year. Murat.
ibid. 163. This subjection of the nobility to the municipal government established in cities, became almost universal, and was often extremely grievous to
persons accustomed to consider themselves as independent. Otto Frisingensis
thus describes the state of Italy under Frederick I. " The cities so much affect
liberty, and are so solicitous to avoid the insolence of power, that almost all
of them have thrown off every other authority, and are governed by their own
magistrates. Insomuch that all that country is now filled with free cities, most
of which have compelled their bishops to reside within their walls, and there
is scarcely any nobleman, how great soever his power may be, who is not subject to the laws and government of some city."  De Gestis Frider. i. Imp. lib.
ii. c. 13. p. 453. In another place he observes of the Marquis of Montserrat,
that he was almost the only Italian baron who had preserved his independence,
and had not become subject to the laws of any city. See also Muratori Antichita Estensi, vol. i. p. 411, 412. That state into which some of the nobles
were compelled to enter, others embraced from choice. They observed the
highest degree of security, as well as of credit and estimation, which the growing wealth and dominion of the great communities procured to all the members
of them. They were desirous to partake of these, and to put themselves
under such powerful protection. With this view they voluntarily became
citizens of the towns to which their lands were most contiguous; and abandoning their ancient castles, took up their residence in the cities at least during
part of the year. Several deeds are still extant, by which some of the most
illustrious families in Italy are associated as citizens of different cities. Murat.
ibid. p. 165, &c. A charter, by which Atto de Macerata is admitted as a citizen
of Osimo, A. D. 1198, in the Marcha di Ancona, is still extant. In this he
stipulates, that he will acknowledge himself to be a burgess of that community;
that he will to the utmost of his power promote its honour and welfare; that
he will obey its magistrates; that he will enter into no leagues with its enemies; that he will reside in the town during two months in every year, or for
a longer time, if required by the magistrates. The community, on the other
hand, take him, his family, and friends, under their protection, and engage to
defend him  against every enemy. Fr. Ant. Zacharias Anectoda medii aevi.
Aug. Taur. 1755. fol. p. 66. This privilege was deemed so important, that not
only laymen, but ecclesiastics of the highest rank, condescended to be adopted
as members of the great communities, in hopes of enjoying the safety and dignity which that condition conferred. Murat. ibid. 179. Before the institution
of communities, persons of noble birth had no other residence but their castles.
They kept their petty courts there; and the cities were deserted, having hardly
any inhabitants but slaves, or persons of low condition. But in consequence
of the practice which I have mentioned, cities not only became more populous,
but were filled with inhabitants of better rank, and a custom which still subsists in Italy was then introduced, that all families of distinction reside more
constantly in the great towns, than is usual in other parts of Europe. As cities
acquired new consideration and dignity by the accession of such citizens, they
became more solicitous to preserve their liberty and, independence. The emperors, as sovereigns, had anciently a palace in almost every great city of Italy;
when they visited that country they were accustomed to reside in these palaces,
and the troops which accompanied them were quartered in the houses of the
citizens. This the citizens deemed both ignominious and dangerous. They
could not help considering it as receiving a master and an enemy within their
walls. They laboured, therefore to get free of this subjection. Some cities
prevailed on the emperors to engage that they would never enter their gaess,
but take up their residence without the walls: Chart. Hen. IV. Murat. lb. D
VOL. I.-66




522          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
24. Others obtained the imperial license to pull down the palace situated
within their liberties, on condition that they would build another in the suburbs
for the occasional reception of the Emperor. Chart. Hen. IV. Murat. ib. p. 25,
These various encroachments of the Italian cities alarmed the emperors, and
put them on schemes for re-est'ablishing the imperial jurisdiction over them on
its ancient footing. Frederick Barbarossa engaged in this enterprise with great
ardour. The free cities of Italy joined together in a general league, and stood
on their defence: and after a long contest, carried on with alternate success, a
solemn treaty of peace was concluded at Constance, A. D. 1183, by which all
the privileges and immunities granted by former emperors to the principal cities
in Italy were confirmed and ratified. Murat. Dissert. XLVIII.  This treaty of
Constance was considered as such an important article in the jurisprudence of
the middle ages, that it is usually published together with the.Libri Feudorum
at the end of the Corpus Juris Civilis. The treaty secured privileges of great
importance to the confederate cities, and though it reserved a considerable degree of authority and jurisdiction to the empire, yet the cities persevered with
such vigour in their efforts in order to extend their immunities, and the conjunctures in which they made them were so favourable, that, before the conclusion of the thirteenth century, most of the great cities in Italy had shaken
off all marks of subjection to the empire, and were become independent sovereign republics. It is not requisite that I should trace the various steps by which
they advanced to this high degree of pdwer so fatal to the empire, and so
beneficial to the cause of liberty in Italy. Muratori, with his usual industry,
has collected many original papers which illustrate this curious and little known
part of history. Murat. Antiq. Ital. Dissert. L. See also Jo. Bapt. Villanovaw
Fist. Laudis Pompeii sive Lodi, in Grev. Thes. Antiquit. Ital. vol. iii. p. 888.
NOTE [16]. PAGE 21.
Long before the institution of communities in France, charters of immunity
or franchise were granted to some towns and villages by the lords on whom
they depended. But these are very different from such as became common in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They did not erect these towns into
corporations; they did not establish a municipal government; they did not
grant them the privilege of bearing arms. They contained nothing more than
a manumission of the inhabitants from the yoke of servitude; an exemption
from certain services which were oppressive and ignominious; and the establishment of a fixed tax or rent which the citizens were to pay to their lord in
place of impositions which he could formerly lay upon them at pleasure. Two
charters of this kind to two villages in the county of Rousillon, one in A. D.
974, the other in A. D. 1025, are still extant.  Petr. de Marca,.a7rea, sive
Limes Hispanicus, App. p. 909. 1038. Such concessions, it is probable, were
not unknown in other parts of Europe, and may be considered as a step
towards the more extensive privileges conferred by Louis le Gros, on the
towns within his domains. The communities in France never aspired to the
same independence with those in Italy. They acquired new privileges and
immunities, but the right of sovereignty remained entire to the king or baron
within whose territories the respective cities were situated, and from whom they
received the charter of their freedom.  A great number of these charters,
granted both by the kings of France, and by their great vassals, are published
by M. D'Achery in his Spicelegium, and many are found in the collection of
the Ordonnances des Rois de France. These convey a very striking representation of the' wretched condition of cities previous to the institution of communities, when they were subject to the judges appointed by the superior lords of
whom they held, and who had scarcely any other law but their will. Each
concession in these charters must be considered as a grant of some new privilege which the people did not formerly enjoy, and each regulation as a method
of redressing some grievance under which the inhabitants of cities formerly
laboured. The charters of communities contain likewise the first expedients
employed for the introduction of equal laws and regular government.  On
both these accounts they merit particular attention, and therefore, instead of
referring my readers to the-many bulky volumes in which they are scattered, I
shall give them a view of some of the most important articles in these chl




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                623
iers, ranged under two general heads. I. Such as respect personal safety.' II.
Such as respect the security of property.
I. During that state of turbulence and disorder which the corruption of the
feudal government introduced into Europe, personal safety was the first and
great object of every individual; and, as the great military barons alone were
able to give sufficient protection to their vassals, this was one great source of
their power and authority. But, by the institution of communities, effectual
provision was made for the safety of individuals, independent of the nobles.
For, 1. The fundamental article in every charter was, that all the members of
the community, bound themselves by an oath to assist, defend, and stand by
each other against all aggressors, and that they should not suffer any person
to injure, distress, or molest any of their fellow citizens.  D'Acher. Spicel. x.
642. xi. 341, &c.-2. Whoever resided in any town which was made free, was
obliged, under a severe penalty, to accede to the community, and to take part
in the mutual defence of its members. D'Acher. Spic. xi. 344.-3. The communities had the privilege of carrying arms; of making war on their private
enemies; and of executing by military force any sentence which their magistrates pronounced. D'Ach. Spicel. x. 643, 644. xi. 343.-4. The practice of
making satisfaction by a pecuniary compensation for murder, assault, or other
acts of violence, most inconsistent with the order of society and the safety of
individuals was abolished; and such as committed these crimes were punished
capitally, or with rigour adequate to their guilt. D'Ach. xi. 362. Mirmei Opera
Diplomatica, i. 292.-5. No member of a community was bound to justify or
defend himself by battle or combat; but, if he was charged with any crime, he
could be convicted only by the evidence of witnesses, and the regular course of
legal proceedings.  Mirmus, ibid. D'Ach. xi. 375. 349. Ordon. tom. iii. 265.-6.
If any man suspected himself to be in danger from the malice or enmity of
another, upon making oath to that effect before a magistrate, the person suspected was bound under a severe penalty to give suretyfor his peaceable behaviour.
D'Ach. xi. 346. This is the same species of security which is still known in
Scotland under the name of Lawburrows.  In France, it was first introduced
among the inhabitants of communities, and having been found to contribute
considerably towards personal safety, it was extended to all the other members
of society. Establissemens de St. Louis. liv. i. cap. 28. ap. Du Cange Vie de
St. Louis, p. 15.
II. The provisions in the charters of communities concerning the security of
property, are not less considerable than those respecting personal safety. By
the ancient law of France, no person could be arrested or confined in prison on
account of any private debt. Ordon. des Rois de France, tom. i. p. 72-80. If
any person was arrested upon any pretext, it was lawful to rescue him out of the
hands of the officers who had seized him. Ordon. iii. p. 17. Freedom from arrest
on account of debt seems likewise to have been enjoyed in other countries.
Gudenus Sylloge Diplom. 473. In society, while it remained in its rudest
and most simple form, debt seems to have been considered as an obligation
merely personal. Men had made some progress towards refinement, before
creditors acquired a right of seizing the property of their debtors in order to
recover payment.  The expedients for this purpose were all introduced
originally in communities, and we can trace the gradual progress of them. 1.
The simplest and most obvious species of security was, that the person who
sold any commodity should receive a pledge from him.who bought it, which he
restored upon receiving payment. Of this custom there are vestiges in several
charters of community. D'Ach. ix. 185. xi. 377.-2. When no pledge was
glyen, and the debtor became refractory or insolvent, the creditor was allowed
to seize his effects with a strong hand, and by his private authority; the
citizens of Paris are warranted by the royal mandate; "ut ubicumque, et quocumque modo poterunt, tantum capiant, unde pecuniam sibi debitam integre et
plenarie habeant, et inde sibi invicem adjutores existant."  Ordon. &c. tom. i.
p. 6. This rude practice, suitable only to the violence of that which has been
called a state of nature, was tolerated longer than one can conceive to be possible in any society where laws and order were at all known. The ordonnance
authorizing it was issued, A. D. 1134: and that which corrects the law, and
prohibits creditors from seizing the effects of their debtors, unless by a warrant




524            PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
from a magistrate, and under his inspection, was not published until the year
1351. Ordon. tom. ii. p. 438. It is probable, however, that men were taught,
by observing the disorders which the former mode of proceeding occasioned, to
correct it in practice long before a remedy was provided by a law to that effect.
Every discerning reader will apply this observation to many other customs and
practices which I have mentioned. New customs are not always to be ascribed
to the laws which authorize them. Those statutes only give a legal sanction to
such things as the experience of mankind has previously found to be proper
and beneficial.-3. As soon as the interposition of the magistrate became
requisite, regular provision was made for attaching or distraining the moveable
effects of a debtor; and if his moveable were not sufficient to discharge the
debt, his immoveable property, or estate in land, was liable to the same distress,
and was sold for the benefit of his creditor.  D'Ach. ix. p. 184, 185. xi. p. 348
— 380. As this regulation afforded the most complete security to the creditor,
it was considered as so severe, that humanity pointed out several limitations
in the execution of it. Creditors were prohibited from seizing the wearing
apparel of their debtors, their beds, the door of their house, their instruments of
husbandry, f&c. D'Ach. ix. 184. xi. 377. Upon the same principles, when the
power of distraining effects became more general, the horse and arms of a
gentleman could not be seized. D'Ach. ix. 185. As hunting was the favourite
amusement of martial nobles, the emperor Lodovicus Pius prohibited the seizing of a hawk, on account of any composition or debt. Capitul. lib. iv. sect. 21.
But if the debtor had no other moveables, even these privileged articles might
be seized.-4. In order to render the security of property complete within a
community, every person who was admitted a member of it, was obliged to
buy or build a house, or to purchase lands within its precincts, or at least to
bring into the town a considerable portion of his moveables, per quce justiciari
possit, si quid forte in eum querelee evenerit. D'Ach. xi. 326. Ordon. i. 367.
Libertates S. Georgii de Esperanchia. Hist. de Dauphin6, tom. i. p. 26.-5.
That security might be as perfect as possible, in some towns, the members of
the community seem to have been bound for each other. D'Ach. x. 644.-6. All
questions with respect to property were tried within the community, by magistrates and judges whom the citizens elected or appointed. Their decisions were
more equal and fixed than the sentences which depended on the capricious and
arbitrary will of a baron, who thought himself superior to all laws. D'Ach. x.
644. 646. xi. 344. et passim. Ordon. iii. 204.-7. No member of a community
could be burdened by any arbitrary tax; for the superior lord who granted the
charter of community, accepted of a fixed census or duty in lieu of all demands.
Ordon. tom. iii. 204.  Libertates de Calma Hist. de Dauphine, tom. i. p.
19. Libert. St. Georgii de Esperanchia. ibid. p. 26. Nor could the members
of a community be distressed by an unequal imposition of the sum to be levied
on the community. Regulations are inserted in the charters of some communities, concerning the method of determining the quota of any tax to be levied
on each inhabitant. D'Ach. xi. 350. 365. St. Louis published an ordonnance
concerning this matter which extended to all the communities. Ordon. tom. i.
186. These regulations are extremely favourable to liberty, as they vest the
power of proportioning the taxes in a certain number of citizens chosen out of
each parish, who were bound by solemn oath to decide according to justice 
That the more perfect security of property was one great object of those who
instituted communities, we learn, not only from  the nature of the thing, but
from the express words of several charters, of which I shall only mention that
granted by Alienor queen of England and dutchess of Guienne, to the community of Poitiers, "ut sua propria melius defendere possint, et magis integre
custodire."  Du Cange, voc. Communia, v. ii. p. 863.-Such are some of the
capital regulations established in communities during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These may be considered as the first expedients for the reestablishment of law and order, and contributed greatly to introduce regular
government among all the members of society. As soon as communities were
instituted, high sentiments of liberty began to manifest themselves. When
Humbert lord of Beaujeu, upon granting a charter of community to the town of
Belleville, exacted of the inhabitants an oath of fidelity to himself and successor, they stipulated on their part, that he should swear to maintain their




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                               52l
franchises and liberties; and for their greater security, they obliged him to
bring twenty gentlemen to take the same oath, and to be bound together
with him. D'Ach. ix. 183. In the same manner the lord of Moriens in Dauphine produced a certain number of persons as his sureties for the observation
of the articles contained in the charter of community to that town. These
were bound to surrender themselves prisoners to the inhabitants of Moriens, if
their liege lord should violate any of their franchises, and they promised to
remain in custody until he should grant the members of the community
redress. Hist. de Dauphine, tom. i. p. 17. If the mayor or chief magistrate of
a town did any injury to a citizen, he was obliged to give security for his
appearance in judgment in the same manner as a private person; and if cast,
was liable to the same penalty. D'Ach. ix. 183. These are ideas of equality
uncommon in the feudal times.  Communities were so favourable to freedom,
that they were distinguished by the name of Libertates. Du Cange, v. ii. p.
863. They were at first extremely odious to the nobles, who foresaw what a
check they must prove to their power and domination.  Guibert abbot of
Nogent calls them execrable inventions, by which, contrary to law and justice,
slaves withdrew themselves from  that obedience which they owed to their
masters.  Du Cange, ib. 862. The zeal with which some of the nobles and
powerful ecclesiastics opposed the establishment of communities, and endeavoured to circumscribe their privileges, was extraordinary. A striking instance
of this occurs in the contest between the archbishop of Reims, and the inhabitants of that community.  It was the chief business of every archbishop,
during a considerable'time, to abridge the rights and jurisdiction of the community; and the great object of the citizens, especially when the see was
vacant, to maintain, to recover, and to extend their own jurisdiction. Histoire
civile et politique de la Ville de Reims, par M. Anquetil, tom. i. p. 287, &c.
The observations which I have made concerning the low state of cities, and the
condition of their inhabitants, are confirmed by innumerable passages in the
historians and; laws of the middle ages. It is not improbable, however, that
some cities of the first order were in a better state, and enjoyed a superior
degree of liberty. Under the Roman government, the municipal government
established in cities was extremely favourable to liberty. The jurisdiction of the
senate in each corporation, and the privileges of the citizens, were both extensive.
There is reason to believe, that some of the greater cities which escaped the
destructive rage of the barbarous nations still retained their ancient form of
government, at least in a great measure. They were governed by a council of
citizens, and by magistrates whom they themselves elected. Very strong pre
sumptions in favour of this opinion are produced by M. l'Abbe De Bos, Hist.
Crit. de la Mon. Franc. tom. i. p. 1f, &c. tom. ii. p. 524. edit. 1742. It appears
from some of the charters of community to cities, granted in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, that these only confirm the privileges possessed by the inhabitants previous to the establishment of the community. D'Acher. Spiceleg.
vol. xi. p. 345. Other cities claimed their privileges, as having possessed them
without interruption from the times of the Romans. Hist. Crit. de la Mon.
Franc. tom. ii. p. 333. But the number of cities which enjoyed such immunities was so small, as hardly in any degree to diminish the force of my con
elusions in the text.
NOTE [17]. PAGE 21.
HAVING given a full account of the establishment as well as effects of communities in Italy and France, it will be necessary to inquire with some attention
into the progress of cities and municipal government in Germany. The ancient
Germans had no cities. Even in their hamlets or villages, they did not build
their houses contiguous to each other. Tac. de Mor. Germ. cap. 16. They
considered it as a badge of servitude to be obliged to dwell in a city surrounded
with walls. When one of their tribes had shaken off the Roman yoke, their
countrymen required of them, as an evidence of their having recovered liberty,
to demolish the walls of a town which the Romans had built in their country.
Even the fiercest animals, said they, lose their spirit and courage when they
are confined. Tac. Histor. lib. iv. c. 64. The Romans built several cities of
note on the banks of the Rhine. But in all the vast countries from that river




b26          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
to the coasts of the Baltic, there was hardly one city previous to the ninth
century of the Christian era. Conringius Exercitatio de Urbibus Germanis,
Oper. vol. i. ~ 25. 27. 31, &;c. Heineccius differs from Conringius with respect
to this.  But even, after allowing to his arguments and authorities their utmost
force, they prove only, that there were a few places in those extensive regions
on which some historians have bestowed the name of towns. Elem. Jur. German. lib. i. ~ 102. Under Charlemagne, and the emperors of his family, as the
political state of Germany began to improve, several cities were founded, and
men became accustomed to associate and to live together in one place. Charlemagne founded two archbishoprics and nine bishoprics in the most considerable towns of Germany.  Aub. Mirmei Opera Diplomatica, vol. i. p. 16. His
successors increased the number of these; and as bishops fixed their residence
in the chief town of their diocess, and performed religious functions there, that
induced many people to settle in them.  Conring. ibid. 1 48. But Henry surnamed the Fowler, who began his reign, A. D. 920, must be considered as the
great founder of cities in Germany.  The empire was at that time infested by
the incursions of the Hungarians and other barbarous people.  In order to
oppose them, Henry encouraged his subjects to settle in cities which he surrounded with walls strengthened by towers. He enjoined or persuaded a cer-ain proportion of the nobility to fix their residence in the towns, and thus
rendered the condition of citizens more honourable than it had been formerly.
Wittikindus Annal. lib. i. ap. Conring. I 82. From this period the number of
cities continued to increase, and they became more populous and more wealthy.
But cities in Germany were still destitute of municipal liberty or jurisdiction.
Such of them  as were situated in the Imperial deresnes were subject to the
emperors.  Their Comrites, Jissi, and other judges presided in them  and dispensed justice.  Towns situated on the estate of a baron, were part of his fief,
and he or his officers exercised a similar jurisdiction in them.  Conring. ibid. ~
73, 74. Heinec. Elem. Jui. Germ. lib. i. ~ 104. The Germans borrowed the
institution of communities from the Italians.  Knipschildius Tractatus PoliticoHistor. Jurid. de Civitatum  Imperialium  Juribus, vol. i. lib. i. cap. 5. No. 23.
Frederick Barbarossa was the first emperor who, from the same political consideration that influenced Louis le Gros, multiplied communities in order to
abridge the power of the nobles.  Pfeffel Abrege de l'Histoire et du Droit
Publique d'Allemagne, 4to. p. 297.  From  the reign of Henry the Fowler, to
the time when the German cities acquired full possession of their immunities,
various circumstances contributed to their increase. The establishment of
bishoprics (already mentioned) and the building of cathedrals naturally induced many people to settle near the chief place of worship.  It became the
custom to hold councils and courts of judicature of every kind, ecclesiastical
as well as civil, in cities. In the eleventh century, many slaves were enfranchised, the greater part of whom  settled in cities.  Several mines were discovered and wrought in different provinces, which drew together such a concourse of people as gave rise to several cities, and increased the number of
inhabitants in others.  Conring. I 105.  The cities began in the thirteenth
century to form  leagues for their mutual defence, and for repressing the disorders occasioned by the private wars among the barons, as well as by their
exactions. This rendered the condition of the inhabitants of cities more secure
than that of any other order of men, and allured many to become members of
their communities.  Conring. ~ 94. There were inhabitants of three different
ranks in the towns of Germany: the nobles, or familim; the citizens, or liberi;
and the artisans, who were slaves, or homines proprii. Knipschild. lib. ii. cap.
29. No. 13. Henry V.. who began his reign A. D. 1106, enfranchised the slaves
who were artisans or inhabitants in several towns, and gave them the rank of
citizens or liberi. Pfeffel lp. 254. Knipsch. lib. ii. c. 29. No. 113. 119. Though
the cities in Germany did not acquire liberty so early as those in France, they.
extended their privileges much farther.  All the imperial and free cities, the
number of which is considerable, acquired the full right of being immediate;
by which term, in the German jurisprudence, we are to understand that they
are subject to the empire alone, and possess within their own precincts all the
rights of complete and independent sovereignty. The various privileges of
the Imperial cities, the great guardians of the Germanic liberties, are enume



PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                 527
rated by Knipschild. lib. ii.  The most important articles are generally known,
and it would be improper to enter into any disquisition concerning minute
particulars.
NOTE [18]. PAGE 21.
THE Spanish historians are almost entirely silent concerning the origin and
progress of communities in that kingdom; so that I cannot fix, with any degree
of certainty, the time and manner of their first introduction there. It appears,
however, from Mariana, vol. ii. p. 221. fol. Hagme, 1736, that in the year 1359,
eighteen cities had obtained a seat in the Cortes of Castile.  From the account
which will be given of their constitution and pretensions, Sect. III. of this
volume, it appears that their privileges and form of government were the same
with those of the other feudal corporations; and this, as well as the perfect
similarity of political institutions and transactions in all the feudal kingdoms,
may lead us to conclude that communities were there introduced in the same
manner and probably about the same time, as in the other nations of Europe.
In Arragon, as I shall have occasion to observe in a subsequent note, cities
seem early to have acquired extensive immunities, together with a share in the
legislature. In the year 1118, the citizens of Saragossa had!pot only attained
political liberty, but they were declared to be of equal rank with the nobles
of the second class; and many other immunities, unknown to persons in their
rank of life in other parts of Europe, were conferred upon them. Zurita
Annales de Arragon, tom. i. p. 44. In England, the establishment of communities or corporations was posterior to the conquest. The practice was borrowed from  France, and the privileges granted by the crown were perfectly
similar to those which I have enumerated, but as this part of history is well
known to most of my readers, I shall, without entering into any critical or
minute discussion, refer them  to authors who have fully illustrated this interesting point in the English history.  Brady's Treatise of Boroughs.  Madox
Firma Burgi, cap. i. sect. ix. Hume's History of England, vol. i. append. i.
and ii. It is not improbable that some of the towns in England were formed
into corporations under the Saxon kings, and that the charters granted by the
kings of the Norman race were not charters of enfranchisement from  a state
of slavery, but a confirmation of privileges which they already enjoyed.  See
Lord Lyttleton's History of Henry II. vol. ii. p. 317. The English critics,
however, were very inconsiderable in the twelfth century. A clear proof of
this occurs in the history to which I last referred. ~ Fitzstephen, a contemporary
author, gives a description of the city of London in the reign of Henry II., and
the terms in which he speaks of its trade, its wealth, and the splendour of its
inhabitants, would suggest no inadequate idea of its state at present, when it is
the greatest and most opulent city of Europe.  But all ideas of grandeur and
magnificence are merely comparative; and every description of them in general terms is very apt to deceive. It appears from Peter of Blois, archdeacon of
London, who flourished in the same reign, and who had good opportunity of
being well informed, that this city, of which Fitzstephen gives such a pompous
account, contained no more than forty thousand inhabitants.  Ibid. 315,316.
The other cities were small in proportion, and were not in a condition to extort
any extensive privileges. That the constitution of the boroughs in Scotland,
in many circumstances, resembled that of the towns in France and England, is
manifest from the Leges Burgorum, annexed to the Regiam Majestatum.
NOTE [19.] PAGE 23.
SOON after the introduction of the third estate into the national council, the
spirit of liberty which that excited in France began to produce conspicuous
effects. In several provinces of France, the nobility and communities formed
associations, whereby they bound themselves to defend their rights and privileges against the formidable and arbitrary proceedings of the king. The count
de Boulainvilliers has preserved a copy of one of these associations, dated in the
year 1314, twelve years after the admission of the deputies from towns into the
States General. Histoire de lancien Gouvernement de la France, tom. ii. p.
94.  The vigour with which the people asserted and prepared to maintain their
rights, obliged their sovereigns to respect them. Six years after this associa



528          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
t on, Philip the Long issued a writ of summons to the community of Narbonne
in the following terms: "Philip, by the grace, &c. to our well-beloved, &c.
As we desire with all our heart, and above all other things, to govern our kingdom
and people in peace and tranquillity, by the help of God; and to reform our said
kingdom in so far as it stands in need thereof, for the public good, and for the
benefit of our subjects, who in times past have been aggrieved and oppressed
in divers manners by the malice of sundry persons, as we have learned by
common report, as well as by the information of good men worthy of credit,
and we having determined in our counsel which we have called to meet in our
good city, &c. to give redress to the utmost of our power, by all ways and
means possible, according to reason and justice, and willing that this should be
done with solemnity and deliberation by the advice of the prelates, barons, and
good towns of our realm, and particularly of you, and that it should be transacted agreeably to the will of God, and for the good of our people, therefore
we command," &c. Mably, Observat. ii. App. p. 386. I shall allow these to
be only the formal words of a public and legal style; but the ideas are singular,
and much more liberal and enlarged than one could expect in that age. A
popular monarch of Great Britain could hardly address himself to parliament,
in terms more favourable to public liberty. There occurs in the history of
France, a striking instance of the progress which the principles of liberty had
made in that kingdom, and of the influence which the deputies of towns had
acquired in the States General. During the calamities in which the war with
England, and the captivity of King John, had involved France, the States
General made a bold effort to extend their own privileges and jurisdiction.
The regulations established by the States, held A. D. 1355, concerning the mode
of levying taxes, the administration of which they vested not in the crown,
but in commissioners appointed by the States; concerning the coining of
money; concerning the redress of the grievance of purveyance; concerning the
regular administration of justice; are much more suitable to the genius of a
republican government than that of a feudal monarchy. This curious statute
is published, Ordon. tom. iii. p. 19. Such as have not an opportunity to consult that large collection, will find an abridgment of it in Hist. de France par
Villaret, tomn. ix. 130, or in Histoire de Boulainv. tom. ii. p. 213.  The French
historians represent the bishop of Laon, and Marcel provost of the merchants
of Paris, who had the chief direction of this assembly, as seditious tribunes,
violent, interested, ambitious, and aiming at innovations subversive of the constitution and government of their country.  That may have been the case,
but these men possessed the confidence of the people; and the measures which
they proposed as the most popular and acceptable, as well as most likely to
increase their own influence, plainly prove that the spirit of liberty had spread
wonderfully, and that the ideas which then prevailed in France concerning
government were extremely liberal. The States General held at Paris, A. D.
1355, consisted of about eight hundred members, and above one half of these
were deputies from  towns. M. Secousse Preff. a Ordon. tom. iii. p. 48. It
appears that in all the different assemblies of the States, held during the reign
of John, the representatives of towns had great influence, and in every respect
the third statewas considered as co-ordinate and equal to either of the other two.
Ibid. passim. These spirited efforts were made in France long before the House
of Commons in England acquired any considerable influence in the Legislature. As the feudal system was carried to its utmost height in France sooner
than in England, so it began to decline sooner in the former than in the latter
kingdom. In England, almost all attempts to establish or to extend the liberty
of the people have been successful; in France they have proved unfortunate.
What were the accidental events or political causes which occasioned this difference, it is not my present business to inquire.
NOTE [20.] PAGE 24.
IN a former Note, No. 8, I have inquired into the condition of that part of
the people which was employed in agriculture, and have represented the various
hardships and calamities of their situation.  When charters of liberty or
manumission were granted to such persons, they contained four concessions
corresponding to the four capital grievances to which men in a state of servi




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONB                                  529
tude are subject. 1. The right of disposing of their persons by sale or grant
was relinquished.  2. Power was given to them  of conveying their property
and effects by will or any other legal deed. Or if they happened to die intestate, it was provided that their property should go to their lawful heirs in the
same manner as the property of other persons. 3. The services and taxes
which they owed to their superior or liege lord which were formerly arbitrary
and imposed at pleasure, are precisely ascertained. 4. They are allowed the
privilege of marrying according to their own inclination; formerly they coula
contract no marriage without their lord's permission, and with no person but
one of his slaves. All these particulars are found united in the charter granted
Habitatoribus Montis Britonis, A. D. 1376.  Hist. de Dauphine, tom. i. p. 81.
Many circumstances concurred with those which I have mentioned in the text in
procuring them deliverance from that wretched state. The gentle spirit of the
Christian religion; the doctrines which it teaches, concerning the original
equality of mankind; its tenets with respect to the divine government, and the
impartial eye with which the Almighty regards men of every condition, and
admits them  to a participation of his benefits, are all inconsistent with servitude.  But in this, as in many other instances, considerations of interest, and
the maxims.of false policy, led men to a conduct inconsistent with their principles.  They were so sensible, however, of this inconsistency, that to set their
fellow Christians at liberty frorn servitude was deemed an act of piety highly
meritorious and acceptable to Heaven.  The humane spirit of the Christian
religion struggled long with the maxims and manners of the world, and contributed more than any other circumstance to introduce the practice of manumission.  When pope Gregory the Great, who flourished towards the end of
the sixth century, granted liberty to some of his slaves, he gives this reason
for it, "Cum  Redemptor noster, totius conditor nature, ad hoc propitiatus
humanam  carnern  voluerit assumere, ut divinitatis sume gratia, dirempto (quo
tenebamur captivi) vinculo, pristine nos restitueret libertati; salubriter agit",r,
si hornines, quos ab initio liberos natura protulit, et jus gentium jugo subytituit servitutis, in ea, qua nati fuerant, manumittentis beneficio, libertati reddantur."  Gregor. Magn. ap. Potgiess. lib. iv. c. i. sect. 3.  Several laws or
charters founded on reasons similar to this, are produced by the same author.
Accordingly, a great part of the charters of manumission, previous to the reign
of Louis X. are granted pro amore Dei, pro remedio animes, et pro mercede
animae.  Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. i. p. 849, 850.  Du Cange, voc. J'anumissio.
The formality of manumission was executed in a church, as a religious
solemnity. The person to be set free was led round the great altar with a
torch in his hand, he took hold of the horns of the altar, and there the solemn
words conferring liberty were pronounced.  Du Cange, ib. vol. iv. p. 467.
I shall transcribe a part of a charter of manumission granted, A. D. 1056;
both as it contains a full account of the ceremonies used in this form of man-amission, and as a specimen of the imperfect knowledge of the Latin tongue in
that barbarous age. It is granted by Willa the widow of Hugo the Duke and
Marquis, in favour of Clariza, one of her slaves.  " Et ideo nos Domine Wille
indite cometisse-libera et absolve te Cleriza filia Uberto-pro timore omnipotentis Dei, et remedio luminarie anime bone memorie quondam supra scripto
Domini Ugo gloriosissimo, ut quando ilium  Dominus de hac vita migrare,
jusserit, pars iniqua non abeat potestatem ullam, sed anguelus Domini nostri
Jesu Christi colocare dignitur illum  inter sanctos dilectos sues; et beatus
Petrus princips apostolorum, qui habed potestatem omnium animarum ligandi
et absolvendi, ut ipsi absolvat animae ejus de peccatis sui, et aperiad illum janua
paradisi; pro eadem vero rationi, in mano mite te Benzo presbiter, ut vadat
tecum in ecclesia sancti Bartholomaei apostoli; traad de tribus vicibus circa
altare ipsius ecclesie cum caereo apprehensum in manibus tuis et manibus suis;
deinde exite ambulate in via quadrubio, ubi quatuor vie se deviduntur.  Statimq; pro remedio luminarie anime bone memorie quondam  supra scripto
Domini Ugo et ipsi presbiter Benzo fecit omnia, et dixit, ecce quatuor vie.e
et ambulate in quacunq; partem  tibi placuerit, tam  sic supra scripta Cleriza,
qua nosque tui heredes, qui ab ac hora in antea nati, vel procreati fuerit utriusq;
sexus," f&c. Murat. ib. p. 853. Many other charters might have been selected,
which, in point of grammar or style, are in no wise superior to this. Manu.
VOL. II.-67




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS,
mission was frequently granted on death-bed or by latter-will. As the minds
of men are at that time awakened to sentiments of humanity and piety, these
deeds proceeded from religious motives, and were grantedpro redemptione animce,
in order to obtain acceptance with God. Du Cange, ubi supra, p. 470. et voc.
Servus, vol. vi. p. 451. Another method of obtaining liberty was by entering into
holy orders, or taking the vow in a monastery.  This was permitted for some
time, but so many slaves escaped by this means, out of the hands of their
masters, that the practice was afterwards restrained, and at last prohibited by
the laws of almost all the nations of Europe. Murat. ib. p. 842. Conformably to the same principles, princes, on the birth of a son, or upon any other
agreeable event, appointed a certain number of slaves to be enfranchised, as a
testimony of their gratitude to God for that benefit. Marculfi Form. lib. i. cap.
39. There are several forms of manumission published by Marculfus, and all
of them are founded on religious considerations, in order to procure the favour
of God, or to obtain the forgiveness of their sins. Lib. ii. c. 23. 33, 34. edit.
Baluz.  The same observation holds with respect to the other collections of
Formulae annexed to Marculfus. As sentiments of religion induced some to
grant liberty to their fellow Christians who groaned under the yoke of servitude; so mistaken ideas concerning devotion led others to relinquish their
liberty. When a person conceived an extraordinary respect for the saint who
was the patron of any church or monastery in which he was accustomed to
attend religious worship, it was not unusual among men possessed with an
excess of superstitious reverence, to give up themselves and their posterity to
be the slaves of the saint. Mabillon de Re Diplomat. lib. vi. 632. The oblati
or voluntary slaves of churches or monasteries were very numerous, and may
be divided into three different classes.  The first were such as put themselves
and effects under the protection of a particular church or monastery, binding
themselves to defend its privileges and property against every aggressor. These
were prompted to do so not merely by devotion, but in order to obtain that
security which arose from the protection of the church. They were rather
vassals than slaves, and sometimes persons of noble birth found it prudent to
secure the protection of the church in this manner. Persons of the second
class bound themselves to pay an annual tax or quit-rent out of their estates
to a church or monastery. Besides this, they sometimes engaged to perform
certain services. They were called censuales. The last class consisted of such
as actually renounced their liberty, and became slaves in the strict and proper
sense of the word. These were called ministerialcs, and enslaved their bodies,
as some of their charters bear, that they might procure the liberty of their
souls. Potgiesserus de statu servorum, lib. i. cap. i. sect. 6, 7. How zealous
the clergy were to encourage the opinions which led to this practice, will appeai from a clause in a charter by which one gives up himself as a slave to a
monastery. " Cum sit omni carnali ingenuitate generosius extremum quodcumq; Dei servitium, scilicet quod terrena nobilitas multos plerumq; vitiorum
servos facit, servitus vero Christi nobiles virtutibus reddit, nemo autem sani
capitis virtutibus vitia comparaverit, claret pro certo eum esse generosiorem,
qui se Deiservitio prabuerit proniorem.  Quod ego Ragnaldus intelligens," &c.
Another charter is expressed in the following words: " Eligens magis esse
servus Dei quam libertus sueculi, firmiter credens et sciens, quod servire Deo,
regnare est, summaque ingenuitas sit in qua servitus comparabatur Christi,"
&c.  Du Cange, voc. Oblatus, vol. iv. p. 1286, 1287.  Great, however, as the
power of religion was, it does not appear, that the enfranchisement of slaves was
a frequent practice while the feudal system preserved its vigour. On the contrary, there were laws which set bounds to it as detrimental to society. Potgiess. lib. iv. c. 2. ~ 6. The inferior order of men owed the recovery of their
liberty to the decline of that aristocratical policy, which lodged the most extensive power in the hands of a few members of the society, and repressed all
the rest. When Louis X. issued his ordonnance, several slaves had been so
long accustomed to servitude, and their minds were so much debased by that
unhappy situation, that they refused to accept of the liberty which was offered
them. D'Ach. Spicel. vol. xi. p. 387. Long after the reign of Louis X. several
of the French nobility continued to assert their ancient dominion over their
slaves. It appears from an ordonnance of the famous Bertrand de Gueschlin,




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS                                531
Constable Jf France, that the custom of enfranchising them was considered as
a pernicious innovation., Morice Mem. pour servir des preuves a PHist. de
Bret. tom.'i. p. 100. In some instances, when the predial slaves were declared
to be freeren, they were still bound to perform certain services to their ancient
masters; and were kept in a state different from other subjects, being restricted
either from purchasing land, or becoming members of a community within the
precincts of the manor to which they formerly belonged. Martene and Durand,
Thesaur. Anecdot. vol. i. p. 914. This, however, seems not to have been
common.-There is no general law for the manumission of slaves in the Statute-book of England, similar to that which has been quoted from the Ordonnances of the kings of France. Though the genius of the English constitution
seems early to have favoured personal liberty, personal servitude, nevertheless,
continued long in England in.some particular places. In the year 1514, we
find a charter of Henry VIII. enfranchising two slaves belonging to one of his
manors. Rym. Feeder. vol. xiii. p. 470. As late as the year 1574, there is a
commission from Queen Elizabeth with respect to the manumission of certain
bondmen belonging to her. Rymer, in Observat. on the Statutes, &c. p. 251.
NOTE [21]. PAGE 27.
THE  E is no custom in the middle ages more singular than that of private
war. It is a right of so great importance, and prevailed so universally, that
the regulations concerning it occupy a considerable place in the system of laws
during the middle ages. M. de Montesquieu, who has unravelled so many intricate points in feudal jurisprudence, and thrown light on so many customs
formerly obscure and unintelligible, was not led by his subject to consider this.
I shall therefore give a more minute account of the customs and regulations
which directed a practice so contrary to the present ideas of civilized nations
concerning government and order.  1. Among the ancient Germans, as well
as other nations in a similar state of society, the right of avenging injuries was
a private and personal right exercised by force of arms, without any reference
to an umpire, or any appeal to a magistrate for decision.  The clearest proofs
of this were produced, Note 6.-2. This practice subsisted among the barbarous nations after their settlement in the provinces of the empire which they
conquered; and as the causes of dissension among them  multiplied, their
family feuds and private wars became more frequent. Proofs of this occur in
their early historians. Greg. Turon. Hist. lib. vii. c. 2. lib. viii. c. 18. lib. x. c.
27. and likewise in the codes of their laws. It was not only allowable for
thb relations to avenge the injuries of their family, but it was incumbent on
them. Thus, by the laws of the Angli and Werini, ad quemcunque hereditas
terre pervenerit, ad illum vestis bellica id est lorica et ultio proximi, et solatio
leudis, debet pertinere, tit. vi. 1 5. ap. Lindenbr.Leg. Saliq. tit. 63. Leg.
Longob. lib. ii. tit. 14. 5 10.-3. None but gentlemen, or persons of noble
birth, had the right of private war. All disputes between slaves, villani, the
inhabitants of towns, and free men of inferior condition, were decided in the
courts of justice. All disputes between gentlemen and persons of inferior rank
were terminated in the same manner. The right of private war, supposed
nobility of birth, and equality of rank in both the contending parties. Beaumanoir Coustumes de Beauv. ch. lix. p. 300. Ordon. des Rois de France, tom,
ii; 395. ~ xvii. 508. 1 xv. &c. The dignified ecclesiastics likewise claimed and
exercised the right of private war; but as it was not altogether decent for them
to prosecute quarrels in person, advocati or vidames were chosen by the several
monasteries and bishoprics.  These were commonly men of high rank and
reputation, who became the protectors of the churches and convents by which
they were elected; espoused their quarrels, and fought their battles; armis
omnia que erant ecclesive viriliter defendebant, et vigilanter protegebant.
Brussel Usage des Fiefs, tom. i. p. 144. Du Cange, voc. Jidvocatus. On many
occasions, the martial ideas to which ecclesiastics of noble birth were accustomed, made them  forget the pacific spirit of their profession, and led them
into the field in person at the head of their vassals, "flamma, ferro, crede, possessiones ecclesiarum  prwelati defendebant."  Guido Abbas ap. Du Cange, ib.
p. 179.-4. It was not every injury or trespass that gave a gentleman a title to
make war upon his adversary. Atrocious acts of violence, insults and affronts,




532            PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
publicly committed were legal and permitted motives for taking arms against
the authors of them. Such crimes as are now punished capitally in civilized
nations, at that time justified private hostilities. Beauman. ch. lix., Du Cange
Dissert. xxix. sur Joinville, p. 331. But though the avenging ofinjuries was the
only motive that could legally authorize a private war, yet disputes concerning
civil property often gave rise to hostilities, and were terminated bythe sword.
Du Cange Dissert. p. 332.-5. All persons present when any quarrel arose, or
any act of violence was committed, were included in the war which it occasioned; for it was supposed to be impossible for any man in such a situation to
remain neuter, without taking side with one or other of the contending parties. Beauman. p. 300.-6. All the kindred of the two principals in the war
were included in it, and obliged to espouse the quarrel of the chieftain with
whom  they were connected. Du Cange, ib. 332. This was founded on the
maxim of the ancient Germans, "suscipere tam inimicitias seu patris, seu propinqui, quam  amicitias, necesse est;" a maxim  natural to all rude nations,
among which the form of society, and political union, strengthen such a sentiment. This obligation was enforced by legal authority. If a person refused
to take part in the quarrel of his kinsman, and to aid him against his adversary,
he was deemed to have renounced all the rights and privileges of kindredship,
and became incapable of succeeding to any of his relations, or of deriving any
benefit from any civil right or property belonging to them. Du Cange Dissert. p. 333. The method of ascertaining the degree of affinity which obliged
a person to take part in the quarrel of a kinsman, was curious. While the
church prohibited the marriage of persons within the seventh degree of affinity,
the vengeance of private war extended as far as this absurd prohibition, and all
who had such a remote connection with any of the principles, were involved in
the calamities of war. But when the church relaxed somewhat of its rigour,
and did not extend its prohibition of marrying beyond the fourth degree of
affinity, the same restriction took place in the conduct of private war. Beauman. 303. Du Cange Dissert. 333.-7. A private war could not be carried on
between two full brothers, because both have the same common kindred, and consequently neither had any persons bound to stand by him against the other in the
contest; but two brothers of the half blood might wage war, because each of
them has a distinct kindred. Beauman. p. 299.-8. The vassals of each principal in any private war were involved in the contest, because by the feudal
maxims they were bound to take arms in defence of the chieftain of whom they
held, and to assist him in every quarrel. As soon, therefore, as feudal tenures
were introduced, and this artificial connexion was established between vassals
and the baron of whom they held, vassals came to be considered as in the same
state with relations. Beauman. 303.-9. Private wars were very frequent for
several centuries.   Nothing contributed, more to increase those disorders
in government, or to encourage such ferocity of manners as reduced the
nations of Europe to that wretched state which distinguished the period of
history which I am reviewing. Nothing was such an obstacle to the introduction of a regular administration of justice. Nothing could more effectually
discourage industry, or retard the progress and cultivation of the arts of peace.
Private wars were carried on with all the destructive rage which is to be
dreaded from violent resentment when armed with force, and authorized by
law.. It appears from the statutes prohibiting or restraining the exercise of
private hostilities, that the invasion of the most barbarous enemy could not be
more desolating to a country, or more fatal to its inhabitants, than those intestine wars.  Ordon. tom. i. p. 701. tom. ii. p. 395. 408. 507, &c. The contemporary historians describe the excesses committed in prosecution of these
quarrels in such terms as excite astonishment and horror. I shall mention only
one passage from the history of the Holy War, by Guibert Abbot of Nogent:
"Erat eo tempore maximis ad invicem hostilitatibus, totius Francorum  regni
facta turbatio; crebra ubiq; latrocinia, viarum  obsessio; audiebantur passim,
immo fiebant incendia infinita; nullis praeter sola et indomita cupiditate exis.
tentibus causis extruebantur prselia; et'ut brevi totum claudam, quicquid obtufibus cupidorum subjacebat, nusquam attendenlo cujus esset, prmde patebat."
Gesta Dei per Francos, vol. i. p. 482.
Having thus collected the chief regulations which custom had established




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                               b33
oncerning the right and exercise of private war, I shall enumerate in chrono.
logical order, the various expedients employed to abolish or restrain this fatal
custom.  1. The first expedient employed by the civil magistrate, in order to
set some bounds to the violence of private revenge, was the fixing by law the
fine or composition to be paid for each different crime. The injured person
was originally the sole judge concerning the nature of the wrong which he
had suffered, the degree of vengeance which he should exact, as well as the
species of atonement or reparation with which he might rest satisfied. Re
sentment became of course as implacable as it was fierce. It was often a
point of honour not to forgive, nor to be reconciled. This made it necessary
to fix those compositions which make so great a figure in the laws of barbarous
nations. The nature of crimes and offences was estimated by the magistrate,
and the sum due to the person offended was ascertained with a minute and
often a whimsical accuracy. Rotharis, the legislator of the Lombards, who
reigned about the middle of the seventh century, discovers his intention both
in ascertaining the composition to be paid by the offender, and in increasing its
value; it is, says he, that the enmity may be extinguished, the prosecution may
cease, and peace may be restored. Leg. Longob. lib. i. tit. 7. sect. 10.-2.
About the beginning of the ninth century, Charlemagne struck at the root of
the evil, and enacted, " That when any person had been guilty of a crime, or
had committed an outrage, he should immediately submit to the penance which
the churdh imposed, and offer to pay the composition which the law, prescribed,
and if the injured person or his kindred should refuse to accept of this, and
presume to avenge themselves by force of arms, their lands and properties
should be forfeited."  Capitul. A. D. 802. edit. Baluz. vol. i. 371.-3. But in
this, as well as in other regulations, the genius of Charlemagne advanced before
the spirit of his age. The ideas of his contemporaries concerning re'gular
government were too imperfect, and their manners too fierce to submit to this
law. Private wars, with all the calamities which they occasioned, became more
frequent than ever after the death of that great monarch. His successors were
unable to restrain them. The church found it necessary to interpose. The
most early of these interpositions now extant, is towards the end of the tenth
century. In the year 990, several bishops in the south of France assembled.
and published various regulations, in order to set some bounds to the violence
and frequency of private wars; if any person within their diocesses should
venture to transgress, they ordained that he should be excluded from all Chris
tian privileges during his life, and be denied Christian burial after his death.
Du Mont Corps Diplomatique, tom. i. p. 41. These, however, were only partial remedies; and therefore a council was held at Limoges, A. D. 994. The
bodies of the saints, according to the custom of those ages, were carried thither;
and by these sacred relics men were exhorted to lay down their arms, to extinguish their animosities, and to swear that they would not for the future
violate the public peace by their private hostilities. Bouquet Recueil des
Histor. vol. x. p. 49. 147. Several other councils issued decrees to the same
effect. Du Cange Dissert. 343.-4. But the authority of councils, how venerable soever in those ages, was not sufficient to abolish a custom which flattered
the pride of the nobles, and gratified their favourite passions. The evil grew
so intolerable, that it became necessary to employ supernatural means for suppressing it. A bishop of Aquitaine, A. D. 1032, pretended that an angel had
appeared to him, and brought him a writing from heaven, enjoining men to
cease from their hostilities, and to be reconciled to each other. It was during
a season of public calamity that he published this revelation. The minds of
men were disposed to receive pious impressions, and willing to perform any
thing in order to avert the wrath of heaven. A general peace and cessation
from hostilities took place, and continued for seven years; and a resolution
was formed, that no man should in times to come attack or molest his adversaries during the season set apart for celebrating the great festivals of the church,
or from the evening of Thursday in each week, to the morning of Monday in
the week ensuing, the intervening days being considered as particularly holy;
our Lord's Passion having happened on. one of these days, and his Resurrection
on another. A change in the dispositions of men so sudden, and which produced a resolution so unexpected, was considered as miraculous; and the




534         PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
respite from hostilities which followed upon it, was called The Truce of God.
Glaber. Rodolphus Histor. lib. v. ap. Bouquet, vol. x. p. 59. This, from being
a regulation or concert in one kingdom, became a general law in Christendom,
was confirmed -by the authority of several popes, and the violators were subjected to the penalty of excommunication. Corpus Jur. Canon. Decretal. lib,
i. tit. 34. c. i. Du Cange Glossar. voc. Treuga. An act of the council of Toulujes in Rousillon, A. D. 1041, containing all the stipulations required by the
truce of God, is published by Dom de Vic and Dom Vaisette, Hist. de Languedoc, tom. ii. preuves, p. 206. A cessation from  hostilities during three complete days in every week, allowed such a considerable space for the passions of
the antagonists to cool, and for the people to enjoy a respite from  the calamities of war, as well as to take measures for their own security, that, if this
truce of God had been exactly observed, it must have gone far towards putting
an end to private wars. This, however, seems not to have been the case; the
nobles, disregarding the truce, prosecuted their quarrels without interruption as
formerly.  Qua nimirum tempestate, universe provinciae adeo devastationis
continuse importunitate inquietantur ut ne ipsa, pro observatione divinte pacis,
professa sacramenta custodiantur.  Abbas Uspergensis, apud Datt de pace imperi. publica. p. 13. No. 35. The violent spirit of the nobility could not be
restrained by any engagements.  The complaints of this were frequent; and
bishops, in order to compel them to renew their vows and promises of ceasing
from their private wars, were obliged to enjoin their clergy to suspend the performance of divine service and the exercise of any religious function within the
parishes of such as were refractory and obstinate. Hist. de Langued. par D.
D. de Vie et Vaisette, tom. ii. Preuves, p. 118.-5. The people, eager to obtain
relief from  their sufferings, called in a second time revelation to their aid.
Towards the end of the twelfth century, a carpenter in Guienne gave out, that
Jesus Christ, together with the blessed Virgin, had appeared to him, and having
commanded him to exhort mankind to peace, had given him, as a proof of his
mission, an Image of the Virgin holding her son in her arms, with this inscription, Lamb of God, who takleth away the sins of the world, give us peace. This
low fanatic addressed himself to an ignorant age, prone to credit what was
marvellous. He was received as an inspired messenger of God. Many pre
lates and barons assembled at Puy, and took an oath, not only to make peace
with all their enemies, but to attack such as refused to lay down their arms,
and to be reconciled to their enemies. They formed an association for this
purpose, and assumed the honourable name of the Brotherhood of God. Robertus de Monte Michaele, ap. M. de Lauriere Pref. tom. i. Ordon. p. 29. But
lhe influence of this superstitious terror or devotion was not of long continuance.-6. The civil magistrate was obliged to exert his authority in order to
check a custom which threatened the dissolution of government. Philip Augustus, as some imagine, or St. Louis, as is more probable, published an ordonnance, A. D. 1245, prohibiting any person to commence hostilities against the
friends and vassals of his adversary, until forty days after the commission of
the crime or offence which gave rise to the quarrel; declaring, that if any man
presumed to transgress this statute, that he should be considered as guilty of a
breach of the public peace, and be tried and punished by the judge ordinary as
a traitor.  Ordon. tom. i. 56. This was called the Royal Truce, and afforded
time for the violence of resentment to subside, as well as leisure for the good
offices of such as were willing to compose the difference. The happy effects
oaf this regulation seem to have been considerable, if we may judge from the
solicitude of succeeding monarchs to enforce it.-7. In order to restrain the
exercise of private war still farther, Philip the Fair, towards the close of the
same century, A. D. 1296, published an ordonnance commanding all private
hostilities to cease, while he was engaged in war against the enemies of the
state. Ordon. tom. i. p. 328. 390. This regulation, which seems to be almost
essential to the existence and preservation of society, was often renewed by
his successors, and being enforced by the regal authority, proved a considerable
check to the destructive contests of the nobles. Both these regulations, intr-oduced first in France, were adopted by the other nations of Europe.-8.
The evil, however, was so inveterate, that it did not yield to all these remedies.
No sooner was public peace established in any kingdom, than the barons




FROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                 535
renewed their private hostilities.  They not only struggled to maintain this pernicious right, but to secure the exercise of it without any restraint. Upon the
death of Philip the Fair, the nobles of different provinces in France formed
associations, and presented remonstrances to his successor, demanding the repeal of.several laws, by which he had abridged the privileges of their order.
Among these, the right of private war is always mentioned as one of the most
valuable; and they claim that the restraint imposed by the truce of God, the
royal truce, as well as that arising from the ordonnances of the year 1296,
should be taken off. In some instances, the two sons of Philip who mounted
the throne successively, eluded their demands; in others, they were obliged to
make concessions.  Ordon. tom.'i. p. 551. 557. 561. 573. The ordonnances to
which I here refer are of such length that I cannot insert them, but they are
extremely curious, and may be peculiarly instructive to an English reader, as
they throw considerable light on that period of En lish history, in which the
attempts to circumscribe the regal prerogative were carried on, not by the people
struggling for liberty, but by the nobles contending for power. It is not necessary to produce any evidence of the continuance and frequency of private wars
under the successors of Philip the Fair.-9. A practice somewhat similar to
the royal truce was introduced, in order to strengthen and extend it. Bonds
of assurance, or mutual security, were demanded from the parties at variance,
by which they obliged themselves to abstain from all hostilities, either during
a time mentioned in the bond, or for ever; and became subject to heavy penalties, if they violated.this obligation.  These bonds were sometimes granted
voluntarily, but more frequently exacted by the authority of the civil magistrate. Upon a petition from the party who felt himself weakest, the magistrate
summoned his adversary to appear in court, and obliged him to give a bond of
assurance. If after that, he committed any farther hostilities, he became subject to all the penalties of treason. This restraint on private war was known
in the age of St. Louis.  Establissemens, liv. i. c. 28. It was frequent in Bretagne; and what is very remarkable, such bonds of assurance were given
mutually between vassals and the lord of whom they held. Oliver de Clisson
grants one to the Duke of Bretagne, his sovereign.  Morice Mem. pour servir
de Preuves a l'Hist. de Bret. tom. i. p. 846. ii. p. 371. Many examples of bonds
of assurance in other provinces of France are collected by Brussel, tom. ii. p.
856. The nobles of Burgundy remonstrated against this practice, and obtained
exemption from it as an encroachment on the privileges of their order.  Ordon.
tom. i. p. 558.  This mode of security was first introduced in cities, and the
good effects of it having been felt there, was extended to the nobles.  See
Note 16.-10. The calamities occasioned by private wars became at some times
so intolerable, that the nobles entered into voluntary associations, binding themselves to refer all matters in dispute, whether concerning civil property, or
points of honour, to the determination of the majority of the associates. Mo.
rice Mern. pour servir de preuves a 1'Hist. de Bret. tom. ii. p. 728.-11. But
all these expedients proving ineffectual, Charles VI., A. D. 1413, issued an
ordonnance expressly prohibiting private wars on any pretext whatsoever, with
power to the judge ordinary to compel all persons to comply with this injunction, and to punish such as should prove refractory or disobedient, by imprisoning their persons, seizing their goods, and appointing the officers of justice,
3Mangeurs et Gasteurs, to live at free quarters on their estate.  If those who
were disobedient to this edict could not be personally arrested, he appointed
their friends and vassals to be seized, and detained until they gave surety foi
keeping the peace; and he abolished all laws, customs, or privileges which
might be pleaded in opposition to this ordonnance.  Ordon. tom. x. p. 138
How slow is the progress of reason and of civil order! Regulations which t(
us appear so equitable, obvious, and simple, required the efforts of civil ant
ecclesiastical authority, during several centuries, to introduce and establisl
them. Even posterior to this period, Louis XI. was obliged to abolish privatb
wars in Dauphine, by a particular edict, A. D. 1451.  Du Cange Dissert
p. 348.
This note would swell to a disproportionate bulk, if I should attempt to in
quire with the same minute attention into the progress of this pernicious cut
tou  in the other countries of Europe.  In England. the ideas of the Saxon




536          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
concerning personal revenge, the right of private wars, and the composition
due to the party offended, seem to have been much the same with those which
prevailed on the Continent. The law of Ina de vindicantibus, in the eighth
century, Lamb. p. 3, those of Edmund in the tenth century, de homicidio, Lamb.
p. 72, et de inimicitiis, p. 76. and those of Edward the Confessor, in the
eleventh century, de temporibus et diebuspacis, or Treuga Dei, Lamb. p. 126, are
perfectly similar to the ordonnances of tile French kings their contemporaries.
The laws of Edward, de pace regis, are still more explicit than those of the
French monarchs, and, by several provisions in them, discover that a more
perfect police was established in England at that period. Lambard, p. 128.
fol. vers. Even after the conquest, private wars, and the regulations for preventing them, were not altogether unknown, as appears from Madox Formulare
Anglicanum, No. CXLV. and from the extracts from Domesday Book, published
Dy Gale Scriptores Hist. Britan. p. 759. 777. The well known clause in the
form of an English indictment, which, as an aggravation of the criminal's
guilt, mentions his having assaulted a person, who was in the peace of God
and of the King, seems to be borrowed from the Treuga or Pax Dei, and the
Pax Regis, which I have explained. But after the conquest, the mention of
private wars among the nobility occurs more rarely in the English history,
than in that of any other European nation, and no laws concerning them are
to be found in the body of their statutes. Such a change in their own manners,
and such a variation from those of their neighbours, is remarkable. Is it to
be ascribed to the extraordinary power that William the Norman acquired by
right of conquest, and transmitted to his successors, which rendered the execution of justice more vigorous and decisive, and the jurisdiction of the king's
court more extensive than under the monarchs on the Continent? Or was
it owing to the settlement of the Normans in England, who, having never
adopted the practice of private war in their own country, abolished it in the
kingdom which they conquered? It is asserted in an ordonnance of John
king of France, that in all times past, persons of every rank in Normandy
have been prohibited to wage private war, and the practice has been deemed
unlawful. Ordon. tom. ii. p. 407. If this fact were certain, it would go far
towards explaining the peculiarity which I have mentioned.  But as there are
some English Acts of Parliament, ivhich, according to the remarks of the
learned author of the Observations on the Statutes, chiefly the more ancient, recite
falsehoods, it may be added, that this is not peculiar to the laws of that country. Notwithstanding the positive assertion contained in this public law of
France, there is good reason for considering it as a statute which recites a
falsehood. This, however, is not the place for discussing that point. It is an
inquiry not unworthy the curiosity of an English antiquary.
In Castile, the pernicious practice of private war prevailed, and was authorized by the customs and laws of the kingdom. Leges Tauri, tit. 76. cum
commentario Anton. Gomezii. p. 551.  As the Castilian nobles were no less
turbulent than powerful, their quarrels and hostilities involved their country in
many calamities. Innumerabje proofs of this occur in Mariana. In Arragon,
the right of private revenge was likewise authorized by law; exercised in its
full extent, and accompanied with the same unhappy consequences. Hieron.
Blanca Comment. de Rebus Arag. ap. Schotii Hispan. illustrat. vol. iii. p. 733.
Lex Jacobi I., A. D. 1247. Fueros et Observancias del Reyno de Aragon. lib.
ix. p. 182. Several confederacies between the kings of Arragon and their
nobles for the restoring of peace, founded on the truce of God, are still extant.
Petr. de Marca,.Marca sive Limes Hispanic. app. 1303, 1388, 1428. As early as
the year 1165, we find a combination of the king and court of Arragon, in
order to abolish the right of private war, and to punish those who presumed to
claim that privilege. Anales de Aragon por. Zurita, vol. i. p. 73. But the
evil was so inveterate, that as late as A. D. 1519, Charles V. was obliged to
publish a law enforcing all former regulations tending to suppress this practice.
Fueros et observanc. lib. ix. 183.
The Lombards, and other northern nations who settled in Italy, introduced
the same maxims concerning the right of revenge into that country, and these
we-e followed by the same effects. As the progress of the evil was perfectly
similar to what happened in France, the expedients employed to check its




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                537
career, or to extirpate it finally, resembled those which I have enumerated.
Murat. Ant. Ital. vol. ii. p. 306, &c.
In Germany, the disorders and calamities occasioned by the right of private
war were greater and more intolerable than in any other country of Europe.
The Imperial authority was so much shaken and enfeebled by the violence of
the civil wars excited by the contests between the popes and the emperors of
the Franconian and Suabian lines, that not only the nobility but the cities acquired almost independent power, and scorned all subordination and obedience
to the laws. The frequency of thesefaidce, or private wars, is often mentioned
in the German annals, and the fatal effects of them are most pathetically described, Datt de Pace Imper. pub. lib. i. cap. v. No. 30, et passim. The Germans early adopted the Treuga Dei, which was first established in France.
This, however, proved but a temporary and ineffectual remedy. The disorders
multiplied so fast, and grew to be so enormous, that they threatened the dissolution of society, and compelled the Germans to have recourse to the only
remedy of the evil, viz. an absolute prohibition of private wars. The emperor
William published his edict to this purpose, A. D. 1255, a hundred and sixty
years previous to the Ordonnance of Charles VI. in France, Datt, lib. i. cap. 4.
No. 20. But neither he nor his successors had authority to secure the observance of it. This gave rise to a practice in Germany, which conveys to us a
striking idea both of the intolerable calamities occasioned by private wars, and
of the feebleness of government during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The cities and nobles entered into alliances and associations, by which they
bound themselves to maintain the public peace, and to make war on such as
should violate it. This was the origin of theleague of the Rhine, of Suabia,
and of many smaller confederacies distinguished by various names. The rise,
progress, and beneficial effects of these associations are traced by Datt, with
great accuracy. Whatever degree of public peace or of regular administration
was preserved in the empire from the beginning of the twelfth century to the
close of the fifteenth, Germany owes to these leagues. During that period,
political order, respect for the laws, together with the equal administration of
justice, made considerable progress in Germany. But the final and perpetual
abolition of the right of private war was not accomplished until A. D. 1495.
The imperial authority was by that time more firmly established, the ideas of
men with respect to government and subordination were become more just.
That barbarous and pernicious privilege of waging war, which the nobles had
so long possessed, was declared to be incompatible with the happiness and
existence of society. In order to terminate any differences which might arise
among the various members of the Germanic body, the imperial chamber was
instituted with supreme jurisdiction, to judge without appeal in every question
brought before it. That court has subsisted since that period, forming a very
respectable tribunal, of essential importance in the Germanic constitution.
Datt, lib. iii. iv. v. Pfeffel Abrege de l'Histoire, du Droit, &c. p. 556.
NOTE [22]. PAGE 31.
IT would be tedious and of little use to enumerate the various modes of ap
pealing to the justice of God, which superstition introduced during the ages ot
ignorance. I shall mention only one, because we have an account of it in a
placitum or trial in the presence of Charlemagne, from which we may learn
the imperfect manner in which justice was administered even during his reign.
In the year 775, a contest arose between the bishop of Paris and the abbot ot
St. Denys, concerning the property of a small abbey. Each of them exhibited
deeds and records, in order to prove the right to be in them. Instead of trying
the authenticity, or considering the import of these, the point was referred to
thejudicium crucis. Each produced a person, who during the celebration ot
mass, stood before the cross with his arms expanded; and he, whose representative first became weary, and altered his posture, lost the cause. The person
employed by the bishop on this occasion had less strength or less spirit than his
adversary, and the question was decided in favour of the abbot. Mabillon
de Re Diplomat. lib. vi. p. 498. If a prince so enlightened as Charlemagne
countenanced such an absurd mode of decision, it is no wonder that other
monarchs should tolerate it so long. M. de Montesquieu has treated of the
VOL. II. —68




538         PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
trial by judicial combat at considerable length.  The two talents which dis.
tinguished that illustrious author, industry in tracing all the circumstances of
ancient and obscure institutions, and sagacity in penetrating into the causes
and principles which contributed to establish them, are equally conspicuous in
his observations on this subject. To these I refer the reader, as they contain
most of the principles by which I have endeavoured to explain this practice.
De l'Esprit des Loix, lib. xxviii. It seems to be probable from the remarks of
M. de Montesquieu as well as from the facts produced by Muratori, tom. iii.
Dissert. xxxviii. that appeals to the justice of God by the experiments with
fire and water, &c. were frequent among the people who settled in the different
provinces of the Roman empire, before they had recourse to the judicial combat; and yet the judicial combat seems to have been the most ancient mode of
terminating any controversy among the barbarous nations in their origina
settlements. This is evident from Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii. c. 118, who informs us, that all questions which were decided among the Romans by legal
trial, were terminated among the Germans by arms.  The same thing appears
in the ancient laws and customs of the Swedes, quoted by Jo. O. Stiernhook
de Jure Sueonum et Gothorum vetusto. 4to. Holmine 1682. lib. i. c. 7. It is
probable that when the various tribes which invaded the empire were converted
to Christianity, their ancient custom of allowing judicial combats appeared so
glaringly repugnant to the precepts of religion, that, for some time, it was
abolished, and by degrees, several circumstances which I have mentioned led
them to resume it.
It seems likewise to be probable from a law quoted by Stiernhook in the
treatise which I have mentioned, that the judicial combat was originally permitted, in order to determine points respecting the personal character or reputation of individuals, and was afterwards extended not only to criminal cases,
but to questions concerning property. The words of the law are, " If any
man shall say to another these reproachful words  you are not a man equal
to other men,' or,' you have not the heart of a man,' and the other shall reply
I am a man as good as you,' let them meet on the highway. If he who first
gave offence appear, and the person offended absent himself, let the latter be
deemed a worse man even than he was called; let him not be admitted to give
evidence in judgment either for man or woman, and let him not have the privilege of making a testament.  If he who gave the offence be absent, and only
the person offended appear, let him call upon the other thrice with a loud voice,
and make a mark upon the earth, and then let him who absented himself be
deemed infamous, because he uttered words which he durst not support. If
both shall appear properly armed, and the person offended shall fall in the
combat, let a half compensation be paid for his death. But if the person who
gave the offence shall fall, let it be imputed to his own rashness. The petulance
of his tongue hath been fatal to him. Let him lie in the field without any
compensation being demanded for his death."  Lex Uplandica, ap. Stiern. p.
76. Martial people were extremely delicate with respect to every thing that
affected their reputation as soldiers. By the laws of the Salians, if any man
called another a hare, or accused him of having left his shield in the field of
battle, he was ordained to pay a large fine., Leg. Sal. tit. xxxii. $ 4. 6. By
the law of the Lombards, if any one called another arga, i. e. a good for nothing
fellow, he might immediately challenge him to combat. Leg. Longob. lib. i.
tit. v. $ 1. By the law of the Salians, if one called another cenitus, a term of
reproach equivalent to arga, he was bound to pay a very high fine. Tit. xxxii.
~ 1. Paulus Diaconus relates the violent impression which this reproachful
expression made upon one of his countrymen, and the fatal effects with which
it was attended. De Gestis Longobard. lib. vi. c. 34. Thus the ideas concerning the point of honour, which we are apt to consider as a modern refinement, as well as the practice of duelling, to which it gave rise, are derived
from the notions of our ancestors, while in a state of society very little improved.
As M. de Montesquieu's view of this subject did not lead him  to consider
every circumstance relative to judicial combats, I shall mention some particular
facts necessary for the illustration of what I have said with respect to them.
A remarkable instance occurs of the decision of an abstract point of law bv




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                539
combat.' A question arose in the tenth century, concerning the right of repre.
senlatinn, which was not then fixed, though now universally established in
every part of Europe. "It was a matter of doubt and dispute, (saith the historian,) whether the sons of a son ought to be reckoned among the children of
the familv. and succeed equally with their uncles, if their father happened to
die while their grandfather was alive. An assembly was called to deliberate on
this point, and it was the general opinion that it ought to be remitted to the
examination and decision of judges.  But the emperor following a better
course, and desirous of dealing honourably with his people and nobles, appointed
the matter to be decided by battle between two champions. He who appeared
in behalf of the right of children to represent their deceased father was victorious; and it was established, by a perpetual decree, that they should hereafter
share in the inheritance together with their uncles." Wittikindus Corbiensis,
lib. Annal. ap. M. de Lauriere Pref. Ordon. vol. i. p. 33. If we can suppose
the caprice of folly to lead men to any action more extravagant than this of
settling a point in law by combat, it must be that of referring the truth or
falsehood of a religious opinion to be decided in the same manner. To the
disgrace of human reason, it has been capable even of this extravagance. A
question was agitated in Spain in the eleventh century, whether the Musarabic
liturgy and ritual which had been used in the churches of Spain, or that
approved of by the see of Rome, which differed in many particulars from the
other, contained the form of worship most acceptable to the Deity. The Spaniards contended zealously for the ritual of their ancestors.  The popes urged
them to receive that to which they had given their infallible sanction. A
violent contest arose. The nobles proposed to decide the controversy by the
sword.  The king approved of this method of decision.  Two knights in
complete armour entered the lists. John Ruys de Matanca, the champion of
the Musarabic liturgy, was victorious. But the queen and archbishop of Toledo,
who favoured the other form, insisted on having the matter submitted to another
trial, and had interest enough to prevail in a request, inconsistent with the laws
of combat, which being considered as an appeal to God, the decision ought to
have been acquiesced in as final. A great fire was kindled. A copy of each
liturgy was cast into the flames. It was agreed that the book which stood this
proof, and remained untouched, should be received in all the churches of Spain.
The Musarabic liturgy triumphed likewise in this trial, and if'we may believe
Roderigo de Toledo, remained unhurt by the fire, when the other was reduced
to ashes. The queen and archbishop had power or art sufficient to elude this
decision also, and the use of the Musarabic form of devotion was permitted
only in certain churches. A determination no less extraordinary than the
whole transaction. Roder de Toledo, quoted by P. Orleans, Hist. de Revol.
d'Espagne, torn. i. p. 417. Mariana, lib. i. c. 18. vol. i. p. 378.-A remarkable
proof of the general use of trial by combat, and of the predilection for that
mode of decision, occurs in the laws of the Lombards. It was a custom in the
middle ages, that any person might signify publicly the law to which he chose
to be subjected; and by the prescriptions of that law he was obliged to regulate
his transactions, without being bound to comply with any practice authorized
by other codes of law. Persons who had subjected themselves to the Roman
law, and adhered to the ancient jurisprudence, as far as any knowledge of it
was retained in those ages of ignorance, were exempted from  paying any
regard to the forms of proceedings established by the laws of the Burgundians,
Lombards, and other barbarous people. But the emperor Otho, in direct contradiction to this received maxim, ordained,  That all persons, under whatever
law they lived, even although it were the Roman law, should be bound to conform  to the edicts concerning the trial by combat."  Leg. Longob. lib. ii. tit.
55. sect. 38. While the trial by judicial combat subsisted, proofs by charters,
contracts, or other deeds became ineffectual; and even this species of written
evidence, calculated to render the proceedings of courts certain and decisive,
was eluded. When a charter, or other instrument was produced by one of the
parties, his opponent might challenge it, affirm that it was false and forged, and
offer to prove this by combat. Leg. Longob. ib. sect. 34. It is true, that among the
reasons enumerated by Beaumanoir, on account of which judges might refuse to
permit a trial by combat, one is, "If the point in contest can be clearly proved or




5340         PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
ascertained by other evidence."  Coust. de Beauv. ch. 63. p. 325. But that
regulation removed the evil only a single step. For the party who suspected
that a witness was about to depose in a manner unfavourable to his cause,
might accuse him of being suborned, give him  the lie, and challenge him to
combat; if the witness was vanquished in battle, no other evidence could be
admitted, and the party by whom he was summoned to appear lost his cause.
Leg. Baivar. tit. 16. sect. 2. Leg. Burgund. tit. 45. Beauman. ch. 61. p. 315. The
reason given for obliging a witness to accept of a defiance, arid to defend himself
by combat, is remarkable, and contains the same idea which is still the foundation of what is called the point of honour; "for it is just, that if any one
affirms that he perfectly knows the truth of any thing, and offers to give oath
upon it, that he should not hesitate to maintain the veracity of his affirmation
in combat." Leg. Burgund. tit. 45.
That the trial by judicial combat was established in every country of Europe,
is a fact well known, and requires no proof. That this mode of decision was
frequent, appears not only from the codes of ancient laws which established it,
but from the earliest writers concerning the practice of law in the different
nations of Europe. They treat of this custom at great length; they enumerate the regulations concerning it with minute accuracy; and explain them
with much solicitude. It made a capital and extensive article in jurisprudence.
There is not any one subject in their system of law, which Beaumanoir, Defontaines, or the compilers of the Assises de Jerusalem, seem to have considered
as of greater importance; and none upon which they have bestowed so much
attention. The same observation will hold with respect to the early authors of
other nations. It appears from  Madox, that trials of this kind were so frequent in England, that fines, paid on these occasions, made no inconsiderable
branch of the king's revenue. Hist. of the Excheq. vol. i. p. 349.  A very
curious account of a judicial combat between Mesire Robert de Beaumnanoir, and Mesire Pierre Tournemine, in presence of the duke of Bretagne,
A. D. 1385, is published by Morice, Mem. pour servir de preuves a PHist. do
Bretagne, tom. ii. p. 498. All the formalities observed in such extraordinary
proceedings are there described more minutely than in any ancient monument
which I have had an opportunity of considering. Tournemine was accused by
Beaumanoir of having murdered his brother. The former was vanquished, but
was saved from being hanged on the spot by the generous intercession of his
antagonist. A good account of the origin of the laws concerning judicial combat is published in the history of Pavia, by Bernardo Sacci, lib. ix. c. 8. in
Grcev. Thes. Antiquit. Ital. vol. iii. 743.
This mode of trial was so acceptable, that ecclesiastics, notwithstanding the
prohibitions of the church, were constrained not only to connive at the practice,
but to authorize it. A remarkable instance of this is produced by Pasquier
Recherches, lib. iv. ch. i. p. 350. The abbot Wittikindus, whose words I have
produced in this note, considered the determination of a point in law by combat as the best and most honourable mode of decision. In the year 978, a judicial
combat was fought in the presence of the emperor. The archbishop Aldebert
advised him to terminate a contest which had arisen between two noblemen of
his court, by this mode of decision. The vanquished combatant, though a
person of high rank, was beheaded on the spot. Chronic. Ditmari Episc.
Mersb. chez Bouquet Recueil des Hist. tom. x. p. 121. Questions concerning
the property of churches and monasteries were decided by combat. In the year
961, a controversy concerning the church of St. Medard, whether it belonged to
the abbey of Beaulieu or not, was terminated by judicial combat. Bouquet
Recueil des Hist. tom. ix. p. 729. Ib. p. 612, &c. The emperor Henry I. declares, that this law, authorizing the practice of judicial combats, was enacted
with consent and applause bf many faithful bishops. Ib. p. 231. So remarkably did the martial ideas of those ages prevail over the genius and maxims of
the canon law, which in other instances was in the highest credit and authority
with ecclesiastics. A judicial combat was appointed in Spain, by Charles V.,
A. D. 1522. The combatants fought in the emperor's presence, and the battle
was conducted with all the rights prescribed by the ancient laws of chivalry.
The whole transaction is described at great length by Pontus Heuterus Rur
Austriac. lib. viii. c. 17. p. 205.




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                541
The last instance which occurs in the history of France, of a judicial combat
authorized by the magistrate, was the famous one between M. Jarnac and M.
de la Chaistaignerie, A. D. 1547. A trial by combat was appointed in England,
A. D. 1571, under the inspection of the judges of the court of Common Pleas;
and though it was not carried to the same extremity with the former, queen
Elizabeth having interposed her authority, and enjoined the parties to compound the matter, yet in order to preserve their honour, the lists were marked
out, and all the forms previous to the combat were observed with much ceremony.  Spelm. Gloss. voc. Campus; p. 103. In the year 1631, a judicial
combat was appointed between Donald Lord Rea, and David Ramsay, Esq. by
the authority of the lord high constable, and earl marshal of England; but
that quarrel likewise terminated without bloodshed, being accommodated by
Charles I. Another instance occurs seven years later. Rushworth in Observations on the Statutes, &c. p. 266.
NOTE [23]. PAGE 33.
THE text contains the great outlines which mark the course of private and
public jurisdiction in the several nations of Europe. I shall here follow more
minutely the various steps of this progress, as the matter is curious and important enough to merit this attention. The payment of a fine by way of satisfaction to tile person or family injured, was the first device of a rude people, in
order to check the career of private resentment, and to extinguish those faidce
or deadly feuds, which were prosecuted among them with the utmost violence.
This custom may be traced back to the ancient Germans. Tacit. de Morib.
Germ. c. 21. and prevailed among other uncivilized nations. Many examples
of this are collected by the ingenious and learned author of Historical Law
Tracts, vol. i. p. 41. These fines were ascertained and levied in three different
inanners.  At first they were settled by voluntary agreement between the
parties at variance. When their rage began to subside, and they felt the bad
effects of their continuing in enmity, they came to terms of concord, and the
satisfaction made was called a composition, implying that it was fixed by mutual
consent. De'Esprit des Loix, lib. xxx. c. 19. It is apparent from some of
the more ancient codes of laws, that at the time when these were compiled,
matters still remained in that simple state. In certain cases, the person who
had committed an offence, was left exposed to the resentment of those whom
he had injured, until he should recover their favour, quoquo modo potuerit.
Lex Frision. tit. 11. ~ 1. The next mode of levying these fines was by the
sentence of arbiters. An arbiter is called in the Regiam Majestatem amicabilis
compositor, lib. xi. c. 4. ~ 10. He could estimate the degree of offence with
more impartiality than the parties interested, and determine with greater equity
what satisfaction ought to be demanded. It is difficult to bring an authentic
proof of a custom previous to the records preserved in any nation of Europe.
But one of the Formule Andegavenses compiled in the sixth century, seems to
allude to a transaction carried on, not by the authority of a judge, but by the
mediation of arbiters chosen by mutual consent. Bouquet Recueil des Histor.
tom. iv. p. 566. But as an arbiter wanted authority to enforce his decisions,
judges were appointed with compulsive power to oblige both parties to acquiesce in their decisions. Previous to this last step, the expedient of paying
compositions was an imperfect remedy against the pernicious effects of private
resentment. As soon as this important change was introduced, the magistrate,
putting himself in place of the person injured, ascertained the composition with
which he ought to rest satisfied. Every possible injury that could occur in the
intercourse of civil society was considered and estimated, and the compositions
due to the person aggrieved were fixed with such minute attention, as discovers,
in most cases, amazing discernment and delicacy; in some instances, unaccountable caprice. Besides the composition payable to the private party, a
certain sum called a fredum, was paid to the king or state, as Tacitus expresses
it, or to the fiscus, in the language of the barbarous laws. Some authors blending the refined ideas of modern policy with their reasonings concerning ancient
transactions, have imagined that the fredum was a compensation due to the
community on account of the violation of the public peace. But it is manifestly nothing more than the price paid to the magistrate for the protection




542            PRQOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
which.he afforded against the violence of resentment. The enacting of this
was a considerable step towards improvement in criminal jurisprudence. In
some of the more ancient codes of laws, the freda are altogether omitted, or so
seldom mentioned, that it is evident they were but little known. In the later
codes, the fredum is as precisely specified as the composition. In common
cases it was equal to the third part of the composition. Capitul. vol. i. p. 52.
In some extraordinary cases, where it was more difficult to protect the person
who had committed violence, the fredum was augmented.  Capitul. vol. i. p.
515. These freda made a considerable branch in the revenues of the barons;
and in whatever district territorial jurisdiction was granted, the royal judges
were prohibited from  levying any freda. In explaining the nature of the
fredum, I have followed in a great measure the opinion of M. de Montesquieu,
though I know that several learned antiquaries have taken the word in a different sense. De 1'Esprit des Loix, liv. xxx. c. 20, &c. The great object of
judges was to compel the one party to give, and the other to accept, the satisfaction prescribed. They multiplied regulations to this purpose, and enforced
them by grievous penalties. Leg. Longob. lib. i. tit. 9. I 34. Ib. tit. 37. I 1,
2. Capitul. vol. i. p. 371.  -22. The person who received a composition was
obliged to cease from all farther hostility, and to confirm his reconciliation to
the adverse party by an oath. Leg. Longob. lib. i. tit. 9. I 8. As an additional and more permanent evidence of reconciliation, he was required to grant
a bond of security to the person from whom he received a composition, absolving him from all farther prosecution. Marculfus, and the other collectors of
ancient writs, have preserved several different forms of such bonds. Marc. lib.
xi. 1 18. Append. ~ 23. Form. Simondicte, i 39. The Letters of Slanes, known
in the law of Scotland, are perfectly similar to these bonds of security. By
the Letters of Slanes, the heirs and relations of a person who had been murdered, bound themselves, in consideration of an assythment or composition paid tc
hem, to forgive, "pass over and for ever forget, and in oblivion.inter, all ran3our, malice, revenge, prejudice, grudge and resentment, that they have or may
conceive, against the aggressor or his posterity, for the crime which he had
committed, and discharge him of all action, civil or criminal, against him or his
estate, for now and ever."  System of Stiles by Dallas of St. Martin's, p. 862.
In the ancient form of Letters of Slanes, the private party not only forgives
and forgets, but pardons and grants remission of the crime. This practice,
Dallas, reasoning according to the principles of his own age, considers as an
encroachment on the rights of sovereignty, as none, says he, could pardon a
criminal butthe king. Ibid. But, in early and rude times, the prosecution,
the punishment, and the pardon of criminals, were all deeds of the private person who was injured. Madox has published two writs, one in the reign of
Edward I., the other in the reign of Edward III., by which private persons
grant a releas6 or pardon of all trespasses, felonies, robberies, and murders committed. Formal. Anglican. No. 702. 705.  In the last of these instruments,
some regard seenis to be paid to the rights of the sovereign, for the pardon is
granted en quaint que en nous est. Even after the authority of the magistrate
was interposed in punishing crimes, the punishment of criminals is long considered chiefly as a gratification to the resentment of the persons who have been
injured. In Persia a murderer is still delivered to the relations of the person
whom he has slain, who put him to death with their own hands. If they refuse
to accept of a sum of money as a compensation, the sovereign, absolute as he
is, cannot pardon the murderer.  Voyages de Chardin, iii. p. 417. edit. 1735,
4to. Voyages de Tavernier, liv. v. c. 5. 10. Among the Arabians, though one of
the first polished people in the east, the same custom still subsists. Description
de l'Arabia par M. Niebuhr, p. 28. By a law in the kingdom of Arragon, as late
as the year 1564, the punishment of one condemned to death cannot be mitigated but by consent of the parties who have been injured. Fueros and obser
vancias del Reyno de Arragon, p. 204. 6.
If, after all the engagements to cease from enmity which I have mentioned,
any person renewed hostilities, and was guilty of any violence, either towards
the person from whom he had received a composition, or towards his relations
and heirs, this was deemed a most heinous crime, and punished with extraordinary rigour. It was an act of direct rebellion against the authority of the




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS                                    A3
magistrate, and was repressed by the interposition of all his power. Leg
Longob. lib. i. tt. 9. ~ 8. 34.  Capit. vol. i. p. 371. ~ 22.  Thus the avenging
of injuries was taken out of private hands, a legal composition was established,
and peace and amity were restored, under the inspection, and by the authority
of a judge. It is evident that at the time when the barbarians settled in the
provinces of the Roman empire, they had fixed judges established among them
with compulsive authority.  Persons vested with this character are mentioned
by the earliest historians. Du Cange,_ voc. Judices. The right of territorial
jurisdiction was not altogether an usurpation of the feudal barons, or an invasion of the prerogative of the sovereign. There is good reason to believe, that
the powerful leaders, who seized different districts of the countries which the
conquered, and kept possession of them as allodial property, assumed from the
beginning the right of jurisdiction, and exercised it within their own territories.
This jurisdiction was supreme, and extended to all causes. The clearest proofs
of this are produced by M. Bouquet. Le Droit publique de France eclairci,
&c. tom. i. p. 206, &c.  The privilege of judging his own vassals, appears to
have been originally a right inherent in every baron who held a fief.  As far
back as the archives of nations can conduct us with any certainty, we find the
jurisdiction and fief united. One of the earliest charters to a layman which I
have met with, is that of Ludovicus Pius, A. D. 814. And it contains the
right of territorial jurisdiction, in the most express and extensive terms. Capitul. vol. ii. p. 1405. There are many charters to churches and monasteries of
a more early date, containing grants of.a similar jurisdiction, and prohibiting
any royal judge to enter the territories of those churches or monasteries, or to
perform  any act of judicial authority there.  Bouquet Recueil des Hist. tom.
iv. p. 628. 631. 633. tom. v. p. 703. 710. 752. 762. Muratori has published
many very ancient charters containing the same immunities. Antiq. Ital. Dissert. lxx. In most of these deeds, the royal judge is prohibited from exacting
thefreda due to the possessor of territorial jurisdiction, which shows that they
constituted a valuable part of the revenue of each superior lord at that juncture.
The expense of obtaining a sentence in a court of justice during the middle
ages was so considerable, that this circumstance alone was sufficient to render
men unwilling to decide any contest in judicial form. It appears from a charter in the thirteenth century, that the baron who had the right of justice, received the fifth part of the value of every subject, the property of which was
tried and determined in his court. If, after the commencement of a law-suit,
the parties terminated the contest in an amicable manner, or by arbitration,
they were nevertheless bound to pay the fifth part of the subject contested, to
the court.before which the suit had been brought.  Hist. de Dauphine, Geneve,
1722, tom. i. p. 22. Similar to this is a regulation in the charter of liberty
granted to the town ofFriburg, A. D. 1120. If two of the citizens shall quarrel,
and if one of them shall complain to the superior lord, or to his judge, and after
commencing the suit, shall be privately reconciled to his adversary, the judge,
if he does not approve of this reconciliation, may compel him to go on with
his law-suit; and all who were present at the reconciliation shall forfeit the
favour of the superior lord.  Historia Zaringo Badensis. Auctor. Jo. Dan,
Schoepflinus. Carolsr. 1765, 4to. vol. v. p. 55.
What was the extent of that jurisdiction which those who held fiefs possessed
originally, we cannot now determine with certainty.  It is evident that, during
the disorders which prevailed in every kingdom of Europe, the great vassals
took advantage of the feebleness of their monarchs, and enlarged their jurisdiction to the utmost. As early as the tenth century, the more powerful barons
had usurped the right of deciding all causes, whether civil or criminal. They
had acquired the High Justice as well as the Low. Establ. de St. Louis, lib. i.
c. 24, 25.  Their sentences were final, and there lay no appeal from them  to
any superior court. Several striking instances of this are collected by Brussel,
Traite des Fiefs, liv. iii. c. 11, 12, 13. Not satisfied with this, the more potent
barons got their territories erected into Regalities, with almost every royal
prerogative and jurisdiction.  Instances of these were frequent in France.
Bruss. ib. In Scotland, where the power of the feudal nobles became exorbitant, they were very numerous. Historical Law  Tracts, vol. i. tract vi.
Even in England, though the authority of the Norman kings circumscribed the




644          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
jurisdiction of the barons within more narrow limits than in any other feudal
kingdom, several counties palatine were erected, into which the king's judges
could not enter, and no writ could come in the king's name, until it received
the seal of the county palatine.  Spelman. Gloss. voc. Comites Palaiini;
Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, vol. iii. p. 78. These
lords of Regalities had a right to claim or rescue their vassals from the king's
judges, if they assumed any jurisdiction over them. Brussel, ubi supra. In
the law of Scotland this privilege was termed the right of repledging; and the
frequency of it not only interrupted the course of justice, but gave rise to
great disorders in the exercise'of it. Hist. Law Tracts, ib. The jurisdiction
of the counties palatine seems to have been productive of like inconveniences
in England.
The remedies provided by princes against the bad effects of these usurpations
of the nobles, or inconsiderate grants of the crown, were various, and gradually
applied.  Under Charlemagne and his immediate descendants, the regal pre
rogative still retained great vigour, and the Duces, Comites, and JMissi Dominici,
the former of whom were ordinary and fixed judges,the latter extraordinary and
itinerant judges, in the different provinces of their extensive dominions, exercised a jurisdiction co-ordinate with the barons in some cases, and superior to them
in others. Du Cange, voc. Dux, Comites, and Miissi. Murat. Antiq. Dissert.
viii. and ix. But under the feeble race of monarchs who succeeded them, the
authority of the royal judges declined, and the barons acquired that unlimited
jurisdiction which has been described. Louis VI. of France attempted to revive
the function of the Jissi Dominici under the title of Juges des Exempts, but
the barons were become too powerful to bear such an encroachment on their
jurisdiction, and he was obliged to desist from  employing them. Henaut
Abrege Chron. tom. ii. p. 730. His successor (as has been observed) had recourse to expedients less alarming. The appeal de defaute de droit, or on account of the refusal of justice, was the first which was attended with any
considerable effect. According to the maxims of feudal law, if a baron had
not as many vassals as enabled him to try by their peers the parties who offered
to plead in his court, or if he delayed or refused to proceed in the trial, the
cause might be carried, by appeal, to the court of the superior lord of whom
the baron held, and tried there. De l'Esprit des Loix, liv. xxviii. c. 28. Du
Cange, voc. Defectus Justitice.  The number of peers or assessors in the courts
of barons was frequently very considerable. It appears from a criminal t1
in the court of the viscount de Lautrec, A. D. 1299, that upwards of v^,
hundred persons were present, and assisted in the trial, and voted in passing
judgment. Hist. de Langued. par D. D. de Vic and Vaisette, tom. iv. Preuves,
p. 114. But as the right of jurisdiction had been usurped by many inconsiderable barons, they were often unable to hold courts. This gave frequent occasion to such appeals, and rendered the practice familiar. By degrees such
appeals began to be made from the courts of the more powerful barons, and it
is evident, from a decision recorded by Brussel, that the royal judges were
willing to give countenance to any pretext for them. Traite des Fiefs, tom. i.
p. 235. 261. This species of appeal had less effect in abridging the jurisdiction
of the nobles, than the appeal on account of the injustice of the sentence.
When the feudal monarchs were powerful, and their judges possessed extensive
authority, such appeals seem to have been frequent. Capitul. vol. i. p. 175.
180; and they were made in a manner suitable to the rudeness of a simple
age. The persons aggrieved resorted to the palace of their sovereign, and
with outcries and loud noise called to him for redress. Capitul. lib. iii. c. 59.
Chronic. Laterberginense ap. Mencken, Script. German. vol. ii. p. 284. b. In
the kingdom of Arragon, the appeals to the Justiza or supreme judge, were
taken in such a form as supposed the appellant to be in immediate danger of
death, or of some violent outrage; he rushed into the presence of the judge,
crying.with a loud voice, Avi, Avi, Fuerza, Fuerza, thus imploring (as it were)
the instant interposition of that supreme judge in order to save him. Hier.
Blanca Comment. de rebus Arragon. ap. Script. Hispanic. Pistorii, vol. iii. p.
753. The abolition of the trial by combat facilitated the revival of appeals of
this kind. The effects of the subordination which appeals established, in introducing attention, equity, and consistency of decision into courts of judica



PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                  545
ture, were soon conspicuous; and almost all causes of importance were capied
to be finally determined in the king's courts. Brussel. tom. i. 252. Varioa
circumstances which contributed towards the introduction and frequency o0
such appeals are enumerated De l'Esprit des Loix, liv. xxviii. c. 27. Nothlg,
however, was of such effect as the attention which monarchs gave to the constitution and dignity of their courts of justice.  It was the ancient custom for
the feudal monarchs to preside themselves in their courts, and to administer justice in person.  Marculf. lib. i. i 25. Murat. Dissert. xxxi. Charlemagne,
while he was' dressing, used to call parties into his presence, and having
heard and considered the subject of litigation, gave judgment concerning it.
Eginhartus, Vita Caroli Magni, cited by Madox, Hist. of Exchequer, vol. i. p.
91. This trial and decision of causes by the sovereigns themselves could aot
fail of rendering their courts respectable.  St. Louis, who encouraged to the
utmost the practice of appeals, revived this ancient custom, and administered
justice in person with all the ancient simplicity.  "6 I have often seen the saint,"
says Joinville, "sit under the shade of an oak in the wood of Vincennes, when
all who had any complaint freely approached him.  At other.times he gave
orders to spread a carpet in a garden, and seating himself upon it, heard the
causes that were brought before him."  Hist. de St. Louis, p. 13. edit. 1761.
Princes of inferior rank, who possessed the right ofjustice, sometimes dispensed
it in person, and presided in their tribunals. Two instances of this occur with
respect to the Dauphines of Vienne.  Hist. de Dauphine, tom. i. p. 18. tom.
ii. p. 257. But as kings and princes could not decide every cause in person,
nor bring them all to be determined in the same court; they appointed Baillis,
with a right of jurisdiction, in different districts of their kingdom. These possessed powers somewhat similar to those of the ancient Comites. It was towards
the end of the twelfth century and beginning of the thirteenth, that this office
was first instituted in France. Brussel, liv. ii. c. 35. When the king had a
court established in different quarters of his dominions, this invited his subjects
to have recourse to it. It was the private interest of the Baillis, as well as an
object of public policy, to extend their jurisdiction. They took advantage of
every defect in the rights of the barons, and of every error in their proceedings
to remove causes out of their courts, and to bring them unler their own cognizance. There was a distinction in the feudal law, and an extremely ancient
one, between the high justice and the low.  Capitul. 3. A. D. 812. 1 4. A. D
815. I 3. Establ. de St. Louis, liv. i. c. 40. Many barons possessed the latter
jurisdiction who had no title to the former. The former included the right of
trying crimes of every kind, even the highest; the latter was confined to petty
trespasses.
This furnished endless pretexts for obstructing, restraining, and reviewing
the proceedings in the baron courts.  Ordon.ii. 457. $ 25. 458. I 29.    A regulation of greater importance succeeded the institution of Baillis.  The king's
supreme court or parliament was rendered fixed as to the place, and constant
as to the time of its meetings. In France, as well as in the other feudal
kingdoms, the king's court of justice was originally ambulatory, followed the
person of the monarch, and was held only during some of the great festivals.
Philip Augustus, A. D. 1305, rendered it stationary at Paris, and continued its
terms during the greater part of the year. Pasquier Recherches, liv. ii. c. 2. et
3, &c. Ordon. tom. i. p. 366. $ 62. He and his successors vested extensive
powers in that court; they granted the members of it several privileges and
distinctions which it would be tedious to enumerate.  Pasquier, ib. Velly Hist.
de France, tom. vii. p. 307. Persons eminent for integrity and skill in law
were appointed judges there. Ib. By degrees the final decisions of all causes
of importance was brought into the parliament of Paris, and the other parliaments, which administered justice in the king's name, in different provinces of
the kingdom.  This jurisdiction, however, the parliament of Paris acquired
very slowly, and the great vassals of the crown made violent efforts in order
to obstruct the attempts of this parliament to extend its authority. Towards
tile close of the thirteenth century, Philip the Fair was obliged to prohibit his
parliament from taking cognizance of certain appeals brought into it from the
courts of the count ef Bretagne, and to recognise and respect his right of
supreme and final jurisdiction.  Memoires pour servir de Preuves a 1'Histoire
VOL. II.-63




5  PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
de Bretagne, par Morice, tom. i. p. 1037. 1074.  Charles VI. at the end ol the
following century was obliged to confirm the rights of the dukes of Bretagne in
still more ample form. Ibid. tom. ii. p. 580, 581. So violent was the opposition of the barons to this right of appeal, which they considered as fatal to
their privileges and power, that the authors of the Encyclopedie have mentioned
several instances in which barons put to death, or mutilated, such persons as
ventured to appeal from the sentences pronounced in their courts, to the parliament of Paris, tom. xii. art. Parlemeni, p. 25.
The progress of jurisdiction in the other feudal kingdoms, was in a great
measure similar to that which we have traced in France.  In England the territorial jurisdiction of the barons was both ancient and extensive.  Leg. Edw.
Conf. No. 5. and 9. After the Norman conquest, it became more strictly
feudal; and it is evident from facts recorded in the English history, as well as
from the institution of Counties Palatine, which I have already mentioned, that
the usurpations of the nobles in England were not less bold or extensive than
those of their contemporaries on the continent.  The same expedients were
employed to circumscribe or abolish those dangerous jurisdictions.  William
the Conqueror established a constant court in the hall of his palace; from which
the four courts now intrusted with the administration of justice in England
took their rise. Henry II. divided his kingdom into six circuits, and sent
itinerant judges to hold their courts in them at stated seasons. Blackstone's
Commentaries on the Laws of England, vol. iii. 57. Justices of the peace
were appointed in every county by subsequent monarchs; to whose jurisdiction
the people gradually had recourse in many civil causes. The privileges of the
Counties Palatine were gradually limited; with respect to some points they
were abolished; and the administration of justice was brought into the king's
courts, or before judges of his appointment.  The several steps taken for this
purpose are enumerated in Dalrymple's History of Feudal Property, chap. vii.
In Scotland the usurpations of the nobility were more exorbitant than in
any other feudal kingdom. The progress of their encroachments, and the
methods taken by the crown to limit or abolish their territorial and independent jurisdictions, both which I had occasion to consider and explain in a former
work, differed jvery little from  those of which I have now given the detail.
History of Scotland.
I should perplex myself and my readers in the labyrinth of German jurisprudence, if I were to attempt to delineate the progress of jurisdiction in the
empire, with a minute accuracy. It is sufficient to observe, that the authority
which the Aulic council and imperial chamber now possess, took its rise from
the same desire of redressing the abuses of territorial jurisdiction, and was
acquired in the same manner that the royal courts attained influence in other
countries of Europe.  All the important facts with respect to both these particulars may be found in Phil. Datt de pace publica Imperii, lib. iv.  The
capital articles are pointed out in Pfeffel Abrege de l'Histoire et Droit publique
d'Allemagne, p. 556. 581. and in Traite du Droit publique de l'Empire par M.
le Coq. de Villeray.  The two last treatises are of great authority, having been
composed under the eye of M. Schoepflin of Strasburg, one of the ablest public'lawyers in Germany.
NOTE [24]. PAGE 34.
IT is not easy to fix with precision the period at which ecclesiastics first began
to claim exemption from  the civil jurisdiction.  It is certain that during the
early and purest ages of the church, they pretended to no such immunity. The
authority of the civil magistrate extended to all persons, and to all causes.
This fact has not only been clearly established by Protestant authors, but is
admitted by many Roman Catholics of eminence,, and particularly by tho
writers in defence of the liberties of the Gallican church.  There are several
original papers published by Muratori, which show that, in the ninth and tenth
centuries, causes of the greatest importance relating to ecclesiastics were still
determined by civil judges. Antiq. Ital. vol. v. dissert. ixx.  Proofs of this are
produced likewise by M. Houard, Anciennes Loix des Francois, &c. vol. i. p.
209. Ecclesiastics did not shake off all at once their subjection to civil courts
This privilege, like their other usurpationst was acquired slowly, and step bv




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATION'S.                                 547
step.  This exemption seems at first to have been merely an act of complaisance, flowing from veneration for their character. Thus, from a charter of
Charlemagne in favour of the church of Mans, A. D. 796, to which M. 1'Abbe
de Foy refers in his Notice de Diplomes. tom. i. p. 201. that monarch directs
his judges, if any difference should arise between the administrators of the
revenues of that church and any person whatever, not to summon the administrators to appear in mallo publico: but first of all to meet with them, and to
endeavour to accommodate the difference in an amicable manner.  This indulgence was in process of time improved into a legal exemption; wh:ch was
founded on the same superstitious respect of the laity for the clerical character
and function.  A remarkable instance of this occurs in a charter of Frederic
Barbarossa, A. D. 1172, to the monastery of Altenburg.  He grants them
"judicium non tantum sanguinolentis plage, sed vitae et mortis;" he prohibits
any. of the royal judges from  disturbing their jurisdiction; and the reason
which he gives for this ample concession is,  nam quorum, ex Dei gratia, ratione
divini ministerii onus leve est, et jugum  suave; nos penitus nolumus iilos
oppressionis contumelia, vel manu Laica, fatigari."  Mencken. Script. rer.
Germ. vol. iii. p. 1067.
It is not necessary for illustrating what is contained in the text, that I should
describe the manner in which the code of the canon law was compiled, or show
that the doctrines in it most favourable to the power of the clergy, are founded
on ignorance, or supported by fraud or forgery.  The reader will find a full
account of these in Gerard.  Van Mastrich. Historia Juris Ecclesiastici, et in
Science de Gouvernement par M. Real, tom. vii. c. i. et 3. sect. 2, 3, &c.  The
history of the progress and extent of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, with an
account of the arts which the clergy employed in order to draw causes of
every kind into the spiritual courts, is no less curious, and would throw great
light upon many of the customs and institutions of the dark ages; but it is
likewise foreign from  the present subject.  Du Cange in his Glossary, voc.
Curia Christicnitatis, has collected most of the causes with respect to which
the clergy arrogated an exclusive jurisdiction, and refers to the authors, or
original papers which confirm his observations.  Giannone in his Civil History of Naples, lib. xix. sect. 3. has arranged these under proper heads, and
scrutinizes the pretensions of the church with his usual boldness and discernment. M. Fleury observes, that the clergy multiplied the pretexts for extending
the authority of the spiritual courts with so much boldness that it was soon in
their power to withdraw almost every person and every cause from the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate.  Hist. Eccles. tom. xix. Disc. Prelim. 16.  But
how ill-founded soever the jurisdiction of the clergy may have been, or whatever might be the abuses to which their manner of exercising it gave rise, the
principles and forms of their jurisprudence were far more perfect than that
which was known in the civil courts. It seems to be certain that ecclesiastics
never submitted, during any period in the middle ages, to the laws contained in
the codes of the barbarous nations, but were governed entirely by the Roman
law.  They regulated all their transactions by such of its maxims as we'e
preserved by tradition, or were contained in the Theodosian code, and other
books extant among them.  This we learn from  a custom  which prevailed
universally in those ages.  Every person was permitted to choose among the
various codes of laws then in force, that to which he was willing to conform.
In any transaction of importance, it was usual for the persons contracting, to
mention the< law to which they submitted, that it might be known how any
controversy that should arise between them was to be decided. Innumerable
proofs of this occur in the charters of the middle ages.  But the clergy considered it as such a valuable privilege of their order to be governed by the
Roman law, that when any person entered into holy orders, it was usual for
him to renounce the code of laws to which he had been formerly subject, and
to declare that he now submitted to the Roman law. Constat me Johanner
clericum; filium  quondam  Verandi, qui professus sum, ex natione mea, lege
vivere Langobardorum, sed tamen, pro honore ecclesiastico, lege nunc videoi
vivere Rornana.  Charta, A. D. 1072. Farulfus presbyter qui professus sunm,
more sacerdotii mei, lege vivere Romana.  Charta, A. D. 1075. Muratori
Antichita Estensi. vol. i. p. 78.  See likewise Houard Anciennes Lois dies
Franqois, &c. vol. i. p. 203




648            PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS,
The code of the canon law began to be compiled early in the ninth century
Mem. do l'Acad. des Inscript. tom. xviii. p. 346, &c. It was above two centuries after that before any collection was made of those customs, which were the
rule of judgments in the courts of the barons.  Spiritual judges decided, o'
course, according to written and known laws: lay judges, left without any fixed
guide, were directed byloose traditionary customs. But besides this general
advantage of the canon law, its forms and principles were more consonant to
reason, and more favourable to the equitable decision of every point in controversy, than those which prevailed in lay courts. It appears, from Notes 21 and
23, concerning private wars, and the trial by combat, that the whole spirit of
ecclesiastical jurisprudence was adverse to those sanguinary customs which were
destructive of justice; and the whole force of ecclesiastical authority was exerted
to abolish them, and to substitute trials by law and evidence in their room.
Almost all the forms in lay courts, which contribute to establish, and continue to
preserve order in judicial proceedings, are borrowed from the canon law. Fleury
Instit. du Droit. canon. part iii. c. 6. p. 52. St. Louis, in his Establissemens, con
firms many of his new regulations concerning property, and the administration
of justice, by the authority of the canon law, from which he borrowed them.
Thus, for instance, the first hint of attaching moveables for the recovery of a debt,
was taken from the canon law. Estab. lib. ii. c. 21 et 40. And likewise the cessio
bonorum, by a person who was insolvent. Ibid. In the same manner he established new regulations with respect to the effects of persons dying intestate,
liv. i. c. 89. These and many other salutary regulations the canonists borrowed
from the Roman law. Many other examples might be produced of more perfect jurisprudence in the canon law than was known in lay courts. For that
reason it was deemed a high privilege to be subject to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Among the many immunities, by which men were allured to engage in
the dangerous expeditions for the recovery of the Holy Land, one of the most
considerable was the declaring such as took the Cross to be subject only to the
spiritual courts, and to the rules of decision observed in them. See Note 13.
and Du Cange, voc. Crucis Privilegia.
NOTE [25]. PAGE 35.
THE rapidity with which the knowledge and study of the Roman law spread
Jver Europe is amazing. The copy of the Pandects was found at Amalphi,
A. D. 1137. Irnerius opened a college of civil law at Bologna a few years after.
Iian. Hist. book xi. c. 2. It began to be taught as a part of academical learning in different parts of France before the middle of the century. Vaccarius
gave lectures on the civil law at Oxford, as early as the year 1147. A regular
system of feudal law, formed plainly in imitation of the Roman code, was composed by two Milanese lawyers about the year 1150.  Gratian published the
code of canon law, with large additions and emendations, about the same time.
The earliest collection of those customs, which served as the rules of decision
in the courts of justice, is the AMssises de Jerufalem. They were compiled, as
the preamble informs us, in the year 1099, and are called Jus Consuetudinarium
quo regebatur regnun orientale. Willerm. Tyr. lib. xix. c. 2. But peculiar
circumstances gave occasion to this early compilation. The victorious crusaders settled as a colony in a foreign country, and adventurers from all the
different nations of Europe composed this new society. It was necessary on
that account to ascertain the laws and customs which were to regulate the
transactions of business, and the administration of justice among them. But
in no country of Europe was there, at that time, any collection of customs, nor
had any attempt been made to render law fixed. The first undertaking of that
Kind was by Glanville, Lord Chief Justice of England, in his Tractatus de
Legibus et Consuetudinibus Anglim, composed about the year 1181.  The
Regiam Majestatem in Scotland, ascribed to David I. seems to be an imitation,
and a servile one, of Glanville. Several Scottish antiquaries, under the influence of that pious credulity, which disposes men to assent, without hesitation,
to whatever they deem for the honour of their native country, contend zealously,
that the Regiam Majestatem is a production prior to the treatise of Glanville;
and have brought themselves to believe, that a nation, in a superior state of
improvement, borrowed its laws and institutions from one considerably less ad




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                              549
ranced in its political progress. The internal evidence (were it my province
to examine it) by which this theory might be refuted, is, in my opinion, decisive.
The external circumstances which have seduced Scottish authors into this mis.
take, have been explained with so much precision and candour by Sir David
Dalrymple, in his examination of some of the arguments for the high antiquity
of'Regiam Majestatem, Edin. 1769, 4to. that it is to be hoped the controversy
will not be again revived. Pierre de Fontaines, who tells us, that he was the
first who had attempted such a work in France, composed his'onseil, which
contains an account of the customs of the country of Vermandois, in the reign
of St. Louis, which began, A. D. 1226. Beaumanoir, the author of the Cou".tumes de Beauvoisis, lived about the same time. The Establissemens of Sr.
Louis, containing a large collection of the customs which prevailed within the
royal domains, were published by the authority of that monarch. As soon as
men became acquainted with the advantages of haviig written customs and
laws, to which they could have recourse on every occasion, the practice of collecting them became common. Charles VII. of France, by an ordonnance, A
D. 1453, appointed the customary laws in every province of France to be co.
lected and arranged. Velley and Villaret, Histoire, tom. xvi. p. 113. His
successor, Louis XI. renewed the injunction. But this salutary undertaking
hath never been fully executed, and the jurisprudence of the French nation
remains more obscure and uncertain than it would have been if these prudent
regulations of their monarchs had taken effect. A mode of judicial determine
tion was established in the middle ages, which affords the clearest proofs that
judges, while they had no other rule to direct their decrees but unwritten and
traditionary customs, were often at a loss how to find out the facts and principles, according to which they were bound to decide. They were obliged, in
dubious cases, to call a certain number of old men, and to lay-the case before
them, that they might inform them what was the practice or custom with regard
to the point.  This was called Enqueste par tourbe. Du Cange, voc. Turba.
The effects of the revival of the Roman jurisprudence have been explained by
M. de Montesquieu, liv. xxviii. c. 42, and by Mr. Hume, Hist. of England, vol.
ii, p. 441. I have adopted many of their ideas. Who can pretend to review
any subject which such writers have considered, without receiving from them
light and information? At the same time I am convinced, that the knowledge
of the Roman law was not so entirely lost in Europe during the middle ages,
as is commonly believed. My subject does not require me to examine this
point. Many striking facts with regard to it are collected' by Donato Antonio
d'Asti DalPl Uso e autorita della regione civile nelle provincie dell Imperio
Occidentale. Nap. 1751, 2 vols. 8vo.
That the civil law is intimately connected with the municipal jurisprudence
in several countries of Europe, is a fact so well known, that it needs no illustration. Even in England, where the common law is supposed to form a system perfectly distinct from the Roman code, and although such as apply in that
country to the study of the common law, boast of this distinction with some
degree of affectation, it is evident that many of the ideas and maxims of the
civil law are incorporated into the English jurisprudence. This is well illustrated by the ingenious and learned author of Observations on the Statutes
chiefly the more ancient, 3d edit. p. 76, &c.
NOTE [26]. PAG.E 36
THE whole history of the middle ages makes it evident, that war was the suo'
profession of gentlemen, and almost the only object attended to in their education. Even after some change in manners began to take place, and the civil
arts of life had acquired some reputation, the ancient ideas with respect to the
accomplishments necessary for a person of noble birth, continued long in force.
In the Memoires de Fleuranges, p. 9, &c. we have an account of the youthful
exercises and occupations of Francis I. and they were altogether martial and
athletic. That father of letters owed his relish for them, not to education, but
to his own good sense and good taste. The manners of the superior order of
ecclesiastics during the middle ages furnish the strongest proof that, in some
instances, the distinction of professions was not completely ascertained in
Europe. The functions and character of the clergy are obviously very different




550            PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
from those of laymen; and among the inferior orders of churchmen, this cone
stituted a distinct character separate from that of other citizens. But the dignified ecclesiastics, who were frequently of noble birth, were above such a distinction; they retained the idea of what belonged to them  as gentlemen, and
in spite -of the decrees of popes, or the canons of councils, they bore arms, led
their vassals to the field, and fought at their head in battle.  Among them the
priesthood was scarcely a separate profession; the military accomplishments
which they thought essential to them as gentlemen, were cultivated; the theological science, and pacific virtues suitable to their spiritual function, werc
neglected and despised.
As soon as the science of law became a laborious study, and the practice of
it a separate profession, such persons as rose to eminence in it obtained honours
which had formerly been appropriated to soldiers. Knighthood was the most
illustrious mark of distinction during several ages, and conferred privileges to
which rank or birth alone were not entitled.'To this high dignity persons eminent for their knowledge of law were advanced, and were thereby placed on a
level with those whom their military talents had rendered conspicuous.  Jiles
Justitice, MIiles Literatus, became common titles. Matthew Paris mentions such
knights as early as A. D. 1251. If a judge attained a certain rank in the courts
of justice, that alone gave him a right to the honour of knighthood.  Pasquier
Recherches, liv. xi. c. 16. p. 130.  Dissertations historiques sur la Chevalerie,
par Honore de Sainte Marie, p. 164, &c. A profession that led to offices, which
ennobled the persons that held them, grew into credit, and the people of Europe
became accustomed to see men rise to eminence by civil as well as military
talents.
NOTE [27]. PAGE 37.
Tim chief intention of these notes was to bring at once under the view of
my readers, such facts and circumstances as tend to illustrate or confirm what
is contained in that part of the history to which they refer.  When these lay
scattered in many different authors, and were taken from books not generally
known, or which many of my readers might find it disagreeable to consult, I
thought it would be of advantage to collect them  together.  But when every
thing necessary for the proof or illustration of my narrative or reasoning may
be found in any book which is generally known, or deserves to be so, I shall
satisfy myself with referring to it. This is the case with respect to Chivalry.
Almost every fact which I have mentioned in the text, together with many other
curious and instructive particulars concerning this singular institution, may be
found in Memoires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie consideree comme une Establisse
ment politique et militaire, par M. de la Curne de St. Palaye.
NoTE [28]. PAGE 39.
THE subject of my inquiries does not call me to write a history of the progress of science. The facts and observations which I have produced, are sufficient to illustrate the effects of its progress upon manners and the state of
society. While science was altogether extinct in the western parts of Europe,
it was cultivated in Constantinople and other parts of the Grecian empire. But
the subtile genius of the Greeks turned almost entirely to theological disputation. The Latins borrowed that spirit from them, and many of the controver
sies which still occupy and divide theologians, took their rise aniong the Greeks,
from whom the other Europeans derived a considerable part of their knowledge.
See the testimony of Eneas Sylvius ap. Conringium  de antiq. academicis, p.
43.  Histoire literaire de France, tom. vii. p. 113, &c. tom. ix. p. 151, &c.
Soon after the empire of the Caliphs was established in the East, some illustrious princes arose among them, who encouraged science. But when the
Arabians turned their attention to the literature cultivated by the ancient
Greeks and Romans, the chaste and correct taste of their works of genius appeared frigid and unanimated to a people of a more warm imagination. Though
they could not admire the poets and historians of Greece or of Rome, they were
sensible of the merit of their philosophers. The operations of the intellect are
more fixed and uniform than those of the fancy or taste. Truth makes an impression nearly the same in every place; the ideas of what is beautiful, elegant




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                  551
or sublime, vary in different climates. The Arabians, though they neglected
Homer, translated the most eminent of the Greek philosophers into their own
language; and, guided by their precepts and discoveries, applied themselves
with great ardour to the study of geometry, astronomy, medicine, dialectics,
and metaphysics.  In the three former, they made considerable and useful improvements, which have contributed not a little to advance those sciences to
that high degree of perfection which they have attained. In the two latter,
they chose Aristotle for their guide, and refining on the subtle and distinguishing
spirit which characterizes his philosophy, they rendered it in a great degree
frivolous or unintelligible. The schools established in the East for teaching
and cultivating these sciences were in high reputation. They communicated
their -love of science to their countrymen, who conquered Africa and Spain;
and the schools instituted there were little inferior in' fame to those in the East.
Many of the persons who distinguished themselves by their proficiency in science
during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, were educated among the Arabians.
Bruclerus collects many instances of this, Histor. Philos. v. iii. p. 681, &c.
Almost all the men eminent for science, during several centuries, if they did
not resort in person to the schools of Africa and Spain, were instructed in the
philosophy of the Arabians. The first knowledge of the Aristotelian philosophy
in the middle ages was acquired by translations of Aristotle's works out of the
Arabic.  The Arabian commentators were deemed the most skilful and authentic guides in the study of his system.  Conring. Antiq. Acad. Diss. iii. p. 95,
&c. Supplem. p. 241, &c. Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. iii. p. 932, &c. From them
the schoolmen derived the genius and principles of their philosophy, which contributed so much to retard the progress of true science.
The establishment of colleges or universities is a remarkable era in literary
history. The schools in cathedrals and monasteries confined themselves chiefly
to the teaching of grammar.  There were only one or two masters employed
in that office. But in colleges, professors were appointed to teach all the differ.
ent parts of science. The course or order of education was fixed. The time
that ought to be allotted to the study of each science was ascertained. A regular form of trying thb proficiency of students was prescribed; and academical
titles and honours were conferred on such as acquitted themselves with approbation.  A good account of the origin and nature of these is given by Seb.
Bacmeisterus Antiquitates Rostochienses, sive Historia Urbis et Academiae
Rostoch. ap. Monumenta inedita Rer. Germ. per E. J. de Westphalen, vol. iii.
p. 781. Lips. 1743.  The first obscure mention of these academical degrees in
the university of Paris (from which the other universities in Europe have bor
rowed most of their customs and institutions) occurs A. D. 1215. Crevier. Hist.
de l'Univ. de Paris, tom. i. p. 296, &c. They were completely established, A.
D. 1231. Ib. 248. It is unnecessary to enumerate the several privileges to
which bachelors, masters, and doctors were entitled.  One circumstance is
sufficient to demonstrate the high degree of estimation in which they were held.
Doctors in the different faculties contended with knights for precedence, and the
dispute was terminated in many instances by advancing the former to the dig
nity of knighthood, the high prerogatives of which I have mentioned.  It was
even asserted that a doctor had a right to that title without creation. Bartolus
taught-doctorem  actualiter regentem in jure civili per decennium effici militem ipso facto. Honore de St. Marie Dissert. p. 165. This was called Chevalerie de Lectures, and the persons advanced to that dignity, Milites Clerici.
These new  establishments for education, together with the extraordinary
honours conferred on learned men, greatly increased the number of scholars.
In the year 1262, there were ten thousand students in the university of Bologna;
and it appears from the history of that university, that law was the only science
taught in it at that time. In the year 1340, there were thirty thousand in the
university of Oxford.  Speed's Chron. ap. Anderson's Chronol.  Deduction of
Commerce, vol. i. p. 172. In the same century, ten thousand persons voted in
a question agitated in the university of Paris; and as graduates alone were
admitted to that privilege, the number of students must have been very great.
Velly Hist. de France, tom. xi. p. 147. There were indeed few universities in
Europe at that time; but such a number of students may nevertheless be proiuced as a proof of the extraordinary ardour with which men applied to the




652           PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
study of science in those ages; it shows likewise that they already began to
consider other professions besides that of a soldier as honourable and useful.
NOTE [29]. PAGE 40.
The great variety of subjects which I have endeavoured to illustrate, and the
extent of this upon which I now enter, will justify my adopting the words o.
M. de MIontesquieu, when he begins to treat of commerce. " The subject which
follows would require to be discussed more at large; but the nature of this
work does not permit it. I wish to glide on a tranquil stream; but I am hurried
along by a torrent."
Many proofs occur in history of the little intercourse between nations during
the middle ages. Towards the close of the tenth century, Count Bouchard,
intending to found a monastery at St. Maur des Fosses near Paris, applied to
an abbot of Clugny in Burgundy, famous for his sanctity, entreating him to
conduct the monks thither. The language in which he addressed that holy man
is singular: he tells him that he had undertaken the labour of such a great
journey; that he was fatigued with the length of it, therefore hoped to obtain
his request, and that his journey into such a distant country should not be in
vain. The answer of the abbot is still more extraordinary: he refused to comply with his desire, as it would be extremely fatiguing to go along with him into
a strange and unknown region. Vita Burchardi venerabilis comitis ap. Bouquet
Rec. des Hist. vol. x. p. 351. Even so late as the beginning of the twelfth century, the monks of Ferrieres in the diocess of Sens did not know that there
was such a city as Tournay in Flanders; and the monks of St. Martin of
Tournay, were equally unacquainted with the situation of Ferrieres.  A transaction in which they were both concerned made it necessary for them to have
some intercourse. The mutual interest of both monasteries prompted each
to find out the situation of the other. After a long search, which is particularly
described, the discovery was made by accident. Herimannus Abbas de Restauratione St. Martini Tornacensis ap. Dacher. Spicel. vol. xii. p. 400. The ignorance of the middle ages with respect to the situation and geography of
remote countries was still more remarkable. The most ancient geographical
chart which now remains as a monument of the state of that science in Europe
during the middle ages, is found in a manuscript of the Chronique de St.
Denys. There the three parts of the earth then known are so represented, that
Jerusalem is placed in the middle of the globe, and Alexandria appears to be
as near to it as Nazareth. Mem. de l'Acad. des Belles Lettres, tom. xvi. p. 185.
There seem to have been no inns or houses of entertainment for the reception
of travellers during the middle ages. Murat. Antiq. Ital. vol. iii. p. 581, &c.
This is a proof of the little intercourse which took place between different
nations. Among people whose manners are simple, and who are seldom visited
by strangers, hospitality is a virtue of the first rank. This duty of hospitality
was so necessary in that state of society which took place during the middle
ages, that it was not considered as one of those virtues which men may practise or not, according to the temper of their minds, and the generosity of their
hearts. Hospitality was enforced by statutes, and such as neglected this duty
were liable to punishment.  Quicunque hospiti venienti lectum, aut focum
negaverit, trium  solidorum  inlatione mulctetur. Leg. Burgund. tit. xxxviii.
sect. 1. Si quis homini aliquo pergenti in itinere mansionem vetaverit, sexaginta solidos componat in publico. Capitul. lib. vi. sect. 82. This increase of
the penalty, at a period so long after that in which the laws of the Burgundians
were published, and when the state of society was much improved, is very
remarkable. Other laws of the same purport are collected by Jo. Fred. Polac.
Systema Jurisprud. Germanice, Lips. 1733, p. 75. The laws of the Slavi were
more rigorous than any that he mentions; they ordained, "that the moveables
of an inhospitable person should be confiscated, and his house burnt.  They
were even so solicitous for the entertainment of strangers, that they permitted
the landlord to steal for the support of his guest."  Quod noctu furatus fueris,
eras appone hospitibus.  Rerum  Mecleburgicar. lib. viii. a Mat. Jo. Beehr.
Lips. 1751, p. 50.  In consequence of these laws, or of the state of society
which made it proper to enact them, hospitality abounded while the intercourse
among men was inconsiderable, and secured the stranger a kind reception under




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                553
every roof where he chose to take shelter. This, too, proves clearly, that the
intercourse among men was rare, for as soon as this became frequent, what was
a pleasure became a burden, and the entertaining of travellers was converted
into a branch of commerce.
But the laws of the middle ages afford a proof still more convincing of the
small intercourse between different nations. The genius of the feudal system,
as well as the spirit of jealousy which always accompanies ignorance, concurred
in discouraging strangers from  settling in any new  country. If a person
removed from one province in a kingdom to another, he was bound within a
year and day to acknowledge himself the vassal of the baron in whose estate
he settled; if he neglected to do so, he became liable to a penalty; and if, at
his death he neglected to leave a certain legacy to the baron within whose territory he had resided, all his goods were confiscated.  The hardships imposed on
foreigners settling in a country, were still more intolerable. In more early
times, the superior lord of any territory in which a foreigner settled, might
seize his person, and reduce him to servitude.  Very striking instances of this
occur in the history of the middle ages.  The cruel depredations of the Normnans in the ninth century, obliged many inhabitants of the maritime provinces
of France to fly into the interior parts of the kingdom. But instead of being
received with that humanity to which their wretched condition entitled them,
they were reduced to a state of servitude. Both the civil and ecclesiastical
powers found it necessary to interpose in order to put a stop to this barbarous
practice. Potgiesser. de Statu Server. lib. i. c. i. ~ 16. In other countries, the
laws permitted the inhabitants of the maritime provinces to reduce such as
were shipwrecked on their coast to servitude. Ibid. I 17. This barbarous custom  prevailed in many countries of Europe.  The practice of seizing the
goods of persons who had been shipwrecked, and of confiscating them as the
property of the lord on whose manor tney were thrown, seems to have been
universal. De Westphalen Monum. inedita Rer. Germ. vol.,iv. p. 907, ec. et
Du Cange, voc Laganum, Beehr. Rer. Mecleb. lib. p. 512. Among the ancient
Welsh, three sorts of persons, a madman, a stranger, and a leper, might be killed
with impunity. Leges Hoel Dda, quoted in observat. on the Statutes chiefly
the more ancient, p. 22. M de Lauriere produces several ancient deeds, which
prove, that in different provinces of France, strangers became the slaves of the
lord on whose lands they settled.  Glossaire du Droit Frangois, art. Jubaine,
p. 92. Beaumanoir says, "that there are several places in France, in which, if
a stranger fixes his residence for a year and day, he becomes the slave of the
lord of the manor." Coust. de Beav. ch. 45. p. 254. As a practice so contrary
to humanity could not subsist long, the superior lords found it necessary to
rest satisfied, instead of enslaving aliens, with levying certain annual taxes
upon them, or imposing upon them some extraordinary duties or services.'But
when any stranger died, he could not convey his effects by sVill; and all his
real as well as personal estate, fell to the king, or to the lord of the barony, to
the exclusion of his natural heirs. This is termed in France Droit D'"Aubaine.
Pref. de Laurier. Ordon. tom. i. p. 15. Brussel. torn. ii. p. 944. Du Cange,
voc. Albani. Pasquier Recherches, p. 367. This practice of confiscating the
effects of strangers upon their death was very ancient. It is mentioned, though
very obscurely, in a law of Charlemagne, A. D. 813. Capitul. Baluz. p. 507.
~ 5. Not only persons who were born in a foreign country were subject to the
Droit D'Aubaiue, but in some countries such as removed from one diocess to
another, or from the lands of one baron to another. Brussel. vol. ii. p. 947. 949.
It is hardly possible to conceive any law more unfavourable to the intercourse
between nations. Something similar to it, however, may be found in the ancient
laws of every kingdom in Europe. With respect to Italy, see Murat. Ant. vol.
ii. p. 14. As nations advanced in improvement, this practice was gradually
abolished.  It is no small disgrace to the French jurisprudence, that this barba
rous inhospitable custom should have so long remained among a people so highly
civilized.
The confusion and outrage which abounded under a feeble form of government, incapable of framing or executing salutary laws, rendered the communi
cation between the different provinces of the same kingdom extremely dangerous
It appears from a letter of Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, in the ninth X'entury, that
VOL. II,-70




554          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
the highways were so much infested by banditti, that it was necessary for tra.
vellers to form themselves into companies or caravans, that they might be safe
from the assaults of robbers. Bouquet Recueil des Hist. vol. vii. p. 515.  The
numerous regulations published by Charles the Bald in the same century, discovered the frequency of these disorders; and such acts of violence were become so.common, that by many they were hardly considered as criminal. For
this reason the inferior judges, called centenarii, were required to take an oath,
that they would neither commit any robbery themselves nor protect such as
were guilty of that crime. Capitul. edit. Baluz. vol. ii. p. 63. 68. The historians of the ninth and tenth centuries gave pathetic descriptions of these disorders. Some remarkable passages to this purpose are collected by Mat. Jo.
Beehr. Rer. Mecleb. lib. viii. p. 603. They became so frequent and audacious,
that the authority of the civil magistrate was unable to repress them. The
ecclesiastical jurisdiction was called in to aid it. Councils were held with great
solemnity, the bodies of the saints were brought thither, and, in presence of
their sacred reliques, anathemas were denounced against robbers, and other
violators of the public peace. Bouquet Recueil des Hist. tom. x. p. 360. 431.
536. One of these forms of excommunication, issued A. D. 988, is still preserved, and is so singular, and composed with eloquence of such a peculiar
kind, that it will not perhaps be deemed unworthy of a place here. After the
usual introduction, and mentioning the outrage which gave occasion to the anathema, it runs thus:' Obtenebrescant oculi vestri, qui concupiverunt; arescant
manus, quae rapuerunt, debilitentur omnia membra, quee adjuverunt.  Semper
laboretis,nec requiem inveniatis,fructuque vestri laboris privemini. Formidetis,
et pavea.tis, a facie persequentis, et non persequentis hostis, ut tabescendo deficiatis. Sit portio vestra cum Juda traditore Domini, in terra mortis et tenebrarum; donec corda vestra ad satisfactionem plenam convertantur.-Ne cessant a vobis hIe maledictiones,. scelerum  vestrorum.persecutrices, quamdiu
permanebitis in peccato pervasionis. Amen, Fiat, Fiat." Bouquet. ib. p. 517.
NOTE [30]. PAGE 42.
WrIT  respect to the progress of commerce which I have described, p. 39, it
may be observed, that the Italian states carried on some commerce with the
cities of the Greek empire, as early as the age of Charlemagne, and imported
into their own country the rich commodities of the East. Murat. Antiq. Ital.
vol. ii. p. 882. In the tenth century, the Venetians had opened a trade with
Alexandria in Egypt. Ibid. The inhabitants of Amalphi and Pisa had likewise extended their trade to the same ports. Murat. ib. p. 884, 885. The
effects of the Crusades in increasing the wealth and commerce of the Italian
states, and particularly that which they carried on with the East, I have explained, page 20. They not only imported the Indian commodities from the
East, but established manufactures of curious fabric in their own country.
Several of these are enumerated by Muratori in his Dissertations concerning
the arts and the weaving of the middle ages. Antiq. Ital. vol. ii. p. 349. 399.
They made great progress, particularly in the manufacture of silk, which had
long been peculiar to the eastern provinces of Asia. Silk stuffs were of such
high price in ancient Rome, that only a few persons of the first rank were able
to purchase them. Under Aurelian, A. D. 270, a pound of silk was equal in
value to a pound of gold. Absit ut auro fila pensentur. Libra enim auri tune
libra serici fuit. Vopiscus in Aureliano. Justinian, in the sixth century, introduced the art of rearing silk worms into Greece, which rendered the commodity
somewhat more plentiful, though still it was of such great value as to remain
an article of luxury or magnificence, reserved only for persons of the first order,
or for public solemnities. Roger I. king of Sicily, about the year 1130, carried
off a nuAber of artificers in the silk trade from Athens, and settling them in
Palermo, introduced the culture of silk into his kingdom, from which it was
communicated to other parts of Italy.  Gianon. Hist. of Naples, b. xi. c. 7.
This seems to have rendered silk so common, that, about the middle of the
fourteenth century, a thousand citizens of Genoa appeared in one procession
clad in silk robes. Sugar is likewise a production of the East. Some plants
of the sugar cane were brought from Asia; and the first attempt to cultivate
them in Sicily was made about the middle of the twelfth century. From




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                5
thence they were transplanted into the southern provinces of Spain. From
Spain they were carried to the Canary and Madeira isles, and at length into
the New World. Ludovico Guicciardini, in enumerating the goods imported
into Antwerp about the year 1500, mentions the sugar which they received from
Spain and Portugal as a considerable article. He describes that sugar as the
product of the Madeira and Canary Islands. Descrit. de Paesi Bassi, p. 180, 181.
The sugar cane was introduced into the West Indies before that time, but the
cultivation of it was not so improved or extensive as to furnish an article of
much consequence in commerce. In the middle ages, though sugar was not
raised in such quantities, or employed for so many purposes, as to become one
of the common necessaries of life, it appears to have been a considerable article in the commerce of the Italian states.
These various commodities with which the Italians furnished the other nations
of'Europe, procured them a favourable reception in every kingdom. They
were established in France in the thirteenth century with most extensive immunities.  They not only obtained every indulgence favourable to their commerce, but personal rights and privileges were granted to them, which the
natives of the kingdom  did not enjoy. Ordon. tom. iv. p. 668. By a special
proviso, they were exempted from the Droit D'Aubaine. Ibid. p. 670. As the
Lombards (a name frequently given to all Italian merchants in many parts of
Europe) engrossed the trade of every kingdom in which they settled, they became masters of its cash. Money of course was in their hands not only a sign
of the value of other commodities, but became an object of commerce itself.
They dealt largely as bankers. In an ordonnance, A. D. 1295, we find them
styled mercatores and campsores. They carried on this as well as other branches
of their commerce with somewhat of that rapacious spirit which is natural to
monopolizers who are not restrained by the competition of rival traders. An
absurd opinion, which prevailed in the middle ages, was, however, in some
measure the cause of their exorbitant demands, and may be pleaded in apology
for them. Trade cannot be carried on with advantage, unless the persons who
lend a sum of money are allowed a certain premium  for the use of it, as a
compensation for the risk which they run in permitting another to traffic'with
their stock.  This premium  is fixed by law in all commercial countries, and is
called the legal interest of money. But the Fathers of the church had preposterously applied the prohibitions of usury in Scripture to the payment of legal
interest, and condemned it as a sin. The schoolmen, misled by Aristotle, whose
sentiments they followed implicitly, and without examination, adopted the same
error, and enforced it. Blackstone's Commentaries on the laws of England,
vol. ii. p. 455. Thus the Lombards found themselves engaged in a traffic which
was every where deemed criminal and odious. They were liable to punishment
if detected. They were not satisfied, therefore, with that moderate premium,
which they might have claimed if their trade had been open and authorized by
law.  They exacted a sum  proportional to the danger and infamy of a discovery. Accordingly, we find that it was usual for them to demand twenty
per cent. for the use of money in the thirteenth century. Murat. Antiq. Ital.
vol. i. p. 893. About the beginning of that century, the countess of Flanders
was obliged to borrow money in order to pay her husband's ransom. She procured the sum requisite, either from  Italian merchants or from  Jews. The
lowest interest which she paid to them was above twenty per cent. and some
of them exacted near thirty. Martene and Durand. Thesaur. Anecdotorum,
vol. i. p. 886. In the fourteenth century, A. D. 1311, Philip IV. fixed the interest which might be legally exacted in the fairs of Champagne at twenty per
cent.  Ordon. tom. i. p. 484. The interest of money in Arragon was somewhat
lower. James I., A. D. 1242, fixed it by law at eighteen per cent. Petr. de
~larca. Jlarca sive Limes Hispan. app. 1433. As late as the year 1490, it
appears that the interest of money in Placentia was at the rate of forty per
cent. This is the more extraordinary, because at that time the commerce of
the Italian states was become considerable. Memoire Storiche dp Placenza,
tom. viii. p. 104. Piac. 1760. Itappears from Lud. Guicciaidini, that Charles
V. had fixed the rate of interest in his dominions in the Low-Countries at
twelve per cent., and at the time when he wrote, about the year 1560, it was
not uncommon to exact more than that sum. He complains of this as exorbi



6         3PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
ant, and points out its bad effects both on agriculture and commerce. Descritt,
di Paesi Bassi, p. 172. The high interest of money is alone a proof that the
profits on commerce were exorbitant; and that it was not carried on to great
extent.-The Lombards were likewise established in England in the thirteenth
century, and a considerable street in the city of London still bears their name.
They enjoyed great privileges, and carried on an extensive commerce, particu:
larly as bankers. See Anderson's Chronol. Deduction, vol. i. p. 137. 160. 204.
231, where the statutes or other authorities which confirm  this are quoted
But the chief mart for Italian commodities was at Bruges. Navigation was
then so imperfect that to sail from any port in the Baltic, and to return again,
was a voyage too great to be performed in one summer.  For that reason, a
magazine or storehouse half-way between the commercial cities in the North,
and those in Italy, became necessary. Bruges was pitched upon as the most;
convenient station. That choice introduced vast wealth into the Low-Countries;
Bruges was at once the staple for English wool; for the woollen and linen
manufactures of the Netherlands; for the naval stores and other bulky commodities of the North; and for the Indian commodities, as well as domestic
productions imported by the Italian States. The extent of its commerce in
Indian goods with Venice alone, appears from one fact. In the year 1318,
five Venetian galeasses laden with Indian commodities arrived at Bruges, in
order to dispose of their cargoes at the fair. These galeasses were vessels of
very considerable burden. L. Guic. Descritt. di Paesi Bassi, p. 174. Bruges
was the greatest emporium  in all Europe. Many proofs of this occur in the
historians and records of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. But, instead
of multiplying quotations, I shall refer my readers to Anderson, vol. i. p. 12,
137, 213, 246, &c. The nature of this work prevents me from  entering into
any more minute detail, but there are some detached facts which give a
high idea of the wealth both of the Flemish and Italian commercial states.
The duke of Brabant contracted his daughter to the Black Prince, son of
Edward III. of England, A. D. 1339, and gave her a portion which we may
reckon to be of equal value with three hundred thousand pounds of our present
money. Rymer's Feedera, vol. v. p. 113. John Galeazzo Visconti Duke of
Milan concluded a treaty of' marriage between his daughter and Lionel Duke
of Clarence, Edward's third son, A. D. 1367, and granted her a portion equal
to two hundred thousand pounds of our present money. Rymer's Foedera,
vol. vi. p. 547. These exorbitant sums, so far exceeding what was then granted
by the most powerful monarchs, and which appear extraordinary even in
the present age when the wealth of Europe is so much increased, must have
arisen from the riches which flowed into those countries from their extensive
and lucrative commerce. The first source of wealth to the towns situated on
the Baltic sea seems to have been the herring fishery; the shoals of herrings
frequenting at that time the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, in the same
manner as they now resort to the British coasts. The effects of this fishery
are thus described by an Author of the thirteenth century. The Danes, says
he, who were formerly clad in the poor garb of sailors, are now clothed in
scarlet, purple, and fine linen. For they abound with wealth flowing from
their annual fishery on the coast of Schonen; so that all nations resort to
them, bringing their gold, silver, and precious commodities, that they may purchase herrings, which the divine bounty bestows upon them. Arnoldus Lubecensis ap. Conring. de Urbib. German. $ 87.
The Hanseatic league is the most powerful commercial confederacy known
in history.  Its origin towards the close of the twelfth century, and the objects
of its union, are described by Knipschildt Tractatus Historico-Politico Juridicus
de Juribus Civitat. Imper. lib. i. cap. 4. Anderson has mentioned the chief
facts with respect to their commercial progress, the extent of the privileges
which they obtained in different countries, their successful wars with several
monarchs, as well as the spirit and zeal with which they contended for those
liberties and rights without which it is impossible to carry on commerce to advantage.  The vigorous efforts of a society,of merchants attentive only to
commercial objects, could not fail of diffusing new and more liberal ideas
concerning justice and order in every country of Europe where they settled.
In England, the progress of commerce was extremely slow; and the causes




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                             56
of this are obvious. During the Saxon heptarchy, England, split into many
petty kingdoms, which were perpetually at variance with each other; exposed
to the fierce incursions of the Danes, and other northern pirates, and sunk in
barbarity and ignorance, was in no condition to cultivate commerce, or to pursue any system of useful and salutary policy. When a better prospect began
to open by the union of the kingdom under one monarch, the Norman conquest
took place. This occasioned such a violent shock, as well as such a sudden and
total revolution of property, that the nation did not recoverfrom it during several
reigns. By the time that the constitution began to acquire some stability, and the
English had so incorporated with their conquerors as to become one people, the
nation engaged with no less ardour than imprudence in support of the pretensions of their sovereigns to the crown of France, and long wasted its vigour
and genius in its wild efforts to conquer that kingdom. When by its ill success,
and repeated disappointments, a period was at last put to this fatal phrenzy,
and the nation beginning to enjoy some repose, had leisure to breathe and to
gather new strength, the destructive wars between the houses of York and
Lancaster broke out, and involved the kingdom in the worst of all calamities.
Thus, besides the common obstructions of commerce occasioned by the nature
of the feudal government, and the state of manners during the middle ages,
its progress in England was retarded by peculiar causes. Such a succession
of events adverse to the commercial spirit was sufficient to have checked its
growth, although every other circumstance had favoured it. The English were
accordingly one of the last nations in Europe who availed themselves of those
commercial advantages which were natural or peculiar to their country. Before the reign of Edward III., all the wool of England, except a small quantity
wrought into coarse cloths for home consumption, was sold to the Flemings or
Lombards, and manufactured by them. Though Edward, A. D. 1326, began
to allure some of the Flemish weavers to settle in England, it was long before
the English were capable of fabricating cloth for foreign markets, and the
export of unwrought wool still continued to be the chief article of their commerce. Anderson passim. Allforeign commoditieswere broughtinto England
by the Lombards or Hanseatic merchants. The English ports were frequented
by ships both from the north and south of Europe, and they tamely allowed
foreigners to reap all the profits arising from the supply of their wants. The
first commercial treaty of England on record, is that with Haquin king of
Norway, A. D. 1217. Anders. vol. i. p. 108. But the English did not venture
to trade in their own ships to the Baltic until the beginning of the fourteenth
century. Ibid. 151. It was after the middle of the fifteenth, before they sent
any ship into the Mediterranean. Ibid. p. 177. Nor was it long before this
period that their vessels began to visit the ports of Spain or Portugal. But
though I have pointed out the slow progress of the English commerce as a
fact little attended to, and yet meriting consideration, the concourse of foreigners to the ports of England, together with the communication among all the
different countries in Europe, which went on increasing from the beginning of
the twelfth century, is sufficient to justify all the observations and reasonings
in the text concerning the influence of commerce on the state of manners and
of society.
NOTE [31]. PAGE 71.
I HAVE not been able to discover the precise manner in which the justiza was
appointed. Among the claims of the junta or union formed against James I.,
A. D. 1264, this was one; that the king should not nominate any person to be
justiza, without the consent or approbation of the ricos-hombres or nobles
Zurita Anales de Arragon, vol. i. p. 180. But the king in his answer to their
remonstrance asserts, " that it was established by immemorial practice, and
was conformable to the laws of the kingdom, that the king, in virtue of his'
royal prerogative, should name the justiza." Zurita, ibid. 181. Blanca, 656.
From another passage in Zurita, it appears, that while the Arragonese enjoyed
the privilege of the union, i. e. the power of confederating against their sovereign
as often as they conceived that he had violated any of their rights, and immunities, the justiza was not only nominated by the king, but held his office
during the king's pleasure. Nor was this practice attended with any bad effects,




558        PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
as the privilege of the union was a sufficient and effectual check to any abaius
of the royal prerogative. But when the privilege of the union was abolished
as dangerous to the order and peace of society, it was agreed that the justlza
should continue in office during life.  Several kings, however, attempted to remove justizas who were obnoxious to them, and they sometimes succeeded in
the attempt. In order to guard against this encroachment, which would have
destroyed the intention of the institution, and have rendered the justiza the
dependant and tool of the crown, instead of the guardian of the people, a law
was enacted in the Cortes, A. D. 1442, ordaining that the justiza should continue in office during life, and should not be removed from it unless by the authority of the Cortes.  Fueros et Observancias del Reyno de Arrag. lib. i. p.
22. By former laws-the person of the justiza had been declared sacred, and
he was responsible only to the Cortes. Ibid. p. 15. b. Zurita and Blanca, who
both published their histories while the justiza of Arragon retained the full
exercise of his privileges and jurisdiction, have neglected to explain several
circumstances with regard to the office of that respectable magistrate, because
they addressed their works to their countrymen, who were well acquainted
with every particular concerning the functions of a judge, to whom they looked
up as to the guardian of their liberties. It is vain to consult the later historians of Spain, about any point with respect to which the excellent historians
whom I have named are silent.  The ancient constitution of their country was
overturned, and despotism established on the ruin of its liberties, when the
writers of this and the preceding century composed their histories, and on that
account they had little curiosity to know the nature of those institutions to
which their ancestors owed the enjoyment of freedom, or they were afraid to
describe them with much accuracy.  The spirit with which Mariana, his continuator Miniana, and Ferreras, write their histories, is very different from that
of the two historians of Arragon, from whom I have taken my account of the
constitution of that kingdom.
Two circumstances concerning the justiza, besides those which I have mentioned in the text, are worthy of observation: 1. None of the ricos-hombres,
or noblemen of the first order, could be appointed justiza. He was taken out
of the second class of cavalleros, who seem to have been nearly of the same
condition or rank with gentlemen or commoners in Great Britain. Fueros et
Observanc. del Reyno, &c. lib. i. p. 21. b.  The reason was, By the laws of
Arragon, the ricos-hombres were not subject to capital punishment; but as it
was necessary for the security of liberty, that the justiza should be accountable
for the manner in which he executed the high trust reposed in him, it was a
powerful restraint upon him to know that he was liable to be punished capitally.
Blanca, p. 657. 756.  Zurita, tom. ii. p. 229.  Fueros et Observanc. lib. ix. p.
182. b. 183. It appears too, from many passages in Zurita, that the justiza
was appointed to check the domineering and oppressive spirit of the nobles, as
well as to set bounds to the power of the monarch, and therefore he was chosen
from an order of citizens equally interested in opposing both.
2. A  magistrate possessed of such extensive powers as the justiza, might
have exercised them in a manner pernicious to the state, if he himself had been
subject to no control. A constitutional remedy was on that account provided
against this danger. Seventeen persons were chosen by lot in each meeting of
the Cortes.  These formed a tribunal called the court of inquisition into the
office of justiza. This court met at three stated terms in each year. Every
person had liberty of complaining to it of any iniquity or' neglect of duty in
the justiza, or in the inferior judges, who acted in his name. The justiza and
his deputies were called to answer for their conduct. The members of the
court passed sentence by ballot.  They might punish by degradation, confiscation of goods, or even with death.  The law which erected this court, and
regulated the form of its procedure, was enacted, A. D. 1461. Zurita Anales,
tv. 102.  Blanca Comment. Rer. Arragon, 770. Previous to this period, inquiry
was made into the conduct of the justiza, though not with the same formality.
fHe was, from the first institution of the office, subject to the review of the
Cortes. The constant dread of such an impartial and severe inquiry into his
behaviour, was a powerful motive to the vigilant and faithful discharge of his
duty.  A remarkable instance of the authority of the justiza when opposed to




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                              6-59
that of the king occurs in the year 1386. By the constitution of Arragon, the
eldest son or heir apparent of the crown possessed considerable power and
jurisdiction in the kingdom. Fueros et Observan. del Reyno de Arrag. lib. i. p.
16. Peter IV., instigated by a second wife, attempted to deprive his son of this,
and enjoined his subjects to yield him no obedience. The prince immediately
applied to the justiza;  the safeguard and defence," says Zurita, " against all
violence and oppression."  The justiza granted him the firmo de derecho, the
effect of which was, that upon his giving surety to appear in judgment, he
could not be deprived of any immunity or privilege which he possessed, but in
consequence of a legal trial before the justiza and of a sentence pronounced by
him. This was published throughout the kingdom, and notwithstanding the
proclamation in contradiction to this which had been issued by the king, the
prince continued in the exercise of all his rights, and his authority was universally recognised. Zurita Anales de Arragon, tom. ii. 385.
NOTE [32]. PAGE 72.
I HAvE been induced, by the concurring testimony of many respectable
authors, to mention this as the constitutional form of the oath of allegiance,
which the Arragonese took to their sovereigns. I must acknowledge, however,
that I have not found this singular oath in any Spanish author whom I have
had an opportunity of consulting. It is mentioned neither by Zurita, nor
Blanca,nor Argensola, nor Sayas, who were all historiographers appointed by the
Cortes of Arragon to record the transactions of the kingdom. All these writers
possess a merit which is very rare among historians. They are extremely accurate in tracing the progress of the laws and constitution of their country. Their
silence with respect to this, creates some suspicion concerning the genuineness
of the oath. But as it is mentioned by so many authors who produce the
ancient Spanish words, in which it is expressed, it is probable that they have
taken it from some writer of credit, whose works have not fallen into my hands..
The spirit of the oath is perfectly agreeable to the genius of the Arragonese
constitution.  Since the publication of the first edition, the learned M. Totze,
professor of history at Batzow in the autchy of Mecklenburg, has been so good
as to point out to me a Spanish author of great authority, who has published
the words of this oath. It is Antonio Perez, a native of Arragon, secretary to
Philip II. The words of the oath are, " Nos, que valemus tanto como vos, os
hazemos nuestro Rey y Segnor, con tal que nos guardeys nuestros fueros, y
libertades, y si No, No." Las Obras y Relaciones de Ant. Perez. 8vo. par Juan
de la Planche 1631, p. 143.
The privilege of uiion, which I have mentioned in the preceding note, and
alluded to in the text, is indeed one of the most singular which could take
place in a regular government, and the oath that I have quoted expresses nothing
more than this constitutional privilege entitled the Arragonese to perform. If
the king or his ministers violated any of the laws or immunities of the Arragonese, and did not grant immediate redress in consequence of their representations and remonstrances, the nobles of the first rank, or Ricos-hombres de
natura, et de mesnada, the equestrian order, or the nobility of the second class,
called Hidalgos et Infanciones, together with the magistrates of cities, might,
either in the Cortes, or in a voluntary assembly, join in union, and binding
themselves by mutual oaths and the exchange of hostages to be faithful to each
other, they might require the king, in the name and by the authority of this
body corporate, to grant them redress. If the king refused to comply with
their request, or took arms in order to oppose them, they might, in virtue of
the privilege of union, instantly withdraw their allegiance from the king, refuse
to acknowledge him as their sovereign, and proceed to elect another monarch;
nor did they incur any guilt, or become liable to any prosecution on that account. Blanca. Com. Rer. Arrag. 661. 669. This union did not resemble the
confederacies in other feudal kingdoms. It was a constitutional association,
n which legal privileges were vested,which issued its mandates under a common
seal, and proceeded in all its operations by regular and ascertained forms.
This dangerous right was not only claimed but exercised. In the year 1287,
the Arragonese formed a union in opposition to Alfonso III., and obliged that
king not only to comply with their demands, but to ratify a privilege so fata7




516^0        PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRAT[ONS.
to tne power of the crown. Zurita Anales, tom. i. p. 322. In the year 1347,
a union was formed against Peter IV. with equal success, and a new ratification of the privilege was extorted. Zurita, tom. ii. p. 202. But soon after,
the king having defeated the leaders of the union in battle, the privilege of
union was finally abrogated in the Cortes, and all the laws or records which
contained any confirmation of it were cancelled or destroyed. The king, in
presence of the Cortes, called for the act whereby he had ratified the union,
and having wounded his hand with his poniard, he held it above the record,
" that privilege," says he, " which has been so fatal to the kingdom, and so injurious to royalty, should be effaced with the blood of a king." Zurita, tom.
ii. p. 229. The law abolishing the union is published. Fueros et Observanc.
lib. ix. p. 178. From that period the justiza became the constitutional guardian
of public liberty, and his power and jurisdiction occasioned none of those violent convulsions which the tumultuary privilege of the union was apt to produce. The constitution of Arragon, however, still remained extremely free.
One source of this liberty arose from the early admission of the representatives
of the cities into the Cortes. It seems probable from  Zurita, that burgesses
were constituent members of the Cortes from its first institution. He mentions
a meeting of Cortes, A. D. 1133, in which the procuradores de las cizades y
villas were present.  Tom. i. p. 51. This is the constitutional language in
which their presence is declared in the Cortes, after the journals of that court
were regularly kept. It is probable, that a historian so accurate as Zurita
would not have used these words, if he had not taken them from some authentic record. It was more than a century after this period before the representatives of cities formed a constituent part in the supreme assemblies of the other
European nations. The free spirit of the Arragonese government is conspicuous in many particulars. The Cortes not only opposed the attempts of their
kings to increase their revenue, or to extend their prerogative, but they claimed
rights and exercised powers which will appear extraordinary even in a country
accustomed to the enjoyment of liberty. In the year 1286, the Cortes claimed
Ihe privilege of naming the members of the king's council and the officers of
his household, and they seem to have obtained it for some time. Zurita, tom.
i. p. 303. 307. It was the privilege of the Cortes to name the officers who
commanded the troops raised by their authority. This seems to be. evident
from a passage in Zurita. When the Cortes, in the year 1503, raised a body of
troops to be employed in Italy, it passed an act empowering the king to name
the officers who should command them, Zurita, tom. v. p. 274; which plainly
implies that, without this warrant, it did not belong to him in virtue of his
prerogative. In the Fueros et Observancias del Reyno de Arragon, two general
declarations of the rights and privileges of the Arragonese are published; the
one, in the reign of Pedro I., A. D. 1283; the other, in that of James II., A.
D. 1325. They are of such a length, that I cannot insert them; but it is evident from these, that not only the privileges of the nobility, but the rights of
the people, personal as well as political, were, at that period, more extensive
and better- nderstood than in any kingdom of Europe. Lib. i. p. 7. 9. The
oath by which the king bound himself to observe those rights and liberties of
the people, was very solemn. Ibid. p. 14. b. & p. 15. The Cortes of Arragon
discovered not only the jealousy and vigilance which are peculiar to free states,
in guarding the essential parts of the constitution, but they were scrupulously
attentive to observe the most minute forms and ceremonies to which they were
accustomed. According to the established laws and customs of Arragon, no
foreigner had liberty to enter the hall in which the Cortes assembled. Ferdinand, in the year 1481, appointed his queen, Isabella, regent of the kingdom,
while he was absent during the course of the campaign. The law required
that a regent should take the oath of fidelity in presence of the Cortes; but
as Isabella was a foreigner, before she could be admitted, the Cortes thought
it necessary to pass an act authorizing the sergeant-porter to open the door of
the hall, and to allow her to enter; "so attentive were they (says Zurita) to
observe their laws and forms, even such as may seem  most minutm."  Tom.
iv. p. 313.
The Arragonese were no less solicitous to secure the personal rights ot indi
siduals, than to maintain the freedom  of the constitition, and tbe  pm I)T i  f




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                561
their statutes with respect to both was equally liberal. Two facts relative to this
matter merit observation.  By an express statute in the year 1335, it was
declared to be unlawful to put any native Arragonese to the torture. If he
could not be convicted by the testimony of witnesses, he was instantly absolved.
Zurita, tom. ii. p. 66.  Zurita records the regulation with the satisfaction
natural to an historian, when he contemplates the humanity of his countrymen.
He compares the laws of Arragon to those of Rome, as both exempted citizens
and freemen from such ignominious and cruel treatment, and had recourse to
it only in the trial of slaves. Zurita had reason to bestow such an encomium
on the laws of his country. Torture was at that time permitted by the laws of
every other nation in Europe. Even in England, from which the mild spirit
of legislation has long banished it, torture was not, at that time, unknown
Observations on the Statutes, chiefly the more ancient, &c. p. 66.
The other fact shows, that the same spirit which influenced the legislature,
prevailed among the people. In the year 1485, the religious zeal of Ferdinand
and Isabella prompted them to introduce the inquisition into Arragon. Though
the Arragonese were no less superstitiously attached than the other Spaniards
to the Roman Catholic faith, and no less desirous to root out the seeds of error
and of heresy which the Jews and Moors had scattered, yet they took arms
against the inquisitors, murdered the chief inquisitor, and long opposed the
establishment of that tribunal. The reason which they gave for their conduct
was, That the mode of trial in the inquisition was inconsistent with liberty.
The criminal was not confronted with the witnesses, he was not acquainted
with what they deposed against him, he was subjected to torture, and the goods
of persons condemned were confiscated. Zurita Anales, tom. iv. p. 341.
The form of government in the kingdom of Valencia, and principality of Catalonia, which were annexed to the crown of Arragon, was likewise extremely
favourable to liberty. The Valencians enjoyed the privilege of union in the
same manner with the Arragonese. But they had no magistrate resembling the
Justiza. The Catalonians were no less jealous of their liberties than the two
other nations, and no less bold in asserting them. But it is not necessary for
illustrating the following history to enter into any farther detail concerning the
peculiarities in the constitution of these kingdoms.
NOTE [33]. PAGE 72.
I HAVE searched in vain among the historians of Castile for such information
as might enable me to trace the progress of laws and government in Castile, or
to explain the nature of the constitution with the same degree of accuracy
wherewith I have described the political state of Arragon. It is manifest not
only from the historians of Castile, but from its ancient laws, particularly the
Fuero Juzgo, that its monarchs were originally elective. Ley, 2. 5. 8. They
were chosen by the bishops, the nobility, and the people, ibid. It appears from
the same venerable code of laws, that the prerogative of the Castilian monarchs
was extremely limited. Villaldiego, in his commentary on the Fuero Juzgo,
produces many facts and authorities in confirmation of both these particulars.
Dr. Geddes, who was well acquainted with Spanish literature, complains that
he could find no author who gave a distinct account of the Cortes or supreme
assembly of the nation, or who described the manner in which it was held, or
mention the precise number of members who had a right to sit in it. He produces, however, from Gil Gonzales d'Avila, who published a history of Henry
II., the writ of summons to the town of Abula, requiring it to choose representatives to appear in the Cortes which he called to meet, A. D. 1390. From this
we learn, that prelates, dukes, marquisses, the masters of the three military
orders, condes and ricos-hombres were required to attend. These composed the
bodies of ecclesiastics and nobles, which formed two members of the legisla
ture. The cities which sent members to that meeting of the Cortes were forty
eight.  The number of representatives (for the cities had right to choose
more or fewer according to their respective dignity) amounted to a hundred and
twenty-five.  Geddes' Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. i. 331. Zurita having occasion to mention the Cortes which Ferdinand held at Toro, A. D. 1505, in order
to secure for himself the government of Castile after the death of Isabella,
records, with his usual accuracy, +he names of the members present, and of
VOL. II.-71




562            PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
the cities which they represented.  From that list it appears, that only eighteen
cities had deputies in this assembly. Anales de Arragon, tor. vi. p. 3. What
was the occasion of this great difference in the number of. cities represented in
these two meetings of the Cortes, I am unable to explain.
NOTE [34]. PAGE 73.
A GREAT part of the territory in Spain was engrossed by the nobility. L.
Marinneus Siculus, who composed his treatise De Rebus Hispanie during the
reign of Charles V. gives a catalogue of the Spanish nobility, together with
the yearly rent of their estates.  According to his account, which he affirms
was as accurate as the nature of the subject would admit, the sum total of th6
annual revenue of their lands amounted to one million four hundred and eighty-'
two thousand ducats. If we make allowance for the great difference in the
value of money in the fifteenth century from that which it now bears, and consider that the catalogue of Marinmus includes only the Titulados, or nobility
whose families were distinguished by some honorary title, their wealth must
appear very great.:L. Marinneus ap Schotti Scriptores Hispan. vol. i. p. 323.
The commons of Castile,'ir *heir contests with the crown, which I shall hereafter relate,' complain of the extensive property of the nobility as extremely
pernicious to the kingdom.::In one of their manifestoes they assert, that from
Valladolid to St. Jago in Gallicia, which was a hundred leagues, the crown
did not possess more than three villages. All the rest belonged to the nobility,
and could be subjected to no public burden.  Sandov. Vida del Emperor Carl.
V. vol. i. p. 422. It appears from the testimony of authors quoted by Bovadilla, that these extensive possessions were bestowed upon the ricos-hombres,
hidalgos, and cavalleros. by the kings of Castile, in reward for the assistance
which they had received from them in expelling the Moors. They likewise
obtained by the same means a considerable influence in the cities, many of which
anciently depended upon the nobility. Politica para Corregidores. Amb. 1750
fol. vol. i. 440. 442.
NOTE [35]. PAGE 74.
i HAVE been able to discover nothing certain, as I observed in Note 18, with
respect to the origin of communities or free cities in Spain. It is probable that
as soon as the considerable towns were recovered from the Moors, the inhabits
ants who fixed their residence in them, being persons of distinction and credit,
had all the privileges of municipal government and jurisdiction conferred upon
them. Many striking proofs occur of the splendour, wealth, and power of the
Spanish cities. Hieronymus Paulus wrote a description of Barcelona in the
year 1491, and compares the dimensions of the town to that of Naples, and the
elegance of its buildings, the variety of its manufactures, and the extent of its
commerce, to Florence.  Hieron. Paulus ap. Schottum  Script. Hist. ii. 844.
Marinneus describes Toledo as a large and populous city. A great number of
its inhabitants were persons of quality and of illustrious rank. Its commerce
was great. It carried on with great activity and success, the manufactures of
silk and wool; and the number of inhabitants employed in these two branches
of trade, amounted nearly to tqn thousand.' Marin. ubi supr. p. 308. " I know
no city," says he, "that I would prefer to Valladolid for elegance and splendour."
Ibid. p. 312.; We may form some estimate of its populousness from the follow.
ing circumstances. The citizens having taken arms in the year 1516, in order
to oppose a measure concerted by cardinal Ximenes,,they mustered in the city,
and in the territory which belonged to it, thirty thousand fighting men. Sandov.
Vida del Emper. Carl. V. tom. i. p. 81. The manufactures carried on in the
towns of Spain, were not intended merely for home consumption, they were
exported to foreign countries, and their commerce was a considerable source o,
wealth to the inhabitants. The maritime laws of Barcelona are the foundation of mercantile jurisprudence in modern times, as the Leges Rhodie were
among the ancients. All the commercial states in Italy adopted these lawv,and
regulated their trade according to them. Sandi Storia Civile Veneziani, vol. ii.
865.  It appears from  several ordonnances of the kings of France, that the
merchants of Arragon and Castile were received on the same footing, and
admitted to the same privileges with those of Italy. Ordonnances des Rovs.




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                563
&c. tom. ii. p. 135. iii. 166. 504. 635.  Cities in such a flourishing state
became a respectable part of the society, and were entitled to a considerable share
in the legislature. The magistrates of Barcelona aspired to the highest honour
a Spanish subject can enjoy, that of being covered in the presence of their
sovereign, and of being treated as grandees of the kingdom. Origin de la
iignidad de Grande de Castilla por Don Alonso Carillo. Madr. 1657. p. 18.
NOTE [36]. PAGE 76.
THE military order of St. Jago, the most honourable and opulent of the three
Spanish orders, was instituted about the year 1170. The bull of confirmation
by Alexander III. is dated A. D. 1176. At that time a considerable part of
Spain still remained under subjection to the Moors, and the whole country was
much exposed to depredations not only of the enemy, but of banditti. It is no
wonder then, that an institution, the object of which was to oppose the enemies
of the Christian faith, and to restrain and punish those who disturbed the public peace, should be extremely popular, and meet with general encouragement.
The wealth and power of the order became so great, that according to one
historian, the grand master of St. Jago was the person in Spain of greatest
power and dignity next to the king. A1. Anton. Nebrissensis, ap. Schott.
Script. Hist. i. 812. Another historian observes, that the order possessed every
thing in Castile that a king would most desire to obtain. Zurita Anales, v. 22.
The knights took the vows of obedience, of poverty, and of conjugal chastity.,
By the former they were bound implicitly to obey the commands of their
grand master. The order could bring into the field a thousand men at arms.
El. Ant. Nebres. p. 813. If, as we have reason to believe, these men at arms
were accompanied with horses, as was usual in that age, this was a formidable
body of cavalry. There belonged to this order, eighty-four commanderies, and
two hundred priories and other benefices.  Dissertations sur la Chevalerie par
Hon. de St. Marie, p. 262. It is obvious how formidable to his sovereign the
command of these troops, the administration of such revenues, and the disposal
of so many offices, must have rendered a subject. The other two orders,
though inferior to that of St. Jago in power and wealth, were nevertheless very
considerable fraternities. When the conquest of Grenada deprived the knights
of St. Jago of those enemies against whom their zeal was originally directed,
superstition found out a new object,.in defence of which they engaged to employ
their courage. To their usual oath, they added the following clause: "We do
swear to believe, to maintain, and to contend in public and in private, that the
Virgin Mary, the mother of God, our Lady, was conceived without the stain
of original sin."-This addition was made about the middle of the seventeenth
century. Honore de St. Marie Dissertations, &c. p. 263.-Nor is such a singular engagement peculiar to the brder of St. Jago. The members of the second
military order in Spain, that of Calatrava, equally zealous to employ their
prowess in defence of the honours of the blessed Virgin, have likewise professed themselves her true knights. Their vow, conceived in terms more theologically accurate than that of St. Jago, may afford some amusement to an
English reader. " I vow to God, to'the Grand Master, and to you who here
represent his person, that now, and for ever, I will maintain and contend, that
the Virgin Mary, mother of God, our Lady, was conceived without original
sin, and never incurred the pollution of it; but that in. the moment of her
happy conception, and of the union of her soul with her body, the Divine
Grace prevented and preserved her from original guilt, by the merits of the
passion and death of Christ our Redeemer, her future son, foreseen in the Divine
Council, by which she was truly redeemed, and by a more noble kind of redemption than any of the children of Adam. In the belief of this truth, and is
maintaining the honour of the most Holy Virgin, through the strength' of
Almighty God, I will live and will die." Definiciones de la Orden de Calatrava,
conforme al Capitulo General en 1652, fol. Madr. 1748, p. 153. Though the
church of Rome hath prudently avoided to give its sanction to the doctrine of the
immaculate conception, and the two great monastic orders of St. Dominic and
St. Francis have espoused opposite opinions concerning it, the Spaniards are such
ardent champions for the honour of the Virgin, that when the present king of
Spain instituted a new military order in the year 1771, in commemoration of




564           PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
the birth of his grandson, he put it under the immediate protection of the most
Holy Mary in the mystery of her immaculate conception.  Constitutiones ds
la Real y distinguida Orden. Espanola de Carlos III. p. 7. To undertake the
defence of the Virgin Mary's honour, had such a resemblance to that species
of refined gallantry, which was the original object of chivalry, that the zeal
with which the military orders bound themselves, by a solemn vow, to defend
it, was worthy of a true knight in those ages, when the spirit of the institution
subsisted in full vigour. But in the present age, it must excite some surprise
to see the institution of an illustrious order connected with a doctrine so extravagant and destitute of any foundation in scripture.
NOTE [37]. PAGE 76.
I HAVE frequently had occasion to take notice of the defects in police during
the middle ages, occasioned by the feebleness of government, and the want of
proper subordination among the different ranks of men. I have observed in a
former Note, that this greatly interrupted the intercourse between nations, and
even between different places in the same kingdom. The description which
the Spanish historians give of the frequency of rapine, and murder, and every
act of violence, in all the provinces of Spain, are amazing, and present to us
the idea of a society but little removed from the disorder and turbulence of that'which has been called a state of nature. Zurita Anales de Arrag. i. 175.  El.
Ant. Nebrissensis rer. a Ferdin. gestar. Hist. ap. Schottum, ii. 849. Though
the excess of these disorders rendered the institution of the Santa Hermandad
necessary, great care was taken at first to avoid giving any offence or alarm to
the nobility. The jurisdiction of the judges of the Hermandad was expressly
confined to crimes which violated the public peace. All other offences were
left to the cognizance of the ordinary judges. If a person was guilty of the
most notorious perjury, in any trial before a judge of the Hermandad, he could
not punish him, but was obliged to remit the case to the ordinary judge of the
place. Commentaria in Regias Hispan. Constitut. per Alph. de Azevedo, pars
v. p. 220, &c. fol. Duaci, 1612. Notwithstanding these restrictions, the barons
were early sensible how much the establishment of the Hermandad would encroach on their jurisdiction. In Castile some opposition was made to the institution; but Ferdinand had the address to obtain the consent of the Constable to the introduction of the Hermandad into that part of the kingdom where
his estate lay; and by that means, as well as the popularity of the institution,
he surmounted every obstacle that stood in its way. 1EI. Ant. Nebrissen. 851,
In Arragon, the nobles combined against it with greater spirit; and Ferdinand,
though he supported it with vigour, was obliged to make some concessions, in
order to reconcile them. Zurita Anales de Arrag. iv. 356. The power and
revenue of the Hermandad in Castile seems to have been very great. Ferdinand, when preparing for the war against the Moors in Granada, required of
the Hermandad to furnish him sixteen thousand beasts of burden, together
with eight thousand men to conduct them, and he obtained what he demanded.
El. Ant. Nebriss. 881. The Hermandad has been found to be of so much use
in preserving peace, and restraining or detecting crimes, that it is still continued
in Spain; but as it is no longer necessary either for moderating the power of
the nobility, or extending that of the crown, the vigour and authority of the
institution diminishes gradually.
NOTE [38]. PAGE 77.
NOTHING is more common among antiquaries, and there is not a more copious
source of error, than to decide concerning the institutions and manners of past
ages, by the forms and ideas which prevail in their own times. The French
lawyers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, having found their sovereigns in possession of absolute power, seem to think it a duty incumbtnt on
them to maintain that such unbounded authority belonged to the crown in
every period of their monarchy. " The government of France," says M. de
Real very gravely, " is purely monarchical at this day, as it was from the beginning. Our kings were absolute originally as they are at present."  Science
du Governement, tom. ii. p. 31. It is impossible, however, to conceive two
states of civil society more unlike to each other, than that of the French nation




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS..565
under Clovis, and that under Lewis XV. It is evident from the codes of laws
of the various tribes which settled in Gaul and the countries adjacent to it,
as well as from the history of Gregory of Tours, and other early annalists,
that among all these people the form of government was extremeiy rude and
simple, and that they had scarcely begun to acquire the first rudiments of that
order and police which are necessary in extensive societies. The king or leader
had the command of soldiers or companions who followed his standard from
choice, not by constraint. I have produced the clearest evidence of this, Note
6. An event related by Gregory of Tours, lib. iv. c. 14, affords the most striking
proof of the dependence of the early French kings on the sentiment and inclination of their people. Clotaire I., having marched at the head of his army,
in the year 553, against the Saxons, that people, intimidated at his approach,
sued for peace, and offered to pay a large sum to the offended monarch.  Clotaire was willing to close with what they proposed. But his army insisted to
be led forth to battle. The king employed all his eloquence to persuade them
to accept of what the Saxons were ready to pay. The Saxons, in order to
sooth them, increased their original offer. The king renewed his solicitations:
but the army enraged, rushed upon the king, tore his tent in pieces, dragged
him out of it, and would have slain him on the spot, if he had not consented
to lead them instantly against the enemy.
If the early monarchs of France possessed such limited authority, even while
at the head of their army, their prerogative during peace will be found to be still
more confined. They ascended the throne not by any hereditary right, but
in consequence of the election of their subjects. In order to avoid an unnecessary number of quotations, I refer my readers to Hottomanni Francogallia,
cap. vi. p. 47. edit. 1573, where they will find the fullest proof of this from
Gregory of Tours, Amoinus, and the most authentic historians of the Merovingian kings.  The effect of this election was not to investthem with absolute
power. Whatever related to the general welfare of the nation, was submitted
to public deliberation, and determined by the suffrage of the people, in the annual assemblies called Les Champs de Mars and Les Champs de Mai. These
assemblies were called Champs, because, according to the custom of all the
barbarous nations, they were held in the open air, in some' plain capable of containing the vast number of persons who had a right to be present. Jo. Jac.
Sorberus de Comitiis veterum Germanorum, vol. i. I 19, &c. They were denominated Champs de Mars and de Mai, from the months in which they were
held. Every free man seems to have had a right to be present in these assemblies. Sorberus, ibid. 1 133, &c. The ancient annals of the Franks describe
the persons who were present in the assembly held A. D. 788, in these words:
"In placito Ingelheimensi conveniunt pontifices, majores, minores, sacerdotes,
reguli, duces, comites, prafecti, cives, oppidani," Apud Sorber. sect. 304.
"There every thing that concerned the happiness of their country," says an
ancient historian, " every thing that could be of benefit to the Franks, was
considered and enjoined." Fredegarius ap. Du Cange Glossar. voc. Campus
Martii. Clotharius II. describes the business, and acknowledges the authority
of these assemblies. " They are called," says he, " that whatever relates to
the common safety may be considered and resolved by common deliberation;
and whatever they determine, to that I will conform." Amoinus de Gest.
Franc. lib. iv. c. i. ap. Bouquet Recueil, iii. 116. The statutory clauses, or
words of legislative authority in the decrees issued in these assemblies, run
not in the name of the king alone. "We have treated," says Childebert, in a
decree, A. D. 532, in the assembly of March, " together with our nobles, concerning some affairs, and we now publish the conclusion, that it may come to
the knowledge of all." Childeb. Decret. ap. Bouquet Recueil des Histor. tom.
iv. p. 3. We have agreed, together with our vassals. Ibid. ~ 2. "It is agreed
in the assembly in which we were all united," Ibid. ~ 4. The Salic laws, the
most venaerable monument of French jurisprudence, were enacted in the same
manner. " Dictaverunt Salicam legem proceres ipsius gentis, qui tune temporis
apud eam erant Rectores.  Sunt autem electi de pluribus viri quatuor-qui per
tres Mallos convenientes, omnes causarum origines solicite discurrendo,.tractantes de singulis judicium decreverunt hoc modo." Preef. Leg. Salic. ap.
Bouquet. Ibid. p. 112. "Hoc decretum est apud regem et principes ejus, et




566        PROOFS AND 1,LLUSTRATIONS.
aud cunctum populum  Christianum, qui infra regnum Merwingorum  cossistunt." Ibid. p. 124. Nay, even in their charters, the kings of the first race
are careful to specify that they were granted with the consent of their vwassals.
i' Ego Childebertus Rex una cum  consensu et voluntate Francorum," &c. A.
D. 558.  Bouquet, ibid. 622. "Clotharius III. una cum patribus nostris episcopis, optimatibus, caterisque palatii nostri ministris, A. D. 664."  Ibid. 648.
" De consensu fideliun nostrorum."  Mably Observ. tom. i. p. 239. The historians likewise describe the functions of the king in the national assemblies in
such terms as imply that his authority there was extremely small, and that
every thing depended on the court itself. " Ipse Rex," says the author of the
Anales Francorum, speaking of the Field of March, " sedebat in sella regia,
circumstante exercitu, precipiebatque is, die illo, quicquid a Francis decretum
erat."  Bouquet Recueil, toni. ii. p. 647.
That the general assemblies exercised supreme jurisdiction over all persons.
and with respect to all causes, is so evident as to stand in need of no proof.
The trial of Brunehaut, A. D. 613, how unjust soever the sentence against her
may be, as related by Fredegarius, Chron. cap. 42. Bouquet, ib. 430, is in itself
sufficient proof of this.  The notorious violence and iniquity of the sentence
serve to demonstrate the extent of jurisdiction which this assembly possessed,
as a prince so sanguinary as Clothaire II. thought the sanction of its authority
would be sufficient to justify his rigorous treatment of the mother and grandmother of so many kings.
With respect to conferring donatives on the prince, we may observe, that
among nations whose manners and political institutions are simple, the public
as well as individuals, having few wants, they are little acquainted with taxes,
and free uncivilized tribes disdain to submit'to any stated imposition. This
was remarkably the case of the Germans, and of all the various people that
issued from that country. Tacitus pronounces two tribes not to be of German
origin, because they submitted to pay taxes.  De Morib. Germ. c. 43. And
speaking of another tribe according to the ideas prevalent in Germany, he says,' They were not degraded by the imposition of taxes."  Ibid. c. 29. Upon
the settlement of the Franks in Gaul, we may conclude, that while elated with
the consciousness of victory, they would not renounce the high-spirited ideas
of their ancestors, or voluntarily submit to a burden which they regarded as a
badge of servitude.  The evidence of the earliest records and historians justify
this conclusion.  M. de Montesquieu, in the twelfth and subsequent chapters
of the thirteenth book of l'Esprit des Loix, and M. de Mably Observat. sur
i'Hist. de France, tom. i. p. 247, have investigated this fact with great attention,
and have proved clearly that the property of freemen among the Franks was
not subject to any stated tax.  That the state required nothing from  persons
of this rank, but military service at their own expense, and that they should
entertain the king in their houses when he was upon any progress through his
dominions, or his officers when sent on any public employment, furnishing them
with carriages and horses.  Monarchs subsisted almost entirely upon the revenues of their own domains, and upon the perquisites arising from the administration of justice, together with a few small fines and forfeitures, exacted from
such as had been guilty of certain trespasses. It is foreign from my subject to
enumerate these.  The reader may find them  in Observat. de M. de Mably,
vol. i. p. 267.
When any extraordinary aid was granted by freemen to their sovereign, it
was purely voluntary.  In the annual assembly of March or May, it was the
custom to make the king a present of money, of horses or arms, or of some
other thing of value. This was an ancient custom, and derived from  theil
ancestors the Germans.  " Mos est civitatibus, ultro ac viritim conferre principibus vel armentorum vel frugum, quod pro honore acceptum, etiam  necessitatibus subvenit."  Tacit. de Mor. Germ. c. 15.  These gifts, if we may form  a
judgment concerning them, fiom the general terms in which they are mentioned
by the ancient historians, were considerable, and made no small part of the
royal revenue. Many passages to this purpose are produced by M. du Cange,
Dissert. iv.. sur Joinville, 153. Sometimes a conquered people specified the gift
which they bound themselves to pay annually, and it was exacted as a debt if
they failed.  Annales Metenses, ap. Du C'anro. ibid p. 155. It is probable, that




PRUOFS AND ILLUSThATIONS.                                   W6
the first step towards taxation was to ascertain the value of these gifts, which
were originally gratuitous, and to compel the people to pay the sum at which
they were rated. Still, however, some memory of their original was preserved.
and the aids granted to monarchs, in all the kingdoms of Europe were termed
berevolences or free gifts. 
The kings of the second race in France were raised to the throne by the elec.
tion of the people. " Pepinus Rex pius," says an author who wrote a few years
after the transaction which he records, " per authoritatem Pape, et unctionem
sancti chrismatis et electionem  omnium Francorum  in regni solio sublimatus
est."  Clausula de Pepini consecratione ap. Bouq. Recueil des Histor. tom. v.
p. 9. At the sametime, as the chief men of the nation had transferred the
crown from one family to another, an oath was exacted of them, that they
should maintain on the throne the family which they had now promoted; " ut
nunquam de alterius lumbis regem  in mvo prnsumant eligere."  Ibid. p. 10.
This oath the nation faithfully observed during a considerable space of time.
The posterity of Pepin kept possession of the throne; but with respect to the
manner of dividing their dominions among their children, princes were obliged
to consult the general assembly of the nation.  Thus Pepin himself, A. D. 768,
appointed his two sons, Charles and Charlomannus, to reign as joint sovereigns;
but he did this, " una cum  consensu Francorum  et procerum  suorum  seu et
episcoporum," before whom  he laid the matter in their general assembly.
i Conventus apud sanctum Dionysium," Capitular. vol. i. p. 187. This destination the French confirmed in a subsequent assembly, which was called upon the
death of Pepin: for, as Eginhart relates, they not only appointed them kings,
but by their authority they regulated the limits of their respective territories.
Vita Car. Magni ap. Bouquet Recueil, tom. v. p. 90. In the same manner, it
was by the authority of the supreme assemblies, that any dispute which arose
among the descendants of the royal family was determined. Charlemagne recognises this important part of their jurisdiction, and confirms it in his charter concerning the partition of his dominions; for he appoints, that, in case of any
uncertainty with respect to the right of the several competitors, he whom the
people shall choose, shall succeed to the crown. Capitular. vol. i. 442.
Under the second race of kings, the assembly of the nation, distinguished by
the name of Conventus, Malli, Placita, were regularly assembled once a year at
least, and frequently twice in the year. One of the most valuable monuments
of the History of France is the treatise of Hincmarus, archbishop of Rheims, de
ordine Palatii.  He died, A. D. 882, only sixty-eight years after Charlemagne,
and he relates in that short discourse the facts which were communicated to him
by Adalhardus, a minister and confidant of Charlemagne. From him we learn,
that this great monarch never failed to hold the general assembly of his subjects
every year. " In. quo placito generalitas universorum majorum tam clericorum
quam laicorum conveniebat."  Hincm. oper. edit. Sirmondi, vol. ii. c. 29. p. 211.
n these assemblies, matters which related to the general safety and state of the
kingdom were always discussed, before they entered upon any private'or less
important business.  Ibid. c. 33. p. 213. His immediate successors imitated
his example, and.transacted no affair of importance without the advice of their
great council.
Under the second race of kings, the genius of the French government continued to be in a good measure, democratical.  The nobles, the dignified ecclesiastics, and the great officers of the crown, were not the only members of the
national council; the people, or the whole body of free men, either in person or
by their representatives, had a right to be present in it. Hincmarus, in describing the manner of holding the general assemblies, says, that if the weather was
favourable, they met in the open air; but if otherwise, they had different apartments allotted to them: so that the dignified clergy were separated from the
laity, and the comites vel hujusmodi principes sibimet honorificabiliter a caetera
multitudine segregarentur.  Ibid. c. 35. p. 114. Agobardus, archbishop of
Lyons, thus describes a national council in the year 833, wherein he was present.
" Qui ubique conventus extitit ex reverendissimis episcopis, et magnificentissimis viris illustrtbus, collegio quoque abbatum et comitum, promiscuaeque setatis
et dignitatis populo."  The ccetera multitudo of Hincmarus is the same with the
populus of Agobardus, and both describe the inferior order of free men, the same




568           PROOFS AND ILL JSTRATIONb.
who were afterwards known in France by the name of the third estate, and n
England by the name of commons. The people, as well as the members of
higher dignity, were admitted to a share of the legislative power. Thus, by a
law, A. D. 803, it is ordained, " that the question shall be put to the people,
with respect to every new law, and if they shall agree to it, they shall confirm
it by their signature.." Capit. vol. i. 394. There are two capitularia which
convey to us a full idea of the part which the people took in the administration
of government. When they felt the weight of any grievance, they had a right
to petition the sovereign for redress. One of these petitions, in which they
desire that ecclesiastics might be exempted from bearing arms, and from serving
in person against the enemy, is still extant. It is addressed to Charlemagne,
A. D. 830, and expressed in such terms as could have been used only by men
conscious of liberty, and of the extensive privileges which they possessed.
They conclude with requiring him to grant their demand, if he wished that they
should any longer continue faithful subjects to him. That great monarch,
instead of being offended or surprised at the boldness of their petition, received
it in a most gracious manner, and signified his willingness to comply with it.
But sensible that he himself did not possess legislative authority, he promises to
lay the matter before the next general assembly, that such things as were of
common concern to all might be there considered and established by common
consent. Capitul. tom. i. p. 405-409. As the people bytheir petitions brought
matters to be proposed in the general assembly, we learn from another capitulare the form in which they were approved there, and enacted as laws. The
propositions were read aloud, and then the people were required to declare
whether they assented to them or not. They signified their assent by crying
three times, " We are satisfied," and then the capitulare was confirmed by the
subscription of the monarch, the clergy, and the chief men of the laity. Capitul.
tom. i. p. 627. A. D. 822. It seems probable from a capitulare of Carolus Calvus, A. D. 851, that the sovereign could not refuse his assent to what was proposed and established by his subjects in the general assembly. Tit. ix. ~ 6.
Capitul. vol. ii. p. 47. It is unnecessary to multiply quotations concerning the
legislative power of the national assembly of France, under the second race, or
concerning its right to determine with regard to peace and war. The uniform
style of the Capitularia is an abundant confirmation of the former. The reader
who desires any farther information with respect to the latter, may consult Les
Origines ou lAncien Gouvernement de la France, &c. tom. iii. p. 87, &c.
What has been said with respect to the admission of the people or their representatives into the supreme assembly merits attention, not only in tracing the
progress of the French government, but on account of the light which it throws
upon a similar question, agitated in England, concerning the time when the
commons became part of the legislative body in that kingdom.
NOTE [39]. PAGE 78.
THAT important change which the constitution of France underwent, when
the legislative power was transferred from the great council of the nation to the
king, has been explained by the French antiquaries with less care than they
bestow in illustrating other events in their history. For that reason I have
endeavoured with greater attention to trace the steps which led to this memorable revolution. I shall here add some particulars, which tend to throw additional light upon it. The Leges SalicB, the Leges Burgundionum, and other
codes published by the several tribes which settled in Gaul, were general laws
extending to every person, to every province and district where the authority o
those tribes was acknowledged. But they seem to have become obsolete; ana
the reason of their falling into disuse is very obvious. Almost the whole pro
perty of the nation was allodial when these laws were framed. But when the
feudal institutions became general, and gave rise to an infinite variety of ques.
tions peculiar to that species of tenure, the ancient codes were of no use in
deciding with regard to these, because they could not contain regulations applicable to cases which did not exist at the time when they were compiled. This
considerable change in the nature of property, made it necessary to publish the
new regulations contained in the Capitularia. Many of these, as is evident
from  the perusal of them, were public laws extending to the whole French




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                               569
nation, in the general assembly of which they were enacted. The weakness of
the greater part of the monarchs of the second race, and the disorder into which
the nation was thrown' by the depredations of the Normans, encouraged the
barons to usurp an independent power, formerly unknown in France. The
nature and extent of that jurisdiction which they assumed, I have formerly considered. The political union of the'kingdom was at an end its ancient constitution was dissolved, and only a feudal relation subsisted between tae king and
his vassals. The regal jurisdiction extended no further than the comains ot
the crown. Under the last kings of the second race, these were reduced almost
to nothing. Under the first kings of the third race, they comprehended little
more than the patrimonial estate of Hugh Capet, which he annexed to the
crown. Even with this accession, they continued to be of small extent. Valley, Hist. de France, tom. iii. p. 32. Many of the most considerable provinces
in France did not at first acknowledge Hugh Capet as a lawful monarch. There
are still extant several charters, granted during the first years of his reign, with
this remarkable clause in the form of dating the charter; " Deo regnante, rege
expectante," regnante domino nostro Jesu Christo, Francis autem contra jus
regnum usurpante Ugone rege. Bouquet Recueil, tom. x. p. 544. A monarch
whose title was thus openly disputed, was not in a condition to assert the royal
jurisdiction, or to limit that of the barons.
All these circumstances rendered it easy for the barons to usurp the rights of
royalty within their own territories. The Capitularia became no less obsolete
than the ancient laws; and customs were every where introduced, and became
the sole rule by which all civil transactions were conducted, and all causes were
tried. The wonderful ignorance, which became general in France, during the
ninth and tenth centuries, contributed to the introduction of customary law.
Few persons, except ecclesiastics, could read; and as it was not in the.power of
such illiterate persons to have recourse to written laws, either as their guide in
business, or their rule in administering justice, the customary law, the knowledge of which was preserved by tradition, universally prevailed.
During this period, the general assembly of the nation seems not to have
been called, nor to have once exerted its legislative authority. Local customs
regulated and decided every thing. A striking proof of this occurs in tracing
the progress of the French jurisprudence. The last of the Capitularia collected
by M. Baluze, was issued in the year 921, by Charles the Simple. An hundred
and thirty years elapsed from that period to the publication of the first ordonnance of the kings of the third race, contained in the great collection of M.
Lauriere, and the first ordonnance, which appears to be an act of legislation,
extending to the whole kingdom, is that of Philip Augustus, A. D. 1190. Ordon.
tom. i. p. 1. 18. During that long period of two hundred and sixty-nine years,
all transactions were directed by local customs, and no addition was made to
the statutory law of France. The ordonnances, previous to the reign of Philip
Augustus, contain regulations, the authority of which did not extend beyond
the king's domains.
Various instances occur of the caution with which the kings of France ventured at first to exercise legislative authority. M. l'Ab. de Mably produces an
ordonnance of Philip Augustus, A. D. 1206, concerning the Jews, who, in that
age, were in some measure the property of the lord in whose territories they
resided. But it is rather a treaty of the king with the countess of Champagne,
and the compte de Dampierre, than an act of royal power; and the regulations
in it seem to be established not so much by his authority, as by their consent.
Observat. sur'Hist. de France, ii. p. 355. In the same manner an ordonnance
of Louis VIII., concerning the Jews, A. D. 1223, is a contract between the king
and his nobles, with respect to their manner of treating that unhappy race of
men. Ordon. tom. i. p. 47. The Establissemens of St. Louis, though well
adapted to serve as general laws to the whole kingdom, were not published as
such, but only as a complete code of customary law, to be of authority within
the king's domains. The wisdom, the equity, and the order conspicuous in that
code of St. Louis, procured it a favourable reception throughout the kingdom
The veneration due to the virtues and good intentions of its author, contributed
not a little to reconcile the nation to that legislative authority which the king
began to assume. Soon after the reign of St. Louis, the idea of the king's posVOL. II.- 72




570          PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
sessing supreme legislative power-became common. " If," says Beaumanoir,
"the king makes any establishment, especially for his own domain, the barons
may nevertheless adhere to their ancient customs; but if the establishment be
general, it shall be current throughout the whole kingdom, and we ought to
believe that such establishments are made with mature deliberation, and for the
general good." Count de Beauvoisis, c. 48. p. 265. Though the kings of the
third race did not call the general assembly of the nation, during the long period
from Hugh Capet to Philip the Fair, yet they seem to have consulted the bishops
and barons who happened to be present in their court, with respect to any new
law which they published. Examples of this occur, Ordon. tom. i. p. 3. & 5.
This practice seems to have continued as late as the reign of St. Louis, when
the legislative authority of the crown was well established. Ordon. tom. i.
p. 58. A. D. 1246. This attention paid to the barons, facilitated the kings
acquiring such full possession of the legislative power, as enabled them aftervards to exercise it without observing that formality.
The assemblies distinguished by the name of the States General, were first
malled, A. D. 1302, and were held occasionally from that period to the year 1614,
since which time they have not been summoned. These were very different
~rom the ancient assemblies of the French nation, under the kings of the first
tnd second race. There is no point with respect to which the French antiquaries
ire more generally agreed, than in maintaining that the States General had no
suffrage in the passing of laws, and possessed no proper legislative jurisdiction.
The whole tenor of the French history confirms this opinion. The form of proceeding in the States General was this:-The king addressed himself, at open
ing the meeting, to the whole body assembled in one place, and laid before
them the affairs on account of which he had summoned them. Then the depu
ties of each of the three orders, of nobles, of clergy, and of the third estate, met
apart, and prepared their cahier or memorial, containing their answer to the
propositions which had been made to them, together with the representations
which they thought proper to lay before the king. These answers and representations were considered by the king in his council, and generally gave rise
to an ordonnance. These ordonnances were not addressed to the three estates in
common.  Sometimes the king addressed an ordonnarice to each of the estates
in particular.  Sometimes he mentioned the assembly of the three estates.
Sometimes he mentioned the assembly of that estate to which the ordonnance
is addressed. Sometimes no mention at all is made of the assembly of estates,
which suggested the propriety of enacting the law. Preface, au tom. iii. des
Ordon. p. xx. Thus the States General had only the privilege of advising and
remonstrating; the legislative authority resided in the king alone.
NOTE [40]. PAGE 80.
IF the parliament of Paris be considered only as the supreme court of justice,
every thing relative to its origin and jurisdiction is clear and obvious. It is the
ancient court of the king's palace, new modelled, rendered stationary, and
invested with an extensive and ascertained jurisdiction. The power of this
court, while employed in this part of its functions, is not the object of present
consideration. The pretensions of the parliament to control the exercise of the
legislative authority, and its claim of a right to interpose with respect to public
affairs and the political administration of the kingdom, lead to inquiries
attended with great difficulty. As the officers and members of the parliament
of Paris were anciently nominated by the king, were paid by him, and on several
occasions were removed by him at pleasure (Chronic. Scandaleuse de Louis XI
chez les Mem. de Comines, tom. ii. p. 51. Edit. de M. Lenglet de Fresnoy),
they cannot be considered as representatives of the people, nor could they claim
any share in the legislative power as acting in their name. We must therefore search for some other source of this high privilege. The parliament was
originally composed of the most eminent persons in the kingdom. The peers of
France, ecclesiastics of the highest order, and noblemen of illustrious birth, were
members of it, to whom were added some clerks and counsellors, learned in the
laws. Pasquier Recherches, p. 44, &c. Encyclopedie, tom. xii. Art. Parlement, p. 3. 5. A court thus constituted, was properly a committee of the States
General of the kingdom, and was composad of those barons andfideles, whom




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                571
the kings of France were accustomed to consult with regard to every act of
jurisdiction or legislative authority. It was natural, therefore, during the intervals between the meetings of the States General, or during those periods when
that assembly was not called, to consult the parliament, to lay matters of public
concern before it, and to obtain its approbation and concurrence, before any
ordonnance was published, to which the people were required to conform.
2. Under the second race of kings, every new law was reduced into proper form
by the chancellor of the kingdom, was proposed by him to the people, and when
enacted, was comniitted to him to be kept among the public records, that he
might give authentic copies of it to all who should demand them. Hincm. de
Ord. Palat. c. 16. Capitul. Car. Calv. tit. xiv. ~ 11. tit. xxxiii. The chancellor
presided in the parliament of Paris, at its first institution. Encyclopedie, tom.
iii. art. Chancelier, p. 88. It was therefore natural for the king to continue to
employ him in his ancient functions of framing, taking into his custody, and
publishing the ordonnances which were issued. To an ancient copy of the
Capitularia of Charlemagne, the following words are subjoined: "Anno tertio clementissimi domini nostri Caroli Augusti, sub ipso anno, hec facta Capitula sunt, et consignata Stephano comiti, ut hec manifesta faceret Parisiis
mallo publico, et illa legere faceret coram Scabineis, quod ita et fecit, et omnes
in uno consenserunt, quod ipsi voluissent observare usque in posterum, etiam
omnes Scabinei, Episcopi, Abbates, Comites, manu propria subter signaverunt."
Bouquet Recueil, tom.. v. p. 663. Mallus signifies not only the public assembly
of the nation, but the court of justice held by the Comes, or Mirsus dominicus.
Scabini were the judges, or the assessors of the judges in that court. Here then
seems to be a very early instance, not only of laws being published in a court of
justice, but of their being verified or confirmed by the subscription of the judges.
If this was the common practice, it naturally introduced the verifying of edicts in
the parliament of Paris. But this conjecture I propose with that diffidence, which
I have felt in all my reasonings concerning the laws and institutions of foreign
nations. 3. This supreme court of justice in France was dignified with the appellation of parliament, the name by which the general assembly of the nation was distinguished towards the close of the second race of kings; and men, both in reasoning and in conduct, are wonderfully influenced by the familiarity of names.
The preserving the ancient names of the magistrates established while the
republican government subsisted in Rome, enabled Augustus and his successors
to assume new powers with less observation arid greater ease. The bestowing
the same name in France upon two courts, which were extremely different, contributed not a little to confound their jurisdiction and functions.
All these circumstances concurred in leading the kings of France to avail
themselves of the parliament of Paris, as the instrument of reconciling the
people to the exercise of legislative authority by the crown. The French,
accustomed to see all new laws examined and authorized, before they were published, did not sufficiently distinguish between the effect of performing this in
the national assembly, or in a court appointed by the king. But as that court
was composed of respectable members, and who were well skilled in the laws'of their country, when any new edict received its sanction, that was sufficient
to dispose the people to submit to it.
When the practice of verifying and registering the royal edicts in the parliament of Paris became common, the parliament contended that this was necessary in order to give them legal authority. It was established as a fundamental
maxim in French jurisprudence, that no law could be published in any other
manner; that without this formality, no edict or ordonnance could have any
effect; that the people were not bound to obey it, and ought not to consider it
as an edict or ordonnance, until it was verified in the supreme court, after free
deliberation. Roche-flavin des Parlemens de France, 4to. Gen. 1621. p. 921.
The parliament, at different times, hath, with great fortitude and integrity,
opposed the will of their sovereigns; and, notwithstanding repeated and
peremptory requisitions and commands of the crown, hath refused to verify and
publish such edicts as it conceived to be oppressive to the people, or subversive
of the constitution of the kingdom. Roche-flavin reckons, that between the
year 1562 and the year 1589, the parliament refused to verify more than a
hundred edicts of the kings. Ibid. 925. Many instances of the spirit and con



572           PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
staricy with which the parliaments of France opposed pernicious laws, ana
asserted their own privileges, are enumerated by Limneus in his Notities Regni
Franciae, lib. i. c. 9. p. 224.
But the power of the parliament to maintain and defend this privilege, bore
no proportion to its importance, or to the courage with which the members
asserted it.  When any monarch was determined that an edict should be carried into execution, and found the parliament inflexibly resolved not to verify or
publish it, he could easily supply this defect by the plenitude of his regal power.
He repaired to the parliament in person, he took possession of his seat of justice, and commanded the edict to be read, verified, registered, and published in
his presence. Then, according to another maxim of French law, the king himself being present, neither the parliament, nor any magistrate whatever, can
exercise any authority, or perform  any function.  Adveniente Principe, cessat
magistratus.  Roche-flavin, ibid. p. 928, 929.  Encyclopedie, tom. ix. Art. Lit.
de Justice, p. 581. Roche-flavin mentions several instances of kings who
actually exerted this prerogative, so fatal to the residue of the rights and liberties transmitted to the French by their ancestors. Pasquier produces some
instances of the same kind.  Rech. p. 61. Limnneus enumerates many other
instances, but the length to which this note has swelled, prevents me from
inserting them at length, though they tend greatly to illustrate this important
article in the French history, p. 245.  Thus by an exertion of prerogative,
which, though violent, seems to be constitutional, and is justified by innumerable precedents, all the efforts of the parliament to limit and control the king's
legislative authority are rendered ineffectual.
I have not attempted to explain the constitution or jurisdiction of any parliament in France, but that of Paris.  All of them are formed upon the model
of that most ancient and respectable tribunal, and all my observations concern
ing it, will apply with full force to them.
NOTE [41]. PAGE 81.
THE humiliating posture in which a great emperor implored absolution is an
event so singular, that the words in which Gregory himself describes it, merit a
place here, and convey a striking picture of the arrogance of that'pontiff.  " Per
triduum, ante portam castri, deposito omni regio cultu, miserabiliter, utpote discalceatus, et laneis indutus, persistens, non prius cum multo fletu apostolicie,
miserationis auxilium, et consolationem implorari destitit, quam omnes qui ibi
aderant, et ad quos rumor ille pervenit, ad tantam  pietatem, et compassionis
miserecordiam movit, ut pro eo multis precibus et lacrymis intercedentes, omnes
quidem  insolitam  nostras mentis duritiem mirarentur; nonnulli vero in nobis
non apostolicae sedis gravitatem, sed quasi tyrannicae feritatis crudelitatem esse
clamarunt."  Epist. Gregor. ap. Memoire della Contessa Matilda da Fran
Mar. Florentini, Lucca, 1756, vol. i. p. 174.
NOTE [42]. PAGE 85.
As I have endeavoured in the history to trace the various steps in the progress of the constitution of the empire, and to explain the peculiarities in its
policy very fully, it is not necessary to add much by way of illustration.  What
appears to be of any importance, I shall range under distinct heads.
1. With respect to the power, jurisdiction, and revenue of the emperors. A
very just idea of these may be formed by attending to the view which Pfeffel
gives of the rights of the emperors at two different periods. The first at the
close of the Saxon race, A. D. 1024. These, according to his enumeration,
were the right of conferring all the ecclesiastical benefices in Germany; of receiving the revenues of them during a vacancy; of mortmain, or of succeeding
to the effects of ecclesiastics who died intestate. The right of confirming or
of annulling the elections of the popes. The right of assembling councils, and
of appointing them to decide concerning the affairs of the church.  The right
of conferring the title of king upon their vassals. The right of granting vacant
fiefs. The right of receiving the revenues of the empire, whether arising from
the imperial domains, from imposts and tolls, from  gold or silver mines, from
the taxes paid by the Jews, or from forfeitures. The right of governing Italy
as its proper sovereigns. The right of erecting free cities and of establishing




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS..o7
lairs in them.  The right of assembling the diets of the empire, and of fixing
the time of their duration. The right of coining money, and of conferring that
privilege on the states of the empire. The right of administering both high
and low justice within the territories of the different states. Abreg6, p. 160.
The other period is at the extinction of the emperors of the families of Luxemburg and Bavaria, A. D. 1437. According to the same author, the imperial
prerogatives at that time were the right of conferring all dignities and titles,
except the privilege of being a state of the empire. The right of Preces primarice, or of appointing once during their reign a dignitary in each chapter or
religious house. The right of granting dispensations with respect to the age
of majority   The right of erecting cities, and of conferring the privilege ot
coining money.  The right of calling the meetings of the diet, and of presiding
in them. Abrege, &c. p. 507. It were easy to show that Mr. Pfeffel is well
founded in all these assertions, and to confirm them by the testimony of the
most respectable authors. In the one period, the emperors appear as mighty
sovereigns with extensive prerogatives; in the other, as the heads of a confederacy with very limited powers.
The revenues of the emperors decreased still more than their authority.
The early emperors, and particularly those of the Saxon line, besides their
great patrimonial or hereditary territories, possessed an extensive domain both
in Italy and Germany, which belonged to them  as emperors.  Italy belonged
to the emperors as their proper kingdom, and the revenues which they drew
from it were very considerable. The first alienations of the imperial revenue
were made in that country.  The Italian cities having acquired wealth, and
aspiring at independence, purchased their liberty from different emperors, as I
have observed, Note 15.  The sums which they paid, and the emperors with
whom  they concluded these bargains, are mentioned by Casp. Klockius de
AErario Norimb. 1671. p. 85, f&c.  Charles IV. and his son Wenceslaus, dissipated all that remained of the Italian branch of the domain.  The German
domain lay chiefly upon the banks of the Rhine, and was under the government
of the counts palatine. It is not easy to mark out the boundaries, or to estimate
the value of this ancient domain, which has been so long incorporated with
the territories of different princes. Some hints with respect to it may be found
in the Glossary of Speidelius, which he has entitled, Speculum Juridico-Philologico-Politico-Historicum Observationum, ec. Norimb. 1673, vol. i. 679. 1045,
a more full account of it is given ly Klockius de ]Erario, p. 84. Besides this,
the emperors possessed considerable districts of land lying intermixed with the
estates of the dukes and barons.  They were accustomed to visit these frequently, and drew from their vassals in each what was sufficient to support
their court during the time of their residence among them. Annalistsn, ap.
Struv. tom. i. 611. A great part of these detached possessions were seized by
the nobles during the long interregnum, or during the wars occasioned by the
contests between the emperors and the court of Rome. At the same time that
such encroachments were made on the fixed or territorial property of the emperors, they were robbed almost entirely of their casual revenues.  The princes
and barons appropriating to themselves taxes and duties of every kind, which
had usually been paid to them. Pfeffel Abrege, p. 374. The profuse and in.
considerate ambition of Charles IV. squandered whatever remained of the imperial revenues after so many defalcations. He, in the year 1376, in order to
prevail with the electors to choose his son Wenceslaus king of the Romans,
premised each of them a hundred thousand crowns. But being unable to pay
so large a sum, and eager to secure the election to his son, he alienated to the
three ecclesiastical electors, and to the count palatine, such countries as still
belonged to the Imperial domain on the banks of the Rhine, and likewise made
over to them all the taxes and tolls then levied by the emperors in that district.
Trithemius, and the author of the Chronicle of Magdeburgh, enumerate the
territories and taxes which were thus alienated, and represent this as the last
and fatal blow to the imperial authority.  Struv.' Corp. vol. i. p. 437. From
that period the shreds of the ancient revenues possessed by the emperors have
oeen so inconsiderable, that, in the opinion of Speidelius, all that they yield
would be so far from defraying the expense of supporting their household, that
they would not pay the charge of maintaining the posts established in the em



574           PRO OFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
pire.  Speidelii Speculum, &c. vol. i. p. 680. These funds, inconsiderable as
they were, continued to decrease. Granvelle, the minister of Charles V. asserted in the year 1546, in presence of several of the German princes, that his
master drew no money at all from the empire. Sleid. History of the Reformation, Lond. 1689. p. 372. The same is the case at present. Traitd de droite
publique de l'Empire, par M. le Coq. de Villeray, p. 55. From the reign of
Charles IV., whom Maximilian called the pest of the empire, the emperors have
depended entirely on their hereditary dominions, as the chief, and almost the
only source of their power, and even of their subsistence.
2. The ancient mode of electing the emperors, and the various changes which
it underwent, require some illustration.  The imperial crown was originally
attained by election, as well as those of most monarchies in Europe. An
opinion long prevailed among the antiquaries and public lawyers of Germany,
that the right of choosing the emperors was vested in the archbishops of Mentz,
Cologne, and Treves, the king of Bohemia, the duke of Saxony, the marquis
of Brandenburgh, and the count palatine of the Rhine, by an edict of Otho III.
confirmed by Gregory V., about the year 996. But the whole tenor of history
contradicts this opinion. It appears, that from the earliest period in the history
of Germany, the person who was to reign over all, was elected by the suffrage
of all. Thus Conrad I. was elected by all the people of the Franks, say some
annalists, by all the princes and chief men, say others: by all the nation, say
others.  See their words, Struv. Corp. 211. Conringius de German, Imper.
Repub. Acroamata Sex. Ebroduni 1654, p. 103. In the'year 1024, posterior to
the supposed regulations of Otho III., Conrad II. was elected by all the chief
men, and his election was approved and confirmed by the people, Struv. Coip.
284. At the election of Lotharius II. A. D. 1125,. sixty thousand persons of
all ranks were present. He was named by the chief men, and their nomination
was approved by the people. Struv. ibid. p. 357. The first author who mentions the seven electors is Martinus Polonus, who flourished in the reign of
Frederick II. which ended, A. D. 1250.
We find that in the ancient elections to which I have referred, the princes of
the greatest power and authority were allowed by their countrymen to name
the person whom they wished to appoint emperor, and the people approved or
disapproved of their nomination.  This privilege of voting first is called by
the German lawyers the right of Prcetaxation.  Pfeffel Abreg4, p. 316. This
was the first origin of the exclusive right which the electors acquired. The
electors possessed the most extensive territories of any princes in the empire;
all the great offices of the state were in their hands by hereditary right; as
soon as they obtained or engrossed so much influence in the election as to be
allowed the right of pretaxation, it was vain to oppose their will, and it even
became unnecessary for the inferior ecclesiastics and barons to attend, when
they had no other function but that of confirming the deed of these more
powerful princes by their assent. During times of turbulence, the subordinate
members of the Germanic body could not resort to the place of election without
a retinue of armed vassals, the expense of which they were obliged to defray
out of their own revenues; and finding their attendance to be unnecessary, they
were unwilling to waste them to no purpose. The rights of the seven electors
were supported by all the descendents and allies of their powerful families,
who shared in the splendour and influence which they enjoyed by this distinguishing privilege. Pfeffel Abrege, p. 376. The seven electors were considered
as the representatives of all the orders which composed the highest class of
German nobility. There were three archbishops, chancellors of the three great
districts into which the empire was anciently divided; one king, one duke, one
marquis, and one count. All these circumstances contributed to render the introduction of this considerable innovation into the constitution of the Germanic
body extremely easy. Every thing of importance, relating to this branch of
the political state of the empire, is well illustrated by Onuphrius Panvinius, an
Augustan monk of Verona, who lived in the reign of Charles V. His treatise,
if we make some allowance for that partiality which he expresses in favour of
the powers which the popes claimed in the empire, has the merit of being one
of the first works in which a controverted point in history is examined with
critical precision, and vwith a proper attention to that evidence which is derived




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                  575
from  records, or the testimony of contemporary historians.  It is inserted by
Goldastu, in his Politica Imperialia, p. 2.
As the electors have engrossed the sole right of choosing the emperors, they
have assumed likewise that of deposing them.  This high power the electors
have not only presumed to claim, but have ventured in more than one instance,
to exercise. In the year 1298, a part of the electors deposed Adolphus of Nassau, and substituted Albert of Austria in his place. The reasons on which they
found their sentence, showed that this deed flowed from factious, not from public spirited motives. Struv. Corp. vol. i. 540. In the first year of the fifteenth
century, the electors deposed Wenceslaus, and placed the imperial crown on the
head of Rupert, elector palatine. The act of deposition is still extant. Goldasti Constit. vol. i. 379.  It is pronounced in the name and by the authority
of the electors, and confirmed by several prelates and barons of the empire, who
were present. These exertions of the electoral power, demonstrate that the
imperial authority was sunk very low.
The other privileges of the electors, and the rights of the electoral college,
are explained by the writers on the public law in Germany.
3. With respect to the diets or general assemblies of the empire, it would be
necessary, if my object were to write a particular history of Germany, to enter
into a minute detail, concerning the forms of assembling it, the persons whc
have right to be present, their division into several colleges or benches, the
objects of their deliberation, the mode in which they carry on their debates oi
give their suffrages, and the authority of their decrees or recesses.  But as my
only object is to give the outlines of the constitution of the German empire, it
will be sufficient to observe, that, originally, the diets of the empire were exactly
the same with the assemblies of March and of May, held by the kings of France
They met, at least, once a year. Every freeman had a right to be present.
They were assemblies, in which a monarch deliberated with his subjects, concerning their common interest.  Arummus de Comitiis Rom. German. Imperii,
4to. Jenae, 1660, cap. 7. No. 20, &c. But when the princes, dignified ecclesiastics, and barons, acquired territorial and independent jurisdiction, the diet
became an assembly of the separate states, which formed the confederacy of
which the emperor was head. While the constitution of the empire remained
in its primitive form, attendance on the diets was a duty, like the other services
due from feudal subjects to their sovereign, which the members were bound to
perform in person; and if any member who had a right to be present in the
diet, neglected to attend in person, he not only lost his vote, but was liable to a
heavy penalty.  Arumreus de Comit. c. 5. No. 40. Whereas, from  the time
that the members of the diet became independent states, the right of suffrage
was annexed to the territory or dignity, not to the person. The members, if
they could not, or would not attend in person, might send their deputies, as
princes and ambassadors, and they were entitled to exercise all the rights
belonging to their constituents. Ibid. No. 42. 46. 49. By degrees, and upon
the same principle of considering the diet as an assembly of independent states,
in which each confederate had the right of suffrage, if any member possessed
more than one of those states or characters which entitle to a seat in the diet,
he was allowed a proportional number of suffrages.  Pfeffel Abrege, 662.
From  the same cause the imperial cities, as soon as they became free, and
acquired supreme and independent jurisdiction within their own territories,
were received as members of the diet. The powers of the diet extend to every
thing relative to the common concern of the Germanic body, or that can interest
or affect it as a confederacy.  The diet take no cognlizance of the interior
administration in the different states, unless that happeins to disturb the public
peace, or to threaten the general safety.
4. With respect to the imperial chamber, the jurisdiction of which has been
the great source of order and tranquillity in Germany, it is necessary to observe,
that this court was instituted in order to put an end to the calamities occasioned
by private wars in Germany.  I have already traced the rise and progress of
this practice, and pointed out its pernicious effects. as fully as their extensive
influence during the middle ages required.  In Germany, private wars seem tc
have been more frequent and productive of worse consequences than in the
other countries of Europe. There are obvious reasons for this.  The nobility




576            PR OOk b AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
of Germany were extremely numerous. and the causes of their dissension mul.
tiplied in proportion. The territorial jurisdiction which the German nobles
acquired, was more complete than that possessed by their order in other nations.
They became, in reality, independent powers, and they claimed all the privileges of that character. The long interregnum from A. D. 1256, to A. D. 1273,
accustomed them to an uncontrolled license, and led them to forget that subordination which is necessary in order to maintain public tranquillity. At the
time when the other monarchs of Europe began to acquire such an increase z'
power and revenues, as added new vigour to their government, the authority
and revenues of the emperors continued gradually to decline. The diets of the
empire, which alone had authority to judge between such mighty barons, and
power to enforce its decisions, met very seldom. Conring. Acroamata, p. 234.
The diets, when they did assemble, were often composed of several thousand
members, Chronic. Constat. ap. Struv. Corp. i. p. 546, and were tumultuary
assemblies, ill qualified to decide concerning any question of right. The session
of the diets continued only two or three days; Pfeffel Abrege, p. 244: so that
they had no time to hear or discuss any cause that was in the smallest degree
intricate.  Thus Germany was left, in some measure, without any court of
judicature, capable of deciding the contests between its more powerful members, or of repressing the evils occasioned by their private wars.
All the expedients which were employed in other countries of Europe, in
order to restrain this practice, and which I have described, Note 21, were tiled
n Germany with little effect. The confederacies of the nobles and of the
cities, and the division of Germany into various circles, which I mentioned in
that note, were found likewise insufficient. As a last remedy, the Germans had
recourse to arbiters, whom they called Austregce.  The barons and states in
different parts of Germiany joined in conventions, by which they bound themselves to refer all controversies that might arise between them to the determination of Austregce, and to submit to their sentences as final. These arbiters are
named sometimes in the treaty of convention, an instance of which occurs in
Ludewig Relique Manuscr. omnis aevi, vol. ii. 212; sometimes they were chosen
by mutual consent upon occasion of any contest that arose; sometimes they
were appointed by neutral persons; and sometimes the choice was left to be
decided by lot. Datt. de Pace publica Imperii, lib. i. cap. 27, No. 60, &c.
Speidelius Speculum, &c. voc. Justrag. p. 95. Upon the introduction of this
practice, the public tribunals of justice became in a great measure useless, and
were almost entirely deserted.
In order to re-establish the authority of government, Maximilian I. instituted
the imperial chamber, at the period which I have mentioned.  This tribunal
consisted originally of a president, who was always a nobleman of the first order,
and of sixteen judges. The president was appointed by the emperor, and the
judges, partly by him, and partly by the states, according to forms which it is
unnecessary to describe. A sum was imposed, with their own consent, on the
states of the empire, for paying the salaries of the judges and officers in this
court. The imperial chamber was established at first at Frankfort on the
Maine. During the reign of Charles V., it was removed to Spires, and continued in that city above a century and a half. It is now fixed at Wetzlar.
This court takes cognizance of all questions concerning civil right between the
states of the empire, and passes judgment in the last resort, and without appeal.
To it belongs likewise the privilege of judging in criminal causes, which may be
considered as connected with the preservation of the public peace.  Pfeffel
Abrege, 560.
All causes relating to points of feudal right or jurisdiction, together with
such as respect the territories which hold of the empire in Italy, belong properly to the jurisdiction of the Aulic council. This tribunal was formed upon
the model of the ancient court of the palace, instituted by the emperors of Germany. It depended not upon the states of the empire, but upon the emperor,
he having the right of appointing at pleasure all the judges of whom it is composed. Maximilian, in order to procure some compensation for the diminution
of his authority, by the powers vested in the imperial chamber, prevailed on the
diet, A. D. 1512, to give its consent to the establishment of the Aulic council.
Since that time it has been a great object of policy in the court of Vienna, to




PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.                                    577
extend the jurisdiction, and support the authority of the Aulic council, and to
circumnscri)e and weaken those of the imperial chamber. The tedious forms
and dilatory proceedings of the imperial chamber, have furnished the emperors
with pretexts for doing so. "Lites Spira," according to the witticism of a
German lawyer, " spirant, sed nunquam expirant." Such delays are unavoidable in a court composed of members named by many different states, jealous of
each other.  Whereas the judges of the Aulic council, depending upon one
master, and being responsible to him alone, are more vigorus and decisive.
Puffendorf, de Statu Imper. Germ. cap. v. ~ 20. Pfeffel Abreg6, p. 581.
NOTE [43]. PAGE 87.
THE description which I have given of the Turkish government is conformable to the accounts of the most intelligent travellers who have visited that
empire.  The count de Marsigli, in his treatise concerning the military state of
the Turkish empire, ch. vyi a"4 the author of Observations on the religion, laws,
government, and manners oi Lhe Turks, published at London, 1768, vol. i. p. 81,
differ from other writers who have described the political constitution of that
powerful monarchy. As they had opportunity, during their long residence in
Turkey, to observe the order and justice conspicuous in several departments
of administration, they seem unwilling to admit that it should be denominated
a despotism. But when the form of government in any country is represented
to be despotic, this does not suppose that the. power of the monarch is continually exerted in acts of violence, injustice, and cruelty. Under political constitutions of every species, unless when some frantic tyrant happens to hold the
sceptre, the ordinary administration of government must be conformable to the
principles of justice, and if not active in promoting the welfare of the people,
cannot certainly have their destruction for its object. A state, in which the
sovereign possesses the absolute command of a vast military force, together
with the disposal of an extensive revenue, in which the people have no privileges, and no part either immediate or remote in legislation; in which there is
no body of hereditary nobility, jealous of their own rights and distinctions, to
stand as an intermediate order between the prince and the people, cannot be
distinguished by any name but that of a despotism. The restraints, however,
which I have mentioned, arising from  the Capiculy, and from  religion, are
powerful. But they are not such as change the nature or denomination of the
government. When a despotic prince employs an armed force to support his
authority, he commits the supreme power to their hands. The Prentorian bands
in Rome dethroned, murdered, and exalted their princes, in the same wanton
manner with the soldiery of the Porte at Constantinople.  But notwithstanding this, the Roman emperors have been considered by all political writers as
possessing despotic power.
The author of Observations on the religion, laws, government, and manners
of the Turks, in a preface to the second edition of his work, hath made some
remarks on what is contained in this Note, and in that part of the text to which
it refers. It is with diffidence I set my opinion in opposition to that of a person,
who has observed the government of the Turks with attention, and has described
it with abilities. But after a careful review of the subject, to me the Turkish
government still appears of such a species as can be ranged in no class but that
to which political writers have given the name of despotism. There is not in
Turkey any constitutional restraint upon the will of the sovereign, or any barrier to circumscribe 1he exercise of his power but the two which I have mentioned; one afforded by religion, the principle upon which the authority of the
sultan is founded; the other by the army, the instrument which he must employ to maintain his power. The author represents the Ulema, or body of the
law, as an intermediate order between the monarch and the people. Pref. p.
30. But whatever restraint the authority of the Ulema may impose upon tne
sovereign, is derived from religion.  The.Moulahs, out of whom the mufti and
other chief officers of the law must be chosen, are ecclesiastics. It is as interpreters of the Koran or Divine Will that they are objects of veneration.  The
check, then, which they give to the exercise of arbitrary power is not different
from  one of those of which I took notice. Indeed, this restraint, cannot be
very considerable. The mufti, who is the head of the order, as well %s everv
VOL. IT-73




578           PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
inferior officer of law, is named by the sultan, and is removable at his pleasur
The strange means employed by the Ulema in 1746, to obtain the dismission ol
a minister whom they hated, is a manifest proof that they possess but little
constitutional authority which can serve as a restraint upon the will of the
sovereign. Observat. p. 92. of 2d. edit. If the author's idea be just, it is
astonishing that the body of the law should have no method of remonstrating
against the errors of administration, but by setting fire to the capital.
The author seems to consider the Capiculy or soldiery of the Porte, neither
as formidable instruments of the sultan's power, nor as any restraint upon the
exercise of it. His reasons for this opinion are, that the number of the Capiculy
is small in proportion to the other troops which compose the Turkish armies,
and that in time of peace they are undisciplined. Pref. 2d. edit. p. 23, &c. But
the troops stationed in a capital, though their number be not great, are always
masters of the sovereign's person and power. The Priatorian bands bore no
proportion to the legionary troops in the frontier provinces. The soldiery of
the Porte are more numerous, and must possess power of the same kind, and be
equally formidable, sometimes to the sovereign, and oftener to the people. Howver much the discipline of the Janizaries maybe neglected at present, it certainly
was not so in that age to which alone my description of the Turkish government applies. The author observes, prof. p. 29, that the Janizaries never
deposed any sultan of themselves, but that some form of law true or. false,has
been observed, and that either the mufti, or some other minister of religion,
has announced to the unhappy prince the law which renders him unworthy of
the throne. Observ. p. 102. This will always happen. In every revolution,
though brought about by military power, the deeds of the soldiery must be
confirmed and carried into execution with the civil and religious formalities
peculiar tc the constitution.
This addition to the Note may serve as a further illustration of my own
sentiments, but is not made with an intention of entering into any controversy
with the author of Observations, &c. to whom I am indebted for the obliging,
terms in which he has expressed his remarks upon what I had advanced.
Happy were it for such as venture to communicate their opinions to the world,
if every animadversion upon them were conveyed with the same candid and
liberal spirit. In one particular, however, he seems to have misapprehended
what I meant, pref. p. 17. I certainly did not mention his or count Marsigli's
long residence in Turkey, as a circumstance which should detract from the
weight of their authority. I took notice of it, in justice to my readers, that
they might receive my opinion with distrust, as it differed from that of persons
whose means of information were so far superior to mine.
NOTE [44]. PAGE 87.
THE institution, the discipline, and privileges of the Janizaries are described
y all the authors who give any account of the Turkish government. The
nanner in which enthusiasm was employed in order to inspire them with courtge, is thus related by prince Cantemir: "When Amurath I. had formed them
into a body, he sent them to Haji Bektash, a Turkish saint, famous for his
miracles and prophecies, desiring him to bestow on them a banner, to pray to
God for their success, and to give them a name. The saint, when they appeared in his presence, put the sleeve of his gown upon one of their heads, and
said, "Let them be called Yengicheri. Let their countenance be ever bright,
their hands victorious, their swords keen; let their spear always hang over
the heads of their enemies, and wherever they go, may they return with a
shining face."  History of the Ottoman empire, p. 38. The number of Janizaries at the first institution of the body, was not considerable. Under Solyman, in the year 1521, they amounted to twelve thousand. Since that time
their number has greatly increased. Marsigli, Etat, &c. ch. xv. p. 68. Though
Solyman possessed such abilities and authority as to restrain this formidable
body within the bounds of obedience, yet its tendency to limit the power of
the sultans was, even in that age, foreseen by sagacious observers. Nicolae
Daulphinois, who accompanied M. D'Aramon, ambassador from Henry II. ol
France to Solyman, published an account of his travels, in which he describes
and celebrates the discipline of the Janizaries, but at the same time predictse




PROOFS AND ILLUbTRATIONS.                                57b
that they would, one day, become formidable to their masters, and act the same
part at Constantinople, as the Praetorian bands had done at Rome. Collection
of Voyages from the Earl of Oxford's library, vol. i. p, 599.
NOTE [45]. PAGE 88.
SOLYMAN the Magnificent, to whom  the Turkish historians have given the
surname of Canuni, or instituter of rules, first brought the finances and military
establishment of the Turkish empire into a regular form. He divided the
military force into the Capiculy or soldiery of the Porte, which was properly
the standing army, and Serrataculy or soldiers appointed to guard the frontiers.
The chief strength of the latter consisted of those who held Timariots and
Ziams.  These were portions of land granted to certain persons for life, in
much the same manner as the military fiefs among the nations of Europe, in
return for which military service was performed. Solyman, in his Canun
JName, or book of regulations, fixed with great accuracy the extent of these
lands in each province of his empire, appointed the precise number of soldiers
each person who held a Timariot or a Ziam  should bring into the field,
and established the pay which they should receive while engaged in service.
Count Marsigli and Sir Paul Rycaut have given extracts from  this book of
regulations, and it appears, that the ordinary establishment of the Turkish
army exceeded a hundred and fifty thousand men. When these were added
to the soldiery of the Porte, they formed a military power greatly superior to
what any Christian state could command in the sixteenth century. Marsigli,
Etat Militaire, &c. p. 136. Rycaut's State of the Ottoman Empire, book iii.
ch. 2. As Solyman, during his active reign, was engaged so constantly in war,
that his troops were always in the field, the Serrataculy became almost equal to
the Janizaries themselves in discipline and valour.
It is not surprising then, that the authors of the sixteenth century should
represent the Turks as far superior to the Christians both in the knowledge
and in the practice of the art of war.  Guicciardini informs us, that the Italians learned the art of fortifying towns from the Turks. Histor. lib. xv. p.
266. Busbequius, who was ambassador from the emperor Ferdinand to Solyman, and who had an opportunity to observe the state both of the Christian
and Turkish armies, published a discourse concerning the best manner of carrying on war against the Turks, in which he points out at great length the immense advantages which the infidels possessed with respect to discipline, and
military improvements of every kind. Busbequii opera, edit. Elzevir, p. 393,
&c. The testimony of other authors might be added, if the matter were in
any degree doubtful.
Before I conclude these Proofs and Illustrations, I ought to explain the
reason of two omissions in them; one of which it is necessary to mention on
my own account, the other to obviate an objection to this part of the work.
In all my inquiries and disquisitions concerning the progress of government,
manners, literature, and commerce, during the middle ages, as well as in my
delineations of the political constitution of the different states of Europe at
the opening of the sixteenth century, I have not once mentioned M. de Voltaire,
who, in his Essay sur l'histoire generate, has reviewed the same period, and has
treated of all these subjects. This does not proceed from inattention to the works
of that extraordinary man, whose genius, no less enterprising than universal,
has attempted almost every different species of literary composition. In many
of these he excels. In all, if he had left religion untouched, he is instructive
and agreeable. But as he seldom imitates the example of modern historians in
citing the authors from whom they derived their information, I could not, with
propriety, appeal to his authority in confirmation of any doubtful or unknown
fact. I have often, however, followed him as my guide in these researches,
and he has not only pointed out the facts with respect to which it was of
importance to inquire, but the conclusions which it was proper to draw from
them. If he had, at the same time, mentioned the books which relate these
particulars, a great part of my labour would have been unnecessary, and many
of his readers, who now consider him only as an entertaining and lively writer,
would find that he is a learned and well-informed historian.




590          PPROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
As to the other omission, every intelligent reader must have observed, that I
have not entered, either in the historical part of this volume, or in the Proofs
and Illustrations, into the same detail with respect to the ancient laws and customs of the British kingdoms, as concerning those of the other European
nations.  As the capital facts with regard to the progress of government and
manners in their own country are known to most of my readers, such a detail
appeared to me to be less essential. Such facts and observations, however, as
were necessary towards completing my design in this part of the work, I have
mentioned under the different articles which are the subjects of my disquisitions.
The state of government, in all the nations of Europe, having been nearly the
same during several ages, nothing can tend more to illustrate the progress of
the English constitution, than a careful inquiry into the laws and customs of
the kingdoms on the continent. This source of information has been too much
neglected by the English antiquaries and lawyers. Filled with admiration of
that happy constitution now established in Great Britain, they have been more
attentive to its forms and principles, than to the condition and ideas of remote
times, which in almost every particular, differ from the present. While engaged
in perusing the laws, charters, and early historians of the continental kingdoms.
I have often been led to think that an attempt to illustrate the progress of English jurisprudence and policy, by a comparison with those of other kingdoms in
a similar situation, would be of great utility, and might throw much light on
some points which are now obscure, and decide others which have been long
controverted.




IN   E X
TO THE
VIEW OF THE STATE OF EUROPE.
FARICCd, the shocking devastations made there  Boroughs, representatives of, how  introduced
by the Vandals, 501, 502.                        into national councils, 22.
Slanus, character of the clergy in his time, 515.  Bitains, ancient, their distress and dejection
Alfred the Great, his complaint of the ignorance    when deserted by the Romans, and harassed
of the clergy, 515.                              by the Picts and Caledonans, 500.
Allodial possession of land, explained, 507. How  Berotherhood of God, an account of that associasuch possession became subject to military ser-   tion for extinguishing private wars, 534.
vice, 508. Distinguished from beneficiary ten-  BruEges, how it became the chief mart for Italian
ures, ib. How converted into feudal tenures, 509.   commodities during the middle ages, 556..illodium, the etymology of that word, 512.      BurguLndy, Mary, heiress of, the importance with.Ammianus, his character of the Huns, 502. 504.    which her choice in a husband was considered.dmurath, Sultan, the body of Janizaries formed    by all Europe, 51. Treacherous views of Louis
by him, 87.                                      XI. of France towards her, 52. Is married to
anatlhema, form of that denounced against rob-   the archduke Maximilian, ib. The influence
bers during the middle ages, 554.                of this match on the state of Europe, ib.
Ariabia, the ancient Greek philosophy cultivated
there, while lost in Europe, 550. The progress  Cesar, his account of the ancient Germans, comof philosophy from thence to Europe, 551.        pared with that of Tacitus, 504.
7irmies, standing, the rise of, traced, 46. By what Calatrava, military order of, in Spain, zealous to
means they became more general in Europe, 54.   employ their prowess in defence of the honours,drms, the profession of, the most honourable in'  of the Virgin Mary, 563. The vow  used by
uncivilized nations, 35.                         these knights, ib..arragon, rise of the kingdom of, 68. Its union  Canbray, treaty of, its object, 56, 57. The conwith Castile, 69. The constitution and form of   federacy dissolved, 57.
its government, 70. The privileges ofits Cortes, Canon law, hnquiryinto, 33. Progress of eccleib. Office and jurisdiction of the justiza, 71.   siastical usurpations, 33,34. Maxims of, more.
The regal powver very confined, ib. Form of   equitable than the civil courts of middle ages, 34
the allegiance sworn to the kings of, ib. The  Castile, rise of the kingdom  of, 68. Its unior
power of the nobility to control the regal pow-   with Arragon, 69. Its king, Henry IV., deposed,
er, 559. Their privilege.of union taken away    70. Constitution and government of that kingby Peter IV., 560. The establishment of the    dom, 72.  4istory of the Cortes of, and its priinquisition opposed there, 561.                  vileges, ib. Kingdom originally elective, 561.
Jiss, account of the ancient Romish feast of, 516. Catalonia, spirited behaviour of the pecple there
Assemblies, legislative, how formed, 22.           in defence of their rights, against their king
-, general, of France, their power under    John II. of Arragon, 70.
the first race of kings, 76. Under the second  Censuales, a species of voluntary slaves, the ohand third, 77. At what period they lost their   ligations they entered into, described, 530. 
legislative authority, ib.                      Centenarii, or inferior judges in the middle ages,
Attila, king of the Huns, account of his recep-   extraordinary oath required from them, 554.
tion of the Roman ambassadors, 500. Some  Cshamps de lMars and de.Jlai, account tof those
account of his conquests, 503.                   assemblies of the ancient Gauls, 565.
Austria, the house of, by whom founded, 82.      Charlemagane, his law to prevent private wars fior
Avila, an assembly of Castilian nobles there so-   redress of personal injuries, 26. 533. State of
lemnly try and depose Henry IV. their king, 70.'Germany under his descendants, 80.
Charales IV., emperor, dissipates the imperial doBaillis, in the old French law, their office ex-   mains, 573.
plained, 545.                                     ~   V., emperor, an emulator of the heroic con
Balance of power, the first rise of,,in Europe, 53,   duct of his rival, Francis I., 37. His future gran54. The progress of, 55, 56.                     deur founded on the marriage of the archduke
Baltic, the first source of wealth to the towns    Maximilian with the heiress of Burgundy, 52.
situated on that sea, 556.                      -     VII. of France, the first who introduced
Barcelona, its trade, riches, and privileges at the    standing armies in Europe, 47. His successful
close of the fifteenth century, 562.             extension of the regal prerogative, ib.
Baronss, independence and mutual hostilities of, -      VIII. of France, his character, 52. How
under tlhe feudal system, 12. How affected by    induced to invade Italy, ib. His resources and
the enfranchisement of cities, 20. Acquire a    preparations for this enterprise, 53. His rapid
participation in legislative government, 22. Pri-   success, ib. A combination of the Italian states
vate wars for redress of personal injuries, 24.   formed against him, 54. Is forced to return
Methods employed to abolish these contentions,   back to France, ib.  The distressed state of
26. Origin of their supreme and independent   his revenues by this expedition, 56.
jurisdiction, 29. Bad effects resultingfrom these  Chat. oix, his account of the North American
privileges, 30. Steps taken by princes to reduce    Indians, made use of in a comparison between
their courts, 32. Obliged to relinquish their ju-   them and the ancient Germans, 505, 506,
dicial prerogatives, 36. Of Italy, subjected. to  Chartelrs of immunity or franchise, an inquiry
municipal laws, 520, 521. Their right of terri-   into the nature of those granted by the barons
torial jurisdiction explained, 543. Their emolu-    of France to the towns under their jurisdicments from causes decided in their courts, ib.    tions, 522.  Of communities, granted by the
Benefices, under the feudal system, a history of,   kings of France, how they tended to establish
509. When they became hereditary, 510.           regular government, 21. 523.
sooks, inquiry into the materials of ancient ones, Chivalry, origin of, 36. Its beneficial effects on
515. Lossof old manuscripts accounted for, ib.    human manners. 37. The enthusiasm of, dis
Grpat prices they sold for in ancient times, ib.    tinguished from its salutary consequences ib.




ot3k~ 2     ~IN DEX.
Christianity, corrupted when first brought into    of, how far favourable to the improvement of
Europe, 38. Its influence in freeing mankind    manners, 19. Privileges of, how first claimed,
from the bondage of the feudal policy, 529.     20. Charters of community, why granted by
Circles of Germany, the occasion of their being   Louis le Gros in France, ib. Institution of,
formed, 83.                                     obtains all over Europe, 21. Their effects, ib
Cities, ancient states of, under the feudal policy, Cortes of Arragon, its constitution and privileges,
19. The freedom of, where first established, 20.   70.
Charters of community, why granted in France       - of Castile, a history of, and an account of
by Louis le Gros, ib. Obtain the like all over   its constitution and privileges, 72. The vigilance
Europe, 21. Acquire political consideration, lb.   with which it guarded its privileges against
fBlergy, the progress of their usurpations, 33.   the encroachments of the regal power, ib.
Wheir plan of jurisprudence more perfect than  Crusades, first motives for undertaking, 16. Enthat of the civil courts in the middle ages, 34.   thusiastic zeal with which they were underThe great ignorance of, in the early feudal   taken, lb. First promoted by Peter the Hermit,
times of Europe, 515.                           ib. Success of them, 17. Consequences reC(erzts., slave to Willa, widow of dule Hugo,   sulting from them, ib. Their effects on manners,
extract from  the charter of manumission    18. On property, ib. How advantageousto the
granted to her, 529.                            enlargement of the regal power of European
OVermont, council of, resolves on the holy war, 16.   princes, ib. Commercial effectsof, 19.40. Uni
See Peter the Hermit and Crusades.              versal frenzy for engaging in these expeditions
Clotaire I., instance of the small authority he    accounted for, 517. Privileges granted to those
had over his army, 565.                         who engaged in them, 517, 518. Stephen earl
Clotharius II., his account of the popular assemn-   of Chartres and Blois, his account of them,
blies among the ancient Gauls, 565.             518. Expense of conducting them, how raised,,lovis, the founder of the French monarchy, un-   518, 519. Character given of the Crusaders
able to retain a sacred vase taken by his army    by the Greek writers, 519.
from being distributed by lot among the rest of
the plunder, 507.                             Debt,'first hint of attaching moveables for the
Colleges, first establishment of, in Europe, 551., recovery of, derived from the canon law, 548.
Conm4at, judicial, prohibition of, an improvement Debtors, how considered in the rude and simple
in the administration of justice, 27. Founda-   state of society, 523.
tion and universality of this mode of trial, 29. Diets of Germany, some account of, 575.
Pernicious effects of, 30. Various expedients Doctors, in the different fadulties, dispute precefor abolishing this practice, ib. Ancient Swe-   dence with knights, 551.
dish law of, for words of reproach, 538. Positive evidence or points of proof rendered inef- Ecclesiastical jurisprudence, more perfect in Its
fectual by it, 539. This mode of trial author-   plan than the civil courts of the middle ages, 34.
ized by the ecclesiastics, 540. Last instances Ecclesiastics, when and by what degrees they
of, in the histories of France and England, 541.   claimed exemption from civil jurisdiction, 546
Commerce, spirit of crusading how far favourable    Military talents cultivated and exercised by
to, at that early period, 19. First establishment   those of the middle ages, 550.
of free corporations, 20  Charters of commu- Edward III. of England, his endeavours to intronity, why granted by Louis le Gros, ib. Like    duce commerce into his kingdom, 41.
practice obtains all over Europe, 21. Salutary  Electors of Germany, rise of their privileges, 84.
effects of these institutions, ib. Low state of, Eloy, St., his definition or description of a good
during the middle ages, 40. Causes contribu-   Christian, 516.
ting to its revival, ib. Promoted by the Han- Emperors of Germany, inquiry into their power,
seatic league, 41. Is cultivated in the Nether-   jurisdiction, and revenue, 572. Ancient mode
lands ib. Is introduced into England by Ed-   of electing them, 574.
ward III, ib.  The beneficial consequences England, summary view of the contests between,
resulting from the revival of, ib. The early    and France, 44. Consequences of its losing its
cultivation of, in Italy, 554.                  continental possessions, 45. The power of the
Common law, the first compilation of, made in   crown, how extended, 49. See Ilenry VII. Why
England by lord chief justice Glanville, 548.   so many marks of Saxon usages and language,
Communities   See Charters, Cities, Commerce,   in comparison with those of the Normans, to be
and Corporations.                               found in, 501. When corporations began to be
Gomnena, Anne, her character of the Crusaders,   established in, 527. Instances of the longconti519.                                            nu ance of personal servitude there, 531. Inquiry
Compass, mariner's, when invented, and its in-   into the Saxon laws for putting an end to private
fluence on the extension of commerce, 40.       wars, 535. Causes of the speedy decline of priComposition for personal injuries, the motives for   vate wars there, proposed to the researches of
establishing, 533.  The custom  of, deduced    antiquarians, 536. Last instances of judicial
from the practice of the ancient Germans, 541.   combat recorded in the history of, 541. TerriCompurgators, introduced as evidencs in the    torialjurisdiction of thebarons, how-abolised,
jurisprudence of the middle ages, 27.           546. Causes of the slow progress of commerce
GCndottieri, in the Italian policy, what, 63.     there, 556, 557  The first commercial treaty
Conrad, count of Franconia, how he obtained    entered into by, 557.
election to the empire, 80.                   Evidence, imperfect nature of that admitted in
Conradin, the last rightful heir to the crown of   law-proceedings during the middle ages, 27.
Naples of the house of Suabia, his unhappy    Renderedineffectualbythejudicialcombat,540
fate, 65                                      Europe, alterations in, by the conquests of the
Constance, tisaty of, between the emperor Frede-   Romans, 7. Improvements the nations of, reric Barbarossa and the free cities of Italy, 522,   ceived in exchange for their liberties, ib. Its
Constantinople, its flourishing state at the time    disadvantages under this change of circumof the crusades, 17. When first taken by the    stances, ib. Inquiry into the supposed popuTurks, 86. The crusaders, how looked upon   lousness of the ancient northern nations, 8
there, 519. The account given of this city by    Savage desolations exercised by the Goths.
the Latin writers, 519, 520.                    Vandals, and Huns, 10. Universal change ocConstitutions, popular, how formed, 22.           casioned by their irruptions and conquest, 1.
Cordova, Gonsalvo de, secures the crown of Na-   First rudiments of the present policy of, to be
ples to Ferdinand of Arragon, 66.               deduced from this period, ib. Origin of the
Corporations and bodies politic, establishments   feudal system, 12. See Feudal System   The




INDEX.                                           ~83
general barbarism introduced with this policy,   countenance judicial combat, 30. View of the
13, 14. At what time government and man-   contests between, and England, 44.  Conseners began to improve, 15, 16. Causes and    quences of its recovering its provinces from
events which contributed to this improvement,   England, 45. Monarchy of, how strengthened
16. See Crusades, Corporations, People. Mi-   by this event, 46. Rise of standing lorces in,
series occasioned by private wars in, 26. Me-   ib.  Regal prerogative strengthened by this
thods taken to suppress them, ib. Judicial com-   measure, 47. Extension of the regal prerogative
bats prohibited, 27.  Defects of judicial pro-   vigorously pursued by Louis X, 48. See Louis
ceedings in the middle ages, ib. Influence of   XI. Effects of the invasion of Italy by Charles
superstition in these proceedings, 28. \Origin of   VIII. See Charles VIII. National infantry
the independent territorial jurisdictions of the    established in, 55, 56. League of Cambray
barons, 32. Bad consequences of their judicial   formed against the Venetians, 57. Battle of
power, ib. Steps taken by princes to abolish    Ghiarraddada, ib. Inquiry into its ancient gotheir courts, ib. Inquiry into the canon law,   vernment and laws, 76. Power of the general
33. Revival of the Roman law, 35. Effecti   assemblies under the first race of kings, ib.
of the spirit of chivalry, 36. How improved    Under the second and third, 77. Regal power
by the progress of science and cultivation of   confined to the king's own domains, ib. When
literature, 37   Christianity corrupted when   the general assembly or states general lost their
first received in, 38. Scholastic theology the   legislative authority, ib. When the kings began
first object of learning in, ib.  Low state of   to assert their legislative power, 78. When the
commerce in, during the middle ages, 40. Con-   government of, became purely monarchical, ib.
merce revives in Italy, ib. Is promoted by the    Regal power nevertheless restrained by the
Hanseatic league, 41. Is cultivated in the Ne-   privileges of the nobility, ib. Inquiry into the
therlands, ib. Effects of the progress of com-   jurisdiction of its parliaments, particularly that
merce on the polishing of manners, ib. Effects   of Paris, 79. How the allodial property of land
of the marriage of the heiress of Burgundy    there was altered into feudal, 510, 511. Prowith the archduke Maximilian, on the state of,   gress of liberty in that kingdom traced, 527.
52.  By what means standing forces became   Attempts to establish liberty there unsuccessful,
general in, 55. Consequences of the league of   528. Last instance of judicial combat recorded
Cambray to, 57. View of the political consti-   in the history of, 541. Present government of,
tution of the several states of, at the commence-   compared with that of ancient Gaul, 564.. The
ment of the sixteenth century, 58. Italy, 59.   states general, when first assembled, 570.
The papacy, lb. Venice, 63. Florence, 64. Na- Francis I. of France, his character influenced by
ples, ib. Milan, 66. Spain, 68. France, 76.   the spirit of chivalry, 37. Is emulated by the
Germany, 80. Turkey, 86. Instances of the   emperor Charles V., ib.
small intercourse among nations in the middle  Frederic Barbarossa, emperor, the free cities of
ages, 552.                                      Italy unite against him, 522. Treaty of Constance with them, ib. Was the first who granted
Feodzun, the etymology of that word, 512.        privileges to the cities in Germany, 526.
Ferdinand, king of Arragon, unites the Spanish  Fredumn, in the ancient German usages, explained,
monarchy, by his marriage with Isabella of   541.
Castile, 68, 69. His schemes to exalt the regal Freemen, how distinguished from vassals, under
power, 74. Resumes former grants of land from    the feudal policy, 507-512. Why often inhis barons, ib. Unites to the crown the grand    duced to surrender their freedom, and become
masterships of the three military orders, 75.   slaves, 514.
Why he patronized the association called the  Fulchecrius Carnotensis, his character of the city
Holy Brotherhood, against the barons, 76.      of Constantinople, 520.''e.udal system, origin of, deduced, 12. Primary
object of this policy, ib. Its deficiencies for Gaul, how allodial property of land was changed
interiorgovernment, ]3. Tenuresofland,how    into feudal there, 510. Government of, comestablished under, ib. Rise of intestine discords   pared with that of modern France, 564. Small
among the barons under, ib. Servile state of   authority the kings of, enjoyed over their armies,
the people, ib. Weak authority of the king, ib.   illustrated in an anecdote of Clotaire I., 565.
Its influence on the external operations of war,   Account of the popular assemblies of, ib. Salic
lb. General extinction of all arts and sciences   laws how enacted, ib. Were not subject to
effected by, 14. Its operation on religion, ib.   taxation, 566. See France.
Its influence on the character of the human  Geoffrey de Villehardouin, his account of the
mind, 15. At what time government and man-   magnificence of Constantinople at the time
ners began to be improved, ib.  Causes and    when taken by the Crusaders, 520.
events which contributed to this improvement, Germans, ancient, an account of their usages
16. See Crusades. Ancient state ofcities under,   and way of life, 504. Their method of engaging
19. Frame of national councils under this po-   in war, ib. Comparison between them  and
licy, 22. How altered by the progress of civil  the North American Indians, 505. Why they
li;erty, 23. Inquiry into the administration of   had no cities, 525. The practice of compoundjustice under, 24. Private war, 26. Judicial   ing for personal injuries by fines, deduced from
combat, 29. Independent jurisdiction of the   their usages, 541.
barons, ib. Distinction between fieemen and  Germany, little interested in foreign concerns at
vassals under) 507-512. How strangers were   thee beginning of the fifteenth century, 44. Naconsidered and treated under, 553.             tional infantry established in, 55.  State of,
Fiefs, under the feudal system, a history of, 509.   under Charlemagne and descendants, 80. ConWhen they became hereditary, 510.              rad, count of Franconia, chosen emperor, ib.
FMtzstephens, observations on his account of the    His successors in the imperial dignity, ib. How
state of London at the time of Henry II., 527.   the nobility of, acquired independent sovereign
Flanders. See JNetherlands.                      authority, ib.  Fatal effects of aggrandizing
Florence, view of the constitution of, at the com-   the clergy in, 81. Contest between the emperor
mencement of the sixteenth century, 64. In-   Henry IV. and Pope Gregory VII., ib. Rise of
flnence acquired by Cosmo di Medici in, ib.    the factions of Guelfs and Ghibellines, 82. DeV'ance, by what means the towns in, first ob-   cline of the imperial authority, ib. House of
tainedchartersofcommunity,20. Ordonnances   Austria, by whom founded, ib. Total change
of Louis X. and his brother Philip in favour of   in the political constitution of the empire, ib.
civil liberty, 23. Methods employed to suppress    State of anarchy in which it continued to the
private wars, 26. St. Louis attempts to dis-   time of Maximilian, the immediate predecessor




god14             ~            INDEX.
of Charles V., ib.  Divided Into circles, 83. Gregory the Great, pope, his reason tor granting
Imperial chamber instituted, ib. Aulic council   liberty to his slaves, 529.
reformed, ib. View of its political constitution        VII., pope, foundation of his contests
at the commencement of the ensuing history,   with Henry IV. emperor of Germany, 81. The
ib. Its defects pointed out, ib. Imperial dig-   mean submission he extorted from Henry, ib
nity and power compared, 84. Election of the    His own account of this affair, 572.
emperors, ib. Repugnant forms of civil policy  Guelfs and Ghibellines, rise of those factions in
in the several states of, 85. Opposition between    Germany, 82. 
the secular and ecclesiastical members of, ib. Guicciardini, instance of his superstitious reve
United body hence incapable of acting with   rence for pope Clement VII., 63, note.
vigour, ib. When cities first began to be built Guntheras, a monk, his character of Constantino
in, 525. When the cities of, first acquired mu-   ple, at the time when taken by the crusaders, 520.
nicipal privileges, 526. Artizans of, when enfranchised, ib. Immediate cities in the Ger- Hanseatic league, when formed, and its influence
man jurisprudence, what, ib. Great calamities    on-the extension of commerce, 41. 556.
occasioned there by private wars, 537. Origin  Henry IV. of Castile, solemnly tried and deposed
of the league of the Rhine, ib. When private    by an assembly of Castilian nobles, 70.
wars were finally abolished there, ib. Inquiry, emperor of Germany, the humiliating
into the power, jurisdiction, and revenue of its   state to which he was reduced by pope Gregory
emperors, 572. Ancient mode of "electing the    VII., 81. 572.
emperors, 574. Account of the diets, 575.             VII. of England, his situation at his aci7hibellines. See Guelfs.                          cession to the crown, 50. Enables his hbrons
Ghiarraddada, the battle of, 57.                  to break their entails and sell their estates, lb.
Glanville, lord chief justice, the first who com-   Prohibits his barons keeping retainers, ib. En
piled a body of common law, in all Europe, 548.   courages agriculture and commerce, ib.
Goths, Vandals, and Huns, overrun the Roman  Herebannum, the nature of this fine under the
empire, and precipitate its downfal, 8. State   feudal policy, explained, 508.
of the countries from whence they issued, ib. flermandad,Santa,accountofthatinstitution,564.
Motives of their first excursions, lb. How they  History, the most calamitous period of, pointed
came to settle in the countries they conquered,   out, 10, 11.
9. Comparison drawn between them and the'Holy Brotherhood, an association in Spain under
Romans, at the period of their eruptions, 9,10.   that name, on! what occasion formed, 75, 76.
Compared with the native Americans, 10. De- -    Land, the original inducements of the Chrissolation they occasioned in Europe, ib. Uni-   tians to rescue it from the hands of the infidels,
versal change made by them in the state of   16. See Crusades and Peter the Hermit.
Europe, 11. Principles on which they made  Honour, points of the ancient Swedish law for
their settlements, ib. Origin of the feudal sys-   determining, 538.
tem, 12. See Feudal System. Inquiry into the  Hospitality, enforced by statutes during the midadministration of justice among, 24, 25. Their   die ages, 552.
private wars, 25. Destroy the monuments of Huns, instance of their enthusiastic passion for
the Roman arts, 38.  Their contempt of the    war, 500. Some account of their policy and
Romans, and hatred of their arts, 500. Their   manners, 502. See Goths.
aversion to literature, ib. No authentic account
of their origin or ancient history existing, ib.   Janizaries, origin and formidable nature of those
tovernment, how limited by the feudal policy, 13.   troops, 87.
Effects of the crusades on, 16. How affected  Imperial chamber of Germany instituted, 83. The
by the enfranchisement of cities, 20. Legisla-   occasion of its institution, 575.
tive assemblies how formed, ib. Private wars  Indians, North American, a comparison drawn
destructive to the authority of, 24. Methods   between them and the ancient Germans, 505.
employed to abolish this hostile mode of re- Industry, the spirit of, how excited by the endressing injuries, 26. How affected by the su-   franchisements of cities, 21,
preme independent jurisdictions of the barons, Infantry, the advantages of, beyond cavalry
29, 30.  Steps towards abolishing them, 32.   taught to the rest of Europe by the Swiss, 55
Origin and growth of royal courts of justice,   National bodies of, established in Germany, ib
32, 33. How influenced by the revival of sci-   In France and Spain, 55, 56.
ence and literature, 39. View of, at the begin-  Inheritance, and right of representation, between
ning of the fifteenth century, 42. Power of   orphan grandsons and their uncles, how de
monarchs then very limited, ib. Their revenues    cided in the tenth century, 539.
small, 43. Their armies unfit for conquest, ib. Interest of money, the necessity of admitting, in
Princes hence incapable of extensive plans of   a commercial view, 555. Preposterously conoperation, ib. Kingdoms very little connected    dermned by the churchmen of the middle ages,
with each other, 43, 44. How the efforts of,   ib. The cause hence of the exorbitant exacfrom this period, became more powerful and    tions of the Lombard bankers, ib.
extensive, 45. Consequences of England losing  Italy, when the cities of, began to form themselves
its provinces in France, lb. Scheme of Louis   into oodies politic, 20.  Commerce first imXI. of France to extend the regal power, 48.   proved there, and the reasons of it, 40. The
See Louis XL  Power of the English crown    revolutions in Europe occasioned by the invaenlarged,50. See Henry VII. As also tht of   sion of, by Charles VIII. of France, 53. The
Spain, lb. How the use of standing armies    state of, at the time of this invasion, lb. The
became general, lb. View of the political con-   rapid success of Charles, 53, 54. A combinastitution of the several states of Europe, at the    tion of the states of, drives Charles out of, and
commencement of the sixteenth century, 58.   gives birth to the balance of power in Europe,
In what respects the charters of communities    54.  The political situation of, at the congranted by the kings of France tended to intro-   mencement of the sixteenth ce.tury, 59. The
duce a regular form of, 523.                     papacy, ib. Venice, 63. Flcecnce, 64. NaGreece, the breeding of silk-worms, when intro-   ples, ib. Milan, 66. Evidences of the desoladuced there, 554.                                tion made there by the northern invaders of
Greek emperors, their magnificence at Constan-   the Roman empire, 503. How the cities of,
tinople, 519.                                    obtained their municipal privileges, 520. State
Gregory of Tours, remarks on the state of Eu-    of, under Frederic I., 521.  Treaty of Con
rope during the period P',vwhich he wrote the    sfance between the free cities of, and the erm
history, 15.                                 1  peror Frederic Barharossa, 522.




INDEX.                                            585
Judgment of God, modes of acquittal by, in the  London, its flourishing state at the time of Henry
law proceedings during the middle ages, 28. 537.   II, 527.
Judiciun Crucis, method of trial by, 537         Louis le Gros, of France, his inducement to grant
Julius II., pope, forms a confederacy against the    privileges to towns within his ownXdomains, 20.
Venetians at Cambray, 57. Seizes part of the    See Clharters.
Venetian territories, ib. Confederacy dissolved,    ~, St., the great attention he paid to the adib. Turns his schemes against France, 58.        ministration of justice, in appeals which came
Jurisprudence, ecclesiastical, more perfect in its   before him, 545.
plan than the civil courts in the middle ages, -       X. of France, his ordonnances ill favour
26. See Law.                                     of civil liberty, 23.
Justice, an inquiry into the administration of, --  XI. of France, his character, 48.  His
under the feudal policy, 24. Steps towards the    schemes for depressing the nobility, ib. Sows
improvement of, as civil liberty advanced, 25.   divisions among them, ib. Increases the standRedress chiefly pursued by private wars, ib.   ing forces, 49. Enlarges the revenues of the
Methods taken to suppress private wars, 26.   crown, ib. His address in overruling the as
Judicial combats prohibited, 27. The defects   sembly of states, ib. ~ Extends the bounds of
of judicial proceedings in the middle ages, ib.   the French monarchy, ib. The activity of his
Compurgators, the nature of that kind of evi-   external operations, 50. His treacherous basedence, ib. Methods of trial by ordeal, or ac-   ness towards the heiress of Burgundy, 51, 52.
quittal by judgment of God, 28. Origin of the    The effects of his conduct, 52.
supreme independent jurisdictions of the feudal       XII., his hesitation in carrying on war
barons, 32.  Extent and bad effects of their   against the pope, 62, note. Asserts his right to
privileges, ib. Steps taken by monarchs to re-   the dutchy of Milan, and retains Ludovico
duce the barons' courts, ib. Growth of royal   Sforza in prison, 67
courts of justice, 33. Inquiry into the canon
law, ib. How improved by the revival of the  Jianfred, his struggles for the crown of Naples, 65
Roman law, 34. When the administration of, JMankind, the most calamitous period in the him
became a distinct profession, 35.               tory of, pointed out, 10, 11.,7ustiza, or supreme judge of Arragon, his office  Manners, the barbarity of, under the feudal estaand privileges, 71. An inquiry by whom this   blishments, after the overthrow of the Roman
officer was elected, 557. Who was eligible to    empire, 14. When they began to improve, 15
this office, 558.  Nature of the ti'bunal ap-   Effects of the crusades on, 17, 18. How impointed to control his administration, ib. In-   proved by the enfranchisement of cities, 22.
stance of his extensive power, 558, 559.         How improved by the erection of royal courts
of justice, in opposition to the barons' courts,
King, his power how circumscribed b) the ba-   33. Effects of the revival of the Roman law
rons, under the feudal system, 13. fy what   on, 35. The beneficial tendency of the spirit
means the crusades tended to enlarge the regal   of chivalry on, 37.  How influenced by the
authority, 18.                                   progress of science, ib. How polished by the
IRoran, its influence in checking the sultans of   revival of commerce, 41.
the Ottoman empire, 87.                        Manumission, particulars included in the charters
of, granted to husbandmen or slaves, 528. The
Land, how held at the establishment of the feu-   form of, 529.
dal system, 12. See Feudal System..laxzimilian, archduke of Austria, muarried to
-, the property of, how considered by the an-    Mary, heiress of Burgundy, 52. The influence
cient barbarous nations, 507. Allodial posses-  ~ of this match on the state of Europe, ib.
sion of, explained, ib. The proprietors how            -, emfperor, institutes the imperial
subjected to military service, 507, 508. Allo-   chamber, 83. Reforms the Aulic council, ib.
dial and beneficiary possession distinguished, Medici, Cosmo di, the first of the namne, the in508.  Allodial property why generally con-   fluence he acqu.ired in Florence, 64.
verted into feudal, 509.                       JIilan, the state of the dutchy of, at the corn
Law, when the study of it became a distinct em-   mencement of the sixteenth century, 66. Rise
ployment, 36.                                    and progress of the disputes concerning the
-, canon, an inquiry into, 33. The maxims   succession to, ib.
of, more equitable than the civil courts of the  Mind, the human, a view of, under the hrst estamiddle ages, ib. When first compiled, 548.       blishment of the feudal policy in Europe, 14., Roman, how it sunk into oblivion, 35. Cir-   The era of its ultimate depression, and comcumstances which favoured the revival of it,   mencement of its improvement, 15. The proib. Its effects in improving the administration    gress of its operations, before the full exertion
of justice, ib. Its rapid progress over Europe,   of it, 38, 39.
548.                                        XMinisterialcs, a class of the Oblati, or voluntary
Lawoburrows, in the Scottish law, explained, 523.   slaves, the pious motives of the obligations th. 7
Liberty, civil, the rise and progress of, traced, 20,   entered into, 530.
21. How favoured bythe ordonnancesof Louis  Moors, make a conquest of Spain, 68. By whas
X. of France, and his brother Philip, 23. The    means weakened during their establishment
spirit of, how excited in France, 527.  The    there, ib. Remarks on their conduct in Spain, 69.
particu'alis included in the charters of, granted  Municipal privileges, how obtained by the cities
to husbaiArnen) 528. The influence of the    of Italy, 520. Secured to them by the treaty
Christian religion in extending, 529. The se-   of Constance, 522.  The favourite state of,
veral opportunities of obtaining, 533.           under the Roman government, 525.
Limoges, council of, its endeavours to extinguish
private wars, 533.                             Naples, a view of the constitution of that kingLiterature, cultivation of. greatly instrumental   dcen at the commencement of the sixteenth
in civilizing the nations of Europe, 37. Why    century, 64. The turbulent, unsettled state of
the first efforts of, ill-directed, 38. The good   that kingdom, 65. State of the disputes coneffeots nevertheless of the spirit of inquiry ex-   cerning the succession of the crown of, ib.
erted, 39.  How checked in its progress, ib.   The pretensions-of the French and Spanish
Its influence on manners and government, ib.    monarchs to the crown of, ib.
Liturgey, the preference between the Musarabic  JNarbonne, community of, preamble to the writ
and Romish, how ascertained in Spain, 539.       of summons of Philip the Long to, 527, 528.
Lombards, the first bankers in Europe, 555. The.Navigation, proof of the imperfect state of
motive of their exacting exorbitant interest, ib.   during the middle ages, 556.
VOL. II.-74




586                                     IN DEX
Jetherlands, vigarous prosecution of the manu- Property, the possession of, how secured by the
factures of hemp and flax'there, on the revival   French charters of communities, 522.
of commerce in Europe, 41.                    Proveditori, in theVenetian policy, their office,63.
JPormans, why so few traces of their usages and
language to he found in England, in comparison  Religion, how corrupted by the northern nations
with those of the Saxons, 501.                  established in Europe under the feudal policy,
14. Its influence in freeing mankind from the
Oblati, or voluntary slaves, the classes of, speci-   feudal servitude, 529.
fled, 530.                                    Repledging, the right of, in the law of Scotland,
Ordeal, methods of trial by, during the middle   explained, 544.
ages, 28. The influence of superstition in dic- Reproach, words of, the ancient Swedish law of
tating these means, ib.                         satisfaction for, 538.
Otto, Frisingensis, his account of the state of Revenues, royal, very small undei the liudal poItaly under Frederic I., 521.                   licy, 43. By what means increased, 56.
Ottoman empire, the origin and despotic nature Rhine, origin and intention of the league of, 537.
of, 86. Becomes formidable to the Christian  Rienzo, Nicholas, endeavours to rescue Rome
powers, 88.                                     from the papal authority, and establish a democratical form of government there, 61.
Papacy. See Popedom.                            Robbers, the anathema pronounced against them
Paper, when first made of the present materials,   during the middle ages, 554.
516.                                          Rodulph of Hapsburgh, how he attained election
Paris, an inquiry into the pre-eminentjurisdiction    to the empire of Germany, 82.
of its parliament over the other parliaments of Romans, an inquiry into those advantages which
France, 79. Its origin traced, 570. The royal   enabled them to conquer the rest of Europe, 7.
edicts registered by, before admitted to be laws,   The improvements they communicated in re571.                                            turn for their conquests, ib. The disadvantages
Parliaments, or legislative assemblies, how form  the provinces laboured under, from their doed under the feudal policy, 22. How altered    minion, ib. Their empire overturned by the
by the progress of civil liberty, ib.           irruption of the barbarous nations, 8.  The
People, their wretched servile state under the   concurrent causes of their ruin, 9. A compafeudal system, 13. 23.  Released from  their   rison drawn between them and the northern
slavish state by the enfranchisement of cities,   nations, 10. All the civil arts established by
22.  How they obtained a representation in   them obliterated, ib. The monuments of their
national councils, ib. Those who lived in the    arts industriously destroyed by their barbarous
country and cultivated the ground, an inquiry   invaders, 38.
into their condition under the feudal policy, 512. Rome, papal. See Popedomn.
Persia, murder in,,how punished there, 542.     Royal truce. an account of, 534.
Peter the Hermit, excites the European princes
to undertake the Holy War, 16.                Salic laws, the manner in which they were enIV..king of Arragon, defeats the leaders   acted, 565.
of the Arragonese union, and destroys the pri- Saxons, why so many traces of their laws, tanvilege of these associations, 560.              guage, and customs to be found in England,
Philip the Long, preamble to his writ of summons   501. Inquiry into their laws for putting anto the community of Narbonne, 527, 528.         end to private wars, 535, 536
Philosophy, cultivated by the Arabians, when  Science, the revival and progress of, how far inlost in Europe, 550, 551. Its progress from them    strumental in civilizing the nations of Europe,
into Europe, 551.                               37. A summary view of the revival and proPilgrimages to the Holy Land, when first un-   gress of, in Europe, 550.
dertaken, 16.  See Crusades and Peter the Sforza, Francis, the foundation of his pretensions
Hermit.                                        to the dutchy of Milan, 67. Is murdered by
Pldcentia, council of, the Holy War resolved on    his uncle Ludovico, ib.
by, 16. See Peter the Hermit and Crusades.       ~, Ludovico, his private views in engaging
Plunder, how divided among the ancient northern    Charles VIII. of France to invade Italy, 53.
nations, 12. Illustrated in an anecdote of Clo-   See Charles VIII. Murders his nephew Franvis, 507.                                       cis, and seizes Milan, 67. Is stripped of his
Popedom, the highest dignity in Europe at the   dominions by Louis XII. of France, and dies
commencement of the sixteenth century, 59.   in prison, ib.
Origin and progress of the papal power, ib. Shipwrecks, the right lords of manors claim to,
The territories of the popes unequal to the sup-   whence derived, 553.
port of their spiritual jurisdiction, 60. Their Silk, the rarity of, and the high price it bore in
authority in their own territories extremely   ancient Rome, remarked, 554. The breeding
limited, ib. The check they received from the   of silk-worms, when introduced into Greece, ib.
Roman barons, ib. Nicholas Rienzo attempts Slanes, letters of, in the law of Scotland, what,
to establish a democratical government in   542.
Rome, and to destroy the papal jurisdiction, 61. Slaves, under the feudal policy, their wretched
The papal authority considerably strengthened   state, 512, 513.  Oblati, or voluntary slaves,
by the popes Alexander VI. and Julius II, ib.   the several classes of, 530.
See.JZlius II. The permanent nature of ec- Society, civil, the rude state of, under the feudal
clesiastical dominion, ib. The civil adminis-   establishments after the downfal of the Roman
tration of, not uniform or consistent, ib. Rome    empire, 14. The influence of the crusades on,
the school of political intrigue during the six-   17.  How improved by the establishment of
teenth century, 62. The advantages derived    municipal communities, 19. The effects the~
from the union of spiritual and temporal au-   enfranchisements of the people had on, 23
thority, lb. A view of the contests between    Private wars, how destructive to, 24. These
the popes and the emperors of Germany, 81.      intestine hostilities, how suppressed, 26. The
Populousness of the ancient northern nations, an    administration of justice improved by the proinquiry into, 8.                               hibition of judicial combats, 27. The growth
Priscus, extract from his account of the Roman    of royal courts of justice, in opposition to the
embassy to Attila king of the Huns, 500.       barons' courts, 33. How advanced by the reProcopius, his account of the cruel devastations   vival of the Roman law, 35. The effects of
made by the irruption of the northern nations,   the spirit of chivalry in improving, 36. The
5(1. 502.                                       revival of commerce and its influences, 39.




'NDEX.                                           587
Solyman, sultan, his character, 88.              spotic genius of this government, ib  No heSpain, a summary view of its situation, at the   reditary nobility in, 577. The authority of the
commencement of the fifteenth century, 42.   sultans, how checked, 87. Origin of the JaniThe power of the crown of, how extended by    zaries, ib. Becomes formidable to the Chris
Ferdinand, 50. National infantry established    tian princes, 88.
in, 55. Is conquered by the Vandals, and after
by the Moors, 68. The empire of the Moors  Union of the Arragonese nobles to control tht
in, how weakened, ib. Rise of the kingdoms   undue exercise of regal power, explained, 559.
of Castile and Arragon, ib. Their union into    This privilege abrogated by Peter IV., 560.
the Spanish monarchy, 69. The ancient cus-  Universities, the first establishment of, in Eu
toms still retained amidst all its revolutions, ib.   rope 5S1.
Peculiarities in its constitution and laws remarked, ib. See Arragon and Castile. Va-  Vandals, their cruel devastations in the. invasion
rious causes which contributed to limit the    of Spain, 501. The havoc made by them in
regal power in, 73. The cities of how they    Africa, 501, 502. See Goths.
attained their consideration and power, 74. Vassals, under the feudal system, a view of their
The schemes of Ferdinand and Isabella, to   slavish condition, 13. 23. How they obtained
exalt the regal power, ib. The grand master-   enfranchisement, 23.  How  anciently distinships of the three orders annexed to the crown,   guished from freemen, 507-512. Their wretch75. The association of the Holy BrothlerhLood,   ed state under their feudal masters, 512, 513.
on what occasion formed, 76. The tendency  Venice, the long duration of its civil constitution,
cf this association to abridge the territorial   and its flourishing state atthe time oftheleague
jurisdictions of the barons, ib. The cruel de-   of Cambray, 56, 57. Its possessions dismemvastations made by the Vandals in the invasion    bered by the confederates, 57. Dissolves the
of that province, 501. When the cities of, ac-   confederacy, ib.  Its rise and' progress, 63.
quired municipal privileges, 527.  The long    Defects in its constitution, ib. The excellency
continuance of the practice of private wars   of its naval institutions, 64. Its extensive comthere, 536. The total annual revenue of the    merce, ib.
nobility, in the time of Charles V., 562. An  Fisconti, rise of the family of, in Milan, 66
inquiry into the origin of communities or free
cities in, ib.                                War, a comparison between the manner of carVt. Jago, the military order of, when and on what   rying on, by barbarous and by civilized naoccasion instituted, 563.                      tions, 10. How rendered feeble in its operations
Standing armies. See.rmies.                      by the feudal policy, 13. The profession of
States general of France, causes which rendered    arms the most honourable in uncivilized na
their authority imperfect, 76. When they lost   tions, 35. The rise of standing armies traced,
their legislative authority, 77. When first as-   46. By what means standing forces became
sembled, 570.  The form  of proceeding in   general, 54. The superiority of infantry in,
them, ib.                                       how taught, 55.
Stephen, earl of Chartres and Blois, his account  Wars, private, for the redressing personal inju
of the progress of the Crusaders, 518.          ries, under the feudal policy, an inquiry into,
Stiernhook, his account of the ancient Swedish    25. Methods taken to abolish this hostile prac
law  of satisfaction for words of reproach,   tice, 26. Judicial combat prohibited, 27. In538.                                            quiry into the sources of these customs, 531.
Strangers, in what light considered, and how    Who entitled to the privileges of exercising, ib.
treated during the middle ages, and under the    On what occasions undertaken, 531,532. Who
feudal policy, 553.                             included, or bound to engage in these disputes,
Sugar canes, when first brought from Asia into   532.  Who excluded from  undertaking, ib,
Europe, and thence -drried to America, 554,   The cruel manner of prosecuting them, ib. A
555                                            chronological account of the expedients made
Sultans, Turkish, their despotic power, 86. How    use of to suppress them, 533.  T'ruce of God,
nevertheless limited, 87.                       an account of, Brotherhood of God, an account
Superstition, its influencein thelegal proceedings   of, 534. Royal Truce, what, ib. Simon laws
during the middle ages, 27.                    of England for putting an end to them, 535,536.
Swiss, the superior discipline of their troops, in    The obstinate attachment of the Spaniards to
the fifteenth century, 55. Teach other nations   this practice, 536. The calamities occasioned
the advantages of infantry over cavalry, ib.    in Germany by, 537.
Welsh, ancient, strangers killed with impunity
Tacitus, his account of the'ancient Germans   by them, 553.
compared with that of Caesar, 504.            Willa, widow of duke Hugo, extract from her
Te'nures, feudal, the origin of, 12. See Feudal   charter of manumission, granted to Cleriza,
System and Land.                                one of her slaves, 529.
Theology, scholastic, the first literary pursuits at  Willermus, archbishop of Tyre, hlis account oi
the revival of learning in Europe, 38.          Constantinople, 520.
Truce of God, an account of, 534.     W.ittikindus, abbot, his testimony in favour of
7urkey, origin of its government. 86. The ae    the judicial combat, 540.




TO THINDEX
TO THE
REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
aBSOL UTIO V, the form of that used by father   Defeats and takes the duke d'Aumale prisoner
Tetzel in Germany, 126, note.                   and joins the emperor at Metz, 419. Is ctnsdorni, the faction of, assists the imperial general   demned by the imperial chamber for his de
Colonna in the reduction of Genoa, 157.         mands on the bishops of Bamberg and Wurtzddrian, of Utrecht, made preceptor to Charles V.   burg, 423. A league formed against him, 424.
under William de Croy, lord of Chievres, 98.   Is defeated by Maurice, ib. Is again defeated
His character, ib. Sent by Charles with power   by Henry of Brunswick, 425. Is driven out of
to assume the regency of Castile on the death    Germany, and dies in exile, ib. His territorieo
of his grandfather, 101. His claim admitted    restored to his collateral heirs, ib.
by cardinal Ximenes, and executed in conjunc- albert, elector of Mentz, the publication of intion, ib. Authorized by Charles to hold the    dulgences in Germany committed to him, 125.
Cortes of Valencia, which refuses to assemble.Alexander VI. pope, remarks on the pontificate
before him, 118. Made viceroy of Castile on    of, 136.
the departure of Charles for Germany, 119. Alexander di Medici. See Medici.
His election remonstrated against by the Casti-.,lgiers, how it was seized by Barbarossa, 252,
lians, ib. Is chosen pope, 156. Retrospect of   253.  Is seized by the brother of the same
his conduct in Spain during the absence of   name, on the death of the former, 253.  Is
Charles, 161. Sends Ronquillo to reduce the    taken under the protection of the Porte, ib.
Segovians, who repulse him, ib. Sends Fon-   Is governed by Hascen Aga in the absence of
seca.to besiege the city, who is repulsed by the    Barbarossa, 298. Is besieged by the emperor
inhabitants of Medina del Campo, ib. Apolo-   Charles V., 299, 300.  Charles forced to re
gizes for Fonseca's conduct to the people, 162.   embark by bad weather, 302.
Recalls Fonseca, and dismisses his troops, ib. Alraschid, brother of Muley-Hascen king of Tu
His authority disclaimed by the holy Junta, 163.   nis, solicits the protection of Barbarossa against
Deprived of power by them, 164. His ill re-   him, 254. His treacherous treatment by Barception on his arrival at Rome on being chosen    barossa, ib.
to the papacy, 174.  Restores the territories  Alva, duke of, adheres to Ferdinand of Arragon
acquired by his predecessor, 175. Labours to   in his dispute with the archduke Philip conunite the contending powers of Europe, ib.   cerning the regency of Castile, 92. Forces the
Publishes a bull for a three years' truce among    dauphin to abandon the siege of Perpignan
them, ib. Accedes to the league against the    305. Presides at the court-martial which conFrench king, ib. His death, 179  The senti-   demns the elector of Saxony to death, 364.
ments and behaviour of the people on that oc-   Detains the landgrave prisoner by the emperor's
casion, ib. A retrospect of his conduct towards   order, 368. Commands'under the emperor the
the reformers, 183. His brief to the diet of   army destined against France, 419.  Is ap
Nuremberg, ib. Receives a list of grievances    pointed commander-in-chief in Piedmont, 440.
from the diet, 184. His conduct to the reformers,   Enters the ecclesiastical territories and seizes
how esteemed at Rome, 185.                      the Campagna Romana, 461.  Concludes a
Africa, the Spanish troops sent by cardinal   truce with the pope, 462. Negotiates a peace
Ximenes against Barbarossa, defeated there,   between Philip and the pope, with cardinal
105.                                            Caraffa, 472. Goes to Rome to ask pardon of.tigrues Mortes, interview between the emperor   the pope for his hostilities, ib. Is sent to Paris
Charles and Francis there, 274.                in the name of Philip to espouse the princess
dix-la-Chapelle, the emperor Charles crowned    Elizabeth, 488.
there, 124.  Ferdinand his brother crowned.lmerstofj, a nolleman of Holland, associated
king of the Romans there, 238.                  by Charles V. with cardinal Ximenes, in the
/2larcon, Don Ferdinand, Francis I. of France,   regency of Castile, 104.
taken prisoner at the battle ofPavia, committed  anabaptists, the origin of that sect deduced, 246.
to his custody, 193. Conducts Francis to Spain,   Their principal tenets, ib. Their settlement at
197. Delivers up Francis in pursuance of the    Munster, ib.  Character of their principal
treaty of Madrid, 204. Is sent ambassador to   leaders, ib. They seize the city of Munster,
Francis to require the fulfilment of his treaty,   ib. They establish a new form of government
210. Pope ClementVII.,taken pisoner by the   there, ib. Choose Boccold king, 247. Their
imperialists, is committed to his custody, 218.    licentious practices, 247, 248. A confederacy
Albany, John Stuart, duke of, commands the    of the German princes formed against them,
French army sent by Francis I. to invade Na-   249. Are blockaded in Munster by the bishop,
ples, 190.                                     ib. The city taken, and great slaughter made
qlbert, of Brandenburgh, grand master of the    of them, ib. Their king put to death, 250,
Teutonic order, becomes a convert to the doc-   Character of the sect since that period, ib.
trines of Luther, 208. Obtains of Sigismund    See JlMatthias ad Boccold.
king of Poland the investiture of Prussia, fngleria, his authority cited in proof of the exerected into a dutchy, ib. Put under the ban   tortions of the Flemish ministers of Charles
of the empire, ib. His family fixed in the in-   V., 109.
heritance of Prussia, ib. Commands a body  Alnhalt, prince of, avows the opinions of Martin
of troops in behalf of Maurice of Saxony, but   Luther, 183.
endeavours to assert an independency, 410..annlats, to the court of Rome, what, 141.




INDEX.                                            689
tbrragon, how Ferdinand became possessed of Banclonaa, the public entry of the emperor Charles
that kingdom, 89.  Tle Cortes of, acknow-    V. into that city as its count, 233. The treaties
ledges the archduke Philip's title to the crown,   of Charles with the Italian states published
00. Ancient enmity between this kingdom and    there, 234.
Castile, 91. Navarre added to this crown by  Bayard, chevalier, his character, 151. His galthe arts of Ferdinand, 97. Arrival of Charles   lant defence of Meziers, besieged by the impeV, 109. The Cortes not allowed to assemble   rialists, lb. Obliges them to raise the siege, lb.
in his name, 110. The refractory behaviour   His noble behaviour at his death, 181. His
oi.ie Arragonians, ib.  They refuse restitu-   respectful funeral, 182.
tion of the kingdom of Navarre, ib. Don John  Bellay, M., his erroneous account of the educaLanuza appointed regent, on the departure of   tion of Charles V. corrected, 98, note.  His
Charles for Germany, 119. Who composes the    account of the disastrous retreat of the empedisturbances there, 173. The moderation of   ror Charles V. from his invasion of Provence,
Charles towards the insurgents on his arrival   269.
in Spain, 174. See Spain.                      Bible, a translation of, undertaken by Martin
d7rdres, an interview  between Francis' I. and    Luther, and its effects in opening the eyes of
Henry VIII. of England, 123.                     the people, 182..dstzrzas, Charles, son of Philip and Joanna, Biocca, battle of, between Colonna and mareschal
acknowledged prince of, by the Cortes of Cas-   Lautrec, 157.
tile, 95.                                      Boccold, or Beukels, John, a journeyman tailor,
Azugsburg, a diet called there by Charles V., 236.   becomes a leader of the anabaptists at Munster,
His public entry into that city, ib. The con-   246.  Succeeds Matthias in the direction of
fession of faith named fiom this city, drawn    their affairs, 247.  His enthusiastic extravaup by Melancthon, 237. Resolute behaviour   gances, lb. Is chosen king, 248. Marries fourof the protestant princes at, lb. Its form of   teen wives, ib. Beheads one of them, 249. Is
government violently altered, and rendered    put to a cruel death at the taking of Munster,
submissive to the emperor, 371. The diet again   250. See Anabaptists.
assembled there, 372, Is intimidated by being  Bohemia, the archduke Ferdinand chosen king
surrounded by the emperor's Spanish troops,   of, 219. Ferdinand encroaches on the liberties
ib.  The emperor re-establishes the Romish    of the Bohemians, 371. The Reformation inworship in the churches of, ib. The diet, by    troduced by John Huss and Jerome of Prague,
the emperor's order, petitions the pope for the    lb. Raise an army to no purpose, ib.
return of the council to Trent, 375. A system  Bologna, an interview  between the emperor
of theology laid before the diet by the emperor,   Charles V. and pope COement VII. there, 233.
377. The archbishop of Mentz declares, with-   Another meeting  between them there, 241.
out authority, the diet's acceptance of it, lb. Bonnivet, admiral of France, appointed to corn
The diet re-assembled there, 385.  The diet   mand the invasion of Milan, 178. His charactakes part with the emperor against the city of   ter, ib. Enables Colonna to defend the city of
Magdeburg, 388. Is seized by Maurice of Sax-   Milan by his imprudent delay, 178,179. Forced
dny, 405. Another diet at, opened by Ferdi-   to abandon the Milanese, 181. Is wounded,
nand, 443. Cardinal Moroni attends the diet   and his army defeated by the imperialists, ib.
as the pope's nuncio, ib. Morond departs on    Stimulates Francis to an invasion of the Mithe pope's death, 444. Recess of the diet on    lanese, 188. Advises Francis to besiege Pavia,
the subject of religion, 445. Remarks on this   189. Advises him to give battle to Bourbon,
recess, 447.                                     who advanced to the relief of Pavia, 191. Is
Qvila, a convention of the malecontents in Spain    killed at the battle of Pavia, 192.
held there, 162.  A confederacy, termed the  Bouillon, Robert de la Marck, lord of, declares
holy Junta, formed there, 163.  Which dis-   war against the emperor Charles, at the insticlaims the authority of Adrian, lb. The holy    gation of Fralcis, 150. Is ordered by Francis
Junta removed to Tordesillas, ib. See Junta.   to disband his troops, 151. His territories redtustria, by what means the house of, became so    duced by the emperor, ib.
formidable in Germany, 219. The extraordi-  Boulogne, besieged by Henry VIII. of England,
nary acquisitions of the house of, in the person    317. Taken, 320.
of the emperor Charles V., 489, 490.           Bourbon, Charles, duke of, his character, 176.
The causes of his discontent with Francis I.,
Barbarossa, Horuc, his rise to the kingdom of   ib. His duchess dies, lb. Rejects the advances
Algiers and Tunis, 105. Defeats the Spanish    of Louise the king's mother, 177. His estate
troops sent against him by cardinal Ximenes,   sequestered by her intrigues, ib. Negotiates
ib.  His parentage, 252.  Commences pirate   secretly with the emperor, ib. Is included in
with his- brother Hayradin, ib. How he ac-   a treaty between the emperor and Henry VIII.
quired possession of Algiers, ib. Infests the    of England, ib. Is taxed by the king with becoast of Spain, 253. Is reduced and killed by    traying him, which he denies, 178. Escapes to
Comares the Spanish governor of Oran, ib.        Italy, ib. Directs the measures of the imperial
t   a,e Hayradin, brother to the former of   army under Lannoy, 181. Defeats the French
the same name, takes possession of Algiers on    on the banks of the Sessia, ib.  Instigates
his brother's death, 253. Puts his dominions.  Charles to an invasion of France, 186. Ad
under the protection of the Grand Signior, ib.   vances to the relief of Pavia, 191. Defeats
Obtains the command of the Turkish fleet, ib.   Francis, and takes him prisoner, 192. Hastens
His treacherous treatment of Alraschid, bro-   to Madrid to secure his own interests in the inther to the king of Tunis, 254. Seizes Tunis,   terview  between Charles and Francis, 198.
ib. Extends his depredations by sea, ib. Pre-   His kind reception by Charles, 199. Obtains a
pares to resist the emperor's armament against   grant of the dutchy of Milan, and is made
him, 255.  Goletta and his fleet taken, 256.   general of'the imperial army, 201.  Obliges
Is defeated by Charles, lb. Tunis taken, 257.   Sforza to surrender Milan, 211. Is forced to
Makes a descent on Italy, 309. Bums Rheggio,   oppress the Milanese to satisfy his troops mutiib.  Besieges Nice in conjunction with the    nying for pay, 213. Sets Moroni at liberty,
French, but is forced to retire, lb. Is dismissed    and makes him  his confidant, ib. Appoints
by Francis, 314.                                 Leyva governor of Milan, and advances to inBarbary, a summary view of the revolution of,   vade the pope's territories, 214.  His disap"52. Its division into independent kingdoms,   pointed troops mutiny, 215. He determines to
ib. Rise of the piratical states. b.  See Bar-    plunder Rome, 216.  Arrives at Rome, and
barossa.                                         assaults it, 217. Is killed, ib.




.90                                    INDEX
Brandenburgh, elector of, avows the opinions of-  plexity of the Castilians on Joanna's incapacity
Luther, 183.                                    for government, ib. Ferdinand gains the re-, Albert of. See -lbert.           gency and the good will of the Castilians by
Bruges, a league concluded there between the    his prudent administration, 96.  Oran and
emperor and Henry VIII. of England against   other places in Barbary annexed to this kingFrance, 152.                                    dom by Ximenes, 97. Ximenes appointed reBrunswick, duke of, avows the opinions of Lu-   gent by Ferdinand's will, until the arrival ot
ther, 1I3.                                      Charles V., 100. Charles assumes the regal
~- ~-., Henry, duke of, driven from his do-   title, 101. Ximenes procures its acknowledg.
minions by the protestant princes of the league   ment, 101, 102. The nobility depressed by Xi
of Smalkalde, 312. Raises men for Francis,   menes, 102.  The grandees mutiny against
but employs them to recover his own domin-   Ximenes, 103.  The mutiny suppressed, ib
ions, 325. Is taken prisoner, 326.              Ximenes resumes the grants made by FerdiBuda, siege of, by Ferdinand king of the Romans,   nand to the nobles, ib. The bold reply of Xi
297. Is treacherously seized by sultan Soly-   menes to the discontented nobles, 104. Other
man, 298.                                       associates in the regency appointed with Ximenes at the instigation of the Flemish courCajetan, cardinal, tie pope's legate in Germany,   tiers, ib. Ximenes dies, 108. Charles acknowappointed to examine the doctrines of Martin   ledged king by the Cortes, on his arrival, with
Luther, 129. Requires Luther peremptorily to    a reservation in lavour of his mother Joanna,
retract his errors, 130. Requires the elector of   ib. The Castilians receive unfavourable imSaxony to surrender or banish Luther, ib. His   pressions of him, 109. Disgusted by his parconduct justified, 131.                         tiality to his Flemish ministers, ib. Sauvage
Calais, an ineffectual congress there, between the   made chancellor, ib.  William  de Croy apemperor and Francis, under the mediation of   pointed archbishop of Toledo, ib. The prin
Henry VIII., 151.  The careless manner in   cipal cities confederate, and complain of their
which it was guarded in the reign of Mary    grievances, 110. The clergy of, refuse to levy
queen of England, 474. Ineffectual remon-   the tenth of benefices granted by the pope to
strances of Philip, and lord Wentworth the    Charles V., 117. Interdicted, but the interdict
governor, concerning its defenceless state, 474,   taken off by Charles's application, ib.  An
475. Is invested and taken by the duke of   insurrection there, 117,118. Increase of the
Guise, 475. The English inhabitants turned    disaffection, 118. Cardinal Adrian appointed
out, 476. Stipulations concerning, in the treaty   regent, on the departure of Charles for Gerof Chateau Canmbresis,-485.                     many, 119. The views and pretensions of the
Cambray, articles of the peace concluded there   commons in their insurrections, 162. The conbetween the emperor Charles and Francis of   federacy called the holy Junta formed, 163.
France, 457. Remarks on this treaty, 458.       The proceedings of which are carried on in the
Canzpe, peace of, between Henry VIII. and    name of queen Joanna, ib. Receives circulaFrancis, 338.                                   tory letters from Charles for the insurgents to
Campeggio, cardinal, made legate from pope Cle-   lay down their arms, with promises of pardon,
ment VII. to the second diet at Nuremberg,   164. The nobles undertake to suppress the in185. Publishes articles for reforming the in-   surgents, 166.  Raise an army against them
erior clergy, 186. Advises Charles to rigorous   under the Conde de Haro, 167. Haro gets posmeasures against the protestants, 237.          session of Joanna, ib. Expedients by which
Capitulation of the Germanic body, signed by    they raise money for their troops, 168. UnCharles V. and prescribed to all his successors,   willing to proceed to extremities with the Junta,
116.                                           ib. The army of the Junta routed, and Padilla
Caraffa, cardinal, his precipitate election, 448.   executed, 170. Dissolution of the Junta, 171.
Is appointed legate to Bologna, 450. Reasons   The moderation of Charles towards the insurof his disgust with the emperor, lb. Persuades   gents, on his arrival in Spain, 174. He acquires
the pope to solicit an alliance with France   the love of the Castilians, ib. See Spain.
against the emperor, 451. His insidious corn- Catharine of Arragon, is divorced from Henry
mission to the court of France, 459. His public   VIII. of England, 244. Dies, 276.
entry into Paris, ib. Exhorts Henry to break  Catharine a Boria, a nun, flies from her cloister,
his truce with the emperor, ib.  Absolves   and marries Martin Luther, 207.
Henry from his oath, 460. Negotiates a peace  Catharine di Medici. See Medici.
between the pope and Philip, with the duke  Cavi, peace concluded there between pope Pavl
d'Alva, 472. The fate of him and his brother   IV. and Philip II. of Spain, 472.
on the death of pope Paul, 488.               Cercamp, negotiations for peace entered into there
ctarlostadius, imbibes the opinions of Martin   between Philip II. of Spain and Henry II. o.
Luther, at Wittemberg, 134. His intemperate   France, 481.  The negotiations removed to
zeal, 183. Awed by the reproofs of Luther, ib.   Chateau Cambresis, 485. See Chateau-Cam.
Carignan, besieged by the count d'Enguien, and    bresis.
defended by the marquis de Guasto, 314. Characters of men, rules for forming a propel
Guasto defeated in a pitched battle, 315. The    estimate of them, 330. Applied to the case ot
town taken, ib.                                 Luther, ib.
Castaldo, marquis of Piadeno. See Piadeno.    Charles IV., emperor of Germany, his observation
Castile, how Isabella became possessed of that   on the manners of the clergy, in his letter to
kingdom, 89. The archduke Philip's title ac-   the archbishop of Metz, 137, note.
knowledged by the Cortes of that kingdom, 90. Charles V., emperor, his descent and birth, 89.
Isabella dies, and leaves her husbandFerdinand    How he came to possess such extensive dominof Arragon regent, 91. Ferdinand resigns the   ions, ib. Acknowledged prince of Asturias by
crown of, ib. Ferdinand acknowledged regent   the Cortes of Castile, 95.  His father Philip
by the Cortes, ib. Enmity between this king-   dies, ib. Jealousy and hatred, of his granddom and Airagon, ib. The particular dislike   father Ferdinand towards him, 97. Left heir
of the Castilians to Ferdinand, ib. The re    to his dominions, 98. Death of Ferdinand, ib,
gency of, jointly vested in Ferdinand, Philip,   His education committed to William de Croy,
and Joanna, by the treaty of Salarmrnca, 94.   lord of Chievres, ib. Adrian of Utrecht apDeclares against Ferdinand, ib. T'Jim regency    pointed to be his preceptor, lb. The first openof, resigned by Ferdinand to Philip;'r  Philip   ing of his character, 99. Assumes the governand Joanna acknowledged king  r...Lueen by    ment of Flanders, and attends to business, ib.
the Cortes, 95. Death of Philip, i',  the per-   Sends cardinal Adrian to be regent of Castile,




INDEX.                                           59
who executes it jointly with Ximenes, 100.   Wolsey at Bruges, and concludes a league witt
Assumes the regal title, 101. His title admitted    Henry VIII. against France, 152. Pope Lea
with difficulty by the Castilian nobility, ib.   declares for him against France, 153,154. The
Persuaded to add associate regents to Ximenes,   French driven out of Milan, 155. 157. Visits
104. His Flemish court corrupted by the ava-   England in his passage to Spain, 158. Cultirice of Chievres, 105. Persuaded by Ximenes   vates the good will of cardinal Wolsey, and
to visitSpain, but how that journey is retarded,   creates the earl of Surry his high admiral, ib.
106. The present state of his affairs, lb. Con-   Grants the island of Malta to the knights of St.
eludes a peace at Noyen with Francis I. of   John, expelled from Rhodes by Solyman the
France, and the conditions of the treaty, ib.   magnificent, 159. Arrives in Spain, 160. A
Arrives in Spain, 107. His ungrateful treat-   retrospect of his proceedings in relation to the
ment of Ximenes, 108. His public entry into   insurrections in Spain, 163. Issues circulatory
Valladolid, ib. Is acknowledged king by the   letters for the insurgents to lay down thei'
Cortes, who vote him a free gift, ib. The Cas-   arms, with promises of pardon, 164. His prutilians receive unfavourable impressions of   dent moderation towards the insurgents, on his
him, 109. Disgusts them by his partiality to   arrival in Spain, 174. Acquires the love of
his Flemish ministers, ib. Sets out for Arra-   the Castilians, ib. Enters into a league witk
gon, ib. Sends his brother Ferdinand to visit   Charles duke of Bourbon, 177. Why he did
their grandfather Maximilian, ib. Cannot as-   not endeavour to get Wolsey elected pope,.79.
semble the Cortes of Arragon in his own name,   Invades Guienne and Burgundy, but without
110. The opposition made by that assembly to   success, 180. His troops in Milan mutiny for
his desires, ib.  Refuses the application of   want of pay, but are pacified by Morone, 181.
Francis I. for the restitution of the kingdom of   Undertakes an invasion of Provence, 186
Navarre, ib. Neglects the remonstrances of   Orders Pescara to besiege Marseilles, 187
the Castilians, ib. Death of the emperor Maxi-   Pescara obliged to retire, ib. Disconcerted by
milian, ib. View of the present state of Eu-   the French overrunning the Milanese again,
rope, 111. How Maximilian was obstructed    189. The revenues of Naples mortgaged to
from securing the empire to him, ib. Francis   raise money, ib. His troops defeat Francis
I. aspires to the imperial crown, ib. Circum-   and take him prisoner at the battle of Pavia,
stances favourable to the pretensions ofCharles,   192. His affected moderation at receiving the
112. The Swiss cantons espouse his cause,   news, 193.  Avails himself of a treaty con113. Apprehensions and conduct of pqse Leo    eluded between Lannoy and pope Clement, but
X. on the occasion, ib. Assembling of the diet   refuses to ratify it, 195. His army in Pavia
at Frankfort, 114. Frederic duke of Saxony    mutiny, and are obliged to be disbanded, lb.
refuses the offer of the empire, and votes for   His deliberations on the proper improvement
him, 114,115. And refuses the presents offered    of his advantages, 196.  His propositions to
by his ambassadors, 115. Concurring circum-   Francis, ib. After many delays grants Sforza
stances which favoured his election, ib. His   the investiture of Milan, 197. Moroni's inelection, 116. Signs and confirms the capitu-   trigues betrayed to him byPescara, 199. Orders
lation of the Germanic body, ib. The election    Pescara to continue his negotiations with Monotified to him, ib. Assumes the title of ma-   rond, ib. His rigorous treatment of Francis,
jesty, ib. Accepts the imperial dignity offered    200. Visits Francis, ib. His kind reception of
by the count Palatine, ambassador from  the   the duke of Bourbon, 200, 201. Grants Bourelector, 117. The clergy of Castile refuse the    bon the dutchy of Milan, and appoints him
tenth of benefices granted him by the pope, ib.   general-in-chief of the army there, 211. FruitProcures the interdict the kingdom is laid under   less negotiations for the delivery of Francis, ib.
for refusal to be taken off, ib. Empowers car-   Treaty of Madrid with Francis, 202. Delivers
dinal Adrian to hold the Cortes of Valencia,   up Francis, 204. Marries Isabella of Portugal,
118. The nobles refuse to assemble without   ib. An alliance formed against him at Cognac,
his presence, ib.  Authorizes the insurgents   209. Sends ambassadors to Francis to require
there to continue in arms, lb. Summons the   the fulfilment of the treaty of Madrid, 210
Cortes of Castile to meet in Galicia, ib. Nar-   Prepares for war against Francis, 211. The
rowly escapes with his Flemish ministers from    pope reduced to an accommodation with him,
an insurrection on that account, ib. Obtains   213. The exhausted state of his finances, ib
a donative from the Cortes, 119. Prepares to    His troops under Bourbon distressed and muti
leave Spain, and appoints regents, ib.  Em-   nous for want of pay, ib. Bourbon assaults
barks, ib. Motives of this journey, ib. Rise    Rome and is slain, but the city taken, 217. The
of the rivalship between him and Francis I.,   Prince of Orange, general on Bourbon's death,
119, 120.  Courts the favour of Henry VIII.   takes the castle of St. Angelo, and the pope
of England, and his minister cardinal Wolsey,   prisoner, 218. The emperor's conduct on that
122, 123. Visits Henry at Dover, 123. Pro-   occasion, 219. His dissensions With the pope,
mises Wolsey his interest for the papacy, ib.   how  far favourable to the reformation, 220,
Has a second interview with Henry at Grave-   His instructions to the diet at Spires, ib. His
lines, 124. Offers to submit his differences with    manifesto against the pope, and letter to the
Francis to Henry's arbitration, ib. His mag-   cardinals, ib.  France and England league
nificent coronation  at Aix-la-Chapelle, ib.   against him, -20, 221. Is refused supplies by
Calls a diet at Worms, to check the reformers,   the Cortes of Castile, 223. Delivers the pope
ib. Causes which hindered his espousing the    for a ransom, ib. His overtures to Henry and
party of Martin Luther, 145. Grants Luther   Francis, 224. Their declaration of war against
a safe conduct to the diet of Worms, ib. An    him, ib.  Is challenged by Francis to single
edict published against him, 146. His embar-   combat, 225.  Andrew  Doria revolts from
rassment at this time, ib. Concludes an alli-   Francis to him, 227.  His forces defeat the
ance with the pope, 149. The conditions of   French in Italy, 228, 229. His motives for dethe treaty, ib. Death of his minister Chievres,   siring an accommodation, 229. Concludes a
and its advantages to him, ib. Invasion of   separate treaty with the pope, 230. Terms ot
Navarre by Francis, 150. The French driven   the peace of Cambray, concluded with Francis
out, and their general l'Esparre taken prisoner,   by the mediation of Margaret of Austria and
lb. War declared against him by Robert de   Louise of France, ib. Remarks on the advanla Marck, lord of Bouillon, who ravages Lux-   tages gained by him in this treaty, and on his
emburg, ib. Reduces Bouillon, and invades   conduct of the war, 230,231. Visits Italy, 233.
France, 151. His demands at the congress at   His policy on his public entry into Barcelona, ib.
Calais, ib.  Has an interview with cardinal   Has an interview with the pope at Bologna. ib




ouch!IN  DEX.
Motives for his moderation in Italy, ib. His   the duke of Cleves, ib,  Besieges Landrecy
treaties with the states of, 234. Is crowned    309. Is joined by an English detachment, ib.
king of Lombardy and emperor of the Romans,   Is forced to retire, ib. Courts the favour of
ib. Summons a diet at"Spires to consider the    the protestants, 312. His negotiations with the
state of religion, 235. His deliberations with    protestants at the dietof Spires, 313. Procures
the pope, respecting the expediency of calling    the concurrence of the diet in a war against
a general council, 236.  Appoints a diet at   Francis, ib. Negotiates a separate peace with
Augsburg, ib. Makes a public entry into that   the king of Denmark, 314.  Invades Chamcity, in. His endeavours to check the reforma-    pagne, and invests St. Desiere, 316. Want of
ticn, 237. Resolute behaviour of the protestant   concert between his operations and those of
princes towards him, ib. His severe decree    Henry, who now invades France, 317. Obtains
against the protestants, ib. Proposes his bro-   Desiere by artifice, ib. His distresses and happy
ther Ferdinand to be elected king of the Ro-   movements, 318. Concludes a separate peace
mans, 238. Is opposed by the protestants, 239.   with Francis, 319. His motives to this peace,
Obtains his election, ib. Is desirous of an ac-   ib. His advantages by this treaty, ib. Obliges
commodation with the protestants, 240. Con-   himself by a private article to exterminate the
eludes a treaty with them  at Nuremberg, ib.   protestant heresy, 320. Is cruelly afflicted with
Raises an army to oppose the Turks under   the gout, 321. Diet at Worms, 322. Arrives
Solyman, and obliges him to retire, 240, 241.   at Worms, an'd alters his conduct towards the
tas another interview  with the pope, and    protestants, 323.'His conduct on the death of
presses him to call a general council, 241. Pro-   the duke of Orleans, 324. His dissimulation
cures a league of the Italian states to secure   to the landgrave of Hesse% 325. Concludes a
the peace of Italy, 242. Arrives at Barcelona,   truce with Solyman, 333.  Holds a diet at
ib. His endeavours to prevent the negotiations    Ratisbon, ib. His declaration to the protestant
and meeting between the pope and Francis, ib.   deputies, 334. His treaty with the pope, conUndertakes to expel Barbarossa from Tunis,   cluded by the cardinal of Trent, 335. His cirand restore Muley-Hascen, 255.  Lands in    cular letter to the protestant members of the
Africa, and besieges Goletta, ib.'Takes Go-   Germanic body, ib. The protestants levy an
letta, and seizes Barbarossa's fleet, 256. De-    army against him, 338. Is unprepared against
featsBarbarossa, and takesTunis, ib. Restores   them, 339. Puts them under the ban of the
Muley-Hascen, and the treaty between them,   empire, 340.  The protestants declare war
257.  The glory acquired by this enterprise,   again*i him, ib.  Marches to join the troops
and the delivery of the Christian captives, 258.   sent by the pope, 341.  Farnese, the pope's
Seizes the dutchy of Milan, on the death of   legate, returns in disgust, 342.  His prudent
Francis Sforza, 262, 263.  His policy with    declension of an action with the protestants,
regard to it, ib. Prepares for war with Fran-   343. Is joined by his Flemish troops, 343, 344
cis, ib. His'invective against Francis at Rome    Proposals of peace made by the protestants,
before the pope in council, 264. Remarks on    347. Their army disperse, 348. His rigorous
this transaction, 265.  Invades France, 266.   treatment of the protestant princes, ib. Dis
Enters Provence, and finds it desolated, 268.   misses part of his army, 350. The pope recalls'Besieges Marseilles and Aries, ib. His mise-   his troops, ib. His reflection on Fiesco's inrable retreat from Provence, 269. His invasion    surrection at Genoa, 356. Is alarmed at the
of Picardy defeated, 270. Is accused of poi-   hostile preparations of Francis, 358. Death
soning the dauphin, ib. Improbability of its   of Francis, ib. A parallel drawn between him
truth, ib. Conjecture concerning the dauphin's   and Francis, 359. Consequences of Francis's
death, ib. Flanders invaded by Francis, 271.   death to him, 360. Marches against the elector
A suspension of.arms in Flanders, how nego-   of Saxony, ib. Passes the Elbe, 361. Defeats
tiated, ib. A truce in Piedmont, ib. Motives   the Saxon army, 363. Takes the elector prito these truces, 272.  Negotiation for peace    soner,ib. Hisharsh receptionofhim,ib. In
with Francis, 273. Concludes a truce for ten    vests Wittemberg, ib. Condemns the elector
years at Nice, ib. Remarks on the war, 273,   to death by a court-martial, 364. The electoi
274. His interview with Francis, 274. Courts   by treaty surrenders the electorate, 365. The
the friendship of Henry VIII. of England, 276,   harsh terms imposed by him on the landgrave
277.  Indulges the protestant princes, 277.   of Hesse, 367. His haughty reception of the
Quiets their apprehensions of the catholic   landgrave, 368.  Detains him  prisoner, ib
league, 279. His troops mutiny, ib. Assem-    Seizes the warlike stores of the Smalkaldic
bles the Cortes of Castile, 280. Destroys the    league, 370. His cruel exactions, ib. Assem
ancient constitution of the Cortes, ib. Instance    bles a diet at Augsburg, 372. Intimidates the
of the haughty spirit of the Spanish grandees,   diet by his Spanish troops, ib. Re-establishes
281.  Desires permission of Francis to pass   the Romish worship in the churches of Augsthrough France to the Netherlands, 284. His   burg, ib. Seizes Placentia, 374. Orders the
reception in France, 285. His rigorous treat-   diet to petition the pope for the return of the
ment of Ghent, 286. Refuses to fulfil his en-    council to Trent, 375.  Protests against the
gagements to Francis, ib. Appoints a friendly    council of Bologna, 376. Causes a system of
conference between a deputation of catholic   faith to be prepared for Germany, ib. Lays it
and protestant divines before the diet at Ratis-    before the diet, 377. The Interim opposed, 378.
bon, 294.  Result of this conference, 295.   And rejected by the imperial cities, 379. ReGrants a private exemption from oppressions    duces the city of Augsburg to submission, 380.
to theprotestants, 296. Undertakes to reduce    Repeats the same violence at Ulm, ib. Carries
Algiers,. 298. Is near being cast away by a    the elector and landgrave with him into the
violent storm, 299. Lands near Algiers, 300.   Low-Countries, 381. Procures his son Philip
His soldiers exposed to a violent tempest and    to be recognised by the states of the Netherrain, ib. His fleet shattered, ib. His fortitude    lands, ib. Establishes the Interim there, 382
under these disasters, 301. Leaves his enter-   Reassembles the' diet at Augsburg, under the
prise and embarks again, 302. Is distressed    influence of his Spanish troops, 385. The city
with another storm at sea, ib. Takes advan-   of Magdeburg refuses to admit the Interim,
tage of the French invasion of Spain to obtain    and prepares for resistance, 388.  Appoints
subsidies firom the Cortes, 305. His treaty with    Maurice elector of Saxony to reduce it, 389.
Portugal, ib. Concludes a league with IIenry    Promises to protect the protestants at the counVIIt., 306.  Particulars of the treaty, 307.   cil of Trent, ib. Arbitrarily releases Maurice
Overruns Cleves, and his barbarous treatment   and the elector of Brandenburgh from  their
of the town of Duren, 308. His behaviour to    engagements to the landgrave f(r the recovery




INDEX.                                           593
of his liberty, 390. En leavours to secure the  Chievres, William de Croy, lord of, appointed by
empie for his son Philip, ib. His brother Fer-   Maximilian to superintend the education of his
dinand refuses to resign his pretensions, 392.   grandson Charles, 98. Adrian of Utrecht made
Besieges Parma, but is repulsed, 393. Proceeds   preceptor under him, ib. His direction of the
rigorously against the protestants, 394. En-   studies of Charles, 99. His avarice corrupts
deavours to support the council of Trent, 395.   the Flemish court of Charles, 105. Negotiates
Puts Magdeburg under the ban of the empire,   a peace with France, 106. Endeavours to pre
ib.  Absolves the city, 397.  Is involved in    vent an interview  between Charles and Xidisputes between the council and the protestant   menes, 107.  Attends Charles to Spain, ib.
deputies, concerning their safe-conduct, 398.   His ascendancy over Charles, 109. His extor
Begins to suspect Maurice of Saxony, 403.   tions, ib. His death, and the supposed causes
Circumstances which contributed to deceive    of it, 149.
him with regard to Maurice, ib. Maurice takes  ChAristians, primitive, why averse to the princi
the field against him, 404. Maurice seconded    ples of toleration, 446.
by Henry II. of France, 405. His distress and  Clement VII., pope, his election, 179. His cha
consternation, ib. An ineffectual negotiation    racter, ib. Grants cardinal Wolsey a legatine
with Maurice, 406. Flies from Inspruck, 408.   commission in England for life, ib. Refuses to
Releases the elector of Saxony, ib. Is solicited    accede to the league against Francis, 181. Lato satisfy the demands of Maurice, 411. His   bours to accommodate the difference between
present difficulties, 412.  Refuses any direct   the contending parties, ib.  His progeedings
compliance with the demands of Maurice, 413.   with regard to the reformers, 185. Concludes
is disposed to yield by the progress of Maurice's    a treaty of neutrality with Francis, 190. Enoperations, ib. Makes a peace with Maurice   ters into a separate treaty with Charles after
at Passau, 414. Reflections on this treaty, 415.   the battle of Pavia, and the consequences of
Turns his arms against France, 417.  Lays   it, 195.  Joins in an alliance with Francis
siege to Metz, 418, 419. Is joined by Albert of   Sforza and the Venetians against the emperor,
Brandenburgh, 419. His army distressed by    209. Absolves Francis from his oath to observe
the vigilance of the duke of Guise, ib. Raises   the treaty of Madrid, ib.'Cardinal Colonna
the siege, and retires in a shattered condition,   seizes Rome, and invests him in the castle of
420. Cosmo di Medici asserts his independency    St. Angelo, 212, 213. Is forced to an accomagainst him, 421. Sienna revolts against him,   modation with the imperialists, 213. His reib. Is dejected at his bad success, 423.'Takes   venge against the Colonna family, 214. InTerouane, and demolishes it, 425,426. Takes   vades Naples, ib. His territories invaded by
Hesden, 426. Proposes his son Philip as a hus-   Bourbon, and his perplexity on the occasion,
band to Mary queen of England, 431.  The   215. Concludes a treaty with Lannoy viceroy
articles of the marriage, 432. Marches to op-   of Naples, ib. His consternation on Bourbon's
pose the French operations, 435. Is defeated    motions towards Rome, 216. Rome taken, and
by Henry, lb. Invades Picardy, 436. Grants   himself besieged in the castle of St. Angelo,
Sienna, subdued by Cosmo di Medici, to his   218.  Surrenders himself prisoner, ib.  The
son Philip, 439. A diet at Augsburg opened    Florentines revolt against him, 221.  Pays
by Ferdinand, 443. Leaves the interior ad-   Charles a ransom  for his liberty, with other
ministration of Germany to Ferdinand, 444.   stipulations, 223. Makes his escape fiom con
Applies again to Ferdinand to resign his pre-   finement, 224.  Writes a letter of thanks to
tensions of succession to Philip, but is refused,   Lautrec, ib.  Is jealous of the intentions of
ib. Recess of the diet of Augsburg on the    Francis, and negotiates with Charles, 226.
subject of religion, 445. A treaty concluded    His motives and steps towards an accommobetween pope Paul IV. and Henry II. of France    dation, 230. Concludes a separate treaty with
against him, 453. Resigns his hereditary do-   Charles, ib. His interview with the emperor
minions to his son Philip, ib. His motives for   atBologna, 233. Crowns Charles king of Lomretirement, 454. Had long meditated this re-   bardy and emperor of the Romans, 234. His
signation, lb. The ceremony of this deed, 455:   representations to the emperor against calling
His speech on this occasion, ib. Resigns also    a general council, 236. Has another interview
the dominions of Spain, 457.  His intended    with Charles at Bologna, and the difficulties
retirement into Spain retarded, ib.  A truce   raised by him to the calling a general council,
for five years concluded with France, 458.   241. Agrees to a league of the Italian states
Endeavours in vain to secure the imperial   for the peace of Italy, 242. His interview and
crown for Philip, 462. Resigns the imperial   treaty with Francis, 243. Marries Catharine
crown to Ferdinand, ib. Sets out for Spain,   di Medici to the duke of Orleans, ib. His pro
463. His arrival and reception in Spain, ib.   traction of the affair of the divorce solicited
Is distressed by his son's ungrateful neglect in   by Henry VIII., 244. Reverses Cranmer's senpaying his pension, ib. Fixes his retreat in   tence of divorce, under penalty of excommuthe monastery of St. Justus in Placentia, 464.   nication, ib. Henry renounces his supremacy,
The situation of this monastery, and his apart-  ib. His death, 245. Reflections on his pontifiments, described, ib.  Contrast between the   cate, ib.
conduct of Charles and the pope, ib. His man- Clergy, Romish, remarks on the immoral lives
ner of life in his retreat, 480, 481. His death   of, and how they contributed to the progress ot
precipitated by his monastic severities, 482.   the reformation, 136. The facility with which
Celebrates his own funeral, ib. Dies, ib. His   they obtained pardons, 137. Their usurpationa
character, ib. A review of the state of Europe   in Germany, during the disputes concerning induring his reign, 488. His acquisitions to the   vestitures, 138. Their other opportunities ot
crown of Spain, 489, 490.                       aggrandizing themselves there, ib. Their perUhateau- Cambresis, the conferences for peace    sonal immunities, ib. Their encroachments on
between Philip II. of Spain and Henry II. of   the laity, 139. The dreadful effects of spiritual
France, removed thither from Cercamp, 485.   censures, ib. Their devices to secure their
The peace retarded by the demand of Elizabeth    usurpations, lb. The united effect of all these
of England for the restitution of Calais, ib.   circumstances, 141. Oppose the advancement
Particulars of the treaty signed there between    of learning in Germany, 143.
England and France, 486. Terms of the paci- Cleves, invaded and overrun by the emperor
fication between Philip and Henry, 487.         Charles V., 308. Cruel treatment of Duren, ib
Chcregato, nuncio from tne pope to the diet at   Humiliating submission of the duke, ib.
Nuremberg, his instructions, 183.  Opposes  Cnipperdoling, a leader of the anabaptists a
the assembling a general council. 184.          Munster, an account of,246. See dnabaptista
VOL. II.-75




594                                     INDEX.
Canac, an alliance formed there against Charles   Arragon, which was refused to Henry by the
T.by the pope, the Venetians, the duke of   pope,. 244.  His sentence reversed by the
Milan, and Francis I., 209.                     pope, ib.
Coligny, admiral, governor of Picardy, defends Crespy, peace of, between the emperor and Fran
St. Quintin against the Spanish general Ema-   cis, 318, 319.
nuelPhilibertduke of Savoy, 468. His brother  Croy, William  de, nephew  to Chievres, made
Dandelot defeated in an endeavour to join the    archbishop of Toledo by Charles V., 109.
garrison, ib. But Dandelot enters the town, ib.   Dies, 172.
His character, 470. The town taken by assault, and himself taken prisoner, ib.        D'lbret, John, expelled from his kingdom of
Cologne, Ferdinand, king of Hungary and Bo-   Navarre by Ferdinand of Arragon, 97.  Inhemia, brother to the emperor Charles V.,   vades Navarre, but is defeated by carding
elected king of the Romans by the college of   Ximenes, 105.
electors there, 239.                          D'A.lenbert, M., his observation on the order of, Herman, count de Wied, archbishop    Jesuits, 292, note.
and elector of, inclines to the reformation, and  Dandelot, brother of Coligny, is defeated by the
is opposed by his canons, who appeal to the    duke of Savoy in an endeavour to succour St.
emperor and pope, 324. Is deprived and ex-   Quintin, 468. But enters the town with the
communicated, 332. Resigns, 349.                fugitives, ib.  The town taken by assault,
Colonna cardinal Pompeo, his character, and    471.
rivalsRip with pope ClementVII., 212. Seizes Dauphin of France, eldest son of Francis I. s
Rome, and invests St. Angelo, 212,213. Is de-   delivered up with the duke of Orleans to the
graded, and the rest of the family excommuni-   emperor Charles V. in exchange for his father,
cated by the pope, 214. Is prevailed on by the    as hostages for the performance of the treaty
pope, when prisoner with the imperialists, to   of Madrid, 204. His death imputed to poison,
solicit his delivery, 223.                      270. The most probable cause of it, ib.
-, Prosper, the Italian general, his charac-   -, duke of Orleans, second son of Francis
ter, 154. Appointed to command the troops in   I. commands an army, and invades Spain, 305.
the invasion of Milan, lb. Drives the French    Is forced to abandon the siege of Perpignan, ib
out of Milan, 155. His army how weakened    Is dissatisfied at the peace of Crespy, 321
at the death of pope Leo X., ib. Defeats ma-   Makes a secret protestation against it, ib.
reschal de Lautrec at Bicocca, 156, 157. Re — -    of France, son of Henry II., contracted
duces Genoa, 157. The bad state of his troops   to Mary the young queen of Scotland, 374. Is
when the French invade Milan, 175. Is en-   married to her, 477.
abled to defend the city by the ill conduct of Denmark, a summary view of the revolutions in,
Bonnivet the French commander, 178. Dies,   during the sixteenth century, 499.
and is succeeded by Lannoy, 181.              --, king of, joins the protestant league at
Conchillos, an Arragonian gentleman, employed    Smalkalde, 278.
by Ferdinand of Arragon to obtain Joanna's  De Retz, cardinal, writes a history of Fiesco's
consent to his regency of Castile, 92. Thrown    conspiracy while a youth, 356, note.
into a dungeon by the archduke Philip, ib.    Diana of Poitiers, mistress to Henry II. of France,
Confession of Augsburg, drawn up by Melanc-   assists the Guises in persuading Henry to an
thon, 237.                                      alliance with pope Paul IV. against the emConstatnce, the privileges of that city taken away    peror, 451. Induces Henry to break the treaty
by the emperor Charles V. for disobedience to    of Vaucelles, 460. Marries her granddaughter
the Interim, 380.                               to one of Montmorency's sons, 480. Joins
Corsairs of Barbary, an account of the rise of,   Montmorency against the Guises, ib.
252. See Algiers, Barbarossa.                 Doria, Andrew, assists Lautrec in subduing GeCortes of Arragon, acknowledge the archduke    noa, 222. Conquers and kills Moncada in a sea
Philip's title to the crown, 90. Not allowed to   engagement before the harbour of Naples, 226,
assemble in the name of Charles V., 109, 110.   His character, 227. Is disgusted with the beTheir opposition to his desires, 110. Is pre-   haviour of the French, ib. Revolts to the emvailed on by the emperor to recognise his son    peror, ib. Opens to Naples a communication
Philip as successor to that kingdom, 306. See   by sea, ib. Rescues Genoa from the French,
Spain.                                          228. Restores the government of, to the citi
-   of Castile, acknowledges the archduke   zens, ib. The respect paid to his memory, 229.
Philip's title to the crown, 90. Is prevailed on    Attends the emperor Charles in his disastrous
to acknowledge Ferdinand regent according to   expedition against Algiers, 299.  His partial
Isabella's will, 91  Acknowledges Philip and   fondness for his kinsman Giannetino, 351. His
Joanna king and queen of Castile, and their   narrow escape in Lavagno's insurrection, 354,
son Charles prince of Asturias, 95. Declares   355.  Returns on Lavagno's death, and the
Charles king, and votes him  a free gift, 98.   dispersion of his party, 356. See Genoa and
Summoned by Charles to meet at Compostella    Lavagno.
inGalicia,118. Tumultuary proceedingsthere-, Giannetino, his character, 351. Is murupon, 119. A donative voted, ib. Loses all its   dered by Lavagno's conspirators, 354.
influence by the dissolution of the holy Junta, Dover, an interview there between Henry VIII.
172. Its backwardness to grant supplies for   and the emperor Charles V., 123.
the emperor's wars in Italy, 213. Refuses his Dragut, a corsair, commands the Turkish fleet
pressing solicitations for a supply, 223. Assem-   which ravages the coast of Naples, 422.
bled at Toledo to grant supplies to the emperor, Du Pratt, chancellor of France, his character,
280. The remonstrances of, ib. The ancient   177. Commences a law-suit against Charles
constitution of, subverted by Charles, ib. See    duke of Bourbon for his estate, at the instigaSpain.                                          tion of Louise the king's mother, ib.
of Valencia, prevailed on by the emperor Duelling, the custom of, how rendered general,
Charles V. to acknowledge his son Philip suc-   225. Its influence on manners, ib.
cessor to that kingdom, 306. See Spain.       Duren in Cleves, taken by the emperor Charles
Cortona, cardinal di, governor of Florence for   V., the inhabitants put to the sword, and the
the pope, expelled ty the Florentines on the   town burnt, 308.
pope's captivity, 221.
Cosmo di Medici. See Medici.                   Eccius, an adversary of Luther's, holds a public
Oranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, annuls the    disputation with him at Leipsic, on the validity
marriage of Henry VIII. with Catharine of   of the papal authority, 132.




N D EX.                                          595
Ecclesiassical censures of the Romish church, Farnese, Alexander, his unanimous election to
the dreadful effects of, 139.                    the papacy, 245. See Paul III.
reservation in the recess of the diet  --, cardinal, accompanies the troops sent
of Augsburg, remarks on, 240.                    by the pope to the emperor, against the army of
Edinbusgh, plundered and burnt by the earl of   the protestant league, 342. Returns disgusted,
Hertford, 317.                                   ib. Leads the troops home again by the pope's.Edward VI of England, his character, 431.         order, 350. Contributes to the election of carFgmont, count of, commands the cavalry at the    dinal di M1onte to the papacy, 384.
battle of St. Quintin, and puts Montmorency's --, Octavio, grandson of pope Paul III.,
troops to flight, 468, 469. Engages marshal de    endeavours to surprise Parma, and renters into
Termes, and defeats him by the casual arrival   treaty with the emperor, 383. Is confirmed in
of an English squadron, 478..                    Parma by Julius, 392. Procures an alliance
Egypt, how and by whom added to the Ottoman    with France, ib. Is attacked by the imperialempire, 112.                                    ists, but successfully protected by the French,
Ehrenber-g, the castle of, taken by Maurice of   393. Placentia restored to him by Philip It. of
Saxony, 407.                                     Spain, 472.
Eigunotz, a faction in Geneva so termed, an ac- --, Peter Lewis, natural son of pope Paul
count of, 261.                                   III., obtains of his father the dutchies of Parma
Elizabeth, sister of Mary, her accession to the    and Placentia, 325.  His character, 373.  Is
crown of England, 484.  Her character, ib.   assassinated, ib.
Is addressed by Philipof Spain and Henry of Ferdinand, king of Arragon, how  he acquired
France for marriage, ib. Her prudent conduct   his kingdoms, 89. Invites his daughter Joanna,
between them, ib. How determined against   and her husband Philip archduke of Austria,
Henry, 485. Her motives for rejecting Philip,   to Spain, 90. Becomes jealous of Philip, lb
ib.  Returns Philip an evasive answer, ib.   Carries on his war with France vigorously,
Demands restitution of Calais, at the confer-   notwithstanding Philip's treaty with Lewis,
ences at Clateau-Cambresis, ib. Establishes    91. His queen Isabella dies, and leaves him
the protestant religion inEEngland, 486. Treaty   regent of Castile, under restrictions, ib. Rebetween her and HenrysignedatChateau-Cam-    signs the kingdom of Castile, and is acknow
bresis, ib.                                      ledged regent by the Cortes, ib. His character,
Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy. See Savoy.   ib. His maxims of government odious to the
England, by what means that kingdom was freed    Castilians, 92. Required by Philip to resign
from the papal supremacy, and received the    his regency, ib.  Joanna's letter of consent
doctrines of the reformation, 244. Mary, queen    procured by him, intercepted by Philip, and
of, married to prince Philip, son of the emperor   herself confined, ib. Is deserted by the CastiCharles V.i contrary to the sense of the nation,   lian nobility, ib. Determines to exclude his
432. The marriage ratified by parliament, 433.   daughter from the succession by marrying, 93.
Is reluctantly engaged by Philip (now king of   Marries Germaine de Foix, niece to Lewis XII.
Spain) in the war against France, 467. Mary    of France, ib.  A treaty between him and
levies money by her prerogative, to carry on    Philip at Salamanca, by which the regency of
the war, ib. Calais taken by the duke of Guise,    Castile is jointly vested in them and Joanna, ib.
475. Guisnes and Hames taken, ib. Death of   Prevails on Henry VII. of England to detain
Mary, and accession of Elizabeth, 484. The    Philip for three months, when driven on that
protestant religion established by Elizabeth,    coast, 94. The Castilians declare against him,
486. Treaty with France signed at Chateau-   ib. Resigns the regency of Castile by treaty,
Cambresis, ib. Its interior strength how in-   ib. Interview between him and Philip, ib. Is
creased by the conduct of Henry VIII., 493.   absent, at Naples, when Philip died, 96. ReIts power no longer fruitlessly wasted on the    turns and gains, with the regency of Cartile,
continent, ib., Alteration of its conduct towards   the good will of the natives by his prudent adScotland, 494.                                   ministration, ib.  Acquires by dishonourable
Enguien, the count de, besieges Carignan, 314.   means the kingdom of Navarre, 97. How he
Desires of Francis permission to engage Guasto,    destroyed his constitution, ib. Endeavours to
315. Defeats Guasto in a pitched battle, ib.     diminish his grandson Charles's power, by a
Erard de la Marck, ambassador of Charles V.   will in favour of Ferdinand, ib. Alters his will
to the diet of Frankfort, his private motives for   in favour of Charles, 98. Dies, ib. Review
thwarting the pretensions of Francis I. of   of his administration, 99. Ximenes appointed.
France to the imperial crown, 115. Signs the    by his will, regent of Castile until the arrival
capitulation of the Germanic body on behalf   of Charles V., 100.
of Charles, 116.                               --, second son of Philip archduke of
Erasmus, some account of, 143. Preceded luther   Austria, born, 89. Left regent of Arragon by
in his censures against the Romish church, ib.   his grandfather Ferdinand, 97. This revoked
Concurs with him in his intentions of reforma-   by a subsequent will, by which he obtains only
tion, 144.  Motives which checked him  in    a pension, 93. Discontented with his disapthis, ib..                      pointment, he is taken to Madrid under the eye
-scurial, palace of, built by Philip II. in memory    of cardinal Ximenes, 101. Sent by Charles V.
of the battle of St: Quintin, 471.               to visit their grandfather Maximilian, 109. Is
Europe, a short view of the state of, at the death    elected king of Hungary and Bohemia, 219
of the emperor Maximilian, 110.  The con-   Signs a deed called the Reverse, ib. The emtemporary monarchs of all, illustrious at the    peror endeavours to get him elected king of the
time of Charles V., 124. The method of car-    Romans, 238. He is opposed bythe protestants,
rying on war in, how improved beyond the    239.  Is crowned king of the Romans, ib.
practice of earlier ages, 180, The sentiments   Forms a confederacy against the anabaptists at
of,. on Charles's treatment of the pope, 220,   Munster, 249. Opposes the restoration of Ulric
A review of the state of, during the reign of   duke of Wurtemberg, 250.  Recognises his
the emperor Charles V., 488. The remarkable   title, and concludes a.treaty with him, ib. His
change in, at this period, 489. IIow affected    kingdom of Hungary wrested from him by John
by the revolt of Luther against the church of   Zapol Screpius, 296. Besieges the young king
Rome, 494.                                       Stephen and his mother in Buda, but is deEutemi, king of Algiers, engages Barbarossa in   feated by the Turks, 297. His mean offers oi
his service, and is murdered by him, 252, 253.    submission to the Porte, 298. Which are reExcommunication in the Romish church, the ori-   jected, ib. Courts the favour of the protestants,
ginal institution of, and the use made of it, 139.   311. Opens the diet at Worms, 122. Requires




m96                                     INDEX.
it to submit to the decisions of the council of   the imperialists, 151. Invades the Low CoUrTrent, 323. Agrees to pay a tribute to Solyman    tries, but loses the opportunities of success by
for Hungary, ib. Encroaches on the liberties   imprudence, ib.  Rejects the demands of
of Bohemia, 371. His rigorous treatment of   Charles at the congress of Calais, 152.  A
Prague, ib. Disarms the Bohemians, 372. Ob-   league concluded between Charles and Henry
tains the sovereignty of the city of Constance,   VIII. against him, ib. His imprudent appoint382. Invades Transylvania by invitation of   ment of the mareschal De Foix to the governMartinuzzi, 399. Obtains the resignation of   ment of Milan, 153. De Foix attacks Reggio,
Transylvania from queen Isabella, ib. Orders   but is repulsed by the governor Guicciardini
Martinuzzi to be assassinated, 400. Enters into   the historian, ib. The pope declares against
negotiation with Maurice on behalf of the em-   him, 153, 154. His embarrassments on the
peror, 411.  His motives for promoting the   invasion of Milan, 154. His mother seizes
emperor's agreeing with Maurice, 412, 413.   the money appointed for the payment of the
Isabella and her son Stephen recover possession    Milanese troops, ilb.  Milan taken, and the
of Transylvania, 427. Opens a diet at Augs-   French driven out, 155.  Levies a body of
burg, and excites suspicions in the protestants,   Swiss, 156. Who insist on giving a precipitate
443. The emperor leaves the internal admin-   battle to the imperialists, which is lost, 157.
istration of the German affairs to him, 444. Is   War declared against him by Henry VIII., ib.
again applied to by the emperor to resign his    His expedients to supply his treasury, 158.
pretensions of succession to Philip, but refuses,   The plan pursued by him to resist the incurib. Endeavours therefore to gain the friend-   sions of the English, ib. Picardy invaded by
ship of the diet, 445. Again refuses the em-   Henry, ib. The Venetians league with the
peror's solicitations, 462. Charles resigns the    emperor against him, 175. To which pope
imperial crown to him, lb. Assembles the col-   Adrian accedes, ib. His expeditious moveleae of electors at Frankfort, which acknow-   ment against the Milanese, 176. Disconcerted
ledges him emperor of Germany, 476.  The    by the duke of Bourbon's conspiracy, ib.
pope refuses to acknowledge him, 476, 477.      Taxes him  with betraying his cause, which
Freudal government, a view of, as it existed in    Bourbon denies, 178.  Bourbon escapes to
Spain, 162.                                     Italy, and Francis returns, ib. Appoints the
Fiiesco, count of Lavagno. See Lavagno.           admiral Bonnivet to command against the
--, Jerome, engages in his brother's conspi-   Milanese, ib. Picardy invaded by the duke of
racy, and fails in securing Andrew Doria, 354,   Suffolk, who is driven back, 180.  Repulses
355. His imprudent vanity on his brother's   the invasion of Guienne and Burgundy by
death, 355. Shuts himself up in a fort on his   Charles, ib. His successful close of the camestate, 356. Is reduced, and put to death, 358.   paign, ib. His prudent care to disappoint the
Flanders. See JNetherlands.                      imperialists in their invasion of Provence, 187.
Florence, the inhabitants of, revolt against pope    Assembles an army, which causes the impe 
Clement VIi. on the news of his captivity, and    rialists to retire from Marseilles, ib. Deterrecover their liberty, 221. Are reduced to sub-   mines to invade the Milanese, 188. Appoints
jection to Alexander di Medici by the emperor,   his mother Louise regent during his absence,'234. Aiexander di Medici, duke of, assassinated   ib. Enters Milan, and takes possession of the
bv his kinsman Lorenzo, 275. Cosmo diMedici   city, ib. Advised by Bonnivet to besiege Pavia,
advanced to the soverignty, ib. Cosmo, sup-   189. Iis vigorous attacks on Pavia, ib. Conported by the emperor, defeats the partisans of   eludes a treaty of neutrality with pope CleLorenzo, 276. Cosmo asserts his independency    ment, 190. His imprudent invasion of Naples,
on the emperor, 421.                            ib. Resolves, by Bonnivet's advice, to attack
Fonseca, Antonio de, commander-in-chief of the    Bourbon's army, advanced to the relief of
torces in Spain, ordered by cardinal Adrian to    Pavia, 191. Is routed at the battle of Pavia,
besiege the insurgents in Segovia, 161. Is de-   192. Is taken prisoner, lb. Is sent to the castle
nied liberty of taking military stores by the    of Pizzichitone under the custody of Don
inhabitants of Medina del Campo, ib. Attacks   Ferdinand Alargon, 193. Refuses the proposi
and almost burns the whole town, ib. Is re-   tions made to him by Charles, 196. Is carried
pulsed, ib. His house at Valladolid burnt, ib.   to Spain on his desire of a personal interview
Fnrance, the acquisitions of that kingdom during    with Charles, 197.  Is rigorously treated in
the reign of the emperor Charles V., 491. The    Spain, 200. Falls dangerously ill, ib. Is visited
character of the people of, ib. The good con-   by Charles, ib. Resolves to resign his kingsequences of the civil wars in that kingdom to    dom, 201. Is delivered from his captivity by
the rest of Europe, 492.                        the treaty of Madrid, 202. His secret protestaiFrancis I., king of France, concludes a peace   tions against the validity of this treaty, 203.
with Charles V., and the conditions of the    Marries the queen of Portugal, ib. Recovers
treaty, 106.  Sends a fruitless embassy to    his liberty, and the dauphin and the duke of
Charles for the restitution of Navarre to the    Orleans delivered up  hostages to Charles for
young king, 110.  Aspires to the imperial   the performance of the treaty of Madrid, 204.
crown at the death of Maximilian, 111. Rea-   Writes a letter of acknowledgment to Henry
sons by which he supported his pretensions,   VIII. of England, 208. His reply to the impe
112. Remarks on the equipages of his amnbas-   rial ambassadors, 209. Enters into a league
sadors to the German states, ib. His preten-   with the pope, the Venetians, and Sforza,
sions adopted by the Venetians, 113. Loses    against Charles, ib. Is absolved from his oath
the election, 116.  Rise of the rivalship be-   to observe the treaty of Madrid, 210. His betwveen him and Charles, 120. Courts the fa-   haviour to the emperor's second embassy, ib
vour of cardinal Wolsey, 122. Promises Wol-   Is dispirited by his former ill success, 211. En
sey his interest for the papacy, 123. Has an    ters into a treaty with Henry VIII. of England
interview with Henry VIII. of England, ib.   against the emperor, 221.  Successes of his
Wrestles with Henry, and throws him, ib. note.   general Lautrec in Italy, 222. His reply to the
His advantages over Charles at the commence-   emperor's overtures,224. Declareswar against
ment of hostilities between them, 147. Con-   him, and challenges him to single combat, 224,
eludes an alliance with the pope, 148. Invades   225. Treats Andrew Doria ill, who revolts
and reduces Navarre, in the name of Henry   from  him  to the emperor, 227.  His army,
d'Albret, son of John, the former king, 150.   under Saluces, driven out of Italy, 228. His
The French driven out by the imprudence of   troops in Milan routed, 229. His endeavours
I'Espamrr their general, who is taken prisoner   towards an accommodation, ib. Terms of the
by the Spaniards, ib. Retakes Mouson from    peace of Cambray, ceincluded by the mediation




1INDEX.                                          597
of his mother Louise and Margaret of Austria,   sophical professor at his university of Wittem230. Remarks on the sacrifices made by him    berg, 127. Encourages Luther in his opposiin -this treaty, and on his conduct of the war,   tion to indulgences, 128. Protects him against
231.  Leagues secretly with the protestant   Cajetan, 130. Causes Luther to be seized at
princes, 239. His measures to elude the treaty    his return from the diet of Worms, and conof Cambray, 242, 243. His negotiations with   ceals him at Wartburg, 146. Dies, 208.
the pope, 243. His interview and treaty with  Fregoso, the French ambassador to Venice
the pope, ib. Gives the duke of Orleans in    murdered by the marquis del Guasto, the immarriage to Catharine di Medici, ib. Nego-   perial governor of the Milanese, 303.
tiates a treaty with Francis Sforza, duke of Fronsperg, George, a German nobleman, some
Milan, 258. His envoy Merveille executed at   account of, he joins the army of Charles V.,
Milan for murder, 259. Is disappointed in his   213.
endeavours to negotiate alliances against the
emperor, ib. Invites Melancthon to Paris, ib. General of the Jesuits, an inquiry into his office
Evidences of his zeal for the Romish religion,   and despotic authority, 288, 289.
260. Causes of his quarrel with the duke of Geneva, an account of its revolt against the duke
Savoy, 261. Seizes the duke's territories, ib.   of Savoy, 261.
His pretensions to the dutchy of Milan, on the  Genoa, reduced by Lautrec, the French general,
death of Francis Sforza, 263. The emperor's   222. The French endeavour to prejudice its
invective against him before the pope in coun-   trade in favour of Savona, 227. Is rescued
cil, 264. Is invaded by Charles, 266. His   from the French by Andrew Doria, 228. The
prudent plan of defence, 267. Joins the army    government of, settled by the disinterestedness
under Montmorency, 269. Death of the dau-   of Doria, 229.  The honour paid to Doria's
phin, 270. Obtains a decree of the parliament   memory, ib. Is visited by the emperor, 233.
of Paris against the emperor, 271. Invades   A scheme formed to overturn the constitution
the Low-Countries, ib. A suspension of arms   of, by Fiesco count of Lavagno, 351. He asin Flanders, and how negotiated, ib. A truce   sembles his adherents, 352. The conspirators
in Piedmont, ib. Motives to these truces, 272.   sally forth from Lavagno's palace, 354. DeConcludes an alliance with Solyman the Mag-   puties sent to know Lavagno's terms, 355.
nificent, lb. Negotiations for a peace with the   Lavagno drowned, ib. The insurrection ruined
emperor, 273. Concludes a truce for ten years   by the imprudence of his brother Jerome Fiesat Nice, ib. Reflections on the war, 273, 274.   co, ib. The conspirators disperse, ib. Jerome
His interview with Charles, 274. Marries Mary   reduced and put to death, 358.
of Guise to James V. of Scotland, 276. Re- Germanada, anassociation in Valenciaso termed,
fuses the offers of the deputies of Ghent, 283.   on what occasion formed, 172. Refuse to lay
Informs Charles of the offer made by them,   down their arms, lb. Their resentment levelled
ib. Grants the emperor leave to pass through    at the nobility, who raise an army against
France to the Netherlands, 284. His reception    them, 172, 173  Defeat the nobles in several
of the emperor, ib. Is deceived by the empe-   actions, 173. But are routed and dispersed by
ror in respect to Milan, 285. His ambassador   them, ib.
to the Porte, Rincon, murdered by the imperial Germanuy, state of, at the death of the emperor
governor of the Milanese, 303. Prepares to    Maximilian, 111.  Charles V. of Spain and
resent the injury, ib.  Attacks the emperor   Francis I. of France form pretensions to the
with five armies, 304. His first attempts ren-   imperial crown, ib. Their respective reasons
dered abortive by the imprudence of the duke    offered in favour of their claims, ib. Views
of Orleans, ib. Renews his negotiations with    and interests of the other European states in
sultan Solyman, 307. Invades the Low-Coun-   relation to the competitors, 113. Henry VHI.
tries, 3)8. Forces. the emperor to raise the    of England advances a claim, ib. But is dissiege of Landrecy, 309.  Dismisses Barba-   couraged from prosecuting it, ib. How the
rossa, 314.  Gives the count d'Enguien per-   papacy was likely to be affected in the choice
mission to engage Guasto, 315. Relieves Paris,   of an emperor, ib. Advice of pope Leo X. to
in danger of being surprised by the emperor,   the German princes, 114. Opening of the diet
318. Agrees to a separate peace with Charles,   at Frankfort, ib. In whom the election of an
318, 319. Henry's haughty return to his over-   emperor is vested, ib. Views of the electors
tures of peace, 320.  Death of the duke of   ib. The empire offered to Frederick of Saxony,
Orleans, 324.  Peace of Campe, 338.  Per-   ib. Who rejects it, and his reasons, 114, 115.
ceives a necessity of checking the emperor's   Charles V. chosen, 116. The capitulation of
ambitious designs, 357. Forms a general league   the Germanic privileges confirmed by him, ib.
against him, lb. Dies, 358. His life and cha-   Charles sets out for, 119. Charles crowned at
racter summarily compared with those of   Aix-la-Chapelle, 124. Commencement of the
Charles, 359. Consequences of his death, 360.   reformation there, by Martin Luther, ib. TreatFrancis It., his accession to the crown of France   mlent of the bull of excommunication published
and character, 488.                             against Luther, 133. The usurpations of the
Fran kfort, the diet of, assembled for the choice    clergy there, during the disputes concerning
of an emperor at the death of Maximilian, 114.   investitures, 138.  The clergy of, mostly foNames and views of the electors, ib.  The    reigners, 140. The benefices of, nominated by
empire offered to Frederick of Saxony, ib.   the pope, ib. The expedient of the emperors
Who rejects it, with his reasons, 114, 115.   for restraining this power of the pope ineffecChooses Charles V. emperor, 116. His con-   tual, ib. The great progress of Luther's docfirmation of the Germanic privileges required   trines in, 182. Grievances of the peasants, 204.
and agreed to, ib. City of, embraces the re-   Insurrection in Suabia, 205. The memorial of
formed religion, 183. The. college of electors   their grievances, lb. The insurrection quelled,
assembled there by Ferdinand, who is acknow-   206. Another insurrection in Thuringia, ib
ledged emperor of Germany, 476.                 How the house of Austria became so formi
Frederick, duke of Saxony, assembles with the   dable in, 219. Proceedings relating to the reother electors at the diet of Frankfort, to   formation there, 220.  Great progress of the
choose an emperor, 114. The empire offered    reformation there, 235.  Ferdinand, king of
to him, ib. Rejects it, and votes for Charles   Hungary and Bohemila, brother to Charles V.
V., 114, 115. Refuses the presents of the Spa-   elected king of the Romans, 238. The pronish ambassadors, 115. This disinterested be-   testant religion established in Saxony, 279.
haviour confirmed by the testimony of histo-   The protestant religion established in the Pala
rians, ib. note. Chooses Martin Luther philo-   tinate 326. The league of Smalkalde, raise




9u:                                  IN DEX.
an army against the emperor, 338. Are put   between her daughter Mary and prince Edvwa&
under the ban of the empire, 340. The pro-   of England, 314.
testant army dispersed, 348. The Interim en- Gurk, cardinal de, why he favoured the election
forced by the emperor, 380. Maurice of Saxony    of Charles V. to the imperial crown, 115
raises an army, and declares in favour of the    Signs the capitulation of the Germanic bodI,
protestants, 404, 405. Maurice favoured even    on behalf of Charles, 116.
by the catholic princes, and why, 411. Treaty  Gusman, chancellor to the emperor Ferdinand,
of Passau, between the emperor and Maurice   is sent to pope Paul IV. to notify the election,
of Saxony, 414. Truce between the emperor   who refuses to see him, 476.
and Henry of France, 458.  Charles resigns
the imperial crown to his brother Ferdinand, Hamburg, city of, embraces the reformed reli
462.                                            gion, 183.
Ghent, an insurrection there, 281. The preten- Haro, the Cond6 de, appointed to command.lie
sions of the citizens, 282. Form a confederacy    army of the Castilian nobles against the holy
against the queen dowager of Hungary their   Junta, 167. Attacks Tordesillas, and gets posgoverness, ib. Their deputies to the emperor,   session of queen Joanna, ib. Routs the army
how treated by him, ib. Offer to submit to    of the Junta, and takes Padilla prisoner, who
France, 283. Is reduced by Charles, 286.        is executed, 170.
Ghibelline faction in Italy, a view of, 212.    Hascen Alga, deputy-governor of Algiers, his
Giron, Don Pedro de, appointed to the command    piracies against the Christian states, 299. Is
of the army of the holy Junta, 167. Resigns   besieged in Algiers by the emperor Charles V.,
his commission, and Padilla replaced, 168.      300. Makes a successful sally, ib. The em
Goletta in Africa, taken by the emperor Charles    peror forced by bad weather to return back
V., 256.                                        again, 301.
Gonzago, the imperial governor of Milan, pro- Hayradin, apotter's son of Lesbos, commences
cures cardinal Farnese to be assassinated, and    pirate, 252. See Barbarossa.
tales possession of Placentia for the emperor, Heathens, ancient, why the principles of mutual
373, 374. Prepares to seize Parma, 392. Is   toleration were generally  admitted among
repulsed by the French, 393.                    them, 446.
Gouffier, sent by Francis I. king of France to  Heldo, vice-chancellor to Charles V., attends the
negotiate a peace with Charles V., 106.         pope's nuncio to Smalkalde, 277.  Forms a
GOranvelle, cardinal, his artifice to prevail on the   catholic league in opposition to the protestant
count de Sancerre to surrender St. Disiere to   one, 278.
the emperor, 317. Endeavours to lull the pro- IHenry II., king of France, his motives for detestants into security with regard to the em-   dining an alliance with pope Paul III. against
peror's conduct towards them, 329. Is corn-   the emperor, 374.  Procures for Scotland a
missioned by Philip to address the assembly at   peace with Englandi 393. The young queen
the emperor's resignation of his hereditary    Mary contracted to the dauphin, and sent to
dominions, 456.                                 France for education, ib. Enters into an alli
Gravelines, an interview there between the em-   ance with Octavio Farnese, duke of Parma,
peror Charles V. and Henry VIII. of England,   ib. Protest against the council of Trent, 394.
124.                                            Makes alliance with Maurice, elector of Sax
Gropper, canon of Cologne, is appointed a mana-   ony, 401. Seconds the operations of Maurice,
gel of the protestant and catholic conferences   405. His army marches and seizes Metz, 406.
before the diet at Ratisbon, 294.  Writes a    Attempts to surprise Strasburg, 409, 410. Is
treatise to compose the differences between    strongly solicited to spare it, 410. Returns, ib.
them, ib. The sentiments of both parties on    The emperor prepares for war against him,
this work, 295.                                 417. Instigates the Turks to invade Naples,
Granada, archbishop of, president of the council   422.  Terouanne taken and demolished by
of Castile, his imprudent advice to cardinal   Charles, 425, 426. Hesden taken, 426. Leads
Adrian, relating to the insurrection in Segovia,   an  army into  the Low-Countries  against
161.                                            Charles, ib. Endeavours to obstruct the marGuasto, the marquis del, appointed governor of   riage of Mary of England with Philip of Spain,
Milan by the emperor, 269. Procures Rincon,   434.  The progress of his arms against the
the French ambassador to the Porte, to be   emperor, 435. Engages Charles, ib. Retires,
murdered on his journey thither, 303. Defends   ib. Cosmo di Medici, duke of Florence, makes
Carignan against the French, 314. Defeated    war against him, 436. Appoints Peter Strozzi
by d'Enguien in a pitched battle, 315.          commander of his army in Italy, 437. Strozzi
Guicciardini, his account of the publication of   defeated, 438. Sienna taken, 439. Pope Paul
indulgences contradicted, 128, note. Defends   IV. makes overtures to an alliance with him
Reggio against the French, 153. Repulses an    against the emperor, 451. Montmorency's ar
attack upon Parma by the French, 156. His   guments against this alliance, ib. Is persuaded
sentiments of the pope's treaty with Lannoy    by the Guises to accept it, ib. Sends the carviceroy of Naples, 215, 216.                    dinal of Lorrain with powers to conclude it,
Guise, Francis of Lorrain, duke of, is made go-   452. The pope signs the treaty, 453. A truce
vernor of Metz by Henry II. of France, 417,   for five years concluded with the emperor, 458S
418. Iis character, 418. Prepares to defend    Is exhorted by cardinal Caraffa to break the
it against the emperor, ib. His brother d'Au-   truce, 459.  Is absolved from  his oath, and
male taken prisoner by the imperialists, 419.   concludes a new  treaty with the pope, 460.
The emperor raises the siege, 420. His humane   Sends the duke of Guise into Italy, 465. The
treatment of the distressed and sick Germans   constable Montmorency defeated and taken
left behind, 421. Persuades Henry to an alli-   prisoner at St. Quintin, 469. Henry prepares
ance with pope Paul IV., 451. Marches with   for the defence of Paris, ib. St. Quintin taken
troops into Italy, 464, 465. Is unable to effect   by assault, 470. Collects his troops, and negoany thing, 466.  Is recalled from Italy after   tiates for assistance, 470,471. His kind recepthe defeat of St. Quintin, 471. His reception    tion of the duke of Guise, 474. Calais taken
in France, 474. Takes the field against Philip,   by Guise, 475.  Empowers Montmorency to
ib. Invests and takes Calais from the English,   negotiate a peace with Philip, 480. Honours
475.  Takes also Guisnes and Hames, ib.   him highly on his return-toFrance, ib. Writes
Takes Thionville in Luxembourg, 477.           to queen Elizabeth with proposals of marriage,
-, Mary of, married to James V. of Scot-   484. How he failed in his suit, ib. Terms o,
land, 276. Frustrates the intended marriage   the treaty of Chateau Cambresis  486 487




INDEX.                                           53
His) daughter married to Philip, and his sister   elector of Saxony, 328.  The emin;ror's. de
to the duke of Savoy, 487. The marriage of   ceitful professions to him, 331.  Qsuiuts th
his sister and daughter celebrated'with great   apprehensions of the protestant league with
pomp, 488. His death, ib.                       regard to the emperor, ib  Is appointed joint
[elesuy VII. of England, detains the archduke    commander of the army of the league with
Philip and his duchess, when driven on his   the elector of Saxony, 341. Their characters
coast, three months; at the instigation of Fer-   compared, ib. Urges an attack of the empedinand, 94.                                     ror, but is opposed by the elector, 343. His
-     VIII. of England, sends an ambassador   letter to Maurice duke of Saxony, 346. The
to Germany to propose his claims to the impe-   army of the league disperse, 348. Is reduced
rial crown, 113. Is discouraged from his pre-   to accept harsh terms from Charles, 367. His
tensions, and takes no part with the other con-   humiliating reception by the emperor, 368. Is
petitors,ib. His personalcharacter and political   detained in confinement, 369. His offers of
influence in Europe, 121. Entirely guided by    submission slighted by the emperor, 379. Is
cardinal Wolsey, 122. Receives a visit from    carried' by the emperor with him into the Ne
the emperor Charles V., 123.  Goes over to   therlands, 381. Renews his endeavours foi
France to visit Francis, ib. Wrestles with   liberty, 389. Charles releases arbitrarily the
Francis, and is thrown by him, ib. note. Has   elector of Brandenburg and Maurice from their
another interview with Charles at Gravelines,   engagements to him, 390. Is closely confined
124. Charles offers to submit his differences   in the citadel of Mechlin, ib.  Obtains his
with Francis to his arbitration, ib. Publishes   liberty bythe treaty of Passau, 414. Is arrested
a treatise on the Seven Sacraments, against   by the queen of Hungary, but freed by the
Martin Luther, 147. Obtains of the pope the    emperor, 416. The effects of his confinement
title of Defeznder of the sFaitl, ib. Takes part   on him, ib.
with Charles against Francis, ib. Sends Wol- Heute rus, his account of Lewis XII. shown to
sey to negotiate an accommodation between    contradict the relations given by Bellay, and
the emperor and Francis, 151.  Concludes a    other French historians, 9f the education of
league with Charles against Francis, 152. His    Charles V., 98, note.
avowed reasons foi this treaty, ib. His private  Holy Junta. See Junta.
motives, ib.  Declares war against Francis, Holy League, against the emperor Charles V.
157. Is visited by Charles, ib. Makes descents   formed at Cognac, under the protection of
upon the coast of France, 158. Advances with    Henry VIII. of England, 209.
an army into Picardy, ib.  Obliged to retire  Horuc, a potter's son of Lesbos, commences
by the duke de Vendome, ib. Enters into a    pirate with his brother Hayradin, 252  See
treaty with the emperor and Charles duke of   Barbarossa.
Bourbon, 177. How he raised supplies for his Hungary, isinvaded bySolymanthe Magnificent,
wars beyond the grants of his parliament, 180.   and its king Lewis II. killed, 219. His sucSends the duke of Suffolk to invade Picardy,   cesses, and the number of prisoners carried
who penetrates almost to Paris, but is driven    away, b.  The archduke Ferdinand elected
back, ib. Engages to assist Charles in an in-   king of, together with Bohemia, ib.  John
vasion of Provence, 187. Causes of his not   Zapol Screpius wrests it from Ferdinand, 296.
supporting the imperialists, 187, 188. Effects   Stephen succeeds on the death of his father
of the battle of Pavia and captivity of Francis   John, 297. Is treacherously seized by Solyman,
on him, 194. Particulars of his embassy to   298. See Isabella and JMartinnuzzi.
Charles, 194, 195. Concludes a defensive alliance with France, 197. Is declared protector James V. of Scotland, levies troops to assist
of the league of Cognac against the emperor,   Francis in Provence, but his intention frus209. His motives for assisting the pope against   trated, 276.  His negotiations for marriage
the emperor, 221. Enters into a league with    with Francis's daughter, ib. Marries Mary of
Francis, and renounces the English claim to    Guise, ib. Dies, and leaves Mary his infant
the crown of France, ib. Declares war against   daughter to succeed him, 307. See Mary.
the emperor, 224. Concludes a truce with the  Jesuits, the order of, by whom  founded, 150.
governess of the Low-Countries, 226. Projects    Character of that order, ib.  Character of
his divorce from  Catharine of Arragon, 232.   Ignatio Loyola, their founder, 287. The order
Motives which withheld the pope from grant-   confirmed by the pope, 288. An examination
ing it, ib. Acquiesces in the peace of Cambray,   into the constitution of the order, ib. Office
233. Sends asupplyof moneyto the protestant   and power of their general, 288, 289. The
league in Germany, 240. Procures his mar-   rapid progress of the order, 290. Engage in
riage to be annulled by Cranmer, archbishop    trade, and establish an empire in South Amne
of Canterbury, 244. The divorce reversed by    rica, ib. Bad tendency of the order, 291. Are
the pope under penalty of excommunication,   responsible for most of the pernicious effects
ib. Renounces the papal supremacy, ib. Re-   of popery since their institution, ib. Advan
fuses to acknowledge any council called by the   tages resulting from their institution, lb. Ci
pope, 251.  Opposes James V. of Scotland    vilize the natives of Paraguay, 292.  Thei
marrying Mary of Guise, 276. His disgusts   precautions for the independency of their em
with Francis, and intercourse with the em-   pire there, 293. How the particulars of thei'
percou, 276, 277.  Concludes a league with    government and institution came to be dis
Charles, 306. Makes war with Scotland, 307.   closed, ib. Summary of their character, 294. 
Particulars of his treaty with Charles, ib. Indulgences, in the Romish church, the doctrine.
Invades France, and invests Boulogne, 317.   of, explained, 125. By whom first invented
Refuses the emperor's plan of operations, 318.   ib. Martin Luther preaches against them, 127
is deserted by the emperor, ib. Takes Bou-   Writes against them to Albert elector of Mentz
logne, 320. His haughty proposals to France,   ib. A bull issued in favour of, 131. The sale
ib  Peace of Campe, 338. Is succeeded by    of, opposed in Switzerland by Zuinglius. 132.
his son Edward VI., 357. A review of his  Infantado, duke of, his haughty resentment of a
policy, 493.                                   casual blow on his horse, 281. Is protected by
Hlertford, earl of, plunders and burns Edinburgh.   the constable of Castile, ib.
317. Joins Henry after, in his invasions of Innocent, a young domestic of cardinal di Monte,
France, ib.                                    obtains his cardinal's hat on his election to
Hesse, the landgrave of, procures the restoration    the papacy, 384.
of his kinsman, Ulric duke of Wurtemburg, Interim, a system of theology so called, prepared
250  His views compared with those of the    by order of the emperor Charles V. for the nus




b0o                                      INDEX.
of Germany, 377. Is disapproved of, both by    where queen Joanna resided, ib. Their ptr
protestants and papists, 378.                   ceedings carried on in the name of Joanna, ib
rnvestitures, usurpations of the Romish clergy    Receives letters from Charles to lay down their
in Germany, during the disputes between the    arms, with promises of pardon, 164. Remon
emperors and popes, concerning, 138.            strances or grievances drawn up by, ib. Tht
roanna, daughter of Ferdinand, and mother of   particulars of this remonstrance, 164, 165
Charles V., visits Spain with her husband    Remarks on the spirit of it, 166. Are intimi
Philip archduke of Austria, 90. Is slighted    dated from presenting it to Charles, ib. I Proby her husband, ib. Her character, ib. Is   pose to deprive Charles of his royalty during
abruptly left in Spain by her husband, ib.   the life of Joanna, ib.  Take the field, 167.
Sinks into melancholy on the occasion, and is   Character of their army, ib. The queen seized
delivered of her second son Ferdinand, ib.   by the Cond6 de Haro, lb. How they obtained
Her letter of consent to her father's regency of   money to support their army, 168. Lose time
Castile intercepted, and herself confined, 92.   in negotiating with the nobles, 168, 169. ProMade joint regent of.Castile with Ferdinand    pose to make their peace with Charles at the
and Philip, by the treaty of Salamanca, 93.   expense of the nobles, 169. Their irresolute
Sets out for Spain with Philip, are driven on    conduct, ib.  Their army defeated by Haro,
the coast of England, and detained three    and Padilla taken prisoner, 170. Padilla exemonths by Henry VII., 94. Acknowledged    cuted, ib. His letters to his wife, and the city
queen by the Cortes, 95. Her tenderness to    of Toledo, 170, 171, note.  The ruin of the
her husband in his sickness, and extraordinary    confederacy, 172.
attachment to his body when dead, ib. Is in- Julius II., pope, observations on the Dontificate
capable of government, ib. Her son Charles    of, 136.
assumes the crown, 101. The Cortes acknow-        - III., pope, his character, 384. Bestows
ledge her son king, with a reservation in her   his cardinal's hat infamously, ib.  Is averse
favour, 108.  Her reception of Padilla, the    to the calling a council, 385. Summons one
chief of the Spanish malecontents, 163. The    at Trent, ib. Asserts his supreme authority
holy Junta removed to Tordesillas, the place    peremptorily in the bull for it, 389. Repents
-of her residence, lb. Relapses into her former   confirming Octavio Farnese in Parma, 392.
melancholy, ib. The proceedings of the holy    Requires Octavio to relinquish his alliance
Junta carried on in her name, ib. Is seized    with France 393. The manner of his death,
by the Cond6 de Haro, 167. Dies after near   444.
fifty years' confinement, 454, 455.
John Zapol Scaepius, by the assistance of sultan  La Ciha, a Flemish gentleman, associated by
Solyman, establishes himself in the kingdom    Charles V. with cardinal Ximenes in the reof Hungary, 296. Leaves the kingdom to his   gency of Castile, 104.
son Stephen, 297.  See Hungary, Isabella, Landrecy, siege of, by the emperor Charles V.,
and JMartinuzzi.                                309. Is abandoned by him, ib.
Isabella, daughter of John II. of Castile, and  Lannoy, mortgages the revenues of Naples, to
wife of Ferdinand king of Arragon, her his-   supply the exigencies of the emperor, 189.
tory, 89. Her concern at the archduke Philip's   Francis surrenders himself prisoner to him at
treatment of her daughter Joanna, 90.  Her   the battle of Pavia, 192. His cautious disposal
death and character, ib. Appoints Ferdinand    of him, ib. Delivers him up in pursuance of
regent of Castile, under restrictions, 91.      the treaty of Madrid, and receives the duke ot
-—, daughter to Sigismund king of Poland,   Orleans and the dauphin, as hostages in exmarried to John king of Hungary, 296. Her   change, 204. Is sent ambassador to Francis
character, 297. Is treacherously carried, with   to require his fulfilment of the treaty of, 210.
her infant son, into Transylvania by sultan    Concludes atreatywith the pope, 215. Marches
Solyman, 298. The government of this pro-   to join the imperialists at Rome, where the
vince and the education of her son committed   troops refuse to obey him, 221, 222.
to her jointly with Martinuzzi, 398. Is jealous Lanuza, Don John de, made viceroy of Arragon
of Martinuzzi's influence, and courts the    on the departure of Charles V. for Germany,
Turks, ib. Is prevailed on to resign Transyl-   119. Composes the disturbances there, 173.
vania to Ferdinand, 399. Retires to Silesia, Lavagno, John Lewis Fiesco, count of, his chaib. Recovers possession of Transylvania, 427.   racter, 351. Meditates subverting the govern-  ofPortugal, married to the emperor Charles   ment of Genoa, ib.  His preparations; 352.
V., 204.                                        His artful method of assembling his adherents,
Italy, consequences of the league between pope    353. His exhortation to them, ib. His interLeo X. and the emperor Charles V. to, 153.   view  with his wife, 354.  Sallies forth, ib.
The characters of the Italians, Spaniards, and    Andrew Doria escapes, 355. Deputies sent to
French contrasted, ib. State of, at the acces-   know his terms, lb. Is drowned, lb. His brosionof Clement VII. to the papacy, 181. Views   ther's vanity ruins their designs, ib.  See
of the Italian States with respect to the em-   Fiesco.
peror and Francis on the expulsion of the  Lautrec, Odet de Foix, mareschalde, the French
French from Genoa and the Milanese, 186.   governor of Milan, his character, 153. AlienTheir apprehensions on the battle of Pavia    ates the affections of the Milanese from the
and captivity of Francis, 195. The principal   French, ib. Invests Reggio, but is repulsed by
states join in the holy league against the em-   Guicciardini the historian, thenm governor, ib.
peror, 209. Are disgusted at the tardiness of   Is excommunicated by the pope, 154.  The
Francis, 212. A view of the Ghibelline fac-   money for paying his troops seized by Louise
tion, ib. Sentiments of the states of, on the    of Savoy, ib. Is left by his Swiss troops, 155.
peace of Cambray, 231. Is visited by the em-   Is driven oit of the Milanese territories, ib.
peror Charles, 233. The motives of his mo-   A new body of Swiss under him insist on giv
deration towards the states of, 233, 234. A    ing battle to the imperialists, who defeat him,
league among the states of, formed by Charles,   157. The Swiss leave him, ib. Retires into
242. Placentia granted to Octavio Farnese by    France with the residue of his troops, ib. DePhilip II. of Spain, 472. The investiture of   livers up the dauphin and the duke of Orleans
Sienna given by Philip to Cosmo di Medici, 473.   in exchange for Francis I., as hostages for the
The consequence of these grants, ib.            performance of the treaty of Madrid, 204. Is
Junta, holy, a view of the confederacy in Spain    appointed generalissimo of the league against
so termed, 162, 163. The authority of Adrian    the emperor, 222. His successes in Italy, ib
disclaimed by, 163. Removed to Tordesillas,   Motives which withheld him from subduing




INDEX.                                           601
thee Milanese, ib. Obliges the prince of Orange   Paul IV., and is sent to R6me to negotiate it,
to retire to Naples, 225. Blockades Naples,   451, 452. His imprudent behaviour towards
9i26. His army wasted, and himself killed-by   the duchess of Valentinols, 479.
the pestilence, 228.                          Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I. of France,
Learning, the revival of, favourable to the re-   her character, 154. Her motives for seizing
formation of religion, 142.                     the money appointed for payment of mareschal
Leipsic, a public disputation held there by Martin    Lautrec's troops, ib. Cause of her aversion
Luther and Eccius, on the validity of the papal   to the house of Bourbon, 176. Her advances
authority, 132.                                towards a marriage with Charles duke of
Leo X., pope of Rome, his character, 113. His   Bourbon, rejected by him, 177. Determines
apprehensions on the election of an emperor   to ruin him, ib. Instigates a law-suit against
of Germany, at the death of Maximilian, ib.   him  for his estates, ib,  Goes to dissuade
His counsel to the German princes, 114. Grants   Francis from his intended invasion of the AMiCharles V. a tenth of all ecclesiastical benefices   lanese, who will not wait for her, 188. Is apin Castile, 117. Lays Castile under an inter-   pointed regent during his absence, ib.  Her
diet, but takes it off at the instance of Charles,   prudent conduct on the defeat of Pavia, and
ib. His conduct on the prospect of war be-   captivity of her son Francis, 193. Concludes
tween Charles and Francis, 120. Situation of   a defensive alliance with Henry VIII., 197.
the papacy at his accession, and his views of   Ratifies the treaty of Madrid for the recovery
policy, 125. His inattention to Martin Luther's   of her son's liberty, 203.  Undertakes with
controversy with the Dominicans, concerning    Margaret of Savoy to accommodate the differindulgences, 129.  Is instigated against him    ences between the emperor and Francis, 230
and summons him to Rome, ib. Desires the    Articles of the peace of Cambray, ib.
elector of Saxony not to protect him, ib. Is Loyola, Ignatio, commands the castle of Pamprevailed on to permit Luther's doctrines to be    peluna, in Navarre, and is wounded in its deexamined in Germany, ib..'Cardinal Cajetan    fence, 150. His enthusiastic turn of mind, ib.
appointed to try him, ib. Issues abull in favour   The founder of the society of Jesuits, ib. Pre
of indulgences, 131. A suspension of proceed-   vails on the pope to establish the order, 287,
ings against Luther, and why, 132. Publishes   288. An examination into the constitution oi
a bull of excommunication against him, 133.   the order, 288. Office and power of the geneThe political views of his conduct between    ral, 288, 289. The rapid progress of the order,
Charles and Francis, 148. Concludes a treaty    290. See Jesuits.
withFrancis, ib. Concludes a treaty alsowith  Lunenburgh, duke of, avows the opinions of
Charles, 149.  The conditions of the treaty    Luther, 183.
with Charles, ib.  Its consequences to Italy, Luther, Martin, the happy consequences of tne
153  Is disappointed in a scheme formed by    opinions propagated by him, 124. Attacks inMoroni, chancellor of Milan, for attacking that   dulgences, 126. His birth and education, ib.
dutchy, ib.  Excommunicates mareschal de   Chosen philosophical professor at the univerFoix for his attack of Reggio, and declares   sity ofWittemberg, 127. Inveighs against the
against France, 153, 154.  Takes a body of   publishers of indulgences, ib. Writes to Albert
Swiss into pay, 154. The French driven out   elector of Mentz against them, ib. Composes
of the Milanese, 155. He dies, lb. The spirit   theses against indulgences, ib. Is supported
of confederacy broken by his death, ib.         by the Augustinians, and encouraged by FredeL'Esparre, Foix de, commands the French troops   rick elector of Saxony, 128. Is summoned to
in Navarre for Henry d'Albret, 150. Reduces   Rome by pope Leo, 129. Obtains of the pope
that kingdom, ib. His imprudent progress into   leave to have his doctrines examined in Ger
Castile, ib. Is taken prisoner by the Spaniards,   many, ib.  Appears before cardinal Cajetan
and the French driven out of Navarre, ib.       at Augsburg, ib. His resolute reply to the peLeonard, Father, forms a scheme of betraying    remptory order of Cajetan, to retract his prinMetz to the imperialists, 440, 441. Introduces   ciples, 130. Withdraws from Augsburg, and
soldiers clad like friars, 441. Is detected, ib.   appeals from the pope ill-informed, to the pope
Is murdered by his monks, 442.                 when better informed, concerning him, ib.
Levesque,.Don, his account of the motives which    Appeals to a general council, 131. The death
induced the emperor Charles V. to resign his   of Maximilian, how of service to him, 132.
hereditary dominions, 454, note                Questic.is the papal authority in a public disLewis II., king of Hungary and Bohemia, his   putation, ib. His opinions condemned by the
character, 219. Is invaded and killed by Soly-   universities of Cologne and Louvain, ib. A
man the Magnificent, ib.                       bull of excommunication published against
XII., king of France, receives homage of   him, 133. Pronounces the pope to be antithe archduke Philip, for the earldom of Flan-   christ, and burns the bull, ib. Reflections on
ders, 90. Concludes a treaty with him, while   the conduct of the court of Rome towards
at war with Ferdinand of Arragon, 91. Be-   him, 134.  Reflections on his conduct, ib.
stows his niece, Germain de Foix, on Ferdi-   Causes which contributed to favour his oppo
nand, and concludes a peace with him, 93.   sition to the church of Rome, 135. Particu
Lcses the confidence of Philip on that occa-   larly the art of printing, 142. And the revival
sion, 98, note. Bestows his eldest daughter,   of learning, ib.  He is summoned to appear
already betrothed to Charles V., on the count   at the diet of Worms, 145.  A safe-conduct
of Angouleme, ib.                              granted him thitner, ib. His reception there,
Leyva, Antonio de, defends Pavia for the emperor   ib. Refuses to retract his opinions, ib. Deagainst Francis, 189. His vigorous defence,   parts, 146. An edict published against him,
190. Sallies out at the battle of Pavia, and    ib. He is seized and concealed at Wartburg,
contributes to the defeat of Francis, 192. Is   ib. Progress of his doctrines, ib. The unileft governor of Milan by the duke of Bour-   versity of Paris publishes a decree against him,
bon, 214. Defeats the forces there, 229. Is   ib. Wrote against by Henry VIII. of England,
appointed generalissimo of the Italian league,   146, 147. Answers both, 147. Withdraws
242.  Directs the operations of the invasion    from his retreat to check the inconsiderate zeal
of France, under the emperor; 266. Dies, 269.   of Carlostadius, 182. Undertakes a translaLiterature, its obligations to the order of Jesuits,   tion of the Bible, ib. His doctrines avowed
291.                                            by several of the German princes, 183. His
Lorenzo di Medici. See JMedici.                   moderate and prudent conduct, 207. Marries
Losrain, cardinal of, persuades Henry 1I. of   Catharine a Boria, a nun, ib. The great proFrance to accept the offered alliance with pope    gress of his doctrines among the Germanic
VOL. IL-76




b)2l                                   IN D EX.
States, 235. Encourages the protestants, dispi-   Rescued by Francis, ib. Interview and treaty
rited by the emperor's decree against him, 238.   there between the pope and Francis, 243.
His concern at the practices of the anabaptists MJIartinuzzi, bishop of Waradin, is appointed
at Munster, 249. Is invited to Leipsic by Henry    guardian to Stephen king of Hungary, 297.
duke of Saxony, 279. His opinion of Gropper's    His character, ib. Solicits the assistance of
treatise to unite the protestants and catholics,   sultan Solyman against Ferdinand, ib. Soly295. Dies, 329. Summary of his character,   man seizes the kingdom, 297,298. Is appointed
329, 330. Extract from his last will, 331, note.   to the government of Transylvania and the
See Protestants. A view of the extraordinary    education of the young king, jointly with the
effects of his revolt from the church of Rome,   queen, 398. Negotiates with Ferdinand, 399.
on that court, and on Europe in general,   Prevails with the queen to resign Transylvania
494-497.                                        to Ferdinand, ib. Is appointed governor of
Luxembourg, invaded by Robert de la Marck,   Transylvania, and made a cardinal, 399, 400.
lord of Bouillon, 151. Invaded and overrun    Is assassinated by Ferdinand's order, 400
by the duke of Orleans, 305. Is again invaded  Martyr, Peter, his authority cited in proof of
by Francis, 308.                                the extortions of the Flemish ministers of
Charles V., 109.
Jladrid, treaty of, between the emperor Charles.Mary of Burgundy, contracted to Lewis XII. of
V. and his prisoner Francis I. king of France,   France, but married to the emperor Maximi202. Sentiments of the public with regard to   lian, 89.
this treaty, 203.                             -      of England, her accession, 431. Receives
JMagdeburg, the city of, refuses to admit the In-   proposals from the emperor Charles V. of mar
terim enforced by Charles V., and prepares for   rying his son Philip, ib. The English averse
defence, 388. Maurice elector of Saxony ap-   to this union, ib. The house of commons repointed to reduce it, 389. Is put under the ban    monstrates against the match, 432. The arti
of the empire, 395. The territories of, invaded    cles of marriage, ib.  The marriage ratified
by George of Mecklenburgh, ib. The inhabit-   by parliament and completed, 433. Re-estaants defeated in a sally, ib. Maurice of Sax-   blishes the Romish religion, lb.  Pergecutes
ony arrives and besieges the city, ib. Surren-   the reformers, ib. Invites Charles to England
ders, 396.  The senate elects Maurice their   on his resignation and passage to Spain, which
burgrave, ib.                                   he declines, 463. Is engaged by Philip to assist
JIahsned, king of Tunis, history of his sons, 253.   him in his war against France, 467. Levies.Majorca, an insurrection there, 173. Which is   money by her prerogative to carry on the war,
quelled with difficulty, ib. The moderation of   ib. Her neglect in the security of Calais, 475
Charles towards the insurgents, on his arrival   Calais invested and taken by the duke of Guise,
in Spain, 174.                                  ib. Dies, 484.
Majesty, the appellation of, assumed by Charles, daughter of James V. of Scotland, suc
V. on his election to the imperial crown, and    ceeds to the crown an infant, 307.  Is con
taken by all the other monarchs of Europe, 116.   tracted to the dauphin of France, 374.  Is
MEalines, council of, an account of, 282.         educated at the court of France, 393. The
JMalta, the island of, granted by the emperor   marriage completed, lb. Assumes the title and
Charles V. to the knights of St. John, expelled    arms of England on the death of Mary, 485.
from Rhodes by the Turks, 159.                Matthias, John, a baker, becomes a leader of the
J.lamalukes, extirpated by sultan Selim II., 112.    anabaptists at Munster, 246. Seizes the city,
Jdammelukes, a faction in Geneva so termed,   and establishes a new  form  of government
some account of, 261.                           there, 246, 247. Repulses the bishop of Munster,.Manuel, Don John, Ferdinand's ambassador at   247. Is killed,ib. See Boccold and 3nabaptists
the imperial court, pays his court to the arch- Maurice, duke of Saxony, his motives for not
duke Philip on queen Isabella's death, 92. In-   acceding to the protestant league of Smalkalde,
tercepts Joanna's letter of consent to Ferdi-   310. Marches to the assistance of Ferdinalnd
nand's regency of Castile, ib.  Negotiates a    in Hungary, ib. His difference with his cousin
treaty between Ferdinand and Philip, 93. De-   the elector, ib.  His conduct at the diet of
dares for Maximilian's reaency on Philip's   Worms, 323. Joins the emperor against the
death, 96. Is made imperial ambassador at   protestants, 339. His motives, 344. His insiRome, and concludes an alliance between    dious conduct towards the elector, 345. Seizes
Charles V. and Leo X., 149. The conditions   the electorate of Saxony, 346. Saxony recoof the treaty, ib. Procures Adrian of Utrecht   vered by the elector, 349. IIis ineffectual ento be elected pope, 156.                        deavours to reduce Wittemberg for the empeJMarcellus II., pope, his character, 448. Dies, ib.   ror, 364. Obtains possession of the electorate,
lIarciano, battle of, between Peter Strozzi and    366. Is formally invested at the diet of Auss
the marquis de Marignano, 438.                  burg, 378. Becomes dissatisfied with the empeMargaret of Austria, and dowager of Savoy,   ror, 386. His motives for discontent explained,
aunt to Charles V., undertakes with Louise,   ib. His address and caution in his conduct,
mother of Francis I. of France, to accommo-   387. Makes, nevertheless, professions of his
date the differences between those two moon-   attachment to thereformation, ib. Undertakes
archs, 230. Articles of the peace of Cambray,   tc reduce Magdeburg to submit to the Interim,,
230, 231.                                       388. Protests against the council of Trent, ib.
Mlarignano, marquis of, appointed commander   Is commissioned by the emperor to reduce
of the Florentine army, acting against the    Magdeburg, 389. Joins George of Mecklenburg
French, 437. Defeats the French army under   before Magdeburg, 395. The city capitulates.
Peter Strozzi, 438. Lays siege to Sienna, lb.   396. Begins to intrigue with count Mansfeldt,
Converts the siege into a blockade, ib. Sienna   ib.  Is elected burgrave of Magdeburg, ib.
surrenders, 439.  Reduces Porto Ercole, ib.   Dismisses his troops, 397.  His address in
His troops ordered into Piedmont by the em-   amusing the emperor, ib. Makes an alliance
peror, ib.                                      with Henry II. of France, to make war on the
Mrarck, Robert de Ia, lord of Bouillon, declares   emperor, 401. Makes a formal requisition of
war against the emperor Charles V., 150. Ra-   the landgrave's liberty, 402. Joins his troops,
vages Luxembourg with French troops, 151.   and publishes a manifesto, 404, 405.  Takes
Is commanded to disband  his troops by    possession of Augsburg and other cities, 405.
Francis, ib.  His territories reduced by the    An ineffectual negotiation with Charles, 406.
emperor, ib.                                    Defeats a body of the emperor's troops, 407
J~Marseilles, besieged bv the imperialists, 187.   Takes the castle of Ehrenberg ib. Is retarded




INDEX.                                           60o
by a mutiny in his troops, ib. Enterslnspruck,   condition, 420.  A scheme formed by father
and narrowly misses taking Charles, 408. A    Leonard to betray the city to the imperialists,
negotiation between him and Ferdinand, 411.   440, 441.  The conspiracy detected by the
Besieges Frankfort on the Maine, 413. His in-   governor, 441.  Leonard murdered by his
ducements to an accommodation, 414. Signs   monks, and his associates executed, 442.
a treaty with the emperor at Passau, ib. Re-  Iiezieres, in France, besieged by the imperialists,
flections on his conduct in this war, 415.   151.  Gallant defence of, by the chevalier
Marches into Hungary to oppose the Turks,   Bayard, ib. The siege raised, ib.
416. Is placed at the head of the league against MJlilan, mareschal de Foix appointed to be the
Albert of Brandenburg, 424. Defeats Albert,   French governor of, 153.  His character, ib.
but is killed in the battle, ib. His character,   The Milanese alienated from the French by his
ib. Is succeeded by his brother Augustus, 425.   oppressions, ib. Invaded by the ecclesiastical
4axzetilian, emperor of Germany, claims the    troops under Prosper Colonna, 154. The French
regency of Castile on his son Philip's death,   driven out, 157.  Oppressed by the imperial
95.  Is supported in his claim by Don John    troops, 175. Invaded by the French, 178. Who
Manuel, 96. Loses it, ib. Obtains the govern-   are driren out by Colonna, 178, 179. The imment of the Low-Countries by the death of   perial troops there mutiny for pay, but are
Philip, 98. Appoints William de Croy, lord of   appeased by Moroni, 181. Abandoned by the
Chievres, to superintend the education of his   French, ib. Overrun again by Francis, who
grandson Charles, ib. Concludes a peace with   seizes the city, 188,189. The French retire on
France and Venice, 106. Dies, 110. State of   news of the battle of Pavia, 192. The investiEurope at this period, 111. His endeavours to   ture of, granted to Sforza, 197. Taken from
secure the imperial crown to his grandson    him and granted to the duke of Bourbon. 201.
Charles, ib. How obstructed, ib.                Disorders committed by the imperial troops
Meckleznbug-, George of, invades the territories   there, 209. Oppressive measures of Bourbon
of Magdeburg for the emperor, 395. Defeats   to supply his mutinous troops, 213. The French
the Magdeburgers, who sally out on him, ib.   forces there defeated by Antonio de Leyva, 229.
Is joined by Maurice of Saxony, who assumes   Is again granted by the emperor to Sforza, 234.
the supreme command, ib.                        Death of Sforza, 262.  The pretensions ol
~Medecino, John James. See JMiAsignLano.          Francis to that dutchy, 263. Is seized by the
Afedici, Alexander, restored to the dominions'of   emperor, 266.  The marquis del Guasto ap
Florence by the emperor Charles, 234.  Is    pointed governor, 269.
assassinated, 275..Mohacz, battle of, between Solyman the Magni—, cardinal de, elected pope, and assumes   ficent and the Hungarians, 219.
thetitleofClement VII.,179. See Clement VII..Monastic orders, inquiry into the fundamental
~, Catharine di, is married to the duke of   principles of, 288. Peculiar constitution of the
Orleans, 243. Is conjectured by the emperor   order of Jesuits, ib.
Charles V. to have poisoned the dauphin, 270. JMoncado, Don Hugo de, the imperial ambassador
-—, Cosmo de, made duke of Florence, 275.   at Rome, his intrigues with cardinal Colonna
Is supported by the emperor, and defeats the    against pope Clement, 212. Reduces the pope
partisans of Lorenzo, 276. Asserts his inde-   to an accommodation, 213. Is defeated and
pendency against the emperor, 421. Offers to    killed by Andrew Doria in a naval engagement
reduce Sienna for the emperor, 436. Enters    before the harbour of Naples, 226.
into a war with France, ib. See JMarignano.  Monluc, is sent by the count d'Enguien to Francis
His address in procuring the investiture of   for permission to give battle to the marquis del
Sienna from Philip II. of Spain, 472.  It is    Guasto, 315. Obtains his suit by his spirited
granted to him, 473.                            arguments, ib. Commands in Sienna, when
-, Lorenzo de, assassinates his kinsman    besieged by the marquis de Marignano, 438.
Alexander, 275. Flies, ib. Attempts to oppose    His vigorous defence, ib. Is reduced by famine,
Cosmo, but is defeated, 275, 276.               and capitulates, 438, 439..edina del Campo, the inhabitants of, refuse to.Monte Alcino, numbers of the citizens of Sienna
let Fonseca take the military stores there for   retire thither after the reduction of that city
the siege of the insurgents in Segovia, 161.   by theFlorentines, and establish a free governThe town almost burnt by Fonseca, ib. The    ment there, 439.
inhabitants repulse him, ib. Surrenders after  lMontecuculi, count of, accused and tortured for
the battle of Villalar, and dissolution of the   poisoning the dauphin, charges the emperor
holy Junta, 171.                                with instigating it, 270.
Jielancthon, imbibes the opinions of Martin Lu- Jlontmorency, mareschal, his character, 267.
ther, 134. Is employed to draw up a confession    Francis adopts his plan for resisting the enipeof faith by the protestant princes at the diet of   ror, and commits the execution to him, ib. His
Augsburg, 237. Is dejected by the emperor's   precautions, ib. His troops despise his condecree against the protestants, but comforted    duct, 268. Observations on his operations, ib.
by Luther, 238. Is invited to Paris by Francis,   Is disgraced, 304. Conducts the army of Henry
259.  Ilis conference with Eccius, 294.  Is   II. to join Maurice of Saxony, and seizes Metz,
prevailed upon to favour the Interim enforced    406.  Dissuades Henry from  accepting the
by the emperor, 387.                            offered alliance with pope Paul IV., 451. Com-.Melito, Cond6 de, made viceroy of Valencia, on    mands the French army against the duke of
the departure of Charles V. for Germany, 119.   Savoy, 468. Detaches Dandelot to relieve St.
Appointed to command the troops of the nobles   Quintin, ib. Exposes himself imprudently to
againstthe Germanada, 173. Defeatedby them      an action, and is defeated, ib. Is taken priin several actions, ib. Destroys the associa-   soner, 469. Negotiates a peace between Philip
tion, ib.                                       and Henry, 480. Returns to France, and is
MJentz, archbishop of, artfully declares before the    highly honoured by Henry, ib. His assiduity
emperor, the diet of Augsburg's acceptance of   in forwarding the negotiations, 484. His exthe Interim, without being authorized by it, 377.   pedient for promoting the treaty of Chateau
JKerveille, a Milanese gentleman, employed as   Cambresis, 485.
envoy from Francis I. to Francis Sforza duke  JMlontpelier, a fruitless conference hela there for
of Milan, his fate, 258, 259.                   the restitution of the kingdom of Navarre, 110
Metz, seized by Montmorency, the French gene- JiMoroni, Jerome, chancellor of Milan, his charac
ral, 406. The duke of Guise made governor of,   ter, 153. Retires from the French exactions in
418. Is besieged by the emperor, 419. The    Milan to Francis Sforza, ib. His intrigues how
emperor desists, and retires in a distressed    rendered abortive, ib. Quiets the mutiny of




Wb4                                     INDEX.
the imperial troops in Milan, 181. Is disgusted  JVoyon,treatyof, betweenCharles V. aird Francls
with the behaviour of Charles, 197. Intrigues   I. of France, 106. The terms of, neglected by
against the emperor with Pescara, 198. Is be-   Charles, 120.
trayed to the emperor by Pescara, 199. Is ar-  Nuremberg, the city of, embraces the reformed
rested at his visit to Pescara, ib.  Is set at   religion, 183.  Diet of, particulars of Pope
liberty by the duke of Bourbon, and becomes   Adrian's brief to, respecting the reformers, ib
his confidant, 213, 214.                        The reply to, 184. Proposes a general council,
iliouson, in France, taken by the imperialists,   ib. Presents a list of grievances to the pope,
151. Retaken by Francis; lb.                    ib. The recess, or edict of, ib. This diet of.Mlulhausen, battle of. between the emperor   great advantage to the reformers, 185. ProCharles V. and the elector of Saxony, 362.      ceedings of a second diet there, 185, 186. ReJMuley-Hascen, ling of Tunis, his inhuman    cessof the diet, 186. An accommodation agreed
treatment of his father and brothers, 253. Is   to there, between the emperor Charles V. and
expelled by Barbarossa, 254. Engages the em-   the protestants, 240.
peror to restore him, 255. Is established again
by the surrender of Tunis, 257.  His treaty  Oran, and other places in Barbary, annexed to
with Charles, ib.                              the crown of Castile, by Ximenes, 97.
Muncer, Thomas, a disciple of Luther, opposes  Orange, Philibert de Chalons, prince of, general
him with fanatical notions, 206. Heads the   of the imperial army on the death of the duke
insurrection of the peasants in Thuringia, ib.   of Bourbon, takes the castle of St. Angelo, and
His extravagant schemes, ib. Is defeated and    pope Clement VII. prisoner, 218. Retires to
put to death, 207.                              Naples on the approach of Lautrec, 225, 226.
Munster, the first settlement of the anabaptists    Takes his successor, the marquis de Saluces,
in that city, 246. The city seized by them, ib.   prisoner at Aversa, 228.
They establish a new  form  of government Orleans, duke of, delivered up to the emperor
there, 246, 247.  Is called Mount Sion, 247.   Charles V. with the dauphin, as hostages for
The bishop of, repulsed by them, lb. Is block-   the performance of the treaty of Madrid, 204.
aded by the bishop, 249. The city taken, ib.   Is married to Catharine di Medici, 243. BeSee anabaptists.                                comes dauphin by the death of his brother, 271
lllurder, the prices of composition for, by the    See Dauphin.
Romish clergy, 137.                                -  duke of, brother to the former, com
slustapha, the declared heir to sultan Solyman    mands the army appointed byFrancis I. for the
the Magnificent, is invested with the adminis-   invasion of Luxembourg, 304. Is prompted by
tration of Diarbequir, 428. His father ren-   envy to abandon his conquests, and join his
dered jealous of his popularity by the arts of   brother the dauphin in Roussillon, 305. Dies,
Roxalana, 428,429. Is strangled by his father's   324.
order, 430. His only son murdered, ib.
Pacheco, Donna Maria, wife to Don John de Pa'aples, the revenues of, mortgaged by Lannoy    dilla, her artful scheme to raise money to supply
to supply the emperor in his exigencies, 189.   the army of the holy Junta, 168. Her husband
Invaded by the French under the duke of Al-   taken prisoner and executed, 170. His letter to
bany,190. Invaded bypope ClementVII.,214.   her, ib. JVote. Raises forces to revenge his
Treaty between the pope and Lannoy, viceroy    death, 171. Is reduced, and retires to Portuof, 215. The prince of Orange retreats thither,  gal, 172.
before Lautrec, 225, 226.  Is blockaded by  Padilla, Don John de, his family and character
Lautrec, 226. Sea engagement in the harbour   160. Heads the insurrection at Toledo, ib.
of, between Andrew Doria and Moncada, lb.   Routs the troops under Ronquillo, 161. Calls
Causes which disappointed the French opera-   a convention of the malecontents at Avila, 162.
tions against, 226, 227.  Doria revolts and    Forms the confederacy called The Holy Junta,
opens the communication by sea again, 227.   163. Disclaims Adrian's authority, ib. Gets
Oppressed by the Spanish viceroy Don Pedro    possession of queen Joanna, ib. Removes the
de Toledo, becomes disaffected to the emperor   holy Junta to Tordesillas, the place of her resi
Charles V., 422.  Is harassed by a Turkish    dence, ib. Sent with troops to Valladolid, and
fleet, ib.                                      deprives Adrian of all power of government
NJassau, count of, invades Bouillon at the head    163,164. Is superseded in the command of the
of the imperialists, 151. Invades France, takes   army of the Junta, by Don Pedro de Giron, 167.
Mouson, and besieges Mezieres, but is re-   Is appointed commander at the resignation
pulsed, ib.                                     of Giron, 168. His army supplied with money
J'avarre, the kingdom of, unjustly acquired by    by an expedient of his wife, ib. Besieges Tor
Ferdinand ofArragon, 97. D'Albtet's invasion    relobaton, 169.  Takes and plunders it, ib.
of, defeated by cardinal Ximenes, 105.  Its    Concludes a truce with the nobles, ib. Is
castles dismantled, except Pampeluna, which    wounded and taken prisoner in an action with
Ximenes strengthens, ib. Invaded by Francis   the Cond6 de Haro, 170. Is put to death, ib.
I. in the name of Henry D'Albret, 150. Re-   His letter to his wife, ib. J\rote. His letter to
duced by l'Esparre, the French general, ib.   the city of Toledo, 171. JVote.
The French driven out by the Spaniards, and  Palatinate, the reformation established there by
l'Esparre taken prisoner, ib.                   the elector Frederick, 326.
N.etherlands, the government of, first assumed  Palatine, count, ambassador from  the diet at
by Charles V., 99. The Flemings averse to    Franefort, brings Charles V. the offer of the
Charles's going to Spain, 107.  Invaded by    imperial crown, which he accepts, 117.
Francis 1. king of France, 151. A truce con- Pampeluna, castle of, in Navarre, its fortifica
eluded with, by Henry VIII. of England, 226,   tions strengthened by cardinal Ximenes, 105.
227. Invaded by Francis again, 271. A sus-   Taken by l'Esparre, the French general, for
pension of arms there, ib. An insurrection at   Henry  d'Albret, 150.  Retaken  from  the
Ghent, 281, 282. See Ghent. Is once more   France, ib.
invaded by Francis, 308.  Resigned by the  Papacy, now liable to be affected by the disposal
emperor to his son Philip, 455. A review of   of the imperial crown, 113.
the alterations in, during the sixteenth century, Paraguay, a sovereignty established there by the
499.                                       X   order of Jesuits, 292. The inhabitants of civilMice, a truce for ten years concluded there be-   ized by them, ib. Precautions used by the
tween theemperor and Francis, 273. Besieged    Jesuits to preserve the independency of their
by the French and Turks, 309.                   empire there, 293.




INDEX.                                           60s
Parls, a decree published by the university of, Puscara, marquis de, takes Milan by assault, 155
against Martin Luther the reformer, 146. A    Drives Bonnivet back to France, 181.  HiL
decree of the parliament of, published against   generous care of the chevalier Bayard, 182.
the emperor Charles V., 270, 271.;             Commands in the invasion of P'rovence, 18r
Parma, the dutchy of, confirmed to Octavio Far-   Besieges Marseilles, ib. His army retires tonese, by pope Julius III., 392. Is attacked by    ward Italy, on the appearance of the French
the imperialists, and successfully protected by    troops, ib. Resigns Milan to the French, 18.
the French, 393.                                Prevails on the Spanish troops not to murmur
Passau, a treaty concluded there between the    at present for their pay, ib. Contributes to the
emperor Charles V. and Maurice of Saxony,   defeat of Francis, at the battle of Pavia, 192.
414. Reflections on this peace, and the con-   Is disgusted at Francis being taken to Spain
duct of Maurice, 415.                           without his concurrence, 198. His resentment
Pavia, besieged by Francis I. of France, 189.   inflamed by Moron6, ib. Betrays Moronr's
Vigorously defended by Antonio de Leyva,   designs to the emperor, 199. Arrests Morond,
190. Battle of, between Francis and the duke   ib. Dies, 201.
of Bourbon, 191, 192. The imperial troops in  Philip, archduke of Austria, and father of Charles.hat city mutiny, 195.                          V., visits Spain, with his wife Joanna, 90.
Pael III. pope, elected, 245. His character, ib.   Does homage by the way to Lewis XII. of
Proposes a general council to be held at Man-   France for the earldom of Flanders, ib. His
tua, 251. Negotiates personally between the    title to the crown acknowledged by the Cortes,
emperor and Francis, 273. Issues a bull for a    ib. Is disgusted with the formality of the
council at Mantua, 277. Prorogues and trans-   Spanish court, ib. Ferdinand becomes jealous
fers it toVicenza, 278. A partial reformation    of his power, ib. Slights his wife, ib. His
of abuses by, ib. Summons the council of   abrupt departure from  Spain, ib.  Passes
Trent, 311.  Prorogues it, ib.  Summons it   through France, and enters into a treaty with
again, 322. Grants the dutchies of Parma and    Lewis, 91.  His sentiments on Ferdinand's
Placentia to his illegitimate son, 325. Deprives   obtaining the regency of Castile, 92.  Reand excommunicates the electoral bishop of   quires Ferdinand to retire to Arragon, and
Cologne, 332. Presses the emperor to declare   resign his regency of Castile, ib. The regency
war against the protestants, 333. Concludes    of Castile vested jointly in him, Ferdinand,
an alliance with him against the protestants,   and Joanna, by the treaty of Salamanca, 93.
334. Indiscreetly publishes this treaty, 336.   Sets out for Spain, and is driven on the coast
His troops join the emperor, 341. Recalls them,   of England, where he is detained three months
350. Removes the council from Trent to Bo-   by Henry VII., 94. Arrives at Corunna, ib.
logna, 373. Refuses the emperor's request to    The Castilian nobility declare openly for him,
carry the council back to Trent, ib. His resent-   ib. Ferdinand resigns the regency of Castile
ment against the emperor for the murder of his   to him, lb. Interview between them, lb. Ao
son cardinal Farnese, 374. Is petitioned by    knowledged king of Castile by the Cortes, 95.
the diet of Augsburg for the return of the coun-     Dies, lb. Joanna's extraordinary conduct in
cil of Trent, 375. Eludes the complying with    regard to his body, ib. See Joanna.
this request, 375, 376. His sentiments of the  Philip, prince, son to the emperor Charles V., his
lnter'im, published by Charles, 378, 379. Dis-   right of succession recognised by the Cortes of
misses the council of Bologna, 381. Annexes    Arragon and Valencia, 306. Is acknowledged
Parma and Placentia to the holy see, 383.   by the states of the Netherlands, 382. His de
Dies, ib. The manner of his death inquired    portment disgusts the Flemings, ib. His chainto, ib. JVote.         -                       racter, 391. Is married to Mary queen of EngPaul IV. pope, elected, 448. His character and    land, 432, 433. The English parliament jealous
history, 449. Founds'the order of Theatines,   of him, 434. His father resigns his hereditary
lb. Is the principal occasion of establishing    dominions to him, 453. Is called by his father
the inquisition in the papal territories, ib.   out of England, 455. The ceremony of investLays aside his austerity on his election, ib.   ing him, ib. His father's address to him, 456
His partiality to his nephews, 450. Is alienated    Commissions Cardinal Granvelle to address the
from the emperor by his nephews, ib. Makes   assembly in his name, ib. Mary queen dowaovertures to an alliance with France, 451. Is   ger of Hungary resigns her regency, ib. The
enraged by the recess of the diet of Augsburg,   dominions of Spain resigned to him, 457. His
452. Signs a treaty with France, 453. Is in-   unpoliteness to the French ambassador Coligeluded in the truce for five years, concluded be-   ny, 458..Jote. The pope's violent proceedtween the emperor and Henry, 458. His insi-   ings againsthim, 460. His scruples concerning
dious artifices to defeat this truce, 458, 459.   commencing hostilities against the pope, 461.
Absolves Henry from his oath, and concludes   His ungrateful neglect in paying his.father's
a new treaty with him, 460. His violent pro-   pension, 463.  The pope renews hostilities
ceedings against Philip, now king of Spain, ib.   against him, 465. Assembles an army in the
The Compagna Romana seized by the duke    Low-Countries against France, 466.  Goes
d'Alva, 461. Concludes a truce with Alva,   over to England to engage that kingdom in the
461, 462. Contrast between his conduct and    war, 466, 467. Visits the camp at St. Quintin,
that of Charles, 464. Renews his hostilities    after the victory, 469. Opposes the scheme of
against Philip, 465. Is unprovided for military    penetrating to Paris, and orders the siege of
operations, ib. Is reduced to make peace with    St. Quintin to be prosecuted, 470. St. Quintin
Philip, by the recall of the duke of Guise after   taken by assault, lb. The small advantages he
the defeat of St. Quintin, 471, 472. Receives   reaped by these successes, 471. Builds the Esan ambassador from the emperor Ferdinand to   curial in memory of the battle of St. Quintin,
notify his election, but refuses to see him, or to   ib. Concludes a peace with the pope, 47.
acknowledge the emperor, 476, 477. Dies, 483.   Restores Placentia to Octavio Farnese, ib.
Paulin, a French officer, sent ambassador from    Grants the investiture of Sienna to Cosmo di
Francis I. to sultan Solyman, 307.'His suc-   Medici, 473. Enters into negotiationsfor peace
cessfiul negotiations at the Porte, 307, 308.   with his prisoner Montmorency, 480. Death
Pembroke, earl of, sent by queen Mary of Eng-   of queen Mary, 484. Addresses her successor
land with a body of men to join the Spanish    Elizabeth for marriage, ih. Elizabeth's moarmy in the Low-Countries, 467.                 tives for rejecting him, 485. Her evasive anPecipignan, the capital of Roussillon, besieged    swertohim,ib. Supplants his son Don Carlos.
by the dauphin of France, 305.  The siege    and marries Henry's daughter Elizabeth, 487.
raised, ib.                                     Articles of the treaty of Chateau Cambreis, ib




606                                     INDEX.
Philibert, Emanuel, duke of Savoy. See Savoy. Provence, is laid waste by the mareschal Mont.
Philippine, nephew to Andrew Doria, defeats    morency on the approach  of the emperoi
Moncada in a sea engagement before the har-   Charles V., 267. Is entered by the emperor,
bour of Naples, 226.                            268. The disastrous retreat of the emperor
Piadena, marquis de, invades Transylvania for   from, 269.
Ferdinand, 399. Misrepresents cardinal Mar- Prussia, when conquered by the Teutonic order,
tinuzzi to Ferdinand, and obtains a commis-   208. Is erected into a dutchy, and finally into
sion to assassinate him, 400.  Is forced to    a kingdom, and enjoyed by the house of Branabandon Transylvania, 427.                      denburg, ib.
Picardy, invaded by Henry VIII., 158. Henry
forced by the duke de Vendomle to retire, 158, Ratisbon, a conference between a deputation ol
159. Invaded again under the duke of Suffolk,   protestant and catholic divines, before the
180. Penetrates almost to Paris, but is driven    emperor and diet there, 294. This conference
back, ib. Ineffectual invasion by the impe-   how renderedfruitless, 294,295. A diet opened
rialists, 270.                                  there by the emperor, 333. The catholic mem
Placentia, the dutchy of, granted together with    bers of, assert the authority of the council ol
that of Parma, by pope Paul III. to his natural   Trent, ib. The protestants present a memo
son, cardinal Farnese, 325. Farnese assassi-   rial against it, ib. Tie protestant deputies
nated there, 374. Is taken possession of by the    retire, 335.
imperial troops, ib. Restored to Octavio Far- Reformation in religion, the rise of, explained,
nese, by Philip II. of Spain, 472.              124. The diet at Worms called by Charles V.,
Pole, cardinal, arrives in England with a lega-   to check the progress of, ib. Account of Martine commission, 433. Endeavours to mediate   tin Luther, the reformer, 126. Beginning of,
a peace between the emperor and the king of   in Switzerland, by Zuinglius, 132  State of, in
France, without success, 442. Is recalled from  Germany, at the arrival of Charles V., 133.
the court of England by pope Paul IV., 465.     Reflections on the conduct of the courtof Rome
Printing, its effects on the progress of the refor-   toward Luther, 134. And on Luther's conmation, 142.                                    duct, ib. Inquiry into the causes which con
Prague, its privileges abridged by Ferdinand    tributed to the progress of, 135,136. Observa
king of Bohemia, 371.                           tions on the pontificate of Alexander VI. and
Protestants, the derivationofthe name,236. Of   Julius II., 136. The immoral lives of the
whom they originally consisted, ib. A severe    Romish clergy, ib. The progress of, favoured
decree published against them by the emperor,   by the invention of printing, 142. And the re237.  They enter into a league, 238.  See    vival oflearning,142,143.  The great progress
Smalkalde. Renew their league, and apply to   of, in Germany, 182. Advantages derived to,
Francis, king of France, and Henry VIII. of   from the diet at Nuremberg, 185. Its tendency
England, for protection, 239. Are secretly en-   in favour of civil liberty, 205. The dissensions
couraged by Francis, ib. Receive a supply of   between the emperor and the pope, favourable
money fron Henry, 240. Terms of the pacifi-   to, 220. The great spread of, among the Gercation agreed to between them and the em-   man princes, 235. The confession of Augs.
peror at Nuremberg, ib. Assist the emperor    burg drawn up by Melancthon, 237. Causes
against the Turks, ib. Their negotiations with    which led to that of England, 244. Theexcesses
the pope, relative to a general council, 241.   it gave rise to, 245. See Protestants, JliauRenew the league of Smalkalde for ten years,   rice, and Smalkalde. Is established in Saxony,
251. Themotivesforrefusingtoassisttheking    279. The great alteration occasioned by, in
of France against the emperor, 260..Refuse to   the court of Rome, 494. Contributed to imacknowledge the council summoned by the    prove both the morals and learning of the
pope at Mantua, 277. A con'erence between    Romish church, 496.
their principal divines and a deputation of Reggio, invested by the French, who are recatholics, at Ratisbon, 294. This conference    pulsed by the governor Guicciardini, the histo
how rendered fruitless, 294, 295. Obtain a pri-   rian, 153.
vate grant from Charles in their favour, 296. Remonstrance of grievances drawn up by the
Drive the duke of Brunswick from  his do-   holy Junta, the particulars of, 164, 165. Reminions, 312. All rigorous edicts against them    marks on, 166.
suspended by a recess of the diet of Spires, 313. Reverse, a deed so called, signed by the archTheir remonstrances to Ferdinand at the diet   duke Ferdinand on being elected king of Boheof Worms, 322. Their inflexible adherence to    mia, 219.
the recess of Spires, 323. Disclaim  all con- Rheggio, plundered and burnt by Barbarossa, 309.
nection with the council of Trent, ib. Are  Rhodes, the island of, besieged by Solyman the
strengthened by the accession of Frederick,   Magnificent, 159. Taken by him, ib. The
elector palatine, 326. Are alarmed at the pro-   island of Malta granted to the knights of, by
ceedings of the emperor, 328. The emperor   the emperor Charles V., ib.
leagues with the pope against them, 335. Pre- Richlieu, cardinal, his remarks on De Retz's hispare to resist the emperor, 337. Levy an army,   tory of Fiesco's conspiracy, 356. NJote.
338. The operations of the army distracted by  Rincon, the French ambassador at the Porte, the
the joint commanders, 341. The army dis-   motives of his return to France, 303. Is murpersed, 348. The elector of Saxony reduced,   dered in his journey back to Constantinople,
363. The landgrave deceived by treaty, and    by order of the imperial governor of the Miconfined, 368. The emperor's cruel treatment   lanese, ib.
of him, 370. The Interim, a system of theology  Rome, reflections on the conduct of the court of.
recommended by the emperor to the diet at   respecting the proceedings against Martin LuAugsburg, 377. Are promised protection by    ther,134. The exorbitantwealthof the church
the emperor at the council of Trent, 389. The    of, previous to the reformation, 139. Venality
emperor proceeds rigorously against them, 394.   of, 140. How it drained other countries of
Theil deputies obtain a safe conduct from the   their wealth, 141. The city seized by cardinal
emperor, but are refused by the council, 398.   Colonna, and pope Clemet VII. besieged in
Maurice of Saxony raises an army in their   the Castle of St. Angelo, 212, 213. The city
cause, 404. See.JIaurice. Treaty of Passau,   taken by the imperialists, and Bourbon killed,
414   The protestant princes again unite to   217. Is plundered, 218. The great revolution
strengthenthe protestant interest, 445. Recess   in the court of, during the sixteenth century,
of the diet of Augsburg on the subject of reii-   494, 495. How affected by the revolt of Lu
glon, ib. Why originally averse to the prin  ther,496. Thespiritof its government changed
iples of toleration, 446..by, lb.




INDEX.                                            607
Ronquillo, sent by cardinal Adrian with troops   taking arms against him, but chooses to coltito suppress the insurrection in Segovia, 161    nue with the emperor, 408. Obtains his liberty
Is routed by the insurgents, ib.                after the treaty of Passau, 416, 417.
Rovere, Francesco Marii de, restored to his         -- George, duke of, an enemy to the refordutchy of Urbino, by pope Adrian, 175.          mation, 279. His death an advantage to the
Roxalana, a Russian captive, becomes the fa-   reformatlon, ib. The protestantreligion estabvourite mistress of sultan Solyman the Magni-   lished there by Henry, duke of, ib. Ienry is
ficent, 427. Her only daughter married to   succeeded by hissonMaurice,310. Hismlotives
Rustan the grand vizier, ib. Procures herself   for not acceding to the league of Smalkalde, ib.
to be declared afree woman by the sultan, 428.   Marches to the assistance of Ferdinand in
Is formnally married to him, ib. Renders Solv-   Hungary, ib. Joins the emperor against the
man jealous of the virtues of his son Mustaplha,   protestants, 339.345. See JMaurice.
428, 429. Mustapha strangled, 430.            Schertel, Sebastian, a commander in the army of
Rustan, grand vizier to Solyman the M agnificent,   the protestant league,. his vigorous commenceis married to his daughter by Roxalana, 427.   ment of hostilities, 340. Is injudiciously reEnters into Roxalana's scheme to ruin Soly-   called, 341. Is expelled fron Augsburg on the
man's son Mustaphla,ib. Is sentwith an army    dispersion of the protestant army, 348.
to destroy him, 429. Draws Solyman to the  Scotland, James V. of, married to Mary of Guise,
army by false reports, 429, 430.                duchess dowager of Longueville, 276. Death
of James and accession of his infant daughter
Salanmanca, treaty of, between Ferdinand of Ar-   Mary, 307. Mary contracted to the dauphin of
ragon, and his son-in-law Philip, 93.           France, 374. The marriage celebrated, 477.
Salerno, prince of, heads the disaffected Neapoli-   Mary asslumes tlhe title and arms of England on
tans, against the oppressions Of the viceroy Doln  the death of Mary of England, 484. Included
Pedro de Toledo, 4'22. Solicits aid from Henry   in the treaty of Chateau-Camnbresis, 486. AlII. of France, who instigates the Turks to in-   teration in the conduct of England toward, 494.
vade Naples, ib,                              Sects in religion, reflections on the origin of,245.
Saluces, tmarquis de, succeeds Lautrec in the Segovia, an insurrection there, on account of
conmmand of the French army before Naples,   their representative Tordesillas voting for the
228. Retires to Aversa, where he is taken pri-   donative to Charles V., 160. Is killed by the
soner by the prince of Orange, ib. Betrayshis   populace, ib.  The insurgents there defeat
charge in Piedmont, 266.                        Ronquillo, sent to suppress them by cardinal
Sancerre, count de, defends St. Disier against the    Adrian, 161. Surrenders after the battle of
emperor Charles, 316. Is deceived into a sur-   Villalar, 171.
render by tile cardinal Granvelle, 317.        Slim II. Sultan, extirpates the Mamalukes, and
Sauva.ge, a Flemling, imade chancellor of Castile    adds Egypt and Syria to his empire, 112.
by Charles, on the death of Ximenes, 109. His    Considered as formidable to the European
extortions, ib.                                 powers, ib.
Savona, is fortified, and its lharbour cleared by  Sforza, obtains of Charles V. the investiture of
the French to favour its rivalship with Ge-   Milan, 197. Forfeits the dutchy byhis intriguef
noa, 227.                                       with Moroni, 199. Joins in a league against
Savoy, Charles, duke of, marries Beatrix of Por-    Charles for the recovery of Mlilan, 209. Is
tugal, sister to the emperor Charles V., 260.   forced to surrender Milan to the imperialists
The cause of Francis's displeasure against him,   211, 212. Obtains again of the emperor the in261. His territories over-run by the French    vestiture of Milan, 234. Enters into a private
troops, il. Geneva recovers its liberty, 262.   treaty with Francis, 258. Merveille, Francis's
His situation by the truce of Nice, between the    envoy, executed for murder, 259. Dies, 262.
emperor and Francis, 274. Is besieged at Nice, Sienna, the inhabitants of, implore the assistance
by the French and Turks, 309.                    of the emperor Charles V. to defend them
Savoy, Emanuel Philibert, duke of, appointed by    against their nobles, 421. The imperial troops
Philip of Spain to command his army in the    endeavour to enslave them, ib. Regain posLow-Countries, 467. Invests St. Quintin, ib.   session of their city, 422. Repulse an attack
Defeats Dandelot in an endeavour to join the    ofthe Germans, 426. Are besieged by the margarrison, 468. But does not hinder him from    quis  de Marignano, 438.  ThIe commander
entering the town, ib. Defeats the constable    Moonluc repulses the assaults vigorously, ib.
Montmorency, and takes him  prisoner, 468,   The town reduced by familne, ib. Numbers of
469. Is graciously visited in the camp by Philip,   the citizens retire, and establish a free govern469. Takes St. Quintin by assault, 470. As-   ment at Monte Alcino, 439. The remaining
bists Montmorency in negotiating peace be-   citizens oppressed, ib. And flock to Monte Altween Philip andHenry,480. Marries Henry's   cino, ib. Is granted by the emperor to his son
sister Elizabeth, 488.                           Philip, ib. The investiture given by Philip to
Saxony, elector of, appointed joint commander of   Cossmo di Medici, 473.
the army oftthe protestantleague, with the land- Sieverhausen,, battle of, between Maurice of
grave of Hesse, 341. Their characters corn-   Saxony and Albert of Brandenburgh, 424.
pared, ib. Opposes the landgrave's intention  Sion, cardinal of, his scheme for weakening the
of giving battle tothe emperor, 343. His elect-   French army in the Milanese, 155. Leaves the
orate seized by Maurice, 346. The army of the   imperial army to attend the conclave on the
league disperse, 348. Recovers Saxony, 319.   death of Leo X., ib.
Is aimused; by Maurice with a negotiation, ib. S7alkalde, the protestants enter into a league
Raises an army to defend himself against the    there for their mutual support, 238. The league
emperor, 361. Is irresolute in his measures,   renewed at a second meeting there, 239. The
lb. Charles passes the Elbe, 361, 362. Is at-   leagne of, renewed for ten years, 251. A manitacked by the imperialists, 362. Is taken pri-   festo, refusing to acknowledge a council called
soner ant harshly received by the emperor, 363,   by the pope, 277. The king of Denmark joins
Is condemned to death by a court martial 364.   the league, 278. The princes of, protest against
His resolution onl the occasion, 34, 365. Is in    the authority of the imperial chamber, and the
duced by regard to his family to sturrender his   recess of the diet at Nuremberg, 311. Publish
electorate, 365. Refuses the emperor's desire    a manifesto against the proceedings of the
of his apprloving the Interim?, 379. The rigour   council at Trent, 327. Are alarmed at the proof his confinement increased, ib. Is carried by    ceedings of the emperor, ib. A want of unity
the emperor with him into the Netherlandsl     among the members, 327, 328. Tie views of
381. Is released by the emperor on Maurice's'  tie elector of Saxony, and the landarave, ex




1t08                                     IN DE X.
plained, 328. Appear at the diet of Ratisbon  St. Justus, monastery of, in Placentia, is chosen
by deputies, 333. Their deputies protestagainst   by the emperor Charles V. for his retreat after
the council of Trent, 334. Their deputies,   his resignation, 464. His situation described,
alarmed at the emperor's proceedings and de-   ib. His apartments, ib.
clarations, leave the diet, 335. The emperor St. Quintin, invested by the Spanish troops, and
leagues with the pope against them, ib. Pre-   defended by admiral Coligny, 467, 468. Danpare to resist the emperor, 337. Are disap-   delot defeated in an endeavour to join the gai
pointed in their application to the Venetians   rison, 468. But enters the town, ib. Montand Sw'iss, 337, 338. As also with Henry VIII.   morency defeated by the duke of Savoy, 468,
and Francis, 338. Assemble a large army, 338,   469  The town taken by assault, 471.
339. Are put under the ban of the empire, 340. Strozzi, Peter, some account of, 437. Is intriusted
Declare war against the emperor, ib. Hostili-   with the command of the French army in Italy,
ties begun by Schertel, ib. They recall him,   ib.  Is defeated by the marquis de Marig341. The elector of Saxony and landgrave of   nano, 438.
Hesse appointed joint commanders of their Suabia, an insurrection of the peasants against
army, ib. The'characters of the two corn-   the nobles there, 205. They publish a memomanders compared, ib. Their operations dis-   rial of their grievances, ib. The insurgents
tracted by this joint command, 342,343. Can-   dispersed, 206. The protestant religion supnonade the emperor's camp, 343. Make over-   pressed there by the emperor Charles V., 394.
tures of peace to the emperor, 347. Their Suffolk, dukl  of, invades Picardy, penetrates alarmy disperse, 348. The elector of Saxony re-   most to Paris, but is driven back, 180.
duced, 363. The landgrave deceived and con- Surrey, earl of, created high admiral to the emfined, 368, 369. Their warlike stores seized by    peror Charles V., 158. Obliged to retire out oh
the emperor, 370. See JMaurice.                 Picardy by the duke de Vendome, 158, 159.
Solyman, the Magnificent, ascends the Ottoman  Sweden, a summary view of the revolutions in,
throne, 124. Invades Hungary and takes Bel-   during the sixteenth century, 499.
grade, 159. Takes the island of Rhodes, ib. Switzerland, the Cantons of, espouse the pretenDefeats the Hungarians at Mohacz, 219. His   sions of Charles V. to the imperial crown, 113.
successes, and the number of prisoners he car-   Commencement of the reformation there by
ried away, ib. Besieges Vienna, 233. Enters   Zuinglius, 132. The regulation under which
Hungary again with a vast army, but is forced   they hire out their troops, 154. The precipitate
to retire by the emperor Charles, 240, 241.   battle, insisted on by their troops under LauTakes Barbarossa, the pirate, under his protec-   tree, lost, 157.
tion, 253. Concludes an alliancewith Francis, Syria, how and by whom added to the Ottoman
king of France, 272. Prepares to invade Na-   empire, 112.
pies, ib. Protects Stephen, king of Hungary,
and defeats Ferdinand, 296, 297. Seizes Hun-  Termes, mareschal de, governor of Calais, takes
gary for himself, 237,298. Overruns Hungary    Dunlirk by storm, 478. Engages the count of
again, in fulfilment of his treaty with Francis,   Egmont, and is defeated by the accidental ar309. Concludes a truce with the emperor, 333.   rival of an English squadron on the coast, ib.
Loses Transylvania, 399. Ravages the coasts   Is taken prisoner, ib.
of Italy, 412. 422. Carries a mighty army into  Terouane; taken, and demolished by the emperor
Hungary, 413. Re-establishes Isabella and her   Charles V., 425, 426.
son in Transylvania, 427. His violent attach-  Tetzel, a Dominican friar, his shameful conduct
ment to his concubine Roxalana, ib. Is pre-   in the sale of indulgences in Germany, 125.
vailed on to declare her a free woman, 428.   His form of absolution., and recommendation
Formally marries her, ib. Is rendered jealous   of the virtues of indulgences, 126. JNote. His
of the virtues of his son Mustapha, by the arts   debauched course of life, ib. Publishes theses
of Roxalana, 428, 429.  Orders him  to be    against Luther, 128.
strangled, 429. Orders the murder of Musta-  Teutonic order, a character of, 208. Conquer
pha's son, 430.                                 the province of Prussia, ib. Their grand-mas
Spain, the state of, at the death of Ferdinand of   ter Albert made duke of Prussia, ib.
Arragon, 99, 100. Charles, king of, aspires to  Theatines, the order of, by whom founded, 449.
the imperial crown on the death of Maximilian, Thionville, in Luxembourg, taken by the duke
111. Is elected emperor, 116. Reflections of   of Guise, 477.
the Spaniards on that event, ib. Charles ap-  Thuringia, an insurrectionof the peasants there,
points viceroys, and departs for Germany, 119.   against the nobility, 206. The fanatical notions
Insurrections there, 160. A view of the feudal   inspired into them  by Thomas Muncer, ib.
system in, 162. An account of the confederacy    Their disorderly army defeated, 207.
termedtheholyJunta, 162,163. Causeswhich  Toledo, insurrection in, at the departure of
prevented an union of the malecontents in the    Charles V. for Germany, 119. 160. The catherespective provinces, 174. The moderation of   dras ot stripped of its riches to support the
Charles toward them on his arrival, ib. In-   army of the holy Junta, 168. Padilla's letter
stance of the haughty spirit of the grandees,   to, at his execution, 171. JNote. Is instigated
281. Is invaded by the dauphin, 304. The   to continue in arms by Padilla's wife, ib. Is
dominions of, resigned by Charles to his son    reduced, 172.
Philip, 457. The arrival of Charles, and his re- -    Ludovico de, nephew to Cosmo di Medici,
ception there, 463. The place of his retreat de-   sent by his uncle to negotiate with Philip II. of
scribed, 464.  The regal power in, how en-   Spain, for the investiture of Sienna, 473.
larged by Charles, 490. The foreign acquisi-      - Don Pedro de, viceroy of Naples, options added to, ib. See a.rragon, Castile, G(a-   presses the Neapolitans, 422. And occasions
licia. Valentia, Cortes, Germanada, and Holy   the Turks to ravage the coasts of Naples, ib..Junta.                                       Toleration, reflections on the progress of, in GerSpires, diet of, its proceedings relative to the re    many, 445,446. Why mutually allowed among
formation, 220. Another diet called there by   the ancient Heathens, 446. How the primitive
the emperor, 235. Another diet at, 311. Re-   Christians became averse to, 446, 447.
cess of, in favour of the protestants, 313.   Tomorri, Paul, a Franciscan monk, archbishop
Spiritual censures of the Romish church, the   of Golocza, is made general of the Hungarian
dreadful effects of, 139.                       army against Solyman the Magnificent, and is
St. Disier, in Champagne, invested by the em-   defeated by him, 219.
peror, 316. Is obtained by the artifice of car-  Tordesillas, the residence of queen Joanna, the
dinal Granvelle, 317.                           confederacy of malecontents, called the Holy




INDEX.                                            609
Junta, removed thither, 163. The queen taken    quest of the emperor to lodge Bou bon in his
there by the CondL  de Haro, 167.               palace, 201.'ordesillas, one of the representatives of Sego-  Ulm, the government of that city violently altervia, killed by the populace for voting the dona-   ed, and its reformed ministers carried away in
tive to Charles V., at the Cortes assembled in   chains, by the emperor Charles V., 380.
Galicia, 160.                                 United Provinces  f the Netherlands, a brief
Transylvania, is surrendered to Ferdinand, king    view of their revolt against the dominion of
of the Romans, by queen Isabella, 399.          Spain, 499.
Tremouille, La, drives the English under the  Urbino, restored bypope Adrian to Francesco
duke of Suffolk out of Picardy, 180.            Maria de Roved, 175.
Prent, the council of, summoned, 311. Prorogued, lb. Again summoned, 322. Is opened, Wallop, sir John, joins the emperor Charles V
326. The council, on rumours of an infection    at the siege of Landrecy, with a body of Eng
in the city, is translated to Bologna, 372, 373.   lish troops, 309.
Henry II. of France protests against the coun-  War, the method of carying on, in Europe, how
cil, 394  The council breaks up on the ap-   improved at this period from the practice of
proach of Maurice of Saxony, 408. Historical   earlier ages, 180. General reflections on trne
remarks on this council, 409. Characters of   vicissitudes of, 488.
its historians, ib.                           Wartburg, Martin Luther concealed there bythe
-      cardinal of. sent by the emperor Charles   elector of Saxany, 146.
V. to conclude an alliance with the pope, 334. Wentworth, lord, governor of Calais, remon
The nature of this treaty, 335.                 strates in vain with the Englisa privy-council
Tunis, the means of its coming under the power   to provide for its security, 474, 475. Is atof Barbarossa, traced, 253. The emperor and    tacked by the duke of Guise, and forced to
other Christian powers unite to expel Barba-   capitulate, 475.
rossa, and restore Muley-Hascdn, 255. Is taken  Wittemberg, invested by the emperor Charles V
by the emperor, 256, 257. Muley-Hascen re-   and defended by $ybilla of Cleves, wife to tht
stored, and his treaty with Charles, 257.       elector of Saxony, 363, 364.
Tuscany, a review of the state of, during the six-  Wolsey, cardinal, his rise, character, and influ
teenth century, 498,                            ence over Henry VIII. of England, 122. Receives a pension from Francis I. of France, ib
Valencia, an insurrection in, 117. The people   and from the emperor Charles V., ib. Dethere greatly oppressed by the nobles, ib. The   tached from the French interest by the latter,
nobles refuse to assemble the Cortes, except   123.  Inclines Henry to join the emperor
the king is present, 118. Charles authorizes   against Francis, 147, 148. Sent by Henry to
the people to continue ir arms, ib. They expel   Calais, to negotiate an accommodation bethe nobles, ib. Associate under the German-   tween the emperor and Francis, 151. Hasaninada, and appoint then own magistrates, ib.   terview with Charles at Bruges, and concludes
Don Diego de Mendoza, Cond6 de Melito, ap-   a league with him on the partof Henry, against
pointed regent, on the departure of Charles for   France, 152. Meditates revenge against Charles
Germany, 119. The Germanada refuse to lay    on his second disappointment of the papacy by
down their arms, 172. Defeat the nobles in   the election of Clement VII., 179. Obtains of
several actions, 172, 173. Are at length routed    Clement a legatine commission in England
by the Cond6 de Melito, 173. The modera-   for life, ib. Negotiates a league with Francis
tion of Charles toward the insurgents on his   against the emperor, 221.
arrival, 174.                                 Worms, a diet called there by Charles V. to check
Valentinois, dutchess of. See Diana of Poitiers.   the progress of the reformers, 124.  ProceedValladolid, the first public entry of Charles V. to   ings of, 144. Martin Luther cited before it,
that city, 108.  The inhabitants rise, burn   ib. Refuses to retract his opinions, 145. An
Fonseca's house, and fortify the town, 161L   edict published against him, 146.  Diet at,
Surrenders after the battle of Villalar, and dis-   opened, 322.
solution of the holy Junta, 171.              Wurtemberg, Ulric, duke of, why expelled his
Vaucelles, treaty of, between Charles V. and    dominions, 250. Recovers his dominions by
Henry II. of France, 457, 458.                  the assistance of Francis, king of France, and
Vendome, duke of, his plan of operations in op-   receives the protestant religion, ib.
posing the progress of the invasion of Picardy, Wyat, sir Thomas, raises an insurrection in Kent
by HenryVIII., 158. Obliges him to retire, 159.   against queen Mary of England, on account
Venice, the republic of, incline in favour of the    of the Spanish match, 433. Is subdued and
pretensions of Francis I. of France, to the im-   punished, ib.
perial crown, 113. Theirviews and apprehensions on the approaching rupture between the Ximenes, archbishop of Toledo, adheres to Feremperor Charles V. and Francis, 120. Leagues   dinand of Arragon, in his dispute with the
with the emperor against Francis, 175. A final   archduke Philip concerning the regency of
acoommodation between, and the emperor,   Castile, 92. Espouses Ferdinand's claim  to
234. Refuses to enter into the league of the    the regency of Castile on Philip's death, 96.
Italian States, formed by the emperor, 242. A    Conquers Oran, and other places in Barbary,
review of the state of that republic during the    for the crown of Castile, 97. Appointed regent
sixteenth century, 497, 498.' of Castile, by Ferdinand's will, until the arVerrina, the confidant of the count of Lavagno,   rival of Charles V. in Spain, 100. His rise
encourages him in his scheme of overturning    and character, ib. Admits the claim to the
the government of Genoa, 352. Is protected by    regency of Cardinal Adrian, sent with that
Francis on the ruin of that conspiracy, 358.    commission by Charles, and executes it jointly
Vielleville, the French governor of Metz, detects   with him, 101. Takes the infant Don Ferdifather Leonard's conspiracy to betray the city    nand to Madrid, under his own eye, ib. Proto the imperialists, 441. Executes the conspi-   cures Charles, who assumed the regal title, to
rators, 442.                                    be acknowledged by the Castilian nobility.
Vienna, is besieged by Sultan Solyman the Mag-   101, 102. Schemes to extend the regal pre
nificent, 233.                                  rogative, 102.  Depresses the nobility, ib
Villalar, battle of, between Padilla and the Cond6   Frees the king from  his feudal limitations,
de Haro, 170.                                   and establishes a regal army to check the
Villena, marquis de, his spirited reply to the re-   barons, 102.103. Suppresses a mutiny, headod
VOL. II.-77




olo                                     INDEX.
by the grandees, 103. Resumes the grants of   suades Charles to visit Spain, 105, 106. Falls
Ferdinand to his nobles, ib. His prudent ap-   sick on his journey to meet Charles at his arplication of the revenue,ib. His bold assertion    rival, 107. His letter of counsel to Charles,
of his authority to the discontented nobles, 104.   108. Requests an interview, ib. The ingratiOther associates in the regency appointed at   tude of Charles to him, ib. His death, ib.
the instigation of the Flemish courtiers, ib.   His character, ib. Reverence paid to his
Retains the superior management, ib. Defeats   memory by the Spaniards, ib.
John d'Albret's invasion of Navarre, 105.
Dismantles all the castles there, except Pam- Zemora, bishop of, raises a regiment of priests to
peluna, which he strengthens, ib. The troops   defend Tordesillas, for the holy Junta, which
sent by him against Barbarossa defeated, and   is forced by the Cond6 de Haro, 167.
his equanimity on that occasion, ib. Alarmed  Zuinglius attacks the sale of indulgences at Zte
at the corruption of the Flemish court, he per-   rich in Switzerland, 132.




ADVERTISEMENT
OF THE
AMERICAN PUBLISHERS.
THE design of preparing an edition of Robertson's CHARLES V. for
the use of Schools, may appear extraordinary to those who are not
familiar with the work; and who may consequently regard it as merely
the history of one reign in a particular portion of the civilized world.
But it should not be so regarded. It is, in fact, a complete key to the
History of Modern Europe; and, whether we consider the importance of the events recorded, the characters delineated, the political
principles developed in it, or the judicious arrangement and fascinating
style of the narrative, it must be pronounced a work admirably fitted
to interest and improve young persons in the study of history.
The length of the work is by no means a sufficient objection to
its use in schools.  Many, judicious instructers who have already
used it in their seminaries, have foind that it interests the pupil
much more than the short narratives ordinarily used as school
histories.  So small a portion of time is usually devoted to this
study, at school, that little more can be done, than to inspire such a
taste for the reading of history, as will ensure a sufficient degree of attention to it in after life.  This will be more easily effected by presenting the pupil with a standard work of history, in which the narrative is
sufficiently detailed to excite an interest in the characters and events,
and the style is unexceptionable, as a model; than by having recourse
to some compend, in which half a page, and sometimes half a line
suffices for the most distinguished men; and in which the rapidity ot
the narrative forbids any attempt to develop political principles, or to
display the graces of fine writing. We deem this a sufficient reason
for offering the entire work for the use of schools instead of suffering
it to be mutilated or abridged.
The " Questions for the Examination of Students," which are appended to the present edition, have been prepared by an instructer for
the use of his own pupils. They are intended to direct attention to the
leading events and principles of the history; and although by no
means minute, they are so constructed as not toube answered without a
careful perusal of the entire text.








QUESTIONS
FOR THE
EXAMINATION OF STUDENTS
IN
ROBERTSON'S HISTORY OF CHARLES V.
i. B.. —Thefigures prefixed to each paragraph refer to the pages of Harper's stereotype edition,
on which the answers are to befound. The questions which relate to th'e situation of places
mentioned in the History may readily be answered by referring to Tanner's, Arrowsmith's,
or Finley's Maps of Europe, or Finley's General Atlas, or any of the large Maps of Europe
which usually adorn the walls of a school-room.
VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY IN    kingdom  of Europe?-When a freeman re
EUROPE.                    ceived a portion of land,in a conquered country
SECTION I.-View of the Progress of Society in  from his leader, what did hebind himself to dot
Europe, with respect to Interior Government, -Did this military service exempt him from all
Laws, and Manners.                         other burdens and taxes?-Was it esteemed' P'g 7n.          honourable?-Who had the largest _portion of
Page 7.                   land?-What persons shared next?-Did the
What are the two great revolutions which  chief officers also have their dependants and
have happened in the political state and man- retainers -Was a feudal kingdom a military
sers of the European nations?-What sort of or a civil institution?-Was the feudal policy
people did the armies of Rome find in the coun- effective against foreign invasion?
tries north of the Alps? —Was the conquest ofe 1
these countries easily effected —Was Europe                   P 
laid waste in the struggle?-Did the Romans   Was it equally effective in preserving internal
attempt to civilize the conquered nations?-  tranquillity?-Was this soon apparent? —Was
Were they successful?-Was the state of the  the aristocratic portion of the government first
conquered nations favourable to the improve- turbulent?-What did the crown-vassals dement of the mind?                           mand of the kings?-What became hereditary "
-What power in civil matters did the crownPage 8.                    vassals assume?-What was then their conduct
Was it favourable to liberty and energy of towards each other and the kings?-What is
character among the people?-Was the Roman  the origin of the baronial castles? —ow long
empire calculated to endure?-Would it have  did this state of things last — How were foreign
fallen to pieces without any invasion from  wars conducted then?
abroad?-What invasion hastened its downfall?-Whence came the invading hordes of                      Page 14.
barbarians? Werethese countries supposed to    Did Charlemagne restore the royal power in
be very populous?-Were they so in reality?-  any degree?-Did his successors maintain it?
Were these barbarians valiant and hardy?-  What was the effect of this state of things on
What first induced their inroads on the em- the progress of the mind and of society?-On
pire?                                       the arts and literature?-On the clergy — On
-~Page 9.~ Qthe Christian religion?
Page 9.
Had the ancient martial spirit of the Roman                 Page 15
republic degenerated under the emperors?-    What sovereigns endeavoured to dispel the
What was the present character of their armies? darkness of these ages?-How successfully?Page ~10  ~     Did the virtues of barbarous nations prevail in
Page 1                     the dark ages?-Dlid these disorders of the
Were the barbarians better soldiers? —How  feudal system work out their ownl cure?
many centuries were occupied in the downfall of the Roman empire?-Was this event                    The Crusades.
attended with great devastation of lives and 
property?                                                     Page 16.
Page 11.                     What were the crusades?-Why was the
Pa^ge 11-.         Holy Land reverenced?-Why visited by pi,What changes afford evidence of this?-What grims?-What opinion augmented the number
was the state of Europe at the close of the 6th  of pilgrims?-Atwhat period  Why did the
century?-Can such changes be effected with- caliphs encourage pilgrims?-When did the
out nearly exterminating the people?       Turks conquer yria? —What was the effect of
this conquest?-Where is Syria?-Where is
The Feudal System.              Palestine?- What ecclesiastic first preached
Did the Goths and Vandals conquer for them- the crusades? —At what councils?-With what
selves individually, or for despotic leaders?    success?-Describe the effects of his preaching
Page 12.                                     Page 17.
What new species of government did the di-   How many persons assumed the badge of the
vision of property among the conquerors intro- Cross?-How  long did the phrensy last? —
duce?-Did the feudal system prevail ia every  What countries were at first conquered? —\ha
Q q2




614                                 QUESTIONS.
cities?-Were the conquests easily preserved?-  thislead in the barons' courts?-Of whom was
When were the Christians driven out of Asia? the supreme assembly of each nation composed?
-On whom  did the towns depend for protecEffects of the Crusades on rManners.     tion?-Were they represented originally in the
Did benefits flow from the crusades — What supreme assembly?-When they became corporoute did the crusaders take from Europe to rate bodies, what right did they acquire?-How
Palestine?-What was then the condition of did they gain this right?-In what kingdom did
Constantinople?-Where is Constantinople?-  they first acquire this right — Under what king,
Of what empire is it the capital?-What was and in what year?-Who  summoned the
-the state of manners inAsia compared With that burghers to attend parliament, and for what
in Europe?                                  particular purpose?-What king of France introduced the deputies of corporate towns into
age 18.                    the states-general, and for what purpose?-In
What traits were exhibited by Saladin and  what year did the imperial cities of Germany
the other Mahometan leaders?-What effect did make good their pretensions to a separate bench
the return of the crusaders have on the courts in the diet?
and manners of Europe  
Page 23.
Effects of the Crusades on Property.      What effect did the acquisition of this right
How did the crusading barons raise money have on the form and genius of government?for their expeditions?-Who bought their es- What checks did it furnish?-What portion of
tates?-What became of the fiefs of those who  the community were the greatest gainers by it.
died without heirs?-How  did the absence of
the barons favour public tranquillity?-How    Emancipation of the Serfs in the Country.
did these circumstances increase the royal   What order of the community next began to
power?                                      recover liberty?-What was the condition of the
great body of the people during the rigour of the
Effects of the Crusades on Commerce.     feudal system?-What was necessary for the
enfranchisement of a serf who was attached to
Page 19.                   the soil?-Was the condition of domestic slaves
What caused, the later crusaders to go to Pa- better?-How did the institution of communities
lestine by water — Where did they embark?-  benefit these country serfs?-What monarchs
Where are Venice, Pisa, and Genoa? —What first sought to render their emancipation geneother trade did these cities drive with them?-  ral, and when'
What advantages did these Italian cities gain
thereby?-How did they gain by the seizure of                  Page 24.
Constantinople?-What benefit was finally    Who followed their example in France —In
secured to these cities by all these commercial what other countries was slavery abolished?advantages gained in the holy wars?         Describe the effects of this change.
Origin of Corporate Cities.            Reform in the A dministration of Justice.
Into what had the feudal system  degene-   How  was justice administered under the
rated — Who were the oppressors?-Were the feudal system?-How  were crimes generally
oppressions confined to the country?        punished?-What was the effect of this state of
~Page 20.  ~         things on society 
Page 20.
rWhat rights of the people were taken away?                  Page 25.
-What cities first sought emancipation from    What was the first step towards establishing
this oppression?-~To what emperors were they  an equal administration of justice?-From what
subject — When did they begin to combine for ideas arose the practice of private wars or feuds 
freedom?-How did they obtain immunities?-  -How were these wars conducted?
How did the crusades aid them?-What country
next followed the example of Italy? —What                       Page 26.
prince?-What were the privileges he granted    Was this practice at last recognised and recalled?-What advantages did they confer?-  gulated by law?-How  did it affect the alWho imitated the king's example?            thority of the king?-What emperor prohibited
it first?-What did his successors do in relation
Page 21.                   to it?-At what seasons did they succeed in sus
Why?-In how long time was servitude abo- pending it?-How  did the church regard the
lished?-What other countries followed the practice?-What effect did the remonstrance
example?-What effects resulted on govern- and prohibitions of the king and the church proment and manners?-Was the change favour- duce? —ow late did it subsist in France?-To
able to liberty and the security of property?-  what is the final-abolition of it attributed?
How were the nobles affected by these changes?
-How did they affect the crown?-How had                        Page 27.
the king before obtained soldiers and funds?-    What was the next step towards the introTo whom might he now look for them?-How  duction of regular government?-How are imdid the establishment of civic communities portant transactions concluded in civilized counaffect industry, commerce, population, and tries?-How among a rude and illiterate peowealth?                                     ple?-What inconveniences resulted from the
use of verbal contracts?-What expedient was
Page 22.                   resorted to where a person was accused of a
How did they affect the administration of crime, where the fact was not clear and noteo
justice?                                     rious?-Was this privilege abused?-How did
they try to strengthen the effect of the oath?Representatzon of the Cities in the Legislature. Was this effectual? —How was the criminal
When the inhabitants of cities had acquired then required to strengthen his own oath?personal freedom  and municipal jurisdiction, What were these assistants called?
what did they next obtain?-Under the feudal
system, what was necessary in order to the                     Page 28.
assessment of a tax — To what privilege did    How did this succeed?- What wastheir lat




QUESTIONS.                                       615
resort? —What were some of the modes of ap- effects on the conduct of war? —On the inter
peal to the Judgment of God?-Was this mode  course of society?-What are the three circum
reverenced by the people of those ages — Why? stances which distinguish modern from ancient
-~Page 29.          manners?-To what are they to be attributed?
rPage 29.          ~ —During what centuries did chivalry chiefly
How extensively was it used?-What kinds prevail —Were its effects apparent in the 16th
of controversies were decided by it?-How   century?-And now?
could women and children be made amenable               S     e a    Ltertr
to it?-Were judges exempted from it?-Whatence and L atre
was the effect of it on the course of justice?-                Page 3/.
What on manners?                               How did the nations who conquered the Ro
Page 30.                   mans regard their literature — What was the
state of Europe with respect to literature and
Who opposed it?-What king first forbade it? science after this conquest?-In what century
-How  far?-Whatkings next forbade it?-  did the first symptoms of awakening appear?What order of men were moat anxious to re- What was the character of the early efforts itain it 1                                    science?-In theology?
Page 31.
Page 39.
How late was it used?-What finally effected                 Page 39.
its abolition?-What succeeded t-How did the   What institutions  for education arose?change affect                                       was the  charater of the people          halanguages o.
Europe? —In what language were books on the
Appealfrom the Barons,             sciences written?-What influence had the
What was the next step towards the regular newly-awakened spirit of inquiry on society?
administration of justice?-How  far did the                    Conmerce
barons claim jurisdiction?-Was this peculiar
to the feudal system?-How is its origin ac-   What were the effects of commerce on so
counted for?-How did the judges compensate  ciy?
themselves for the responsibility and cares of                  Page 40.
the office — What advantages did the nobles   What had been the state of Europe witn
derive from this privilege?                  respect to foreign intercourse previous to the
Page 32.                ~crusades?-What new  order of citizens arose
-g.. —J,i~ with the revival of commerce?-With what
To what state did it reduce each kingdom?-  parts of the world did the Italian cities open a
How did it affect the public tranquillity?-How  trade?-During what centuries was the comdid it affect the king's power?-What remedy  merce of Europe almost entirely conducted by
did they apply at first 1                     the Italians?-What were the Italian merchants
Page 33.                    called?-Were they established in other counWhat next?-What kind of appeals at first? tries besides Italy
-What next?-How was this regarded by the                       Page 41.
barons?-How did the kings act then?-How       In what other part of Europe was a mercan
did they at last prevail?                    tile association formed?-What was it called?
-What was their principal depot?-What was
The Canon Late.                the effect of commerce in Flanders?-In what
Page 34.                   part of Europe is Flanders?-What English
What is the canon law?-Considered as a king first attempted to render that country a
political instrument, what were its effects?-  commercial one?-By what means'-What is
Considered as a code of laws respecting rights the present rank of England in that respect?
and property, what were its effects?-Was the                  Page 42
system of canon law and the practice of its courts
well arranged and equitable?-Did its example   What are the natural effects of commerce on
contribute to the abolition of the feudal abuses? national prosperity and refinement?
The Roman Law.                  SECTION II.-View of the Progress of Soczety
in Europe with respect to the Command of
Page 35.                      the National Forces requisite in foreign
Were the Roman  laws abolished by the    Operations.
Gothic nations?-Why were they not adapted    What is necessary to call forth the whole
to their use?-When were the Pandects of Jus- strength of a nation for the operations of war?
tinian recovered and admired?-What use was -Give examples.-Could either of these modes
made of them?-What was the effect of their be applied in Europe at the opening of the 15th
study and use?-What is the most honourable century?-Why not?
profession in a barbarous state of society 1 
Page 43.
Page 36.             -       What was the state of the royal finances?What new profession now sprung into re- Of their armies?-In what description of solpute — What was the effect of the jurisdiction  diers lies the proper strength of an army?and courts of the barons?                     What diminished the force of the Roman armies in later times? —Of what were the armies
Chivalry.                   of Europe chiefly composed in the 13th and 14th
What institution first civilized and polished  centuries?-Was the balance of power between
the nobles?-What was its professed object?-  the nations then regarded?
Were the crusaders knights of chivalry?-After
the crusades terminated, what adventures did                   Page 44.
the knights seek?                              Were the politics of the different nations interwoven with each other then?-How  long
Page 37.                   have they now been so?-Did the other nations
What were the characteristics of a true  of Europe take any interest in the quarrels of
knight? —Was knighthood honourable? —To  France and Spain — Or of the different king
what ranks was it confined?-VWhat were its doms of SDainu




616                               QUESTIONS.
Page 45.                  to deliver themselves from his dominion!In what century did the princes acquire a What did Charles then attempt?-What num
more perfect command of the national force?-  ber of men were opposed to him?-What then
In what reign did the balance of power become ensued?-What did the princes and statesmen
a subject of attention and the foundation of all of Italy learn from this — What was the obthe operations of foreign policy?-What event ject of their policy through the 15th century?first occasioned an alteration in the arrangement Was this policy confined to them?
of affairs in Europe?-By whose death was this               Page 55.
occasioned? —What was the consequence to                      a
sir     ance t    What effect did this Italian war have on the
military force and operations of Europe? —What
Page 46.                  kind of troops were generally employed?What other circumstance increased the pow- What effect did the employment of the Swiss
ers of France?-What king of France first kept foot soldiers have?-What other powers trained
a standing army?-How large?-Who were its their men after the Swiss4ashion?
officers?-What caused the disuse of cavalry                 Page 56.
and armour?'~and arm~our?            How did the Spaniards improve upon it?Page 47.                  What country eventually furnished the best
How did the use of a standing army affect the infantry?-What kind of troops has ever since
nobles?-How the royal power —Did the other formed the principal strength of armies?-What
powers of Europe follow the example of France other new fact did the nations of Europe learn
in raising standing armies?-What circum- from the Italian war?-How did Charles VIII.
stances diminished the power of the nobles in raise money for the Italian expedition?-What
Francel                                    interest did he pay the Genoese?-What was
Page 48.                  the object of the league of Cambray?
Page 48.
Besides establishing a'standing army, what                 Page 57.
other new act of royal prerogative did Charles   What was its motive?-Who projected it?VII. venture upon?-What was the conse- Who united in it?-What was the result of the
quence of his success in this?-Who succeeded battle of Ghiarraddada?-How were the VeneCharles VII.?-Whatwas his character?-How  tians affected by their ill-fortune — What was
did he treat the nobles?-Who were his confi- the effect of success on the confederacy?-How
dential agents and ministers?             did the Venetians then proceed?
Page 49.                                    Page 58.
What new mercenaries did he employ in his   What did Julius II. next attempt?-Who
army?-How did he raise money for his ex- aided him?-How  did he succeed?-What
penses? —How did he manage the great assern- was the effect of these Italian wars on the
blies who granted subsidies?-What additions discipline and activity of military force in Eu
did he make to his territories?           rope?
Page 50.                  SECTION III.- View ofthe Political Constitutom,
What was the general character of his go-   of theprincipal States in Europe, at the corn
vernment?-Ofhis foreign policy?-What other   mencement of the 16th Century.
prince imitated his example?-Openly or covertly?-By what means did he seek to hum-                   Page 59.
ble the nobles?-With what success?-What   What was the state of Italy at the opening
other monarchs followed Charles's example?   of the 16th century?-What monarchy existed
there?-What republics?-What other govern
Page 51.                  ments 
ments?
What was the first event which called forth
tl* new energies of the kingdoms:of Europe?                The Popes.
VWhen did Charles the Bold die?-How might   Which was the first of these powers in dig
Louis XI. have profited by this event?-How  nity?-In what part of Italy are the pope's do
could he become allied to the house of Bur- minions?-What was the origin of this govern
gundy? —What was the object of marrying the ment?-Was its power confined to spiritual
Dauphin to Mary?                          matters?
Page 52.                                   Page 60.
What measure did Louis adopt?-What was   What was wanting to render their dominion
his conduct in prosecuting it?-Whom did Mary universal?-What were the internal sources
marry?-What prince eventually profited by of weakness in the pope's dominions?-How
this?-What was the next event of consequence did the Roman barons act in the 12th century
in the 15th century?-What was the character How did certain of the popes suffer by this con
of Charles VIII. —Of the nobility under him?   duct?
Page 53.                                   Page 61.
Who engaged Charles VIII. in his Italian ex-   Where did the popes reside during 70 years of
pedition?-What crown did Charles lay claim  the 14th century?-How did the people conduct
lo in Italy?-How did he acquire a claim?- at that period?-Who was theirleader?-What
Had Louis XI. prosecuted the claim?-What office did he take?-Did this system last?did Charles give up to Ferdinand and Maximi- What pope restored the papal power?-Who
lian?-What was the number of his troops? after him added conquests to their dominions?
— What was then the state of Italy?-Of -What was the character of the ecclesiastical
Italian warfare?-Upon what did they rely for policy of the popes?-Of their civil policy?
safety?-What cities surrendered tq. Charles?
What effect did it have on one king ofNaples  Page 62
Of their diplomacy?-What sort of soldiers
Page 54.                  did they employ?-Did they encourage internal
And another?-What was the result of improvement?-What was the effect of their
Charles's invasion?-how did the Italians seek spiritual authority on the princes of Europe 




QUESTIONS.                                        61e
Venice                    -When did the Moors invade Spain?-What
was the consequence?-What became of the
Page 63.                   Gothic nobles who would not submit to the
After the papal see what country;as most Moorish government?-How did they treat their
connected with the rest of Europe?-Where is Moorish neighbours?-Did the Moorish govern
Venice?-What was the character of the Ve- ment remain undivided?-How  long did the
netian institutions with respect to the nobles? Moorish wars in Spain last?-How many bat
-The people?-What did the effective force of ties were fought?-When did the last of the
Venice consist of?-What were the condottieri? Moorish kingdoms submit to the Spanish arms?
-What was the chief object of their leaders?-  What was the state of Spain after the expulsion
Who were the proveditori?-Was the consti- of the Moors?-What two kingdoms soon antution of the Venetian state favourable to fo- nexed the others to their territories?-'What
reign conquest? —,What gave them power and  event united these two?
importance.
Page 69.
Page 64. 
Were the feudal institutions preserved in
What was the character of Venice as a com-    W     th      e dal  instittio ns p eserd 
Spain notwvithstanding the Moorish conquest?
~~~~mercial nation?               — What was the state of the royal prerogative?
Florence.                  -Of the privileges of the nobility?-Of the imWhere is Florence?-Describe the constitu- munities of the cities?
tion of Florence? —What was its commercial                          
character? —What family acquired the greatestag
share of wealth and power among them?-    What was the state of the country with ieWhat was the political state of Florence in the  spect to internal tranquillity?-How did the peo15th century.-What did the military force of pie of Catalonia treat their sovereign John II.?Florence consist of?                         How did the Castilian nobles treat Henry IV.?What ceremonies were used on this occasion?
Naples.                    Who was proclaimed king in place of Henry?
Where is Naples?-Had the feudal govern- -In what part of Spain is Aragon? —What was
ment subsisted in Naples?                    the form  of government in Aragon? —What
was its real character?-Where was the actual
Page 65.                    power vested?-Of whom was the cortes cor
What circumstances diminished the power of posed?
their princes?-What was one chief cause of
the easy conquest of Naples by Charles VIII. of                 Page 71.
Fsance?-Who usurped the throne of Naples in    What powers did the cortes exercise?-How
1254?-Whom did the popes support as the le- often was it assembled?-How often after the
gitimate sovereign?-What was the result?-  14th century?-Could the king dissolve it?Whose brother was Charles, count of Anjou? How long was the session?-What were the
-By what act of injustice did he sully the fame powers of the justiza?-To whom was he acof his conquest of Naples?-Whom  did Conra- countable?-What was the effect of all this on
din appoint as his heir?-What houses then con- the king's power?-What sort of oath of alletended for the crown of Naples?-Which house  giance did the justiza take in the name of the
obtained it?                                 barons?
Page 66.                                      Page 72.
Did the house ofAnjourelinquish their claim?   Did the constitution provide for the deposi
-To what king of France did the heir of that tion of a tyrant 7-What was it which pecuhouse bequeath it?-Who prosecuted the claim  liarly attached the Aragonese to their country?
by invading and conquering Naples?-Did he -In what part of Spain is Castile?-To whom
keep possession?-What prince of Aragon suc- was the executive part of the government comceeded to it?-What monarchs combined against mitted in Castile?-Was his power unlimited?
him?-Did they agree in dividing the kingdom  -Where was the legislative power vested?when they had conquered it?-What great Spa- Define legislative, executive, judiciary, &c.-Of
nish commander expelled the French and ac- whom was the cortes composed?-What pow
quired the kingdom for Ferdinand ofAragon?-  ers did they exercise?-What was the characTo whom did he transmit it?                  ter of the Castilian nobles? —How  did they
Milan.                     treat their kings?
Where is Milan?-What was the most dis-                       Page 73.
tinguished family in Milan?-Which party in    What compelled the Castilian kings to grant
the Italian factions did he favour?-What was large territories and privileges to the nobles?the name of the opposite party?-How were the What rendered the cities powerful?-Were the
Visconti connected with the kings of France?   Spanish cities populous and commercial?
Pae 67.                                      Page 74.
When the heirs male of the Visconti family    What description of persons did the cities
failed, to what French duke did the dutchy of send as representatives to the cortes — Upon
Milan descend?-What princes disputed his whom fell the burden of supporting the standclaim?-What was the wish of the people of   g armies during the Moorish wars?-What
Milan?-Who obtained the government of Mi-effect did all this have upon the power and im
lan?-What had been his condition?-What portance of the cities in Spain? —Upon the royal
was the fate of his grandson?-Who succeeded  prerogative?-What sovereigns first succeeded
him?-What king of France disputed the title   extendingtheroyalpreroative? ponwhat
in extending the royal prerogative? —Upon what
of Iudovico theMoor?-With what success?-  order of his subjects did Ferdinand first enWhat was the fate of the Moor?-Who suc- croach?-In what manner did he diminish
ceeded after another revolution?-What king  their wealth?-In whatmannertheirimportance
of France disputed his claim?                and power 1
Spain..                           Page 75.
Page 68.                     What military orders existed in Spain?Who overturned the Roman power in Spain? What was their object?-How did Ferdinand
78




618                                 QUESTIONS.
acquire the direction of these orders? —How  the imperial digai.L  a.clind1-1- Hov Waas (c
was this sanctioned? —What was Ferdinand's public prosperity an..,.'arquiflivt affesedby tb.
next step towards:humbling the nobility?-  quarrels of the Guelp s and Ghiibelliies?
What had been the state of police in Spain?
Page 83
Page 76.                     How did Maximilian restore order? —Whaf
How did the cities in Castile and Aragon en- powers had the imperial chamber?-What otho4
deavour to establish a police?-What powers confederations did the German empire resemble.
did the holy brotherhood exercise?-Who complained against this institution?-Why did Fer-               Page 84.
dinand patronise it?-What was the character                       e             
of the nobility in the reign of Ferdinand and of   What pretensions did the emperors make a
Charles V.?-Of the people of Spain?         the beginning of the 16th century?-Was theil
power commensurate with these pretensions.
France.                    -How  did this incongruity appear?-In thl,
What was the state of the royal prerogative turbulent period of the German history, wha
under the first race of French monarchs?-  change took place in the mode of electing th.
What powers did the general, assemblies of the emperors?-How many princes became ele.
nation possess under this race?.
Page 77.                                    Page 85.
Under the second race?-UnderHugh Capet of   What were the sources of jealousy and vart
the 3d racewhatchangestook place?-Who as- ance in the different parts of the German
sumed the power, before exercised by the states- body   What effect did this discordance ha
general?-Why were the barons unwilling to on theforeign policy o Germany
enact general laws?-How were the states-general assembled?-What was their most im-                         e 86.
portant office?-Could the other branches of the   How were Charles V.'s schemes thwartedq
government in most cases act without them?   -How were some of his greatest achievement
effected:
Page 78.                   effected
Who assumed the legislative authority which                  Turkey.
had been relinquished by the states?-When    In what part of Europe is Turkey?-What
nad the legislative power fallen completely into race has frequently conquered the southern
the hands of the king? —What princes first laid  parts of Asia?-Which of the Tartar tribes
taxes without the concurrence of the states- took Constantinople in the 15th century --
general? —Was this step resisted?-What was What was the form and character of their go
the constitution of the kingdom under the first vernment?-With whom  was the suprenm
race of kings?-Under the second?-Under the power vested?-Are there any nobles in Tui
third?-Did Francis I. assemble the states-ge- key?-Describe the form  of government?neral?-What two things remained as a check  What is the greatest honour a subject cal
upon the royal power?                        aspire to?
Page 79.                                     Page 87.'What parliament had been the supreme court   Is even this hereditary?-What is the most
of the kings?-How did the kings increase its odious feature of eastern despotism?-What
dignity and power?-How did they exert their two restraints affect the sultan's power?-Whzt
power?-Whose interests have they always fa- class of troops did Amurath raise?-In whas
voured?                                      manner?-How did the janissaries use thehf
power?
Germany.
"~~~Germany.  ~Page 88.
Page 80.                     What was the character of the sultans from
What countries are at present included in  Mahomet II. to Solyman the Magnificent?Germany?-From what country did Charles V. With whom was the latter contemporary?derive his highest title?-Over what country  What reforms did Solyman introduce?-What
besides Germany did Charlemagne reign?-  was the character of the Turkish troops in the
Did his successors continue the union?-In  16th century?-Of the Christian forces of t.
which country did his successors best maintain  same period?
the royal power?-When did the Germans first
elect an emperor?-Whom  did they elect?-                    BOOK  I.
What was the character of his successors?What country did he conquer?-What title did                   Page 89.
he talke?                                     When and where was Charles V. born:Page 81.                   Where is Ghent?-Who was his father? —Ill
Page 81.'mother?-Who was the father of Philip the
What order encroached on the royal power? Handsome?-Who was the mother of Philip?-What method did the emperors employ to  Who was the father of Joanna 7Who was her
counteract this?-What was the effect of this? mother?-To whom had Mary of Burgundy
-What unprecedented power did the pope as- been contracted? -How  was she treated by
sume?-What encouraged Gregory VII. to this Louis XI.?-What did Louis lose by this?actl-How did he begin his quarrel with the How was Isabella raised to the throne of Casemperor?-How far did he humble the empe- tile?-Where is Castile?-What became of her
ror l-What had been the emperor's character? niece Joanna?-What relation did Isabella beat
Page 82.                  to Charles V.?-How did Ferdinand acquire the
crown of Aragon?-Where is Aragon?-What
To what factions did the contest between  was his relation to Charles V.?-How did he
Gregory and Henry give rise?-Which faction  acquire the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily?favoured the pope?-What classes belonged to What countries were discovered and added to
it?-How did they succeed? —What effect did the Spanish dominions by Columblls?-What
these factious disturbances have on the German  son had Ferdinand and Isabella lost?-On whom'onstitution' —What orders rose into power as did their hopes then rest?




QUESTIONS.                                         619
Page 90.                    died?-To whose interest was the great cardinal
What court did Philip and Joanna visit on  Ximenes attached?-When did Ferdinand re.
their journey from Flanders to Spain?-How   turn from Italy to Castile? —How was he re
were they received in Spain?-How was Philip  ceived?
pleased with Spain? —How  did Ferdinand regard Philip?-What was Joanna's character  Page.
-When did Philip leave Spain?-How was    What African territories were now acquired
Joanna affected by his desertion of her?-Where  for Charles (afterward the emperor Charles V.) 
did she rejoin her husband?                  -By whom?-Who defrayed the expense of
the expedition — What territories did Ferdinand
PJage 91.                  acquire for his grandson? —What sovereign
With whom did Philip sign a treaty on his was expelled from Navarre?-How did Ferdiway to Brussels?-Where is Brussels?-Did  nand regard his grandson?-Had.Ferdinand
Ferdinand regard it?-Who commanded Ferdi- any son by his marriage with the niece of Louis
nand's forces in Italy — When and where did  XII.?-Did this son survive his father?-Whom
Isabella die?-What was her character?-  did Ferdinand appoint regent of all his kingWhom did she leave regent of the kingdom of doms until the arrival of Charles?-What other
Castile?-To whom did she leave half the re- dignity did he settle upon Prince Ferdinand.
venues of the Indies, and the grand masterships What was his motive for this?
of the three military orders 2-What oath did
she impose on him  — Whom  did Ferdinand                        Page 98.
order to be proclaimed sovereign of Castile?-    What alteration did he make in his will at
What character did he assume?-Was he popu- the approach of death?-When did he die?lar with the Castilians 1                     What was Charles's age when he received this
inheritance?-Where had he resided?-What
Page 92.                   princesses had the care of forming his early
How did the grandees regard him?-How did  youth?-Whom  had the Flemings appointed
Philip regard Ferdinand's proceedings?-Who  regent upon the death of Philip, Charles's
was his adviser?-Whose ambassador was Don  father?-To  whom  did Maximilian intrust
John Manuel?-What did Philip's ambassadors, Charles's education?-Who acted as preceptor
despatched from  Brussels to Spain by Don  under Chievres?-What was Adrian's profesJohn's advice, require Ferdinand to do?-What sion?-His character?-What was his princiintrigue did Ferdinand's ambassador Conchillos pal work?
carry on with Joanna at Brussels?-Who de- 
tected this intrigue?-How  was Conchillosage
punished?-How did Philip's emissaries suc-   Was Charles fond of learning?-Of what
ceed with the Castilian nobles?             pursuits was he fond?-To what did Chievres
direct his attention?-What effect did his early
Page 93. )attention to affairs of state have on his characHow did Ferdinand now attempt to set aside ter?-What institutions had continued te,ubthe right of Philip and Joanna to the throne of sist in Spain till Charles's accession? — What
Castile? —What oath did he thus violate?-  was the condition of the nobles?-The cities 
How was his plan defeated — Whose sister. -The royal prerogative —What evils hadbeen
did he then propose to marry — What great ob- averted by the energetic government of Ferdi
ject of his past life did he thus relinquish?-  nand?
What effect did this proposal of marriage by
Ferdinand have on Philip?-What terms did                       Page 1.
Ferdinand and Philip agree upon in the treaty   In order still longer to avert these evils,
of Salamanca —Where is Salamanca?           whom did Ferdinand appoint to the regency till
Charles should arrive in Spain?-What was
Page 94.                   this man's origin?-To what order of friars did
Did Philip intend to observe this treaty?-  he belong?-What office did his reputed sancWhat was his design in making it?-What was tity procure for him?-To what dignity did
his first step after concluding it?-Whither was Isabella raise him?-What constrained him to
he driven by a tempest?-How  long and by  accept it?-What were his habits after his prowhom detained there?-Where did he land in  motion —What were his qualities as a poliSpain?-How was he received by the nobles? tician?
-What office was Ferdinand at length compelled to resign?-What part of Isabella's be-                  Page 101.
quest did he retain?-How did the two princes    What was his age when appointed regent of
appear at the interview which followed the can- Castile?-What other prelate laid claim to the
elusion of this treaty?-Whither did Ferdinad  office?-How  were their claims adjusted?retire?-What was the condition of queen Jo- Which retained the real power?-Where did
anna on'the accession of her husband to the Ximenes place the infant Don Ferdinand?crown of Castile?-What did Philip wish the Why?-What title did Charles assume on hearcortes to do with respect to Joanna?        ing of Ferdinand's death?-To whom  did the
sovereignty belong by the laws of Spain?Page 95.                   What foreign princes acknowledged Charles
Did they consent?-What titles did they  as king of Spain?-Did Ximenes remonstrate
grant to Philip and Joanna and their son  privately against it?-How did the nobles reCharles?-When did Philip die? —At what ceive Charles's claim?
age?-How long did he reign over Castile?What was Joanna's conduct at the death of her                 Page 102.
nusband?-What was her conduct in relation    How  did Ximenes settle the affair —Was
to the government?-What sovereigns claimed  Charles then acknowledged in Castile? —In Arathe office of regent in Castile?-Define regent. gon? —What designs did Ximenes entertain
-Upon what did Ferdinand found his claims I with respect to the nobles?-What was the
-Upon what did Maximilian found his?        conduct of the nobles after Ferdinand's death?
-How did Ximenes remedy this?-How cLid he
Page 96.                    supply the place of a standing army?-Who
For whom did Don John Manuel declare? — provided officers?-How  were the privates
Whither was Ferdinand going when Philip  compensated?




620                               QUESTIONS.
Page 103.                  gin to regard him? —Whose influence did he act
What was the pretended object of this mili- under?-How did Chiefres and the other Fle.
tary force 1-What was its real object?-Did  mings abuse their influence with the king? —
tary force?-What was its real " object?-DidHow much money did t hey send out of Spain
the nobles perceive this?-How  did they op- How much money did they send  t of Spain
pose the design?-Did Ximenes abandon it?-  in ten months -Who was nominated to the
What was its fate after his death?-How did archbishopric of Toledo 1-To what city of AraXimenes attach the property of the barons?- gon did Charles repair to meet the cortes of
What crown grants did he revoke?-Were these that kingdom?-Whither did he send his briof great value?-How  did Ximenes apply thether Ferdinan -What advantageresulted
wealth thus recovered for the crown 1       from this step?-Had the Aragonese acknowhledged Charles as king 1
Page 104.
Page 110.
What measure did the nobles take for the11
safety of their order?-What nobles were joined   Who had assembled th cortes?-What did
inWthe commission?HuowdidXimenesnreceive he obtain from this cortes? —What embassy
in the commission. —How d     id Ximenes receive
them?1-How did he silence their murmursI- came from France during the sitting of the
Who besides the Spanish nobility opposed Xi- tortes?-Did it succeed?-From Aragon whimenes?-How did they regard Adrian?-Was ther did Charles proceed?-How was he reharles ileed      ther    plats    ceived there?-What measure did the Castilian
Whaom did heim in the conmission ofregenscy?  cities resort to? —Of what did they complain
-Whow did him                     ende rediv i he c. —sio                  suibee
-How did  imenes Ireceive them 1-Did he 1-How did Charles treat them?-Where is Barsuffer them to influence his proceedings?-Did  celona?-Of what important event did Charles
the Spanish people and nobles favour Ximenes hear at Barcelona When did Maximilian die
more than the Flemish ministers?                           Page 111.
Page 105.                    By what revolutions had themimportance of
What war did Ximenes support in the north? the imperial office been increased?-To whom
-With what success?-Where is Navarre a-  did Maximilian wish the imperial crown to be
How did he provide for the future tranquillity of given -Had he been crownedby the pope 
Navarre?-What castle was spared?-What Why were the Germans averse to Maximilian's
good effect did Spain realize from this measure  choice of a successor?-How was the difficulty
removed?-oWho was  Ch arles's rivaln?-aOn
-What war did Ximenes support in the south? removed i-Who  was Charles's rival?-On
-With what success? —Where are Algiers and what did Charles found his pretensions -What
Tunis?1-How  did he bear this disgrace.?-  circumstance rendered Charles a suitable emWhat was Chievres's leading passion?-How  peror for resisting the Turkish power 
did this operate to the disadvantage of Spain?-            Page 112
Did the other Flemish ministers follow ChievWho  was sultan       at this times? — ohatwais
res's example -How did Ximenes and the Sa-   Who was sultan at this time-What was
nish nation regard this?      a             the situation of his empire?-Among the candidates for the imperial crown who was best
Page 106.                  able to resist the Turks?-What other means
VWhat measure did he recommend to Charles 1 besides argument did Charles employ in supWhat war had been entailed upon Charles porting his claim? -On what did Francis I.
by Ferdinand 1r-Who had been allied with Fer- found his pretensions to the imperial crown?Did he also resort to bribes and threats?-How
dinand against France? —Why did the Flemings
desire peace -rWho  was kind, of France  - were his treasures for bribery transmitted?
Whha  ambassadors concluded the treaty —                     Page 113.
What were its principal conditions?-Who was
Charles to marry?-With what dowry?-How    How did the other sovereigns ofEurope rewas the claim of the heirs of the king of Navarre gard the pretensions of the two competitors?disposed of?-Howvwas Maximilian affected by  Did they oppose the designs of Charles and
Francis a o-Whom didtheSwiss cantons favour2
this treaty?-Why did the Flemings oppose    fhor   did the Venetians favour s-What sovereign possessed the greatest power over the
Page 107.                  respective pretensions of the two candidates?Why did Chievres wish to prevent an inter- What measure did he-resort tol-Why was
view between Charles and Ximenes? —How  his claim disregardedt-How did he act after
long did Charles remain in Flanders after sign- his o   disappointmenat   other soysing the treaty of Noyon?-Who attended him  reign took an interest in the decision?-Why
on his voyage to Spain'1-When and where did did Leo X. regard the contest with deep inte.
he land!-Where is Asturias?-How was he rest?-What possessions had Charles in Italy?
received l-How was Ximenes occupied at this -What had francis -Did this render both
time?-  here and by what was he detained dangerous neighbours to the pope?-Which of
when advancing to meet the king?-What ad- the claimants did he really favour?
vice did he give Charles in his letter?                     Page 114.
Page 108.                    What did he secretly advise the Germaa
Why did he desire to meet the king? -Who  electors to do?-Whom did Leo pretend to fa,prevented this?-How was the great cardinal vour?-Whyl-Did Leo's measures succeed 1treated during his illness -How did he bear When and where was the imperial diet opened?
this?-What act of unkindness by Charles at -Where is Frankfort?-What was the numlast broke his heart?-When did he die — How  ber of the electors?-What is the first principle
long had he been regent? —What remarkable of patriotism  among the members of the
honour did he receive from  the people?-  Germanic body? —Would it have violated this
Where had Charles summoned the cortes o. principle to elect Charles or Frantis?-To
Castile to meet?-Where is Valladolid?-Had  whom did they offer the crown?
they acknowledged him king?-How  did they                   Page 115.
adjust his and his mother'S claims to the crown?
-What free gift did they votel               Did he accept it? —What reason did he at
sign for this step?-How did the Spanish am
Page 1(09.                 bassadors offer to reward him?-Did he accept
How did Charles's Spanish subjects soon be- it?-What now remained for the electors to




QUESTIONS.                                     621
oo — Which candidate had the ablest ambas- a part?-What sea is between Naples and
dadors?-What offer did the pope's nuncio make Spain?-Which way is Milan -from Rome 1to Charles?                                 From Paris?-Why was pope Leo X. afraid of
having Francis and Charles engaged in a war'
Page 116.                  ~-How did he conduct towards them?-What
When was the contest decided?-In whose  were the views of the Venetians?-Which sove
favour?-What paper did the electors require reign did Leo really favour?
Charles's ambassadors to sign?-Did Charles 
confirm it?-What was its use?-Where was                     Page 121.
Charles when he heard the news of his elec-   Which did theVenetians favour?-What sea
tion?-Where is Barcelona?-What title did is south of Venice.? —What sovereign were
Charles assume?-Was he the first to do this? Charles and Francis particularly anxious to
-Were the Spaniards pleased at Charles's ele- gain?-When did Henry VIII. ascend the throne.
vation?'-What opposing. parties did he unite — For
P.e^,1 -~          -what were Henry and the English nation parPage 117.                  ticularly anxious? —What victories did he gain
Was Charles deterred from accepting it by  in 1513?-Of what;French port was Henry in
their discontent?-What grant had the pope possession? —Where is Calais? —Which way
made to Charles? —Did the clergy accede to  from Paris?-,-Was Henry as well qualified by
this?-Did the clergy carry their point?-In  his disposition as by his situation to preserve
what city did tumultsarise? —What  ieasure the balance of power between Charles and
did the citizens of Valencia resort to? —To what Francis?-Who was Henry's prime minister?
crown had the kingdom of Valencia been annexed?-Whatwas the capital city of the king-                  Page 122.
dom of Valencia?-In what part of Spain is Va-   What were his origin and character?-Was
lencia?-What was the object of the military  he sincerely devoted to the interest of his masassociation of Valencia —How were the peo- ter and the nation?-What'was his chief obpie treated bythe nobles?-To whom did the ject?-How'did the states of Europe court
nobles apply for leave to attack the people and  Henry's friendship?~-Whom  did Francis emsuppress  the insurrection?-What measure ploy togainhim?-Whatdidhe gainfromHenry
did the people oppose to this?-At what junc- by Wolsey's intercession?-How did Francis
ture did the deputies of the people visit Charles? address Henry, in his letters?-What claims
had Charles on Henry?-How did he seek to'. Page 118. -                 secure Wolsey's interest?
Whom did Charles appoint to hold the cor-23
tes?-What did the nobles then resolve' to do?   - 
-How did Charles then decide the dispute be-   Whither did Charles steer on leaving Coruntween the nobles and people of Valencia? —  na?-In what part of Spain is Corunna?What were the consequences of this rash step.? Where. did he land?-Which way is it from
-What..did the cities of Castile resolve to do Corunna to.Dover?-Why did he visit Eng
on hearing of-Charles's election?-Did he re- land -What additional pension did. he grant
ceive their deputies?- Where did he summon  Wolsey? -Where was Henry when Charles
the cortes to meet — Where is Compostella?-  landed, in England.?-Which way is Canter
In what part of Spain is Galicia?-For what bury, from London?-.-Whom did he despatch
purpose did, Charles summon the cortes to to meet Charles?-How long did Charles remeet T-Where are Toledo and Valladolid?  imain in England? —What did he effect by his
What did'the magistrates of Toledo do on this visit?-How  did he completely gain Wolsey
occasion? —What outrage did the people ofVal- to his interest?-Where did Henry promise to
ladolid attempt?-What disposition did the visit Charles — Where and when did the intercortes when assembled at Galicia' manifest -  view between Henry VIII. and Francis I. take
What city sent no representatives to the cortes? place?-Where are Guisnes and Ardres?-For what reason?-What did therepresen- What was the plain called?-How  was the
tatives from Salamanca do?                  time of this visit occupied?-How many days
did it last?
Page 119.
Page 124.
What did the representatives from  Toro, 
Madrid, and Cordova declare?-Where is To-   Where and when did Charles and Henry
ledo 7-Salamanca?-Toro?-Madrid?-Cordo- have an interview after this?-What was its
va?-How did the emperor endeavour to in- effect?-What proposal did Charles make for
fluence.the deputies to grant the donative?-  settling the differences between himself and
Which party  did the nobles favour!-Did  Francis? -Where and when was Charles V.
Charles gain their subsidy by the influence of crowned emperor of Germany?-Where is Aixthe nobles?-How did he requitethem?-Whom  la-Chapelle?-What other monarch ascended
did he appoint regent of Castile?-To whom  his throneabout thesametime?-What five great
did he give the viceroyalty of Aragon?.To  monarchs flourished in the 16th century?whom that of Valencia?-Were these appoint- What was the first act of the emperor's adminisments popular?-From  what port did Charles  tration? —For what purpose was the diet to be
sail T-When?                                 assembled?:-When did Luther begin to propagate his opinions?
BOO K H.                                       Page 125.
What was the condition of the revenues of
What circumstances rendered Charles's pre- the Catholic church when Leo X. ascended the
sence in Germany necessary?.throne?-How  did he provide a fund for the
p    120.                  supply of his extravagant schemes?-Explain
Page 10.                    thenatureofindulgences? —When and by whom
What was the cause of the long-continued  were they invented?-For what purpose were
rivalry between Charles and Francis?-How  they at first intended? —For what did Julius II.
were their interests opposed with respect to  and Leo X. grant them? —To whom was the
Navarre?-With respect to Naples?-Milan?-  right of promulgating indulgences in GerBurgundy?-Where is Naples?-Milan?-Bur-  many granted?-Whom  did Albert elector of
gundy?-Of what kingdom  is Burgundy now  Mentz employ?




622                                 QUESTIONS.
Page 126.                   state of the public sentiment in Germany?How did they abuse the grant?-What was How were Luther, Melancthon and others dis
the effect of this conduct 6l the public senti- seminating their opinions?-During these transment?-Where was Luther born?-In what actions, how had the court of Rome conducted
part of Europe is Saxony?-What event caused -How might Leo have prevented the reforms
him to become an Augustinian friar?         tion from taking place at that period?
Page 127.                                    Page 135.
Fromrrwhat book did he derive his new theo-   Did Luther intend the reformation when ne
logical opinions?-Of what university was he ap- first opposed Tetzel?-How was he led into it 1
pointed professor?-By what prince?-Against -What was the final result of his studies and
what practice of the church of Rome did he first inquiries?-Was it this gradual progress which
preach?-How was his preaching received?-  led him to final success? —Were his followers
To what prelate did he first complain of the conducted as gradually in their inquiries as
sale of indulgences?-With what success?-  Luther himself?-Who had opposed the corWhat was his next step?-In publishing the ruptions of the Romish church in the 12th cen
theses did he acknowledge the authority of the tury?-Who in the 14th?-Who in the 15th?church?-Were his theses answered?-Why  Why did they not succeed?
did not the Augustinians oppose Luther?                        Page 136.
Page 128.                     What  circumstances had diminished the poWhy did not the elector. of Saxony oppose pular reverence for the popes in the 14th and
him?-What priests opposed Luther?-Which  15th centuries?-What was the character of
side did the people favour?                 Alexander VI.?-Of Julius II.?-Did their proPage 129.                   fligacy and ambition diminish the reverence
for the papal office?-What was the general
How did Leo X. regard the controversy at character of the clergy of the Romish church
this time? —What was Leo at length induced immediately previous to the reformation?
to do by the enemies of Luther? —Did Luther
obey the summons?-Where did he wish to be                    Page 137.
tried?-What did the professors of Wittemburg   Did these circumstances contribute to the
and the elector request of the pope?-Whom  popularity of Luther's doctrines?-How  were
did the pope appoint to hear and determine the pardons obtained from the clergy? —What were
cause? — here did Luther meet him?          some of the prices attached to certain crimes 1
Page 130.                                    \Page 138.
In their dispute to what did Cajetan appeal?   What was the condition of the clergy with
-To what did Luther?-When Luther had con- respect to worldly possessions?-What was
futed the cardinal, how was he treated by him? the condition of the German clergy?-How had
-Was he intimidated by his threats?-What their possessions been increased during the
did Luther's friends persuade him  to do?- wars?-How were the persons of the clergy
What curious appeal did he publish before his protected?
departure from Augsburg?-Where is Augs-                        Page 139
burg?-To whom did Cajetan appeal for the punishment of Luther?-Why did the elector pro-   Were they amenable for crimes to the civil
tect Luther?.::-         authority?-How  could a priest be degraded
p age- 131.  -       from his office, and thus rendered amenable to
Page 131.                   the civil power?-What courts exercised jurisWhat sentence did the judges at Rome fulmi- diction over priests?-What kinds of law-suits
nate against Luther?-What disposition did Lu- were tried by the spiritual courts, besides those
ther manifest in his dangerous situation?-To  in which priests were concerned?-Were the
whom did Luther appeal from the pope's sen- civil courts injured and degraded by these priviLence?-What did the pope require of all Chris- leges of the clergy?-How  did the spiritual
tendom in his bull?-Did it produce much ef- courts punish offenders?-What part of the
feet — What prevented the consequences of the national property in Germany belonged to the
pope's lull from being injurious to Luther?  priests?
Page 132.                                    Page 140.
When did Maximilian die?-H-ow was Lu-   Was their property taxed?-How  did this
ther's friend, the elector of Saxony, now enabled affect the rest of the community?-Were all the
to protect him?-Why was Leo afraid to ex- owners of this ecclesiastical property resident
communicate Luther?-How long did this sus- in  Germany?-Who conferred benefices? —
pension of hostilities last?-What was the sub- From whom had they wrested this privilege?ject of the public disputation between Luther Was this opposed?-How was the matter setand Eccius at Leipsic?-Where is Leipsic?-  tled? —How did the popes elude this agreement?
Hlow did the dispute terminate?-In what other
Page 141.
country were indulgence  opposed?-Who lel 
the reformers in Switzerland?-What univer-   What popes abused this privilege to the ut
sities declared against them?                most, by claiming the right of mental reservation?-How were the extraordinary powers of
Page 133.. the clergy exercised?-What is meant by anWhen was the bull against Luther finally nats?-To whom were they paid? —On what
pronounced?-What were its terms? —How  pretence were tenths levied?-Upon what is
was it received?-Was Luther intimidated by Robertson's account of these ecclesiastical
it?-How did he proceed?-What act of reta- abuses founded?
liation did he perform at Wittemburg?-Where                   Pag  142
is Wittemburg?-How did he justify the action  
-When Charles arrived in Germany had any    What was the cause of the rapid progress of
prince embraced Luther's opinions?          Luther's doctrines?-Did his scurrility and
abuse give, offence to the people?-How did the
Page 134.                   art of printing aid the reformation?-How did
Had the possessions and privileges of the Ca- the revival of learning aid it —Was Luther
hohic clergy been invaded — What was the friendly to the cultivation of ancientliterature




QUESTIONS.                                      623
Page 143.                  Where is Navarre?-How is it bounded?On which side of the controversy were the Where is Logrogno?-Which way is it from
learning and talents of the age chiefly engaged? Pampeluna to Lgrogno -In what other part
— ad the learned before Luther's time exposed of Charles's territories did Francis attack him?
many of the abuses of the church?-What -Where is Bouillon?-Luxembourg?-Chamwriter had ridiculed them with great success? pagne — Vireton?-Who was induced by Fran-Did Erasmus applaud Luther at first?-Did cis to declare war against Charles 
he recommend the study of the Scriptures?                    Page 151
Page 144.                    Whither did he march? —Where were Robert's
What character did Erasmus afterward as- troops raised?-To whom did Charles complain
sume?-Did he finally write against Luther?   of this attack -Did Francis acknowledge his
participation in it?-Why did he order De la
Page 145.                  Mark to disband his troops?-What general
For what purpose did the diet at Worms ap- was sent by Charles to chastise the insolence
point a council of regency?-Why did Charles of De la Mark -How did he succeed?-After
V. determine to oppose Lutherl-What did the reducing Boillon, whither did the count of
pope's legates at the diet insist upon?-Did the Naa proceed -How  did he obtain possesdiet command Luther's personal attendance?-   in of Mouson -Where is  ouson -What
How did they guarantee his safety?-What did place did he next invest?-Who comianded at
Luther's friends advise -Did he regard their Mezieres?-What was his character?-Where
advce    ow was he received at Worms is Mezieres?-What was the result of the siege 
How  did he behave before the diet?-Did the -What place did Francis then first retake?council force him to retract his opinions? — t What   happened to him in he neighbourhood of
did his enemies propose to the council     Valenciennes?-Where is Valenciennes? —How
did he offend Charles, duke of Bourbon?-Where
Page 146.                  was a congress held during those military opeWas their proposition acceded to?-What de- rations?-Why did it not produce peace 2
cree was published after his departure?-How                 Page 152.
was Luther saved from the effects of this edict?               a g.   i1
Whither was he conveyed?-How did he pass   What was Wolsey's object in devoting him
his time there?-What changes did the Augus- self to the interest of Charles?-What did
tinians of Wittemburg make in the forms of Charles demand as a condition of peace? —Did
worship?-How  did the university of Paris Francis accede to these proposals?-What was
treat Luther's doctrine?-How did Henry VIII. the result of the congress?-Where did Wolsey
of England?                                visit Charles?-How was he received?-What
was the result of this visit?-According to the
Page 147.                  league formed between Wolsey (for Henry VIII.)
What was the title of his treatise?-How did and Charles, on which side was Charles to inthe pope reward his zeal?-Was it the protest- vade Franc?-On which side wasHenr  to
ant or the catholic faith which he defended -  invade it?-With how many men each? —Whom
Did the protestant kings of England, his succes- was Charles to marry?-What reason did
sors, retain the title of Defender of the Faith?-  Henry assign for this treaty?-What was the
Did Luther reply to both the university and the true policy of England?-What was Henry's
king?-Did the controversy attract attention real motive for war with France 
throughout Europe?-What was its effect in                    Page 153
France and England?-Whefe was war on the                     Pae 
point of breaking out between France and the   What part of Italy was the seat of the wai
emperor? —Was the emperor desirous of this begun by the pope and the emperor against
event?-Was Francis I. — Whom  did Henry Francis?-Where is Lombardy? —Were the
VIII. favour              w                 French popular in Italy?-How did the French
governor of Milan conduct?-Whom  did he
Page 148.                  banish?-What offer did Jerome Morone make
Why did Leo X. endeavour to excite discord to Francis Sforza?-Did the plot succeed?between Charles and Francis?-Which did he Whither did Leo permit the exiles to retire?choose for an ally?-What was the object of Did the Marechal de Foix succeed in surprising
the alliance?-Did Leo remain faithful to the them?-By whose good conduct was he retreaty?                                    pulsed?-On receiving intelligence of the
French attack on Reggio, how did Leo proceed I
Page 149. 
Who was Charles's ambassador at Rome-                      Page 154.
When was the alliance between Charles and   With whom  did he conclude a treaty 1Leo concluded?-According to this treaty, Whom did he excommunicate?-Where is Mi
whence were the French to be driven by the lan? —Where is Reggio?-In whose territories
united forces of Charles and Leo?-Who was was Reggio?-Who commanded the imperial
to have possession of the Milanese? —Whowas forces at the opening of the war in Italy?to have Parma and Placentia?-Where is Who commanded the French?-On what conParma?-Where is Placentia?-What effect dition did Lautrec offer to assume the comdid this treaty have on Chievres? —Was his mand? —Who prevented the remittance of the
death a fortunate circumstance for Charles?-  $300,000?-Did Lautrec succeed in raising an
Where did hostilities commence, while Charles army?-What kind of mercenaries were emand Leo were preparing to attack Milan?-By  ployed on both sides?-Was there a law of the
whom?-In whose name?                       Swiss against this?-What did the Swiss government order their subjects to do?
Page 150.
Who commanded the French?-Was Navarre                      Page 155.
gained by them? —Where is Pampeluna?-    How did the cardinal of Sion prevent this
What fortress resisted?-What distinguished order from taking effect in the army of the
man was wounded there?-What order did he allies?-What was its effect in the French
found?-After conquering Navarre, what im- army?-Whither did Lautrec retire?-How did
rudent step did l'Esparre take?-What was Colonna gain possession of Milan?-Whither
No consequence of his invading Castile?- did Lautrec then retire?-To what state were




624                                 QUESTIONS.
Parma and Placentia united?-How was Leo to Segovia?-How was ne received by the Se.
X. affected by the news?-Did Leo's death break govians?-How did he proceed against the eS
the confederacy between the emperor and the govians?-Who reinforced the Segovian army'
holy see?-What prevented Lautrec from re- -Which party was victorious?-Whom  did
gaining the Milanese                         Adrian order to besiege Segovia in form?In what city was amagazine established by carPage 156.                   dinal Ximpnes?-Where is Medina del Campo?
For what purpose was the conclave of cardi- -Did they deliver the battering cannon to Fon
nals assembled at Rome?-Was Wolsey's in- seca.?-How did Fonseca treat the inhabitants?
terest strong among the cardinals?-What car- -How did the inhabitants of Valladolid express
dinal had secured fifteen voices?-How was their resentment for this injury?
the choice at last decided?-To what did the
cardinals attribute this unexpected choice?-                   Page 162
What ambassador's influence was the real   How did cardinal Adrian endeavour to stop
cause of it?-How was Charles affected by the these outrages? —With what success?-What
intelligence of his former preceptor's election? was the object of the people in these tumultuous
-How did Francis regard it?-By whose as- proceedings?-Was their state favourable for
sistance was he enabled to invade the Milanese? the attainment of liberty?-To what was this
chiefly owing?-What was the condition of the
Page 157.                   inhabitants of the cities?-What rendered the
How  were the Swiss troops exasperated present juncture favourable for pushing their
against Lautrec?-What did they require him  claims?-What was the first object of Padilla 
to do?-Did he lead them  to battle?-What -Where was the convention appointed to be
was the result? —What were the consequences held?-Where is Avila?-To what did the deof this defeat?-What city and territories re- puties bind themselves by oath?
mained subject to France?-How did Colonna                           1
become possessed of this country?-What so-                    Page 163
vereign declared war with France in May?       What did they style the convention?-What
did they agree to require of Adrian?-To what
Page 158.                   city did Padilla march?-Where is Tordesillas?
How did Francis receive the herald who de- -Of whose person.did Padilla possess himclared war?-How did he raise finances to self? —How did the queen of Castile receive his
carry on the two wars? —What country did account of grievances?-Whither did the junta
Charles visit on his return from Germany to remove?-Did the queen's interval of reason
Spain?-How long did his visitlast?-What last? —How did the junta find a remedy for he
were its consequences — Whom  did Charles incapacity?-What did they commission Pa
create his high admiral?-What coasts did he dilla to do at Valladolid?
ravage?-Where did he take command of an
army?-Where  is Normandy? —Bretagne?                          Page 164.
Morlaix?-Picardy?-Whither did Surrey pro-   What was Adrian's situation after this?ceed with the count de Buren?-What mode of Was the emperor aware of these disturbances?
warfare was used by the duke of Vendome for Why could he not then return to Spain?-Did
the defence of France?-How did he succeed?  he adopt the violent or conciliatory course with
the rebels? —What did he in his'circulars exPage 159.                   hort the people to do?-What did he exhort the
What was the result of the second campaign? nobles to do — Whom did he join with Adrian
-During this time what country did Solyman  in the regency?-What concessions did Charles
the Magnificent enter?-What city did he take? make to the people?-Did these concessions
-Where is Hungary?-Where is Belgrade?-  produce any effect?-What measure did the
On what river?-What island did he turn his junta resort.to?
forces against — To whom did the island be-                    Pae
long?-~Where is it situated?-What was the                     P 
number of his army?-Of his fleet? —What was   What were some of the principal conditions
the force of the knights of St. John?-Who  which they prescribed for the emperor in their
commanded the knights?-Of whom did he im- long remonstrance?
plore assistance?-Who united with him in his
request?-How  did they succeed -How long                       Page 166.
did the knights sustain the siege?-What island    In what other country did the people make
did the emperor grant the knights?-Where is similar requirements of their sovereign?Malta?                                       What people of Europe best understood the
principles of liberty at this time?-What alarmBOOK  I II.'             ed the nobility and alienated them  from the
Page 160.                   cause of the people?-On which side did they
Page 160..'throw their influence?-What measure did they
When did Francis arrive in Spain?-In what take for the emperor's benefit?-When did the
state did he find the country?-What was the delegates of the junta set out for Germany?effect of the free gift granted by the cortes to What intelligence did they hear from the court?
the emperor?-Where is Galicia?-Where is -What effect did this have?-How were the
the city of Toledo — What course did the citi- junta affected by this intelligence from  the
zens of Toledo take?-Who was their leader? court?-What did they declare the conduct of
-Where is Segovia — Who had been their re- the emperor to be?-What measures of oppopresentative in the cortes of Galicia?-How war  sition were discussed in the junta?
he treated at his return?-Where are the cities
of Burgos and Zamora?-How were the repre-                    Page 167
sentatives of these cities treated?           With what force did they take the field?Page 3i61m          Who were candidates for the office of genePage 161.                  ral?-Who was appointed —Where did the
Where had Adrian the regent of Spain fixed regents assemble the royal army?-What form
the seat ofgovernment —Who was Adrian?- ed the chief strength of their army? -Who
Where is Valladolid?-When did Adrian as- commanded the royalists?-Where did he atsemble the privy council. —Did Adrian adopt tempt to surround and reduce De Haro's force
mild or violent measures? —Whom did he send to the necessity of surrendering?-How did he




QUESTIONS.                                       625
succeed — Whither did he march? —Whither among the different kingdoms of Spain in their
did De Haro march?-What did he gain pos- rebellion?-What act of clemency did the em
session of there?-What were the consequences peror perform immediately after his return to
of the rebels losing possession of the queen's Spain —By what other means did he acquire
person?                                     an ascendency over his Spanish subjects?
Page 168.                                    Page 175.
What did Giron do after this affair?-Where    How was Pope Adrian received in Italy?lid the remnant of the junta and the army as- How did he manage the concerns of his office?
semble?-Who was appointed to command the -To whom did he restore places wrested from
army?-What did the rebels most need?-Why  them by the church?-For what purpose did he
did not the junta lay a tax?-How was money  try to reconcile Charles and Francis?-Was he
raised? —ow did the regents raise monpy to  qualified' for this undertaking?-How was the
pay the royal troops?-Did the nobility desire imperial army in Italy supported?-Who was
to unite with the people in pacific measures?   its commander?
Page 169.
What part of the rights demanded by the                     Page 176.
people did they wish to be given up?-Were the    Who entered into a league against Francis?
members of the junta united in opinion and  Was Francis disheartened by the defection of
Xfeeling?-What injury did they threaten to the his allies -How was he enabled to raise money
nobles?-What place did Padilla take by storm? and troops more easily than Charles and Henry
-Where  is Torrelobaton  -When?-Did he  YVIII.?-What country did he propose to invade
mprove this victory?-How did the junta pre- in person?-What prevented this?-Who was
vent him from taking active measures?-Where  the author of the conspiracy against Francis?
did the constable assemble troops?-Where is -Was he related to the king?-Why did Louise,
Burgos?                                     the king's mother, hate the Bourbons?-How
had the king injured the duke of Bourbon? —
P age 170.                  What was the effect of these injuries?
With whom did he affect a junction?-As
they advanced, towards what place did Padilla                 Page 177.
retreat?-Where is Toro?-Where was he over-   After the death of the dutchess of Bourbon,
taken by Haro?-Where is Villalar?-Where what design was entertained by Louise?-Did
and when was Padilla captured?-How  was it succeed?-What did she then resolve?he treated?-To whom did he write letters be- Whom did she consult for the purpose of ruinfore his death?.                          ing Bourbon?-What unjust decision did they
Page 171.                  obtain from the judges?-To what measures
was the duke of Bourbon driven by this.Have the Spanish historians done Justice to  What did the emperor offer him?-Who, besides
nis character?-After the victory at Villalar, the constable and Charles V. was to invade
what cities opened their gates to the royalists? France?-How many men was Bourbon to fur-Was the confederation of cities against the nish — Where was theemperor to enter France?
emperor broken up?-Whither did the royal -Henry?-Where was Bourbon to act in the
army march?-For what purpose?-Where is war?-For what did the conspirators wait?Navarre?-Did the Castilian people improve  Who informed Francis of the correspondence
this opportunity for renewing the rebellion?   between Bourbon and Charles V. 
Which was the only city that held out?-Who
animated the citizens to resist the'emperor's                  Page 178.
forces?-To whom did she write?-How did    Where did he visit Bourbon? —What was the
she raise money?-By what artifices did she  result of the visit?-When did the constable
inflame the minds of the people?            make his escape into Italy?-Did Francis go to
Page 172.                   Italy?-Whom  did he appoint in his place to
After expelling the French from Navrre  lead the army?-What was his character?what place did the royal army invest?-Was  Who commanded the imperialists-Of what
Donna Maria intimidated by this?-What event river did he attempt to defend the passage? —
caused the clergy to desert her?Of what did  Where is the river Tesino?-With what suce
they accuse her?-How did the people treat cess?-To what city did he retire?-Did he
her?-How lcng did she defend the citadel?-  make good the defence of Milan?
Whither did she finally escape?-What was the                 Page 179
consequence of her flight? —Did this rebellion 
increase or lessen the power of the crown?-    What prelate died during these transactions'
What was its effect on the cortes?-On the -How long did the conclave last for choosing
cities?-What had been the state of Valencia his successor?-Who was chosen?-What title
since 1520? —Where is the kingdom of Valen- did he take? —Of what state had he already the
cia?-The city?-What associations subsisted  government?-Why was not cardinal Wolsey
there?-Against whom  were the Valencians chosen pope?-Did he secretly resent the em
most exasperated?-What excesses did they  peror's indifference.to his interests?
commit?.
^ Page 171.                   Had Henry      Page 180.
~Page 173.     ~      Had Henry VIII. fulfilled his part of the
What sort of government did they establish? treaty with Charles?-What retarded his miliDid the nobles defend themselves?-What was tary operations?-When did his army take the
the character of the Germanada?l-Who com- field?-Under whose command?-How near to
manded the royal forces in Valencia?-On which  Paris did he approach?-Who commanded the
side was the advantage in 1520 and 1521?- French?-In what month did he conipel the
How were the nobles then reinforced?-Which  English and Flemings to retreat? — ~id the
party then prevailed? —Who prevented an open emperor succeed in his attack upon Burgundy
rebellion in Aragon?-What happened in Ma- and Guienne? —What had Francis I effected in
jorca?-Where is Aragon?-Majorca?           1523?
Page 174.                                    Page 181.
Why vas there no combination or concert  What miisf)rtunes he;lened to France in the
hQ




626                              QUESTIONS.
beginning of 1524?-What did the pope desire? Where is Marseilles:-To what city did Bour.
-Was he successful?-Where did the allied bon wish to march? —Where is Lyons? —Oa
army assemble?-Who succeeded Colonna in  what river?-How did Francis prepare for the
the command of it?-To what two generals defence of Marseilles?-Did the citizens of
was the chief conduct of military affairs given? Marseilles make good its defence? —How long
-Why did the troops mutiny?-What city did  did the siege last?-Meantime where had Franthey threaten to pillage?-Who raised money  cis assembled an army?-Where is Avignon t
for the troops? —Where had Bonnivet in- — Whither did the imperialists retire on the ap.
trenched himself?-How many Swiss deserted  proach of this army?-What prevented the emhim?-Through what valley did he attempt a peror from attacking France during these operetreat into France?-On the banks of what rations, according to his original plan?-What
river was Bonnivet attacked by Bourbon and  prevented Henry VIII. from invading France?
Pescara?-Who was wounded early in the
battle?-Who then took the command?                          Page 1.
After having repelled the invaders of France,
Page 182                   what did Francis next attempt?-What was the
How did he behave when mortally wounded  condition of the French army?-Of the impe-How was he treated by Pescara?-Where  rial arpy?-What did Francis's counsellors and
did he die?-Whither was his body sent?-  Louise of Savoy advise?-Did Francis regard
Whither did Bonnivet retreat?-What was the  their advice?-Whom did he appoint regent of
result of the campaign?-What disciple of France during his absence in Italy?-What did
Luther raised a sedition in Saxony?-How was Bonnivet advise?-Why did he wish to return
it terminated?- What work had occupied Lu- to Milan?-Did Pescara arrive at Milan before
ther in his retreat?-Who assisted Him?-  the French?-Did he keep possession of the
When was a part of the New  Testament city 
finished and published?Page 189.
Page 183.                     What was the cause of the inefficiency of
What was the effect of its publication?   Charles's forces?-What was their number?What cities embraced the Lutheran religion?-  Who were his generals in Italy?-How did
What princes became patrons of Luther's  Lannoy raise money?-What did Pescara preopinions?-What was pope Adrian's character? vail on the Spanish troops to do?-Whither did
-Who was his nuncio to the diet at Nurem- Bourbon go to raise troops?-What was the
berg? -In his brief, how did he require Luther fatal error of Francis? —Whither did the impeto be treated by the diet?-What did he say in  rialists retire?-Where is Lodi?-On what rihis brief concerning the corruption of the ver —To what city did he lay siege?-Where
church?                                     is Pavia?-On what river?-Which way from
Milan — How  late in the season was it when
Page 184.                   Francis commenced the siege of Pavia?-By
Did the diet execute the edict of Worms?-  how many veterans was it defended?-Under
Why not?-What measure did they recommend  whose command?-What was Iis character?
to the pope?-What did the pope's nuncio pro- -How long did Francis prosecute the siege?
pose? —Did he prevail upon the diet to relinquish the proposal for a general council?-How                 Page 190.
did he avoid bearing unpleasant tidings to his    Meantime what was the situation of the airmy
master the pope?-What were some of the  under Lannoy and Pescara?-How  was this
most important of the one hundred grievances? inaction satirized at Rome? —How did Leyva
— What did the diet recommend in their recess  defend Pavia?-How  did Francis's army sufof March 6, 1523?                           fer by attempting to divert the course of the
Tesino?-What did pope Clement desire at this
Page 185. V                  time?-What treaty did he conclude with
How were the reformers benefitedby the diet France?-WThat kingdom did Francis then atof Nuremberg?-Where is Nuremberg?-To  tempt to conquer?-How many men ditl he dewhat did they appeal in their subsequent con- tgch from his army for this purpose,? —Under
troversies?-How was pope Adrian's conduct whose command?-Was this a wise measure?
regarded at Rome?-How were his schemes of — Was the garrison of Pavia reduced to extree
reformation treated by the cardinals and other mity?
ecclesiastics?-What was the character of pope
Clement VII.?-Was he willing to call a coun-                  Page 191.
cil?-Whom did he send to Nuremberg as his    How many Germans did Bourbon bring to
nuncio?-What did Campeggio exhort the diet their relief?-Had the imperial generals any
to do?                                       money to. pay their troops? —How did they induce the soldiers to serve?-When the impePage 186.                   rialists approached, what did Francis's generals
Did he prevail upon the diet to persecute the wish him to do?-What did Bonnivet advise?
Lutherans?                                  -Which was the best advice?-Whose advice
B 0 OOK  I V.                 did Francis follow?
BOOK  IV.
What power had been expelled from Italy? —                   Pae 192.
Who was restored to the dutchy of Milan?-    On what day did the imperialists attack the
What did the Italians desire?-To what did  French?-How  did the Swiss under Francis
the pope advise Charles V.?-Was his advice  behave?-How  did Francis conduct?-Who
regarded?                                   saved his life?-To whom did he surrender his
person?-How many men fell at the battle of
Page 187.                   Pavia?-What other king besides Francis was
What part of France did he propose to in- made prisoner?-What was its effert on th
ade?-What part was Henry VIII. to invade? French power in Italy?-Who had the care of
— Where is Provence?-Picardy?-Guienne?-  Francis?
Of what country was Bourbon to be put in possession?-How many men did the emperor em-                    Page 193.
ploy inthe invasion ofProvence?-Under whose    Whither did he conduct him?-To whose
command — To what city did Pescara lay siege? care did he commit him?-How was intelli



QUESTIONS.                                      62
genre of the battle of Pavia conveyed to Charles?           Page 202.
-How did Charles receive the intelligence?-  To what resolution did Francis at last come 
Was this moderation real or affected?- What - hat was its effect on Charles?-When was
was Charles's real design?-What was Fran- the treaty which procured Francis's liberty
cis's letter to his mother?-What was the con- signed?-What were some of its conditions?dition of France?                            What hostage was to be given?
Page 194.                                   Page 203.
What saved the country from ruin?-What   How did France try to annul this treaty bedid Louise do?-Vhat king did she attempt to  fore signing it?-Did the monarchs appear
conciliate?-What were Ienry's views? -Was friendly after the signing of the treaty?-To
he disposed to aid Francis?-How was Wolsey  whom was Francis married?
disposed towards Francis?-Did they come to
a secret agreement with Louise? —What public                  Page 204.
measures did Henry take'?  -How was he restored to his friends at the
Page 195.                   river Andaye?-What exclamation did he make
Wh s a s d d o s  as he mounted his horse? —How long was this
What didhis ambassadors demand ofCharles  after the battle of Pavia?-Whom  did Charles
-Was his demand acceded to?-What was marry?-With what dowry? —What was the
Henry's design in making such an extravagant condition of Germany at this time?-In  hat
demand?-What was the effect of the battle of centuries had the peasants rebelled?
Pavia in Italy?-What did Lannoy oblige the
pope to do — Did Charles confirm the treaty?-                Page 205.
Was the pope defrauded of his money?-What   Had they been quelled?-VIWhen did they trun
use did Lannoy make of the money exacted from  to arms again?-Where did they first appear?
the pope?-What caused the disbanding of the -Where is Suabia?-How did they proceed -
German and Italian troops of Charles?       Of what grievances did they complain in their
Page 196.                  memorial?-Of what rank in society were their
leaders?
What was their number?-Did Charles re- 
solve to treat Francis generously?-What terms                Page 206.
of liberation did he order de Roeux to propose   At first had the insurrection any connexion
to Francis — How did Francis treat the propo- with religion?-Vho led the rebels in Thurinsal?                                        gia?-Where is Thuringia?-To what elector
is Thuringia subject?-What was the characPage 197.                  ter of Thomas Muncer?-At what did he and
Did Francis believe that these conditions his followers aim?
came from Charles?-Whither was he removed
by Lannoy?-What part of Spain did he arrive                 Page 
at?-Where is Barcelona?-To what city was   What was their number?-What impious
he conducted?-Who had the care of him?-  and blasphemous pretensions did he make --
What treaty was concluded about this time?-  What princes surrounded Muncer and his 8000
Who laid a plot for fieeing Italy from Charles followers? —How was their ambassador treatv.                  ed?-How was this outrage punished? —What
Page 198.                   was IMhuncer's fate?-How did Luther act dur
inlg these troubles?-Whom  did he marry?
Where was Bourbon?-Who commanded the 
army in Italy? —Why were they both enraged                   Page 208.
with Lannoy — How  did Morone prevail on    What protector of the reformers died in
Pescara to join in the plot?                1526? —What order of knighthbod was one of
Page 199.                  the most distinguished among the crusaders --
When driven from the East, what country did
What question did he propose to the casuists? they invade?-What country or crown did'they
-To whom did Pescara betray the plot?-Was hold it from as a fief?-In 1511 what grand
Charles aware of it before?-What did he re- master of the Teutonic knights quarrelled with
quire Pescara to do?-How did Pescara ma- the king of Poland? —Into what was Prussia
nage the betrayal of Morone 1-Whither was erected?-Whom  did Albert marry?-Whlat
Morone conducted?-How was Sforza punish- title did the margraves of Brandenburgh take?
ed?                                        -What is the present rank of Prussia among
Page 200.                        the kisgdoms of Europe?-To whom did Fran
IHow did Charles treat Francis -On whatcis write on his return to France?
pretence did he stay away from Madrid and                    Page 209.
avoid visiting Francis?-What was the effect
of this treatment on Francis?-What did Charles   What did Charle's ambassadors demand of
do when Francis was sick?-What was the him?-What answer did he make?-What was
effect of his visit?-Iow was Francis treated the condition of Italy and of Sforza?-Whose
on his recovery?                            assistance did they claim against Charles V.?What were the terms of the holy league?Page 201.                  Between whom was it made?
How did Charles treat the traitor Bourbon?
-What was the object of this?-Did the Spa-                  Page 210.
nish nation approve of his courtesies to Bour-   From what oath did the pope absolve Franbon?-What reply did the marquis of Villena cis?-What were Charles's views of his late
make to Charles when his castle was wanted conduct towards Francis?-Upon what did he
for Bourbon?-Whose hand did Bourbon de- resolve?-Whom did he send to Paris to demand in marriage?-Did he obtain it?-How  mand the execution of the treaty?-How was
was he rewarded by Charles?-Besides the their demand treated by Francis?
command of the army in Italy, what dutchy
was granted him?-What was the chief obsta-                   Pae 211.
cle in the way of Francis's liberty?-What   How did Charles behave on receiving the indutchess and what king interceded forFrancis? telligence of the holy league?-Was Francis
-With what success?  active in executing the holy league? —Whal




625                                QUESTIONS.
successes did Bourbon meet with in the Milan-                Page 221.
ese X                                         Why was Henry VIII. anxious. to conciliate
Page 212.                  the pope?-What were the principal terms of
the treaty concluded at Amiens, between FranWhat great family in Italy were attached to cis and Wolsey on the part of Henry? —What
he Ghibelline or imperial interest?-With what claim did Henry give up?-For what price?ambassador did Colonna intrigue against the    ho had the custody of the pope -How did
pope?-With how many men did Colonna en- the Florentines and Venetians behave towards
ter Rome?                                   his holiness?-To what city did Lannoy and
Pa.ge 213.                 Moncada, and the marquis of Guasto march
with their troops?
Where did Clement take refuge?-What palaces and church were plundered?-What                        Page 222.
terms did Moncada exact from the pope?-    What was the state of the soldiery in Rome 
Did this break the power of the holy league?- -Did Lannoy, Moncada, and the marquis of
What reinforcements did the imperial army in  Guasto remain in Rome?-Whom did the solItaly receive?-Were these troops well paid? diers choose for their general?-Whom  did
— How was Bourbon obliged to raise money  Francis and theVenetians appoint generalissimo
for them?-Whom did Bourbon liberate?       of the league?-Was he successful in Italy 
Page 214.                                   Page 223.
For what ransom?-How  did he afterward   Did he entirely recover the Milanese and retreat Morone?-What territories did Bourbon  store the duke?-What friends did the pope enresolve to invade?-How  had pope Clement gage to plead with the emperor for his release?
acted towards Colonna and his family?-Did  -On what terms was he released?
he also attack Naples?-To whom did Bourbon
leave the command of Milan?-How numerous                    Page 224.
was his army —How was it provided?-Did   How long had he been confined —Did the
he succeed in reducing Placentia and Bologna? pope wait to be formally liberated?-What offer
~215   ~       did Charles make to Francis — Was it acceptPr~age 2.           ^ed?-What did Francis require of Charles?How did he conciliate his soldiers when they  How did Charles treat this offer?-With what
mutinied?-With whom did the pope make a forms did Francis and Henry declare war
treaty?-Did he rely on this so much as to dis- against Charles?-How was the English herald
band his troops?                            answered by Charles?
Page 216.                                   Page 225.
Did Bourbon regard Lannoy's treaty with    How was Francis's herald answered?-Did
the pope?-What city did he resolve to assault the example of these princes increase duelling?
and plunder?-Did he intend to make himself
independent of the emperor?-How  did the                      Page 226.
pope prepare to resist Bourbon?  How large was Lautrec's army in Italy? —
Page 217.                   Towards what country were they advancing?
-agWhat army evacuated Rome as they adWhen did Bourbon encamp in the plains of vanced?-How long had they been in Rome?Rome?-How  was Bourbon dressed for the How much was their number reduced?-By
battle?-How did he attack the city?-What what causes?-Whither did they retreat --
were the circumstances of his death?-Did this How was Lautrec received by the people of the
dishearten the soldiers?-How was the pope kingdom of Naples?-What city did he besiege?
employed during the battle?                -Whose galleys guarded the harbour?-Under
whose command?-Who attacked Philippino?Page 218.                   With what success?-What officer was killed?
Where did he take shelter?-What was the -Who was taken prisoner?-Did the Venefate of Rome?-Who succeeded Bourbon?-  tians and Francis and the pope give Lautrec
Did he besiege the castle of St. Angelo — From  sufficient support in his invasion of Naples?
whom  did the pope expect relief?-Did the Why did not Henry VIII. invade the Netherduke d'Urbino grant it?-On what temns did lands?
the pope surrender to the prince of Orange?In whose care did the pope remain a prisoner?                 Page 227.
Page 219oQ~            What was the character of Andrew Doria 
rae 29.                   — Of what country was he?-With what counDid Charles V. disclaim  this attack upon  try was Genoa allied?-Where is Genoa --
Rome?-What inconsistency  was Charles How was Doria treated by Francis and his
guilty of in his prayers?-What country was ministers?-What injury did the French offer
invaded by Solyman?-Who was king of Hun- to his country, Genoa?-What measure did
gary and Bohemia?-Who was his general?-  Doria take in consequence of this?-How did
What was the result of the battle of Mohacz?-  Francis attempt to punish his boldness,?-Did he
Who claimed the two crowns of Lewis?-By  succeed?-What officer invited Doria to enter
what right?-Did Ferdinand gain the king- into the emperor's service?-Did he accept the
doms — Was this the foundation of the exten- offer?-What city did he relieve?-Who comsive power of Austria?                     manded the imperialists at Naples?
Page 220.                                   Page 228.
Did Luther's followers gain ground in Ger-   What was the condition of the imperial army?
mayy? -How did Charles aid their cause?   -Of the French army?-When did Lautrec
die?-Who succeeded him?-Whither did he
retreat with the remains of the French army t
BOOK V.                     -On what terms did he surrender?-What
circumstances favoured Doria's design of freeHow was Charles's treatment of the pope re- ing Genoa from the French?-How did he effect
garded by the other European powers — What its deliverance?-How  did Andrew Doria act
princes entered into alliance against Charles?   when he had expelled the French?




QUESTIONS.                                      629
Page 229.                  coalition? —id Charles prevail on the princes
in what condition did he pass his life?-What to renounce their opinions?-What measures
is his title?-What general did Francis send to did Campeggio advise? —What decree was
the Milanese?-By whom was he defeated —  issed?
Did Francis desire peace?-Did the other con-                Pae 238.
tending powers?                 -How did this effect Melancthon — Luther?Page 230.                  Where did the protestants meet to form  a
Did they conceal their wishes?-What ladies league?-To what kings did they apply for proundertook to make peace?-Meantime, what tection -How had Charles formed a scheme
treaty was concluded by Charles?-What were for continuing the imperial crown in his family
its chief -erms?-What were the terms of the                 Page 239.
treaty concluded by Margaret and Louise? 3Pa                                 
Why did the protestants oppose this? —How
Page 231.                  did the elector of Saxony oppose Charles's
Of what country was Charles thus rendered views?-Was Ferdinand chosen king of the
eole emperor?-How did Francis lose his repu- Romans?-On hearing this, what did the protation and the confidence of all Europe?-Was testants at Smalkalde do?-How did Francis
he ashamed of this conduct?                 favour the protestants?-How did Henry VIII. 
Page 232.                                   Page 240.
H-ow did the emperor treat his adherents?-    Why was Charles anxious to conciliate the
Did he stipulate for the safety of Bourbon's protestants? —What were the termsof the treaty
family and attendants?-Why did Henry VIII. of Ratisbon?-Who were the gainers by it, the
favour Francis, and consent implicitly to the protestants or papists?-What intelligence from
treaty? —Whom did Henry wish to divorce?-  Solyman ended the diet?-What measures
Whom to marry? —What relation was Catherine were taken to oppose Solyman?-What was the
of Aragon, Henry's queen, to Charles?-Whose number of the allied army.
consent was necessary to the divorce?-Why                    Page 241
did the pope delay to give it?
Who took command of it?-Was the cam
Page 233.                  paign signalized by any great battle?-Which
To retain Francis's friendship as a counter- party retreated?-What friend of the protestbalance to Charles's power, what did Henry ants died August 16th?-Whither did the empedo?-In what country did the emperor land soon ror proceed after the campaign?-Whom did he
after the treaty?-To whom did he leave the visit at Bologna?-How did the pope delay the
government of Spain?-How had Charles lately general council — What treaty did Charles congained popularity at Barcelolna?-At what port clude with the pope?
did the emperor first land? —Whom did he                     Page 242
honour there?-Where did he meet the pope?-e   
In what manner —Where is Bologna — How    How  did they provide for the defence ot
were the Italians disappointed in Charles's ap- Italy?-Where were the imperial forces sent ~
pearance and demeanour?-What danger had -Where did Charles land in Spain? —How had
lately threatened Vienna? —How did Charles Francis attempted to elude his late treatyT
treat Sforza — The duke of Ferrara?-The Ve-Page 243.
netians? —When and where were these treaties 
published?-When andwhere  e                  How did Francis effect an alliance with the
published  t        pope?-Who was to marry Catherine de Medi
Page 234.                  cis?-Where did the pope and Francis meet -
Did the Florentines oppose the restoration of What marriage took place there?
de Medici?-Why?-What was the consequence of their opposition?-Who was made                    Page 244.
absolute ruler of Florence?-Who was killed   Was any treaty made between them?-Did
in the siege? —Who succeeded to his estates the pope favour Henry VIII's application for a
and titles?-Whom  did she marry?-With  divorce?-Why not?-From whom did Henry
what titles was Francis crowned in Italy?   obtain permission?-Whom  did Henry marry?
— What decree did the cardinals obtain from
Page 235.                  the pope?-What effect did this produce on
What progress had Luther's doctrines made Henry?-What did the parliament declare?in Germany?-Was this pleasing to the empe- Was the power of the Roman Catholics thus
ror?-Where and when did he hold a diet of the nearly overturned in England?-What hapempire?-Were the diet prepared to oppress the pened in the next reign in England?
Lutherans?-What did the emperor's agents
desire of them?                                              Page 245.
When did pope Clement die?-Who succeeded
Page 236.                  him?-What was his character?-Did he favour
With what majority did the vote to this effect Francis or the emperor?-Did the reformation
pass?-What were the members who protested produce any instances of fanaticism and false
against this decree called?-How was the term  religion?
afterward applied? —Was the pope willing to
call a general council?-Did Charles desire it?              Page 246.
Wh6re did he appoint a diet of the empire?  What was the belief of the anabaptists con
cerning baptism?-What concerning civil go
Page 237.                  vernment?-About property?-About marriage?
On his way to the diet, whlt did he find the -What were the names of the two anabaptist
disposition of the Germans to be concerning prophets?-Of what did they gain possession?
religion?-What spirit actuated the members -Where is Munstert
of the diet?-Was Luther there?-Who was
employed to draw up the protestant confession                Page 247.
of faith, or creed?-What was it called?-Did    Who besieged Munster?-What became of
it leave so many marks of distinction between Matthias?-Who succeeded to his power ovei
papists and protestants, as to forbid their future the people?




630                                 QUESTIONS.
Page 248.                                   Page 257.
What title did he take?-How long did he   Whither did Barbarossa fly?-What happened
reign before the famine commenced?           in the city while the forces were gone out to
battle?-What event stained the glory of this
Page 249.                   victory?
How did Luther regard Boccold's conduct --                 Page 258
How was the city captured by the imperialists?
I ow many Christians gained their liberty by
Page 250.                  it?-What were the terms of Muley Hassen's
What was Boccold's fate?-What is the pre- treaty with Charles?-How was this expedition
sent character of the anabaptists?-What duke regarded in Europe?-How stood the emperor's
had been expelled his dominions in 1519?-  character at this time?-Who were active in
Who seized his dominions?-What prince  spreading his fame 
helped the duke to recover his dominions?What king supplied the means?-What religion                B00 IK  VI.
was established in Wurtemberg?-Did Ferdi-   What were the circumstances of Merveille's
nand acknowledge his right?                mission and death?
Page 251.                                    Page 259.
How did he gain the protestant princes to   What did Francis do on hearing of this?acknowledge him king of the Romans?-Did Could Francis gain any assistance fiom the
Paul III. consent to hold a general council?-  pope?-From England?-To whom did he apWhere?-Who objected?-On what grounds? ply for aid?-How did he endeavour to gain the
— Did the pope really desire a council?-What protestants at Smalkalde?-Whom did he invite
enterprise did the emperor undertake at this to Paris to effect a union of parties? —Was he
time?                                      probably sincere in his leaningto protestantism?
Pae 252.                    — How did he afterward attempt to prove his
attachment to the catholic faith 1
What is that country now called which anciently formed the kingdoms of Mauritania and                Page 260.
Massylia, and the republic of Carthage?-    Did he apologize for this to the protestants at
Where is it situated?-Did the Romans ever Smalkalde?-Did they agree to assist him
possess it?-The Vandals?-Who overran it i  ainst the emperor?-Why not -Did  Methe 7th century?-What are its three principal  ancthon go to Paris?-Against what duke in
kingdoms?-What is the religion of the iiiha-Italy did Francis intend to make war?-Whom
bitants?-Who were Horuc and Hayradin?-  did Charles, duke of Savoy, marry?-Which
What was Horue's other name?-In what sea possessed the greatest talents?-Whose interest
did they plunder?-What king claimed Horuc's did Beatrix favour?
assistance against the Spaniards?-What ensued?  Page 261.
Page 253.                    How had Charles of Savoy offended Francis!
What kingdom did he gain first?-By what -What demand did Francis make of him?means?-What kingdom next?-Who assisted  What demand next?-When this was refused,
the king of Tremecen against Barbarossa?-  what did Francis do?-Did he conquer Savoy?
With what success?-What was Barbarossa's -What city revolted against the duke of Savoy?
fate?-Who succeeded him as king of Algiers? -What were the names of the two parties in
Under what great power did he place his do- Geneva?-Which of these was in favour of
minions?-What command did Solyman give liberty?
him? —What proposal did this second Barbarossa               Page 262.
make at the sultan's court?-How did he pro- 
pose to gain Tunis?-Who was king of Tunis?   What use did they matle of the present tro
-Hot had he acquiredW the kin  dom T-uiWho  bles of the duke? —Do they still retain the indelaid claim to the crown?            -        pendence then acquired?-Whose protection
did Charles of Savoy claim?-Could Charles
Page 254.                   aid hinm?-What was the effect of Sforza's
How was he about to support these claims? death?
-How did Barbarossa propose to help him?-                   Page 263.
What became of Alraschid?-With how many    Who took possession of the dutchy of Milan 
vessels did Barbarossa sail for Tunis?-What -How did Charles deceive Francis with respect
coasts did he ravage?-How did he take Tunis? to his proceedings in Milan? —-ow did Charles
-To whom did Muley Hassan apply for assist- employ the leisure gained by negotiating with
ance?                                       Francis?'Page 255.
With what success?-Who took command of                    Page 264.
the expedition against Tunis?-Where did he    What city did Charles enter on April 6th?embark?-What distinguished persons accom- What ominous incident happened at his entry?
panied the expedition?-What knights?-What -What did the French ambassadors demand of
Tort was the rendezvous?-Who was admiral Charles?-What answer did they receive?-On
of the fleet?-WVho, under the emperor, com- what terms did Charles offer single combat?
Sanded the land forces?-How numerous was
he fleet?-How did Barbarossa prepare for de-                Page 265.
fence?-What fortress did he man with 6,000    How did he treat the ambassadors when they
Turks?-Who commanded it?                  attempted to reply — What did the pope desire?
-Was any thing decisive done at this meeting?
Page 256.                  -What is the historian's opinion of Charles's
How was it taken?-Whither did Sinan re- conduct in this matter?-How did Charles be
treat?-Was Tunis then capable of defence?- have to the ambassadors the next day?-Did he
How did Barbarossa propose to decide the fate gain still more time by negotiation?
of the w ar?-What cruel proposal did he make
to his followers?-What was the event of the                Page 266.
general battle?                               What number of imperialists appeared on tbh




QUESTIONS.                                        631
frontiers of the Milanese?-Did the French                      Page 274.
dare to meet them? —as the emperor with the    Of whose dominions did Francis gain half
army?-Who commahded under him?-What'in this war?-What town did the duke retain 1
country did Charles determine to invade? —hither Was Charles driven by contrary
What did he direct the historian Jovius to do?winds  What use did Francis inale of th in
— Did Charles's ministers and generals approve  cident -What instances of mutual cofidence
of his invasion of France?-Did he regard their marked the meeting 3-To whotn did Charles
advice?-Who turned traitor to Francis?      betroth  s daughter
Page 267.                                     Page 275.
What country did he leave defenceless  -    By whom had her first husband Alexander
Who remained faithful, and saved Piedmont --   de Itedici been murdered?-Who had succeed-'
What was Francis's system  of defence?-To  ed Alexander as duke of Florence?-Did the
what marshal was it intrusted?-Where did  Florentines attempt to recover their liberty? —
Montmorency encamp?-Where did the king? To whom did Cosmo de Medici apply for supy
-What towns did he think it necessary to de- port?-Did he obtain it?
fend?-How were the inhabitants of the rest of
the country disposed of?-How was the pro-                      Page 276.
perty disposed of?                              Were the advocates of liberty overcome?
To whom had Francis I. given his daughter
lPage 268.                  Magdalen in marriage?-Who was offended at
What did the emperor promise his troops on  it? —tow  did Henry endeavour to prevent
his arrival in Provence?-In  what part of James's gaining Mary of Guise? —Did he sueFrance is Provence?-As Charles advanced  ceed?
into France, what was-the situation of his                     Page 277
army?-What towns did he invest?-With
what success? —Where is Marseilles? —Arles -  To whom did Charles V. make overtures for
How did the French soldiers regard Montmo-  peace and family alliance?-What had been
rency's plan of defence?-Did Montmorency re-  Charles's chief object in Germany  tWhat
gard the oplace had their complaints                       pope fixed upon for the council
-Did the protestants agree to attend the coun
Page 269.                   cil.?-WVhat were their objections T-Where is
~.,~-.      JMa.  Ialltua?
Who reinforced Montmorency at Avignon?
-Where is Avignon?-How long did Charles                       Page 278.
remain in Provence -With what loss did he    Whither did the pope finally transfer th
retreat'-What officer did he lose?-Whither  meeting of the council?-What happened at the
did the emperor conduct his army?-Who su- time of meeting?-What mode of reform did
ceeded Leyva?-For what country did he em- the pope propose?-Did the ecclesiastics probark'              ceed vigorously with it?-Who published their
Page 270.                   report and commented on it?-What was the
holy league? —Did it alarm the protestants?
Was the king of the Romans successful in        L
his attack on the opposite frontier of France?-               Page 279.
How did the emperor bear his disgrace?-What   Did they gain any concessions from the elaloss did Francis suffer in his family?-To what  eror -What enemy of the reformation died
was the dauphin's death imputed?-What did  April 24th  -Who succeeded him?  What
Montecuculi declare?-Did the emperor pro- change did Hlenry effect?-What was the dispo.
bably cause the dauphin to be poisoned?-If sition of Charles's soldiers?
he was poisoned who probably caused it?What did Francis do in the parliament of Pa-                   Page 280.
ris.
"^ris~~?h^~ ~How was it manifested?-Who quelled Ithe
Page 271.                   mutiny? —Were any soldiers disbanded?-Upon
-  whom had the emperor depended for money?What countries did he lay claim to by this  Where did he assemble the cortes ofCastile?ridiculous'ceremony?-Dd Francis proceed to  What did he demand of it?-What reply did he
occupy these countries?-What place did the  receive from  the nobles of the cortes  Was
Flemings invest?-Who advanced torelieveTe-  Charles willing to agree to reside in Spain?rouenne?-What stopped them? —Where is Te-  Was he obliged to dismiss the cortes without
rouenne?-Who brought about this suspension  gaining supplies -Watorders orclasses ere
of arms?-For how long a space was the sus-  afterward excluded from  the  cortes?-who
pension?-In what countries?-Where did the  wer  subsequently the members of the cortes 
war still reign?-For how long did they conclude a treaty there?                                         Page 281.
What was the effect of this change?-What
Page 272.                   incident is related to illustrate the power and
Was the emperor able to bear the expenses  spirit of the Spanish nobility?-Who was orof longer war?-With whom did Francis form  dered to invade France in 1536?-From what
an alliance?-What countries did Solyman un- assembly did the queen obtain a subsidy --
dertake to invade?-What did Francis?-Where  What citizens refused to pay their part?
is Hungary?-Did Solyman fulfil his part of'
the treaty? —Who was his admiral?-What                          Page 282.
admiral forced Barbarossa to retire from Na-   On what ground?-What reply did the queer
pies? —Did Francis perform  his part of the  make to their argument?-WV hen the queen
treaty?-What induced Charles to  suspend  was unable to sooth them, what order did she
hostilities?                                  issue?-What was its effect? —Did the other
towns join the confederacy?
Page 273.
Did they immediately succeed in making a                     Page 283.
Jefinitive treaty?-Who undertook to settle a    To whom did they send a deputation?-To
osace?-Did he succeed? —How long a truce  what council did Charles refer their case?lid he effect 3                               What decision did they give? —What (lid the




632                                 QUESTIONS.
citizens of Ghent do on learning this decision? tenets did they publish?~-Iow were they (ds.
-From whom  did they seek support?-Did  posed towards the protestants?-For what are
they obtain it?-What general advised Francis  the Jesuits responsiblet-What have they done
not to grant it?-Did he betray the ebels to the  for education?-For literature and science 
emperor?
Page28Witereemperor?              Page 292.
Page 28p3.                    Whlere were the Jesuits most successful as
What expedient did the emperor adopt to sup- colonists? —Where is Paraguay?-In what conpress the rebellion?-What were the two usual dition did they find the natives?-What did
routes to the Netherlands?-What objections they teach them?-How did they govern them 
were there to each? —What third route did he -What kind of punishment did they use?-resolve to take?-Did his council approve of his At what did the Jesuits aim in Paraguay?
design?-Did he persist in his design?-How
did Francis regard the proposal to pass through                Page 293.
France?                                       For this purpose what means did they use!
g np285,        ~-Did they teach the Indians the European
Page 285.                  mode of warfare?-How did Charles V. regard
What number of attendants did he take?-  the Jesuits?-Did the Jesuits publish the rules
What two nobles received him at Bayonne?-  of their order?-How were these rules found
How was he treated in the French towns?-  out?
Where did Francis meet him?-How did they
enter Paris?-How long was Charles in Paris?                  Page 294.
-How far did the king accompany him towards    For what virtue does the historian give the
Flanders?~-On arriving there did he perform  Jesuits credit?-In the diet at Worms who were
his promise to give up Milan?-How  did he  the chief disputants?-Whose book did the emevade the performance of it?                 peror recommend to their notice I
Page 286.                                     Page 295.
How did the citizens of Ghent behave on    Was it approved by either party?-Was the
Charles's approach?-On what day did he enter controversy terminated at this diet?
the city?-How were the citizens punished for                  Pe 9
theirrebellion?-What equivalentdid Charles of-ae 
fer for Milan?-Was he at last driven to the de-   Was the result of the diet agreeable to the
nial of his promise concerning Milan?-How  pope?-Was it to the protestants?-What was
does the historian regard this transaction?  the cause of Charles's moderation?-What had
happened in Hungary?-Who was tributary
Page 287.                   to the Turks?-What treaty existed between
John and Ferdinand?-What event occasioned
To what did it expose Fraicis?-Did it ren- the breaking of this treaty?
der a war probable?-What religious order
was established this year?-Who was its foun-                  Page 297.
der?~ —WVhat was his character? —What did
der?-What Awuas his character 3-What did    Who had the direction of affairs on the side
Loyola pretend was the origin of its constitu- of Stephen?-What was Martinuzzi's charaction and laws?-Did the pope at first favour ter?-Did Ferdinand declare war against SteLoyola's design of founding an order 3-How   phen?-Who  supported Stephen's cause?did Loyola overcome, his scruples?           What city did the German forces of Ferdinand
Page 288.                   besiege?-Who relieved the city and conquered
the Germans 
Who was appointed the first general of the
order?-In half a century how extensive were                   Page 298.
their establishments?-What two generals per-   How did Solyman behave after the battle?fected the constitution and laws of the Jesuits? What country did he thus acquire?-Who sent
What is the primary object of other monastic  Solyman a fresh offer of dependence and tribute
orders?-What is the, object of the Jesuits?-  for the crown of Hungary?-What was his anFrom  what are they exempted?-What are swer?-How did Charles gain supplies of men
they required to do?-What is the form of go- and money from the protestants?-For what
vernment among the Jesuits?                  country did he set out after the diet?-Against
Pag~e 289..what country had the emperor concerted a great
P~age 289^.         enterprise?-On what country was Algiers deDescribe the powers of the general?-How  pendent?-Who governed it 
often were the members required to manifest                          299
their consciences?-What is meant by thisge
term?-How  long did the novitiate last?-        Against whom did he commit piracies?What was entered in the register?           What preparations did Charles make for inPage 290.                   vading Algiers? —Why did he not attack the
sultan in Hungary?-Why was he reluctant to
What amount of influence did they acquire  draw his forces from Italy and the Low Counover the education of youth?-Of whom were  tries?-What did Andrew Doria advise?
they the confessors?-Of whom the spiritual                     Pae 300t
guides?-Of what did they thus acquire the di- 
rectionl?-In what did they take part?-What   What happened on his first embarking?peculiar source of wealth had they?-With  Did this storm deter him from his purpose?what countries did they trade? —Where did they  What was the amount of his force?-Where
obtain a fertile province?                   did he lard in Africa?-What was Hascen's
Page I 291.          force? —Did he surrender when summoned?Page 291.
What annoyed the troops of Charles on the
Was the influence of the Jesuits always ex- night of their landing?-Did they succeed in
erted for good purposes?-How  did they ac- repelling their assailants in the morning 
quire influence over persons of rank?-What                     Page 301.
What happened after this battle?-What place




QUESTIONS.                                     633
did Doria appoint for re-embarking?-What Rome?-What fleet joined Barbarossa at Mar
misfortunes attended the retreat to Cape Meta- seilles?-What town did the French and Turks.fuz?-How did the emperor behave amid these attack? —With what success? —Who defended
misfortunes I                               Nice — Where is Nice — Who relieved the fort,
^~~Page 302.       tand compelled the Turks and French to raise
Page 302.                  the siege?
What happened after their embarkation?-To
what port in Africa was the emperor driven be-               Page 310.
fore he could return to Spain?               What was the leading motive in the wars
between Charles and Francis — Who succeed
BOOK  V II.                  ed Henry of Saxony?-What was his characWith whom was Francis maintaining corres- ter?-Why did he not join the league of Smalpondence and alliance?-Who endeavoured to kalde?-Whom didheassistin Hungary? —Vas
sow discord between Solyman and Francis     he a favourite of the emperor?-How did he re
Page 303.           b~gard his brother the elector?
Page 303.
Did he succeed?-Who was Francis's am-                      Page 311.
bassador to the Porte?-Who to Venice?-What   Where did the pope appoint a council? 
happened to them as they sailed dcwn the Po   Where is Trent?-Was anly council held —
-By whose instigation were they murdered?- Why not?-What occasioned Ferdinand and
How did Francis behave on hearing of this? Charles to tolerate the protestants?
-How did Francis prepare for war?
Page 312.
Page 304.                    What occasioned Henry duke of Brunswick
Did he gain the alliance of England, Venice, to lose his dominions?-Against what did the
or the pope, or the Germans?-What confede- protestants of Smalkalde protest?-Where did
rates did he gain? —What great officer had he the emperor hold a diet in 1544?-What princes
disgraced? —How  many armies did Francis did he court? —Against whom did he declaim
bring into the field?-Who were appointed to in the diet?
command where the chief exertions were intended?-What were the numbers of the ar-                      Page 313
mies commanded by these princes?-What   What did he demand in conclusion?-What
country did he hope to gain?                 disposition did the emperor excite in the diet
against Francis?-Were Francis's ambassaPage 305.                  dors heard by the diet?-How did Charles conTo what city did the dauphin lay siege?-  ciliate the protestants —What point did he
What country did the dube of Orleans invade? gain by these concessions?-What forces?
- What induced him to abandon Luxemburg?
— What was lost by this step?-Did the dau-Page 314.
phin take Perpignan?-What was the only    What source of revenue?-With what king
advantage of the campaign?-How did the em- did Charles make a peace — What had recently
peror raise money?-What marriage did he ne- caused discord between Henry VHI. and Frangotiate                                      cis I. —What design did Henry and Charles
entertain against France 1-What ally did FranPage 306.                   cis renounce?-Why?-Where is Carignan?How did he obtain a donative from Valencia What French general invested Carignan? —
and ADragon?-With whom did he leave the go- Who was marching to its relief?
vernment of Spain?-For what country did he 
set out — What overture of pope Paul did he                  Page 315.
decline? —For what did he receive presents   Whom, did Enguien send to Paris to ask leave
from Cosmo de Medici?-With whom did he to fight a general battle? —What happened at
conclude a league?-How had Francis lost the the interview? —Where did the battle take place'
friendship of Henry VIII.?                 -Describe the battle.-Who conquered?-Who
was wounded?-How many imperialists were
Page 307.                  slain I
Against whom  had Henry declared war?- 
What occasioned him to make peace — What                     Page 316.
marriage did he seek to negotiate?-What were   Did Francis follow up his advantage by inthe terms of his league with Charles?-How  vading the Milanese?-Why not?-How many
did Fransis seek to make up for the loss of troops did he take from Enguien's army?Henryns alliance?-What envoy did he send to  What was gained by the victory at Cerisoles?
Venice and Constantinople   -When did the emperor take the field?-With
how many men?-What country did he reduce?
Page 308.                  -Whither did he then narch?- What towns
What did Paulin obtain from the sultan?-  surrendered? —What one did he besiege?-By
How had Francis lost the friendship of the whom was it defended?
Germans?-What did he effect in the Low
Countries?-Whose territories did the emperor                Page 317.
invade? —What town did he take?-How were   What country did the forces of Henry VIII.
the inhabitants treated?-How was the duke invade?-Where did they afterward join the
of Cleves himself treated?                 king?-What did the emperor wish him to do?
— Did he comply with his wishes? —Where is
Page 309                   St. Disier?-How was the capture of St. Disier
To what town did Charles next lay siege?-  effected? —What was gained by fGancerre's
Where  is  Landrecy — Hainault?-What gallant defence of St. Disier? —Who fell in the
forces joined him there?-Who advanced to siege?
relieve Landrecy?-Who covered the siege?-                  P     
Why did not a general engagement ensue  Pe 3Who was obliged to retreat?-What country    What induced Charles to listen to overtuies
did Solyman conquer during this campaign?-  for peace? —Where did the plenipotentiaries
How did Barbarossa proceed?-What restored  meet?-Where is Chalons?-What message did
the confidence of the alarmed inhabitants of Charles send to Henry VIII.?-What towns did
80




334                                 QUESTIONS.
he take?-Where are Esperney and Chateau  take upon them to prescribe articles of faith to
Thierry -What city was thus endangered?-  all Europe, and to the universal church?-Of
Where are Rouen and Orleans?-What was what were the protestants suspicious?-What
done towards its defence?-Where is Meaux? did the king of England tell them?-What did
~-Ferte?-Towards what place did Charles then  the merchants of Augsburg?-What did they
fall back?-Where is Soissons?              hear from the Low Countries?-Where did the
P~agse 319.          confederates of Smalkalde assemble?
Page 319.
Where are Boulogne and Montreuil?-Who                        Page 328.
was besieging them?-Where was the treaty    What two princes were the leaders of this
signed?-What were its chief terms?-Why  body?-Which was the bigoted, and which the
was the pope offended with Charles?-Was the liberal prince?-With whom did the elector repope friendly to Francis?-Was the disturbed  fuse to enter into alliance? —WThy? —What
condition of Germany  another reason for did the landgrave consider the elector?-Of
Charles's making peace?                     what did the elector suspect the landgrave?What did a sense of their common danger inPage 320.                   duce the confederates to agree to?-To whom
Was thetreaty of Crespy so framed as to an- did the landgrave apply for information of the
swer all Charles's purposes?-What ally did  emperor's views?
Francis lose by it? —How did Charles cut off                   Page 32
all chance of Francis's gaining assistance from 
the protestants of Smalkalde?-What French    What answer did he receive?-What sort ol
town had Henry VIII. taken -What unreason- men did the emperor send to the conference
able demands did he make of Francis — Did  bout doctrinesWho broke up the confeFrancis accede to them?                      rence?
Page 321.                                 BOOK  VIII.
What French prince was dissatisfied with    When did Luther die?-How was his cna
the treaty of Crespy? —Why?-Was Francis racter represented by his contemporaries?himself pleased with it?-What princess did How should we form our opinion of him?
Charles decide to give to the duke of Orleans 
-What disease was the emperor afflicted with?                  Page 330.
-What scheme did the emperor's disease cause    What were his virtues?-What were his
him to abandon?-What were his other motives faults?-Are some of his faults chargeable on
for abandoning it?-Did he appear dissatisfied  the manners of his age?
with the summoning of the council of Trent?
Page 331.
Page 322.                     Would a less vigorous character than LuWas he really — Where did the diet assem- ther's have accomplished his great works?ble?-Where is Worms?-What did Ferdinand  How  did he appear in his last moments?observe at the opening of the diet?-HIow were  How was the account of his death received?his remarks received by the protestants?-What Who ordered his funeral to be celebrated with
reply did they make?                         extraordinary pomp?-With whom did the emperor have an interviewv?-What took place at
Page 323.                   the interview?-What did the landgrave do in
Did Ferdinand recede from his resolution?-  consequence of this interview?
Did the protestants refuse obedience to the
council?-Who was desirous to gratify the em-                  Page 332.
peror?-Where did Charles appoint the diet for   What did the council of Trent determine?the next year to be held?                     Whom did they anathematize, or curse?-How
was the archbishop of Cologne treated?-What
Pagfe 324.                  was the only crime imputed to him? —Who
What archbishop favoured the reformation? were alarmed at this proceeding?-Was the
-Who opposed him?Which did Charles fa- emperor now obliged to throw off the disguise
your?-How did Charles treat the protestants he had assumed towards the protestants 
of his own hereditary dominions?-How  was
Charles freed from his engagement to bestow                    Page 333.
his niece on the duke of Orleans?              What were the terms of the treaty between
Ferdinand and Solyman?-What was there in
Page 325.                   the condition of Germany to favour Charles's
What did the duke of Savoy lose by this?-  design against the protestants?-What princes
What improper proceeding of pope Paul's is were particularly incensed against the protestmentioned?-Did Charles confirm the investi- ants?-Where did the diet of the empire meet 
ture of Parma and Placentia to Peter Lewis  — Who absented themselves from it?
Did this prevent the pope and emperor from
uniting against the protestants?-What mea-                    Page 334
sure did the duke of Brunswick resort to for   What were the emperor's remarks on openrecovering his possessions?                  ing the diet?-What did the Roman catholics
propose? —The protestants?-Whom  did the
Page 326.                   emperor despatch to Rome to form an alliance
Did he succeed?-For which party in reli- with the pope?-What troops did he order to
gion did the elector Frederick declare? —Was the  advance towards Germany — What warning
change of rites in the palatinate effected with- did he give to John and Albert of Brandenburg?
out disorder? —Did Frederick join the league of
Smalkalde? —Where  is Smalkalde?-Where                        Page 335.
was the council held?-What did the emperor   What did the deputies of the protestants dewish the council to begin with?             mand?-What answer did Charles give?-Did
the-deputies remain at the diet?-What did the
IPage 327.:emperor engage to do in his treaty with the
Did the pope listen to this proposition?-  pope? —What did the pope engage to do?-What
How was the first session spent?-How many  did Charles declare in his letters to the free
prelates were assembled?-Did these forty men  cities?




QUESTIONS.                                       635
Page 336.                                    Page 346.
Was this of advantage to him?-How did the   What did the states of the country.a]dvs
pope nearly disconcert this plan?            Maurice to do'-What did Maurice do after
receiving the imperial rescript?-What did
Page 337.                   Maurice write to the landgrave?-What answer
-What did the greater and sounder part of the  did he  et?-Who now invaded the electoral
protestant confederates resolve to do?-Where  dominions?-How did Maurice succeed in his
did their deputies meet?-Whose alliance did invasion?-How was the news received in the
they solicit — Did they gain the Venetians?-  catholic and protestant camps?
What was the utmost they could obtain from                     Pae 347.
thie Swiss?
What did the elector propose? —What did the
Page 338.                   deputies prevail on him to do at first?-Did he
To what kings did they have recourse?-Did  afterward determine to go to his dominions?
they gain assistance of either?-Did they suc- -What did the confederates at last decide
ceed well in obtaining soldiers at home?-What to do -How  did Charles behave when he rewas the amount of their army?                 ceived offers of peace?-What did he require?
— Was it agreed to?
Page 339.
Page 348.
Were all the protestant allies engaged in fur-               Page 
nishing this force?-Why did not the others    Was the army divided?-In what manner?contribute?-Where was the emperors-With  Did this destroy their power?-What towns
what force?l-Where is Ratisbon?-Was his submitted tothe emperor?-H-ow did the elector
situation exposed and dangerous — Where were  palatine behave -How was the dke of Wurthe pope's troops?-Why did not the confede- temberg treated?-Was the confederacy comrates at once overwhelm him?-What papers pletely destroyed?
did they publish?-How  did Charles treat                      Page 349.
them                                            How did Charles treat all the confederates
Page 340.                   who submnitted —Were they compelled to renounce the league?-Did he make any condiWhat reply did he make to the manifesto?-tions about religion?-What did the elector of
To what did the ban condemn the protestants? Cologne do?-How did the elector of Saxony
-What formality was omitted in it?-With  succeed in recovering his dominions?-What
what ceremony did the protestants declare war? was Maurice's situation?-Did Charles  o to
-What did Sebastian Schertel do?-Where is relieve him?
Tyrol?-Where is Inspruch?                                           
Page 350.
Page 341.                     Whom did he despatch to help him?-Whai
What obliged him to desist?-Was not this  became of this detachment?-Did the elector
an error — Who commanded the protestants?-  use his advantage?-How  did he proceed?What was the difference in their characters?-   Could the emperor assist Maurice? —ow had
Did they agree well? —What was the conse- his force been weakened?-What did the pope
quence?-Was the whole confederation ill com- begin to fear?-What did he order?-What
bined and ill governed?-Whither did the em- were his reasons?-Did Charles complain of
peror go from Ratisbon? —Where is Landshut? this desertion?-Were his complaints regarded?
-What town did they attack — Meantime, how
large a force was assembled at Landshut                          age 3.
What obliged the emperor to avoid entangling
Page 342..himself with new affairs in Germany? With
What persons of distinction were with the  whom was the administration of affairs lodged
army?-What disgusted the pope's legate? —  in Genoa?-Was this satisfactory to the people 
Did the protestants take Ratisbon?-What re- -Who was the chief man of the government?
ports were published concerning the pope? —In  -Who was his heir? —What was Giannetino's
what manner did the pope's soldiers behave?   character?-Was he a favourite with Andrew I
-Who formed a bold conspiracy against the
Page 343.                   government of Genoa?-What was Fiesco's
In what situation did the protestants find the  character? —What foreign prince did he endeaemperor at Ingoldstadt?-What did the land- vour to engage 
grave wish?-Why did the elector oppose it?                     Page 352.
-Did they succeed in drawing the emperor   WhowasFiesco'sadviser?-Was he favour
from his intrenchments?-How did the empe- able to engaging the French in the plot?-What
ror behave during the cannonade?-How did   as Verrinas plan?-Did Fiesco adopt it?he employ the night after the attack on his How did he conceal his designs and real cha
camp?-To what did the confederates next turn  racter?-With what foreign enemies of Charles
their attention?-Did they succeed?            did he correspond?-What naval force did he
Page 344.                   acquire?
WThat towns did the emperor take?-Which                      Page 353
army was best supplied?-What did his gene-   What night did they appoint for executing
rals advise — Did he regard their advice?    their design?-How did Fiesco pass the day?Describe the preparations at Fiesco's palace.Page 345.                   What was the substance of Fiesco's speech to
Which party did Maurice of Saxony early  the assembled people?
determine to join?-Had he previously declared
himself a protestant?-With  whom  did he                       Page 354.
make a secret treaty?-What was the character   What was its effect?-How did Fiesco's wife
of this treaty?-Did the confederates suspect behave ~-Describe the capture of the galleys. —
his designs? — hat did the elector of Saxony  What was the fate of Giannetino?
commit to his care?-What did Maurice do
after the elector's departure?-What did Charles               Page 355.
require him to do 7                             How did Andrew  escape?-What did the




636                               QUESTIONS.
senators do? —What happened to Fiesco? —How                   Page 364.
did the senate find out his death?-What advan-   What lady lefended it?-Who offered to furtage did they take of it?-What was its effect nish supplies for the siege?-What put a stop to
on the plot?                                the progress of the siege?-What stratagem did
Page 356.                   Charles employ to obtain possession of Wittem
What happened next day? -For what pur- burg What court tried the elector?-Who
pose did the senate send an ambassador to  presided in the court?-What was the senCharles?-How did Charles receive the intelli- tence?-ow did the elector receive it?
gence?-What did he suspect?                                  Page 365.
B   OK  IX.                     Who interceded for the elector's life?-What
Page^ 357A.          did Sybilla wish him to do?-What terms did
Page 37.                    he make with Charles?
WVas Francis's jealousy awakenedby Charles's
success against the protestants?-Was this                      Page 366.
feeling confined to him?-What did he instruct   What did Charles on his part agree to do?his emissaries to do?-Whom  did he offer to  What condition did the elector inflexibly refuse
assist?-What foreign enemies did he stir up  to agree to?-How was Maurice paid for his
against Charles?-How did he try to gain the  aid in conquering the elector?-Who was now
king of Denmark?-Did he hope to engage the left to maintain the protestant cause?-Was
English in the league against Charles?        he determined to resist Charles?-Who advised
him not to resist?
Page 358.
Page 367.
What preparations did Francis make at                        Page 367.
home?-Was Charles aware of the intrigues of    Who acted as mediators between the land
Francis against him?-Whom had Francis pro- grave and Charles?-What were the conditions
tected of the Genoese conspirators?-What  imposed on the landgrave?-Did the emperor
caused the members of the league against promise any thing on his part?-Did the landCharles to relax their efforts?-What did the  grave ratify these articles?-What did Charles
Genoese effect for Charles?-What fortunate  or his ministers promise the elector of Branevent for Charles happened on the last day of denburg and Maurice?-What bond did these
March?                                        princes give the landgrave?-How did Charles
try to cheat the landgrave on his arrival at Halle?
Page 359.
In what year of his age and of his reign did                 Page 368.
Francis die?-How long had his rivalship with    Describe the scene of his submission to the
Charles subsisted?-Was Francis overrated by  emperor?-By whom  was the landgrave rehis contemporaries — Why?-What was his ceived and entertained after his submission?character as a man?                         What information did the duke give the elector
and Maurice after supper?
Page 360.
Why has his character been overrated ever                    Page 369.
since his death?-What appellation has he re-   How  was this received by them?-:iy the
ceived from historians?-Was he superior to  landgrave? —Could  they  afterward  move
Charles in abilities — Was Charles now in a  Charles from his cruel and perfidious purpose?
condition to attack the elector of Saxony?- 
Who succeeded Francis I.?-Had Charles much                    P 
to fear from him?-From whence did he com-   Did Maurice and the elector finally desert the
mence his march?-With how many troops?  la   oive, and thus break their word of honour
— What sort of troops?                      anl. tieir bond?-How was the landgrave treated after this?- How  did Charles treat the
Page 361.                   countries brought into his power by the surWas the elector's army superior in numbers? render of the landgrave?-What did he do with
-By what error did he weaken it?-On which  the cannon collected from them?-What amount
frontier did Charles enter Saxony?-What of money did.he extort from them in the forir
town did he attack?-Where is Altorf?-What of taxes?-Where is Bohemia?
failing characterized all the elector's movements?-Where did he leave a detachment to                      Page 37
oppose the imperialists?-Where is Muhlberg?   How did Ferdinand treat the Bohemians?-Did the elector encamp with his main body  Had they been a free people?-Had Ferdinand
near this place?-Where did Charles arrive attempted to overthrow their constitution?23d of April?-What did he resolve to do?-  What doctrines had the Bohemians embraced?Who opposed his resolution?-Effectually?-  What violent measures did they take?-Whom
How was the attack begun?'did they choose for their general?-Did they afterward proceed with vigour in their rebelPage 362.                   lion?-What was the effect of the battle of
How opposed?-Relate the exploit of the ten  Muhlburg and the submission of the elector and
Spanish soldiers?-How  did the emperor and  landgrave?-How did Ferdinand receive their
the cavalry cross the Elbe?-What was the  submission?-How did he treat the citizens of
conduct of the elector while these things were Prague?-Where is Prague?
transpiring?-How did he behave when a battie became inevitable?,                                        Page 372.
What was the whole effect of this rebellion
Page 363.                   in Bohemia — Where did the emperor hold a
How did the return of sunshine affect the diet? —How did he awe the diet?-To what did
two armies?-What was the result of the bat- the emperor call the attention of the diet?tie?-How  was the elector captured?-How  What had happened to the council of Trent?was he treated by Charles?-By Ferdinand?-  Who had become an enemy of Charles?
How did he conduct in these circumstances?How many men did the imperialists lose?-                      Page 373.
The Saxons?-Who escaped of the Saxons?-    On what pretext did the pope remove th
Towards what city did Charles march?         council from Trent?-Whither?-Did the pre




QUESTIONS.                                     637
lates all go to Bologna?-How many went?-                   B  OK  X.
Did the emperor succeed in bringing the pre-   How did the emperor exasperate the pope 1lates back to Trent?-What was the character Whom did the pope endeavour to draw into al.
of Peter Lewis Farnese —Who conspired to liance with him against Charles?
murder him?
Page 383.
Page 374.
PaHow did they exec r        Did he succeed?-What grant did he recall!
How did they executheir design? —Did any -Did Octavio submit to this -To whom did
of the people regret it?-Who took possession he make overtures?-How was this conduct
of Placentia?-How was Parma saved?-How  regardedby the pope?-How was Octavio saved
was the pope affected with his grandson's death? from his resentment?-How long was his pen-What did he demand of Charles?-Did he tificate?-His life?
obtain it?-Whom did he seek to draw into alliance with him?-What answers did they give I                 Page 384.
Page 375.                    Who succeeded him?-With what name?ge.... To whom did he give Parma?-What indecoWhy would not Henry join in a war against rous proceeding was he guilty of?-How was
Charles?-For what did the diet of Augsburg his conduct regarded?-What was his general
petition the pope — Did Charles procure from  conduct?
the diet the promise of submission to the council?-Did he employ this as an argument for the              Page 385.
return of the council to Trent?               Was he willing to call a council?-Was he
obliged to call it?-Where did he order it to asPage 376.                  semble?-Where did the emperor assemble a
To whom did the pope refer the request to re- new diet?-Did he attend in person?-With
turn the council to Trent?-What answer did what prince — How did he overawe the meet
they give?-Whom did Charles send to Bo- ing?-What was the first point submitted to
logna —What did they declare?-What did them? —Who agreed to it -How had Maurice
Charles employ some divines to prepare?    raised himself to the electoral dignity?
Page 377.                                   Page 386.
Who were these divines?-What was the   Was he friendly to the emperor's despotic desharacter of this system of doctrines?-What signs against Germany  -What did he deterconcessions with respect to forms were made mine?-What rendered it difficult for him to
to the protestants?-What was this system of acquire the confidence oftheprotestants?-How 
doctrines called?-Why?-What did the arch- had the emperor injured him?
bishop of Mentz do at the reading of it?-Was
he, opposed?-Was this declaration taken for                 Pae  87.
a ratification of the Interim?-Who interceded   Had Charles persisted in refusing to release
at the diet for the landgrave of Hesse 1-Suc- the landgrave?-How had Maurice endeavoured
cessfully?                                 to procure obedience to the Interim from some
of his protestant subjects?-How did the clergy
Page 378.                  aid him?-What great divine assisted him?WhomdidCharles make elector?-Howwas What accusations were brought against Methe Interim received when it was published?-  lancthon? —What declaration did Maurice is.
How was it received at Rome?-How did the sue 1
pope regard it?                                                     3.
Page 388.
Page 379.                     What city did he undertake'to reduce to obe..
What did he foretel?What princes con- dience of the Interim?-What was the effect of
formed to the Interim?-What princes refused this step on the protestants?-How did he try
conformity? -Who was most firm?-What did to do away the impression of his treachery?he say?-What did he suffer in consequence? Did he conceal his real designs from Charles 
-What did the landgrave offer?-What did he
gain by it?                                                  Page 389.
To whom was the command of the force sent
Page 380.                   against Magdeburg given?-By whose recomWhere was the Interim most violently oppos- mendation — What day was appointed for the
ed?-What cities remonstrated? —Did Charles meeting of the council of Trent — What were
determine to oppress these cities?-How did. he the provisions of the recess?-How did the landproceed at Augsburg?-At Ulm? —Where is grave seek to procure his liberty -Who a-'lm? —What was the effect of this example?-  plied to the emperor in his behalf?
Did the German people really alter their reli-               Page 390
gious belief in consequence of this rigour?                 a. 
What did Charles do when he could not get
Pae 381.                   back the bond of Maurice and the elector of
Wh Carge.'   d   Brandenburg?-What did the landgrave then
Whither did Charles depart?-Whom did he do?-What project did Charles now entertain?
take with him?-Was the council at Bologna -Whom did he call out of Spain?-What ob-.
dismissed?-What did Charles omer the coun- stacle to his project existed?-How did he try
cil at Trent to do?-What was Charles's object to overcome it?
in going to the Netherlands?-To whom did
Philip leave the government of Spain?                       Page 391.
Who assisted in renewing his application
Page 382.                  when first refused?-Did he succeed?-What
For what country did he embark?-Who  did he wish the diet to do?-Did he take Philip
commanded the squadron in which he sailed?-  to the diet?-Were the princes of the diet wilWhere did he land?-Which way didhe travel? ling to make Philip king of the Romans in sue-How was he received?-What character did cession to Ferdinand?
he exhibit?-What disease did Charles suffer?
-What cities did he force into obedience to the              Page 392.
Interim  — What cities remained refractory?   How did Philip treat the Germans?-How did




638                                QUESTIONS.
Ferdinand treat the Germans?-Was Charles                     Page 401.
compelled to!give up his scheme?-To whomn    What was his only crime — Did Ferdinand
had Julius III. given Parma?-Who was em- gain or lose by his murder?-What foreign aid
powered by Charles to take Parma from Octa- did Maurice callin to assist him against Charles T
vio?                                        -Who concluded the treaty between Henry II.
~Paoe~ 393.         and Maurice's party?-Was the defence of rePage 9.                  ligion mentioned in the treaty?-Why not?To whom did Octavio apply for aid?-Did he What were the motives assigned for the alligain it? -To whom did he next apply?-How  ance?-What were the terms of the treaty?
was Henry I. enabled to attend to this application — What treaty did he make with Octavio?                Page 402.
-What did the pope do on learning this?-    Was it generally known at the time?-To
Did Octavio comply?-What did the pope then  whom was it communicated?-To what other
do?-Whom did the pope call to his aid?-What prince did Maurice apply?-Successfully?did Charles order?-What absurd state of things What embassy did he and the elector of Bran.
resulted from this?-What memorable event denburg send to Charles?-Did the other Gerresulted from the war of Parma?-What was man princes join in the request?-Did Ferdiits effect on the assembling of the council of nand?-What answer was given by Charles?
Trent?
Page 403.
Page 394.
Page 394..         HIow-did Maurice still amuse and deceive the
How  many prelates assembled in Septem- emperor? —Iow did he satisfy Charles concernber?-What ambassador appeared and remon- ing the troops of George of Mecklenburg?stratedagainst their proceedings?-Did this in- Whom  had Maurice despatched to Paris?jlire the credit of the council?-For what did  What other preparations had he made?-Withthe emperor strain his authority?-How did he out exciting the emperor's suspicion?
anticipate the decrees of the council?-How did
he proceed at Augsburg?-In the circle o' Sua-               Page 404.
bia?                                         Did Granville suspect Maurice?-Did the
duke of Alva?-What did Granville tell him?Page 395.
P33 age^ 39'.      Had he bribed any of Maurice's ministers?Where did Charles fix his residence?-Who  How did Maurice turn this fact to his own adhad collected forces to act against Magdeburg? vantage?-What was the last piece of craft
-Where is Magdeburg?-What'was the result which Maurice exhibited before declaring war?
of an attack of the Magdeburgers on George?
-Was the town strongly fortified?-Did George                Page 405.
dare besiege it?-Who joined George and took    What were Maurice's three reasons for mak
the supreme command?-Did he besiege the ing war?-Whom did he rouse by the first?town?-Who was taken prisoner by the Mag- By the second? —By the third?-What other
deburgers? —Were the besieging soldiers mu- princes published manifestoes?-What title
tinous?                                     did Henry II. take?-Which way did Maurice
Page 396.                   march?-How was he received?-How was the
emperor affected by the news of Maurice's deDid Maurice protract the siege?-What were fection?-How had he weakened his forces?
the terms of capitulation?-What scheme did
Maurice communicate to count Mansfeldt and                    Page 406
count Heideck?-What assurance did he give.P.
Mansfeldt the commander of Magdeburg -To   In what condition were his finances? —Whom
what office was Maurice elected by those who  did he emloy to negotiate-Where did Mauhiad just surrendered to him?                rice and Ferdinand meet?-What did Henry II.
do towards fulfilling his part of the treaty?Page 397                   PDid the conference at Lintz produce an accomPge 39..          nimodation?-Did it produce a truce? —Where
How did he dispose of his troops so as to have  was a new conference appointed?-How many
them ready for service?-How did he contrive  days remained before the truce should begin a
to engage the emperor's attention and prevent
his observing the schemes he was maturing?                   Page 407.
Pagep 398~  ~         Towards what city did Maurice march —
P~age 308.          What two places did he take in the Tyrol iWho were the guardians of the young king  What castle did he surprise?-How?-What
of Hungary?-Did they agree?-Which courted  retarded his march and saved the emperor from
the Turks?                                  being taken?-Where is Inspruck?
Page 399.                                   Page 408.
Whom  did Martinuzzi court?-What point   In what style did the emperor travel from Indid he gain from Ferdinand?-Who had com- spruck?-Whither did he retreat?-Where is
mand of the troops?-Who invaded Transylva- Carinthia 1-When did Maurice enter Inspruck!
nia 1-Was the queen discouraged by this dan- -What became of the emperor's baggage?ger?-What did Martinuzzi prevail on her to  Of Ferdinand's?-What became of the elector?
do?-What did she give up to Ferdinand?-  -What happened to the council of Trent?
Whither did she go?-How was Martinuzzi rewarded?                                                     Page 409.
Page 400.                    Did this council effect a reconciliation of the
Page 400.'          protestants and catholics?-Did it widen the
Was he really beloved and trusted by Ferdi- breach between them?-Who wrote the history
nand?-W-hom did Ferdinand commandtowatch  of the council of Trent?-Does it appear by the
him?-What war did Martinuzzi conduct?-  account of these threehistoiinns, that the counSuccessfully?-About what did he and his ge- cil were actuated by piety and integrity?-To
nerals differ in opinion?-What misrepresen- what place had Henry II. advanced?
tations were made against him?-What was
the consequence?-Who murdered him?-By                       Page 410.
whose authority t                             What did the Strasburgers do?-Was Henry




QUESTIONS.                                         639
ready for a siege?-Did he abandon Strasburg? they guilty of?-How did the duke ofGuise coun
-What did he pretend was his motive?-How  teract the mining operations of the besiegers?did Albert of Brandenburg proceed?            When did Charles raise the siege?-How long
~Pa-e 411. ~had it continued?
Page 411.
Page 421.
What ecclesiastics did he plunder?-Did he                    Page 421.
obey Maurice's orders?-What was his object   How  many men had Charles lost?-How
in the war 1-What proclamation did Maurice  were the French prevented from  following the
publish?-W- here is Passau 1?-Who  met at retreating enemy?-By what acts did the duke
Passau May 26th?-What three things did  of Guise complete his fame?-What principality
Maurice require?-Did Ferdinand and the im- was Charles compelled to give up to Cosmo
perial ambassadors accede to these — What did  di Medici -To whom  had the command of
the mediators desire of Charles?              Charles's troops in Sienna been given?-How
did he attempt to deceive the people?
Page 412.
Page 422.
Was Charles desirous of peace?-W-hat cir-e 
cumstances made peace desirable for him?       What was the consequence?-Who had been
driven from Naples?-Whither did he go?Page 413.                   Did Henry employ him  against the imperialWhat reasons had Ferdinand for desiring  ists?-Whom did he engage to co-operate with
peace?-What was the condition of his Hun-him  -What did Dragut and his fleet achieve?
garian dominions?-What had Maurice offeredPage 43.
him?-What was the effect of this proposal?-.
What was the emperor's answer to the propo-   Whither did Charles V. retire from Metz?sals for peace?-What did Maurice then do?   What prince threatened a new  war in Ger
What city did he besiege?                     many?-What possessions had been withheld
from him?-Who issued a decree against him 
Page 414.                    -Whom  did they appoint to execute it?
How did this step affect the emperor?-Did
Ferdinand avail himself of this?-What request                  Page 424.
didhethen makeofMaurice?-Whywaspeace de-   Did the other powerful princes unite with
sirable for Maurice?-What were the terms of the  Maurice?-Where did their armies meet?
treatyofPassau?-What did this treatydestroy? Where is the dutchy of Lunenburg?-Which
Page 415.                    conquered?-Who fell in the battle?-What
was the character of Maurice?
Who was the author of its benefits?-What   a                e 
curious circumstances were a French king and                    Page 425.
a Catholic bishop placed in by this revolution?   Did Albert renew his depredations?-Who
-Were Henry's interests, consulted in the  took command of the allied troops?-What
treaty?                                       finally became of Albert?-Who claimed the
territories left by Maurice?-Who obtained
Page 416.                   thlem?-To what city did Charles lay siege?
Did he discover any indignation at this?
Page 426.
BOO     K  XI.                   Did he take it?-What other town did he
What country did Maurice march into after take?-What prince first distinguished himself
the treaty of Passau was signed?-Did he ac- in this siege?-Whither did Henry lead a nucomplish much there?-What new misfortune merous army?-Did Charles advance to meet
happened to the landgrave of Hesse?-How did  him — Did any great engagement take place?
he escape from imprisonment?-What was his -Who attacked Sienna?-Where is Sienna?subsequent character and conduct?             Did they reduce it?-What island did the
Page 417.                 French take?-Where is Corsica?
Page 417.
What other prince was released? —How was                     Page 427.
the remainder of his'life passed?-What three    Who attempted to recover Hungary? —Who
towns did Charles determine to recover?-To  aided her?-What country was Castaldo obliged
what city did he repair?-How did he attempt to abandon to her?-Who was Solyman's eldest
to conceal his design?-Did he succeed?-  son?-Who wished for his destruction?
Where is Metzae 
Page 428.
Page 418.                      How did she contrive to become a free woWhat general did Henry II. send to Metz?-  man?-Did she succeed in inducing the sultan
What was his character?-What volunteers  to marry her? —What minister married her
attended him?-In what condition did he find  daughter, and assisted her against Mustapha?
Metz?-How did he prepare for its defence?-   -How did she prejudice Solyman against Mus
How did he avoid the imputation of sacrilege? tapha?
-Did the citizens aid him..                  Page 429.
Page 419.                      Did she bring her sons to court?-What arti
Who retreated into Lorrain on Charles's ap- fice did Rustan resort to?-Did it succeed?proach?-To whom was the chief command of What was Rustan ordered to do?-How did he
the imperial forces under the emperor given?-  contrive to avoid the odium of such a measure T
What did his generals advise Charles to do?Did he regard them?-How  was the duke of                        Page 430.
Alva received on his approach to Metz?-Which    Where did Solyman join his army?-Where
party did Albert of Brandenburg join?-What is Aleppo?-How was the destruction of Musvictory did he achieve?-How was he reward- tapha effected?-How was the army affected at
ed?-How did the duke of Guise defend Metz? Mustapha's murder?-How was Rustan treated?
-Was he restored afterward? —What did he
Page 420.                    and Roxalana next accomplish?
From whence did the emperor come to attend
the siege -What distresses attended the be-                           431.
siegers?-What disgraceful behaviour were    To whom did Charles propose to marry oi




640                                 QUESTIONS.
son Philip? —.Did Philip consent?-Did Mary? Whom did Charles oppose to him?-What was
-How were the English disposed towards the the result of the campaign in Piedmont?-Whe
match?                                       plotted to deliver Metz to the imperialists?
Page 432.                                     Page 441.
What did the house of commons do?-Whom    To whom did he communicate his plan? —
did the English wish for their king?-What How was it to be efected?-How was it diswere the terms of the marriage? —Did they  covered?-IHow was it defeated?-How did
satisfy the English nation?                  Vielleville revenge himself on the imperialists?
Page 433.
Who rose to oppose the government of Eng-                    Page 442.
land?-Was the insurrection quelled?-Jow    Give an account of the destruction of the
did Philip seek to conciliate the English?-How  monks.-What cardinal labored to restore
did he prepare to enforce their obedience?-  peace?-Where did the pleipotentiaries meet?
What measures did Mary take in favour of po-    hy could they not agree?
pery? —How  were the protestant teachers
punished?                                                      Page 443.
Where did the diet meet?-What were Ferdi
Page 434.                   nand's observations at the opening of it?-low did these martyrs behave?-What was  What effect did these observations have when
the effect of their conduct on the people of Eng- published?-Whom did the pope send to Augsland?-Did the ministers and Philip oppose the burg? —For what purpose?
queen's cruel measures?-Were the English
parliament willing to assist Charles V. in his                 Page 444.
wars?-Were they willing to crown Philip? —     la cased Morone's return to Rome?
Did the'king of France assist Wyt is his insur-      was the cause of Julils's death?-Had
rection?-Did he congratulate the queen on its  Charles V. abandoned his scheme for forcing
being suppressed?-What country did the king  the protestants to abandon their religion?-Did
of France order to be invaded with a numerous  Ferdinand pursue it?-What was Charles's
army?-Who commanded the main body?          favourite project at this time?-How did he enPage 435.                   deavour to effect it — Why  was Ferdinand
anxious to gratify the protestants?
With what siege did the campaign commence?
-In how many days was it taken?-Where is                      Page 445.
Marienburg?-What places did the king himself take -Where is Bouvines X?-Ditant i-     With what danger was he threatened by the
Who defended Artois against the French effect- Turks?-To what did the electors of Saxony
ually1-Where is Artois?1-What place did  and Brandenbur, and the landgrave of Hesse
Henry invest?-Who came to the imperial bind themselves?-For what did the protestants
camp-What brought on an engaement-  contend in the diet?-The catholics 1-H-ow did
camp?-What brought on an engagem             Ferdinand adjust their claims? —What were
Who were victoriousl?-Why were not the im- Ferdinand adjust their claims?-What were
perialists routed?-What made the French re- te articles of the recess?
tire?                                                         Page 446.
Page 436.                     Of what is it the basis?-Was it the effect
How did Henry dispose of his army?-What of a principle of toleration or of state policy 7advantage did C:harles tale of their dismission    How did the first converts to Christianity pro
-Whad t did Cosmo di Medici wish with respect pagate their faith? —When the civil power was
to the French -On whom   did he labour to  in favour of Christianity, what methods were
throw the burden of the enterprise! —What employed fr propagating it
offer did his envoy make to Charles? —Did 
Charles accept the offer?-What did Cosmo ex-                  Pe 
pect to gain by this?-How did he gain the pope   Who succeeded in causing their claims to
and the duke of Orsini?                      infallibility to be recognised?-To what was
Europe for centuries accustomed? —Did the
- Page 437.                 protestants claim to have the right of enforcing
Whom did he appoint to the command of his their doctrines?-What protestant divines were
army? —What was his history?-Wly did he persecutors?-When and where was toleration
particularly incline to favour Cosmo? —Whom  first admitted?-Where next?-To whom  did
did the king of France appoint to oppose Mede- the benefits of the recess of Augsburg extend?
cino?-Why did the cardinal of Ferrara withhold supplies from Strozz?1                                     age 448.
When were the followers of Zuinglius and
Page 438.                   Calvin first tolerated?-What is meant by the
What mistake did Strozzi make in conduct- Ecclesiaslical Reservation? —Who succeeded
ing the war?-What was the consequence?-  Julius as pope?-How  long did he reign?What became of Strozzi after the battle?-  Who succeeded him?
Who commanded the French at Sienna?-What
did he resolve to do?-Did he repel Medecino's                 Pae 449,
assaults?                                      By what title?-What was his character?What order of priests did he institute?-What
Page 439.                   brought him to Rome?-What new character
Were the Siennese at last obliged to sur- did he assume on becoming pope?
tender? —On what terms?-Did Medecino observe them?-Did Cosmo? —What place did                        Page 450.
Medecino next invest?-Did he take it?-To    What offices did he givehis nephews?-What
whom did the emperor grant the investiture of was theii object — Why did Caraffa hate the
Bibnna? —How were the Siennese oppressed   emperor?-Why did the pope?-Iow did the
pope's nephews seek to increase his hatred of
Page 440.                   Charles -— What acts of injustice towards
Who commanaded the French in Piedmont? --  Charles's adherents did the pope perform 




QUJESTIONS.                                    641
Page 451.                                  Page 461.
Whose friendship did the pope seek?-What   What answer did he receive?-What genelid his ambassador propose to Henry?-What ral began the war?-In what manner?-What
French minister opposed the treaty?-What was the effect of his success at Rome? —Who
reasons did he offer?-What French nobles fa- proposed a truce?
voured the treaty?-Which side did Diana of
Poitiers favourPage 462.
Was it obtained?-What event restored the
Page 452.                  pope's confidence?
Who was sent to Rome to conclude the
treaty?-How had the pope become disposed                  BOOK XII.
towards it?-Why?-How did the pope's ne-   What dignity did Charles V. still retain —
phewsseek to rouse him? —What event did What successor did he desire?-What did he
rouse him?-Why?-How did he treat the Im- solicit Ferdinand to do?-With what success?perial ambassador?                          To whom did he resign the office of emperor of
Germany?
Page 453.
Page 463.
When did he sign the treaty? —What great                        4.
event happened during the negotiation of this   For what place did he then set out 3-Why
treaty — What example of this sort is there in  did he linger at Ghent?-When did he set sail?
ancient history?-What were Charles's proba- -What invitation did he decline?-At what
ble motives for resigning his dominions?   port did he arrive in Spain?-In what part of
Spain is Biscay?-To what place did he travel
Page 454.                  from Laredo?-WVhere is Burgos?-What cirwhom  had Ch s c     ated      cumstance mortified him there?-Where is
iT' whom   had  Charles communicated his Valladolid -Where did he take leave of his
scheme' —What had they offered 3.-What was sisters?
now Philip's age? s3
- P -                             ~~~~~~~~Page 464.
WPage 455   Where did ha settle?-In what part of Es.
What obstruction to Charles's resigning the tremadura is Placentia — In what part of Spain
government of Spain had just been removed? — is Estremadura?-Why did he choose this
From what country did Philip come to attend  place for his retreat — Describe his dwelling?
the ceremony?-When and where did Charles -How  was Paul's conduct contrasted with
assemble the states of the Low Countries?-  Charles's?-Who commanded the French army
Describe the opening of: the ceremony.-What in Italy?-How numerous was it?
was the substance of his speech to the states                Page 465
Page 465.
Page 456.                    Was it opposed in its approach towards
To Philip?-What was the effect of his Rome?-What acts of hostility did the pope
speeches?-Who delivered a discourse on be- perform against Charles V. and Philip?-Did
half of Philip?-Why did not Philip deliver it he assist the French as he had promised --
himself —What was the subject of it?-What What did the Venetians resolve to do — What
did Mary, queen-dowager of Hungary, resign? town did the duke of Guise besiege.
Page 457.                          -        Page 466.
What happened next day?-What a few    What was the result of the siege?-Could
weeks afterward?-What did Charles reserve he draw the duke of Alva into action?-For
for himself?-Did Charles sail immediately for what did the duke of Guise solicit the French
Spain? —What expedient was proposed for court?-How large an army had Philip assemmaking peace I                              bled in the Low Countries?-How did he try
age 5.             suceeto draw  the English into the war?-Did he
Page 458.                  succeed?
How was Henry disposed towards making                      Page 467.
peace with Charles?-Who persuaded him to
make peace?-For how long a time did he sign    How did Mary raise money?-How  many
a treaty of truce? —Was the pope included in  men did she furnish?-Who commanded Phithetruce?-Didthe pope believe at first that lip's army?-What province did he pretend
Henry had signed the treaty?-When the news that he was about to attack?-Where is Chamwas confirmed, how was the pope affected?-  pagne?-How  did he deceive the French?-.
Was his situation dangerous?-Why?.   What place did he invest?-Where is St. Quintin?
Page 459.                                   Page 468.
To what did he have recourse?-What did he    Who defended it?-Who came to the admipretend were his sentiments concerning the ral's relief?-What error did Montmorencv
treaty?-What ambassadors did he send to commit 
Brussels and Paris?-What were their public
instructions?-What were Caraffa's private in-              Pae 469.
structions?-How  did he proceed on arriving   Who profited by it? —What was the result
at Paris?-What reasons did he offer to Henry of the battle?-What was the French loss?for making war with Charles?-Was Henry  What befell the constable?-What prisoners
inclined to listen to his proposals?       were taken?-How many men did the imperialists lose?-What battle did that of St. Quintin
Page 460.                 resemble?-What was its effect in France 7What prevented his immediately making the In Paris?-What saved the capital?-What
treaty?-How were these reasons obviated by did Philip do after the battle of St. Quintin?the cardinal?-Whose influence did he oppose How did he treat the duke of Savoy?
to Montmorency's?-What was the result? —
How diI Paul proceed when he heard of the                    Page 40.
treaty?-How was Philip disposed towards the   What did the duke propose in the council of
war?-Upon what point did he consult the Spa- war?-Was Philip willing to attack Paris?nish divines?                              How long did the admiral sustain the siege of




642                                QUESTIONS.
St. Quintin — How  dil Henry improve this the French nation now  look for support?time?                                      What was the number of the duke of Guise's
army?-Of the imperial army?-Was an en.
Page 471.                  gagement expected which should decide the
How did Philip employ his army during the fate of the war?-Did it take place 
rest of the campaign?-What were the advantages which he derived from this campaign?-                 Pae 479.
How did Philip commemorate the victory of St.   Why did Philip desire peace?-Why did HenQintin?-Who carried the news of the victory ry?-Why did Montmorency desire peace?to Rome?-How did Paul receive the news of Of what imprudence was the cardinal of Lorthe duke of Guise's recall " —Whose mediation rain guilty?
did he employ to gain peace?                                Page 480.
Page 472.                    How did the lady revenge herself? —What
Who concluded the treaty between the pope was the effect of her influence on the king? —
2nd Philip?-What were its terms?-Did Paul For what purpose did Philip permit Montmosuffer any detriment by this treaty?-What cu- rency to return from captivity?-Where had he
-ious fact is mentioned concerning the proud been captured?-Did Montmorency succeed
luke of Alva?-What had Philip granted to in having plenipotentiaries sent to treat for
Dctavio Farnese?-What design did Cosmo di peace?-Where did they meet Philip's pleniMedici entertain?-What did he demand of potentiaries?-Who died while these steps were
Philip?-Was his demand complied with       taken? 
Page 481.
Page 473            -l~How had he passed his time at the monastery
What did he then do?-Was Philip alarmed of St. Justus — Who was his companion?it the prospect of losing Cosmo's alliance?-  What religious exercises did he engage in?While Philip was thus alarmed what did To- After six months, how was his condition changledo demand of him?-What did Philip then  ed?
offer to Cosmo?-Did Cosmo thus gain his object?-What territory was thus lost to Philip?-               age 482.
In what part of Italy is Tuscany?-What was   What singular ceremony did he perform?the effect of these treaties on the balance of What was the consequence of this whim?power in Europe?-What was their effect on When and at what age did he die?-How are
Italy?                                      we to learn Charles's true character? —What
was the character of his deliberations?-Of his
Page 474.                  actions?
How was the duke of Guise received in                       Page 483.
France?-To what office was he appointed?Where did he assemble his troops —What   What charac er did he exhibit in the choice
place did he invest — When had Calais fallen  ofhis ministers and generals!-How did he
into the hands of the English?-How is it situ- treat them?-What was generally their chaated?-Was it a very strong place'-What cus-  acter?-What was the character of his foreigr.
tom had prevailed with respect to the greater policy?-How  does it compare with that of
part of the garrison?-Was the queen warned Francis I. and Henry VIII.?
of the weakness and exposed situation of Ca-                 Page 484.
lais? —Did she regard these warnings  
Is his private character well known? -What
Page 475.                  event interrupted the negotiation at Cercamp 1
In how many days did the duke of Guise take -How?-Who succeeded Mary? —By what
Calais?-What other place did he take?-How  princes was her political alliance sought?long had the English held Calais?-What were What claims had Henry -What claims had
the effects of its recapture on the French?-On  Philip?
the English?                                                 Page 485.
Page 476.                    How did Henry lose her favour?-What instructions did she give to her plenipotentiaries'
How did the king of France change the po- -Why did she resolve not to marry Philip?pulation of Calais from French to English?-  Did she plainly reject him?-What did she
What important affair was transacted by Fer- gain by this artifice?
dinand, Feb. 24?-What did the electors do on
their part? —To whom did Ferdinand send an                   Page 485.
ambassador?-How was he received?-What   What minister exerted himself to remove
did the pope require -Did he adhere to these every difficulty and adjust the treaty?-What
ridiculous pretensions — Did he ever acknow- did Elizabeth claim?-Who supported her proe
edge Ferdinand  tensions?-Why 
Page 477.                                   Page 486.
Did the Scotch nation join the French in the   How did Elizabeth occupy herself during the
war with England?-Why not?-Who was negotiation — When was the treaty signed?married to the dauphin?-How did this advance What was stipulated respecting Calais 1-Is it
the dignity of the duke of Guise?-Who took probable that the restitution of Calais was an.
command of the French armies?-What place ticipated by either party?
did he invest?-After how long a siege did he 
take it?                          6                          Page 487.
take it?
What marriages were negotiated to facilitat
Page 478.                  the conclusion of peace?-What were the prinWhat place did the French governor ofCalais cipal articles of the treaty between France and
(de Termes) invest and take?-Where was he Spain?-What nation complained of the peace 
in turn attacked by the count of Egmont?-On  -Why?
what river did de Termes take post? —What                    P     
unforeseen event occasioned the defeat of the                 age 
French? —Iow many were killed — What be-   Where was the marriage of Philip celebrated?
came of the rest of the army?-To whom did - Where was the duke of Savoy's celebrated




QUESTIONS.                                       643
-Who died amid the rejoicings —Who suc- ing of a false religion?-Were these the weaceeded him?-Who died soon after Henry?-  pons employed by Luther?-What kingdoms
What became of his nephews?-In what state threw off their allegiance to the pope?
of society are conquests rapid?-Can sudden
conquests be effected among civilized nations?               Page 495.
-Why not?-What usually happens after the    To what height did protestantism rise m
l;mgest and fiercest conquests?-What was the France — In Germany and the Low Countries?
s ate of Europe during the reign of Charles V.?  -In Spain and Italy 7-What was the effect
of this defection on the papal see?-Where
Page 489.                   were the popes least respected t-Where were
What prevented sudden conquests in his they most respected?
reign?-What happened to the different kingdoms in his reign?-What possessions and dig-                 Page 496.
nities were added to the house of Austria dur-   What change were the popes compelled to
ing his reign?-What devolved to Philip at his make in their foreign policy? —How are the dedeath?-In what condition?                  crees of the popes now regarded by foreign nations?-In what respects has the church of
Page 490.    hRome been improved by the reformation?
How had Charles increased his power in
Spain?-Into what did he change the cortes?-                  Page 497.
How did he manage the nobles? —What was   What is the condition of Spain and Portugal
the effect of his policy on the power of the with respect to religion and science?-What is
kingdom and of the king?-What kingdom did  the character of the ecclesiastics in France?Charles secure to Spain?-What dutchy —  What effect has the reformation had on the
What were the most important acquisitions popes themselves?-What beneficial influences
which Charles made for Spain?-Who was the have flowed from the reformation?-At what
head of the younger branch of the house of period was the power of Venice formidable to
Austria?-What kingdoms did he acquire by  Europe — In what war did Venice lose a great
marriage?-What dignity did he receive from  part of her territories?
Charles?
Charles 9                                                   Page 498.
Page 491.                     What discovery was fatal to the commerce
What occasioned an alienation between the of the Venetians?-How did they try to pretwo branches of the house of Austria?-Did it vent the Portuguese from gaining a footing in
continue long? — What was the consequence of' India?-Did the Portuguese succeed?-What
the union of the two branches in one system of city then became.the staple for the commodipolicy?-How long was the power of the house ties of the East?-What was the consequence
of Austria formidable to Europe? —Did France to the Venetians?-What effect did the Spanish
acquire much territory during the vise of the  discoveries and settlements in America have
house of Austria?-Of what advantage was the  on the Venetian commerce?-When did Venice
conquest of Calais? —Of Metz?-How does the decline from a first-rate to a second-rate power
power of'France compare with that ofthe other in Europe?-How did Venice maintain her inkingdoms of Europe?-Whom did the monarchs fluence after her power had declined — What
of France labour to humble — Were they suc- was the consequence of the authority of Cosmo
sessful  and Laurence di Medici in Florence?-Whom
did Charles V. place at the head of the republic 
Page 492.                   -On what did Cosmo the Great establish his
Were the people the gainers by this?-What supreme authority?-What title did he transmit
had cherished the martial spirit of the French? to his posterity?-Of what were their dominions
-Was France as formidable as Spain to the  composed, and what is the rank of Tuscany as
rest of Europe?-What prevented the French  a state? —hat happened to the duke of Savoy
from extending their conquests at this juncture? in the sixteenth century?-What became of his
-What occasioned these civil wars?        son?-What restored to the prince his paternal
Page 493~.           dominions 
Page 493.
What scheme did Henry VIII. pursue?-age 499
How was property brought into circulation in    What is their situation? —What was the efEngland?-What was its effect?-What were feet of this situation on the dukes of Savoy?the opposite effects of the circulation of wealth  Have they added to their territories?-What
in Spain and in England?-What was the dif- title and rank do they now hold?-What does
ference in the circumstances of the people of the kingdom of Sardinia now include?-What
France and of England?-What favourable ef- exasperated the people of the Low Countries
fects resulted -from England's becoming inde- to throw off the Spanish yoke?-Whenl did this
pendent of the papal see?-What benefits re- happen?-How loiig did they fight for their insulted from the loss of Calais?             dependence?-To what rank did this country
afterward rise?-What was the condition of
Page 494.                  Russia in Charles's time?-What happened in
How was the English policy towards Scot- Denmark during the reign of Charles V.?-In
Land changed?-How did England acquire the Sweden?-To what did Denmark decline?-To
direction of the Scottish councils?-Are sci- what did Sweden rise?- Wrbt did Sweden el
eace and philosophy adequate to the overturn- feet in the subsequent cantoun