"* % HISTORY REFORMATION IN GERMANY. BT LEOPOLD HANKE. SECOND EDITION. TRANSLATED BY SARAH AUSTIN. VOL. II. LONDON: long:man, brown, green, and longivians, FAT£RNOSTEa-KOW. 1845. London : Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New- Street- Square. CONTENTS THE SECOND VOLUME. BOOK III. Page Endeavours to render the Reformation national AND complete. 1521 — 1525. - - 1 CHAP. I. Disturbances at Wittenberg — October, 1521, to March, 1522. - - - - - 9 CHAP. 11. Temporal and spiritual Tendencies of the Council of Regency, 1521—1523. - - - 43 CHAP. HI. Diffiision of the new Doctrines, 1522 — 1524. - - 74 CHAP. IV. Opposition to the Council of Regency. — Diet of 1523-24. 114 CHAP. V. Origin of the Division in the Nation - - 163 CHAP. VI. The Peasants' War ..... 202 CHAP. vn. Formation of the adverse religious Leagues. — Diet of Augsburg, December, 1525, - - - 260 IV CONTENTS. BOOK IV. Page Foreign Relations. — Foundation of the national Churches of Germany. 1521 — 1528. - - 287 CHAP. I. French and Italian Wars, down to the Ligue of Cognac, 1521—1526. - - - - 289 CHAP. n. Diet of Spire, A. D. 1526. - - - 389 CHAP. m. Conquest of Eome, A. D. 1527. - - - 417 CHAP. IV. Occupation of Bohemia and Hungary - - 453 CHAP. V. Foundation of Evangelical States - - - 483 BOOK III. ENDEAVOURS TO RENDER THE REFORMATION NATIONAL AND COMPLETE. 1521—1525. VOL. II. HISTORY REFORMATION IN GERMANY. BOOK III. ENDEAVOURS TO RENDER THE REFORMATION NATIONAL AND COMPLETE. 1521—1525. The peculiar character and form which the Latin church had gradually assiuned gave rise, as we have already seen, to the necessity for its reform ; — a reform demanded by the state of the world, and prepared by the national tendencies of the Ger- man mind, the advancement of learning, and the divergencies of theological opinion. We have likewise remarked how the abuse of the traffic in indulgences, and the disputes to which it gave birth, led, without design or premeditation on the part of any concerned, to a violent outbreak of opposition. While we regard this as inevitable, we cannot proceed further Avithout pausing to make some observations on its extreme danger. B 2 4 INTRODUCTION. Book III. For every member and every interest of society is enlinked with the whole established order of things which forms at once its base and its shelter ; if once the vital powers which animate this mass are thrown into conflict, who can say where the vic- torious assailants will find a check, or whether every thing will not be overwhehned in common ruin ? No institution could be more exposed to this danger than the papacy, which had for centuries exercised so mighty an influence over the whole existence of the European nations. The established order of things in Europe was, in fact, the same military-sacerdotal state which liad arisen in the eighth and ninth centuries, and, notwithstanding all the changes that had been introduced, had always remained essentially the same — compounded of the same fundamental ele- ments. Nay, even those very changes had gene- rally been favourable to the sacerdotal element, whose commanding position had enabled it to pervade every form of public and private life, every vein of intellectual culture. How then would it have been possible to assail it without producing an universal shock ; to question it, mthout endan- gering the whole fabric of civilisation ? It must not be supposed that so resistless a power of persuasion resided in a merely dogmatic faith, wrought out by the hierarchy and the schools. The establishment of this would, on the contrary, have excited incessant controversy, which, though generally confined within the region 'of received ideas, would sometimes have been carried beyond Book III. INTRODUCTION. 5 that limit. But the intimate connexion which the papacy maintained with all established authorities had defeated every attempt at opposition. How, for example, could an emperor have ventured to take under his protection religious opinions op- posed to the dominant system of faith, not on particular and unimportant points, but profoundly and essentially ? Even as against a pope on whom he was making war, he could not have dared to do it ; he must have feared to undermine the spiri- tual basis on which his own rank and power were founded; to be the first to break through the circle of ideas and associations by which the minds of men were bounded. The civil authorities felt, at every moment, the indissoluble nature of tlieir connexion with the hierarchy, and generally made themselves the instruments of the persecution of all who dissented from the faith prescribed by the church. It was now also to be considered that projects and attempts of the most dangerous kind had been connected with the more recent attacks on the doctrine and discipline of the church of Rome. A century and a half had elapsed since John WiclifFe had engaged in a similar contest with the papacy in England (with nearly the same Aveapons, and supported by the same national impulses) to that which Luther now entered upon in Germany ; this was instantly accompanied by a tumultuous rising of the lowest classes of the people, avIio, not content with reforms in the creed, or an emanci- pation from the see of Rome, aimed at the abolition B 3 b INTRODUCTION. Book III. of the whole beneficed clergy*, and even at the equalisation of the nobleman and the peasant ; i. e. at a complete overthrow of Church and State. It is uncertain whether Wicliffe had any share in these proceedings or not. At all events, the re- sentment they excited fell upon him, and he was removed from Oxford, the scene of his labours, whence he might have exercised a singular in- fluence over England and the world, to the narrow and obscure sphere of a country parish. The disorders in Bohemia, which broke out in consequence of the teaching and the condemnation of IIuss, at first related exclusively to the spiritual matters whence they arose f; but the severity with which they were repressed soon excited an extremely dangerous fanaticism. The Taborites not alone rejected the doctrines of the Fathers of the church equally with those of later times, but they demanded the destruction of all the books in which those doctrines were contained. They de- clared it vain and unevangelical, nay, sinful, to prosecute studies and to take degrees at the uni- * See Prioris et Capituli Cantuarensis Mandatum, Sept. 16. 1381, in Wilkins's Concilia Magnai Britannia^, iii. p. 133, t One chief cause of this movement which is commonly over- looked, is mentioned by the weU-informed Hemmerlin in his tract De Libertate Ecclesiastica. I will give this in his own words. "In regno Bohemia3 quasi omnes possessiones et terrarum portiones et portiones portionum quasi per singulos passus fuerunt occupataj, intricata) et aggravataj per census, reditus etproventus clero debitos. Unde populares nimis exasperati — insultarunt in clerum et religiosos — et terram prius occupatam penitus liberarunt." Book III. INTRODUCTION. 7 versifies * ; they preached that God would destroy the world, and would only save the righteous men of five cities f ; their preachers deemed themselves the avenging angels of the Lord, sent to execute his sentence of annihilation. Had their power corresponded with their will, they would have transformed the earth into a desert in the name of the Lord. For a thirst for destruction is inevitably excited by successful opposition, and is the more violent, the more powerful the enemy with Avhom it has to contend. Was not then, we must now inquire, a similar storm to be feared in Germany, where the pope had hitherto wielded a portion of the imperial power ? The nation was in a state of universal ferment ; a menacing revolt against the constituted author- ities was already stirring in the depths of so- ciety ; would not this be called into action by an attack on the highest of all acknowledged earthly authorities ? Would not the destructive forces which every society harbours in its bosom, and which this sacerdotal-military state had certainly not been able to neutralise or destroy, now rear their heads ? The whole future destiny of the German nation Avas involved in the question whether it could * Formula fidei Taboritarum apud Laur. Byzynium (Brze- zina) : Ludewig Reliquiaj MSS., torn. vi. p. 191. t Byzynii Diarium belli Hussitici, ib. p. 155. sq. B 4 8 INTRODUCTION. Book III. withstand this danger or not ; whether it would succeed in severing itself from the papacy, mthout imperilling the state and the slowly won treasures of civilisation in the process ; and what form of constitution — for mthout political changes the separation was impossible — the nation would then assume. On the answer to these questions rested, at the same time, the possible influence of Ger- many on the rest of the world. The immediate course of events assumed a most menacing and dangerous character. CHAPTER I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG — OCTOBER, 1521, TO MARCH, 1522. Once more had the supreme temporal power in Ger- many allied itself with the papacy, and this at first could not fail to make a deep impression. The edict of Worms was published in all parts of the empire; and in some places the confessors were instructed by the bishops to refuse absolution to every one who should be guilty of avowing Lutheran tenets. Luther's own sovereign could only save him by seizing him on his way through the Thu- ringian forest, and carrying him, in feigned cap- tivity, to the safe asylum of the Wartburg. A report was spread that an enemy of the elector had imprisoned and perhaps killed him. It soon, however, became manifest how little had been effected by these severities. In the towns of the Netherlands in which Charles happened to be residing, Luther's writings were collected and publicly burned ; but the emperor might be seen to smile ironically as he passed these bonfires in the market-place, nor do we find any trace of such executions in the interior of Germany. On the contrary, the events of the diet and the new edict only gained fresh partisans for Luther's cause. It appeared a powerful argument for the truth of 10 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book HI- his doctrines, that when he pubHcly avowed his books at Worms, and declared that he was ready to retract them if any one could confute him, no one had ventured to accept the challenge.* " The more Luther's doctrine is pent up," says Zasius, " the more it spreads." f If this was the experience of the university of Freiburg, where the orthodox party was so strong, what must it have been else- where ? The Elector of Mainz did not think it expedient to grant the Minorites the permission begged by their provincial, to preach against Luther in his diocese, fearing that it would but increase the agitation of the public mind.| Li despite of the new regulations for the censorship contained in the edict, pamphlet after pamphlet appeared in favour of the new doctrines. These were mostly anonymous, but Hutten ventured to put his name to a direct attack on the pope's nuncio, Aleander, the author of the edict. In this he asks him whether he * " Ein schoner dialogus und gesprecli zwischen eiin Pfarrer und eim Scliultliayss, betreffend alien libelstand der Gejstlichen," &c. " A fine dialogue and conversation between a parish priest and a sheriff touching the ill condition of the clergy," &c., doubt- less written immediately after the meeting of the diet ; in which are these words : " Warum hand ir dan nit Doctor Luther mit disputiren yez zu Worms iiberwunden." " Why did you not then overcome Doctor Luther in the disputation now held at "Worms ? " This is the argument with which the sheriff brings over the parish priest to his views. t Epp. i. 50. I Capito ad Zwinglium Hallis, iv. Aug. 1521. (E2)p. Zw., i. 78.) He required sermons, " citi'a perturbationem vulgi, absque tarn atrocibus affectibus." CiiAP. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 11 imagines that he can crush relifiion and freedom by means of a single little edict, artfully wrung from a youthful prince; or that an imperial command had any power against the immutable word of God. Were not rather the opinions of a prince subject to change? The emperor, he believed, "would learn to think very diiferently in time." * The agents of Rome themselves were astonished to find of how little avail was the edict they had obtained with so much difficulty. The ink, they said, was scarcely dry with which the emperor had signed it, when already it was violated on every side. They are said, however, to have consoled themselves with the reflection, that if it had no other results, it must lay the foundation for inevitable dissension among the Germans themselves. It was a most significant circumstance that the university of Wittenberg was as little afiected by the imperial edict as it had been by the papal bull. There the new doctrines had already taken root and flourished independently of Luther's personal in- fluence, and thither the flower of the Gennan youth flocked to receive and adopt them. It made indeed but little difl'erence whether Luther was present or not ; the lecture rooms were always crowded, and his doctrines f were defended -with the same en- * Invectiva in Aleandrum. Oi^era, iv. p. 240. f Spalatini Annales, 1521. October. " Scholastici, quorum supra millia ibi tuin fuerunt." Nevertheless, in the course of the winter, the electors of Brunswick and Brandenburg forbade their subjects to attend this University. Mencken, Script, ii. 611. The number of matriculations fell off considerably during the winter term. Scnncrt, p. .39. 12 DISTUKBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. thusiasm, both orally and in writing. In short, this infant university now took the boldest ground. When the Sorbonne at last broke silence, and de- clared itself against Luther, Melanchthon thought himself not only bound to undertake the defence of his absent friend, but he even dared to fling back the accusation upon the university of Paris, the source of all theological learning, the parent stem of which the German universities were branches, the Alma Mater to whose decision the whole world had ever bowed, and to charge her herself with falling off from true Christianity. He did not hesitate to declare the whole of the doctrines current at the universities, especially the theology of the schools, false and heretical when tried by the standard of Scripture.* The highest powers in Christendom had spoken, the pope had issued an anathema, and his sentence had been confirmed by that of the great mother university, and, finally, the emperor had ordered it to be executed ; and yet, in the small town of Wittenberg, which a few years before was hardly known, a professor little more than twenty years of age, in whose shght figure and modest bearing no one could have detected any promise of heroism or boldness, dared to oppose all these mighty powers, to defend the condemned doctrines, nay, to claim for them the exclusive glory of Christianity. * Adversus furiosum Parisiensium theologasti'orum decretum Phil. Melanclithonis pro Luthero Apologia, Corp. Reformato- rum i. 398. CiiAP. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 13 One cause of this singular phenomenon was, that it was well known that the appearance was more formidable than the reality : — the motives which had determined the course taken by the court of Rome (chiefly dominican influence), and the means by whitih the edict had been extorted from the em- peror, and the manner of its publication, were no secret. The three men from whom the condemn- ation in Paris originated were pointed out, and called by the most opprobrious names.* The re- formers, on the other hand, were conscious of pure motives, and a firm and impregnable foundation for their opinions. The influence of their prince, who afforded them undoubted though unacknowledged protection, was a safeguard against actual violence. But those who ventured to take up so independ- ent and imposing a position, at variance with all esta- blished authorities, and su2:)ported only by opinions which had not yet attained their full development nor acquired a precise form, obviously incurred an enormous weight of responsibility. In carrying out the principles professed, it was necessary to be the pioneers of a numerous, susceptible and expecting crowd of sympathising spirits. Here, where all the elements of a state at once military and sacerdotal Avere to be found as abundantly as elsewhere, the experiment was to be tried, how far the authority * Glareanus ad Zwinglium Lutetias 4 non. Julii, 1521. Beda, Quercus, Cliristophorus : Bellua, Stercus, Cliristotomus. Epp, Zw. p. 176. The work of Glareanus, p. 156., in which the death of Leo X. is mentioned, does not belong to the year 1520, but to the following year. 14 DISTUEBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. of the priesthood might be destroyed without en- dangering the safety of the state. It was, however, become impossible to remain stationary. Men's minds were too much excited to be content with doctrines alone. On the faith which was now so profoundly shaken, were founded practices that influenced every day and hour of common life ; and it was not to be expected that an energetic generation, conscious of its own power, and impelled by new and mighty ideas, should do violence to its own convictions and submit to ordi- nances it had begun to condemn. The first remarkable incident that occurred was of a purely personal nature. Two priests in the neighbourhood, Jacob Seidler and Bartholomew Bernhardi, both professing the doctrines of Witten- berg, solemnly renounced their vows of celibacy. Of all the institutions of the hierarchy, this, indeed, was the one which, from the strong taste for domestic life inherent in the nation, had always been most repugnant to the German clergy, and, in its conse- quences, most profoundly offensive to the moral sense of the people. The two priests declared their conviction that neither pope nor synod were entitled to burden the church with an ordinance which en- dangered both the body and the soul.* Hereupon they were both claimed for trial hy the spiritual authorities ; Seidler alone, who resided in the ter- ritory of D^ke George of Saxony, was given up to * " Quid statuerint Pontificii canones, nihil refert Cliristia- norum." — Epistle from the Theologians of Wittenberg to the Bishop of Meissen, Corp, Ref.i. 418. Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBEHG. 15 tliem, and perished in prison ; the Elector Fre- deric refused to lend his authority to the Bishop of Magdeburg against Bcrnhardi ; he refused, as Spalatin expresses it, to let himself be employed as a constable. Carlstadt now took coura2;e to attack the institution of celibacy in a work of considerable length. As the vow of cehbacy was originally confined to the monastic orders, and had subsequently been ex- tended to the whole priesthood, its dissolution neces- sarily affected the whole idea of the monastic system. In the little Augustine church which had been the scene of Luther's first appearance, Gabriel ZwiUing, one of his most able fellow-labourers, preached a se- ries of fervent discourses, in which he attacked the very essence of monachism, declaring that it was not only lawful but necessary to renounce it ; for that " under the cowl there was no salvation." Thirteen Augustine monks left the convent at once, and took up their abode, part among the students and part among the townspeople. One of them who under- stood the trade of a cabinet-maker, applied for the right of citizenship and proclaimed his intention of marrying.* This was followed by a general dis- turbance : the Augustines who had stayed in the convent thought themselves no longer safe ; and the Carmelite convent in Wittenberg had to be pro- tected every night by a strong guard. Meanwhile Brother Gabriel made another still * Repoi't of Gregorius Bruck to the Elector, Oct. 11. Corp. Ref. i. 459. 16 DISTURBANCES- AT WITTENBERG. Book III. more formidable attack upon the Catholic church. He carried Luther's doctrines about the sacrament so far as to declare the adoration of it, and even the celebration of the mass without communicants, simply as a sacrifice (the so-called private mass), an abuse and a sin.* In a short time the prior of the convent was compelled by the general agitation to discontinue the celebration of private masses in his church, in order, as he said, to avoid still greater scandal. This of course produced a great sensation both in the town and university. On the 3d of December, 1521, when mass was going to be sung in the parish church, several of the students and younger burghers came with knives under their coats, snatched away the mass books and drove the priests from the altar. The town council summoned the offenders subject to its jurisdiction, and showed an intention of punishing them ; upon which the townspeople rose tumultuously and proposed terms to the council, in which they demanded the liberation of the prisoners in a tone almost amounting to open rebellion. f * Report from Helt the prior of the Augustines to the Elector, Nov. 12. Corp. Eef. p. 483. -j- The Council of Wittenberg to the Elector. Dec. 3. and 5. Corp. Ref. p. 487. The impression made by these innovations in distant countries is remarkably displayed by a passage in vol. xxxii. of the Venetian Chronicle of Sanuto, in the Ai'chives of Vienna. " Novita di uno ordine over uso de la fede Christiana comenzada in Vintibergia. Li frati heremitani di S. Augus- tino hanno trovato e provato per le St. Scripture che le messe secondo che se usano adesso si e gran peccato a dirle o a odirle (thus it appears that the whole innovation was looked upon as Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 17 All these were attempts made ^vithout plan or deliberation to overthrow the existing form of di- vine worship. Tlie Elector, to whose decision such affairs were always referred, wished, as was usual with him, to take the opinion of some constituted authority. His first step was to summon to Wittenberg a council of Augustines from the provinces of Meissen and Thuringia. These monks all more or less shared Luther's opinions and regarded his cause as their own. Their judgment, as he after- wards declared, coincided with his own, even during his absence; they did not go so far as Brother Gabriel, who denounced' the monastic vows as sin- ful, but they no longer acknowledged them to be binding. Their decision was as follows : " Every creature is subject to the word of God, and needs not allow himself to be oppressed by bur- densome human institutions ; every man is at liberty to leave the convent or to remain in it*; but he who leaves it must not abuse his freedom an invention of the Augustine order) e tlapoi el zorno di S. Micliiel, 1521, in qua ogni zorno questo lianno predichado e ditto, e stanno saldi in questa soa oppinione, e questo etiam con le opre observano e da poi la domeniga di S. Micliiel non lianno ditto piu messe nella cliiesia del suo monasterio, e per questo e seguito gran scandalo tra el popolo li cantori e canonici spirituali e temporali " * Decreta Augustinianorum. Corp. Ref. i. 456. This meeting is not to be placed in the month of October, but rather in December or the beginning of January, as is remarked by Seckeudorf (Historia Luther, i. s. 54. § 129.) on the authority of a contemporary letter. See Spalatini Ann. 610. VOL. II. C 18 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. "Book III. according to the lusts of the flesh ; he who prefers to stay, will do well to wear the cowl and render obedience to his superiors from choice and affection." They determined at the same time to desist from the practice of begging, and to abolish votive masses. Meanwhile the prince had called upon the uni- versity to pronounce an opinion on the mass in general. A commission was accordingly chosen, of which Melanchthon was a member, and which de- cided for the entire abolition of the mass, not only in Wittenberg but throughout the country, be the consequences what they might.* When, however, the moment arrived for the whole corporation to confirm this sentence, they absolutely refused to do so ; several of the most influential members stayed away from the meeting, declaring that they were too insignificant to undertake to reform the church, f Thus as neither the Augustine order nor the university declared themselves distinctly in favour of the innovators, the Elector refused to move any further in the matter, saying that if even in Wit- tenberg they could not agree, it was not probable that the rest of the world would think alike on the proposed change: they might go on reading, dis- puting and preaching about it, but in the mean while they must adhere to established usages. | The excitement was, however, already too great * Ernstlich Handlung der UniversitLlt, &c. Corp. Ref. i. 465. f Report of Christian Beiers, Dec. 13. ib. 500. I Instruction of the Elector, Lochau, Dec. 19. ib. 507. Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 19 to be restrained by the command of a prince whose leniency was so well known ; and accordingly Dr. Carlstadt announced, in spite of it, that on the feast of the circumcision he should celebrate the mass according to a new rite, and administer the Lord's Supper in the words of the Founder. He had already attempted something of the kind in tlie month of October, but with only twelve com- municants, in exact imitation of the example of Christ. As it seemed probable that difficulties would be thro^Yii in his way, he determined not to wait till the day appointed, and on Christmas Day, 1521, he preached in the parish church on the ne- cessity of abandoning the ancient rite and receiving the sacrament in both kinds. After the sermon he went up to the altar and said the mass, omitting the words which convey the idea of a sacrifice, and the ceremony of the elevation of the host, and then distributed first the bread and next the wine, with the words, " This is the cup of my blood of the new and everlasting covenant." This act was so entirely in harmony with the feelings of the con- gregation that no one ventured to oppose it. On New Year's Day he repeated this ritual, and con- tinued to do so every succeeding Sunday ; he also preached every Friday.* Carlstadt belonged to a class of men not uncom- mon in Germany, who combine with a natural turn for deep speculation the boldness to reject all that * Zeitung aus Wittenberg account of wliat took place in 1521, &c. ; in Strobel's Miscellanien, v. 121. c 2 20 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. lias been established, or to maintain all that has been condemned ; yet without feeling the necessity of first arriving at any clear and precise ideas, or of resting those ideas upon arguments fitted to carry general conviction. Carlstadt had at first adopted the doc- trines of the schoolmen; he was afterwards urged by Luther to the study of the sacred writings, though he had not, like him, patience to acquire their ori- ginal languages ; nor did he hesitate at the strangest and most arbitrary interpretations, in which he fol- lowed only the impulse of his own mind. This led him into strange aberrations; even at the time he was j)reparing for the disputation at Lei2:)zig, he used the most singular expressions with regard to the Holy Scriptures, applying to them as a whole that which has generally been understood of the "law only ; viz. that they lead to transgression, sin, and death, and do not afford the true conso- lation the soul requires. In the year 1520 he en- tertained doubts whether Moses was really the author of the books which bear his name, and whether the Gospels have come down to us in their genuine form ; speculations which have since given so much occupation to learning and cri- ticism, presented themselves at this early period to his mind.* At that time he was overawed by the presence and authority of Luther; now, however, he was restrained by no one ; a wide arena for the display of his ambition lay before him, and he * See extracts from his works in Loscher's Historia Motimm, i. 15. Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 21 was surrounded by an enthusiastic public. Under these circumstances he was himself no longer the same ; the little swarthy sun-burnt man, who for- merly expressed himself in indistinct and am- biguous language, now poured forth with the most vehement eloquence a torrent of mystical extrava- gant ideas, relating to a totally new order of things, which carried away all imaginations. Towards the end of the year 1521 he was joined by allies who had entered on a similar career from another direction, and who pursued it with still greater audacity. It is well known that at the beginning of the Hussite troubles, two strangers, Nicolas and Peter of Dresden, who had been banished by the Bishop of Meissen and found an asylum in Prague, were the persons who, during the absence of Huss and Jerome, instigated the populace to demand a change of the ritual, especially in the administration of the sacrament ; and that various other fanatical opinions were quickly combined with these.* Whether it was that these opinions re-acted on the country in which they originated — or whether they had from the first taken deeper and more lasting root there, — the same spirit which had for- merly directed the movement at Prague, now re- vived at Zwickau (a to'wn in the Erzgebirge, where Peter of Dresden had for some time resided), and * The notice of this is very remarkable in Pelzel's Wences- las, ii. (Urkunden, nr, 238. ex MS. coaivo capituli.) They declared at the very Ijeginning " quod papa sit autichristus cum clero sibi subjecto." c 3 22 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBEEG. Book III. appeared likely to guide the agitation now prevail- ing at Wittenberg. This spirit was remarkably displayed in a sect which conoTeo:ated round a fanatical weaver of the name of Claus Storch, of Zwickau, and pro- fessed the most extravagant doctrines. Luther did not go nearly far enough for these peo- ple. Very different men, they said, of a much more elevated spirit, were required ; for what could such servile observance of the Bible avail ? That book was insufficient for man's instruction ; he could only be taught by the immediate inspira- tion of the Holy Ghost.* Their fanaticism soon rose to such a pitch as to convince them that this was actually granted to them ; that God spoke to them in person, and dictated to them how to act and what to preach. f On the strength of this im- mediate inspiration from Heaven, they pressed for various alterations in the services of the church, d Above all, they maintained that a sacrament had 'no meaning without faith, and therefore entirely rejected the baptism of infants, Avho are incapable of * A report sent from Zwickau to the elector, of wliicli lie informs the university, gives this account of their opinions. Acta Einsiedelii cum Melanthonio, C. R. p. 536. The state- ments in Enoch Widemann Chronicon Curiae, in Mencken, Scriptt. R. G., iii. 744., show a somewhat later developement of the fantasies of Storch. Tobias Schmidt's Cronica Cygnea, 1656, is not without its value for the events of the thirty years' war, but is insufficient for the times of the Reformation. t Official Report of Melanchthon, Jan. 1. 1522. C. R., i. 533., from which it is evident that half a year before, these people had not be2run to boast of this communion with God. CuAP. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 23 faith. But their iraai2:inations took a much wilder flight. They asserted that the world was threat- ened with a general devastation, of which the Turks were perhaps to be the instruments ; no priest was to remain alive, not even those who were now contracting marriage, nor any ungodly man ; but after this bloody purification the Idngdom of God would commence, and there would be one faith and one baptism.* They seemed well inclined to begin this work of violent convulsion themselves. Finding resistance from the moderate portion of the citizens and town council of ZAvickau, they collected arms in the house of one of their party, with the design of falling suddenly on their oppo- nents and putting them all to death. Fortunately they were anticipated by Wolf of Weissenbach, the chief magistrate of the place ; he arrested a num- ber of the misguided men, kept the peace and com- pelled the ring-leaders to quit the town.f The fanatics hoped to accomplish abroad what they had failed in at home. Some of them went to Prague with a view to reviving the old Taborite sect there, — an attempt which proved abortive. The others, of whom it is more especially our business to speak, came to Wittenberg, where they found the ground admirably prepared for the seed they had to sow, by the universal restlessness of minds craving for some unknown novelty, not only among * Zeitung aus Wittenberg, p. 127. f According to G. Fabricius, Vita Ricii, in Melchior Adam, Vitae Philosophorum, p. 72. c 4 24 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. the excitable class of students, but even among the townspeople. We accordingly find that after their arrival in Wittenberg the agitation assumed a bolder character. Carlstadt, with whom they immediately allied themselves, introduced more striking innovations every day. The priestly garments were abolished and auricular confession disused. People went to receive the sacrament without preparation, and ima- agined that they had gained an important point, when they took the host with their own hands instead of receiving it from those of the priest. It was held to be the mark of a purer Christianity to eat eggs and meat on fast days especially. The pictures in the churches were now esteemed an abomination in the holy place. Carlstadt disre- garded the distinction which had always been made between reverence and adoration, and applied all the texts in the Bible directed against idolatry to the worship of images. He insisted upon the fact that people bowed and knelt before them, and lighted tapers, and brought offerings ; that, for ex- ample, they contemplated the image of St. Chris- toj)her, in order that they might be preserved against sudden death ; he therefore exhorted his followers to attack and destroy " these painted gods, these idol logs." He would not even tole- rate the crucifix, because he said men called it their God, whereas it could only remind them of the bodily sufferings of Christ. It had been de- termined that the images should be removed from the churches, but as this was not immediately Chap. L DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 25 execHted, his zeal became more fiery * ; at his in- stigation an iconoclast riot now commenced, simi- lar to those which half a century afterwards broke out in so many other countries. The images were torn from the altars, chopped in pieces and burnt. It is obvious that these acts of violence gave a most dangerous and menacing character to the whole controversy. Carlstadt not only quoted the Old Testament to show that the secular au- * Von Abtuhung der Bylder. Und das keyn Betdler uiither den Christen seyn soil. Carolstatt in der christliclien Statt Wittenberg. Bog. D. (Concerning the Abolition of Images. And that there should be no Worshipper among Christians. Carlstadt in the Christian Town of Wittenberg, Sheet D.) The decree was made on Friday after St. Sebastian, Jan. 24. 1522. The dedication to the paper on the first sheet, which also was first printed, is dated Monday after the conversion of St. Paul, 27th Jan. Carlstadt then had the greatest hopes. The date shows how zealous he was. Wlien he came to the fourth sheet, he plainly saw that matters would not pi'oceed so rapidly. " Ich hette audi gehofft, der lebendig got solt seine eingegeben werk das ist guten willen tzu abtuhung der bilder volzogen und yns eusserlich werk gefurt haben. Aber ess ist noch kein exe- cution geschehen, vileicht derhalben, das got seinen tzorn vber vns lest treuifen yn meynung seynen gantzen tzorn ausszuschli- • den, wu wir alsso blind bleiben vnd fUrchten vns vor dem dass vns nicht kan thun. Das weiss ich das die Obirsten deshalb gestralFt werden. Dan die schrifft leugt ye nit." — " I had also hoped that the living God would have carried into execution and openly brought to bear his appointed work, that is, good will towards the abolition of images. But no execution has yet taken place, perhaps because God lets his anger drip ujion us, intend- ing to pour out all his wrath, if we remain thus blind, and fear not that which he is able to do. Thus much T know, that they in high places will be punished therefore. For the Scripture lieth not." 26 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. thorities had power to remove from the churches whatever could give scandal to the faithful, but added, that if the magistrates neglected this duty, the community was justified in carrying out the necessary changes. Accordingly the citizens of Wittenberg laid a petition before the council, in which they demanded the formal abolition of all unbiblical ceremonies, masses, vigils, and proces- sions, and unlimited liberty for their preachers. The council was forced to concede these points one after the other * ; nor did even these concessions satisfy the innovators. Their project was to realise without delay their own conception of a strictly Christian community. The council was called upon to close all places of public amusement, not only those which the law prohibited, but those which it had sanctioned ; to abolish the mendicant orders who, they said, ought not to exist in Christendom, and to divide the funds of the religious communities, which were pronounced to be altogether mischievous and corrupt, among the poor. To these suggestions of a l^igoted fanaticism, blind to the real nature and interests of society, were added the most perni- cious doctrines of the Taborites. An old professor like Carlstadt suffered himself to be carried away by the contagion to such a degree as to maintain that there was no need of learned men, or of a course of academic stiidy, and still less of academic honours. In his lectures he advised his hearers to return home and till the ground, for that man ought to eat his * Strobel, V. 128. Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 27 bread by the sweat of his brow. One of his most zealous adherents was George Mohr, the rector of the grammar school, who addressed the assembled citizens from the window of the school -house, ex- horting tliem to take away their children. Of what use, said he, would learning be henceforth ? They had now among them the divine prophets of Zwickau, Storch, Thomii, and Stlibner, who con- versed with God, and were filled with grace and knowledge without any study whatsoever. The common people were of course easily convinced tliat a layman or an artisan Avas perfectly qualified for the office of a priest and teacher. Carlstadt himself went into the houses of the citizens and asked them for an explanation of ob- scure passages in Scripture ; acting on the text that God reveals to babes what he hides from wise men. Students left the university and went home to learn a handicraft, saying that there was no longer any need of study.* The conservative ideas to which Luther had still clung w^ere thus abandoned ; the idea of temporal sovereignty, on which he had taken his stand to oppose the encroachments of the priesthood, was now rejected with no less hos- tility than the spiritual domination. Luther had combated the reigning faith with the weapons of profound learning ; one of the rudest theories of inspiration that has ever been broached now * Frosclicl: Tractat vom Priestertlium (Appendix), 1565. Reprinted in the Unschuldigen Nachrichten, 1731, p. 698. 28 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. threatened to take its place. It is evident, however, that its success was impossible. All the powers of the civilised world would have risen against such a wild, destructive attempt, and would either have utterly crushed it, or at all events have driven it back within the narrowest limits. Had such anarchical dreams ever become predominant, they must have destroyed every hope of improvement which the world could attach to the reforming party. In Wittenberg there was no one capable of resisting the general frenzy. Melanchthon was then too young and inexperienced, even had he possessed sufficient firmness of character. He held some conferences Avitli the prophets of Zwickau; and finding not only that they were men of talent, but well grounded in the main articles of a faith which was likewise his o^vn; being also unable to refute their arguments concerning infant baptism, he did not feel himself competent to enter the lists against them. We find disciples and friends of Me- lanchthon among their adherents.* The elector was equally incapable of offering any efficient resistance. We are already acquainted with the character of this prince, — his temporising joolicy, his reluctance to interfere in person, his habit of letting things take their own course. His was the most peaceful nature produced by this troubled and warlike age ; he never had recourse to arms ; when advised to seize Erfurt, on the plea that * e. g. Mai'tin Borrhaus (Cellarius) of Stuttgart! had set on foot a pri\ate school for Melanchthon. Adam, Vita; Thcolog. p. 191. CuAP. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 29 lie might accomplish it with the loss of only five men, he replied, " One were too many."* Yet his quiet, observant, prudent and enlightened policy had ever been crowned with ultimate success. His pleasure was to adorn his own territories, which he thought as beautiful as any on earth, with castles, like those of Lochau, Altenburg, Wei- mar and Coburg; to decorate his churches with pictures from the admirable pencil of Lucas Kra- nach, whom he invited to his court; to. keep up the high renown of his chapel and quire, which was one of the best in the empire, and to improve the university he had founded. Although not remarkable for popular and ac- cessible manners, he had a sincere affection for the people. He once paid back the poll-tax which had been levied, when the purpose to which it was to be applied was abandoned. " Truly," said he of some- body, " he is a bad man, for he is unkind to the poor folk." Once, when on a journey, he gave money to the children who were playing by the road- side : " one day," said he, " they will tell how a duke of Saxony rode by and gave each of them something." * We read of his sending rare fruits to a sick professor.f The elector was now in years ; most of the older German princes mth whom he had lived in habits of intimacy, " his good comrades and friends," as he called them, were dead, and he had many annoyances and vexations to bear. He * Luther to John Frederic and Moritz, 1542. f Epistola Carlstadii ad Spalatinum in Gerdes Scrinium, vii. ii. 345. 30 DISTUKBANCES AT WITTENBEEG. Book III. was in doubt and perplexity as to the real in- clinations of the young emjDeror. " Happy is the man," he exclaimed, " who has nothing to do with courts!" The disagreement between himself and his nearest neighbour and cousin, the turbulent Duke George, became more and more serious and evident. " Ah, my cousin George !" said he, — " truly I have no friend left but my brother;" — and to him he gradually confided the greater share of the government. The protection he afforded to Luther had arisen naturally out of the course of events ; at first, partly from political motives, then from a feeling of duty and justice.* Nor was this all; he conscientiously shared the profound, un- questioning veneration for the Scriptures incul- cated by Luther. He thought that every thing else, however ingenious and plausible, might be confuted; the word of God alone was holy, ma- jestic, and truth itself : he said that this word should be " pure as an eye." He had a deep reverential fear of opposing or disobeying it. The basis of all religion is this sense of what is sacred — of the moral mystery of the universe ; this awe of offending against it under the momentary influence of impurer motives. Such was eminently the re- * His counsellors in Wittenberg declared, on the 2d Jan. 1 522. " S. Ch. Gr. hatt sicli Doctor Martinus Sachen bisher niclit an- ders — angenommen, denn allein weil er sicli zu Reclit erboten, dass er nicht bewaltigt wiirde." — " His Christian grace, the elector, had as yet taken up Dr. Martinus's cause in no other way beyond offering to see that he had justice, and was not overpowered by force." — Corp. Ref. p. 537. Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 31 ligion of Frederic tlie Wise, and it had withheld liiin from interfering decidedly and arbitrarily in Lu- tlier's behalf; but it also hindered him from ex- erting his power to put down these new sec- tarians in Wittenberg, displeasing as they were to him. He did not venture, any more than Me- lanchthon, to pronounce an absolute condemnation of them. After listening to the doubts and scruples of his counsellors and learned men at Prettin on this subject, he appeared perplexed and over- powered at the idea that these people might possibly be in the right. He said that as a layman he could not understand the question; but that, rather than resist the will of God, he would take his staff in his hand and leave his country.* It certainly might have come to this. The movement that had be<2:un could lead to nothing; short of open rebellion, — to the overthrow of civil government in order to make room for a new Christian republic ; violence would then certainly have called forth violence, and good and evil would have perished together. How much now depended on Luther! Even these disturbances were the offspring or the con- sequence of ideas that he had set afloat, or were closely connected with them : if he sanctioned them, who would be able to stem the torrent? if he op- posed them, it seemed doubtful whether his oppo- sition would have any effect, or whether he himself would not be overwhelmed in the common ruin, * Spalatin, Leben Friedrichs des Weisen. Vermisclitc Ab- handlungen zur siicbsischen Gesch. B. v. 32 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. During the whole of this time he was in the Wartburg, at first keeping closely within the walls, then venturing out timidly to gather strawberries on the castle hill, and afterwards, grown bolder, riding about as Junker George, accompanied by a groom. He once even ventured into Wittenberg, trusting to the disguise of his long hair and beard, and completely cased in armour. But though his mode of life and his accoutrements were those of a Keiter, his soul was ever in the heat of ecclesiastical war- fare. " When hunting," says he, " I theolo- gized : " the dogs and nets of the hunters repre- sented to him the bishops and stewards of antichrist seeking to entrap and devour unhappy souls.* In the solitude of the castle he was again visited by some of the struggles and temptations which had assailed him in the convent. His chief occupation was a translation of the New Testament, and he likemse formed the project of giving to the German nation a more correct translation of the Bible than the Latin church possesses in the Vulgate. f Whilst endeavouring to fortify his resolution for the ac- complishment of this work, and only wishing to be in Wittenberg that he might have the assistance of his friends, he heard of the excitement and dis- order prevailing there. He was not for a moment in doubt as to their nature. He said that nothing in the whole course of his life had given him greater pain ; all that had been done to injure himself * To Spalatin, 15th Aug. D. W., ii. 43. t To Amsdorf, 13tli Jan. p. 123. CuAP. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 33 was nothing in the comparison. The pretensions of these men to the character of divinely inspired prophets and to immediate communion with God, did not imjDose on him ; for he too had fathomed the mj^sterious depths of the spiritual world, and had gained a far deeper insight into it, and a far too exalted conception of the divine nature, to allow himself to be persuaded that God would appear visibly to his creatures, converse with them, or throw them into ecstasies. " If you want to know the time and place and nature of the divine communications," writes he to Melanchthon *, " hear; ' Like as a lion he hath crushed my bones;' and, ' I am cast out from before thy countenance, my soul is filled with heaviness, and the fear of heU is upon me.' God spake by the mouths of his prophets, because if he spoke himself we coidd not endure it." He wishes his prince joy of the cross which God has laid upon him, and says that the Gos- pel was not only persecuted by Annas a,nd"Caiphas, but that there must be a Judas even among the apostles ; he also announces his intention of going to Wittenberg himself. The elector entreated him not to leave his retreat so soon, saying that as yet he could do no good, that he had better prepare his defence for the next diet, at which it was to be hoped he would obtain a regular hearing.f But Luther was no longer to be restrained by these arguments; never had he been more firmly con- * 13 Jan. lo22. to Amsdorf, p. 125. f Instructions to Oswald, Corp. Ref. i. 561. VOL. II. D 34 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. vinced that he was the interpreter of the divine word and that his faith would be a sufficient pro- tection ; the occurrences in Wittenberg seemed to him a disgrace to himself and to the Gospel.* He accordingly set out on his way, regardless of the pope's excommunication or the emperor's ban, bidding his prince have no care about him. He was in a truly heroic state of mind. A party of young Swiss who were on their way to the University of Wittenberg stopped to dine at the sign of the Black Bear at Jena. On entering they saw a horseman who sat at the table resting his rio-ht hand on the hilt of his sword, with a Hebrew psalter before him ; this horseman, as they afterwards discovered, was Luther, and we read in the notes of one them, how he invited them to dine with him, and how gentle and dignified was his deportment. f On Friday 7th of March he arrived at Wittenberg ; on the Saturday the same Swiss found him surrounded by his friends, inquiring minutely into all that had occurred during his absence. On Sunday he began to preach, in order immediately to ascertain whether his popularity and influence were still sufficient to enable him to allay the disturbance. Small and obscure as was the scene to which he returned, his success or failure was an event pregnant with important results to the whole Avorld ; for it involved the question, whether the * To the elector, 5th March, ii. 137. t From the Chronicle of Kessler, in Bernet, Leben Kesslers, p. 27. Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 35 doctrine which had forced itself on his conviction from its own inherent weight, and which was destined to give such an impulse to the pro- gress of mankind, had also power to subdue the elements of destruction fermenting in the public mind, that liad already undermined the found- ations of society and now threatened it with total ruin. It had now to be tried whether it were pos- sible to reform without destroying ; to open a fresh career to mental activity, without annihilating the results of the labours of former generations. Lu- ll ther's view of the question was that of a preacher and pastor of souls ; he did not denounce the changes that had been made as utterly pernicious, nor the doctrines from whicii they had sprung as fundamentally bad, and he carefully refrained from any personal attacks on the leaders of the new sect. He merely said that they had acted with pre- cipitation, and had thus laid a stumbling-block in the way of the weak and transgressed the com- mandment of charity. He allowed that there were practices which undoubtedly ought to be abolished ; such, for instance, as private masses ; but that these reforms ought to be eiFected without violence or scandal. As to a number of other usages, he thought it indifferent whether a Christian observed them or not. That it was a matter of very small importance wdiether a man received the Lord's Supper in one kind or in both, or whether he pre- ferred a private confession to the general one, or chose rather to remain in his convent or to leave it, to have pictures in the churches, and to keep fasts, D 2 36 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III, or not ; but that to lay clown strict rules concerning these things, to raise violent disputes, and to give offence to weaker brethren, did more harm than good, and was a trangression of the commandment of charity. The danger of the anarchical doctrines now broached, lay in the assumption that they were an indispensable part of true Christianity; an as- sumption maintained with the same vehemence and confidence on the side of the anabaptists, as the divine and thence infallible origin of every decree of the church was on that of the papists. These doctrines, therefore, like those of the papacy, were intimately bound up with the whole system of morals, and the whole fabric of civil life. It was therefore most important to show that religion recog- nised a neutral and independent province, over which she was not required to exercise a direct sway, and where she needed not to interfere in the guidance of every individual thought. This Luther did with the mildness and forbearance of a father and a guide, and with the authority of a profound and compre- hensive mind. These sermons are certainly among the most remarkable that he ever preached ; they are, like those of Savonarola, popular harangues, not spoken to excite and carry away his hearers, but to arrest them in a destructive course, and to assuage and calm their passions.* How could his flock resist * •' Sieben Predigten D. M. L. so er von dem Sontage In- vocavit bis auf den andern Sontag gethan, als er aus seiner Pathmos zu "Wittenberg wieder ankommen." (" Seven sermons of Doctor Martin Luther, delivered by him during the week Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 37 the well-known voice, the eloquence which carried the conviction it expressed, and which had first led them into the way of inquiry ? The con- struction commonly put upon moderate councils, namely, that they arise from fear of consequences, could have no place here. Never had Luther ap- peared in a more heroic light ; he bid defiance to the excommunication of the pope and the ban of the emperor, in order to return to his flock ; not only had his sovereign warned him that he was un- able to protect him, but he had himself expressly renounced his claim to that protection ; he exposed himself to the greatest personal danger, and that not (as many others have done) to place himself at the head of a movement, but to check it ; not to destroy, but to preserve. At his presence tlie tumult was hushed, the revolt quelled, and order restored; a few even of the most violent party leaders were converted to his opinions and joined liim. Carlstadt, who could not be brought to confess his error, was condemned to silence. He Avas reproached with having intruded himself un- called into the ministry, and was forbidden to enter the pulpit again. Some approximation took place be- tween the moderated opinions now maintained by Luther, and those of the civil authorities, who were delivered from the danger that had threatened the state. A treatise of Carlstadt's, written in the same spirit as lieretofore, part of which was already between the Sunday Invocavit and tlic following Sunday, when lie returned Ironi his Patino3 to Wittenberg." — Alt ii. 99. D 3 38 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG- Book III. printed, was suppressed by the university, and a report of it sent to the elector. The Zwickauers once more sought an interview with Luther ; he exhorted them not to suffer themselves to be de- ceived by the illusions of the devil ; they answered, that as a proof of their divine mission, they would tell him what were his thoughts at that instant ; to this he agreed, upon which they said that he felt a secret inclination towards themselves. " God rebuke thee, Satan!" exclaimed Luther. He afterwards ac- knowledged that he had, indeed, been conscious of such a leaning ; but their guessing it, he held to be a sign of powers derived from Satan rather than from God* ; he accordingly dismissed them with a sort of challenge to their demon to resist his God. If we soften the coarseness of his language, this struggle between two antagonist spirits, the one destructive, the other tutelary, is the expression of a mighty and profound truth. Wittenberg was now once more quiet ; the mass was as far as possible restored, preceded by con- fession, and the host was received as before with the lips. It was celebrated in hallowed garments, with music and all the customary ceremonies, and even in Latin ; nothing was omitted but the words of the canon which expressly denote the idea of a sacrifice, f In every other respect there was perfect freedom of opinion on these points, and latitude as * Canierarius, Vita Melanclithonis, cap. xv. I " Luther von bcidex' Gestalt des Sacraments zu nehmen." — Altenb.n. p. 126, Chap. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 39 to forms. Luther himself remained in the convent and wore the Augustine dress, but he offered no opposition to others Avho chose to return to the world. The Lord's Supper was administered in one kind or in both ; those who were not satisfied mth the general absolution, were at full liberty to require a special one. Questions were continually raised as to the precise limits of what was absolutely forbidden, and what might still be permitted. The maxim of Luther and Melanchthon was, to condemn nothing that had not some authentic passage in the Bible, — "clear and undoubted Scripture," as the phrase was, — against it. This was not the result of indifference ; religion withdrew within the bounds of her own proper province, and the sanctuary of her pure and genuine influences. It thus became possible to develope and extend the new system of faith, without waging open warfare with that already established, or, by the sudden subversion of existing authorities, rousing those destructive tendencies, the slightest agitation of which had just threatened such danger to society. Even in the theological exposition of these doctrines, it was necessary to keep in view the perils arising from opinions sub- versive of all sound morality. Luther already began to perceive the danger of insisting on the saving power of faith alone ; already he taught that faith should show itself in good conduct, brotherly love, soberness and quiet.* * Eberlin of GUiizberg quotes a remarkable passage from one of his sermons : " Vermanung an alle frumen Christen zu V 4 40 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. The new religious opinions, in assuming the character of a distinct creed, threw off from themselves all that was incongruous, and as- sumed a more individual, and at the same time a more universal character, — the character in- separable from its origin and tendency. As early as December 1821, in the heat of the disturbances, appeared the first elementary work on theology, founded on the new principles of faith — Melancthon's ' Loci Communes.' This was far from being a complete work; indeed it was originally a mere collection of the opinions of the apostle Paul con- cerning sin, the law, and grace, made strictly in accordance with those severe views to which Luther Augsburg am Lech : " — " Ich hab gehort," says he, " von D. Martin Luther in ainer Predig ain gross war wort, das er sagt : wie man die sach anfacht, so felt unrat darauf : predigt man den glauben allein, als man thon sol, so unterlesst man alle zucht und ordnung, predigt man zucht und ordnung so felt man so gantz darauff das man alle selickait darein setzt und vergisst des glau- ben ; das mittel aber were gut, das man also den glauben yebte das er ausbreche in zucht und ordnung, und also iibte sicli in guten siten und in briederlicher liebe das man doch selickait allein durch den glauben gewertig were." — " An Exhortation to all pious Christians at Augsburg on the Lech :" — " I have heard in one of Luther's sermons a great and true saying : that as you stir up the matter, some mischief arises ; if a man preach faith alone, as he should do, he omits all soberness and order ; if he preach soberness and order, he insists upon them alone, and places all salvation therein, forgetting faith ; the middle course, however, would be the best, that man should so use faith that it should break out in soberness and order, and that they should so exercise tliemselves in good habits and in brotherly love, as to look for salvation only through faith." CiiAP. I. DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. 41 had owed his conversion, but remarkable on account of its entire deviation from all existing scholastic theology, and from being the first book which had ap- peared for several centuries in the Latin church con- taining a system constructed out of the Bible only. Sanctioned by Luther's approbation, it had great success, and in the course of repeated editions it was recast and perfected.* The translation of the New Testament by Luther, which he corrected with Me- lanchthon's assistance on his return to Wittenberg, and published in September 1522, had a still more extensive effect, and acted immediately on the people. Whilst with one hand he emancipated them from the forms imposed on religion by the schools and the hierarchy, mth the other he gave to the nation a faithful, intelligent and intelligible translation of the earliest records of Christianity. The national mind had just acquired sufficient ripe- ness to enable it to apprehend the meaning and value of the gift : in the most momentous stage of its development it was touched and penetrated to its very depths by the genuine expression of un- veiled and unadulterated religion. From such influences everything was to be expected. Luther cherished the noble and confident hope that the doctrine alone would accomplish the desired end ; * The original composition of this book is to be seen by a comparison of the first sketch of it in 1520 (which appears written by many different hands, in Strobel's Neuen Beitragen, V. 323.) with the first edition of 1521, printed in V. D. Hardt's Hist. Lit. Kef., iv. 42 DISTURBANCES AT WITTENBERG. Book III. that wherever it made its way, a change in the out- ward condition of society must necessarily follow. The course pursued by the authorities of the empire, in the altered form they had meanwhile acquired, not only justified this hope, but led to results calculated to give it still greater assurance. 43 CHAPTER 11. TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL TENDENCIES OF THE COUNCIL OF REGENCY. 1521—1523. It is a remarkable and striking coincidence, that the mighty national movement we have just been considering was exactly coeval with the institution of that representative (stdndisch) form of govern- ment which had been the object of such various and persevering exertions. The Emperor, powerful as he was, had been forced to grant it as the condition of his election ; the plan was agreed upon at Worms, and was carried into execution in the autumn of 1521. The electors and the circles severally elected deputies, who, as we find, were freed from their feudal obligations, and exhorted to attend only to the general welfare of the empire. The old acts of the Imperial Cham- ber, weighing many hundred weight, and containing, the pleadings in about 3500 long pending and yet undecided suits, and a vast number of fresh plaints on which no proceedings had yet been taken, were transported to Niirnberg.* One by one the * Hans V. d. Planitz to Friederich v. Sacksen, 18 Oct. 1521, according to communication made by Adam v. Beichlingen. The correspondence of Planitz, in two volumes, and a smaller pamphlet in the Archives of "Weimar, are the authorities for the following. Harpprecht and Miiller (Staats Cabinet, i.), give very superficial information. 44 COUNCIL OF REGENCY. Book III. deputies arrived ; those from the emperor, the last of all. Durino; the course of the month of Novem- ber they got so far as to open first the Council of Kegency, and then the Imperial Chamber. At first they had to endure a great deal from the interference of the imperial councillors*; the same, for the most part, with whom the states had had such frequent disputes under Maximilian, and who were still unwilling to give up any of their lu- crative privileges, and still, as formerly, accused of taking bribes. Very strange things occurred ; among others, the Bishop of Wiirzburg had seized the person of a certain Raminger, who was furnished with a safe conduct from the emperor, and kept him prisoner. The Council of Regency very properly took the injured man under their protection. Their * Planitz says, as eai-ly as the 18th October, " Churfiirsten Fiirsten und Andre so itzund allhie vorhanden haben Beisorge, es werde bei etzlichen Kaiserischen gefleissigt, ob siilch Vorne- men des Regiments in Verhinderung oder Aenderung gestellfc werden mecht." — " The electors, princes, and others, at this present here assembled, have a fear that some of the imperial court ai"e busied in endeavours to hinder, or at least to alter, this project of the Council of Regency." On the 14th of May he mentions a certain Rem, who after long imprisonment succeeded in obtaining an imperial absolution. " 1st vermutlich, weil das Regiment die Sach zu sich forderet und die Sach den Hofretten nicht gestatten woUte, hierin zu handeln, das sie die Absolution gefiirdert, damit das Regiment audi nichts daran haben solt." — " It is probable, since the Regency brought the matter within its own jui'isdiction, and did not allow the imperial councillors to act in it at all, that the latter furthered the absolution, in order to take it out of the hands of the Regency." The letters are full of similar expressions. Chap. II. COUNCIL OF REGENCY. 45 surprise may be conceived when a declaration arrived from the emperor, that he had given the safe conduct without reflection, and that it could not be supposed that the Bishop of Wiirzburg had violated a real imperial safe conduct. It made no difference whether the States supported the Regency or not. The states met in March 1522, and both bodies jointly interceded for the Bishop of Hildesheim, who complained of the ban which had been pronounced against him and his friends, without any previous summons and trial. But the emperor would not endure any interference with " his affairs," and rejected the intercession with some short unmeaning answer. Towards the end of May the emperor quitted the Netherlands. His presence was required in Spain to quiet the disturbances of the Comunidades, and his mind fully occupied with the perplexities of the war he had begun in Italy, and with the extra- ordinary conquests and discoveries made on a dis- tant continent by a handful of fortunate and intelli- gent Castilian adventurers serving under his banner. Even the German councillors who accompanied him could not possibly influence the details of the administration of Germany from so distant a country as Spain. At this time, therefore, the Council of Regency first acquired complete independence. The young emperor's presence had been needed to confer upon it the authority which his absence now left it at liberty to exercise. Let us first consider the temporal part of its administration. 46 DIET OF 1522. Book III. Several very important matters had come under consideration ; above all, the executive ordinance, on the plan proposed in the year 1512, and then so vio- lently resisted by Maximilian, was determined upon ; namely, that the circles should elect their own cap- tains or governors. The affairs of Turkey and Hun- gary also urgently demanded attention. Whilst the two principal rulers of Christendom inflamed their natural jealousy into bitterer antipathy in the Itahan wars, the potentate of the Osman empire led out his armies, fired by hatred of the Christians and love of conquest, and took possession of Bel- grade, the ancient bulwark of Christendom which was but feebly defended on that frontier. Germany was not insensible to the danger: the States met expressly on this account in the spring of 1522*, * The summons is dated Feb. 12. : for the Sunday Oculi (March 23. 1522), so as to allow time to arm. On March 28. a number of the States were present, and processions and prayers were ordered : " Damit S. gottlich Barmherzigkeit den Zorn, ob und wie wir den durcli unsre Schuld und Missethat verschuldet hatten, von uns wende." — " In order that the Almighty mercy may turn from us the wrath which we have brought upon ourselves by our guilt and misdeeds." The Proposition was made on the 7th of April : the emperor therein declared that he gave up the supplies voted for his expedition to Rome to be applied to the war against the Turks. The States determined to vote three-eighths thereof to the war, — not, however, in men, but in money : every thing was done in haste, as a better method of equipment was to be arranged in a conference with the Hungarian commissioners. The Frankfurt deputy thought that little would be effected, but "aufs furderlichste wieder zum Thor hinaus," — " That they would be out of the gate again as fast as possible." The chief delay was caused by the di sputes in the sessions of the colleges. " Der Sachen Chap. II. COUNCIL OF REGENCY. 47 and again in the autumn ; a part of the supplies which had been granted to the emperor for his expe- dition to Rome were, with his permission, appro- priated to the succour of the Hungarians. Schemes for the complete equipment of an army, to be kept always in readiness for the same purpose, were pro- posed and discussed. The main point, however, on which every thing else depended, was the se- cure establishment of the form of government itself. Every day showed the inconveniencies of allowing the salaries of the members of the Imperial Chamber and the Regency to be dependent on the matricular taxes, which were granted from year to year, and were always difficult to collect ; neither would it do to leave these salaries to be paid by the emperor, as it was justly feared he would then raise a claim to appoint the members himself. Many other expe- dients were proposed, such as the application of the annates to this purpose ; a tax upon the Jews ; or finally, the re-imposition of the Common Penny, in connection -with a permanent war establishment. But all were alike impracticable. For the annates, a previous agreement with the see of Rome was necessary, and that was not so easily made. The towns which had obtained from earlier emperors the right of taxing their OAvn Jews (a right which halber bleiben andre Handel unausgerichtet und wir verzehren das Unsre ohne Nutzen." — " For the sake of these, other aflfairs remained undetermined, and we eat up our substance without profit." The order is dated May 7. (Frank. A.) At the fol- lowing diet, in Dec. 1522, two-fourths more of the money in- tended for the expedition to Rome were voted for this service. 48 DIET OF 1522. BooKni. they had lately maintained in opposition to the imperial fiscal) absolutely refused to surrender it. As to a return to the Common Penny, it did not get beyond a mere project, and was not even seriously debated. Under these circumstances, the Council of Regency adopted a plan which had formerly been entertained, and which, in itself, must have been productive of very important national consequences, besides being connected with other views of the administration of the empire well worthy of our attention. Among the charges and complaints which the several classes of the community made against each other in those times, one which was urged with the greatest frequency and vehemence was directed against the merchants. Commerce still travelled along its accustomed roads ; the Hanse To^vns still enjoyed most of their privileges in foreign countries ; peace had restored the markets of Venice ; but the splendour and im- portance of this traffic was eclipsed by the brilliant and adventurous commerce across the seas, to which the discovery of both the Indies had given rise. Some of the great commercial houses of Upper Germany placed themselves in immediate communication with Lisbon, or shared in the West Indian enterprises of the Spaniards. Antwerp owed its prosperity chiefly to being the emporium of German maritime trade. In Germany, however, no one was satisfied ; the stricter part of the community disapproved the importation of new luxuries and wants ; others Chap.it. council of REGENCY, 1522. 49 complained of the quantity of money sent out of the country, and ahnost all were discontented at the high prices of the wares. During the years 1516 to 1522, especially, a general rise in prices was observed. Cinnamon cost upwards of a gulden the pound, sugar from twelve to twenty gulden the cwt., and some of the East Indian spices had risen to four times their former price.* Several causes might conduce to this effect ; such as increased luxury and consequent demand ; the Venetian Avar, Avhich had interrupted the course of trade, and a diminution of the value of money, arising from the importation of precious metals from America, Avhich began to be felt, though far from Avhat it * I have extracted the following tables from a decree of the Select Committee on Monopolies in 1523 (Frank. A.) : — The best saffron from Catalonia, which in 1516 cost 3 g. 6 kr., cost, in 1522, 4 g. 15 kr. Second rate do. 1519 2 g. 21 to 27 kr. — 4 g. Cloves 1512 19schill. — — 2 g. Stick cinnamon 1516 1 g. 18 kr. — 1518 2 g. 3 ort. Short do. 1515 3 ort. — 1519 1 g. 21 kr. Nutmeg 1519 27 kr. — 1522 3g. 28kr. Mace 1518 1 g. 6 kr. — _ 4 g. 6 kr. Best pepper in I ^.^g jg j^^._ _ _ ^^^^^^ the husk J Ginger, formerly from 21 to 24 kr. — 1516 1 g. 3 kr. Galingal — 1 g- 36 kr. — — 1 g- ^^ kr. Sugar, the hun- -I j^^g lltol2g. _ 1518 20 g. dred weight J Sugar candy 1516 16 to 17 g. — 1522 20 to 21 g. Venetian almonds 1 J -jg g^ _ _ _ 19 o- the cwt. J ° ''* Do. raisins 1518 5 g. — — — 9 g. Do. figs 1518 3g. 2sch. — — 4g. lort. VOL. II. E ,50 PROJECT OF A SYSTEM Book III. afterwards became. At that period, however, the cause was chiefly sought, and perhaps not without justice, in the system of monopoly arising from the combination of tlie great commercial houses ; a prac- tice which had continued to increase, in spite of the repeated enactments of the diets. They were al- ready, it was alleged, possessed of such an amount of capital and such numerous and extensive fac- tories, that no one could possibly compete with them. They were willing to give the King of Portugal higher prices even than he had previously asked, only on condition that he would demand still higher from those who came after them. It vras calculated that every year 30,000 cwt. of pepper and 2000 cwt. of ginger were imported into Ger- many, and that within a few years, the first had risen in price from 18 to 32 kreutzers per lb., and the second from 21 kreutzers to 1 gulden, 3 kreut- zers ; this must, of course, have afforded an enor- mous profit. As Rome was constantly assailed for her sale of indulgences, and the knights for their robberies, so the merchants and commercial towns were now incessantly inveighed against for their extortions. At all events, the Frankfurters attributed the disfavour sho^vn them for some time past in their transactions with the Estates of the empire, al- most exclusively to the unpopularity of monopo- lists. At the diet of 1522-23, the resolution was taken to interdict all companies possessing a capital of more than 50,000 gulden : they were to be allowed CuAP. II. OF IMPORT DUTIES. 51 a year and a half to dissolve their partnership. It was hoped that this would enable the smaller com- mercial houses to enter into competition with the great ones, and would also have the effect of pre- venting the accumulation of money and merchan- dise in few hands. Overlooking the enormous advantages afforded by foreign commerce, however carried on, the diet con- ceived the idea of covering the general deficiencies of the state by a tax upon trade. It was notorious that each individual prince drew the greater part of his revenues from the tolls, the right of levying which had been granted to him by former emperors ; and as it was evident that no direct tax could be col- lected, a plan was adopted for an indirect one, in the form of a general system of import duties to be levied for the use of the empire. This jDroject is worthy of a moment's attention ; if carried into execution it must have produced in- calculable results ; but it is remarkable that it could even be entertained. So early as the year 1521 it was discussed ; the Elector Joachim I. of Bran- denburg adopted it with great eagerness and con- tinually recommended it. In the spring of 1522 the States were really resolved to accede to it, principally because it did not appear burdensome to the common people ; but in order to make sure of carrying it into effect, they determined to ask the previous consent of the emperor, before taking any further step. This consent having been received from Spain, s 2 52 PROJECT OF A SYSTEM BooicIII. accompanied, however, with the condition that the further provisions should be again submitted to him for approbation, a commission was appointed at the diet of 1522-23, by the general vote of the States, to work out the plan in detail.* The commission went on the principle of leav- ing all the necessaries of life duty-free. Under this head were classed corn, wine, beer, cattle for draught and slaughter, and leather. All other articles were to pay both an import and export duty, not to be regulated either by weight or by a tariff, which would have occasioned a great deal of troublesome investigatioij, but by the price at which the article was bought, to be stated by the purchaser ; upon this, the duty was to be four per cent. The whole extent of the Roman empire inha- bited by the German race was to be surrounded by a line of custom-houses, which was to begin at Nikolsburg in Moravia, and thence pass towards Hungary through Vienna and Griitz to Villach or Tarvis ; thence to extend along the Alps towards Venice and Milan. Custom-house stations were to be erected in Trent, Brunegg, Insbruck, and Feld- kirchen. The frontier of Switzerland, which re- fused to submit to the imposition of the duty, was to be guarded by custom-houses ; the line was then to cross the Rhine and run through Strasburg, * " Ordnung ains gemainen Reiclis ZoUs in Ratsclilag verfast." — Fr. Ar. vol. xxxviii. " Ordinance for customs' duties for the whole empire," — a document wliich I intend to give in the Appendix. Chap. II. OF IMPOKT DUTIES. 53 Metz, Luxemburg, and Treves, to Aix-la-chapelle ; Avhich would bring it near the coast and Avithin the region of maritime commerce. The Netherlands were mthout hesitation considered as part of the empire ; Utrecht and Dordrecht, as well as Cologne and Wesel, were proposed as custom-house stations for inland trade ; Antwerp, Bruges and Bergen- op-zoom, for maritime trade, especially that -with England and Portugal. The line was thence to follow the coast northward and eastward. To- wards Denmark, which according to public law was still regarded as a permanent confederate of the empire, the Hanse towns, from Hamburg to Danzig inclusive, were to be the custom-house ports ; towards Poland, Konigsberg in the New- mark and Frankfurt on the Oder, besides a few other towns in Silesia and Lusatia. Much was still left undetermined in this pro- ject ; for instance, it was immediately proposed that the frontiers should be surveyed, in order to ascertain whether better places could not be found for the prevention of smuggling, than those already named: it was still a matter of doubt whether Bohemia could be included, and neither Prussia nor Livonia had yet been taken into con- sideration ; but all these were mere details which could easily be determined when the project was car- ried into execution ; — the main point was seriously resolved upon. As might have been expected, the whole com- mercial body thought it would be injured by this measure, which it attributed merely to the hostility B 3 54 COUNCIL OF REGENCY, 1522. Book III. generally shown towards itself, and accordingly raised numerous objections to it, more or less well founded. An attempt was made to answer all these objections at length. The example of neigh- bouring kingdoms was cited, where much heavier restrictions existed, and Avhere, nevertheless, trade was most flourishing. It was argued that the duty by no means fell on the merchant, but on the consumer; and that it would be a prodigious advantage to commerce if, by means of this tax, the disturbances in the empire could be put down, and general security restored. At all events, it cannot be denied that this project might have been the means of producing the most important results for the future fate of Germany. The establishment of accurately defined and well guarded frontiers, the entire circumference of which were closely bound to a common active centre, would in itself have been a great advantage ; this alone would have at once awakened a universal feeling of the unity of the empire. Besides the whole administration would have assumed a different character. The most im- portant national institution, the Council of Regency, the formation of which had cost so much labour, would by this means have acquired a natural and firm basis, and sufi[icient power for the maintenance of order. As yet there was no peace throughout the country ; all the roads were unsafe ; it was impossible to reckon on the execution of any sentence or decree. But had this ordinance been vigorously carried into effect, the Regency would Chap. II. COUNCIL OF REGENCY, 1522. 55 have had the means of paying the governors and councillors in the circles, so often discussed, and of maintaining a certain number of troops under their own orders and those of the subordinate authorities. In the spring of 1523 it seemed as if this point would certainly be achieved : the plan was again sent for final confirmation to the emperor, who was already bound by liis former consent. It is evident that the Council of Regency enter- tained the project of constituting itself a powerful central government, and, in conjunction with the States, resorted to every possible expedient to accomplish this end, in spite of all opposition. Hence the question, what course this rising power would take with respect to the religious movement, acquired additional importance. At the beginning of the year 1522 the feelings of the Council of Regency were much opposed to the innovation. Duke George of Saxony was pre- sent, in whom a natural attachment to traditional opinions*, the various old quarrels with his cousins of the Ernestine line, and a personal dislike to the bold and reckless monk, combined to raise a violent * Duke George said to our informant Planitz : " "Wenu S. F. Gn. nicht mit der Tatt und GcAvalt dazu thiit, wiird S. Gn. Land schyr gar ketzeriscli : wollten alle die bchemisclie Weis an sich nemen, und sub utraquc communiciren : cr gedlicht es aher ink Getvalt zu we7-eii." — "If his princely grace did not interfere with might and deed, his grace's subjects would soon become sheer heretics, for they all wanted to follow the Bohemian fashion, and to communicate sub utraque ; but that he intended to prevent it b;/ force." — Letter of the 2d Jan. 1522. £ 4 56 COUNCIL OF REGENCY, 1522. Book III. and active hostility to the new doctrines. The distur- bances in Wittenberg happened opportunely to give more weight to his accusations; and he actually obtained an edict in which the Regency exhorted the neighbouring bishoprics of Naumburg, Meissen, and Merseburg not to allow the innovations to be forced upon them, but to maintain the customary rites and practices of the church,* But in the course of the next three months, when news arrived that the disturbances had ceased, the feelings of the Council of Regency underwent a total change. One subject of discussion, of course, was Luther's return to Wittenberg, by which he had openly bidden defiance to the imperial ban, and Duke George even proposed an appeal to the immediate intervention of the emperor ; this, how- ever, merely wounded the self-love of the Council of Regency. John of Planitz, the envoy of Elector Frederic, would not hear his master blamed for permitting Luther to remain in W^ittenberg ; nor would he allow it to be said that the monk's doctrine was heresy. " The receiving the sacra- ment in both kinds, the marriage of a few priests, and * Resolution und Decisum, &c., 20th Jan. 1522. "Walcli xv. 2616. The Appendix No. 10. is remarkable : " feis so lang diirch Versehung der gemeinen Reichsstlinde, christliche Ver- sammlung oder Concilia solcher Sachen halben, einebediichtliche wohlerwogene gegriindete gewisse Erklarung — vorgenommen werde." — " Until such time as, by the care of the general Estates of the empire, a christian assembly, or council for such matters, shall have made a prudent, deliberate, well grounded, and ■ certain declaration of faith." From this passage Ave may perceive the existence of another tendency, although as yet vague. CiiAi'. II. COUNCIL OF REGENCY, 1522. 57 the desertion of the convent by a few monks, could not, he said, be called heresies ; these acts were merely opposed to regulations established not long- since by popes and councils, and which would per- ha2:)S be eventually abolished. If, on the other hand, Luther Avere banished, imitators of him would arise, but animated with a different spirit; who, instead of preaching only against the dogmas of the church, might declaim against Christianity and God him- self; and not only a rebellion, but complete unbeUef might be the result." This envoy was a man of talent, equally resolute and dexterous : he was strongly in favour of Luther, less indeed from religious belief, althougli in the main their opinions were the same, than from the conviction that Luther's cause was equally the cause of his prince, of the Council of Regency, and of the empire. Li the summer of 1522 it was the turn of the Elector Frederic to attend the Council of Regency in person. He was one of the few who remained of the old school of princes, to whom that body owed its establishment, and he liad lately taken the most active part in the firm settlement of its constitution. He had already been frequently con- sulted concerning questions of form. His calm judgment, his well-knoAvn experience, and the uni- versal respect paid to his acknowledged integrity and talents for business, invested him with singular authority.* He might indeed at this time be said to * TIic Elector of Treves hearing that Frederic was ill, sent him word through his minister, " E. Ch. Gn. solten vest halten, nicht krank werden noch ahffehen. denn man hctt im Reich I-C. 58- COUNCIL or regency, 1522. Book in. govern the empire, in as far as it could be governed at all. Under these circumstances, it is evident that Luther, who enjoyed so fully the favour of this prince, had notliing to fear from the Council of Re- gency. Duke George continued to attack him before that assembly : he repeatedly complained of the monk's violence, and of the abuse which he poured forth against the princes of the empire, the emperor and the pope. Never perhaps was a more evasive answer given than that which he received from the Council of Regency, to one of these accusations. "AVe perceive," they write on the 16th of August, " that your grace feels displeasure at insults to the pope's holiness and the emperor's majesty, and we thereupon make known to your grace, that we would not patiently endure insult or injury to the emperor's majesty, wherever we should see or hear of it." * No wonder that, when the duke after- wards complained of this answer to the lieutenant of the empire, Count Palatine Frederic, he replied Ch. Gn. nye als wol bedurft als itzunci, nachdem E. Ch. Gn. wusste, wye es allenthalben im Reicbe stiinde." — " Your Elec- toral Grace must stand firm, and not fall sick nor die, for your Electoral Grace was never so greatly needed by tlie em- pire as now, for your Electoral Grace knows bow matters stand in tbe empii'e." — Planitz, 1st Nov. 1521. * Instruction to tbe Regency at Niirnberg. Answer to tbe same ; letter from Duke George, dated tbe Tuesday after tbe Nativity of tbe Virgin (9tb Sept.), and from Otto Pack to tbe duke, tbe Monday before tbe Xlmille Virginum (20tb Oct.) — Dresden Archives. Chap. II. DIET OF 1522-23. 59 that at that time there was nothing to be done in matters of this kind. An independent party favourable to Luther Avas now forming in the Council of Regency. It was, it is true, subject to fluctuations from the entrance of new members every quarter of a year ; but from the permanent operation of principles once imbibed, it always regained the upper hand, and, in fact, con- stituted a majority. Here was, indeed, a wonderful change in the aspect of affairs! — In 1521 the emperor published sentence of ban against Luther, and in 1522-23, the body which represented the imperial power, took him, though still under ban, under its protection, and even approximated to his opinions. That body was, of course, not affected by the political combinations which had influenced the emperor. The bias it had received was all the more im- portant, since the States had assembled during the last months of the one year and the flrst of the ensuing; and at the instigation of the new pope, Adrian VI., were to come to a decision concerning the Lutheran affairs. Adrian YI. was undoubtedly an extremely well- intentioned man. He had formerly been professor at Louvain, and had even then zealously rei:)roved the arrogance of the priesthood, and the waste and misapplication of church property.* He subse- * Extracts from his " Commentary in Quartum Senten- tiarum," in the letter of Joh. Lanoy to Henr. Barillon ; Barman's Vita Adriani, p. 360. 60 DIET OF 1522-23. Book ill. quently became tutor to Charles V., and took part in the administration of the affairs of Spain, where he imbibed a thorough disgust of the worldly tendencies of the papacy. He was there- fore strongly disposed to attempt some reform. He declared that he had only bent his neck under the yoke of the papal dignity, in order to restore the defiled bride of Christ to her original purity. At the same time he Avas a decided opponent of Luther, and belono:ed to those ' Mao;istri nostri ' of Louvain, who had so lonof wao'ed war ag-ainst the innovatino; literature and theology ; he had expressed unquali- fied approbation of the opinions professed by that university. The orthodox dominican tendency, which, as early as 1520, had once more formed a close alliance with the court of Rome, had now obtained a temporary sovereignty in his person. In conformity with these sentiments were the instructions which Adrian gave to his nuncio Chieregati, whom he sent to the German diet. He looked upon the spread of Lutheran doctrines as a punishment for the sins of the prelates. " We are aware," said he, " that, some years ago, many abo- minations took place in this chair : every thing was turned to evil, and the corruption spread from the liead to the members, from the pope to the pre- lates." Whilst he now declared himself willing to reform the existing abuses, he at the same time ex- horted the States of Germany to offer a determined resistance to the diffusion of Luther's opinions* ; * " Expcrgiscantur, excitentur — et ad executionem sententiaj apostolicae ac imperialis edicti pnvfati omnino procedaut. Detur Chap. IT. DIET OF 1522-23. Gl and brought forward eight arguments hi I'avour of that course, which he thought of irresistible cogency. An answer to these propositions of the pope had now to be given, and a resolution to be formed upon them. This duty devolved on the Council of Ivegency. At the first appearance of the nuncio, a trial of strength ensued between the two parties in that body. The orthodox minority brought forward a complaint from, the nuncio, concerning two or three preachers who proclaimed the Lutheran tenets under the very eyes of the Regency, to their and his serious offence. Archduke Ferdinand, who then filled the ofiice of lieutenant of the empire, and the Elector of Brandenburg, who was the next in succession for the ensuing quarter, declared themselves in favour of the nuncio. The majority however, led by Planitz, resolutely opposed them. This gave rise to several violent discussions. Fer- dinand exclaimed, " I am here in the place of the emperor." — "Yes, certainly," rejoined Planitz, "but in conjunction with the Council of Regency, and subject to the laws of the empire;" — and, in ac- cordance with his suggestion, the affair was referred to the States* ; i. e. indefinitely adjourned. It is easy to imagine that this increased the boldness and vehemence of the Lutheran preachers. " Even if venia iis qui errores suos abjurare voluerint." — Instruct io pro Chercgato. * Planitz relates this himself, on the 4th Jan. 1523. The States answered, that it was a grave matter which required much consideration : they asked ibr copies of the brief and of the instruction, and wished " etzliche dariiber verordnen, die die 62 DIET or 1522-23. BookIII. the pope," exclaimed one of them in the church of St. Lawrence, " had a fourth crown added to the three he already wears, he should not make me for- sake the word of God." Thus was defiance hurled from the pulpit against the pope, before the very eyes of his nuncio. Under these circumstances the Council of Regency appointed a committee to draw up the answer which the States should give to th^ nuncio. This committee, like the Regency itself, contained repre- sentatives of both parties ; some of its members be- longing to the clergy, and others to the laity, and for a time it was doubtful which side had the ma- jority. This was however very soon decided. The most influential member was undoubtedly Johann von Schwarzenberg, the Hofmeister of Bamberg, who was now advanced in life. In his early youth he had quitted the dissipation of a court which had threatened to hurry him along in its vortex, and, in consequence of his father's ad- monition, had formed earnest and effectual resolu- tions of a virtuous life ; from that time he had devoted himself with untiring perseverance to study and to the service of the state. We have translations of some of Cicero's works, bearing his name, in which he has carefully adopted the purest and most intelligible forms of the language of Sacli mit Fleiss bewegen." " In der Stadt ist gross Murmeln, will nicht rathen, dasmaneinen gefangen annehme" — " To ap- point certain people who should manage the matter with dili- gence." " In the town is much murmuring. I cannot advise that any person should be imprisoned." CiiAP. IT. SCHWARZENBERG. C.S liis ao^e.* The first criminal code for Bambero;, if not entirely his work, was at least in great measure constructed by him. In this he evinces as much capacity for appreciating the value of traditional and local usages, (for he adheres in the main to the old customary law of the city of Bamberg,) as the scientific merits of the Roman law. Wherever he applies the principles of the latter to supply some deficiency, he does it in a manner corresponding with existing maxims. f He was, as we see, a man of original and produc- tive talent, both in literature and in politics : he expressed his wonder how any one could find the time too long. He eagerly embraced the Lutheran cause at its very first appearance, finding in it the scientific and practical tendencies of his own mind exalted by an alliance with religious senti- ments and aims. He accordingly exchanged several very serious letters on the subject with one of his sons, and removed one of his daughters from her * e. g. De Senectute. Neuber's was revised and collated with the text by Hutten, and put into Hoffriinkisch Deutscli by Schwarzenberg. Neuber's translation of the De Officiis was put into "zierlicher Hochteutsch," — "elegant High German," — by Schwarzenberg, and then revised by a third person to see " obs dein Lateyn gemess sey," — " whether it were according to the Latin." Christ praises it for the " emergens e stilo nativa ct vere Germanica simplicitas." De Amicitia was translated " von Synneu zu Synnen, nicht von Worten zu Worten," — " from sense to sense, not from words to words." — See Degen, Literatiir der Ubersetzungen, i. 55. f Zopfl das alte Bamberger Recht als Quelle der Carolina, pp. 166. 170. 64 TvEPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. Book III, convent ; indeed his mind was entirely engrossed by the new opinions.* With all the force of a full and well-grounded conviction, armed against every objection, he adopted them, and, partly perhaps owing to the high and important station he filled, he carried with him the minds of his colleagues ; some because they already inclined to those opinions — like Sebastian von Rotenhan and Dr. Zoch, and others, like the Bishoj^ of Augsburg, because they knew not, just then at least, what resistance to offer. Those who did not share these opinions, such as Dr. v.Wer- thern, the envoy from Duke George, and the Arch- bishop of Salzburg, found it better to stay away from the assembly. Thus, with very slight opposi- tion, this committee, which now represented the cen- tral government of the empire, agreed upon a re- port in a spirit of decided opposition to the papacy, and of the greatest importance to the whole future progress of the new doctrines. This report was based on the admissions and promises of reform made by the pope, which the committee accepted, but without giving in return the promise which the pope demanded, — to unite with him in the endeavour to crush the Lutheran doc- trines. On the contrary, it declared that these admitted abuses rendered it impossible to carry into execution the bull of Leo X. and the edict of Worms, for that Luther had been the first to expose these abuses, and any display of rigour * There is a notice of him in Strobel Vermischte Beitriige, 1775, No, 1. Heller, Reformationsgeschichte von Bamberg, p. 45. Chap. II. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 65 towards liim would make every one believe tliat it was the object of the government " to suppress tlie truth of the Gospel by tj^ranny, and to maintain unchristian abuses, wherefrom nothing could arise but resistance to authority, sedition and heres}^" The pope was exhorted to adhere to the concordats, to redress the grievances of the German nation, and above all, to abolish annates : it was not indeed pretended that these reforms would now suffice to put an end to the schism ; that, it was said, could only be effected by a council. The convocation of a council, which would occupy men's minds for half a century, had already been the subject of a serious conversation between the nuncio and Planitz, and was now officially agitated by the committee of the Council of Eegency. Some of the conditions were at once stated by it : they were as follows : — The council to be con- voked by the pope's holiness, with the assent of the emperor's majesty, as befitted the respective privileges of the two sovereigns ; to be held at a convenient neutral town without delay ; to begin within a year, and under a form materially dif- fering from any previous council. One important innovation was, that the laity were to be allowed a seat and a voice in it, and all present were to be absolved from every obligation which might re- strain them from bringing forward whatever might be of service in " godly, evangelical, and other generally profitable aftairs." An assembly thus constituted would have answered to the Lutheran ideas respecting the Church, and would have been VOL. II. F 66 DIET OF 1522-23. BookIII. totally different from what the Council of Trent afterwards was. In answer to the inquiry, what course would be pursued till the council had given its decision, the committee answered, that they should hope, in case the pope agreed to their proposals, to prevail on the Elector Frederick and on Luther, that neither the latter nor his followers should write or preach any thing which might occasion irritation and disorder; they should only teach the Holy Gospel and the authentic Scriptures according to the true Christian sense. These last conditions were of course the most important ; all the rest was vague and remote, but these would serve as a rule of conduct for the present moment. They were, as may be easily perceived, entirely in accordance with the opinions which prevailed at Wit- tenberg and at the court of Saxony, and were evi- dently proposed with the intention of promoting the free development of the doctrine embraced there. The 13tli January, 1523, was the day on which this ever-memorable decision of the States was an- nounced for further discussion. Hans von Planitz joyfully sent it to his master on the very same day.* A great fermentation, and sharp collisions between the clerical and lay members began moreover to be observable in the States. It had indeed at first appeared as if both intended to make common cause * " Wess der Ausschuss zu pepstliclier Heiligkeit Antwurdt den lutherischen Handell betrefFen verordnet derhalb gerath- scblagt hat." — " Wliat the committee argued and decided with respect to his papal holiness's answer concerning the Luthei'an affairs." — Frankf. JR. A. A., tom. xxxviii. f. 99. Chap. II. DEBATES. 67 against Rome, and at Worms the bishops had stated tlieir own pecuhar grievances in addition to those of the German nation ; yet it was there that the division began ; the clergy found that their inte- rests were touched by the complaints of the laity, and resolved to defend their prescriptive rights. Several outbreaks of this animosity had already taken place in that assembly. A memorial from the cities, full of the most violent invective, was read, and the head of the German clergy, the Elector of Mainz, warmly expressed his displeasure at it. It appeared, he said, as if the clergy were to be treated like criminals, and not to be secure from personal violence. But even the most zealously catholic lay princes demanded reforms; and if a prince had given no instructions on the subject himself, his councillors of their own accord inclined to that side. The grievances of the nation were again recapitulated; — this time indeed without the participation of the clergy, but with much more ve- hemence, and with many additions, chiefly directed against the clergy themselves ; for the thousand- fold abuses enumerated, no reform was more strongly urged than the separation of the spiritual from the temporal jurisdiction. Nothing could be more calculated to drive these two hostile parties into open warfare than the report which the committee of the Council of Re- gency had sent in to the States. The clergy did, however, succeed in introducing some modifications into it. First of all, the admissions quoted from tlie F 2 68 DIET OF 1522-23. EookIII. papal brief were only allowed to stand as far as tliey regarded the pope liimself: the words re- lating to priests and prelates were struck out.* Then no mention was made of the claims of the laity to a seat and voice in the council. A single phrase was frequently the cause of violent disputes ; for instance, the clergy would not admit the word " evangelical " into the article concerning obliga- tions; whereupon such offensive expressions were used by the lay party, that the Elector of Mainz left the assembly and rode home to his lodging. In the end however the majority decided in his favour, and the word was omitted. Whatever were the changes made in particular expressions, the main point was left unaltered ; the States declined to carry into execution the edict of Worms f ; a council was demanded, which was to * In the rougli draft it is stated : " 1st von Ppl. Heilig- keit . . . woll angezeigt dass solches von wegen der Sund besehee und dass die Sund des Volks von den Sunden der Priester und Prtilaten liei'fliessen, und dass darum dieselben zuforderst und am ersten als die endlicli Ursach solcher Krankheit von der Wurzel geheilt gestraft und abgewendet werden soil." — " It is well shown by his holiness the pope that such things happen on account of sin, and that the sinfulness of the people flows from the sins of the priests and prelates ; that these therefore should, first and foremost, as the ultimate cause of such evil, be cured from the root upwards, and should be cured, punished and turned from their evil ways." This passage is wanting in the answer which was really sent to the papal nuncio. — See the reprint in fFalch, XV. p. 2551. No. 8. -f- This was expressed in the following manner in the answer given to the nvmcio : " Majori namque populi parti jam pridem persuasum est . . . nationi Germanica3 a curia Romana per Chap. II. DEBATES. 69 begin, if possible, within a year, in a German town, and with the co-operation of the emperor : a sug- gestion was even made to alter the form of such an assembly, and the participation of the temporal states in it was tacitly assumed; both clergy and laity were to be relieved from all obligations restrictive of the free utterance of opinion. In short, the party which strove to alter the entire constitution of the Church had now decidedly the ujDper hand in both estates of the empire. The clergy were aware of the necessity of a change, and the laity eagerly pressed for it ; — it is said that even Duke Louis of Bavaria insisted upon it, in spite of the opposition of the adherents of Rome.* The only points that now remained to be dis- cussed— and for the present the most important — were, the conduct of aifairs in the interval be- fore the convocation of the council, and the degree of liberty of speech and action which was to be allowed to writers and preachers. On this question the clergy succeeded in intro- ducing still further restrictions. They insisted certos abusus multa et magna gravamina et incommoda illata esse : ob id, si pro executione apostolicae sedis sententite vel im- peratorire majestatis edicti quippiam acerbius attemptatum esset, mox popularis multitude sibi banc opinioncm animo concepisset ac si talia facerent pro evertenda evangelica veritate et sustinen- dis mauutenendisque malis abusibus, unde nibil aliud quam gra- vissimi tumultus populares intestinaque beUa speranda essent." — Fr. A. * Planitz names him as early as on the 18th Jan. with Schwarzenberg and Feilitzsch. F 3 70 DIET OF 1522-23. Book ill. that the elector should be requested not alone to prohibit whatever might lead to disorder, but to allow nothing whatever to be written, printed or done by Luther or his followers ; and also that the request should be made immediately without w^ait- ing for the pope's consent to the council. The Saxon envoy to the diet, Philip von Feilitzsch, endeavoured to maintain the terms projDOsed by the Council of Regency, and failing in this, pro- tested that " his prince could not consider himself bound by this resolution, and would always know how to act in a christian, praiseworthy and irre- proachable manner." Thus we see that in this contest the victory inclined first to one side and then to the other. The two parties collected all their forces for the last point at issue, which was, perhaps, still more im- portant than the preceding one, as it was to decide the latitude to be allowed to preaching ; a matter which immediately concerned the mass of the people. The clergy were not satisfied mth merely directing the preachers to confine themselves to the Gospel and to writers approved by the Church, but required a more accurate specification of what was meant by the latter, and wished to include the four great Latin fathers, Jerome, Augustin, Ambrose and Gregory, to whom they ascribed canonical authority. This is the more remarkable, since a century earlier the more explicit of the Hussite doctrines had been regarded mainly as a departure from these four founders of the Latin church. But the nation was now so deeply im- Chap. II. DEBATES. 71 bued with the spirit of Luther's teaching, that it would no longer be bound by the particular form and character assumed by the Latin church ; the common sense of the people revolted against the imputing to St. Paul less authority than to Ambrose. The time was past in which the clergy could carry their point. After a great deal of debating a resolution was passed, which was in reality only a more complete expression of the meaning of the original proposition. It was decreed, that nothing should be taught but the pure, true and holy Gos- pel ; mildly, piously and in a Christian spirit, accord- ing to the doctrine and interpretation of writings approved and accepted by the Christian church.* Perhaps the adherents of the established faith were satisfied by the decision, because it recognised the authority of the expositions of the Latin fathers ; but this recommendation was couched in vague, ge- neral and uncertain language ; whereas that of the evangelical doctrine was precise, decided and em- phatic, and therefore was alone likely to make an impression. Thus, after all, the answer went back to the Council of Regency, having undergone a few partial changes, but agreeing in the main with the spirit of the original plan. Contrary to all ex- pectation, it caused another very stormy debate * " Quod nihil prrctcr verum purum sincerum et sanctum evangelium et approbatara scripturam pie mansuete christiane juxta doctrinam et expositionem approbatic et ab ecclcsia cliris- tiana receptjB scriptura} doceant." This is the passage in the answer given to the papal nuncio. F 4 72 DIET OF 1522-23. Book III. in that assembly. Some of the members (among whom was the Bishop of Augsburg) who had repented of the part they had taken in the original scheme, made another attempt to retain the express mention of the four fathers of the Church. Planitz reports that he had to endure many proud and wicked words, and to resist a violent storm on this question. He expresses the greatest indignation at the apostasy of the bishop, whom, he says, God had raised out of the dust and made a ruler over his people, and who in return persecuted the Gospel.* However, with resolution and patience, and the assistance of Schwarzenberg, he succeeded in main- taining the form which had at last been decided upon, and the answer was delivered to the nuncio as it had been returned from the assembly of the States, f * Planitz, 4tli Feb. : " Icli will aber Patienz und Geduld tragen. Es liaben die Stiinde obangezeigte Wort (he has inserted them in his letter) haben wollen und nit die vier Doctores zu benennen und sulchs dem Regiment anzeigen lassen, dabei es blieben." — " I will, however, have patience and temper. The States would have the words I have before mentioned, and would not allow the fovu' doctors to be named or specified to the Council of Re- gency, so it remained as it was." t Planitz, 9th Feb. : " Die Schrift ist dem papstl. Nuntius auf die Mass iibergeben wie ich E. Chf. Gr. zugeschickt. Der ist der nicht zu frieden und hat darauf replicirt. . . . Er will den Kayser dabei nit haben, so gefiillt ihm auch nit dass es so gar frei seyn soil wie begehrt." — " The paper is handed over to the papal nuncio, on the whole much as I have sent it to your electoral grace. The nuncio is not satisfied with it, and has replied, he will not allow the emperor to be mentioned in it, nor does he like that there should be so much freedom as is demanded." Chap. II. DEBATES. 73 The nuncio did not attempt to (conceal his as- tonishment and vexation. Neither the pope nor the emperor, nor any other sovereign, he said, had expected such a decision from them. He renewed his request for the execution of the edict of Worms and the estabhshment of an episcopal censorship ; but it was impossible to persuade a body which moved so slowly and with so much difficulty, to think of retracting a resolution once formed, and all his endeavours Avere fruitless. The substance of the answer was published in an imperial edict. The Elector of Saxony and Luther himself were highly pleased with it ; Luther, indeed, thought that the ban and excommunication which had been proclaimed against him were vir- tually revoked by it. It is indisputably true that these decisions of the diet of Niirnberg were exactly the contrary of those passed at Worms. The important step which had been expected of Charles Y., namely, that he would place himself at the head of the national movement, Avas now actually taken by the Council of Regency. The political opposition which had so long been gathering its forces, oiFered a more vigorous re- sistance than ever to the pope : allied with it, and protected by the representatives of the imperial power, religious discussion was now left to its free and unfettered course. 74 DIFFUSION OF Book HI. CHAPTEK III. DIFFUSION OF THE NEW DOCTRINES. 1522—1524. No new arrangernent needed to be made, no plan to be concerted, no mission to be sent : like the seed which shoots up on the ploughed field at the first genial rays of the sun in spring, the new opinions, the way for which had been prepared by all the events and discussions we have endeavoured to trace, now spread abroad through the whole land where the German language was spoken. A rehgious order was destined to afford the first common centre to the various elements of opposition. The Augustines of Meissen, and of Thuringia generally, had made the first step towards emanci- pation, by a formal resolution. Among them were old friends of Luther's, who had followed the same career of studies and of opinions as he had : even among the more distant Augustine convents, there were few in which similar questions had not been agitated, and similar changes of opinion mani- fested ; indeed, a list is still extant, of those who took part in the movement at Magdeburg, Osna- briick, Lippe, Antwerp, Regensburg, Dillingen, Niirnberg and Strasburg *, and in the territories of * According to Eberlin's, " Syben frumme aber trostlose Pfaffen," " Seven devout but comfortless Priests," Dr. Caspar A.mon, " ain erwirdig Man," " a reverend man," taught at Dil- lingen, This is doubtless the same person who in 1523 published CiiAP. in. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 75 Hessen and Wiirtemberg. Many of these reformers were men advanced in life, avIio had held these doctrines ever since the time of Johann Proles, and who now exulted to see them attain a fuller deve- lopment and greater power: others again, were youthful and fiery spirits, inspired with admiration for their victorious brother of Wittenberg. Jo- hann Stiefel of Esslingen beheld in him the angel of the Apocalypse flying through the heavens, and holding in his hand the everlasting Gospel ; he composed a mystical and heroic poem in his praise.* This body, moreover, had the glory of being the first to draw down persecution on itself. Two or three Augustine friars at Antwerp were the first martp's of the new faith. Jean Chatelain of JMetz was soon afterwards condemned to the flames for a Psalter done into German from the genuine text in the Hebrew tongue, — " geteutscht nach wai'haftigem text der hebreischen zungen." The dedication of this book is dated Lauingen. Pan- zer, ii. p. 131. * Von der christformigen rechtgegriindeten Lehre Doctoris Martini Lathers : " Er thut sich worlich fyegen zu Got in rechten mut, Gwalt mag ihn auch nit biegen : er geb er drum sein blut. Zu "Worms er sich erzeyget : er trat keck auf den plan. Sein feynd hat er geschweyget : keiner dorft ihn wendcn an." " Concerning the Chi'istian-like well-grounded doctrine of Doctor Martin Luther : " He trusted truly in God with a good courage. Force could not bend him : for it (the cause) he would have spilled his blood. He proved himself at Worms ; stepping boldly into the fudd. He silenced liis enemies : none could answer him." See Strobel's Neue Beitrage, i. p. 10. 76 DIFFUSION OF Book III. the attacks he had made on the preregatives of the clergy m the Advent of 1523, and the Lent of 1524. A number of Franciscans, not, like the Augus- tines *, supported by their order, but separating themselves entirely from it, and, as we may infer from that act, men of more energetic temper, were the next to join the new sect. Some of these were learned men, like Johann Brismann of Cottbus, who had been for many years devoted to the study of the schoolmen and had become doctor of theology, but who now, like Luther, drew from their works entirely opposite opinions. f Others weue spirits full of deep religious yearnings, which the conven- tual rule and discipline failed to satisfy ; such was Friedrich Myconius. It is related that on the night following his investiture, he dreamed that whilst wandering in steep and tortuous paths, he was met by a holy man, baldheaded, and clothed in an antique dress, as St. Paul is painted, who led * The Reimclu'onik of Metz speaks very favoiu'ably of this Augustine monk. " A Metz prescha ung caresme, devant grand peuple homme et femme, qui en sa predication avoient grande devotion." His persecutor says to him, — " Tu as presche de nostre estat, je te hai plus qu'un apostat : as tousche sur le gens d'eglise : maintenant te tiens a ma guise." Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, ii., Preuves cxix. •j" Extract from his sermons in Seckendorf, Historia Luther- anismi, i. p. 272. Chap. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 77 him first to a fountain whose waters flowed from a crucified body, Avhereat he slaked his thirst, and then through endless fields of thick standing corn, in which the reapers were making ready for the harvest.* This vision is sufiicient to show the turn of his mind; and we may easily infer from it the impression which must have been produced on him by the revival of the aj)os- tolical doctrine, and the prospect of an active co-operation in its diffusion. Others again were men who in the various intercourse with the lower classes, .to which the duties of a Franciscan con- vent leads, had perceived the pernicious effects of the doctrine of justification by works, and now at- tacked it with all their might : among these were Eberlin of Glinzburg, and Heinrich of Kettenbach, who came out of the same convent at Uhn, and who both possessed in an extraordinary degree, the gift of popular oratory. Eberlin's opponents said of him, that he alone had power to mislead a whole pro- vince; so great was the eftect of his eloquence on the common people. Among them were found the most steadfast champions, like Stephen Kempen, whose brave and warlike bearing was worthy of his name. The Franciscans were almost every where among the first reformers : Kempen was the founder of the new doctrines in Hamburg, where he de- fended them nearly single handed for three years against all opponents. But there was not, perhaps, a single religious order * Adami Vitoe Theologorum, edition of 1705, p. 83. 78 DIFFUSION OF Book III. which did not furnish partisans to the new opinions, many of whom were among its most celebrated champions. Martin Butzer had been appointed pro- fessor of the Thomist doctrines by the Dominicans ; but he dissolved his connexion with that order by a kind of lawsuit, and from that time forward took a most active and successful part in the establish- ment of the new system of faith. Otto Brunnfels came out of the Carthusian convent at Mainz and became the follower of Hutten, whose labours he shared with rival ardour. The young reading- master of the Benedictine abbey of Alperspach, P. Ambrosius Blaurer, was incited by the general ferment to the study of the sacred writings, and formed opinions which soon rendered a longer residence in the convent impossible to him. Qllco- lampadius, who had but lately taken the vows in the convent of St. Bridget at Altomiinster, raised his voice in favour of the new views : he had hoped to find in the convent undisturbed leisure for the learned works he purposed to write ; but the con- viction which soon forced itself on his mind hurried him into an eager participation in all the mental conflicts of the times. The brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Augsburg declared themselves for Luther from the very first, with the prior at their head ; and to them belonged, for a time at least. Urban Regius *, one of the most devoted and favourite disciples of Johann Eck, whom he now, * Braun, Geschichte der Biscliofe von Augsburg, iii. 239. He is also called a Carmelite in Welser's Augsburger Chronik. Chap. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 70 however, deserted for the new cause*: he supported it mth great effect, first in Upper, and afterwards still more successfully in Lower, Germany. Here he was, after a while, assisted by Joliann Bugcn- hagen, who had also for a long time followed a very different course of studies and opinions, in a con- vent of Prasmonstratenses at Belbuck in Pomerania. Bugenhagen, as his history of Pomerania, written in 1518, and vigorously attacking the abuses prevail- ing in the Church, shows, was even then convinced of the necessity of a complete change in the body of the clergy f ; but he was no less strongly op- posed to Luther ; and when Luther's book on the Babylonish captivity was brought to him one day as he sat at dinner, he exclaimed, that since the Passion of Christ a more pernicious heretic had never existed. But this very book wrought a com- plete revolution in his mind : he took it home with him, read it, studied it, and became convinced that the whole world was in error and that Luther alone saw the truth. Of this change of senti- ments he informed his colleagues at the conventual school over which he presided, his abbot, and all his friends. J Similar conversions took place in all the religious orders. The superiors were * There are a few letters which passed between them in Adami, p. 35. Eck is violent and bitter. Regius (Konig), in spite of the firmness of his opposition, never forgets the accus- tomed reverence towards his master. •j- J. H. Balthasar, Prajfatio in Bugenhagii Pomeraniam, p. 5. X Chytroei Saxonia, p. 287. Lange, Leben Bugenhagens, 1731, contains nothing of importance. 80 DIFFUSION OF Book III. often the most strongly impressed, like the priors of the Augustine and Carmelite convents, of whom we have spoken : among others were Eberhard Widensee, provost of the convent of St. John at Halberstadt, and by his influence, Gottes-Gnaden and St. Moritz, provosts of Neuenwerk and Halle, and Paul Lemberg, abbot of Sagan, who openly declared that if any one of his monks felt his con- science burdened by remaining in the convent, so far from attempting to keep him there, he would rather carry him out of it on his own shoulders.* On a careful examination, I do not find, however, that love of the world, or any licentious desire to be freed from the restraints of the convent, had much effect in producing these resolutions ; at all events, in the most conspicuous cases, where motives have been recorded by contemporaries, they w^ere al- ways the result of a profound conviction ; in some, gradually developed, in others, suddenly forced on the mind, sometimes by a striking passage in the Bible : many did not leave the convent of their own accord, but were driven out of it ; others, though of a most peaceful nature themselves, found their abode between the narrow Avails embittered by the frequent disputes which arose out of the state of men's minds. The mendicant friars felt disgust at their own trade : one of them, a Francis- can, entered a smithy at Niirnberg with his alms- box in his hand, and was asked by the master why * Catalogus Abbatum Saganensiuui, in Stenzel's Scx'iptt. Rer, Siles., i. p. 457. CiiAP. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 81 lie did not rather earn his l)read by the work of his hands : the robust monk immediately threw off his habit and became a journeyman smith, sending back his cowl and box to the convent. There is no doubt that the monastic institutions of the West were originally founded in imitation of the Hindu penitents, who live in lonely forests, clothed in the bark of trees, eating only herbs and drinking only water, free from desires, masters of their passions, beatified even in this life, and a sure refuge to the afflicted.* But how widely had the recluses of Europe departed from their model ! They took part in all the pursuits, dissensions and troubles of the world, and their main object Avas the mainte- nance of a dominion at once temporal and spiritual, aided by masses actuated by the same sentiments and working to the same ends ; they were held to- gether by servile vows, frequently taken from inter- ested motives, and, as much as possible, disregarded. No sooner, therefore, had the validity of these vows, and their religious efficacy to the soul, become doubtful, than the whole structure fell in pieces ; nay more, the institution on which the Western Church mainly rested, sent forth the most sturdy antagonists to its further hierarchical development. This general movement among the regular clergy was now seconded by all ranks of the secular priesthood. There was one even among the bishops, Polcnz of Samland, who openly declared himself for Lu- * Nalas, twelfth song. VOL. II. G 82 DIFFUSION OF Boox III. tlier, occasionally preached his doctrines from the pulpit at Konigsberg, and took care to appoint preachers of his o^vn way of thinking to a number of places in his diocese. Luther was overjoyed at this ; such a peaceable and lawful change was ex- actly what he desired.* A few other bishops were also supposed to be favourably inclined to the new doctrine. Johann Eberlin of Glinzburg mentions the Bishop of Augs- burg, who did not conceal that " the life and con- versation of the Lutherans were less sinful than those of their adversaries ; " the Bishop of Basle, who was pleased when Lutheran books were brought to him, and always read them diligently ; the Bishop of Bamberg, who no longer opposed the preaching of Lutheran doctrines in his city, and tlie Bishop of Merseburg, who sent for the \vriter to consult him concerning the reforms which were wanted. He assures us that several others sent their canons to study at Wittenberg. Most of the names which we find in the list of Reuchlin's patrons appear among those who took part in the religious innovation. They were also joined by the patrician provosts of the great towns, such as a Wattenwyl in Berne, and a Besler and Bomer in Nlirnberg, under whose * " Lutheri Dedicatio in Deuteronomium : Reverendo . . . Georgio de Polentis vere episcopo. Tibi gratia donata est, ut lion modo verbum susciperes et crederes, sed pro episcopali autori- tate etiam palam et publice confessus doceres docerique per tiiani diocesim curares, liberaliter his qui in verbo laborant provisis." — 0pp. iii. p. 75. HarthnoclC s Preussische KirchcngeschicJite, i. p. 273. Chap. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 83 protection the evangelical preacliers were esta- blished in the churches of their respective cities. Even without this encouragement, a great number of the officiating priests and preachers in Lower, and still more in Upper, Germany, declared them- selves converts to Luther's opinions. The name of Hermann Tast, one of the twenty-four papal vicars in Schlcswig, is well known. Li the churchyard at Husum stood two lime-trees, which were called the jMotJier and the Daughter ; under the largest of tlie two, the Mother, Tast used to preach, escorted to and from the place of meeting by his hearers, who went armed to fetch him and conduct him liome. At Emden, in East Friesland, Georg von der Dare was driven out of the great church when he began to preach Luther's doctrines ; but the people, after flocking to hear him for some time in the open air, at length obtained re-admittance for liim into the church. Johann Schwanhiiuser, custos of St. Gangolph in Bamberg, declaimed, in the language of a Carlstadt, against the adoration of the saints.* The parish priest of Cronach was one of the first Avho married. At Mainz, it Avas the preacher in the cathedral, Wolfgang Ivopfl (for a long time the confidential adviser of the elector) ; at Frankfort, the preacher in the church of St. Ca- tharine, Hartmann Ibach ; at Strasburg, the parish priest of St. Laurence, Matthew Zell ; at ]\Iem- mingen, the preacher of St. Martin's, Schappelei', Avho were the first to propagate the new doctrines. * Extracts from his sermons in liellcr, p. 62. G 2 84 DIFFUSION OF Book III. In the imperial city of Hall, Johann Brenz, a mere youth, but deeply impressed with the doctrines of St. Paul, and an imitator of the apostle's style of speaking, pronounced his sermon of trial in Sep- tember, 1522, and drove his antagonists, the guar- dian and the reader of the Minorite convent, out of the field without further contest, by the doctrine of the sole merit of Christ.* In the Kreichgau, a band of village priests, united by similarity of opinion, collected around Erhard Schnepf, under the protection of the Gemmingen. In Basle, at the procession of the Corpus Christi, Roubli, the priest of St. Alban's, carried a splendidly-bound Bible instead of the host, declaring that he alone bore the true Holy of holies. Next followed, at the minster of Zurich, the great secular priest, Ulrich Zwingli, equally courageous and influential in politics and in religion, and in Avhom the vicar of Constance soon thought he beheld a second Luther. We may follow these movements even into the lofty regions of the Alps. The leading men of Schwytz often timed their rides so as to arrive at Freienbach, where a friend of Zwingli's preached, at the time of divine service, after which they stayed and dined with him.f It made no difference that they were Swiss, for in those days the feeling of nationality had not yet separated them from Germany ; indeed the people of the Yalais called the territory of the confederate cities, Germany. The new doctrines * Hartmann and Jiiger, Johann Brenz, i. 43. 59. f Hettinger, Geschiclite der Eidgenossen. Chap. 111. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 85 tlicn followed the course of the mountains as far as the valley of the Inn, where Jacob Strauss first expounded them to many thousand converts ; then to Salzburc;, where Paul von Spretten made the ca- thedral resound with them, and finally into Austria and Bavaria. At AlteniJttingen, Avhere there was one of the most popular miraculous pictures, the regular priest, Wolfgang Russ, had the courage to declaim against pilgrimages. It may be concluded that all these changes were not brought about without stout resistance and a hard struggle. Many Avere compelled to yield, but some persevered, and at all events the persecution did no harm to the cause. When that zealous Ca- tholic, Bogislas X. of Pomerania, destroyed the protestant society at Belbuck, and confiscated the property — for the seizure of church lands began on that side — the only result was, that one of their teachers accompanied some young Livonians, who had been studying there, to Riga, and thus scat- tered the seed of the AYord over the most remote parts of Germany.* Paul von Spretten was expelled from Salzburg, after which we find him preaching in St. Stephen's church at Vienna, and when driven thence, at * Andreas Cnoph von Custrin. " Er hat viel herrliclicr unci geistreicher Lieder, darin die Summa von der Lelire von dor Gerechtigkeit, dem Glauben und desselbigeu Fi-iichten . . . verfasset." — " He has composed many moat beautiful and in- genious songs, Avherein is contained the essence of the doctrine of righteousness — faith and its fruits." — Ilium, Liejidndische Gesch., book v. p. 193. G 3 86 DIFFUSION OF Book III. Iglau in Mbravia : there also lie was in imminent clanger, and at last found a safe asylum in Prussia. With this scene of action, the ardent Amandus was not content ; he soon left it and went to Stolpe, where he challenged the monks to a disputation on the truth of the old or the new system : he told them they might prepare a stake and faggots, and burn him if he was overcome in argument ; and that if he obtained the victory, the sole punishment of his opponents should be conversion. As yet no attention vfas paid to the place Avhere the Gospel was preached. It is almost symbolic of the ecclesiastical opposition, that at Bremen it was a church standing under an interdict, in which two or three Augustine friars who had escaped the stake in Anty.^erp, first assembled a congregation. At Goslar the new doctrine was first preached in a church in the suburbs; and when that was closed, a native of the town who had studied at Wittenberg proclaimed it on a plain covered with lime-trees (the Lindenplan), whence its adherents were there called Lindenbriider (brothers of the lime-tree).* In AYorms a moveable. pulpit was put up against the outer walls of the church. The Augustine monk, Caspar Giittel of Eisleben, at the request of the in- habitants of Arnstadt, preached seven sermons in the market-place there, according to ancient custom. At Danzig the people assembled on a height out- side the town, to hear a preacher who had been driven from within its avails. ■ * Ilamolinann, Ilistoria renati Evangclii. Opp. Hist. Gen., p. 869. Chap. 111. THE NEW DOCTEINES. 87 But even if none of the clergy had embraced the new faith, it would have found many proclaimers and defenders among the laity. At Ingolstadt, under the very eyes of Dr. Eck, an enthusiastic journeyman weaver read aloud Luther's writings to assembled crowds ; and when, in the same town, a young Master of Arts, called Seehofer, who had begun to teach from Melanchthon's pamphlets, was forced to recant, his defence was undertaken by a lady, Argula von Staufen, whose attention having been directed by her father to Luther's books, she had, in conformity with their precepts, devoted her- self exclusively to the study of the Scriptures. Be- lieving herself fully able to compete with them in knowledge of the Bible, she now challenged all the members of the university to a disputation, and hoped to maintain the superiority of her own faith in the presence of the prince and the whole community.* It was in this intimate acquaintance with Scripture that the leaders of the religious movement trusted. Heinrich von Kettenbach ex- ultingly enumerates countries and cities — Niirn- berg, Augsburg, Ulm, the Khenish provinces, Smt- zerland and Saxony — where women and maidens, serving men and artisans, knights and nobles, were more learned in the Bible than the higli schools. f There was indeed something very extraordinary * AYinter, Gesch. der evang. Lelire in Baiern, i. 120. f. f " Ein new Apologia vnnd Verantwortnng jNlartini Lntliers wyder der Papistcn Mortgesclirey, die zelien klagcn wyder jn n?;.sblasiniren so wyt die Christenheyt ist, 1523." — '* A new Apology and Answer of Martin Luther against the Papist's Cry G 4 88 DIFFUSION OF Book III. in this simultaneous and universal conviction, un- questionably religious in its origin, rising up in opposition to forms of ecclesiastical and political life which had been revered for centuries, though now men could see in them only their wide departure from true primitive Christianity, and their subser- vience to an oppressive and odious power. As every effort on the one side was followed by a re-action, and every attack by persecution, it was of great importance that there should be one spot in Germany where such was not the case : this spot was the electorate of Saxony. In the year 1522 the neighbouring bishops made another attempt to re-establish their power here also, in consequence of the favourable tone of the first proclamation of the imperial government ; and the Elector Frederic offered no opposition to them so long as they promised to send preachers who should combat the Word with the Word.* When, however, not content with this, they demanded that the priests who had married or dared to administer the Lord's Supper in both kinds, and the monks who had quitted their convents, should be given up to them, he declared, after brief consideration, that the of Murder, who trumpet forth Ten Complaints against him throughout Christendom." * Frederic instructs his officers, " An Verkiindigung des Wortes Gottes nicht zu hindern." — " Not to hinder the preaching of the Word of God." He takes for granted, " sie wiirden die Ehre Gottes und die Liebe des Nachsten suclien" — " that tliey would seek the honour of God and the love of their neighbour." Chap. 111. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 89 imperial edict did not oblige him to this.* By- withdrawing his countenance from them, he of course annihilated their influence. This naturally induced all those who were forced to fly from other places, to take refuge in his do- minions, where no spiritual authorities could reach them. Eberlin, Stiefel, Strauss, Seehofer, Ibach from Frankfurt, Ikigenhagen from Pomerania, Kauxdorf from Magdeburg, Musta3us from Halber- stadt, where he had been barbarously mutilated f, and numbers more, flocked together from all parts of Germany ; they found a safe asylum, and in many cases temporary employment, and then went forth again confirmed in their faith by intercourse with Luther and Melanchthon. Wittenberg was the centre of the whole movement ; without the ex- istence of such a centre, the unity of direction, the common progress, which we observe, would have been impossible ; we may add, that the admixture of foreign elements was of great importance to the development of the public mind of Saxony. The university especially thus acquired the character of a national body, — incontestably the true character * Geuterbock, St. Lucastag. The very remarkable corre- pondence in the Sammlung vermischter Nachrichten zur siich- sischen Geschichte, iv. 282. t What cruelties then took place ! " Aliquot ministri cajioni- corum capiunt D. Valentinum Mustajum," — " with the sanction of the burgher-master he had preached the Gospel in Neustadt," " ct vinctum manibus pedibusque, injecto in ejus os freno, de- ferunt per trabes in inferiores coenobii partes ibique in cella cerevisiaria cum castrant." — Hamelmann, 1. c. p. 880. 90 DIFFUSION OF Book III. of a great German high school. Both teachers and hearers resorted from all parts of Germany, and went forth a2;ain in all directions. Wittenberg became equally important as a me- tropolis of literature. It was the agitation of these important questions which first obtained for the German popular litera- ture general circulation and influence. Up to the year 1518 its productions were far from numerous, and the range of its subjects very narrow. During the last twenty years of the fifteenth century there appeared about 40 German works; in 1513 about 35; in 1514,47; in 1515, 46; in 1516, 55; in 1517,37: these were chiefly mirrors for the laity, little works on medicine, books on herbs, religious tracts, newspapers, official announcements, and travels, — in short, the books fitted to the compre- hension of the many. The most original produc- tions were always those of the poetical opposition — the satires which we have already noticed. The increase in the number of German publications which followed Luther's appearance before the public was prodigious. In the year 1518 we find 71 enumerated; in 1519, 111; in 1520, 208; in 1521, 211; in 1522, 347; in 1523, 498. If we inquire whence this wonderful increase emanated, we shall find it was from Wittenberg, and the chief author, Luther himself. In the year 1518 we find 20 books published with his name ; in 1519, 50; in 1520, 133; in 1521, wiien he was interrupted by his journey to Worms, and hindered by a forced seclusion, about 40 ; in 1522, again 130 ; and in CiiAr. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 91 1523, 183.* In no nation or age has a more auto- cratic and powerful writer appeared ; and it would be difficult to find any other who has united so perfectly popular and intelligible a style, and such do ^vl] right homely good sense, to so much original- ity, power and genius ; he gave to German literature the" character by which it has been ever since dis- tinguished, of investigation, depth of thought, and strenuous conflict of opinions. lie began the great discussion which has been carried on in Germany through all the subsequent centuries; though often grievously interrupted by acts of violence and by the influences of foreign policy. In the beginning he stood quite alone, but by degrees, especially after the year 1521, disciples, friends, and rivals began to ap- pear in the field. In the year 1523, besides his own works, there were published 215 by others, in favour of the new opinions ; that is, more than four fifths of all that appeared, while we do not find above 20 decidedly catholic publications. It was the first time that the national mind, uninfluenced by foreign models, and manifesting itself purely in the form inq^ressed on it by the great events of the times, and * I rely upon Panzer's Annalen der iiltern Deutschen Litera- tur, 1788 — 1802. That his information, useful as it is, is not quite complete, is a defect this has in common with most statistical Avorks. We can, however, gather from them the general facts, which is all we here have to do with. According to Adam, Vitro Jurisconsult., p. 62., it was Schneidewin's father-in- law — ex honorata familia, quK nomen gentilitium Turingorum luibuit, agnomen vero Aurifabrorum — who established the first printing-press at Wittenberg, socio Luca pictore seuiore. This is another of Lucas Cranach's merits. 92 DIFFUSION OF ' Book III. the high destinies to which Germany was called, found a general expression ; moreover this expres- sion regarded the most important interests that can occupy the attention of man, audits very first ut- terance was prompted by ideas of religious freedom. It Avas a singular felicity, that at the very instant of full intellectual awakening, the Holy Scriptures, both of the New and Old Testament, were laid open to the nation. It is true that the Bible had long been known in translations ; but it is impossible to conceive, without reading them, how full of errors, how rude in style, and how unintelligible these ver- sions are. Luther, on the contrary, spared no labour to obtain an accurate knowledge of the meaning of the original, and gave it utterance in German, with all the clearness and energy of which that language is capable. The imperishable records of the earliest ages of the world, characterised by the freshness of the youth of mankind, and the sacred writings of later date, in which true religion appears in all its childlike candour, were now put into the hands of the German people in their own vernacular tongue, piece by piece, like a periodical v/ork which relates to the immediate interests of the day, and were devoured with equal avidity. There is one production of the German mind which owes its origin directly to this concurrence of circumstances. In translating the Psalms, Luther conceived the project of making a paraphrase of them for the purpose of congregational singing * ; * Luther's preface to Joliann Walter's Hymns i-ecalls " das Exempel der rropheten iind Konige im alten Testament, die mit CiiAP. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 93 for the idea of a Church, such as he had described and begun to call into existence, supposed that the congregation should take a far more considerable part in the service than it had ever done before. In this case, however, as in some others, a mere paraphrase did not suffice. The devout spirit, tranquil in the conviction of possessing the revealed Word of God ; elevated by the strife and danger in which it was placed, and inspired by the poetical genius of the Old Testament, poured forth lyrical compositions, at once poetry and music; words alone would have been insufficient to express the emotions of the soul in all their fulness, or to excite and sustain the feehngs of a congregation. This could only be done by the melody which breathed in the solemn old church music, and the touching airs of popular songs. Such was the origin of the evangelical hymns, which we may date from the year 1523.* Detached hymns by Luther and Spretten acquired immediate popularity, and lent singen unci klingen, mit clicliten unci allcrlei Seitenspiel Gott gelobet liaben," — " the example of the prophets and kings in the Old Testament, Mdio, with songs and music, with verses and all manner of stringed instruments, praised God." — Altenb. A., ii. p. 751. * Riederer, " von Einfiihrung des deutschen Gesanges," p. 95. The remarkable letter to Spalatin concerning the trans- lation of the Psalms into German verse, in De "Wette, ii. p. 490., is doubtless earlier than that dated 14th Jan. 1524, ibid. p. 461. In it we see what the Musa3 Germanica?, about which De Wette seems to be in doubt, really meant. It appears from the letters to Hausmann, that Luther was employed in November and December, 1523, in the composition of the liturgy. 94 DIFFUSION vOF Book III. their aid to the earhest struggles of the reform- ing spirit; but it was many years later that the German mind displayed its whole wealth of poeti- cal, and still more of musical, productions of this kind. The popular poetry also devoted itself in other ways to the new ideas with that spirit of teachable- ness, and at the same time resistance to arbitrary power, which characterised it. Hutteii published his bitterest invectives in verse ; Murner depicted the corruption of the clergy in long and vivid descriptions : to this feeling of censure and repro- bation was now added, if not in Murner himself, at any rate in most others, a positive conviction of the truth of the new doctrine, and a profound admi- ration of its champion ; the man who maintained the righteous cause among crimson barrets and velvet caps was celebrated in verse. The pope was brought on the stage in carnival farces ; he congratulates himself that, in spite of his knavery, men continue to ascribe to him the power of admitting them into heaven or binding them in hell, which brings many birds to his net to be plucked ; that he reaps the fruits of the sweat of the poor man's brow, and can ride with a retinue of a thousand horses — his name is Entchristelo ; there also appear, uttering like sentiments. Cardinal Highmind {Ilochmuth)^ Bishop Goldmouth Wolfsmaw (Golchmmd Wolfs- magen), Vicar Fabler {Faheler)^ and a long list of personages held up to ridicule and contempt under such names : the last who enters is the Doctor, who expounds the true doctrine very much in the CiiAr. in. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 05 tone of a sermon.* Under the influence of these impressions was educated Burckhardt Waldis, Avho afterwards made such a happy application of the old fable of the beasts to religious controversies. The greatest Geraian poet of that day warmly embraced Luther's cause. Hans Sachs's poem, the Nightin- gale of AVittenberg, appeared in 1523 ; he compares the faith which had prevailed for four hundred years, to the moonlight which had led men astray in the wilderness ; now, however, the nightingale announces the rising sun and the light of day, while she herself soars above the dark clouds. Thoughts emanating from a sound understanding, instructed by the infallible AYord, and confident of its own cause, form the basis of the many ingenious, gay, and graceful poems — not the less attractive for a slight smack of the workshop — with which the honest master delighted all classes of the nation. In Germany, the proper aim of art — to teach by giving a sensible form to ideas — had never been lost sight of. Hence, there is no less fancy dis- played in her symbols, than earnestness in her cha- racter. It so happened that one of the great masters of the time, Lucas Kranach, went to live at Wittenberg, and, in a constant familiar inter- * " Ein Fassnaclitspyl, so zu Bern uf der Hern Fassnaclit in dem MDXXII. Jarc von Burgerssonen offentlich gemacht ist, darinn die warheit in Schimpffswyss vom Pabst und sincr Priest- crschaft gcmeldet wiirt.'' — "A Carnival Play, the which was publicly enacted in the Lord's carnival of the year 1522, at Bern, by the sons of burghers, wherein the truth is satirically told of the pope and of his priesthood." Newly printed by Grii- neisen. — Nicl. Manuel, p. 339. 96 DIFFUSION OF Book III. course with Luther, became thoroughly imbued with the modes of thinking of the reformers, and con- secrated his talents to embodying them. He some- times entered the ranks as a combatant. Some of his smaller pictures, such as the Passion of Christ and Antichrist, in which the lowliness and humility of the Founder, and the pride and pomp of his vicegerent, are contrasted, are protests against Catholicism; and accordingly woodcuts of them were inserted into Luther's writings. It may be imagined that his chaste pencil was employed in no works but such as harmonised with the evana-elical faith. The grace and loveliness with which he had formerly adorned groups of beatified female saints, he now shed over the little children receiving the blessing of our Saviour. The mysteries shadowed forth in early art, were now expressed in repre- sentations of the sacraments retained by Luther, which were sometimes painted on one canvass, and of the sublime work of Redemption. The eminent statesmen and divines by whom he was surrounded, presented forms and features so re- markable and characteristic, that he had no tempt- ation, except in the cause of religion, to strive after the ideal. Albert Diirer, though his genius had already reached maturity, was powerfully affected by the prevailing spirit : the most perfect, perhaps, of all his works, — the evangelists Mark and John, and the apostles Peter and Paul, — were produced under the impressions of these times. There exist studies for these pictures with the date 1523 : they reflect the image suggested by Scripture CiiAP. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 97 (now rendered accessible to new views), of the wisdom, devotedness and energy of these first wit- nesses of the Christian church. Vigour and gran- deur of conception manifest themselves in every feature.* The general development of the German mind was closely connected with the new ideas ; the same spirit was stirring in the learned, as in the popular branches of mental activity. AVittenberg was far from being the only uni- versity in which the course of studies was changed. At Freiburg, where Luther was detested, the Aristotehan philosophy ceased to be studied and incidcated as hitherto. " Petrus Hispanus," says Ulrich Zasius, " has had his day ; the books of Sentences are laid aside ; our theologians are some of them reading Matthew and others Paul; nay, even the very beginners, those who are but just arrived, crowd to these lectures." f Even Zasius himself, one of the most distinguished German jurists of that time, gives a remarkable testimony to the universal diffusion of the reforming spirit. He complains that his lecture-room is deserted ; that he has barely half a dozen hearers, and they, all Frenchmen ; and at the same time he can find no better mode of recommending his own exertions in the cause of learning, than by comparing them to * How Pirkheimer and Diircr disputed about the question of the Lord's Supper in Melanchthon's presence : related by Peucer in Strobel's " Nachricht von Melanchthons Aufenthalt in Niirnberg," p. 27. t Zasii Epistola3, i. 63. VOL. II. H 98 DIFFUSION OF Book III. the labours of Luther. The glossators of the ge- nuine texts whom he was engaged in combating, appeared to him in the same light as the schoolmen on whom Luther was waging war ; he laboured to restore the Roman law to its original purity, just as Luther strove to revive the theology of the Bible. Of all departments of learning none, however, stood more in need of a similar reform than history. There existed an immense accumulation of ma- terials ; but the earlier periods were obscured by the learned fables which were continually receiving fresh and more circumstantial additions ; while the later were known only in fragments dressed up to suit the interests of the dominant party : the most important parts had been intentionally falsified, in consequence of their necessary connection with the great ecclesiastical fiction. It was impossible to arrive at a true, lively and connected view of his- tory ; even minds thirsting for real information shrank from such insuperable masses of reading. An attempt to penetrate them was, however, made just about this time by Johann Aventin, who, at an earlier period, had sympathised in the literary tendencies of the new school of thinkers, and now followed its religious direction Avith the liveliest zeal. In writing his Bavarian chronicle, the con- tents of which are interesting to Germany gene- rally, and even to the world, he spared no pains in searchins^ libraries and archives in order to sub- stitute genuine records for the shallow and im- probable traditions hitherto current. He puts the reader on his guard against the representations of CiiAP. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 99 the ignorant ; especially " people who have seen nothing of mankind, who know nothing of cities and countries, have no experience of earthly or heavenly matters, and yet pretend to judge of every thing." Plis endeavour is to understand history in its true and necessary aspect, " such as it should be." The spirit of the national opposition to the papacy is powerfully at work within him : when- ever he strives to depict the simplicity of the Christian doctrine, or alludes to its origin, he never fails to contrast with it the spiritual power in its rise, progress and operation. His history of Gre- gory VII. is even now the best extant : he takes a very comprehensive view of the results arising from the dominion of the hierarchical principle, though he had not the pecuhar talent requisite to place them distinctly before the reader. His works are indeed generally unfinished ; but he was the first labourer in that field of profound and pene- trating research into universal history, which in our day occupies so many minds. For a time, it seemed as if the interest in theolo- gical questions would absorb all others. Erasmus complains that nothing was read or bought but pub- lications for or against Luther; he fears that the study of the humanities, which was but just esta- blished, would be stifled under a new system of school learning. The chronicles of the time describe how the contempt into which the clergy had fallen re-acted on learning : the proverb, " Die Gelehrten, die Verkehrten," (the more learned, the more Avi'ongheaded,) was in every body's mouth, and H 2 100 DIFFUSION OF Book III. parents hesitated to devote their children to studies which offered so doubtful a prospect. This, however, was only a momentary aberration ; the mind, roused to a desire for authentic knowledge, could not reject the very instrument which had awakened it. In the year 1524 Luther pubhshed a letter to the " burghermasters and councillors of all the towns on German ground," exhorting them " to establish Christian schools."* He means by this, especially for the training of priests; for, he says, it is only by the study of languages that the Gospel can be pre- served in its purity, to which end it was delivered down to us in writing ; otherwise there would be nothing but wild and perilous disorder, and an utter confusion of opinions. Yet he does not by any means confine his recommendation to eccle- siastical schools; far from it: he deplores that schools have been so exclusively calculated for the education of the clergy, and his chief object is to free them from this narrow destination, and to found a learned class among the laity. He holds out the education of the ancient Romans as an example to Germany ; and says that instructed men well versed in history are absolutely necessary for the government of the state ; he also insists upon the estabhshment of public libraries, not only to contain editions and expositions of the sacred writings, but also orators and poets, whether heathen or not ; besides books on * Altenb. edition, ii. p. 804. Eoban Hess caused the letters wliich he had received on this subject from Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas, Draco and others, to be printed collectively in 1523, in the pamphlet, " De non contemnendis Studiis humanioribus." Chap. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 101 the fine arts, law and medicine, chronicles and his- tories ; ''for they be profitable for the learning of the wonders and Avorks of God." This letter had as great an effect on secular learning, as his book addressed to the German nobility had on the general condition of the laity. Luther first conceived the idea of that learned body of official laymen wdiich has exercised such an incalculable influence over the social and political condition of Germany; he advocated the popular cultivation of knowledge for her oayu sake apart from the church ; it was he who laid the iirst stone of that edifice of learning in northern Ger- many, which succeeding labourers have reared to such a height. In this he was vigorously seconded by the indefatigable Melanchthon, who was the author of the Latin grammar used in the schools throughout the North of Germany, till the beginning of the eighteenth century.* He completed it in the year 1524, beginning from some notes made for the private instruction of a young Niirnberger ; at the same time, the Greek grammar, of which he had previously drawn up the plan, received the form in which it was taught for centuries afterwards. Teachers were formed under Melanchthon's dis- cipline, who adopted all his ideas, and became the founders of the German school-training. The most remarkable of these was Valentine Trotzendorf, who was called from Wittenberg to Goldberg in Silesia, in the year 1523, and who was said to be * The editions most worthy of note till 1737 are enumerated in Strobel, Von den Verdiensten Melauchthons, urn die Gram- matik . . ., neue Beitrage, ii. iii. p. 43. II 3 102 DIFFUSION OF Book III. born a schoolmaster as much as Caesar was born a general, or Cicero an orator. Innumerable German schoolmasters were formed by him. A large and coherent survey of all these facts suffices to convince us that the Reformation was by no means confined to theological dogmas ; a whole circle of aspirations and thoughts of a peculiar character, and pregnant with a new order of things, had arisen; closely connected, it is true, with the theological opposition, and partly developed under that form, but the existence of which is neither to be ascribed to, nor confounded with, that phe- nomenon. The opposition was itself merely one manifestation of this spirit, the future workings of which were entirely independent of it. The first object of the awakened mind un- doubtedly was, deliverance from that mighty power which claimed the right of retaining it captive. In examining more closely the course of this struggle, as it displayed itself in all parts of Ger- many, we shall fall into error if we expect to find the same points of variance which exist between the later Protestant and the revived Catholic sys- tems. The ideas and intellectual powers which were then arrayed against each other, stood in a far more distinct, broad and intelligible opposition. One of the most violent conflicts was that con- cerning faith and good works. We must not understand by this the more deep and abstruse con- troversy which has since arisen out of the subtilty or the obstinacy of the schools. At that time the question was very simple : on the one side, by good Chap. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 103 works were meant those ritual observances tlirouch which men then really hoped to merit reward, both in this world and the next — such as pilgrimages, fasting, the foundation of masses for the souls of the dead, the recital of particular prayers, the reverence paid to certain saints, and the gifts to the churches and the clergy which formed so im- portant a part of the piety of the middle ages. To this perversion of the idea of moral obligation, which had been so culpably allowed to gain currency and strength, the other party opposed the doctrine of the efficacy of faith without works. But — especially after the troubles in Wittenberg — no one now ven- tured to inculcate an ideal, abstract, inactive faith. We still possess many of the sermons of that period, and it would be difficult to find one in which faith and charity are not spoken of as indissolubly united. Caspar Giittel earnestly inculcates the doctrine, that the conduct which a man pursues towards his neighbour for the love of God is the one essential thing.* The preacher blamed those who spent their substance in enriching the clergy, decorating the image of a saint, or going on distant pilgrimages, and at the same time forgot the poor. The same thing took place with respect to the opinions concerning the church. The reformers entirely refused to recognise the holy church of Christ, out of whose pale there is no salvation, in * Schutzrede wider etzlich ungezemte Clamanten. The very sermons preached at Ai'nstadt : printed in Olearii Syntagma Rerum Thuringicarum, ii. 274. ; an edition which Panzer does not mention in his Annals, ii. p. 93. II 4 104 DIFFUSION OF Book III. the persons of the pope, his prelates and priests; they considered it profane to say that the Church commands or possesses any thing; they distin- guished that ecclesiastical institution, which, by its scandalous government, gave the lie to the principles on which it was founded, from the mysterious exist- ence of that holy fellowship which appears not out- wardly, which, according to the words of the Symbol, is a pure object of faith, and which unites heaven and earth indeed, but without the intervention of the pope.* " Far be it from us to suppose," said Pastor Schmidt, in a sermon he preached with great * Ain Sermon oder Pretlig von cler christlichen Kirchen welches docli sej die liailig christlicli Kirche, davon unser Glaub sagt, geprediget zu Ulm von Bruder Heinrich von Ket- tenbach, 1522. — "A Sermon or Preaching touching the Christian Church — which is the holy Christian Church of which our belief speaketh ? Preached at Ulm by Brother Henry of Kettenbach," Johann Brenz took up this doctrine very ve- hemently. He will not allow that the church is to be believed because it received Christ. " Juden und Heiden die haben Christum angenommen — und sind nachfolgends die iiusserliche christliche Kirche geworden, und hat die Kirche ihren Ursprung von den frommen Christenmenschen und ist nachfolgends die iius- serliche christliche Kirche worden, docli nit dass die Menschen ihre Seligkeit haben von der iiusserlichen Kirche. . . . Dieweil die Kirche ein geistlicher verborgener Leib ist und nit von dieser Welt, so folgt, dass in diesem Leib kein weltlich ausserlich noch sichtbar haupt ist." — " Jews and Pagans received Christ, and thereupon became the outward Christian church, and the church has its origin from pious Christians, and is thereafter become the outward Christian church, not that men receive salvation from the outward church. . . . For since the church is a spiritual hidden body, and not of this world, it follows that this body can- not have a worldly, outward and visible head." CnAr. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 105 eifect at Kiissnacht, " that the Christian church can acknowledge a head so spotted Avith sin as the pope ; and thus forsake Christ, wliom St. Paul so ol'ten calls ' the head of the church.' " * In like manner the institution of the Lord's Supper, freed from all priestly intervention, was contrasted with the compulsory obligation of con- fessing every individual sin, — an obligation which led and still leads to all the odious abuses of the confessional, and to the despotism of a stern and tyrannical orthodoxy. The discretionary power of the priest to grant absolution was denied, together with the doctrine of the actual presence ; and people were even dissuaded from too nice a ponder- ing over particular sins, as tending to stimulate the desires anew, or to produce despair: nothing was required but an undoubting, cheerful, . steadfast reliance on the mercy of God, and foith in his present favour, f But perhaps the most strongly and totally op- posed were the opinions as to creeds of human origin and the pure word of God. Here again the * Myeonius ad Zwinglium, Epp. Zw. p. 195. t " Eyn verstendig trostlich Leer viber das "Wort St. Pauliis : Der Mensch sol sicli selbst probieren und alsso von dem Brott essen und von dem Kelch trinken : zu Hall in Innthal von D. Jacob Strauss geprediget, MDXXII." — "A reasonable and comfortable Doctrinii concerning the Word of St. Paul : ' But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.' Preached by D. Jacob Strauss, 1522, at Hall, in the valley of the Inn." The body and blood of Christ are taken as the surest sign of his merciful promises to forgive us our sins, if we have faith. Tliis contradiction appears in some later writings of this author. 106 DIFFUSION OF Book III. dispute was not concerning tradition, as it has been defined by the more ingenious and enhghtened controversialists of modern times ; that is to say, little more than the Christian spirit propagat- ing itself from generation to generation, — the Word living in the hearts of the faithful.* What the reformers combated, was the entire system of the Latin church, developed in the course of centuries by hierarchical power and school learn- ing, and claiming absolute authority. They re- marked that the fathers of the church had erred, Jerome often, and even Augustin occasionally ; that those holy men had themselves been well aware of it ; and that nevertheless a system from which no deviation was allowed, had been based on their decisions, and spun out with the aid of heathen philosophy. Thus it came to pass that they had given themselves up to human devices, and that there was not a teacher among them who led his hearers to the true understanding of the Gospel. And to this human doctrine, which neither satisfied the reason nor consoled the heart — which was con- nected "with all sorts of abuses — they now opposed the eternal word of God, " which is noble, pure, cordial, steadfast and comfortable, and should therefore be kept unadulterated and undefiled."f * Mbhler Symbolik, p. 361. t Das liailig ewig Wort Gets was das in im kraft, sterke, frid, fred, erleuclitung und leben in aym recliten Christen zu er- wecken vermag — zugestelt dem edlen Hitter — Hern Jorgen von Fronsperg ; von Hang Marsclialk der genennt wirt Zoller zu Augsburg, 1523. — " The holy eternal Avord of God, what sti-ength, power, peace and joy, light and life it is able to awaken Chap. in. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 107 They exhorted ' the laity to work out their own salvation ; to gain possession of the Avord of God, which had now come forth in full splendour from its long concealment, to take it as a sword in their hands, and to defend themselves with it against the preachers of the contrary faith.* Such were the questions concerning which the warfare of popular literature — preaching, was main- ly carried on. On the one side, certain external eccle- siastical observances were deemed meritorious ; the idea of a Church was identified with the existing: hierarchy ; the mystery of the individual relation to God, which is expressed in absolution, was made de- pendent on absolute obedience to the clergy. These opinions belonged to the system of faith which de- fended its authority with fire and sword. On the other side, was the obligation of faith and love ; the idea of the unity of an invisible Church consisting in a community of souls ; the forgiveness of sins through faith in the redemption, and reception of the sacra- in a true Christian, Addressed to the noble Knight George von Fi'onsperg, by Haug Marshalk, who was named tax-master at Augsburg in 1523." In his preface he praises the knight, " dass Eur Gestreng yetzumal so hoch benennt und gepreist wird, dass das edel rain lauter und unvermischt Wort Gottes, das heilig evangelium bey eur gestreng statt hat, und in eur ritter- lich gcmlit und hcrz eingemaurt und befestiget," &c. — " that your worship is now so highly famed and praised, for that the noble, clear, plain and pure word of God, the holy Gospel, has an asylum with your worship, and is enclosed and made fast in your knightly spirit and heart," &c. * Cunrad Distelmair von Arberg : ain trewe Ermanung, &c. 1523. 108 DIFFUSION OF Book III. ment without tlie necessity of confession ; and, finally, belief in the Bible alone as a rule of faith and doctrine. We are not now treating of the modifications given to their opinions by individual theologians, but simply of the prevalent trains of ideas which were at war in every part of Germany. So early as the year 1521, a little work was published, containing the allegory of this contest, under the name of " The old and the new Gods." On the title-page we see, as representatives of the new God, the pope, some of the fathers of the church, Aristotle, and, at the bottom of the leaf, Cajetan, Silvester, Eck and Faber ; on the opposite page, the true and ancient God in his triune form, the four evangelists, St. Paul grasping a sword, and lastly, Luther. The contents of the book were quite in character with the frontispiece.* With the ceremonies, rites, and articles of faith which had gro"\vn up under the protection of the rising hierarchy and its bloody sword, and turned Christianity into a kind of Judaism, is contrasted the old God, with his authentic word, and the simple doctrine of the redemption, of hope, faith, and love.f * Panzer, ii, p. 20. f See the preface bj Hartmann Dulich, printed in Veesen- meier's Sammlung von Aufsiitzen, p. 135, The following j^as- sage in Eberlin of GUnzburg's Fraindlicher Vermanung, p. iii., shows how much the purpose of the whole movement was recog- nised in these its most prominent tendencies : " Ich halt, Luther sey von Gott gesandt zu seubern die Biblia von der lerer ausle- gung vnd zwang, die gewissen zu erlosen von banden dermeusch- lichen gebot od' bapstgesetzen, und den gaistlichen abziehen den titel Christi ufi seiner kirchen, dz fiirohyn nit mer soUich gross Chap. in. THE NEW DOCTRIlJES. 109 These coarse and naked expressions suffice to show that the nation felt what were the real points in debate. The German mind became conscious that the hour of its maturity was come ; boldly resisted the tyranny of those accidental forms which had governed the world, and returned to the only true source of religious instruction.* Considering the vast agitation, the strong feel- ing of conflict, which prevailed, it is doubly re- markable how much control men had over tliem- selves, and with how much caution they often acted. Heinrich of Kettenbach continued to assume that the Church — by which however he understands an invisible community — possessed the treasure of the merits of Christ, of the Virgin Mary, and of all the elect. Eberlin of Giinzburg, whilst writing from Wit- tenberg to exhort his friends in Augsburg to biiberey — strafflos sey und' tlem Iieyligen namen Gottes . . . aueh ist cler Luther gesant dz er lere das creutz vnd glauben, welche schier durcli alle doctores vergessen seindt ; darzu ist Luther beruft von Got vnd Got gibt im weysshait, kunst, vernunft, sterke, vnd herz dazu."— " I hold that Luther was sent by God to free the Bible from the empty expositions and re- strictions of the teachers, to release the conscience from the bondage of human commands or popish laws, and to strip ecclesiastics of the title of Christ and of his church, so that in future such great knavery should no longer remain unpunished in the holy name of God. Luther is likewise sent to teach the cross and the faith, which are clean forgotten by all the doctors. Hereunto was Luther called by God, and to this end has God given him wisdom, knowledge, prudence, strength and courage." * Sermon von der Kirche, at the very beginning. 110 DIFFUSION OF Book III. procure for themselves each a copy of the New Testament, even if they had to save the price of it out of their food or raiment, admonishes them at the same time not to be too hasty in condemning the opinions of their fathers. There were many things, he said, which God in his wisdom had kept secret, and which they needed not to inquire about ; such as purgatory, and the intercession of saints. He adds, that even Luther condemned nothing that had not some distinct passage of Scripture against it. A young Bohemian critic brought forward a whole train of arguments to prove that it was very doubtful whether St. Peter had ever been in Rome ; and the Cathohc- party clearly perceived that if this question was decided in the negative, the whole doctrine of the primacy would be overthrown. But the theologians of Wittenberg did not allow them- selves to be dazzled by the brilliant results to which this line of argument would lead ; they pronounced it to be of no avail* towards furthering faith and piety ; and, indeed, in a work wherein this question is treated at length, and the ill effects of the abuse of the doctrine of primacy set forth with great earnestness, a hope is expressed that the new Pope, Adrian VI., would renounce all existing errors, and confine himself entirely to the precepts of the Bible — which some passages in his writings seemed to promise ; and that then not only the present differences would be healed, but also the old schism * Luther to Spalatin, 17th Feb. 1520, in De W., i. 559. CuAP. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. Ill ended, and that even Greeks and Bohemians would return to the bosom of the Church.* Others who were less sanguine, were yet of opi- nion that all violent measures were to be avoided, and that the abolition of abuses should be left to the government. Some, indeed, exhorted their fol- lowers to free themselves from the dominion of the j^riesthood, as the Israelites did from that of Pha- raoh. But even such men as the vehement Otho Brunfels opposed them, saying, that " the Word liad power to improve the state of the world without trouble or the sword ; and that things rashly and inconsiderately begmi never ended weU."t This was Luther's opinion also ; and for a long time it was acted on throughout the whole empire. * Apologia Simoiiis Hessi adv. dominum Roffensem Episc. Anglicanum super concertatione ejus cum Vlrico Veleno. Julio mense, 1523. The author maintains chiefly, " quod gen- tiliter et ambitiose pro Petri primatu a multis pugnetur, cum hinc nihil lucri accedat pietati : quod impie abusi sint potestate sua Romani pontifices in statuendis quibusdam articulis seditiosis magis quam piis." The passage of Adi'iau, in titulo de Sacram. baptismi, is : " Noverit ecclesia se non esse dominam sacra- mentorum sed ministram, nee posse magis formam sacramentalem destituere aut novam instituere quam legem aliquam divinam abolere vel novum aliquem fidei articulum instituere. Spero fore," he then proceeds, " si ille perstat in sua sententia, ut tota catholica ecclesia, qute nunc in sectas videtur divisa, in unam fidei unitatem aggregetur, adeo ut et Bohemos et Gra3- cos dexteras daturos confidam bene prtesidenti Romano pon- tifici." \ Vom evangelischen Anstoss, Neuenburg in Brcisgau Simonis und Judii, 1523. 112 DIFFUSION OF Book III. Every tiling might yet be hoped from the guid- ance of the Council of Regency ; for in directing that the pure word of God should be preached, and in avoiding all reference by name to the fathers of the Church, who were looked upon as the corner- stones of modern Romanism, the Council of Re- gency had adopted the most important ideas of the reformers. In the year 1523 it took the cause of reform more expressly under its protection. When Faber, the vicar of Constance, received a commission from Rome to preach against Luther, and applied to the Council of Regency for protection and safe conduct, they gave him a letter purporting, indeed, to have that effect, but conceived in such terms that, as Planitz says, he would gladly have had a better. Duke George made fresh complaints to the Re- gency of Luther's violent attacks, and several members of that body were of opinion that the elector should be admonished to punish him. This, however, Avas opposed by the majority. Count Pa- latine Frederic, the emperor's lieutenant, proposed that the duke's letters should, at any rate, be sent to the elector. " Sir," said Planitz, " the voice of the majority decides that my gracious master shall not be written to ; " and the duke was told that he might make the application to the elector himself. In the convocation of a fresh diet, care was taken to make no allusion to the religious troubles.* * Letter from Planitz, dated 28th Feb., 3d March, and 18th August, 1.523. Chap. III. THE NEW DOCTRINES. 113 The main point, however, was that no step what- ever was taken towards the execution of the edict of Worms; but the new doctrines were allowed freely to take their course, in expectation of the ecclesiastical council which had been demanded. It is evident of what importance to the State as well as to the Church was the question, — whether a government in which sentiments of this kind predominated, would be able to maintain itself or not. VOL. II. 114 OPPOSITION TO TIIE REGENCY. Book III. CHAPTER IV. OPPOSITION TO THE COUNCIL OF REGENCY. — DIET or 1523-24. Two great ideas occupied the mind of the whole German nation ; that of a national, representative, and at the same time, powerful government, and that of a complete renovation of the religious con- dition of the country : both these ideas were now, to a considerable extent, represented ; each received support from the other ; and, united, they seemed to promise a future equally important in a political and intellectjial point of view. All endeavours, however, which are directed to- wards ends so vast and comprehensive inevitably provoke strong and various opposition from many quarters. Not that the connexion between these two im- portant objects was so close as to be evident to all minds, or that the antagonists of the opposition were fully aware of both its bearings ; but each of them roused the peculiar antipathies of a class. It by no means followed that those who opposed the Council of Regency were hostile to the reformation of the Church. We are generally inclined, in our views of the j)ast, to fall into the error of ascribing too soon an exaggerated influence to a new element of social and political life. However powerful it may be, Chap. IV. SICKINGEN AND HIS ADVERSARIES. 115 there are other influences at work which it cannot immediately overcome, and which continue to ex- ercise their own independent action. The hostility to the Council of Regency arose from two causes fundamentally opposed. In the first place, that body seemed destined to become a powerful and efficient government, — a prospect which was far from welcome to every one. In the second, it was at present very feeble ; it possessed no executive power. Hence the first obstacle it encountered was disobedience. SICiaNGEN AND HIS ADVERSARIES. It was not to be expected that the Public Peace proclaimed by Charles V. would be better observed than those of former reigns. Two imperial coun- cillors, Gregory Lamparter and Johann Lucas, the master of the treasury, were attacked and taken prisoners on their way to Augsburg from Worms, where they had assisted at the closing of the diet. Niirnberg, the seat of government and of the courts of law, and at this time in a certain sense the capital city of the empire, was surrounded on all sides by the wildest private wars. Hans Thomas of Abs- berg, doubly irritated by the resolutions taken against him by the Swabian League, assembled again, in 1522, the most daring and reckless reiters from aU the surrounding districts : fresh letters of challenge were brought to Niirnberg every day, or were found stuck on the whipping-post in the I 2 116 SICKINGEN. Book III. neighbouring villages ; the roads east and west became unsafe. There was a lonely chapel at Kriigelstein, in the territory of Bamberg, where mass was said three times a week. Here, under colour of hearing it, all the bands of robbers and their scouts met together. Woe to the company of merchants that fell in their way, for they not only plundered them of all their wares, but had now adopted the barbarous practice of cutting off the right hands of their prisoners : it was in vain that the wretched sufferers implored them at least to cut off the left and leave the right. Hans Thomas of Absberg thrust the right hand of a shopkeeper, which he had chopped off, into the bosom of the unfortunate man, and told him that when he got to Nltrnberg he might give it to the biirgermeister in his name.* The Frankfurt Acts of 1522 present a very striking example of the general insecurity. Philip Fiirstenberg, who was sent by the town of Frank- * Milliner's Nurnberger Annalen for the years 1522 and 1523 contain this and many other details ; for example, Riidigkheim und Reuschlein " haben im Junio 2 Wagen mit Kupfer beladen zwo Meil von Frankfurt angenommen und die Fuhrleut un- gescheut beniithiget, dass sie das Kupfer in das Schloss Rucking, dem von Riidigkheim zugehorig, fiihren miissen." — " Riidigk- heim and Reuschlin did in June take, two miles from Frankfurt, two waggons loaded with copper, and in the most shameless manner constrained the drivers to convey the copper to the castle Riicking, which belonged to Riidigkheim." Riidigkheim wrote to the burgher of Niirnberg, to whom the copper be- longed, that if he wished to have it back, he might come and buy it of him. They were exasperated because the citizens of Niirnberg had complained to the emperor. Chap. IV. SICKINGEN. 117 flirt to the Council of Regency to take part in the government of the empire, found the road he had to travel from Miltenberg to Wertheim so unsafe, that he quitted his carriage, and joining a party of some 'prentice tailors whom he met, assumed their garb, and took a by-road on foot. The car- riage was attacked by several horsemen with bent cross-bows. In order to reach Wertheim he was forced to take an escort of five or six men armed with firelocks or cross-bows.* "The Reiters are angry," says he : "what they are about I know not." In this state of things, when the Council of Regency could not even protect its own members, there broke out a private war, more violent than any that had disturbed the peace of the empire during Maximilian's reign. In August, 1522, Franz von Sickingen, with a well-armed force of infantry, cavalry and artillery, ventured to attack an elector of the empire, the Archbishop of Treves, in his own country and strongly fortified capital. In the main this was merely a private war (Fehde) like many others, originating in a personal quarrel (this same elector having once earnestly entreated the assistance of the empire against Sic- kingen's outrages in Hessen) ; the pretext for which was some doubtful legal claims, — especially con- * Fiirstenberg writes from "Wertheim on St. Peter's and Paul's day, 1522 : " also hab ichmeyn giiedigen Herrn gebeten, uns gen Wirtzburg zu verhelfen : ist er willig, Gott lielf uns furter." — " I have then besought my gracious Lord to assist us in our journey to Wiirzburg : if he be willing, God help us further." I 3 118 SICKINGEN. Book III. ceming a fine which had been transferred from the archbishop to Sicking en ; and the I'eal object, the plunder and, if possible, the conquest of the fortified towns. There exists a most interesting letter from an old confidential friend of Sickingen's, in which the writer dissuades him from the en- terprize, and lays before him all the chances of success or failure. * Other motives were also at work, which gave public importance to this undertaking : success in a hostile enterprise was no longer Sickingen's ulti- mate aim ; he had an eye to interests of far greater moment. First of all, to those of the whole body of the Knights of the Empire. We have seen how great was their discontent at the state of public affairs at that time : at the Swabian League, which took upon itself to be at once accuser, judge and exe- cutor of its own sentences ; at the Imperial Cham- ber, whose proceedings were only directed against the weak, and left the strong to their own guid- ance ; at the encroachments of the princes, their courts of law, taxes and feudal privileges. In the spring of 1522 the nobility of the Upper Rhine met at Landau, and resolved that they would only allow their feudal afi*airs to be judged before feudal judges and vassals, according to old custom ; and their difi'erences with those of other classes, before tribunals composed of impartial judges, of knightly * Balthazar Schlor's letter to Sickingen, without date, but immediately before the outbreak of hostilities, in Giinther's Codex Diplomaticus Rheno-Mosellanus, v. p. 202. Chap. IV. SICKINGEN. 119 rank* ; and that they would come to the assistance of every man to whom this was refused. They elected Franz von Sickingen their leader in this matter. An address to the imperial towns, written by Hutten and dated 1522 f, is the- manifesto of the opinions entertained by Sickingen and his fol- lowers. Never were the sovereign princes more vehemenUy accused of violence and injustice ; the towns were invited to accept the friendship and alliance of the nobility, and above all, to destroy the Council of Regency, which Hutten looked upon as the representative of the princely power. . The religious dissensions gave, of course, a strong additional impulse to hostilities undertaken against one of the most powerful of the spiritual princes. The Ebernburg was, in fact, the first * "... wo der Ifleger den Antwurter erfordert vor sein des Antwurters Genoss, oder ungefehrlich dem etwas gemess oder dariiber, unparteilichs Recliten oder Austrags, vor die, so inlen- disch der Saclien gesessen oder gelegen seyn." — "where the plaintiff cites the defendant before a tribunal composed of his own and the defendant's peers (or nearly so), and having juris- diction over affairs occurring in the country." f " Beklagunge der Freistette deutscher nation." — " Com- plaints of the free cities of the German nation." — The date is ascertained by these words : — " Der (Kaiser) zeucht nun von uns wider Mher ; 8ie woUen nit, dass er widerkheer." " The emperor now leaves us again ; They wish he may not come back." These ideas prevailed in the following year also, as we learn from a writing by Kettenbach : " Practica practicirt," &c. (^Panzer, ii. 190.) wherein the cities are exhorted not to involve themselves in the disputes between the nobles and the princes. I 4 120 SICKINGEN. Book III. place in which the evangelical service was regularly celebrated in its new fonii. Sickingen's followers went further than the school of Wittenberg. They considered the administration of the Lord's Supper in both kinds not alone lawful, but absolutely necessary. John Q^^colampadius was the first who condemned as pernicious, the spiritual satisfaction which the people felt at listening every day to the unintelligible muttering of the mass, being present at the ceremony of benediction, and com- mending themselves to God without much expen- diture of time or attention ; and he accordingly read the mass only on Sundays, omitting the ele- vation of the host, and using none but the Ger- man language.* There is a letter extant written by Sickingen himself, in which he inveighs against the use of pictures in churches, and pronounces them better fitted for the decoration of stately halls ; he also declaims against the invocation of saints. The marriage of Johann Schwebel, one of his preachers, was arranged by him. One of his friends was Hartmuth von Kronenberg, who may be considered as the earliest specimen of a pious and earnest Lutheran in the style of more modern times, f The connexion with these mighty elements gave unwonted importance to Sickingen's enterprises. * QEcolampadii Epistola ad Hedionem in Gerdesius Historia Evangelii, torn. i. Monumenta, p. 166. t Letters from Ki-onenberg to the four mendicant orders, 25th June, 1522, and to the inhabitants of Kronenberg ; jMiinch's Sickingen, ii. pp. 145. and 153. CiiAi'. IV. SICKINGEN. 1 2 1 The majority of the whole knighthood of the em- pire was on his side, and exerted itself in his favonr ; he also called on Luther, to whom he had formerly offered protection, for his support. And assuredly it would have been no mean alliance, had the monk, whom the nation honoured as a prophet, taken u^^ his abode with the brave and puissant knight, and lent to the formidable bands of the Ebernburg the powerful aid of his word. But Luther had the great good sense to avoid all political connexions, to attempt no violence, and to trust solely and entirely to the might of his doctrines. Sickingen received nothing from Saxony but dissuasions. Nevertheless, his manifesto to the inhabitants of Treves shows how much he reckoned on the prevailing national inclinations ; for he pro- mises that " he will deliver them from the heavy antichristian yoke of the priesthood and lead them to evangelical freedom."* The ideas and sentiments of a warlike noble, who feels himself a match even for a powerful prince ; of the head of the whole order of knighthood ; and of a champion of the new religious opinions, were all blended in his mind. It is a significant fact that Hutten, in one of his dialogues, puts into the mouth of Sickingen an ardent panegyric on Ziska, the invincible hero who cleared his country of monks and idle priests, employed their property for the general good, and put a stop to the depredations of Rome, f * Extracts from the manifestoes in Meiner's Leben Huttens, p. 317. f Monitor Secunclus 0pp., iv. p. 144. 122 SICKINGEN. Book III. On the 27tli of August, 1522, Sickingen declared war against the archbishop, chiefly for those things " wherein he had acted against God and the em- peror's majesty." Secretly assisted, rather than hindered, by the Elector of Mainz, he arrived before Treves on the 7 th of September, having taken St. Wendel. He crossed the Marsberg with 1500 horse, 5000 foot, and a considerable body of artillery * ; and we have reason to believe that he expected to be joined at this point by his friends, Rennenberg, who was recruiting for him in Cleves and Juliers ; the bastard of Sombrefi*, who was doing the same in the archbishopric of Cologne ; and Hanz Voss, who was arming in the territory of Limburg ; Nickel Minkwitz, too, was to join him with 1500- men out of Brunswick. In Sickingen's camp, it was rumoured that he would soon be elector ; nay, perhaps something even greater still. The eyes of the whole empire were turned upon his movements ; the delegate of Duke George of Saxony wrote to his master that nothing so dan- gerous to the princes of the empire had been at- attempted for centuries, f Others aflirmed that affairs were in such a state, that before long it would be impossible to know who was king or emperor, prince or lord. The turbulent and anarchical power of the knights thus once more threatened the peace and * This number, smaller than that which is usually given, is taken from the Flersheimer Chronik, in Munch's Sickingen, iii. p. 215. f Letter in the Royal Saxon Archives. CiiAP. IV. SICKINGEN. 123 security of the whole empire. It is not easy to imagine what AvoukI have been the result had they been successful. It is scarcely credible that a tolerably well or- ganised government could have been formed out of the several knightships which were now become absolute and independent sovereignties ; or that the mid and arbitrary courses of men who were accustomed to look to their swords for rio;ht and security, could easily have been restrained by the sennons of the reformers : it is at least certain that fficolampadius found a hard and ungrateful soil on Sickingen's mountain fortress. Moreover, the elements of which this body was composed were of the most heterogeneous natures : the knighthood — one of the most peculiar products of the middle ages — arose out of, and existed in, the disorganisation of the powers of the state : whereas the declared ten- dency of the new religious system was to renovate and confirm those powers. The position of Sickingen himself was anomalous : the forces which he led were by no means of a chivalrous kind ; he was at the head of a hired army which could only be held together by money, and furnished with the apparatus for a kind of warfare essentially opposed to all knightly modes of combat. Strange spec- tacle!— the forces which decided the fate of the world in two different ages were here in contact, and it was imagined that they coiUd be brought to unite and co-operate! We, in our days, can see how impossible was such a union ; for it is only by keeping pace, sincerely and energetically, with the 124 SICKINGEN. Book TIL progress of society, that any thing permanent can be effected. Even at that time, however, it was perceived, that if the power of the princes were overthrown, and the constitution of the empire (which was as yet by no means firmly established) broken up, nothing was to be expected but an ex- clusive, violent, and at the same time self-conflicting rule of the nobles. The question then was, who should undertake the defence of public order, thus fearfully me- naced. The Council of Kegency did all that was in its power. Remonstrances were sent to Sickingen, and mandates to all the neighbouring princes, enjoining them to resist his attempts. On Sickin- gen, the warnings from the Regency made little impression : he replied, that he himself intended to introduce a new order of things into the empire.* He utterly refused to submit to a decision of the Imperial Chamber, and said that he had a court of * Planitz to tlie Elector Frederic, 13tli Sept. : " Sickingen habe gesagt, er wolle sicli eines Thuns unterstelin, dessen sich kein romischer Kaiser unterstanden. 28tli Sept. er habe den Boten des Regiments gesagt : er wisst vorwar, sein Herr der Kaiser werde niclit zilrnen, ob er den Pfaffen ein wenig strafet und ihm die Kronen eintriinkt, die er genommen hiitte." — " Sickingen had said he would dare to do a deed which no Roman emperor had yet dared. 28th Sept. he said to the mes- senger of the Regency, he knew for certain that his lord the em- peror wovdd not be angry because he punished the priest a little, and paid him off for the crowns he had taken." People really began to believe that the emperor might have some understanding with him. The emperor afterwards said, Franz had not served him well enough to induce him to connive at matters of this sort. Chap. IV. SICKINGEN. 125 justice of his own, composed of soldiers who argued with nuiskets and carronades. It is very probable that his whole ai-my did not think as he did ; at any rate, the Council of Regency asserted that Franz's folloAving and power were greatly dimi- nished in consequence of their eiforts. But a far weightier authority was required to force him to submission, and every thing depended on the re- sistance he would find from the elector and his allies. Richard von Greiffenklau, Archbishop of Treves, had made the best possible preparations. He had burned down the convent of St. Maximin, on which the enemy reckoned for stores, bringing in liis own hand the first torch that fired it : in the town, his presence kept down the disturbances which certainly had begun. The clergy mounted guard round the cathedral, the citizens in the market-place, the mercenaries on the Avails and in the towers ; and the conduct of the war was en- trusted to the native nobles who had not deserted the cause of the see. While Sickingen, who had calculated on making a coup -de-main,, now met with an unexpected and determined resistance, it so happened that all his friends and allies, whose arrival was necessary to the completion of his force, were .either detained or beaten. The Duke of Cleves and tlie Elector of Cologne ordered all the horsemen who had been recruited in their territories, to stay at home, under pain of forfeiture of their fiefs, and even of their lives. The young Landgrave of Hessen sue- 126 SICKINGEN. Book III. ceeded in defeating Minkwitz's troops as they were marcliing from Brunswick ; taking their leader, with all his papers, prisoner, and finally inducing the soldiers to enter his own service.* All these reverses deterred the Liineburg and Westphalian troops from taking the field at all. On the other side, the Elector Palatine, Sic- kingen's former patron, as well as his old and bitter enemy the Landgrave of Hessen, took arms and hastened to the assistance of their neighbour and ally, the Elector of Treves. Sicldngen, deprived of the support he had expected, and encamped before a bravely-defended town, in an open country, among a people ex- asperated by his devastations, did not dare to await the conjunction of forces so superior to his own ; besides this, he himself did not evince that energy and those resources of talent and bravery, mthout which no one can venture with impunity on such hazardous enterprises. On the 14th of September he was compelled to abandon Treves. f That one week sufficed to give a turn to the whole destiny of Germany. The three sovereigns who represented the threatened princely power, were thus triumphant * Letter from Landgrave Philip to the Elector of Treves, 5th Sept. 1522, in Rommel's Geschichte von Hessen, vol. v. p. 858. t These events at Treves are described by Latomus and Browerus, Annal. Trev. ii. 340., who has also quoted Latomus Gesta Trevii'orum in Hontheim's Prodromus, p. 858., Chronicon S. Maximini, ibid. p. 1035. Chap. IV. SICKINGEN. 1 27 over the rebellious knights and their leaders. They were not content with clearing the archbishopric of its enemies ; and though, strange to say, they did not pursue Sickingen, they immediately attacked his allies. The Elector of Mainz, who was accused of allowing a detachment of Sickingen's horse to pass the Rhine unmolested, was forced to buy his peace at the cost of 25,000 gulden.* Hartmuth von Kronenberg, whom the landgrave wanted above all to punish for the share he had taken in Sickingen's foray on Darmstadt, was beleaguered in his castle near Frankfurt. The landgrave would not hear of pardon or conditions ; he helped to point the cannon with his own hand. The knight escaped but just in time, for his fortress was forced to surrender on the 16th of October. The three princes received in person the oaths of allegiance from the inhabitants, and the town was for a long time treated as Hessian. f They next marched against Frowen von Hutten, "because he had taken part in the rebellion, and received proclaimed outlaws in his house : " his castle of Saalmiinster was taken. The same fate was shared by Philip Waiss of Haussen in the Mark of Fulda, and by Rudeken in * The delegate of Duke George says that this is one of the reasons: " Die andern stecken in der Feder." — " The others stick in the pen." I Tendel : " Beschreibuug der Belagerung von Kronenberg." — Munch, iii. p. 28. 128 SICKINGEN. Book III. Rukingen ; others endeavoured to save themselves by negotiation. A similar storm threatened Sickingen's allies in distant parts of the country. The Franconian nobles had not, it is true, directly assisted him, but they had encouraged him in his project, and had generally adhered to his fection : the Swabian League, on the contrary, had made common cause with the princes, especially with the Elector Pala- tine, and now summoned the Franconian knights before its tribunal, to stand their trial for certain breaches of the Public Peace. The knights did not consider themselves bound to obey this citation, and, accordingly, met at Schweinfurt to protest against it: they were still determined to defend themselves. The vassals of the Bishop of Wlirz- burg, who had been the last to join the League, were so exasperated at his tardiness, that, in the beginning of the year 1523, they deprived him of all his offices. This threw all Swabia and Fran- conia into confusion. From the very superior strength of the League, the result of the struggle was easily foreseen, unless the Council of Regency had power to prevent it. Events indeed now acquired a totally different character and importance, from their effect on this supreme administrative body of the empire. Its authority was formerly resisted and con- temned by Sickingen and his friends, for which, on the accusation of the procurator of Treves, Sic- kingen had been outlawed on the 8th of October, contrary to the laws of the empire, without sum- mons or trial. Now, however, his enemies placed Chap. IV. SICKINGEN. 129 themselves in an attitude of equal defiance, and of equal peril to the Council of Regenc}^: instead of pursuing the outhiw himself, they attacked his supposed alhes, frequently without proof of their guilt, and took their fortified dwellings. The Swabian League, which already declared that it had only acquiesced in the creation of the Council of Regency on the supposition of its union, noM^ openly usurped part of the functions of the Imperial Chamber by the citations before its own tribunal to which we have alluded ; and it did not deign even to return an answer to an admonition, not to molest people about the Public Peace. Men's pretensions naturally rise with their power. As the attempts of Sickingen, and the insubordinate spirit of the Franconian nobility had not been put down by the Council of Regency, but by the superior force and the arms of their neighbours, it was natural that the latter should now continue the struggle with a view to their own interests, with- out much regard to the supreme authority of the empire.* Hence it happened that the Council of Regency soon took under its protection the very men it had but just before treated as its enemies. Fro wen von Hutten, after the opinions of the most con- siderable members of the Imperial Chamber had been heard, obtained without much trouble a mandate wherein the princes were required to restore all his castles to him ; and shortly after a * See the letter from the Elector of Treves, 2d Nov. 1522, in Miinch, iii. 33. VOL. II. K 1 30 SICKINGEN. Book III. formal judgment was given in his favour. At the same time, the Council of Regency pressed the princes to release the Elector of Mainz from the conditions so arbitrarily imposed on him.* These princes had wished for the aid of the empire to put down the outlawed Sickingen ; but this they found it impossible to obtain, either from the Regency or from the Estates assembled in the beginning of the year 1523; if the sentence of outlawry had not already been pronounced, w^e may safely assume that it would not have been pronounced at alLf Some members of the Swabian League proposed that all meetings and associations among the order of knights should be forbidden, but to this the Regency could not now be brought to consent ; on the contrary, it proclaimed its intention of protecting all the knights, except those who had committed any offence against the Public Peace. It appears to me that the knights as a body now first became of real importance to the organisation and progress of the empire. Their wild project of founding an independent power was at an end. The Council of Regency was their sole support, and they found themselves under the necessity of making common cause with it. The union of these two bodies, essentially distinct, was rendered more * Planitz, 4th Feb. 1523, says, they should release him from his obligations, and give Sickingen an amicable hearing. f Planitz thought on the 24th Nov. that sentence of out- lawry would not be pronounced against Siclvingen, " man luitte ihn denn citiert ; aber geschehn ist geschehn " — " without citing him to appear ; but what is done is done." CiiAP. n^. SICKINGEN. 131 strict by the circumstance that the knights and the Regency had both embraced the evangelical doc- trines. For the same reason, tlie Elector of Saxony, who was the main prop of the Regency, entered into a kind of alliance with the knights. In the second quarter of the year 1523, when the duty of personal attendance at the Council of Regency fell upon the Elector of Mainz, his place was filled by his cousin, the grand master, Albert of Prussia, whose sole purpose was to maintain the dominion of his order, i. e. the Teutonic knights, and especially those of Swabia and Franconia, in their own country, and to set the whole powers of the empire in motion to that effect. Little as it had been to be desired a year ago, that Sickingen should conquer Treves, it was of great importance that he should be able to defend him- self against the attacks which were preparing against him in the spring of 1523. Thus, by a strange turn of fate, the safety of the knight who had so often disturbed the Public Peace, and connnitted so many deeds of violence, became now, after he was outlawed, inex- tricably bound up with the interests of order in the empire. Nor did he by any means give up his cause : he expected to receive assistance from Lower Germany, and from the Upper Rhine ; to be joined by the Bohemian and Franconian knights, and to be sup- ported by the Lutherans, From his fortress of Landstuhl, where he was then living, he one day descried horsemen among the distant underwood ; K 2 132 SICKINGEN. Book III he flattered himself that they were Lutherans who were coming to see what he Avas about, but they came no nearer, and tied their horses to the bushes.* What he saw was the advanced guard of the enemy who were approaching to besiege him. Meanwhile he had no apprehension. He had just repaired his fortress ; and had no doubt that he would be able to stand a siege of three months at least, in which time his allies would come up and relieve him. But the event proved that he had not rightly calculated the improvement that had taken place in the engines of war during the preceding century. He had no other means of defence than those used by the kniafhts of old : it remained to be seen Avhether the lofty situation, the vaulted towers — solid as the rocks they stood on — and the massive walls, could afford protection against artillery. It was soon evident that the old defences were far too weak for the modern arts of war." On the 30th of April 1523, the princes began to bombard the castle with carronades and culverins, well supplied with ammu- nition and well served. The young landgrave, who appeared in the dress of a landsknecht, showed courage and skill f : the great tower, which com- * Hubert Th. Leodius, Acta et Gesta Francisci de Sickingen in Freher Script. Rei\ Germ. iii. p. 305. t Lettera da Ispruch a di 12 Mazo, 1523, al S' Mcli. di Mantoa. " II Landgrafio si e portato magnanimamente, essendo sempre stato de li primi, in zuppone con le calze tagliate et in corsaletto da Lanzichenech, et e giovane di 18 anni." — Samito's Cron, Ven., vol. xxxiv. Chap. IV. DEATH OF SICKINGEN. 133 manded and threatened their camp, fell the same day: the newness of its walls made them less able to withstand tlie shock of the cannon-balls. Sickingen seeing tliis unexpected misfortune, went to a loophole, and leaning on a battering engine, sought to get a view of the state of things, and of what was to be done. A culverin happened at the moment to be pointed in that direction with but too sure an aim ; the implements of defence were scat- tered in all directions, and Sickingen himself was hurled against a sharp beam and mortally wounded in the side. The whole fortress was a ruin : in the only vault which remained standing, lay the lord of the castle, bereft of all hope. No help appeared in sight. " Where now," said Sickingen, " are those gentle- men, my friends, who promised me so much ? Where is Furstenberg ? where are the Swiss and the Strasburgers ?" He was at last forced to capi- tulate.* The princes having refused to allow him liberty to evacuate the castle, as, according to custom, he proposed, he said, " I will not be their prisoner long." He liad scarcely strength enough left to sign the conditions, and lay dying when the princes en- tered the donjon. The Elector of Treves said, " What charge had you to bring against me, Franz, that you attacked me and my poor subjects in my see?" "And what against me," said the landgrave, " that you * Account of what occurred in tlie wars of Franz Sickingen ; Spalatin, Sammlung zu Siichs. Gesch., v. p. 148. K 3 134 DEATH OP SICKINGEN. Book III. invaded my land in my nonage ?" Sickingen re- plied, " I have now to render an account to a greater sovereign." His chaplain Nicolas asked him whether he wished to confess, but he answered, " I have already con- fessed to God in my heart." The chaplain addressed to him some last words of consolation, and held up the host ; the princes bared their heads and knelt down : at that moment Sickingen expired, and the princes said a paternoster for his soul.* Sickingen's memory will live for ever; not on account of any great achievements productive of lasting results, nor even on account of his extraor- dinary bravery, or of any eminent moral qualities he evinced, but for the novelty and importance of the position to which he gradually attained. The first step in his rise was his connexion with the Elector Palatine, who employed hini against his enemies, opened a career to him, and afforded him support and assistance both publicly and in secret. Thus in a short time, from an inconsiderable knight, possessor only of two or three mountain castles, he became a powerful Condottiere who could bring a small army into the field at his own charges. The more considerable he became, the more he felt tempted to pursue his own line of policy, and justified in doing so. The Wiirtemberg war was the first occa- sion on which he separated himself from the elector, who did not cordially approve that enterprise. * The Flersheimer Chronik contains the most authentic ac- count. Miinch, iii. 222. CiiAr. IV. SICKINGEN. 135 He did not, however, on that account johi the Swabian League ; on the contrary, he soon entered into the closest alliance with the Franconian knights, with whom that body was at enmity. This it was that rendered his position so imposing. We have seen how a few years before, Wiirtemberg, the Palatinate, and Wiirzburg opposed the Swabian I^eague with the aid of the knights. Now, however, the princes had been forced to join the League, and Wiirtemberg had been subdued ; so that Sickingen and the knights maintained the opposition single- handed. Visions of reviving the ancient inde- pendence of the nobility ; of freeing themselves from the territorial jurisdiction of the temporal and spiritual princes, and of opening the way for the spread of the new religious convictions, floated before their minds. Never was there a more singular combination : in the midst of the deeds of violence that were committed, there was a lively and ready aj^prehension of great ideas : it is this strange union which characterises the nobility of that time. Meanwhile they had neither the intellectual power nor the political influence necessary to carry out projects of such a nature. AVhen Sickingen at last decidedly attacked the princely authority, mightier powers took the field against him; the Palatinate not only abandoned him, but combined with his enemies for his destruc- tion.* He then discovered that he was not so • * Contemporaries saw it in tliis light, as is shown by the dia- logue between the Fox and the Wolf : " Wolf : Wie mainstu hat dcr Pfalzgraff gethon, wir wolten gut feiste Bolz erlangt han ? K 4 136 SICKINGEN. Book III. strong as he believed himself to be, that he did not owe his elevation to his own powers alone, and that those which had helped to raise, were now turned against him. In this conflict he perished. The taking of Landstuhl was a victory of the order of princes (Furstenthum) over that of knights (Biiterthiim'); of the cannon over the stronghold, and in so far, of the new order of things over the old ; it fortified the newly-arisen independent powers of the empire. All the castles belonging to Sickingen and his friends now fell into the hands of the princes. They were twenty-seven in all, including those taken in the course of the autumn. Those on the ris^ht bank of the Rhine fell to the share of the landgrave, those on the left, were divided between the elector palatine and the archbishop. In the Ebernburg, the only castle that defended itself for any time, rich booty was taken, — splendid jewels and plate, both for worldly and religious purposes ; but above all, thirty-six pieces of artillery, the finest of which, — the Nightingale, cast by Master Stephen of Frank- furt—measured thirteen feet and a half, weighed seventy hundred weight, and was decorated with the figures of the knight and his lady, their respective ancestors, and the saint for whom they had formerly had a peculiar devotion — St. Francis.* This was Fuchs : es ist bei Got war, derselb hat uns allein den Schaden thon des wir uns nit verselien." — " The Wolf: How thinkest thou, has the elector palatine done — should we have received good large cross-bow bolts? The Fox : It is true, by God ; he alone has done us the mischief against which we had not guarded." * Report in Spalatin, p. 151. CiiAP. IV. FRANCONIAN KNIGHTS. 137 part of the landgrave's share. The princes bound themselves to aid each other to keep wliat they had won in common, after which, on the Gth of June, they separated. At the same moment the Swabian League held a meeting at Nordlingen, to which all the Fran- conian knights accused of a breach of the Public Peace were summoned for trial. Some of them suc- ceeded in clearing themselves from suspicion ; others appeared, but failing to prove their innocence, they were not admitted to their oath. Many altogether disdained to present themselves before the council- lors of the league.* Against the two last classes, an army of 1500 horse and 15,000 foot assembled on the 15th June, at Diinkelspiel, under the command of George Truchsess : the cities of Augsburg, Ulni, and Nlirnberg provided the artillery. f Such an army as this was far too powerful to be resisted by the Franconian nobles. Bocksberg, near Mergentheim, was considered the strongest castle in Franconia, and upon it, on the advice of the Nllrnbergers, the march was first directed. The Rosenbergs, to wliom it belonged, had originally meant to defend them- selves, and had hired a troop of Lanclsknechts and musketeers to serve their guns ; but when they saw sucli an overpowering force, they gave up all * Letter from Nordlingen in the Dresden Arcliives, beginning of June, 1523, " der Bund geht teglich zwir in Rath." — " The league meets in council every day." Chiefly from Miillncr's Annalen, which contains a journal of the whole expedition. f Niirnberg gave 2 cannon, 2 carronades, 2 nightingales, 2 culverins, 6 rabinets, 6 mortars, GO pole-axes. 138 HUTTEN. Book III. idea of defence, and surrended their castle with its stores. This example put an end to all resist- ance. The castle of Absberg was burnt, and nothing left standing but the bare walls. In the Kriigelstein there stood a tower, the walls of which were eight feet thick, even at the top ; this was blown up with gunpowder. Waldstein, in the midst of its wilder- ness, whither many a prisoner had been dragged, was blown up and destroyed by Wolf von Freiberg, the captain of the city of Augsburg: twenty-six castles are enumerated, all of which were seized, and most destroyed. Some of these were Bohemian fiefs ; and at first the Bohemians had made a show of resistance in the neighbourhood of the mountains ; but the League ordered its commander to act up to his instructions, without regard to the Bohe- mians, who accordingly retreated, leaving him to fulfil his terrible commission. The independent knights were utterly crushed. Just as they had caught the inspiration of religion, and had hoped by its influence to open a new career for themselves, their power was broken for ever. We must not fail to observe a fact intimately connected with this event. The man who first brought the warlike spirit of knighthood into contact with the religious agitations of the times, Ulrich von Hutten, Avas involved in the common catastrophe. He had given to Sickingen's enter- prizes the incalculable aid of a zealous counsellor and encouraging friend: he was, therefore, na- turally struck with consternation at his fall. He dared not endanger the safety of his relations by Chap. IV. DEATH OF IIUTTEN. 139 his presence ; and in Upper Germany he was equally obnoxious to the vengeance of the spiritual, and of the victorious temporal authorities; he took refuge in Switzerland, as others had done in Saxony. There he fell again into the same bitter and de- sponding state of mind which he had once laboured under in his youth. Xor, even here, did he al- ways find a welcome ; he wandered from place to place, under the unhappy necessity of asking money and assistance of his literary friends, many of whom shunned him as dangerous. Erasmus, who carefully kept up his connexions among the great, was frightened at the idea of receiving a visit from him, and avoided and repulsed him. In addition to this, his old disease broke out again in a dreadful manner, Yet the veteran combatant did not lose his courage; once more he poured forth all the vehemence of his rhetoric against Erasmus, whom he looked upon as an apostate. But he had now no longer strength to bear such violent emotions and exertions, and before he could receive the answer of Erasmus, disease put an end to his life : — he died at Ufnau, on the lake of Ziirich, where he had gone at Zwingli's advice to consult a priest skilled in the healing art.* It was fortunate for Luther that he had made no closer alliance with the knights ; as both he and the doctrine he preached would have been involved in their evil destiny. * Zwinglius to Wolfliardt, 11th Oct., " Hbros nuUos habiiit, supellectilem niillam prajter calaraum." — Ei)p., p. 313. 140 OPPOSITION OF Book III. If we now return to the point whence we started, we shall clearly perceive, that the whole turn of affairs was unpropitious, and even dangerous, to the Council of Regency. It would indeed have been unable to do any thing for Sickingen, having tied its own hands by declaring him an outlaw ; it would however gladly have afforded protection to the knightly order; but what resistance could it possibly make to two such powerful armies as those of the League and of the princes ? Moreover these two powers, emboldened by conquests, assumed an attitude of still great defiance, and even hostility. The princes declared the judgment in favour of Frowen von Hutten invalid and illegal*, and re- jected the proceedings of the Regency in that and all other cases. To this dangerous hostility another no less formidable was soon added. THE CITIES AND THE IMPEKIAL COURT. Under the circumstances we have been de- scribing, the establishment of the proposed import duties, by which the power of the Council of Regency must have been materially increased, could not have failed to produce important results. * Planitz, 22d July. He tliinks that, under sucli circum- stances, the Council of Regency could not last long : " Denn der dreier Fiirstent und des Bunds Vornehmen will sich mit unsern gethanen Pflichten gar nicht leiden." — " The intentions of the three princes and of the league will not square with our duties." Chap. IV. THE CITIES. 141 There ought to have been no hesitation on the subject ; the States had resolved on it ; the emperor had given his consent beforehand. A messenger from tiie lieutenant, of the Empire had already carried the acts and the Recess of the diet to Spain. But we have already remarked how much the cities thought themselves injured and endangered by such an interference with commerce : they were determined not to submit to it without resistance. They had also many other grievances to allege. In the year 1521, the decree concerning the levies for the expedition to Rome had been passed without summoning the cities, according to ancient usage, to the deUberation. The cities immediately comjDlained, whereupon an explanation was given which satisfied them for the moment. Since then, however, the attempts made to meet the exigencies of the empire by taxes which would have fallen most heavily on the cities ; their determined resistance ; the attacks on the monopolies on the one side, and the obstinate maintenance of them on the other, had been con- tinually augmenting the ill-will between the cities and the higher classes; and at the diet of 1522-3 it openly Ijurst forth. A general meeting of the States was announced for the 11th of December, 1522, in order to hear and discuss the proposals to be made by the Council of Regency and the committee, for succours to be granted to the Hungarians. It had formerly been customary for the Council of Regency after sub- 142 OPPOSITION or Book III. mitting a proposition, to retire and leave the three colleges to deliberate thereupon. On this occasion, however, the Regency did not retire? : the electors and princes assented to its proposal without separating, and it was then laid before the cities. The cities, which were peculiarly interested in questions of this kind, and always rather hard to satisfy, asked time for consideration — only till the afternoon. Hereupon they received an answer which they little expected : they were told, that " the usage in the empire was, that Avhen a thing was determined on by the electors, princes and other Estates, the cities should be content to abide by it." The citizens, on their side, contended, that if they were to share weal and woe with the other States they ought also to have a voice in the de- liberations ; in short, that those who took their purses must be fain to take their counsel. The subsidies in money were what they particularly objected to ; like the other States, they would only furnish men. But no attention was paid by the as- sembly to a resolution they drew up to this effect. A mandate was issued, requiring them to furnish contributions which they had never voted : they asked fresh time for deliberation, but were again told that it was not the practice : they were pre- paring to reply when it struck eleven, and the sitting was dissolved.* The cities were the more confounded at this * Letter from Holzhausen to Frankfort, Dec. 1522. Frankf. Arch., vol. xxxvi.j particularly f. 110. Die Supplik der Stadte. Chap. IV. THE CITIES, 143 proceeding, on being told that it was by special favour that two of their deputies were received into the committee, whereas the counts had only one : they thought this betrayed an intention of excluding them from the committees altogether. In the year 1487, they had given up the oppo- sition which, as a body, they had long maintained, because the Elector Berthold of Mainz had, as we saw, obtained for them a practical share in the deliberations ; and we know how powerfully this was sometimes exercised : they now supposed that the intention was to strip them of all their rights, at the same time that the fulfilment of their obli- gations was strictly enforced. As measures which threatened to be extremely injurious to their trade and manufactures were now resolved on with reference to monopolies and import duties, and as a fresh petition, in which all their grievances past and present were set forth, had proved as ineffectual as the preceding ones, they determined to resist with all their might. They steadily withheld their assent to the de- cisions of the diet, and obstinately refused to grant a loan which they were called upon to advance, and which was to be repaid out of the proceeds of the tax for the Turkish war. Hereupon the princes took care to let them feel their displeasure. " The imperial towns," writes the deputy from Frankfurt *, " are departing under heavy disgrace : * Holzhausen, 2oth, 26tli, 29th Jan., 1523. Vol. xxxvii. of the Fraukf. A. is here my chief authority. 144 THE CITIES AND Book III. time alone can show what will be the result ; but my journey home is a sad one." It was fortunate for the cities that the decisions of the States did not immediately acquire the force of law, but had first to be sent to Sj)ain to receive the emperor's ratification. Their only hope lay in this. In March, 1523, the cities assembled in Spire, and resolved to send an embassy of their own to Spain, to represent to the emperor the injury they apprehended from the proposed duties, as well as their other grievances. The report of this mission is fortunately still extant, and we will pause over it for a moment, as it affords us a curious specimen of the manner in which the affairs of Germany were conducted at the Imperial court in Spain. The journey was extremely long and fatiguing. On the 15th of June, the delegates met at Lyons, and it was not till the 6th of August that they reached Yalladolid : the cliief cause of delay was the oppressive heat, which even caused some of the party to fall sick. They began by visiting Markgrave Johann of Brandenburg, the high chancellor, and above all the councillors to whom the affairs of Germany were re- ferred ; Herr von Rosch, Hannart, Provost Miirldin of Waldkirchen, and Maximilian von Zevenberghen. Hereupon, on the 9th of August, the emperor gave them a formal audience in the presence of a brilliant assembly of grandees, bishops and am- bassadors : they addressed him in Latin, and were answered in the same language by the chancellor, in the emperor's name. Chap. IV. THE BfPERIAL COURT. 145 A commission was then appointed to discuss affairs with them, consisting only of the four German councillors we have named above: the proceedings commenced on the 11th of August. The delegates had drawn up a statement of their grievances under six heads ; — administration of justice, tolls, subsidies. Public Peace, monopolies, and other things of less importance. These they laid before the commissioners in German and Latin, and then went through them together, which gave them an opportunity of expressing their wishes orally. The councillors at first appeared unfavourably inclined. They thought it unjust that the question of the jurisdictions should not have been brought forward till now, when a young emperor had just ascended the throne : they complained that no class in the empire would do its part, although neither the Council of Regency nor the courts of justice could be maintained without supplies from the several Estates : they exhorted the cities to submit for a short time longer, and not to re- fuse their share of the contributions voted by the diet on tlie part of the whole empire, in aid of the Hun2:arians. A drauo-ht of a ratification of tlie decree of the diet had actually been prepared at the instigation of another imperial councillor, Doctor Lamparter. But the delegates were not so easily put off: they declared that the cities were ready to contribute their share ; for example, to pay two members of the Imperial Chamber, and even to pay the contributions, at the rate determined at the diet of Constance ; but that they had no VOL. II. L 146 THE CITIES AND Book III. intention of submitting to the unjust demands attempted to be enforced against them. They supported their declarations with a few very acute and stringent remarks. " Who can foretell," said they, " what will become of the revenues raised from these import duties ? It is reported that a scheme has already been proposed by the princes for sharing the proceeds amongst themselves ; and even if this be not true, there is a project of electing a king of the Romans, who would be able to maintain his power out of the revenue thus raised." In short, they made it appear that the duty would be dangerous to the emperor himself; remarking, at the same time, that the Council of Regency was not composed in the manner most favourable to the interests of the emperor. They also promised the councillors, personally, " to make a grateful return to them for their trouble." The cities had thus hit upon the means by which any thing was to be accomplished at the imperial court. At the next meeting the Provost of Waldkirchen gave them to understand, that the emperor, finding how unpopular it was, was not inclined to impose the duty in question ; neither was it his intention to continue the Council of Regency ; but he must then ask, what the cities were prepared to do for his imperial majesty, if he took the government into his own. hands ? The delegates replied, that if the emperor granted their petition, and then made any reasonable suggestion to them, they would show themselves grateful and obedient subjects. Wald- Chap. IV. THE IMPERIAL COURT. 147 kirchen reminded them that it appeared from the old registers, that the last emperors on their accession had received a gift of honour from the cities ; and asked, why this had been omitted for the first time with the young emperor, who, he said, placed his whole confidence in the cities, and, were it not for the wars, would take a straightforward and royal course with regard to them. Another matter next fell under discussion. The pope's nuncio had complained that in Augsburg, Strasburg, and Niirnberg, Luther's doctrines were received, and his works printed. The delegates, on being called to account for this, denied the fact. They declared that not a syllable of Luther's writings had been printed in their towns for se- veral years ; nay more, that foreign itinerant ven- ders of his books had been punished ; and that, however much the common peo23le might thirst after the Gospel and reject human doctrines, it Avas not from the towns that Luther found protection : it was well known v/ho iiis defenders were ; the cities, for their part, were resolved, hereafter as heretofore, to remain Christian members of the Christian church. Hereupon the two parties came to an agreement on the most important points. Another conference .between the whole commission and the delegates was held on the 19th of August, and attended also by the Count of Nassau. The doors having been carefully closed, the delegates were informed, that the emperor intended to take the government into his own hands, to appoint a valiant lieutenant, and L 2 148 THE CITIES AND Booic IIT. a noble and dignified Imperial Chamber, and not to allow the hnposition of the import duties. The amount of the sum to be offered to him was left to the discretion of the delegates ; but they promised to come to an agreement on the subject with Han- nart, who was to go to Germany as the imperial commissioner. The delegates were also to treat concerning the monopolies ; not exactly on the part of the cities as a body, but in the name of the great mercantile companies. The omnipotence of money and its possessors soon helped them to the attainment of their object. It was settled that the Council of Regency was to be directed to pass no resolution with regard to the monopolies, without again asking the consent of his imperial majesty.* Their commission being thus satisfactorily exe- cuted, the delegates quitted Spain. At Lyons they had an audience of Francis L, who vented upon them his anger against the emperor. In De- cember they reached Niirnberg, where a fresh diet had just assembled. The final result then was, that the imperial court had entered into a combination with the cities, against the existing form of government in the empire, and especiall}^ against the Council of Regency. * " Der gemeynen Frey und Reichs Stadt Potsclmfften Hand- lung bei Romisch Kayserl. Majestadt zu Valedolid in Castilia." — " The Negotiation of the Embassy of the luiited, free, and im- perial Cities, with his Roman Imperial Majesty at Valladolid in Castile." In the month of August, anno 1523. In the Frankf. Arch., torn, xxxix. fol. 39 — 56. Chap. IV. THE IMPERIAL COURT. 149 And, indeed, it was only natural that the im- perial councillors, who had always been in com- petition with this administrative body, should take advantage of any internal dispute to rid themselves of it. Another and a still stronger motive existed. The idea had really arisen in Germany, as the towns had hinted, of electing a king of the Romans. Ferdinand of Austria, the emperor's own brother, was the man pointed out by the public voice. It was believed, as far as I can discover *, that he would govern in concert with the Council of Regency, according to the forms of the consti- tution which had just been established ; and it is manifest that this could only have attained its completion, had Germany possessed a sovereign of limited power, and dependent on constitutional forms. No wonder that the mere suirsfestion should be very ill received in Spain ; in fact, it almost implied an abdication on the part of the emperor. Moreover, Ferdinand was very unpopular there. He was constantly making fresh demands, while frequent complaints Avere preferred against him; besides the Spaniards believed his most confidential adviser, Salamanca, to be equally ambitious and selfish. AVhen Hannart went to Germany, he was commissioned, if possible, to effect Salamanca's * I extract from a roll of the "Weimar Ai'cliivcs, which contains a number of scattered papers written by the chief councilloi's of the archduke to Elector Frederic, of Avhich I intend to give some further account in the Appendix. JL 3 3 50 DIET OF 1524. BooKlII. dismissal, and to counteract all his ambitious schemes. DIET OF 1524. If in a former chapter Ave have endeavoured to show what weighty interests of church and state were involved in the existence of the Coun- cil of Regency, we must now turn our attention to the mighty and determined opposition arrayed against it. Three warlike and victorious princes ; the Swa- bian League, Avhich wielded such formidable forces ; wealthy cities ; and finally, though as yet in secret, the Emperor, whose whole hope of regaining un- limited authority rested on the overthrow of this representative body. The Council of Regency was not, however, destitute of suport. Archduke Ferdinand promised not to consent to its overthrow, and some of his councillors were its decided adherents, as might be expected, from the prospects it held out to him and to them. The Elector of Saxony, to whom it chiefly owed its existence, attended the diet in person in order to defend it. The Elector of Mainz, who had suffered from the oppression of the three princes alluded to, together with the whole house of Brandenburg, were among its champions. The Regency also enjoyed the whole sympathy of the knightly order (whose only hopes were founded upon it), and of the partisans of the religious innovations. Chap. IV. DIET OF 1524. 151 . Thus it still stood on firm ground : in spite of all the changes of individual members, the majority once established, remained : those who did not be- long to it, like the Chancellor of Treves, Otto Hundt of Hessen, staid away.* The imperial fiscal com- menced the proceedings against the great mercan- tile companies, and a judgment against the three princes was prepared. Several most important questions were laid before the diet, which opened on the 14th of January, 1524, concerning the means of maintaining the government and the admini- stration of justice ; the execution of decrees of the diet, the code of criminal procedure f , &c. It is a calamity for any power to have produced no great results ; and under this disadvantage the Council of Regency laboured. It had been unable to maintain the Public Peace, or to control either Sickingen or his adversaries. The great scheme of customs' duties, on which all the resources for carry- ing on the government depended, had come to no- thing. It was now assailed by blow upon blow. On the 1st of February the attorney of the three princes, Dr.Yenningen, appeared before the general assembly of the States, and made a long, bitter, and * Otto von Pack to Duke George of Saxony, the Friday after St. Lucia (Dresden Ai-ch.), thinks that they were driven out. " Darnach wissen E. F. Gn. wer die andern seint, welche alle E. F. Gn. Abwesen wol erdulden konnen." — "Your princely grace will by this know who the others are, that can all well bear your grace's absence." •]■ Frankfurter Acten, vol. xxxix., in which are these docu- ments, and vol. xl., containing the letters of Holzhausen con- cerning this diet. L 4 152 DIET OF 1524. Book in. insulting speech against the proceedings of the Council of Regency. A mandate from the emperor was produced, by which the proceedings ah^eady commenced against the commercial companies were stayed. The court of Spain demanded to have the documents relating to the case laid before it. Hannart next arrived, and from the first took part with the opponents of the Regency — the Elector of Treves, in whose company he came, and the cities, from whom he had received a present of 500 gul- den. * At his first interview mth the archduke he did not pay him the respect which that prince expected, nor did he attempt to conceal that the emperor wished for the dissolution of the existing form of government. Such were the circumstances under Avhich the assembly of the states began their deliberations : the debate on the grant necessary to the mainte- nance of the Council of Regency must, of course, bring the matter to a decision. The Regency was, after all, the expression of the power of the several states of the empire ; was it then credible that the States would themselves assist in its dissolution ? We have seen that the Regency obtained a ma- jority in the former diets of the empire ; though after laborious efibrts and with precarious results. A host of new antipathies were now added, arising out of the interests of the sovereign princes and the free cities; of money and of religion. The "^ lietter of Fei'dinand's in Bucholtz, ii. p. 46. Chap. IV. DIET OF 1524. 153 influence of the great capitalists was enormous even in those times. The Fuggers were instru- mental in the election of Charles V. ; and, in all probability, in the publication of the bull of Leo X. against Luther. They brought about the alliance between the court and the discontented towns; and it was mainly by their influence that the projected system of duties was abandoned; and now they had the audacity to turn the afi'air of the monopolies, which had called forth so many decrees of the diet against themselves, into a sub- ject of accusation against the Council of Regency ; alleging that that body had assumed judicial powers which properly belonged to the Imperial Chamber alone. * The Bishop of Wiirzburg ac- cused the Council of Regency of openly favouring the new creed : he said that it had set at liberty two members of his chapter whom he had brought before the ecclesiastical court on the charg-e of contracting marriage, and that it had given a safe-conduct to a canon whom he had banished for Lutheran opinions. The imperial commissioner was informed that most of the members of the Council of Regency were zealous Lutherans, f The * Holzliausen, 12th Feb. 1524. It appears from this that only Augsburg oiFered any resistance to the imperial edicts in the matter of the monopolies. All the other towns were in favour of their abolition.. Dr. Rolinger had inserted the ar- ticle touching monopolies of his own accord in the instruction given to the delegates sent to Spain. f Hannart to the emperor, 14th March: — " Et certes je me suis pour vray averty, la pluspart du regiment sont grands Lutheriens : car en'beaucoup de choses et provisions qu'ils out 154 DIET UF 1524. Book in. majority which had hitherto been in favour of that body was not compact enough to resist such a multitude of hostile influences, and after some debate and vacillation, turned against it. The States did not, indeed, go so far as to propose its total abolition, but resolved not to meet on the 20th of February to consider the means for its maintenance, unless its members were previously changed ; and declared they could by no means consent to its continuance, composed as it then was. This was, however, decisive. The important point was, the establishment of a vigorous govern- ment, chosen out of the body of the States ; but what could be expected for the future, if the pre- sent members, who had been really earnest in the performance of their duties, and had actually begun to govern, were to be deprived of office, without any charge wortliy of a moment's discussion being brought against them ? Was it likely that their successors would show any courage or inde- pendence ? It was once more rendered evident, that the powerful separate elements, of which the empire was compounded, could never be controlled by one central government. Frederic the Wise of Saxony felt the whole significance of this decision. He now, at the close of his life, saw the idea of a representative go- fait, ils eussent bieii peu user de plus grancle discretion et moderation qu'ils n'ont (use). CiiAP. IV. DIET OF 1524. 155 vernment, which had been the object of his whole existence, completely wrecked. He said, that he had never witnessed such a diet * : he left it on the 24th of February, and never appeared at one again. Archduke Ferdinand, it is true, still refused his •assent to the decision ; he even used his personal influence to win over the cities to the side of the Council of Regency ; but in the course of a short time, observes the Saxon ambassador, his coun- cillors were no longer of the same opinion : it seemed as if Hannart, instead of destroying Sala- manca's power, had gained him over ; at all events, he never delivered the letter in which the emperor desired the Elector of Saxony to assist in getting rid of Salamanca. These causes at length produced their effect on Ferdinand : " after holdina; out resolutely for nine weeks," writes the Saxon am- bassador, on the 1st of March, " he has suddenly fallen away." He consented that not a single member of the old Council of Kegency should be admitted into the new. f * At all events the provost of the cathedral of Vienna ex- cused him with these words, to Campeggi, who asked the cause of his absence. Letter from Wolfstal, 14th March, Weimar Ai'ch. Tlie Italians thought he had gone away because the legate had come. " Assai sdegnato," as the Venetian Ziani expresses himself, Disp. 29 Martio. The same person i-e- marks that NUrnberg had already entirely fallen away from Catholicism : " Di qui e totalmente scancellata la sincera fede." f According to a letter of Wolf von Wolfstals, Ferdinand, even on the 17th of April, said, " Dass Hannart ihn sampt ihm selbst verfiihrt, wie wenn ein Blinder den andern fiihrt." — 156 DIET OF 1524. Book III. The Imperial Chamber underwent the same sort of purification. No inquiry was made as to whe- ther the members had been attentive or negligent, capable or incapable ; but merely whether they had supported the nobles against the princes, or aided the fiscal in the prosecution of monopolists. Their conduct as to relio;ious matters was also taken into- consideration. Dr. Kreutner, the assessor for the circle of Franconia, was dismissed for having eaten meat on a fast-day, without considering that he had a claim for upwards of 1000 gulden, arrears. This brings us to the main question, — how far these great changes re-acted on the conduct of spiritual affairs. The cause of the Council of Re- gency and that of the religious reformation were, as we see at every step, connected, though not indissolubly : the question now was, whether the States, which had abandoned the Regency to its fate, would be equally unfavourable to the new faith. xYfter the early and unexpected death of Adrian VL, the purer and severer spirit which he had introduced and exemplified, disappeared. Cle- ment VII. , who next ascended the papal chair, was, like his predecessors, exclusively bent on main- taining the papal privileges ; and on applying the temporal forces of the states of the church to per- sonal or political ends, without troubling himself seriously about the necessity of reform. He sent " ThatHannart had deceived him, as well as himself, like as Avhen the blind lead the blind." CiiAv. IV. DIET OF 1524. 157 to the German diet a man of his own way of thinking, — Lorenzo Campeggi. Campeggi fonnd Germany, which a few years before he had traversed, surrounded with the halo of an unshaken and sacred authority, in a state of complete apostasy. In Augsburg he was assailed with derision and mockery when, at his entrance into the town, he raised his hand to give the cus- tomary benediction. After this he was advised by others, and thought it most prudent himself, to enter Nlirnberg without any ceremony whatever. He did not wear his cardinal's hat, and made no sign of benediction, or of the cross ; and instead of riding to the church of St. Sebaldus, where the clergy were assembled to receive him, he rode straight to his' lodging, * His presence, instead of damjDing the zeal of the reforming preachers, seemed to inflame it to the utmost. The pope was characterised as antichrist, before the face of his legate. On Palm-Sunday no palms were strewed ; and in Passion- Week the cere- mony of laying down the cross and raising it again, was omitted : thousands received the sacrament in both kinds f, and not only among the common * The Regency recommended him " dass er seinen Scgen und Kreuz zu thun vermeyd, angesehen wie es deshalb jetzund stce." — " To avoid making the sign of the cross or the benediction, seeing how matters then stood." — Feilitzsch to Frederic of Saxon I/, Wth March." f Phmitz (28th March) reckons 4000. " 1st deshalb Miihe und Erbett, iind sunderlich, dass es des Regiments Personen eines Theyls also genommen." — "On this account is trouble and 158 DIET OF 1524. BooKiir. people ; several members of the Council of Regency were among the communicants, and even the sister of the archduke, Queen Isabella of Sweden, partook of the cup at the castle of Niirnberg. It is very possible that these public demonstra- tions produced in the mind of Ferdinand, on whom the new doctrines had made no impression, and who had been brought up in all the rigour of Spa- nish Catholicism, the determination to abandon the Council of Regency ; and it is also likely enough that the pope's legate had some influence in the same direction. At all events, the fall of the Council of Regency,' which had taken the new doctrines under its protection, would necessarily be very favourable to the maintenance of Catholicism. Perhaps the legate founded on this a hope of obtaining from the States a decision agreeable to his wishes on religious affairs generally. He com- plained of the innovations which were made before his eyes. He reminded the States of the edict pub- lished at Worms, and expressed his astonishment that ordinances of this kind were so imperfectly enforced in the empire. Hannart also demanded the execution of the edict in the emperor's name. On this occasion, however, it became manifest that religion had by no means decided the course of affiiirs, however it might have influenced the labour, and especially as the persons of the Regency have in part received it thus." He remarks that Ferdinand was very angry at such a manifestation of his sister's opinions. " Nicht weiss ich wie es gehn will." — " I know not how it will end." Chap. IV. DIET OF 1524. 159 conduct of some individuals. Had no political mo- tives existed, the councillors of tlie Regency would never have been dismissed on account of their reli- gious inclinations. The complaints of the legate made no impression. " Some," writes Planitz, " are indignant, but most only laugh." The cities, which had contributed so greatly to the overthrow of the Council of Regency, were furious at the men- tion of the edict. They declared that the common people were so eager for the word of God, that to deprive them of it would cause rebellion, bloodshed and general ruin ; and that the resolutions of the preceding year must be absolutely adhered to. In short, mth regard to religious affairs, those who were hostile to Rome still constituted the majority in the States. The legate was reminded soon after his arrival of the hundred grievances of the nation which had been sent to Rome by his predecessor. This had been foreseen in Rome ; and the legate had been instructed to feign that the memorial con- taining these complaints had not been delivered in the names of the princes.* Accordingly Campeggi answered with a perfectly untroubled countenance, " that no official announcement of those grievances had reached Rome ; that three printed copies had been sent thither, it was true, one of which he had seen himself, but that he could not bring himself to believe that any thing so beyond measure ill- written could be produced by the diet." This was * Pallavicini, i. p. 222. : " clie dissimulasse che la scrittura si fosse ricevuta per nomc dei principi." 160 DIET OF 1524. Book III. certainly not at all calculated to satisfy the temporal Estates, who had been extremely in earnest with regard to the grievances, the statement of which had cost so much trouble and deliberation. Moreover, the personal behaviour of the legate, who was accused of sordid avarice, and of revolting oppression towards the poorer sort of German priestSj Avas far from favourable to the success of his negotiations. * When the decisive discussion on religious affairs arrived, the order necessary to the transaction of public business and the presence of the imperial commissioner so far influenced the States, that they did not deny the obligation they lay under to carry the edict of Worms into execution ; but to this admission they added a clause to a directly con- trary effect ; namely, that they would execute it " as far as was possible," — a modification of so vao'ue a nature that it was left to the discretion of each individual to do what he pleased. The cities had already represented at length that it was not possible. At the same time the demand was re- newed, that the pope should convene a council in the German dominions, with the emperor's consent. This the legate undertook to advocate faithfully to his holiness. * A detailed contemporary account of the manner in which the legate induced the learned but poor Schoner to pi-esent to him his mathematical instruments, on the promise of a benefice, and tlien neither procured him the benefice nor paid him for his instruments. Strobel, Nachricht vom Aufenthalt Melanchthons, in Niirnberg, p. 18. CuAP. IV. DIET OF 1524. 161 It was, however, questionable whether this was sufficient to tranquillise men's minds ; or whether, in such a state of fermentation, they would wait patiently for so remote an event as the convocation and decision of an ecclesiastical assembly: lastly, whether the German nation would so far renounce the unity of its anti-Romish tendencies, which had taken so deep a root, as to consent to abide by the results of a council composed of all nations. No sooner were the representatives of the re- forming principles dismissed from the Council of Regency, than the necessity of supplying the place of their labours in some other manner was doubly felt. This aroused the champions of the new doc- trines to unite in forming a most remarkable de- termination. The question which had once before been so important was still unanswered ; namely, what was to be done in Germany in the interval till the council met. Spite of all opposition, a resolution still more extraordinary, and of which the results were still more incalculable than that of the former year, was adopted on this point. It was determined that, in the month of November of the current year, a meeting of the States should be convened at Spire, and should there hold a definitive deli- beration. To this end, the sovereign princes were to direct their councillors and learned clerks to draw up a list of all the disputed points which were to be discussed and decided. Besides this, the grievances of the nation and means for their redress were to be considered anew. Meanwhile VOL. II. M 162 OPPOSITION TO THE REGIMENT. BooicIII. it was resolved, as the year before, that the holy Gospel and God's word should be preached. * It is indeed true that the party favourable to Home, emboldened by the overthrow of the Council of Regency, had regained somewhat of its influ- ence at this diet, but still it was kept in check by a large majority : the German nation asserted its claim more strenuously than ever, to complete in- dependence in ecclesiastical aflfairs, as against the pope and the unity of the Latin church. * Decree of the Diet of Niirnberg, 18th April, 1524. When, after this decree, we read Luther's paper, — " Zwei kaiserliche uneinige und widervviirtige Gebote" (Altenb. ii. 762.), "Two imperial contradictory and incompatible Orders," — we are as- tonished that he was so ill satisfied. The cause of this, however, is, that in the mandate founded on the Recess, the article pre- scribing the teaching of the holy Gospel was omitted, while, on the other hand, great stress was laid on the observance of the edict of Worms, The clause " so viel moglich," indeed, is there ; but almost disappears under the constant reiterations of the edict of Worms ; hence we perceive the influence which the imperial chancery obtained after the abolition of the old Council of Regency. Luther does not appear to have been aware of the Recess, and still less of the preceding nego- tiations. The imperial delegate, Hannart, and the papal legate, took a far more complete view of the matter. They thought it a great gain that at any rate the name of national council had been avoided. Nevertheless, Hannart concludes his letter of the 16th April Avith the woi'ds, " que cependant se fera ung concil national d'AUemagne." Chap. V. DIVISION IN THE NATION. 103 CHAPTER V. ORIGIN OF THE DIVISION IN THE NATION. There are probably few reflecting men, however well-disjwsed on other grounds to the cause of ecclesiastical reform, who have not occasionally felt inclined to join in the usual condemnation of it, as the cause of the separation of Germany into two parts, — often at open war and never thoroughly reconciled ; — to impute to the adherents of the new opinions all the blame of having broken up the unity, not only of the church but of the emj)ire. So long as we regard- the facts from a distance they doubtless wear this aspect ; but if we approach nearer to them and contemplate the events which brought about this division, the result we shall arrive at will, if I mistake not, be far different. No man, to whatever confession he may belong, can deny, what was admitted even by the most zealous Catholics of that day ; viz. that the Latin church stood in need of reform. Its thorough worldliness, and the ever-increasing rigidity and unintelligible formalism of its dogmas and observ- ances, rendered this , necessary in a religious view ; while the interference of the papal court, which was M 2 164 ORIGIN OF THE Book III. not only oppressive in a pecuniary sense, by con- suming all the surplus revenue, but destructive of the unity and independence of the nation, made it not less essential to tlie national interests. Nor can it be alleged, either on religious or national grounds, that any unjustifiable measures were resorted to to effect this change. Independently of all the more precise articles of the protestant creed, which were gradually con- structed and accepted, the essence of the religious movement lay in this, — that the spirit of Christi- anity, so deeply implanted in the German mind, had been, by degrees, ripened to a consciousness of its own independence of all accidental forms ; had gone back to its original source, — to those records which directly proclaim the eternal covenant of the God- head with the human race, — and had there become confident in its own truth, and resolute to reject all untenable theories and subjugating claims. No one could shut his eyes to the peril im- pending over the whole existing order of things in the nation, from a departure from those esta- blished ecclesiastical forms which had such mighty influence over domestic as well as public life. We have, however, seen with what care all destructive elements were rejected, with how much self-control every violent change was avoided, and how pa- tiently every question was still left to the decision of the empire. Let it not be objected that discord had already arisen, and that, as we have remarked, action was encountered by re-action ; no momentous crisis in Chap. V. DIVISION IN THE NATION. 165 the life of a great nation was ever unaccompanied by this stormy shock of conflicting opinions. The important point is, that the divisions should not have sufficient power to overthrow the paramount and acknowledged supremacy of the principle of unity. Such was the tendency of aff*airs in Germany in the year 1524. The adherents of the new faith had hitherto always submitted to the constitutional government of the empire ; in the hope of obtaining from its proceedings and favour a reconstruction of the ec- clesiastical institutions, in accordance both with the wants of the nation and the commands of the Gospel. The majority in the Council of Regency, as we have seen, influenced the States in this spirit. In spite of all the efforts of opponents, and of the va- rious external difficulties, a majority was formed in the diet, favourable to the reformation. Two Re- cesses were drawn up and agreed to in its favour. Even after the fall of the Regency, this majority maintained itself, and resolved that a national assembly should be convened at an early date, and should occupy itself exclusively -svith the endeavour to bring the religious affairs of the empire to a de- finitive conclusion. A nobler prospect for the unity of the nation, and for the further progress of the German people in the career they had already entered upon, certainly never presented itself. To form some notion of the degree to which it w 3 166 ORIGIN OF THE Book III. occupied the minds of men, we have only to exa- mine the state of Franconia, where, during the summer of 1524, six opinions or reports, destined to be laid before this assembly, appeared, all con- ceived in the spirit of the evangelical party. Lu- ther felt contented and happy when he saw the judgment of the learned men of Brandenburg ; he said that this was coin of the right stamp, such as he and his friends at Wittenberg had long dealt withal. That of Henneberg was not so completely in accordance Avith his opinions. Luther's doctrine concerning free will was combated in it ; but in all other respects it was soundly evangelical, and con- demned the invocation of saints, the seven sacra- ments, and the abuses of the mass. The reports of Windsheim and Wertheim were particularly violent against the saints ; that of Niirnberg, against the pope. One of the two parties which divided Rothen- burg sent in an opinion favourable to the evangelical side.* The other party, however, which was more faithful to the ancient doctrine, was no less active. Ferdinand required his universities of Vienna and Freiburg to send in full and minute explanations of the disputed points. At the former university, the faculties immediately prepared to draw up their report, and that of theology exhorted the others to abstain from all mutual offence, f It is evident * Extracts from v. d. Lith Erlauteruiig der Frank. Eeforma- tionshist, p. 41. "I" Raupach Evangel. Oestreich, ii. p. 29. Struve mentions a similar exhortation from tlie elector palatine to the University of Ileidelbei'g in his Pfalzische Kirchcxihistorie, p. 19. CuAp. V. DIVISION IN THE NATION. 167 that the most various modifications of opinion must have been in agitation and in conflict at Spire. What results might not have been anticipated, had it been possible to execute the project of hold- ing a peaceful and moderate discussion, — of en- deavouring to sever the good from the bad ! It is true that another evangelical majority, like that with which the proposal originated, was fully to be expected; but this was the inevitable con- sequence of the present state of things : the nation had no alternative ; it must resist the encroach- ments of Rome, or fall ; the religious movement could no longer be suppressed, it could only be guided. This was the part assigned to the national assembly ; nor can it be said that the unity of the nation was thus endangered ; on the contrary, had it attained its object, it would have given to that unity a much more solid foundation. In order to discover who it was that, at this decisive juncture, broke the bond of the national unity, we must examine how it happened that an assembly for which such solemn preparation had been made, never took place. The See of Rome naturally opposed it ; for in proportion as the prospect it afforded was full of hope and promise to the German nation, it was threatening and disastrous to the court of Rome. AYe have the report of a congregation held at this crisis by Pope Clement VII., at which means were discussed for carrying into effect the bull against Luther, and the edict of Worms, in spite of the M 4 168 CONNEXION OF Book III. Recesses by which they were counteracted. A vast variety of schemes were suggested ; such as, that Frederic of Saxony should be deprived of his electorate, — a measure proposed by Aleander ; or that the kings of England and Spain should be prevailed on to threaten to put a stop to all com- merce with the German towns, from which the pope anticipated great results. The only conclu- sion they came to, however, was to oppose the meeting at Spire, both to the emperor and the States, whom the legate was instructed to use every means to prejudice against that assembly.* The question for immediate decision — a question which we must here examine — was, whether there could be found estates in Germany who would prefer joining with the pope to awaiting the decisions of a general assembly. The papal court had already found means to secure to itself allies in Germany : it had won over one of the most powerful of the sovereign houses — that of the dukes of Bavaria. The government as well as the people of Bavaria had formerly shared the common aversion of the German nation to the ascendency of Rome ; neither the bull of Leo X. had been carried into effect, nor the edict of Worms observed. f The dukes had been as much displeased at the encroachments made by the spiritual on the temporal jurisdiction, as * Pallavicini, lib. ii. c. x. p. 227. f Winter, Geschichte der Schicksale der evangelischen Lehre in und durch Baiern, i, pp. 62. 76. Chap.V. the pope with BAVARIA. 169 any other princes; and Luther's doctrines spread among the learned, the clergy, and the commons, as rapidly and as Avidely as in other parts of the empire. But as early as the end of the year 1521 the dukes began to incline towards Eome, and had ever since been becoming more and more decided parti- sans of the old faith. Contemporary writers ascribed this to the great power and extensive possessions of the regular clergy in Bavaria * ; and certainly this had an in- fluence, though rather of a different kind from that supposed. The first symptom of an intimate connexion between Kome and Bavaria was a draft of a bull which Leo X. caused to be prepared on the 14th Nov. 1521, wherein he authorises a commission of prelates, before proposed by the dukes, to visit the convents and restore order and discipline in them, f He died before this bull was finished ; but not before he had thus pointed out to the Ba- varian government what might be done in this * Pamphlet of Reckenhofer touching the affairs of Seehofer : " Denn sobakl clu flir MUnchen he.rauskompst auf drey Meyl gegen Burg, und fragst wes ist der Grund, Antwort : ist meines gnedigen Herrn von Degernsee, Chiemsee, Sauuersee, also dass mer denn der halb Teyl des Bayrlandes der Geistlichen ist." — " For as soon as you leave Munich, about three miles toward Burg, and ask whose is the land ? the answer is, It belongs to my Lord of Degernsee, Chiemsee, Saunersee, so that more than half of Bavaria belongs to the clergy." — Panzer, No. 2462. f Winter, ii. p. 32o. 170 CONNEXION OF Book III.. direction. A standing commission, independent of the bishopric, and under the influence of the so- vereign, was charged with the superintendence of spiritual affairs. About this time the university of Ingolstadt was almost broken up by a pestilential disease. When the contagion had ceased, and the professors re- assembled, they found that it would be impossible to maintain their strict catholic discipline without other support than that of the spiritual jurisdiction; and that a ducal mandate would be necessary to help them to withstand the innovations which threatened to invade even their own body. The three most resolute champions of the old system, Franz Burckhard, Georg Hauer, and Johann Eck, who had again been at Rome in the autumn, joined in urgent representations of the necessity of such a measure*; of which Duke William's chancellor, Leonhard von Eck, one of the most active and influential statesmen of that time, was fully con- vinced, f The dukes were soon won over to the same opinion ; probably the report of the riots which had just then broken out at Wittenberg (but which Luther so quickly tranquil Used) made them anxious to prevent similar disturbances in their own territories. * He could not have gone thither befoi-e October, as he was still at Polling during the months of August and September. Leben des beriihmten Joh. Eckii in the Parnassus Boicus, i. ii. p. 521. I Winter, passim, p. 81. CiiAP.V. THE POPE WITH BAVARIA. 171 On Ash Wednesday, 5tli of March, 1522, the dukes issued a mandate *, wherein they commanded their subjects, under heavy penalties, to adhere to the faith of their forefathers. That which had been considered necessary for the university, was thus extended to the whole nation. The dukes' officers Avere directed to arrest all refractory persons, eccle- siastics as well as laymen, and to report upon their offences. In spite of the rigour which was used, these measures had not, at first, the anticipated effect. In Saxony the temporal power refused to lend its arm to support the episcopal authority ; in Ba- varia, on the contrary, the bishops, who had a vague perception of the danger which must accrue to their independent authority from such an alli- ance, did not second the efforts of the temporal power with much zeal. The followers of Luther, arrested by the civil officers, often escaped free and unpunished, from the ecclesiastical court which had jurisdiction over them. When Dr. Johann Eck returned to Rome in the summer of 1523, at the invitation of Pope Adrian f, he was commissioned by the dukes to make a formal complaint against the bishops on this head, and to request an extension of the ducal authority * " Erstes baieriscl^s Religionsmandat, . Miinchen am Eschermittiche augeender Yasstcn." — Ibid. p. 310. f " Er entbot denselben durch zwei Brevia nach Rom." — " He summoned him by two briefs to Rome." — Parnassus BoicuSf ii. i. p. 206. 172 CONNEXION OF Book lU. in the proceedings against heretics.* It was im- possible to refuse the demand of the orthodox doctor, who took part in the most secret consulta- tions on religious affairs. Pope Adrian therefore published a bull empowering a spiritual commission to degrade ecclesiastics who should be convicted of heresy, and to deliver them over to the temporal criminal tribunals, even without the concurrence of the bishops. Adrian added only the hmitation, that the bishops were to be once more admonished to perform their duties within a given term ; but this was subsequently disregarded. Thus we see that it was not the independent authority of the great institutions of the church, that the dukes took under their protection : they raised up a collateral authority, standing under their own immediate influence, and empowered to inter- vene in the most pecuhar sphere of ecclesiastical rights and duties. Dr. Eck is not to be regarded only as one of Luther's theological opponents. He exercised an extraordinary influence on the state, as well as the church in Bavaria ; and to him principally is to be attributed that alliance between the ducal power, * " Fragmentum libelli supplicis, quern BavariiB Ducis ora- tores, quoi'um caput Celebris ille Eckius, Adriano VI. Romae obtulerunt anno 1521," ap. Qi^fele, ii. 274. The date is wrong, as Adrian was not pope, in 1521. The bull, which was prepared according to the words of the petition, is dated June, 1523. The Bavarian bishops first appealed against it in December, 1523, so that there can be no doubt that that is the proper date. Chap.V. the rOPE WITH BAVARIA. 173 the university of Ingolstadt, and the papal autho- rity, which checked the progress of the national movement in that country. Nor was it the authority alone of the church that was assailed ; claims were soon advanced to her possessions. Pope Adrian granted to the dukes one fifth of all the revenues of the church throughout their territories; "for," said he, "the dukes have de- clared their readiness to take arms against the enemies of the true faith." * When Pope Clement YII. came to the tiara, he revoked all grants of this nature ; nevertheless he saw reason to confirm this one for the three following years : since then, it has been renewed from time to time, and has always re- mained one of the chief foundations of the Bavarian financial system, f On this occasion the university was not forgotten. Adrian consented that in every chapter in Bavaria, at least one prebend might be conferred on a professor of theology, "for the improvement of that faculty, and for the better extirpation of the heresies that had arisen in that, as well as in other German countries."! * Bull of the 1st of June. It is there said of the dukes, " Ad arma contra perfidos orthodoxrc fidei hostes sumenda sese obtulerunt." — Ibid. 279. The Turks were also included in this. t See Winter, ii. p. 321. \ 30th of August, GEfele, p. 277. In Mederer, Annales, Acad. Ligolstadt, iv. 234., is to be found the bull of Clement VII. concerning this matter ; by this bull the dukes of Bavaria are entitled always to promote one of their professors of theology at 174 CONNEXION OF Book HI. Thus, before any form of government constituted according to evangelical views, could be thought of, we find an opposing body organised expressly for the purpose of supporting catholic principles, which gradually became of immense importance to the destinies of Germany. We have already shown that the disturbances of those times mainly arose out of the struggle between the spiritual and temporal power. The rising temporal sovereignties naturally sought to defend themselves against the encroachments of their ecclesiastical neighbours. With this tendency, Luther's views of government exactly coincided ; he advocated a total separation of the two poAvers. The dukes of Bavaria, however, found that such a separation was not the only way to attain the desired end ; they took a directly opposite course, which was both shorter and more secure. What others were striving to wrest from the pope by hostile measures, they contrived to obtain with his concurrence. By this means they at once gained Ingolstadt to a prebendal stall in the chapters of Augsburg, Freisingen, Passau, Regensburg, or Salzburg. They gave out : " quod ecclesie predicte a Ducibus Bavarie fundate vel dona- tionibus aucte fuerunt." The reason assigned was, that they wished to have theologians " hoc tempore periculoso, quo Lu- theriana et alie plurime hereses contra sedem apostolicam . . . propagantur, qui se murum pro Israel exponant et contra hereses predietas legendo predicando docendo et scribendo eas confutent dejiciant et exterminent." This is the more important, because in the years immediately after the plague, the university, as is mentioned by the statutes of the faculty of jurists, was almost entirely reconstituted. Chap.v. the rorE with bavaria. 175 possession of a large share of the ecclesiastical revenues, and an authority, sanctioned by the papal see, over the surrounding bishops, even in the most important branch of the spiritual jurisdiction ; an authority which was very soon manifested in the proceedings of the Bavarian council for religious affairs. These were advantages which the ad- herents of the new faith could not yet so much as contemplate. There was still, however, this immense distinction ; — that, while the latter were the representatives of the tendency of the nation to emancipate itself from Rome, Bavaria fell into much more absolute sub- jection to that power, from whom she held all the privileges she now enjoyed. Under any circumstances, however, so decisive a step, taken by one of the most powerful houses of Germany, and the example of the advantages result- ing from a renewed connexion with Rome, could not fail to have a great effect on all its neighbours. We find from a very authentic source, the trans- actions of the Archbishop of Salzburg with his states, that a compact had already been entered into between Bavaria and Austria, " against the Lutheran sect." * It is certain that Archduke Ferdinand had like- wise formed a closer connexion with the see of Rome, and had obtained thence, in behalf of his defence against the Turks, the enormous grant of a full third of all the ecclesiastical revenues. * Zauncr, Sal/.burger Chroiiik, iv. 359. 176 CONGRESS OF REGENSBURG. Book III. Rome did not neglect to conciliate the more influential spiritual, as well as temporal, princes. The long contested appointments to the bishoprics of Gurk, Ghiemsee, Seckau, and Lavant, were granted to the Archbishop of Salzburg, even during the disputed months. By these means the papal see succeeded in regaining a party in the States : no doubt it is to be attributed to these and sunilar causes, that catholic opinions were more strongly represented at the diet of 1524 than they had been the year before. Still, as we have already seen, they were not triumphant at that diet. A number of bishops even, offended by the support given by the pope to the claims of the temporal sovereigns, offered a de- termined resistance to every suggestion emanating from Rome. The legate Campeggi plainly saw that nothing could be gained from a general assembly in which Lutheran sympathies so greatly predominated. He complained that he could not here venture to speak freely.* On the other hand, as he saw around him a number of friends holding the same opinions, he hoped that he should be able to effect more com- pletely all he wanted at a provincial meeting, where only these partisans would be present. Accordingly, even at Niirnberg, where the na- tional assembly at Spire was resolved on, he pro- posed another which, in spirit, was directly at * From a letter of Ferdinand's, dated Stuttgard, 19th May, in Gemeiners Regensburger Chronik, iv. vi. p. 514. CiiAr. V. CONGRESS OF REGENSBURG. 177 variance with it. He made no secret that liis object was to obviate the clanger which must ensue from an assembly convoked with the avowed in- tention of listening to the voice of the people.* This proposal was first agreed to by Archduke Ferdinand and a few bishops, and then by the dukes of Bavaria. At the end of June, 1524, the meeting was held at Regensburg. The dukes, the archduke, the legate, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the Bishop of Trent, who came in the retinue of the archduke, and the administrator of Regensburg, were present. Delegates appeared for the bishops of Bamberg, Augsburg, Spire, Strasburg, Constance, Basle, Freising, Passau, and Brixen : thus not only Bavaria and Austria, but the Upper Rhine and a considerable portion of Swabia and Franconia, took part in it. The legate opened the meeting with a discourse on the perils with which the religious troubles threatened both estates : he exhorted them to abandon their disputes, and to unite in measures " for extirpating the heretical doctrines, and making men live after the ordinances of the Christian church." Archduke Ferdinand supported the proposal, and strongly insisted to the assembly on the pecuniary grants he had obtained. The prelates then divided into three commissions : the first of which was to consider the disputes between the clergy and laity; the second, the re- * From the letter of the legate, dated 8th May. Winter, i. p. 15G. VOL. II. N 178 CONGRESS OF REGENSBURG. Book III. forms to be immediately undertaken, and the third, the measures to be taken \vith respect to doctrine.* The conference lasted for sixteen days in the town hall at Regensburg, and sittings were held before and after noon. The grave course of affairs was on one occasion interrupted by a festive dance. The affair of the pecuniary grant was the first settled. The bishops plainly perceived that the popular ferment, which, from its first origin, had been constantly increasing in strength and impetuosity, must be far more dangerous to them, than any supremacy of the temporal sovereign. There were few among those we have named who had not had to struggle with a growing opposition in their own capitals. A year before, Cardinal Lang had found it necessary to bring six troops of veteran soldiers into Salzburg. He himself rode at their head habited in a red slashed surcoat, under which glittered a j)olished cuirass, and grasping his marshal's baton ; and thus compelled the corporation to sign fresh declarations of submission. Perhaps, too, a few such prelates may have been favoured with fresh concessions from the pope ; we find many decided partisans of Rome among their delegates, for example, Andreas Hanlin of Bamberg, who was once himself vicerector at Ingolstadtf; Eck and * Letter from Ebner and Niitzel to the Elector Frederic, wherein they inform him, " was eine Schrift enthiilt, die ihnen vom Hofe fiirstlicher Durchleuchtigkeit (Ferdinands) zugekom- men ist," — " of the contents of a letter which had reached them from the court of his Royal Highness (Ferdinand)," 8th July, 1524. — Weimar. A. ■\ Heller, Reformationsgssch. von Bamberg, p. 70. Chap. V. CONGRESS OF REGENSBURG. 179 Faber also were present. The spiritual lords ended by making a virtue of necessity ; those of Bavaria consented to pay to the temporal power (as near as I can discover) a fifth part of their revenues, and those of Austria a fourth.* They next proceeded to consider the points of doctrine and life. The most important result of this consultation was a decision which it had been found impossible to carry at the meeting of the States of 1523. The preachers were directed to refer principally to the Latin fathers of the church for the interpretation of difficult passages in Scripture ; and (which could not be accomplished on a former occasion) Am- brose, Jerome, Gregory and Augustin were specified as the patterns of faith. In former days, this might have been looked upon as a concession to the literary tendencies of the time, since it relaxed the * Planitz, who had been at EssHngen, writes to the Elector Frederic, Niirnberg, 26th July : " Die Geistlichen in des Erz- herzogs Landen haben bewilligt, ihm den vierten Pfennig zu geben, 5 Jahr lang, und die Geistlichen tuiter den Herrn von Baiern geben ihren FUrsten den 5ten Pfennig 5 Jahr, allein dass sie in ihren Fiirstenthumen die lutherische Lehr nicht zulassen und vest iiber ihnen halten wollen." — " The eccle- siastics in the archduke's dominions have agreed to give him the fourth penny for 5 years, and the ecclesiastics under the lords of Bavaria will give to their princes the fifth penny for 5 years, but on condition that they shall not suffer the Lutheran doc- trines in their dominions, and that they will keep them down with a strong hand." I have not been able to discover whether Planitz was rightly informed as to the duration of this impost. According to Winter, ii. p. 322., it was continued for several years longer. N 2 180 CONGRESS OF REGENSBURG. Book III. fetters of the scholastic system ; but now, it mainly betokened opposition to Luther and to the majority of the States of the empire, by sanctioning, at any rate, the authorities on which rested the later sys- tems of the Latin church. It was resolved that divine service should be preserved unaltered ac- cording to the usages of former generations, and an attempt was made to put an end to Luther's in- fluence. His books were once more forbidden, and all subjects of the allied princes were interdicted, under pain of forfeiture of their patrimonies, from studying at the university of Wittenberg. At the same time, steps were taken towards the removal of those abuses which had occasioned such a general ferment. All the extortions of the inferior clergy which raised so much discontent among the common people, the enforcement of expensive ceremonies, the burdensome fees, the refusal of absolution on account of debts, were abolished. The relation of the clergy to their flocks was to be put on a fresh footing, by a com- mission composed of clerical and lay members. The reserved presentations were diminished, the number of holydays materially lessened, the prac- tice of stations abolished. The assembly pledged itself for the future to a more careful consideration of personal merit in the appointment of ecclesiastics. The preachers were admonished to show greater earnestness, and to avoid all fables and untenable assertions ; and the priests, to follow a chaste and irreproachable course of life.* * " Constitutio ad removendos abusus et ordinatio ad vitam Cleri reformandam per Rev'^"™ D™ Laurentium," &c. — Ratis- Chap. V. CONGRESS Or liEGBNSBUEG. 181 We are, I believe, warranted in looking on these resolutions as the first effects of the principles of the reformation in reviving the profouncler spirit of Ca- tholicism. As the alliance of the sovereign princes with the papal see fulfilled the political demands, so this attempt supplied (at first indeed very inade- quately) the religious wants, which had given birth to the reforming spirit. These attempts at regener- ation were unquestionably more important and ef- fective than has been supposed, even by the catholic party itself; and, indeed, modern Catholicism is in great measure based upon them ; but neither in depth of religious intuition, in the genius which produces a permanent impression on remote nations and ages, or in force and intensity of enthusiasm, could they be compared to those movements which took their name from Luther, and of which he Avas the centre. His opponents offered nothing original ; the means they adopted, and by which they thought to keep their ground, were mere analogical imi- tations of what he had already done. Thus, at Campeggi's suggestion, Dr. Eck published, as a corrective to Melanchthon's " Loci communes," a handbook of the same kind*, and Emser made a ponee Nonis Julii, in Goldast, Constitutt. Impp., iii. p. 487. What is given by Strobei (JVIiscel. ii. p. 109, &c.), from an old printed book, wliich is also before me, by no means embraces the whole contents of the Constitution. The abolition of a great number of holydays in the 21st article, which differs but little from the later protestant regulations, is very remarkable. * " Enchiridion, seu Loci Communes contra Hajreticos : " printed in 1525, and, according to Eck, composed, " Ilortatu Cardinalis de Campcgiis, ut simpliciores, quibus cortice natare N 3 182 ORIGIN OF THE Book III. translation of the Bible, as a rival to that of Luther. The works of the Wittenberg teachers had issued forth in the natural course of their own internal development : they were the product of minds goaded by a resistless impulse, pressing for- ward in their own peculiar path, and were filled with the vigour and originality that forces con- viction : the catholic books, on the contrary, owed their existence to external motives; — to the cal- culations of a system which looked about for any means of defence against the danger pressing upon it from every side. But those who adopted such a line of conduct, thus cut themselves off from the great and vigorous expansion which the mind of the German nation was now undergoing. The questions which ought to have been discussed and determined at S23ire, with a view to the unity and the wants of the nation, were disposed of by the allied powers in a narrow and one-sided manner. It was said that a single nation had no right to decide on the affairs of religion, and of Christendom generally: this was easily asserted; but what was the nation to do if, from the pecuhar- ities of its constitution and character, it was the only one that had fallen into this state of ferment ? At first it had petitioned for the immediate convo- cation of a council ; but as the hope of this grew fainter and more remote, it felt the necessity of taking the matter into its own hands. This is suf- opns est, snmmarium liabei'ent credendoruni, ne a pseudopro- phetis subverterentur." Chap. V. DIVISION IN THE NATION. 183 ficiently proved by the ordinances issued at Regens- burg. The difference was this — at Spire, in all probability, resolutions would have been taken in opposition to the Pope of Rome ; whereas at Regens- burg it was thought expedient, from a thousand considerations, to form a fresh alliance with him. This Avas the orio:in of the divisions in the nation. The national duty of awaiting the decisions of a general assembly which was already fixed ; of taking part in its deliberations ; and, let us add, of influ- encing them to wise ends, was sacrificed to the narrow and partial expediency of an alliance with Rome. One part of the projects of the congregation at Rome being thus executed with unhoped-for success, Campeggi next pointed out the necessity of endea- vouring to accomplish the other ; which was, to induce the emperor to give the cause his cordial support.* Not a moment was lost at Rome in gaining over Charles Y. Whilst the official proclamations from Regensburg dwelt only upon such points in the Recesses as were favourable to the papacy, and affected to consider them as mere confirmations of the edict of Worms, it was at the same time repre- sented to the emperor in Spain how greatly his authority must suffer by his edict being limited by two following Recesses ; nay, by an attempt having actually been made to revoke it, — a measure * He complained : " non haver quella causa (Liiterana) di costa (della Spagna) il caldo die bisogneria, fa che d'ogni pro- visione die si faccia si tralie poco frutto." — Giberto Datari agli Oratori Fiorentini in Spagna, Lettere di Principi, i. f, 133. N 4 184 ORIGIN OF THE Book III. which he himself could not have ventured upon : it was evident, they said, that the people of Ger- many were preparing to throw oif all obedience, both to temporal and spiritual authority. And what insupportable insolence was there in fixing a meeting in that country, to decide on matters of faith, and the affairs of Christianity at large ; as if the Germans had a right to prescribe laws to his imperial majesty and to the whole world ! * Similar arguments were vehemently pressed upon Charles's ally, Henry VIII., who had entered into a literary warfare with Luther, to induce him to use all his credit -with Charles V. in support of the pope's exhortations. The state of political affairs generally was highly favourable for promoting the influence of the papal * We have not indeed the very letter from the pope to the emperor, but there is a sufficient account of it in the despatch from the papal datarius to the nuncio in England, Mar- chionne Lango, Lettere di Principi, i. 124. " N. S"^^ ha di cio scritto efficacemeute alia M''' Ces, accioche la consider!, che facendo quel popoli poco conto di dio tanto meno ne faranno alia giornata della M'^ S. e degli altri Signori temporali : . . . I'absenza della M'* Cesarea ha accresciuta 1' audacia loro tanto che ardis- cono di ritrattar quell' editto, cosa che Cesare proprio non faria." On the other hand, in the edict given at Regensburg, it is stated, " Darumb so haben Avir auf des hochwiirdigsten Herrn Lorenzen, etc. Ersuchen uns vergleycht, dass wir und unser Principal obge- melt Kaiserlich Edict zu Worms, auch die Abschied auf beyden Reichstiigen zu Niirnberg deshalb beschlossen . . . vollziehen." — " Wherefore we have, at the request of the most worshipful master Lorenzo, &c., agreed, that we and our principal should execute the above-named imperial edict of Worms, and the recesses of both diets at Niirnberg confirming the same. CiiAP. V. DIVISION IN THE NATION. 185 power over the emperor. War had been formally declared against Francis L, in May, 1524, and was now raging with the utmost violence. The emperor attacked the king in his own territory, from the side of Italy. It would therefore have been extremely dangerous to offend the pope, who was in his rear, and who did not quite approve the invasion ; or to refuse him a request which, moreover, was conso- nant to the catholic education he had himself received in his youth. Charles Y. did not hesitate a single moment. On the 27th of July, he despatched a proclamation to the empire entirely in favour of the pope, and ex- pressed with unwonted vehemence. He complained that his mandate from Worms was disregarded, and that a general council had been demanded, Avdthout even the due decorum of consulting him. He de- clared, that he neither could nor would allow the intended assembly to take place ; that the German nation assumed to do what would be permitted to no other, even in conjunction with the pope, — to alter ordinances which had been so long held sacred. He pronounced Luther's doctrines to be inhuman, and, like his master, Adrian, he compared him to Ma- homet. In short, he forbade the assembly, on pain of being found guilty of high treason, and incurring sentence of ban and reban.* * Frankf. A. It appears from a letter from the Elector of Saxony to Ebner, dated Oct. 1524, Walch, xv. 2711., that, in the letter which had been sent to him, the expression, " bei Ver- meidung criminis lese majestatis, unser und des Reichs Acht," &c. — " on pain of being found guilty of high treason, and of our ban and that of the empire," &c., had been omitted. 186 ORIGIN OF THE Book III. Thus did the court of Rome succeed in gaining over to its cause not only several powerful members of the empire in Germany, but even its supreme head in Spain, and by their means, in putting a stop to the dangerous resolutions of the diet : this Avas its first energetic interference with the eccle- siastical affairs of Germany. The main cause of this was, that the emperor, residing in Spain, followed a line of policy, on which the character and the opinions of Germany had not the slightest effect, and suggested solely by his relations with other countries. His government during the first years of his reign exercised merely a negative, decomposing influence. Without taking any serious steps for the redress of the grievances charged upon Rome, he allowed himself to be in- duced by his political position to issue the edict of Worms, which, after all, could not be carried into effect ; while on the one hand, it inflamed the an- tipathy of the nation to the utmost, and, on the other, put fresh arms into the hands of the ad- herents of the curia. He first checked the growing consolidation of the Council of Regency, by reject- ing the system of import duties to which he had at first consented, and then thought it advisable to overthrow that body entirely. Another Council of Regency was, it is true, formed at Esslingen ; but it took warning from the fate of the former, and neither enjoyed authority, nor even made the least attempt to acquire any ; — it was the mere shadow of a government. We have already shown what prospects in favour of religion and of national unity CiiAP. V. DIVISION IN THE NATION. 187 were connected with the projected assembly at Spire. This assembly was forbidden by the court of Spain, as if it were criminal. The unity of Germany has ever depended, not so much on forms of government, or decisions of the diet, as on an intimate understanding among the more powerful sovereigns. Maximilian had found, during the latter half of his reign, what it was to have offended and alienated the Elector of Saxony ; and it was only by healing this breach, and entering into a close alliance with the Ernestine line of Saxony, that the election of Charles V. could be secured ; from that time the Elector Frederic had always been treated, in externals at least, with the confidence and consideration due to a powerful and undoubted ally. This intimate connexion the emperor now broke off. He thought it more ad- vantageous, and more suitable to his own station amongst the powers of Europe, to marry his sister Catharine to John III. of Portugal, than to the nephew of the Elector of Saxony, to whom he had betrothed her. Hannart was commissioned to com- municate this resolution to the court of Saxony.* * Miiller, Geschichte der Protestation, gives the particulars of this event. Hannart's letter to the emperor, dated Htli March, shows that the affair was to have come before the diet, which Ferdinand now purposely avoided. "Ha semble h, mon dit S"" par plusieurs raisons que ne debvai parler a M' de Saxen de la matiere secrete, que savez, que jusque apres la fin de cette journee imperiale." These letters altogether show a better under- standing between Hannart and the archduke than the Saxon documents would lead one to imagine. 188 UKIGIN OF THE Book 111. We may remember how flattering the proposal had been to Duke John, Frederic's brother; the ob- jections which he raised from mere modesty, and his ultimate joyful acquiescence. Hannart's communi- cation was pz^oportionally mortifying to him. The Saxon court was deeply offended. Such of the elector's friends as were about the archduke, wanted him to use his influence to prevent so ofi'ensive a proceeding * ; but as he had at first taken no per- sonal share in the negotiation, neither did he now say one word, but suppressed his vexation. Duke John was less reserved. With wounded pride he rejected every communication, every ofler, ten- dered to him on the subject : he expressed to those about him that nothing during the whole course of his life had ever hurt his feelings so deeply. With the other sovereign princes, too, Austria stood but ill. The house of Brandenburg, which had supported the first Council of Regency for the sake of the interests both of Prussia and Mainz, was much disgusted by its overthrow, and concealed that feeling so little, that overtures were made to the Grand Master, Albert, by France, though indeed * Among the secret correspondence between Frederic's and Ferdinand's councillors, there is a note in which one of them says, " S. Fiirstl. Durchlaucht begeren sonderlich, das der Heirath vollzogen werd, damit S. F. Gn. desto mer Fug und Statt hab, S. Chf. Gn. als irn angenommenen Vatern um Rath teglich anzusuchen." — " His princely highness greatly desires the consummation of the marriage, so that his princely highness may have more excuse and reason for daily asking counsel of his electoral gx-ace as his adopted father," — a wish which could scarcely have been shared by the whole court. CiiAP. V. DIVISION IN THE NATION. 189 he did not accept them. In the month of August, the Khenish electors held a congress, from which Archduke Ferdinand said he expected no good either to himself or his brother.* The electoral councillors did not attempt to disguise from the imperial commissioner that people were extremely discontented with the emperor ; that his capitu- lation would be laid before the meeting ; and as he had not fulfilled the conditions contained in it, they would proceed to the establishment of a new form of government, either under a lieutenant, the vicars of the empire, or a king of Rome, whom it was intended to elect. f This project was discussed at a great cross-bow match at Heidelberg, where several princes were met together, and the palatine house of Bavaria was particularly busied with negotiations to that effect. The bond of Catholicism between Bavaria and Austria was not strong enough to prevent Duke William of Bavaria from con- ceiving the idea of obtaining the crown for himself. Thus the unity of the government of the empire was again dissolved, almost before it had felt its own purposes or destinies. At a crisis so im- measurably eventful, in which all the energies of the nation were rushing with boundless activity into untried regions, and eager for a new state of things, all directing power was wanting. Hence it happened that the local powers pro- ceeded to act upon the principles which severally predominated in them. * Letter from Ferdinand, Bucholtz, ii. p. 68. f Letter from Hannart, ib. p. 70. 190 PERSECUTIONS. Book III. Persecution began in those countries whicli had combined to pass the resolutions of Regensburg. In Bavaria we find priests ejected or banished, and nobles driven from their estates, till they consented to recant. The tempestuous, oppressive atmosphere of the times is most strikingly exemplified in the fate of an officer of the duke, Bernhard Tichtel von Tutzing. He was travelling towards NUrnberg on the duke's business, when he was joined on the road by Franz Burkhard, one of the orthodox professors of Ingolstadt : they put up together at Pfaffenhofen, and after supper, the conversation turned on re- ligious matters. Tichtel perhaps knew who his companion was ; he reminded him that conversations of this kind were forbidden by the new edict, to which Burkhard answered that that did not signify between them. Hereupon Tichtel did not conceal his opinion that the edict could not be carried into effect, and would merely be a disgrace to the dukes ; he even went so far as to speak somewhat equivocally of purgatory and of the obligation to fast ; sangui- nary punishments for differences of opinion he con- demned altogether. On hearing these sentiments, Burkhard, who had advised the dukes to all the most odious measures, was seized with the savage fury of a persecutor : he said, in so many words, that decapitation was the proper punishment for Lutheran villains, and at the same time called Tichtel himself a Lutheran. At parting he affected to be reconciled to him, but he hurried to denounce the crime he had detected. Tichtel was arrested and confined in the Falkenthurm, subjected to an Chap. V. , PERSECUTIONS. 191 inquisition, and compellecl to recant: it Avas only by dint of great exertions and powerful intercession, that lie escaped a most degrading punishment which had been suggested to the duke.* In the territory of Salzburg a priest arrested for Lutheranism was on his way under guard to Mittersill, where he was to remain imprisoned for life, and while the constables were carousing, was set free by two peasants' sons. For this offence the poor youths Avere, by order of the archbishop, secretly beheaded without public trial, early in the morning, in a meadow in the Nonnthal outside the town — a place never used for execution. Even the executioner had scruples, because the condemned prisoners had not had lawful trial ; but the bishop's officer said, " Do what I command you, and let the princes answer for it." f A citizen of Vienna, one Caspar Tauber, who had expressed anti-catholic opinions respecting the intercession of saints, purgatory, confession and the mystery of the communion, was condemned to make a recantation. On a great holyday — the nativity of the Virgin Mary — two pulpits were * Another of the same party, the Chancellor Leonhard v. Jjck, had proposed that the duke should follow the merciful course " (den bai'mherzigen Weg "), viz. that Tichtel should only be placed in the pillory, his crimes be there read aloud, and then by him be orally confessed and renounced : he should then, as a mark of his heretical backsliding, be branded on both cheeks ; after this he was to be conveyed back again to the Falkenthurm, and kept there until further orders from the duke. See the Extracts from the Acts, Winter, i. pp. 182—199. f Zauner, iv. p. 381. 192 PERSECUTIONS. Book III. erected for this purpose in the churchyard of St. Stephen's ; one of these was for the precentor, the other for Taiiber, to whom the form of re- cantation which he was to read was given. But whether it was that he had never promised this, or that an opposite conviction suddenly forced itself more strongly than ever on his mind, he declared from the pulpit whence the assembled multitude was expecting to hear his recantation, that he did not consider himself to have been refuted, and that he appealed to the Holy Roman Empire. He must have been well aware that this would not save him : he was beheaded shortly after, and his body burnt; but his courage and firmness left a lasting impression on the people* There were some other people arrested with Tauber, who, terrified by his fate, made the re- cantation demanded of them, and escaped with banishment. f The same severity was practised throughout the Austrian dominions. The three governments of Insbruck, Stuttgart, and Ensisheim appointed a commission at Engen, whose especial business it was to suppress the movement in their provinces. * Ein warliaiFtig Geschiclit, wie Caspar Tawber, Burger zu Wien in Osterreicli fiirein Ketzer und zu dem Todt verurtaylt und aussgefiirt worden ist." 1524. — " The true History how Caspar Tawber, a burgher of Vienna in Austria, was condemned and executed as a heretic." The execution took place on I7th Sept, f Sententia contra Joannem V^esel — one of the condemned — ult. Septembr, 1524. Kaupach Evangel, Oestreich. Erste Fortsetzung ; Beilage, No. V. CiiAP. V. PERSECUTIONS. 193 The people of Waldsliut gained nothing by dis- missing their preacher, Indthasar Hubmaier: the Engen commission declared that they should be punished, or, as it was coarsely expressed, " that the Gospel should be banged about their ears till they were fain to hold their hands over their heads." The weeds were to be pulled up by the roots ; and already the other towns had been summoned to furnish subsidies of artillery and infantry for the attack on Waldshut, when a body of Swiss volunteers, principally from Ziirich, came to the assistance of the town, and caused the commission to pause awhile.* Kenzingen did not escape so well ; the little town was actually taken and invested. Similar disturbances were going on in all parts of the country, though sometimes the measures taken stopped short of bloodshed; Luther's books were forbidden, and his adherents were not endured in the pulpit or the councils of the princes, but were exiled from their country. The government of Wiirtemberg wanted to break off all communication with Reutlingen, because it tolerated evangelical preachers. Neither were the most barbarous executions wanting. We read of preachers nailed to the pillory by the tongue, so that in order to get free they were forced to tear themselves away, and were thus mutilated for life. The fanaticism of monkish bigotry was awakened, and *■ Letter from Balthasar Ilubiiirtier in the Tasclicnbuch fiir Siiddeutschland, 1839, p. 67., from the Ai-chivcs of Switzcrhmd and the Upper Rhine. VOL. II. O 194 DIVISION OF THE NATION. Book III. sought its victims in Lower as well as Upper Germany. The most awful example was made of the wretched Heinrich of Ziitphen, at Meldorf in Ditmarsch. A small congregation had formed itself there, which had invited this Augustine monk from Bremen to join them for a time : they had obtained permission from the governors of the country, the Forty-eight, that until the meeting of the expected ecclesiastical assembly, the Gospel should be preached pure and unchanged. But their opponents, the prior of the Doininicans of Meldorf and the Minorites of Lunden, were far more powerful ; and in combination with the vicar of the bishop's official, they obtained a contrary sentence, which delivered the poor man into their hands, alleging that he had preached against the Mother of God.* A drunken mob, headed by monks bearing torches, went one night in January to the parsonage and -dragged forth the preacher, whom they put to death by the most atrocious tortures, executed with equal cruelty and unskilfulness. Meanwhile the other party was aroused to a sense of the necessity of taking more decisive measures. Immediately after the congress at Regensburg, the * Neocorus, edited by Dahlmann, ii. p. 24. The judgment of the magistrate runs thus : " Desse Bosewicht hefFt gepredigt wedder de Moder Gadess und wedder den Christen Gloven, uth welkerer Orsake ick ehn verordele van wegen mines genedigen Herrn Bischops van Bremen thorn Vuere." — " This miscreant hath preached against the mother of God and the Christian faith, for which reason I condemn him to the fire, in the name of my gracious Lord Bishop of Bremen." CuAP. V. CITIES AND NOBLES. 195 cities, seeing the danger that threatened them from the support which their bishops appeared to receive from the princes, held a great town meeting at Spire, and resolved, in direct opposition to that adherence to the Latin fathers of the church which had been enjoined, that their preachers should confine themselves wholly to the Gospel and the prophetic and apostoUc Scriptures.* At that time they still expected that the assembly would be held at Spire, and their intention was to pro- pose some common resolution. Wlien, however, this meeting was forbidden by the emperor, and it seemed as if another serious attempt would be made to carry into effect the edict of Worms, they assembled towards the end of the year at Ulm, in order to aid each other in resisting all measures proposed with that view. Weissenburg, Landau, and Kaufbeuren, which had already received some rebukes, were admonished as to their future conduct. The towns were joined by a part of the nobility. Count Bernhard of Solms appeared at the meeting, in the name of the counts on the Rhine and theEifel, of the Wetterau, the Westerwald, and the Nieder- land ; and asked the towns their opinion concerning a proposed levy and tax of the empire for an expe- dition against the Turks, and also concerning the Lutheran matter. The towns judged rightly that this com])ination with the nobles would be very * Town meeting at Spire, St. IMargaret's day, 1524. Sum- mary extract in Fels Zweiter Beitrag, p. 204. o 2 196 DIVISION OF THE NATION. Book III. advantageous to them ; and after interchanging a few letters, the affair was concluded, and a resolu- tion was taken on the spot at Ulm, " not to act separately in affairs of such weight, and during such perilous times."* The most important event of all was, that a considerable number of the princes declared their complete dissent from the compact of Regensburg. Markgrave Casimir of Brandenburg, who had certainly never shown any great religious enthu- siasm, could no longer withstand the aroused and declared convictions of his whole country : he re- jected the proposal of becoming a party to that compact, alleging the general expectation of the assembly at Spire. When this meeting was for- bidden by the emperor, he passed a decree in con- cert with his estates, that, in his own territories at least, nothing should be preached but the Gospel and the word of God of the Old and New Testa- ment, pure and undefiled, and according to the right and true interpretation. Such was the tenour of the recess of the Brandenburg diet of the 1st of October, 1524. His brother George, who lived at the Hungarian court at Ofen, was not satisfied even with this. He thought that the word of God ought not only to be preached, but to be implicitly obeyed, in defiance of all human ordi- nances, f A most unlooked-for change now took place in * Fels Zweiter Beitrag, p. 206. Nicolai, 1524. I Von der Lith, pp. 61 — 65. CiiAP.V. LUTHERAN PRINCES. 197 Hessen. It was expected tlicat the three warlike princes who had conquered Sickiiigen and over- thrown the Council of Ivegcncy, would also combat the reforming ideas which their enemies had sup- ported. The most energetic of the three, however, very soon followed an exactly contrary course. In May, 1524, one da;y as Landgrave Philip of Hessen was riding to a cross-bow match at Heidelberg, he met, near Frankfurt, Melanchthon, whose fame was well-known to him, and who was then returning from a visit to his home in the Palatinate, accompanied by a couple of intimate friends who had been there with him. The land- grave stopped him, made him ride some distance by his side, and asked him several questions which betrayed the deep interest he felt in the religious dissensions ; and, at last, he only dismissed the surprised and embarrassed professor, on condition that he should send him, in writing, his opinion on the most important points under discussion.* Melanchthon executed this task with his usual mastery of his subject ; his letter was short, logical, and convincing, and produced a strong impression. Not long after his return from the festivities, on the 18th of July, the landgrave issued a mandate (also in manifest contradiction to the resolutions of Ke- gensburg), wherein, among other things, he com- manded that the Gospel should be preached pure and unadulterated. From day to day he became * Camerarius Vita Melanchthonis, cap. 26. Strobel's Neuc Beitriige, iv. 2. p. 88. o 3 198 DIVISION OF THE NATION. Book III. more deeply imbued with the peculiar opinions of the new creed : at the beginning of the following year, he declared that he would sooner give up his body and life, his land and his people, than forsake the word of God. It appears as if some general understanding had been come to at Heidelberg on the subject of religion ; for, at first, Philip of Hessen fully ex- pected that the Elector Palatine would follow his example ; and although it was not in the nature of that prince to take so decided a part as the land- grave, at least he did not allow himself to be hurried into any acts of persecution. The banished Duke of Wiirtemberg, too, might already be regarded as a convert to the cause. Lutheran preachers resided with him at Mlimpel- gard, and in October, 1524, Zwingli expressed his wonder and joy that this Saul was become a Paul.* Duke Ernest of Liineburg, the nephew of Frederic of Saxony, who had studied at Wittenberg, showed a similar leaning to the doctrines of the reformers, and was strengthened in his opposition to Austria by the affair of Hildesheim. The first beginnings of the reformation at Celle under his protection, date from the year 1524. f He was joined by Frederic I. of Denmark, who, a year before, had become sole master of Silesia and Holstein. His son Christian had attended the Diet * Zwinglixis CEcolampadio, Tiguri, 9th Oct. Epp. Zwinglii, i. ]^. 163. t Ilvine, Geschichte von Hannover, i. p. 747. Chap. V. LUTHERAN PRINCES. 199 at Worms, with his tutor Johann Ranzau : they both returned home filled Avith admiration of Luther, and deeply imbued with his doctrines. They in- vited Peter Suave — the very man who had accom- panied Luther on that journey — to Denmark ; by degrees the duke himself was won over to the same cause. While bloody persecutions were set on foot in so many places, Frederic I. published an edict, dated the 7th August, 1524, wherein he made it a capital offence to molest or injure any one on ac- count of his religion : every one, he declared, ought so to order his conduct in that behalf, as he could best answer it to Almighty God.* A still more important circumstance for the prospects of Lutheranism was, the secession of a powerful spiritual prince, the Grand Master Albert of Prussia, from the doctrines of the papacy. At the diet of Niirnberg he had been much impressed by Osiander's preaching; and having examined the Scriptures himself, he felt convinced that the order to which he belonged was not in accordance with the word of God.f Another motive probably was, that the fall of the Council of Regency, and the depressed state of the nobility in general, deprived him of the last hope of obtaining assistance from the empire against Poland. What then must have been his feelings when no hope was left of success- fully resisting his old enemies, while at the same * Miinter, Kirehengeschichte von Diinemark, ii. p. 565. f Memorandum of a conversation between Markgrave Albrccht and Acliatius v. Zemen. Beitriige zur Kunde Preussens, vol. iv. o 4 200 ORIGIN OF THE Book III. time his mind was agitated by doubts of his own condition and calling. He returned to Saxony in the company of Planitz, the Saxon assessor to the Regency, with whose sentiments we are well ac- quainted. Here he saw Luther. This intrepid and resolute man, who considered all things with relation to the intrinsic necessity, rather than the outward pressure which enforced them, advised him to forsake the rules of his order, to marry, and to convert Prussia into an hereditary principality. The Grand Master had too much of the discretion and reserve befitting a prince, to express his assent to this suggestion : but it was easy to read in his countenance how strongly he inclined towards it.* We shall see how, impelled by the situation of his country, and by the course which his negotiations took, he soon proceeded to the execution of this project. Such were the results of the prohibition of the national council, the announcement of which had excited such ardent hoj)es. It cannot be affirmed that violence was met by violence, or that the tenacity with which the old doctrines were rtiaintained was opposed by an equally resolute adoption of the new. How little such was the case, is shown by the example of the Elector of Saxony, who in spite of Luther's continual and violent expostulations, caused the mass to be celebrated throughout the whole of the year 1524, in his chapel of All-Saints, * Letter from Luther to Brismaini in de W., ii. 526. Chap. V. DIVISION OF THE NATION. 201 and continually reminded the chapter of tlicir clerical duties. The state of things may rather be summed up as follows. The empire had determined to hold a general deliberation on the important affair which occupied the whole mind of the nation. The pope succeeded in preventing tlie execution of this pro- ject, and in drawing a certain number of the Ger- man sovereigns into a partial combination in liis own lixvour; but the others still pursued the path they had entered upon conformably with the laws of the empire. They were indeed forced to renounce the general assembly, since the emperor so peremptorily forbade it; but they were not so easily persuaded to relinquish the old decrees of the empire. They determined to abide by the pro- visions of the Recess of 1523, which, in spite of a few additions and amendments, had in the main been confirmed in 1524. Indeed all the various mandates of that year have fundamentally the same character and purport. Such was the orio'in of a division which has never o since been healed; which has constantly been kept open by the same foreign influences that originally caused it. It is very remarkable that all the dif- ferent party leanings which have lasted through successive centiiries, manifested themselves thus early. We have still to observe their estabhshment and further progress ; but the first moment of their existence revealed the incalculable amount of the danger with which they were pregnant. 202 CHAPTER VI. THE peasants' WAE. Public order rests on two foundations — first, the stability of the governing body ; secondly, the con- sent and accordance of public opinion Avith the established government ; not, indeed, in every par- ticular, which is neither possible nor even de- sirable, but with its general tenour. In every age and country there must be disputes concerning the administration of the government ; but so long as the foundations of public confi- dence remain unshaken, the danger is not great. Opinions are in perpetual flux and perpetual progress ; so long as a strong government is actuated by the same general spirit, and feels the necessity of moving in the same direction, no vio- lent convulsion need be feared. But when the constituted powers doubt, vacil- late, and conflict with one another, whilst at the same moment opinions essentially hostile to the existing order of things become predominant, then, indeed, is the peril imminent. The first glance will sufiice to show us that such was now the state of Germany. The government of the empire, whicli it had cost so much labour to constitute, and which certainly enjoyed the general confidence of the Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 20B nation, was now Ijroken up, and its place filled by the mere shadow of a name. The emperor Avas at a distance, and recently the authority he had exercised was merely negative ; lie had only prevented the ex- ecution of whatever was resolved on. The two hier- archies, the spiritual and the temporal, which had been the work of past centuries, were now separated by a deep and wide chasm. The good under- standing of the more powerful sovereigns, on which the unity of the empire had always depended, was destroyed. On the most important affair that had ever presented itself, all hope of framing measures in concert was at an end. This, of course, re-acted very powerfully on the state of opinion. A sort of understanding, with regard to which it was unnecessary to fix any precise terms, had hitherto been evinced in the tendencies of the imperial government, and the moderated tone adopted by Luther; and this it was that had enabled them to crush the destructive opinions which arose ill 1522. But now that all hope of further change being effected by a decree of the empire was over, Luther could no longer maintain the authoritative position he had assumed, and the anarchical theories he had helped to stifle broke out afresh : they had found an asylum in the territory of his own sovereign — in electoral Saxony. In Orlamiinde, one of the cures which had been incorporated with the endowments of Wittenberg for the benefit of that University, Carlstadt now preached. He had entered into j^ossession of the cure in an irregular manner, in opposition to the 204 peasants' war. Book ill. proper patrons of it, partly by means of a certain claim which he raised as belonging to the chapter, but mainly, by the election of the parishioners. He now removed the pictures, performed divine service after his own fashion, and promulgated the most extraordinary opinions concerning the doc- trines of the church, and especially the obligations of the Mosaic law. We find mention of a man who, by Carlstadt's advice, wanted to marry two wives.* His rash and confused mind led him entirely to confound the national with the religious element of the Old Testament. Luther expected that before long circumcision would be introduced at Orlamiinde, and thought it necessary seriously to warn the elector against attempts of this nature. At Eisenach, Johann Strauss had already struck into a like crooked path. He was particularly violent against the practice of receiving interest on a loan. He declared that the heathenish laws of the jurists were not binding, and that the Mosaic institution of the year of jubilee, " Avherein every man shall return unto the inheritance he had sold," still continued to be a valid commandment from God ; thus calling all vested rights of property in question, f * Letter of Luther to Brlick, 13tli Jan. 1524. (De W., ii. No. 572.) t " Dass wuclier zu nemen und geben unserm cliristliclien Glauben entgegen ist, 1524." — " To give and take usurious in- terest is against our Christian faith." C. iii., it is said : " So dann in der Ordnung des Jubel Jars im Text offcnbarlich auss- gedruckt wirt das Gebot, das die notiirfFtig brudei'lich Lieb for- Chap. VI. PEASANTS' AVAR. 205 Not far from thence, Thomas Miinzer had founded a church on the doctrines which had been suppressed at Zwickau and Wittenberg. Like the former propagators of those doctrines, he assumed as its sole basis, those inward revelations to whicli alone he attached any importance ; and he far surpassed them in the vehemence with which he preached the Taborite doctrine, that unbelievers were to be exterminated with the sword, and that a kingdom should be established, composed of the faithful only. These doctrines could not fail to find a welcome and an echo in all parts of Germany. In Wiir- temberg, too, the Israelitish year of jubilee was preached to the peasants. "Oh, beloved brethren ! " said Dr. Mantel, " oh, ye poor Christian men, were these years of jubilee to arrive, they would indeed be blessed years!"* Otto Brunfels, who had pre- viously been very moderate in his language, in 1524 published at Strasburg a series of essays on tithes, wherein he declared them to be an insti- tution of the Old Testament, wliich was abrogated by the New, and entirely denied the right of the clergy to them.f dert, muss alle Einrecle still halten und alien Christen desgley- chen zu thun gebotten ungezweyffelt seyn." — " Seeing, then, in the text, ordaining the year of jubilee, the command requiring brothei-ly love is clearly expressed, so all disputes must cease ; and there can be no doubt that all Christians are commanded to do likewise." * Sattler, Wiirtenbergische Geschichte, Herz, ii. p. lOo. f " Do Ratione Decimarum Ottonis Brunfelsii Propositiones." 206 peasants' war. Book hi. While new champions of these opinions started up in various parts of Germany, Nicolas Storch re-appeared at Hof, where he found believers in his revelations, and gathered round him twelve apostles who were to disseminate his doctrine throughout the nation.* The exile of Mlinzer and Carlstadt from Saxony, which was partly effected by Luther's influence f , greatly contributed to the spread and the force of the agitation. They both went to the Upper Rhine, where Carlstadt began by unreservedly pro- claiming his doctrine of the Lord's Supper ; and, however untenable was his own exposition of it, the excitement he thus occasioned was most violent, and productive of incalculable results. Mlinzer pro- ceeded through Niirnberg to Basle and the frontier of Smtzerland, where he was soon surrounded by fanatics who called themselves " the young Mlin- zers," as Carlstadt was, by men of learning. He confirmed them in the rejection of infant baptism. Among others, pi'op. 115.: " Proclitores Christi sunt Juda pejores et sacerdotibiis Baal, qui pro missis Papisticis et Canonicis preculis decimas recipiunt." * Widemann, Chron. Curiense : Mencken, iii. p. 744. -j- Who has not read the scenes in Jena, where Luther is said to have given Carlstadt a gulden to write against him, and to be his enemy ? Acta Jenensia, Walch, xv. 2422. Lu- ther always complained of the malignity of these stories. That they are received in Luther's works does not prove their truth? as Fuessli says in his Life of Carlstadt, p. 65. Luther was placed in a false position by hinting that Carlstadt's opinions were seditious, like those of Miinzer, which could not be clearly proved. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 207 which by degrees was become tlie watchword of the party that meditated a universal revolution. Thus, to the disorganisation of the supreme authorities, was added the general revolt of opinion against all existing institutions ; a state of the public mind, which opened a boundless vista of possible changes in the order of things. The result was inevitable. We have already seen in what a state of ferment the peasantry of all parts of the empire had been for more than thirty years ; how many attempts they had made to rise ; how violent was their hatred to all constituted authorities. Long, however, before the Reformation had been even thought of, their political schemes were tinged with a religious character : this was shown in the case of the Capuchins at Eichstadt, in that of Hans Behaim in the Wiirzbiirg dominions, and of the peasantry in Untergrumbach. Joss Fritz, who in 1513 renewed the Bundschuh at Lehen, in the Brisgau, was encouraged in his purpose by the parish priest, "because justice would be furthered by it: God approved the Bundschuh, as might be shown from the Scriptures; it was, therefore, a godly thing."* Poor Kunz of Wiirtemberg declared, in 1514, " that he would stand up for righteousness and divine justice." It was immediately after a sermon of a former very orthodox professor of catholic * Confession of, Hans Hummel ; Schneider, Bundschuh zu Lehen, p. 99. 208 peasants' war. Book hi. theology, Dr. Gaislin, that the tumult first broke out on the banks of the Glems.* It was the manifest and inevitable tendency of the reforming movement, which shook the authority of the clergy from its very foundations, to foster ideas of this kind ; but it is not less clear that the evangehcal preaching, which was undertaken with far different views and aims, was likely to be alFected by an excitement already so powerful. The political excitement was not produced by the preaching, but the religious enthusiasts caught the political fever. For all had not the sound sense and the penetration of Luther. It was now taught that as all were the children of one father, and all equally redeemed by the blood of Christ, there should no longer be any inequality of wealth or station. f To the complaints of the misconduct of the clergy, were added the old accusations against lords and rulers : their wars ; the harsh, and often unjust administration of their ministers and subordinates, and the oppres- sions under which the poor groaned ; in short, it was asserted that if the spiritual power was anti- * Heyd Herzog Ulricli von WUi'tenberg, i. p. 243. t " Kurz das es zugang aufF Ez-den, wie mir Theutschen von SchlaurafFenland, die Poeten de Insulis fortunatis, und die Juden von ihres Messias Zeytten dichten, also auch zum Tayl die Junger Christi gedachten vom Reych Christi." — " In short, that it should be on earth, as we Germans romance of the Schlauraf- fenland (a sort of pays de Cocaigne), poets, de Insulis fortunatis, and the Jews of the times of their Messiah ; so some of the dis- ciples of Christ thought about the kingdom of Christ." — Eherlin von Giinzburg, Ein Getrewe JVarmmg an die Christen in der Burgau. Chap. VI. PEASANTS* WAR. 209 christian, tlie temporal was no less so. Both were accused of heathenism and tyranny." " Things cannot go on as tliey have done," concludes one of these writings; "the game has been carried on long enough, and both citizens and peasants are tired of it ; every thing will alter — omnium rerum vicissitude." * The first disturbances broke out in the same district in which most of the former commotions had begun, — in that part of the Schwarzwald which divides the sources of the Danube from the upper valley of the Rhine. Several causes concurred to render this the scene of peculiar discontent : — the vicinity of Switzerland, Avith which that part of Germany stood in various and close relation ; the peculiar severity with which tlie Austrian govern- ment at Ensisheim and tlie commission at Engen pursued even the most blameless preachers of the new doctrine ; the personal share taken in these measures by the Count of Sulz, governor of Insbruck, and hereditary judge at Rothweil, who, as well as the Counts of Lupfen and Flirstenberg, was distinguished for his hatred of Lutherans and peasants ; the presence of Duke Ulrich of Wiir- * Ein ungewonlicher und dci" ander Sendtbrieft' dess Bauerii- feyndts zu Karstliannsen." — " An nncommon and anotlier mis- sive of the peasants' enemy to Karstliannsen," towards the end : printed by Johann Locher of Munich. Panzer (ii. No. 2777.) mentions a previous letter of Karsthannsen, dated 1525. In the second, I find no mention of the peasants' war, and it must have been written, at latest, during the latter half of the year 1524. VOL. II. P 210 peasants' war. Book hi. tenberg at Hohentweil, who beheld his most for- midable eneihies in these noble partisans of Austria, and used every means to irritate the people against them ; lastly, perhaps, the consequences of a hail- storm which, in the summer of 1524, destroyed all hopes of the harvest in the Kletgau. The insurrec- tion broke out in the Stiihlinger district, the domain of Count Sigismund of Lupfen. If it be time, as the contemporary chronicles affirm, that the immediate cause of the revolt was a strange whim of the Countess of Lupfen, for mnding yarn upon snail- shells which her subjects were forced to collect, it is certain that never did a more trifling and fantastic cause produce more serious and violent effects.* On the 24th of August, 1524, Hans Midler of Biilgenbach, a Stiihlinger peasant and soldier, went to the anniversary of the consecration of the church at Waldshut, followed by a considerable troop * Extract from the Villinger Chronik ; Walchner, Eatolph- zell, p. 89. According to Anshelm, vi. p. 298., the subjects of the Counts Von Lupfen and Fiirstenberg complained, " Dass sie am Fyi-tag miissten Schneggenhiissli suchen, garn winden, Erdbeer, Kriesen, Schlehen gewinnen, und ander dergleichen thun, den Herren und Frouwen werken bei gutem Wetter, ihnen selbs im Ungewetter : das gejjigd und d' hund liiffent ohne Ach- tung einigs Schadens." — " That on holydays they were obliged to hunt for snails, wind yarn, gather strawberries, cherries, and sloes, and do other such like things ; they had to work for their lords and ladies in fine weather, and for themselves in the rain. Their huntsmen and hounds ran about without regarding the damage they did." The matter was laid before the Kammer- gericht, but the people did not wait for the decision. CuAP. VI. peasants' war. 2 1 1 of insurgent peasants, bearing a black, red and white flag : but resistance to a single count was far too mean and trifling an object for him ; he an- nounced his intention of founding an evangelical brotherhood for the purpose of emancipating the peasantry throughout the German empire.* A small contribution paid by the members was destined to pay emissaries who were to extend the confederation over all j^arts of Germany. This project did not originate mth himself. It was suggested by Thomas Miinzer, who had long kept up a corre- spondence with this district, and now arrived there in person. He staid a few weeks in Griesheim, and then traversed the Hegau and the Kletgau, — for he could find no permanent resting-place f, — preaching wherever he went the deliverance of Israel, and the establishment of a heavenly kingdom upon earth. The subjects of the Counts of Werdenberg, ]\Iontfort, Lupfen, and Sulz, of the Abbot of Iteichenau and the Bishop of Constance, gradually joined the Stiihlingers. Those of Sulz previously consulted the inhabitants of Zurich, in which town their lord possessed the rights of citizenship ; and although the latter did not, as they assured the count, approve the insurrection, they did not hesitate to make the toleration of evangelical preachers one of the conditions of their obedience. J It would be well * Schreiber, Taschenbuch fiir Siiddeutschland, i. p. 72. f " certis de causis." Bullingcr adversus Anabaptistas, and his Reformations-geschichte, p. 224. if Fuesslins Beitrage zur Historie der Kirclienreformation, vol. ii. p. 68. p 2 212 peasants' war. BookIIL worth while to examine the course of these move- ments more narrowly than has yet been clone. The various motives which concurred to produce the peasants' war were more distinguishable at this, than at any other period ; for this was the moment at which they assumed the form of those general ideas, which from that time to this have possessed such a singular power of inflaming and attaching the minds of men. The lords vainly called upon the Swabian League for aid in their peril. Here and there a band of insurgents was induced by its persuasions and promises to return home ; but wherever a serious engagement took place, the peasants maintained their ground. Hearing that a body of the infantry and cavalry of the League was advancing against them under Jacob von Landau, they took up a strong position, from which it was impossible to dislodge them.* Nor could the most zealous eflbrts of well-inten- tioned mediators bring about any reconciliation. The peasants drew up a statement of their grievances in twelve articles, which they did not hesitate to lay before the Council of Regency at Esslingen. If, however, the lords refused to enter on the discussion of the whole of these collectively, the peasants were equally determined not to con- cede any point : they had indeed far more extensive schemes in reserve. At the end of the year 1524, and the beginning of 1525, the peasants were * Walchner, Geschichte von Eatolphzell, p. 92. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 213 masters of the whole land.* The lords and their ministers were at length compelled to seek safety behind the massive walls of Ratolphzell, defended by its devoted townsmen. Meanwhile, however, similar disturbances had broken out in larger districts. Nowhere were the complaints of the people better grounded than in the dominions of the Abbots of Kempten. These ecclesiastical rulers continually vexed their subjects with fresh taxes, which they spent in building or travelling. As long ago as the year 1492, riots had broken out in con- sequence, but had led to no redress of the people's wrongs. The free peasants, who were very nume- rous in the Abbacy, were continually ground down to the station of Zinsers f, and those again to that of villeins J ; while the latter were compelled to perform services that rendered their condition more intolerable. Free lands were taken possession of; tithe-free estates subjected to tithes ; the money * The instruction given by Arclicluke Ferdinand to Veit Suiter (Walchner and Bensen, p. 558.) shows the state of lawless violence produced under these circumstances. f The Zinser, or Zinsmann, occupied, as the context shows, an intermediate station between the free peasant and tlie villein. As the idea is a very complex one, and involves a number of conditions to which we have nothing analogous, any attempt to translate the word could only mislead. Grimm (D. R. A. p. 358.) says, " Zins is the Latin ce7isus." The w.ord which seems most nearly to express its meaning, in the cases he cites, is dues. — Trajstsl. ^ Haggenmiillei", Geschichte der Stadt vmd Grafschaft Kempten, p. 505., says, that four hundred cases of this kind are recorded in the Rotula of the Provincial Acts. p 3 214 peasants' war. Book hi. paid by the peasants for protection and defence was raised twentyfold; the popular courts of justice lield at markets or fairs were suppressed ; the revenues of the communes or villages were seized ; occasionally, even, the spiritual power was applied to carry through these oppressions. It was not surprising, therefore, that, in the year 1523, when a new Abbot, Sebastian von Breitenstein, entered on the government, the peasants refused to do homage, except on condition that he would redress their grievances. At first he held out the hope that he would comply with their demands ; thirteen sittings were held to consider of them, but all in vain ; the Abbot at length exclaimed that he would leave things as he found them ; if his subjects would not obey him, George von Frundsberg should come and teach them. This was assuredly a most ill-timed stretch of the spiritual rights of supremacy, just when all men were refusing their belief in the basis on which those rights were founded — the divine authority of the clergy. As the Abbot made this appeal to force, his subjects thought it time to prepare for defence. On the 23d of January, 1525, the seceders (Gottes- hausleute — God's house people) held a meeting at their old place on the Luibas. They determined to pursue the matter legally before the judges and councillors of the League, and if they could get no redress, to sound the tocsin, and repel force by force. Already they beheld allies rising around them on every side. Similar, if not equal, wrongs ; the force of example, and the hope of success, set tlie pea- santry all over Swabia in motion. Chap. Vr. PEASANTS' WAR. 215 In February, the people of the AUgavi, led by Dietrich Hurlewagen of Lindau, rose against the IMshop of Augsburg, and formed a strict alliance with the villages of Kempten. On the 27th of February, the two districts held a meeting on the Luibas. If any inhabitant of them refused to join the association, a stake was driven into the ground before his door, as a token that he was a public enemy. At their call, the peasants all along the Lake of Constance, and across the Alps to Pfullen- dorf, joined them, led by Eitelhans of Theuringen, whom his followers celebrate as " a good captain of the Lord, who kept a faithful hand over them." No bells could be tolled for divine service ; the sound of them instantly gave the alarm, and all the people rushed to the place of meeting at Berma- tingen.* A third party, consisting of the subjects of the Abbot of Ochsenhausen, the Baron of Wald- burg, and many other lords and cities, rose on the Ried. The villages that refused to join them were threatened with fire and sword j* ; the people on * Ralmansweiler's description in Oeclisle, Beitriige zur Ges- chichte des Bauernkriegs, p. 485. f See the account of the treaty of Hegowisch, Walchner, p. 298. : " Wie wol es den Frommen und Erbaren nit lieb, sonder ein gros beschwiird was. Niitt dester minder so was der Jungen und auch deren die niemen nutz ; so vil das die Allten und auch die Fi-ommen mit innen miisten ziichen, odcr sy iin der nit zicchen wollt ein Pfal fur sin hus schlugent, unnd im dai-by trowtend." — " Although, indeed, to the lionest and godly it was not welcome, but rather a grievous burthen ; nevertheless, not only the young, and those who were of no use to any man, but also the old and godly men even were forced to go along with p 4 216 peasants' war. Book hi. the Iller hastened to unite with them. Their centre of operations was at Baldringen. Thus united, and grown to a formidable force, the peasantry now again laid their grievances be- fore the Swabian League. In the course of March, neo;otiations were a.o;ain set on foot in Ulm with the three insurgent bands. But it may be doubted whether it was not the character of the League itself which caused these discontents ; — the incessant wars, the expenses of which were either thrown directly on the subjects, or raised by an increase of all the established burthens ; the support it gave to the several lords individually ; being itself com- posed of the very sovereigns against whom the complaints Avere made. It now clearly appeared how great a calamity it was for the country that the Council of liegency had recently lost so im- mensely in power and consideration. It sent, in- deed, two of its members to command peace, and to try to bring about a reconciliation; and they proposed to erect a court of arbitration, — each party to nominate one prince and three cities, who should hear the complaints and adjudge the remedy. But the Council of Regency was far too weak to obtain a hearing for even these moderate pro- posals. For a moment (in February and March) the invasion of his own land by the Duke of Wiir- tenberg had occupied the attention of the League, It is difficult to say what would have happened if the Confederation, on whom this prince again relied, tliem. And if any man would not, they thrust a stake into the earth before his door, and threatened him thereat." Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 217 had adhered firmly to his cause, as it appeared its interest to do. For it seemed consistent enough that the Swiss, in opposition to whom the Swabian League was originally formed, should support the duke who attacked, and the peasants who revolted against it; and it was this danger which had induced the councillors of the League to enter into negotiations. But on this occasion, as on former ones, other considerations preponderated with the Swiss diet ; and when the duke had already forced his way into the outskirts of Stuttgart, they re- called their troops from him with the greatest urgency *, and he was compelled to retreat without gaining any sohd advantage. The League was thus at liberty to act against the peasantry. Without further hesitation, it required them first to lay down their arms, after which it would treat with them, f As the peasants had gone * Haus Stockar's Heimfahrt und Tagebuch, p. 131. : " und dye Botten, die miantend uns ab, das wiei" hiam zugend mit Mund und mit BrieiFeu, by Lib und by Leben, ain Even und Gutt, by Verlurn unser Vatters-land, und ckemend wier, so wet- tind sy uns aUer StrafF ledyg Ion, und erzalttend uns von dem ►Schaden, den Avier zu IMialand und der Frantzoss Kiing hatt aimpfangen. Und also warend wir unseren Heren und Oberen gehorsam, und brachen in der Nacht ufF." — " And the messen- gers warned us to depart to our homes by word of mouth and by letter, as we loved our lives and limbs, our honour and goods, and feared to lose our country ; and if we went there they would forgive us all punislnnent. And they fold us of the losses we had sutfered in Milan, and those of the French king. And accord- ingly we obeyed our lords and masters, and set out that same night." f Ilaggenmullcr, Kempten, p. 522. A book which I have 218 peasants' war. Book hi. much too far to agree to these conditions, the League, well prepared for war, determined on an immediate resort to force. But it was destined again to find a wholly unexpected resistance. Detached bands Avere easily routed and dispersed, and a few small places quickly reduced ; but this had no efi'ect on the main body. The duke's en- terprise had so far been of use to the peasants, that it had given them time to assemble in masses which kept even such a commander as George Truchsess in check. Many of these men had borne arms in the field. While the League had excited the insurrec- tion by grinding taxes and rehgious persecutions, it had also made the insurgents capable of self-defence, by its continual wars. The feeling of their own power of defending themselves was, indeed, one chief motive to the revolt. The foot-soldiers of the League, who had not unfrequently served under the same banners with these peasants, had a na- tural fellow-feeling with them. And now, from the time that the last negotiations had proved abortive, the disorder began to assume a really serious character. The twelve articles had appeared, and every one knew what he had to expect, and why he had taken arms. These articles contained three different kinds of demands ; first of all, the liberty of the chase, of fishing, and of hewing wood, and the pre- constantly found very useful. I am surprised to find tlie move- ment at Kempten so falsely represented, even in contemporary works, and hence, of course, in all subsequent ones. Cochliius seems to be the originator of the errors. Chaf. VI. peasants' wak. 219 vention of or compensation for the damage done by the game : — demands and complaints reiterated by the peasantry of all countries ever since the rise of feudal societies: as early as the year 997, we lind them urged in Normandy.* Secondly, the peasants pressed for relief from some newly-imposed burthens, new laws and penalties, and for restora- tion of the property of the parishes which had been abstracted, as we remarked in speaking of the usur- pations of the lords. Lastly, the desire for rehgious reform was mingled with these secular motives. The peasants were determined no longer to be serfs, for Christ had redeemed them also with his precious blood; they would no longer pay the small tithe, but only the great one f, for God had * Gulielmus Gemeticensis, Hist. Nomi., lib. v. 2. : " Juxta suos libitus vivere decernebant, quatenus tarn in sylvarum com- pendiis quam in aquarum coramerciis nullo obsistente ante sta- tuti juris obice legibus utei'entur suis." -|- This is shown in the following passage from Milliner's Annals. The council at Niirnberg caused it to be proclaimed from all pulpits, " dass aller lebendige Zehent, als Fiilleu Kiilber Lammer, &c., desgleichen der kleine Zehent, den man nennt dan todten Zehent, als Heidel Erbeiss Heu Hopfen, &c., ganz todt und abseyn soUe, aber den grossen harten Zehenten von hernach benanntem Gctreide, so man die fiinf Brand nennt, nemlich von Korn Diinkel Waitzen Gerste habern, sollte man zu geben schuldig seyn." — " That all tithes on living things, such as foals, calves, lambs, &c., likewise the small tithes called the dead tithes, such as buck -wheat, pasture, hay, liops, &c., should be entirely abolished ; but the people should be bound to pay the great hard tithes on the following sorts of grain, viz. rye, spelt, wheat, barley, and oats." (According to custom, the fifteenth, twentieth, or thirtieth sheaf) 220 peasants' war. Book hi. ordained that alone in the Old Testament. Above all, they demanded the right to choose their own preachers, in order to be instructed by them in the true faith, " without which they were mere flesh and blood, and good for nothing." The characteristic feature of these articles is a mixture of spiritual and temporal demands, a derivation of the latter from the former, which is certainly at variance with the sentiments of Luther, and with the pure and un- mingled tendencies of the reformation ; but which is also far removed from all schemes of general con- vulsion, and not at variance with common sense and humanity. As to the political demands, the local and particular interests are far less prominent than those of a general or a universal character, — as was indispensable where various bands of men were to combine : the author of them, be he who he may, gave evidence of sagacity and address. For thus alone could the articles obtain general approbation, and be regarded as the manifesto of the whole body of the peasantry.* But further demands were by no means mthdrawn in consequence. * " Dye grunlichen unci rechten Hauptartikel aller BauerschafFt und Hyndersessen : " printed among others in Strobel's Beitriige, ii. p. 9. Among the editions, one in Panzer, No. 2705. has this addition : " des monadts Martii." According to Haggenmliller, p. 513., their first appearance in the form of a document was during the negotiation between the three vuiited bodies of peasants and the Swabian League, in February and March, 1525, in which case they must have been drawn up by a preacher who had joined the peasants. According to the unanimous opinion of contemporaries, among Avhom was Mehmchthon, ChristoiDher Schaj^peler was the author. Even in the Florentine History of CiiAP. VI peasants' WAll. 221 All the people of the Black Forest, from Wutach- thal to Dreisamthal, now flocked together under Hans Miiller of Bulgenbach. This leader journeyed from place to place, brilliantly attired in a red cloak and cap, at the head of his adlierents ; the great standard and the battle flag followed him in a cart decorated with leaves and ribbons — a sort of car- roccio.* A herald, or messenger, summoned all the parishes, and read the twelve articles aloud. Nor did their commander stop here ;. he declared them the symbol of the evangelical brotherhood, which he intended to found ; whoever refused to accept them should be put under temporal ban by the union. Already had this been declared against the lords of castles, the monks and priests in convents and chapters : though even these men might be ad- mitted into the association, if they chose to enter it, and to live for the future in common houses like other people ; every thing should then be granted them which was their due according to the laws of God. Midler's first vague idea of an evan- Nardi (viii. p. 187.)« lie is called, " uno scellerato rinnovatore della setta degli anabattisti cliiamato Scaflere." Scliappeler, however, always denied this (Bullinger, p. 245.) ; and, indeed, it seems to have been an error. It was afterwards supposed, and from his own confession (see Strobel, ib. p. 76.), that Job. Heughlin, of Lindau, was the real author, yet his confession relates only to the articles Avhich were granted to the peasants of Sernatingen, to prevent their joining the other peasants : the famous twelve articles would have been mentioned in another manner. * Schreiber der Breisgau im Bauernkricge, Taschenb. fiir Siiddeutschland, i. p. 235. 222 peasants' war. Book til gelical brotherhood thus assumed a very distinct form. A radical change in political and even in social relations was the object now clearly aimed at. In the course of April, 1525, it really appeared likely to come to this. It is a very remarkable circumstance that while Miinzer was fomenting the disorders in Upper •Swabia, Dr. Carlstadt, a Franconian by birth, was equally active in Franconia. Compelled to quit Strasburg and to return home, but there subject to incessant persecution, and regarded with double horror in consequence of the notoriety of his doubts as to the sacrament, he at length found an asylum at Rothenburg on the Tauber, where his opinions were regarded with sympathy. The citizens of the guilds demanded that the church reform which had just been begun should be carried through, which the patrician families {die Ge- schlechter), whose domination was, moreover, not wholly legal, opposed. The guilds had a most powerful ally on their side, in the sturdy war- like peasants of the Landwehr, who were also vexed with exorbitant and illegal charges, and who claimed the liberty of the Gospel. We are too well acquainted with the character of Carlstadt not to know that he would approve all tlie objects of the people. Already banished by the council, but secretly protected by certain powerful members of it, he suddenly appeared near the crucifix in the great burial-ground, in his peasant's coat and hat of rough white felt, and exhorted the country people CiiAr. VI. peasants' WAR. 223 not to desist from their endeavours.* It may easily be imagined, however, that the movement was not confined to religious innovations. In the last week of March disturbances broke out, first in the country, and then in the town, in which a committee of the guilds seized on all the power ; while the rural communes formed themselves into a great associ- ation, set forth their grievances — which had indeed spiritual grounds, but were by no means of an ex- clusively spiritual nature — and took up arms to compel redress. In Franconia the slumbering fires of discontent burst forth with still greater rapidity than in Swa- bia ; either in consequence of the combinations formed by the emissaries sent by Hans Mliller, or by the excitement produced in the minds of the disaf- fected ringleaders by the example of their neigh- bours. A few thousand peasants, excited by the twelve articles, which had fallen into their hands, assembled in a valley of the Odenwald, called the; Schiipfergrund, and chose for their leader George Metzler, the inn-keeper at Ballenburg, in whose house the first arrangements had been made, — a bold man, whose life had been passed in the noisy revels of a frequented tavern. f Similar meetings were * Bensen der Bauernkrieg in Ostfranken, p. 79. According to the sentence passed on Stephan von Menzingen, this leader of the town movements, an adherent of Duke Uh'ich of Wiirten- berg, associated frequently with Carlstadt. See Anfang und Ende des Bauernkriegs zu Rothcnburg, Walch, L. W. xvL 180. ■f According to Hubert Thomas Leodius, this occurred about the middle of Lent, at Liitare, 26th March. 224 peasants' war. Book hi. held at Bockingen, Mergentheim, and many other places. The first thing usually was to break the fasts; a banquet was held at which the most eloquent and the most disaffected spoke ; the twelve articles were brought out, read, and approved ; a leader was chosen, and the alarm bell sounded. Such was the beginning of the riot, the first act of which, in almost every case, was to seize upon a flour store or a wine-cellar, or to drag a seigneurial fish-pond. The newly-chosen commanders might be seen riding about with an air of authority, mounted upon the priest's pony. But though these tumults seemed contemptible enough in their beginnings, they became more and more formidable as they advanced. On an appointed day the several bands repaired to- gether from every side, not exactly at the customary meeting-place, but at some convent they had doomed to destruction, as for example, at Scheflersheim, where they swore to pay neither tax, rent, nor tithe to any lord, temporal or spiritual, till they would come to some terms ; and in future, as they had only one God, to acknowledge only one master. It was as if the insurgents Avere led by some secret guidance to one predetermined end. Their object was in the first place to emancipate themselves from their lords, but then to unite with them and take measures in concert against the clergy, and, above all, against the spiritual princes. To accomplish this work by forcible means, two troops marched into the field, one called the Black from Rothenburg, under Hans Kolbenschlag, the other, the White, from the Odenwald, under George CiiAP. VI. peasants' wak. 225 Metzler. The lords were compelled to accept the twelve articles, of which the Odenwald band pub- lislied a distinct declaration, Avherein tlie abolition of the punishment of death, of the lesser tithes, and of villeinage were especially insisted on, with- out omitting such local modifications as sliould seem necessary, and liolding out the })ro.spect of further reforms.* This band had not, like; the Swabian, the forces of the League to deal Avith ; there was nobody capable of resisting them. Tlie Counts of Ilohenlohe and Lowenstein, the com- mander of the Teutonic Order at Mergentheim, and the Junker of Rosenberg, were forced in succession to subscribe to the conditions laid before them by the peasants, and to submit beforehand to the reforms they purposed to introduce. The Counts George and Albert of Hohenlohe consented to appear before the peasants' army at Griinbiihl. " Brother George and brother Albert," said a tin- ker of Ohrinoen to them, " come hither and swear to the peasants to be as brothers to them, for ye are now no longer lords but peasants." f Terrible, in- deed, was the fate of those who ventured to resist, like Count Helfenstein at Weinsberg. The natural rudeness of peasants was inflamed by the first opposition into the wildest and most wanton blood- thirstiness : they swore that they would kill every man that wore spurs ; and when Helfenstein liad * Explanation of the 12 articles. Oclisle, p. 572. and Bensen, p. 526. t Letter from Count George to the city of Hall. Tuesday after Palm Sunday. Oeclisle, p. 271. VOL. II. Q 220 peasants' war. Book in fallen into their power, it was in vain that his wife, a natural daughter of Emperor Maximilian, threw herself at the feet of the leaders with her little sou in her arms: a lane was formed, and the victim brought out, preceded by a peasant playing on a pipe ; Helfenstein was then driven on the spears of his peasants amidst the sound of trumpets and horns. Hereupon every one gave way : all the nobility, from the Odenwald to the Swabian frontier, sub- ^ mitted to the laws of the peasants, — those of Winter- stetten, Stettenfels, Zobel, Gemmingen, Frauenberg, and the Counts of Wertheim and Rheineck ; those of Hohenlohe now even gave up their artillery to the peasants.* In order to bring the matter to a conclusion, both bodies now marched against the most powerful lord in Franconia, who bore the title of duke there, — the Bishop of Wltrzburg. On their way, they had not alone enriched and strengthened themselves, but had also secured distinguished coixunanders of the knightly class. Gotz von Berlichingen had undertaken the com- mand of the Odenwald troop ; partly because it would have been dangerous to refuse ; partly at- tracted by the prospect of active war, wliich was the sole object and passion of his life, and in which he was the more ready to engage, as it was directed against his old enemies of the Swabian Leairue.t Florian Geier led the Rothenburo-ers. On the 6th and 7th of 3Iay these bands ap- * Clironik der Truchsessen, ii. p. 195. t Lebensbeschreibung des Gutz, p. 201. See his Apology in the Materialien, p. 156. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAK. 227 proached AYlirzburg in opposite directions, and m'oi-c joyfully received by the inhabitants of the town, Avilo hoped to gain the privileges of a free imperial, city*; the citizens and the peasants swore not to forsake each other till they had conquered the Frauenberg, in which the last remaining forces of the princes and knights of Franconia, who Ave re now united, had assembled. At the same moment (the end of April and be- ginning of May, 1525) a similar state of things began throughout Upper Germany. Disturbances broke out in all directions, and every Avhere they Avere in effect successful. The Bishop of Spire had been forced to submit to the conditions imposed by the peasants f ; the Elector Palatine had met them in an open field near the village of Ilorst, and promised to redress their grievances on the conditions laid down in the tAvelve articles. J In Alsatia, Zabern, the residence of the bishop himself, had fallen into the hands of * Johann Reinbards Wurzburgisclie Clironik in Ludwig, Wiu-zb. Geschicbtscbr,, p. 886. t Gnodalius, ii. p. 142. X Letter from the Elector to Melanclitbon : " Haben uns mit ihiien den 12 Ai-tikel wegeu eines Landtags vereinigt, dergestalt wes wir uns derselben mit ihnen vergleicben mochten, das hat seine wege, wes wir uns aber nicbt vertragen konnen, das solt stehen zu Thiirfursten Fiirsten und Stlinden des Reichs." — " We have agreed with them about a diet to consider the 12 articles; in such wise that whatever we could arrange with them was to stand, but what we cannot settle was to be referred to tlie electors, princes, and states of the empire." This was the principle of most of the arrangements that were made. (Mel. Epp. i. p. 743.) Q 2 228 peasants' war. Book hi. tlie insurgents ; the inhabitants of the small towns declared that they had no spears wherewith to ,pierce the peasants ; for a time their leaders, Schlem- merhans and Deckerhans*, were all-powerful. On Markgrave Ernest of Baden refusing to accept the terms offered by the peasants, his castle was taken and he was forced to fly. The knights of the Hegau were surrounded and besieged by them in the town of Zell on the Untersee. Even the powerful Truchsess, at the head of the forces of the Swabian League, was compelled to come to terms with the peasants of the Allgau, See and Ricd, and, with the mediation of the cities, to promise them relief from their oppressions, before they would, submit. It was unusual good fortune when they would thus consent to Avait for future arrange- ments. In Wiirtemberg they would not hear of any more diets of the duchy {Landtcige), but in- sisted on instantly placing everything in the hands of their Christian brotherhood, whicli had already spread over the chief part of the country. Each place sent a certain number of people into the field. The Bishop of Bamberg, the Abbot of Hersfeld, and the coadjutor of Fulda, had already made con- cessions of a spiritual, as well as temj^oral kind. The last-named of the three agreed to these changes with peculiar readiness, and imm.ediately allowed himself to be saluted Prince von der Buchen ; his brother, the old Count William of Henneberg, also entered into the peasants' league, and promised to * Two names, equivalent to Jack the Guttler and Jack the Tiler. — Transl. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAll. 229 leave in freedom " all whom God Almighty liad made free in Christ his son." * The boldest attempt at a complete change in all the relations of life was perhaps that made by the inhabitants of the Rheingau. They once more assembled on the old traditional meeting-place, the Llitzelau, at Bartholomewtide f , and agreed to demand, above all, the restoration of their ancient constitution, the Haingericht (Bush Court) J subsisting under their old law, and the Gebick, wdiich converted the country into a sort of fortress : besides this they insisted on the participation of the lord'^, both spiritual and temporal, in the burthens borne by the community at large, and the application of conventual property to the use of the country. * The formula of the League. Ludwig, p. 879. f According to Bodraann's Rheingauischen Alterthiimern, p. 461., Vogt's assertion, that the juniper- tree was the ancient place of meeting, is erroneous. I Grimm, in his Deutsche Rechtsalthiimcr, p. 793., says, " The ancient Gericht was invariably held in the open air, in a wood, under shady trees, on a hillock, or near a spring : the assembled multitude could not have been contained in any moderate building, and pagan ideas required that the Gericht should be holden in a holy spot, on which sacrifices were of- fered, and the judgment of heaven appealed to. Christianity abolished the sacrifices, but left the old Gericht statten undis- turbed." I have sought in vain for any explanation of the word Gebick. It has been suggested to me that it is something like a Mark (district), or rather the lines by which each Mark was enclosed. These were chiefly formed by forest, and also by rivers, ditches, and other natural boundaries. See Grimm's account of the primitive territorial divisions of Germany (book iii. p. 491.). --Transl. Q 3 230 peasants' war. Book hi. They encamped on the Wachholder at Erbach, and actually in open rebellion, compelled the go- vernor, dean and chapter to grant their demands.* At Aschaffenburo- too, the g-overnor for the Arch- bishop of Mainz was forced to submit to the con- ditions of the peasants. The whole Swabian and Franconian branch of the German nation was thus in a state of agitation which seemed likely to end in a complete overthrow of all the existing relations of society ; a great number of towns were already infected with the prevailing spirit. The small towns were the first to join the cause of the peasantry, — Kempten, Leipheim, and Glinzburg on the Danube (which, indeed, soon received severe chastisement) ; the nine Odenwald towns in the see of Mainz, and the towns in the Breisgau, in some of which the to'wn clerk himself opened the gates to the peasants ; none of tliese, indeed, were in a con- dition to resist, and most of them groaned under the same oppressions as the peasantry. The people of Bamberg conceived the bold project of compelling the surroundino; nobles to come and live within the walls of their town and to become burghers ; nearly fifty castles were stormed in this neighbourhood. f The Abbot of Kempten being forced to surrender his castle of Liebenthann to the peasants, and to seek refu2:e in the town, the buro;hers took advan- tage of the favourable moment to bring him to an * ArtikelgemeinerLandschaft : Scliunk, BeitriigezurMainze Gesch. i. p. 191. f Lang's Geschichte von Baireutli, i. p. 187. Heller, p. 88. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 231 agreement they had long desired, for tlie release of all his rights of sovereignty. Some of the free imj^erial towns of the second and third classes Avere next drawn into the league by persuasion or by force : these were Heilbronn, Memmingen, Diin- kelspiel, and Wimpfen; Rothenburg entered into an alliance with the peasantry for a hundred and one years, which was ratified at a solemn assembly held in the parish church : Windsheim was only re- strained from the same course by the dissuasions of Nilrnberg. Even in the great cities a similar spirit manifested itself. Mainz claimed the restitu- tion of its rights as an imperial city, of which it had been deprived since the last disturbances. The council of Treves not only demanded that the clergy should be called upon to bear their share in the l3urthens of the citizens, but even laid claim to a part of the s^Diritual revenues accruing from the relics in the cathedral.* The council of Frankfurt was forced to agree to the articles laid before it by the commonalty, word by wordf ; alleging as an excuse that the same thing had happened in several other imperial cities. It was remarked that Stras- burg received the insurgents as citizens, and that Ulm supplied them with arms, and Nilrnberg with provisions. A learned writer of this period states it as his opinion, that the movement had originated even more with the towns than with the peasantry, and that the former had been originally stirred up * Scbeckmann : Additamentum ad Gesta Trcvirorum in Wyt- tenbach's Edition of the Gesta, ii. Animadv. p. 51. f Lersner's Frankfurter Chronik. Q 4 232 peasants' WAE. BookITI by Jewish emissaries : he beheves that the intention of the towns was to shake off the authority of the princes altogether, and to live like Venice, or the republics of antiquity.* Unfounded as was this opinion — for we know, how zealously many of the imperial towns, Niirn- berg for example, strove to suppress the rising dis- orders in their own dominions, and we have seen that the disturbances in the towns which corre- sponded to those of the peasants were only called forth by circumstances, — yet we cannot but per- ceive what force and extension must liave been given to the rebelhon by the addition of this second element, and how wide and threatening the danger was become. The ideas to which this crisis gave birth were most remarkable. The Franconian peasants formed projects for the reform of the whole empire. So deeply rooted was this purpose in the very heart of the nation. That which the princes had vainly endeavoured to accomplish at so many diets, — which Sickingen and his knights had attempted three years before to execute after their fashion, — the peasants now believed they could effect ; — of course in the manner most calculated to raise their own condition. The first object was to give a general direction and guidance to the present tumultuous movement. A common office for the business of all the sej)arate * Conradi Mutiani Litera3 ad Fridericum Electorem, 27th April, 1525, in Kohler's Beitriige^ i. 270. Cii.vp.vi. peasants' wak. 233 bands, in fact a sort of central government, was to be established at Heilbronn. The masses were to be ordered to return home to their daily work, leaving only a certain levy in the field, whose duty it would be to compel all who still remained unsubdued to accept the twelve articles. Ill the further attempts to create some positive institutions, the predominant idea Avas that of freeing the peasantry from the burthen of all the oppressive privileges of the lords, both spiritual and temporal. To accomplish this, it was deter- mined to proceed at once to a general secularisa- tion of the ecclesiastical property. As this would involve the abolition of the spiritual principalities, means would thus be obtained for giving compensa- tion to the temporal sovereigns for the loss of their rights, for which some indemnity was thought due. The amount of church property was so enormous that the people hoped still to have enough left to satisfy all the public exigencies of the empire. All duties and tolls were to be taken off, and all charges for safe conduct; and only every tenth year a tax was to be levied for the Roman emperor '", who was in future to be the sole protector and ruler of the country, and to Avhom alone the people were to owe duty and allegiance. The courts of law were * They refused to acknowledge Markgrave Ernest of Baden as their sovereign, and were determined to be governed in futui'c by the Emperor and his deputy alone. They also meant some- thing similar by the divine right which they conceded to the Duke of Wlirtenberg. The chief ground of their recognition of the Emperor {Kaiser — Ccesar) was that he was named in the New Testament. 234 peasants' war. Book hi. to be remodelled and popularised on one com- prehensive principle. There were to be sixty- four free courts {Freigerichte*) in the empire, with assessors of all classes, even the lowest; besides these, sixteen district courts (Lcmdgerichte), four courts of appeal (Ilofgerichte), and one suj)reme court (Kammergericht) ; all organised in the same manner. The members of the Kammergericht were to be as follows ; — two princes, two reigning counts, two knights, three burghers of the im- perial towns, three from the princely residencies, and four from all the communes of the empire. These were plans which had often been sug- gested, and are, for instance, to be found in a work which appeared as earl)^ as 1523, called " Need of the German Nation" (" Nothdurft deut- scher Nation^') — they were now adopted and de- veloped by two clever and daring peasant leaders, Friedrich Weigant of Miltenberg, and Wendel Hipler, formerly chancellor of Hohenlohe.f The * Grimm says, in his Deutsche Rechts Alterthiimer (p. 829.), " Originally almost every Gau or Merligericht might be called a Freigericht. Later, however, when the sovereignty of the princes gained force and consistency, this term acquired a peculiar meaning. Particular districts which maintained their independence, and remained immediately subject to the empire, bore the name of Fi-eigerichte, just as immediate cities were called Freistadte.'" (See further, note at p. 267.) Courts called Freigerichte, of Avhich the lord of the soil appoints the presi- dent, and the peasants the assessors, exist, I am told, in the German provinces of Russia. — Transl. I See the plans of the peasants in Ochsle, p. 163., and in the Appendix. It has already been remarked by Eichhorn Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 235 doctors of the Roman law were especially hated by the peasantry ; they were not to be admitted into any court of law, and only to be tolerated at the uni- versities, in order that their advice might be taken in urgent cases. All classes, too, were to be made to return to their original vocation ; the clergy were to be only the shepherds of their flocks ; the princes and knights were to occupy themselves in defending the weak, and to live in biotherl}^ love one with another. All the commons were to undero;o a reformation consonant to the laws of God and of nature : only one sort of coin was to be current, and uniform weights and measures were to be introduced. Ideas more radically subversive than were ever (Deutsche Staats luid Kechtsgescli. iii. p. 119. 4th cd.) that these designs throw a new light on the so-called Reformation of Frederick III. Goldast docs not indeed deserve the blame which Eichhorn attributes to him : he has not given this little work as a reformation of the Emperor's. The old work he quotes bears the title " Teutscher Nation Notturft : die Ordnung und Reformation aller Stend in Rom. Reych, dureh Kayser Friedrich III. Gott zu Lob, der ganzen Christenheit zu Nutz und Seligkait fiirgenommen." {Panzer, ii. p. 226.) — " The Needs of the German Nation : the ordering and re- formation of all the classes of the Roman empire by the Emperor Frederick III., undertaken for the glory of God, and for the benefit and salvation of all Christendom." But this, no doubt, is a mere author's fiction. The paper breathes throughout tlie spirit of the first years of the reformation. The calamity at Erfurt, which is there mentioned among those communes which owed tlieir ruin to self-interest, refers, no doubt, to the destruc- tive riots of 1.310, and not to any previous and less remarkable events. 236 peasants' war. Book hi. again proclaimed till the time of the French Revo- lution. But bold and anarchical as they were, they were not Avithout a considerable prospect of being realised. The contagion spread every instant : it had already seized on Hessen, whence it threat- ened to extend its conquests over the Saxon race ; as from upper Swabia over the Bavarian, and from Alsatia over that of Lorraine. Corresponding dis- turbances took place in Westphalia ; for example, at Miinster, where the town demanded the same con- cessions from its chapter as at Treves, and the bishop already feared that he should see the whole country hurried away by the storm.* It also broke out on the Austrian frontiers, where all that offered resistance were put under ban by the peasantry ; * " AUe unci semptliclie Artikel dvircli die van Munster by sick solvest upgei'iclit." — " All and every article drawn up for themselves by those of Munster," and esi^ecially the letter of the Bishop Frederic, dated 8th of May, in Niesert, Beitrage zu einem Miinsterschen Urkundenbuch," i. p. 113. " So juw vor- gekommen, was grotes uprores jtzont im hylligen Ryke und daitscher nation weder alle Christliche Ordenunge Obericheit geistlich und weltlich vorhanden is — werden wy berichtet — das sulchs allhier in unserm Gestichte unser Obericheit und inson- derheit dem geistlichen Stande zii gyner geringen Yerhonynge Inbrock und Besweringe im Deile och vorgenommen und betenget." — " And it has come to our knowledge what great uproar there now is throughout the holy empire and German nation, against all Christian order and all rulers, both spiritual and temporal ; and we are informed that, in our diocese, this has been the cause of no little contempt, resistance, and complaining against our magistrates, and especially against those of the ecclesiastical order." Chap.vl peasants' wak. 237 all tlic Alpine districts were in the same state : in Tyrol, Archduke Ferdinand found himself com- pelled, in manifest contravention of the decrees of Kegensburg, to concede to the committees of the states of Inn and Wippthal that the Gospel should in future be preached " pure and plain, according to the sense borne by the text;"* in the see of Brixen, the bishop's secretary, Michael Geissmayr, headed the insurgents; at Salzburg, the miners flocked to the churches at the sound of the alarm- bell ; even between Vienna and Neustadt the la- bourers in the \TLneyards talked of a combination which would enable them to send about ten thou- sand men into the field within a few hours. f Meanwhile, the rebellion had broken out in Thu- ringia, and had there assumed another character. It appears probable that in Thuringia and the Harz, traditions of the fanaticism of the flagellants, the efi*ects of which may be traced down even to the end of the loth century if, had prepared the ground * Excerpts in Buclioltz, viii. p. 330. Buclioltz shows a want of knowledge of the hxnguage of this period in assuming tliat by these concessions the difficulties were avoided. -}- Schreiben von Ilofrath und IJenntkammer, Bucholtz, viii. p. 88. I According to Joliann Lindner's Onomasticon (Mencken, ii. p. 1521.) this sect prevailed chiefly in Aschersleben and San- gerhauscn. In a document which is quoted by Forstcmann in his ProvincialbUittern fur Sachsen (1838. No. 232.) we find an inquisition at Castle Hoym against one of these flagel- lants, in the year 1481. It was perhaps a point of union that they too looked upon their preacher as a prophet, and tliought that in him they beheld the judge at the day of judgment. But, indeed, the whole is dressed up with metaphor. 238 peasants' war MUNZER. BookIIL for the insurrection of the peasantry. At all events motives arisins; out of relio^ious enthusiasm were much more powerful there than j)olitical causes. The opinions which Luther had overcome at Wittenberg, and which he had warned his prince not to suffer to take root in Thuringia, were now eagerly listened to by a numerous and excited population. Mlinzer had returned to Thuringia ; he had been received at Mlihlhausen, where, as at Rothenburg, a change of the constitution and of the council had been brought about by the co-oper- ation of the lower class of burohers with the country people ; and from hence he soon spread the ferment far and wide around him. He scorned, as we are already aware, the " fabulous gospel " preached by Luther, liis " honeysweet Christ," and his doctrine that antichrist must be destroyed by the Word alone, without violence : lie maintained that the tares must be rooted out at the time of harvest ; that the example of Joshua, who smote the people of the promised land with the edge of the sword, must be followed.* He was moreover * Aiislegung des aiulern unterscliyds Danielis dess proplieten gepredigt aufm Schloss zu Alstedt vor den tetigen tliewren Herzogen und Vorstehern zu Sachsen durcli Thomas Miinzer, 1524," — " Explanation of the other distinction of the Prophet Daniel, preached at the Castle of Alsted, before the active and beloved dukes and governors of Saxony, by Thomas Miintzer." Certainly one of his most remarkable productions. He takes great pains to prove the difference between genuine revelations and false visions, e. g. that the former descends on a man in a joyful amazement (" in eyner frohen Verwunderung "). A man must be free from all temporal comforts of the flesh (" abges- Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. MUNZER. 239 dissatisfied with the compacts made by the peasants in Swabia and Franconia. His views went much farther ; he deemed it impossible to speak the truth to the people so long as they were governed by princes. He declared it intolerable that all creatures had been converted into property, — the fish in the water, the birds in the air, and the plants on the earth ; these creatures must be free to all before the pure Word of God could be revealed. He utterly rejected all the principles on which the idea of the State rests, and acknowledged nothing but revelation ; " but this," he said, " must be ex- pounded by a second Daniel, who will lead the people like Moses." At Miihlhausen he was re- garded as a master and a prophet ; he had a seat in the council, and gave judgment in the court of law according to revelation ; under his direction con- chieden sein von allem zeitlichen Trost seines Fleisclies "). The work of visions should flow not from human endeavours, but simply from the unchangeable will of God (" nit rausser quel- len durch menschliche anschlege, sondern einfaltig herfliessen nacli Gottes unvorrucklichen Willen "). It is clear that he does not go nearly so far as Ignatius Loyola ; at the same time he combats Luther's more moderate theory, Avhich he ascribes to "imaginary goodness" (" einer getichten Glite"). He says quite openly, that the ungodly should not be suffered to live. " I say with Christ that ungodly rulers, more especially priests and monks, should be put to death " (" Ich sage mit Christo, &c. das man die gotlosen regenten, snnderlich pfaffen und monche tiidten sol"). Princes are to exterminate the ungodly, or God will take the sword from them. " Oh, my dear masters, how finely will the Lord smite the old pots with an iron rod ! " (" All lieben Herreu, wie hubsch wirt der Ilerr luiter die alteu Topf schmeissen mit einer eysern stangen.") 240 peasants' war. — MUNZEE. BookIIL vents were suj^pi'essed, and tlieir property confis- cated ; cannon of prodigious calibre founded, and warlike enterprises executed. The priests' houses in the territory of Duke George were first at- tacked, and then the convents stormed, with the assistance of the enraged populace ; in the Harz and throughout the great plain of Thuringia, up to the edo;e of the forest. The monuments of the old Landgraves at Reinhardsbrunn were defaced, and the library destroyed.* The next step was to attack the castles and farms of the lords, both in Eichsfeld and in Thuringia. We no longer find any mention of conditions and treaties, or of a future reform- ation ; the object of these fanatics was a general and pitiless destruction. " Beloved brethren," writes Miinzer to the miners at Mansfeld ; " do not relent if Esau gives you fair words ; give no heed to the wailings of the ungodly. Let not the blood cool on your swords ; lay Nimrod on the anvil, and let it ring lustily with your blows ; cast his strong tower to the earth while it is yet day." " Know then," he writes to Count Ernest of Heldrungen, " that God has commanded us to cast thee from thy seat with the might that is given to us." f When the country people of Schwarzburg, also in league with the small to^vns, rose against the count, and assembled in considerable force at Frankenhausen, Miinzer feared nothing but the conclusion of a treaty ; " a fraud," he calls it, " under colour of justice :" he left his * Thuringia Sacra, i. p. 173. t Letter in .Strobel : Leben, Schriften und Lehren Thonite Miinzer, p. 95. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 24 1 stronghold of Miihlhausen in order to prevent this and to attack " the eagle's nest " in person. He proved from the Apocalypse that the power was to be given to the common people. " Come and join in our measure," he writes to his friends at Erfurt, " it shall be right fairly trod ; we ^vill pay the blas- phemers back all that they have done to poor Christ- endom." He signed himself " Thomas Mlinzer, with the sword of Gideon." Fanatic as he was, Miinzer still occupied a most formidable position. In him the mystical notions of former ages were blended with the tendencies toward ecclesiastical and temporal reform which had just arisen. Out of this combination he formed a set of opinions which addressed them- selves immediately to the common people ; incited them to rise and annihilate the whole existing order of things, and prepared the way to the ab- solute sway of a prophet. The people assem- bled in troops all around on the hills of Meissen and Thurino-ia*. awaitino- the first decisive result of his enterprize, in order to join him immediately after it. The popular current would then have flowed in this direction from all parts of German3^ At length, therefore, the results which might long have been anticipated, appeared. No sooner were the authorities which constituted the State in Germany at variance with themselves and each other, tlian the elementary forces on which it rested arose. The lightnings flashed from the ground, * PauliLangii Chronica Nurnburgensia, in Mencken, ii. p. 67. VOL. II. R 242 peasants' war. Book hi. and the streams of public life left their accustomed channels : the storm wliich had so long been mut- tering underground now poured out all its fury on the upper regions, and everything seemed to threaten a complete convulsion. If we examine more closely this great elemental strife of the German State in all its bearings, we shall be able to distinguish several different steps in its progress. Its origin was, no doubt, to be found in the oppression of the peasantry, Avhich had been gradually increasing during the preceding years ; in the imposition of fresh taxes, and, at the same time, the persecution of the evangelical doctrines which had seized on tlie minds of the common people more strongly than any intellectual influence before or since, and had more effectually stimulated them to individual exertion. Had the peasants been content mth resisting all arbitrary claims, and securing the liberty of hearing their own docti:ine preached, they would have avoided calling up against them the whole strength of the existing order of things, and might have secured to them- selves a long course of peaceful and lawful im- provement. Nay, even more might have been obtained; in many places, treaties were concluded by which the lords gave up the most oppressive of the rights they had formerly acquired ; it was probable that these would be observed on both sides, and that a lawful and well-defined relation would thus be established between the classes. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 243 But it is not in human nature to rest content with moderate success ; it is vain to expect reason or forbearance from a conquering multitude. Here and there a confused tradition of some ancient rijjhts of the commons was revived, or the people found themselves a match for the knights in the field ; — indeed the rebellion must be considered partly as a symptom of the revived importance of infantry ; — but for the most part, they were goaded by long- cherished hatred and lust of revenge, which now found vent. While some of their chiefs boasted that they would introduce a better order of go- vernment into the empire, the wildest destruction was carried from castle to castle, from convent to convent, and even threatened the towns which had refused to join the rebellion. The peasants thought they ought not to rest while a dwelling was left standing in Germany superior to a pea- sant's cottage.* Their fury was inflamed by the * According to Mvillner's Annalen, the peasants, in anger at receiving some refusal, declared to the council of Niirnberg, that the council might stand in greater need of the peasants than the peasants of the council : " darauf sind sie mit einem solchen Trutz uhd Hochmuth abgescheiden, als wann die Welt ihr eigen wlire ; haben sich audi ingeheim gegen etliche ver- nehmen lassen, sie gedenken kein Hauss in ganzen Land zu gedulden, das besser sey denn ein Bauernhaus : " — " thereupon they departed with such insolence and pride, as though the woi'ld were their own : they also in private gave many to understand that they were resolved to sutFcr no house to stand which was better than a peasant's hut." In the ordinance made by Michel Geismair in 1526 (" Lanndsordnung, so Michel Geismair gemacht hat, im 1526 Jar," Bucholz, ix. 651.), the fifth article is, " alle Rinkmauern an den Stetten, dergl. a, 2 244 peasants' war. LUTHER. Book hi. ravings of fanatical preachers, who justified the work of destruction, and thought it a duty to shed blood ; and, following the inspiration of the moment, which they called divine, to erect a new kingdom of heaven. Had this movement been successful, there must of course have been an end of all peaceful progress, according to the laws which have ever governed the human race. Happily, it could not succeed; Miinzer was far indeed from being the prophet and hero required to execute so gi- gantic an enterprise ; besides which, the existing order of things was too firm to be so completely overthroAvn. Moreover, the strongest and most genuine element of the reforming party was op- posed to it. Luther had not allowed himself to be hurried into in any political enterprise by Sickingen and the knights ; nor had the insurrection of the pea- santry any attractions for him. At the beginning, ere it assumed its more frightful form, he exhorted them to peace : while he rebuked the lords and princes for their acts of violence and oppression, he condemned the rebellion as contrary to divine and evangelical law, and as threatening destruc- tion to both spiritual and temporal authorities, an(J alle Geschlosser und Bevestigung ira Laniid niedergeprochen werden und hinfur nimmer Stiltt sonnder Dorfer sein, damit Unterschied der Mensclien (aufhore), und ain gannze gleichait ira Lannd sei " — " That all walls round towns, likewise all castles and foi'tified houses in the country, should be thrown down, and thenceforth there were to be villages but no tovv^ns, so that all distinction among men should cease, and a complete equality should prevail in the land." Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. — LUTHER. 245 hence to the German nation.* But when the danger so rapidly increased, when his old enemies, the " murder prophets and mob spirits.," took so prominent a part in the tumult, and when he really began to fear lest the peasants should prove victorious (a state of things which he thought could oidy be the precursor of the day of judg- ment), the whole storm of his indignation burst forth. With the boundless influence which he possessed, what must have been the consequences had he taken part with the insurgents ! But he remained a staunch advocate for the separation between the spiritual and the temporal, which was one of the fundamental principles of his whole system ; and to the doctrine that the gospel gives freedom to the soul, but does not emancipate the body from restraint, or property from the control of the laws. The orijiin of the rebellion has been often ascribed to preaching, but this is not confinned by the facts. Luther now, as three years before, did not for one instant hesitate to brave the storm, and to do every thing in his power to prevent the general destruction which he clearly foresaw. A pious christian, said he, should rather die a hun- dred deaths than give way one hair's breadth to the peasants' demands. The government should have no mercy ; the day of wrath and of the sword was come, and their duty to God obliged them to strike hard as long as they could move a limb : * " Ermanung zum Friecle auf die 12 Artikel der Baur- schaftin Schwabeu." — Altcnb. iii. p. 114. B 3 246 peasants' war. — LUTHER. Book III. whosoever perished in this service was a martyr of ■ Christ. Thus he supported the temporal order of things wiUi the same intrepidity that he had dis- played in attacking the spiritual.* The secular authorities, too, aroused themselves, and took courage in this, the greatest peril that had ever threatened them. The first who rose was the same man who had done the best service against Sickingen, — the young Philip of Hessen : towards the end of April he as- sembled his knights and his most trusty subjects of the towns in Alsfeld ; he promised them that no new burthens should be laid on the peasants f ; while on their part, in answer to his inquiry, they swore with outstretched hands to live and die with * Wider die raubisclien und mordischen Bauern. — Against the robbing and murderous j^easants. — Ihid. p. 124. See the letter to Riihel, ii. p. 886. Melanchthon came to his aid on this occasion with liis convincing, dogmatical, and clear conclusions ; €. g. to Spalatin, 10th April, 1525, chiefly to be understood as directed against the introduction of the Mosaic laws, but also to be understood generally : " Ration! humanse commisit Christus ordinationes politicas : . . . debemus uti prgesentibus legibus." (Corp. Ref. i. 733.) It is necessary to have a front of brass to persist in affirming, as Surius and Cochlaeus have done, that Luther abandoned the peasants when he saw that they were beaten. I don't know whether the partial successes of George Truchsess, gained at a great distance, were really known to Luther ; it is, however, certain that they decided nothing : the revolt of the peasants had just taken full possession of Thuringia and Saxony, when Luther, at his own personal risk, opposed it. ■\ Tliis information is afforded by a declaration of Landgrave William at the Diet of 1576. Rommel, Neuere Geschichte von Hessen. p. 255. 848. Chap. VI. DEATH OTT FREDERIC THE WISE. 247 him. His first care was to defend bis own frontiers ; he tranquillised Hersfeld and Fulda, not, indeed, without violence, though his cruelties have been fabulously exaggerated ; and then crossed the moun- tains and marched into Thuringia to the assistance of his Saxon cousins, with whom he stood in here- ditary alliance.* Just at the moment that these disorders reached their height in that district, the Elector Frederic died. How striking was the contrast between the fierce intestine discord which raged throughout Germany, and the quiet chamber at Lochau in which Frederic, calm and collected in the midst of agonizing pain, was awaiting the approach of death ! " You do well," said he to his preacher and secre- tary Spalatin, who after long hesitation had taken courage to demand an audience of him, " you do well to come to me, for it is right to visit the sick :" he then caused the low chair in which he reclined to be rolled to the table, and laying his hand in that of the intimate friend and ad\dser of his latter years, he once more talked of the things of this world, of the peasants' rebellion, of Dr. Luther, and of his own approaching death. He had ever been a gentle master to his poor people, and he now exhorted his brother to act prudently and leniently f; he was not frightened at the danger of the peasants becoming masters, serious as he be- * Haarer, Warhafftige Beschreibung des Bawernkriegs, c, 49., in Gobel's Beitriigen, p. 139. Rommel, i. 108. t His letters of the 14tli of April, and 4th of May, in Walch, L. W. xvi. p. 140. B 4 248 DEATH OF FREDERIC THE WISE. Book III. lievecl it to be ; for if it were not the will of God, it could not happen. This conviction, which had guided and supported him through the whole course of the Lutheran movement, was doubly strong in liis last moments. None of his relations were with him ; he was surrounded only by servants. The spirit of opposition Avhich every where else divided rulers and their subjects, had not yet reached them. " Dear children," said the prince, " if I have ever oifended any of you, I pray you to forgive me for the love of God ; we princes do many things to the poor people that we ought not to do." He then spoke only of the merciful God who comforts the dying. For the last time Fre- deric strained his failing eyes to read one of his friend Spalatin's consolations ; he then received the sacrament in both kinds from the hands of a clergy- man to whom he was attached. The new doc- trine, which had flourished under his prudent and sheltering care, now no longer appeared to him in the light of a poAver of this world which had to fight for its existence, and the herald of a new order of things; — he only saw in it the true Gospel, the true christian faith, piety, and comfort to the soul. The dying man leaves the world to itself, and withdraws entirely within the circle of his own relations to the Infinite, — to God, and eternity. Thus he died on the 5th of May 1525. " He was a child of peace," said his physician, " and in peace he hath departed."* * Spalatin, Leben Friedrichs des Weisen, p. 60. Chap. VI. DEATH OF MUNZER. 219 His successor, now the Elector Jolm, ascended the throne in the midst of the wildest and most formidable confusion. Concessions were no longer to be thought of ; there existed the same difference between Frederic and John as between Luther's first and second book ; between doubt and cautious counsel and downright hostility. Philip of Hessen came to his assistance at the right moment ; Duke George and Duke Henry took the field about the same time, and four princes thus marched with their forces to meet the peasants. Miinzer had taken up a position on the rising ground above Frankenhausen, which commands the whole length of the valley ; the spot was well chosen for preaching to assembled multitudes, but offered no advantages whatever for defence. He showed utter incapacity : he had not even provided powder for his laboriously cast guns ; his followers were miserably armed, and had only entrenched themselves behind a feeble barricade of waggons. The prophet who had said so much about the force of arms, and Avho had threatened to destroy all the ungodly with the edge of the sword, was now reduced to reckon on a miracle, which he saw an- nounced in the portent of a coloured circle round the sun at noon. At the first discharge of the enemy's artillery the peasants sang a hj^mn ; they were totally routed, and the greater number killed. Hereupon the panic which accompanies a half ac- complished crime seized the whole country. All the troops of peasants dispersed, and all the towns surrendered ; even Muhlhausen attempted hardly 250 peasants' war. Book III. any resistance.* Mlinzer was executed in the camp before Miihlhausen, where for a time he had reigned. He seemed possessed by a savage demon up to his last hour. When, under the pangs of torture, he was reminded of the countless number he had led into destruction, he burst into a loud laugh, and said it was their own desire. When he was led out to death he could not remember the articles of faith. At this conjuncture movements were made in all directions for attacking the forces of tlie pea- sants. Duke Antony of Lorraine came with the various garrisons from Champagne and Burgundy, and a few companies of German landsknechts and reiters, to the assistance of the Landvogt of Morsperg in Alsatia. He cut off some scattered troops in the open field, after which, those who had assembled in Zabern capitulated ; they were, however, accused of having made a subsequent attempt to gain over the landsknechts, and were attacked and slaugh- tered to the number of seventeen thousand, as they were leaving the fortress on the morning of the 17th of May. t Thus Wiirtemberg once more fell into the liands of the Swabian League, whose general, Truchsess, * Die Histori Thoma Muntzers ties Aufengers der Dorin- gisclien Urfur." Hagenaw. — This book contains the well- known narrative of Melanchthon, also to be found in Luther's works. (Altenb. iii. 126.) f Bellay, No. III. Account by Rappoltstein in Vogt's Eheinisch. Gescli. vol. iv. p. 49. CiiAi'. VI. peasants' wak. 251 having in a great degree secured liis rear by a treaty with the peasantry around the lakes, inarched upon the AYurtemberg insurgents, whom he en-countered at Sindelfingen, and having first thro^^i them into disorder with his field artillery, he charged and cut them down with his numerous and Avell-armed cavalry. Having then taken and garrisoned a suc- cession of towns and cities, he marched on Fran- conia. There he was joined by the other two princes who liad fought against Sickingcn, — the Electors of Treves and the Palatinate, who marched to meet him from Bruchsal, which had just fallen into their hands. The two armies united on the 29tli of May, in the open field between Helspach and Neckarsulm. They made up together a force of two thousand five hundred horse, and eight thousand foot, and marched on into Franconia.* It was a most important advantage to them that the castle of Wlirzburg still £eld out against two powerful bodies of Franconian peasants. At first, indeed, the garrison would have consented to accept the twelve articles, and had already received au- thority from the bishop to do so ; a part of the peasants were anxious to come to terms, which would enable them to go to the assistance of their allies, hard pressed on all sides. But the citizens of Wiirzburg, determined to get rid of the castle, Avhich had always been a bridle in their jaws, contrived that the conditions offered to the garrison * The autograph diary of the Count Pahitine Otto Heinrich, in Freiberg's Urkundeu und Schriften, iv. p. 367., gives these numbers 252 peasants' war. Book III. should be such as it was impossible it should accept. Hereupon the latter resolved to resist to the utmost. Sebastian von Rotenhan, who had so greatly pro- moted the interests of the Lutheran doctrines in the Council of Regency, had supplied the fortress with every requisite, even with powder mills ; erected chevaux-de-frise within the ditches, and palisades all round the castle, and had induced the garrison to swear with uplifted hands that they would stand the storming bravely and faithfully. On the 15th of May, the day of the battle of Frankenhausen, the peasants began the storm at nine o'clock at night, to the sound of trumpets and fifes, with loud shouts and flying colours. Pitch, brimstone, and other combustibles were thrown do^vn on them from the castle, and incessant firing kept up from every loop-hole in the walls and tower. The lonely castle reared its head in haughty grandeur amid the many-coloured glare of the fire with which it kept ofi* the wild hordes that had overrun Franconia, and now threatened all Germany. The artillery decided the victory here, as at Sindelfingen and Frankenhausen ; at two in the morning the pea- sants retreated.* A second assault was entirely out of the ques- tion : they received news of the defeat of their friends on all sides, and the storm impending over themselves became every moment more near and threatening. They made one more effbrt to save themselves by * Juliana Reinbartl, in Ludwig, 889. CiiAP. VI. peasants' wak. 253 negotiating ; they again offered the twelve articles to tlic acceptance of the garrison of Wiirzburg, and invited Truchsess, the general of the League, who was marching upon them, to appoint time and place for an interview for tlie purpose of negotiation. In a general address to tlie States of the empire, they endeavoured to set their views and objects in a favourable light ; and called upon the Franconian states especially, to send delegates to Schweinfurt, that they might take counsel together witli them, " for the establishment of the word of God, of peace and of justice."* But all tliis was now too late. They had never had confidence in tlieir own strength, and now fortune had deserted them : they must either remain masters of the field or perish. The united army advanced against them without delay ; all the places it passed in its march sur- rendered unconditionally. On the 2d of June it fell in with the first troop of peasants at Konigs- hofen : it was the band from the Odenwald which had had the courage to advance against the vic- torious enemy. But it consisted of not more than four thousand men f, and all their measures were thoroughly ill-concerted. The peasants had neg- lected to guard the fords of the Tauber, and had « Proclamation in Ochsle, of the 27th of May, p. 302. The meeting was fixed for the 31st day of May. ■j" I hold these to be the true number, as the report of Secretary Spiess, who accompanied the army (Ochsle, p. 197.), and the Journal of the Elector, p. 368., agree on this point. Others mention far greater numbers. 254 peasants' war. Book III. encamped round their baggage, within a barricade of waggons, on the Miihlberg ; and it would have been well for them if they had awaited the attack of the enemy even there ; but, terrified by the superior force which gradually presented itself, they endeavoured to reach a neighbouring forest, and thus invited an immediate assault. The ca- valry fell upon their exposed flank,the princes them- selves helping to cut them down ; in the twinkling of an eye, before even the landsknechts could come up, the whole body of peasants was entirely broken and routed.* A false rumour of victory induced the Rothenberg troop to quit its position near Wiirzburg, and on the 4th of June that also fell into the hands of the cavalry in an open field, between Sulzdorf and Ingolstadt, and was com- pletely dispersed. Both victories were accom- panied by the most barbarous massacres. Of six hundred peasants who attempted to defend them- selves in a fortified house near Ingolstadt, all but seventeen were put to the sword. A third band which was connected mth the Thuringian insurgents was overthrown and routed, after a short conflict, on the Bildberg near Mei- ningen, where they had entrenched themselves behind waggons, by Elector John of Saxony. f The mild and placable prince promised safety to * Brewer, Annales Trevirenses, lib. xx. p. 353. ■f" Spalatin, see Menken, ii. 1114. The peasants had one carronade, sixteen cannons and mortars, four aiYjuebusses, and matchlocks. Their waggons were buried in the earth. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 255 all who would surrender themselves to his pro- tection. Thus the great Franconian bands, which had thought to reform the whole of Germany, were destroyed like those of Alsatia, Thuringia, and Wlirtemberg ; and, like those provinces, Franconia was now garrisoned and chastised by its former masters. On the 7th of June, Wiirzburg was forced to surrender at discretion. The aged members of the town council assembled in the market-place and bared their grey heads to salute the leaders of the army of the League ; but they found no mercy from Truchsess, who declared that they were all perjured and dishonoured, and had forfeited their lives. In Wiirzburg alone, sixty rebels from the town and country were hanged ; the executions were equally frequent and terrible throughout the whole bishopric ; two hundred and eleven were put to death in diiFerent ways ; all arms delivered up, new services imposed, and heavy contributions ex- torted : the ancient ceremonies of the church were restored. Meanwhile Markgrave Casimir of Bran- denburg, having taken possession of all the rest of Franconia, of Bamberg, Schweinfurt, and Rothen- burg, without encountering any serious resistance, proceeded to take vengeance on the insurgents in his own territories. All that now remained was, to subdue the remnant of the insurgents who still kept their ground on the Upper and ]\Iiddle Rhine. The army of Treves and the Palatinate, on 256 peasants' war. Book III. their homeward march, fell in with the insurgents of the Middle Rhine at Pfeddersheim*, and as on all former occasions, the peasants were dispersed and cut down ; the warlike archbishop is said to have slain several with his own hand. Tliese districts hereupon submitted ; and even the people of the E-heingau had to give up their arms, and to pay contributions. Mainz was forced to resign the liberties it had but just regained ; while the people of Treves, happy that they had not made any serious demonstration, readily dropped all the projects they had entertained. The great army of the League on the Up- per Rhine found a far more arduous task ; it was there that the rebellion had originated and taken the deepest root, and nothing decisive had yet been accomplished towards its suppression. The men of the AUgau reappeared in the field; they had occupied a very strong post on a steep hill, at the foot of which is the river Luidas, and on either side, large ponds : a considerable number of experienced landsknechts fought in their ranks. They were able to keep their ground against even the artillery of Truchsess, and indeed had some intention of beginning the attack. Fortunately for Truchsess, the veteran and successful leader, George Frundsberg, came to his assistance in time. It is highly probable f that he exercised a personal * Haarer, c. 84 — 89. I intend to give in the Appendix whatever is necessary to illustrate the relation in which the Latin stands to the German text, as well as that subsisting between Gnodalius and Leontius and Haarer. f Reisner, Kriegsthaten der Frundsberge. . Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 257 influence on many of the peasant chiefs, his old comrades and followers. Contemporary writers positively affirm that he bought over Walter Bach, who treacherously persuaded the peasants to abandon their strong position. Perhaps, however, their stores failed ; at all events they separated, and retreated towards the mountains. Truchsess hastened in pursuit of them, and began to burn their farms and villages. This Avas in direct violation of the orders of the League, at which he only laughed ; he, he said, a peasant himself, under- stood his business better ; he knew that this was the way to make every man think of his own home. He kept his troops together, and thus easily beat the separate bands of peasants whenever he met with them. He was not, however, so absolutely master as at Wlirzburg. George Truchsess was at last obliged to enter into a compact with the large body of rebels wlio held together on the Kolenberg, by Avhich redress of the local grievances of their several villages was promised them. Not till then did they lay down their arms and give up their ring- leaders.* At the same moment, Count Felix of Werden- berg put to the rout the peasants of the Hegau, Kletgau, and all that remained in the Schwarzwald — for many were gone home to their harvest — and compelled them to lay down their arms, f Thus Avas arrested the great movement which threatened the total subversion of the whole existing * Haggenmiiller Kempten, p. 540. t Walchner Eatolphzell, p. 109. VOL. II. S 258 peasants' war. Book hi. order of things in Germany : all the schemes for reconstituting the empire from the groundwork of society upwards, or still more, for visionary changes in the order of the world under the guidance of a fanatical prophet, were now for ever at an end. Wherever the matter had been decided by arms, the laws of war were enforced. The most bar- barous executions took place ; the severest con- tributions were exacted ; and in some places, laws more oppressive than ever were imposed. It was only in districts where the peasants had not sustained a total defeat, that, after all their former vague and ambitious projects had spon- taneously died away, some alleviation of their burthens and sufferings was granted them. The Count of Sulz and his subjects agreed to refer their differences to arbitrators chosen in common, and Archduke Ferdinand consented to appoint a chief umpire.* To the people of the Breisgau, Ferdinand promised in his own name that due regard should be paid by magistrates and government officers to the com- plaints of the subjects.*}" The states of Upper Austria would not allow contributions to be levied upon the people. J In Tyrol, steps were taken under the influence of * The treaty which the people of Zurich helped to negotiate is to be found in Bullinger's Reformations-gescliichte, i. p. 249. f The treaty of Oftenburg : extract in Schreiber's Taschen- buch, p. 302. J Declaration of the Stande, Bucholtz, viii. p. 104. Chap. VI. PEASANTS' WAR. 259 the disturbances, towards drawing up a code of laws, whereby the subjects were relieved from all taxes that could not be proved by authentic docu- ments, to have existed for more than fifty years ; likewise from the lesser tithes in kind, and a variety of other dues and services ; and the right of fishing, and even of shooting and hunting, granted them. Archduke Ferdinand also made concessions as to religion. Towns and councils were empowered to appoint their own clergy, and the Gospel was to be preached according to the letter.* Salzburg was the only country in which the peasants kept the field against the advance of a regular army ; and even Avhen they were forced to bend before the might of the Swabian League, they began by making singularly advantageous terms. f These events belong, however, to another state of things, which immediately followed the dis- turbances, and to which we will now turn our attention. * Excerpts from the proceedings of the diet, Bucholtz, viii. p. 337. f Zauner, Chronik von Salzburg, iv. p. 429. s 2 2C)0 FORMATION OF Book III. CHAPTER VII. FORMATION OF THE ADVERSE RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. — DIET OF AUGSBURG, DECEMBER, 1525. The conflict between the elements of German society was now at an end ; the rebellious pea- santry, and that portion of the population of the towns which took part with them, were subdued, as the knights had been before them. The local powers which had arisen during the course of ages had again withstood all the storms by which they were assailed : aided by the emperor or the Council of Regency, tliey had stood fast amidst the ruin of all central authority. Nevertheless, peace was by no means restored, nor was one of those great questions which had so long occupied public attention decided. The rebellion had been ]j)ut down without any reference to religious creed ; friends and foes of the new doctrines had taken up arms witli equal eager- ness against the common enemy ; but as soon as that enemy was subdued, the old antipathies broke out with fresh violence. The Regensburg members of the Swabian League, who at this time exercised the chief influence in that body, seized upon this opportunity of carrying into execution by main force the measures which had been concerted at that city. The victories of Chap. Vir. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 201 the League were every where followed by religious persecutions. Among those who were beheaded at Wiirzburg, many were condemned, not for the re- bellion, in which they had taken no part, but for the crime of professing the evangelical faith. Nine of the most wealthy burghers were executed at Bamberg, and it is asserted that some of them were remarkable for their peaceable conduct, and had rather tried to prevent than to encourage the attack of the country people on the bishop's palace ; they were punished, as was openly proclaimed, for their adherence to the evangelical party.* Their posses- sions were, by an unexampled exercise of arbitrary power, given to certain individuals, among whom was a secretary of Truchsess. All who professed the evangelical doctrines immediately fled out of both bishoprics. But even in all other territories, spirit- ual as well as temporal obedience was enforced on the peasantry ; the Lutherans stood — under that title — first on the list of those excluded from par- don. The bitterest persecution was directed against the preachers. A provost-martial of the name of Aichili traversed Swabia and Franconia in all direc- tions at the head of a band of reiters, in order to carry into effect the executions that had been decreed ; it is calculated that within a small district, he hung forty evangelical preachers on trees by the roadside. f This was the first restoration of Catho- licism by violence in Upper Germany. * Detailed account in Milliner's Annalen. f Bullinger's 140th cap. treats of Provost Aichili (" von Profossen Aichili "). Anshelm also mentions him (vi. p. 291.) s 3 262 FORMATION OF Book III. Similar attempts were now made also in the north. After the taking of Miihlhausen, the alhed princes had agreed on common measures against the pea- sants. Duke George relates, that one morning, as his son-in-law Philip was just setting off on a journey, he (Duke George) went to him once more, and entreated him not to attach himself to Luther's cause, " in consideration of the evil which had flowed therefrom;" that he repeated this warning to the Elector of Saxony within the same hour, and that it was kindly received by both of them. Duke George hoped to exercise great authority over his cousin John after Frederic's death, as well as over Landgrave Philip, to whom he stood in the relation of an affectionate father-in-law. These three princes had agreed at Miihlhausen to communicate their resolutions to their neigh- bours ; and Duke George had an interview as early as in July with the electors of Mainz and Bran- denburg and the Duke of Brunswick, at Dessau. These princes still adhered to the Catholic faith, and they allowed their belief, that the insurrection owed its existence to the new doctrines that had been preached, to influence their resolutions. Though we have no authentic document as to the nature of these resolutions, there is sufiicient evidence that they were in the highest degree unfavourable to the as being peculiarly active against the Lutheran parsons : he seized, plundered, mulcted, and hanged them. " Er war sun- derlich gflissen, uf die lutherischen Pfaffen, fiengs' beroubts' schatzts' und henkts '." Chap. VI I. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 2G3 religious changes. Duke George communicated them to his cousin and his son-in-law, expressing at the same time his persuasioA that they had ceased to entertain any Lutheran ideas.* At all events he did not suffer himself to be deterred by any con- sideration for them, from condemning his own subjects to the severest punishments. At Leipzig two citizens were beheaded for no other reason than that some Lutheran books had been found in their possession, f It appeared probable that the Lutheran move- ment, from the time it was associated with an in- surrection of the peasantry, would, like that of * The only authentic notice of these meetings is to be found in a letter from Duke George in the Dresden Ai'chives. Ac- cording to that, the determination was " to stand by each other in case the Lutherans attacked any one of them, in order to remain at peace from such rebellion." — " sich bei einander finden zu lassen, wenn die Lutherischen einen von ihnen augrei- fen wiirden, um solches Aufruhrs vertragen zu bleiben." It is not, however, easy to perceive from whom they expected an attack, if they really believed Philip and the Elector John to have been re-converted ; and, indeed, Duke George says, " otherwise he would not have made them a party to the treaty, for he well knew that one could not beat Swiss with Swiss." — " denn sonst wiirde er ihnen den Vertrag nicht mitgetheilt haben, er wisse wohl, dass man Schweizer mit Schweizern nich schlage." The explanation is, that in those times a defensive form was given to all alliances, even when there was no intention of abiding by mere defence. Duke Henry said to the emperor, that he had signed a treaty with his friends, " against the Lutherans, in case they should attempt by force or cunning to gain them over to their unbelief," — "wider die Lutherischen, ob sie sich unterstiinden, sie mit List oder Gewalt in ihi-en Unglauben zu bringen." f Gretschel: Leipzigs kii-chliche Zustande, p. 218. s 4 261- FORMATION OF Book III. AYicklyffe, be encountered by a reaction which would end in its entire suppression. But the reform set on foot by Luther stood on a far wider and firmer basis than that of WicklyfFe, and had ab'eady found resolute and powerful supporters both in North and South Germany. Landgrave Philip even brought an evangelical preacher with him to Miihlhausen ; and Duke George, while in the act of ex^^ressing his con- viction of his son-in-law's altered sentiments, was struck with surprise at the appearance of this man. From that time Philip had become more and more deef)ly imbued with Lutheran opinions. We have only to read the letters he wrote to Duke George during this year, — in Avhich he controverts the doctrine of the canon and the mass, the received idea of the Church, and the obligation of vows, — in order to see with what lively and yet earnest zeal he adopted the new doctrines, and what accurate and extensive knowledge he had acquired of the scriptural grounds on which they rested.* The same state of things existed in Saxony. Far from forsaking the path trodden by his predecessor, the new elector advanced in it with far more decided steps than Frederic had done. On leaving Weimar in August 1525, he once more assembled the priest- hood of that district — on the IGtli of that month — and, after causing their minds to be prepared by two sermons, he announced to them that in future they were to preach the pure word of God, without * Rommel's Urkundenbuch, p. 2. Chap. VII. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 2G5 any human additions.* Some old priests who were present having expressed the opinion that this would not be inconsistent with their saying masses for the dead and consecrating salt and water, they were told that the same rule applied to ceremonies as to doctrines. In consequence of the recess of Miihlhausen, the elector had an interview with Markgrave Casimir of Brandenburg at Saalfeld, at which the evangelical tendencies predominated as much as the catholic had done at Dessau. These princes did not indeed form a regular alliance, but Mark- grave Casimir declared that he would hold fast by the word of God.f At the very time when the military force of the Swabian League was employed in checking the progress of the reformation, some of its most powerful members, the very towns in which it had originated, — Augsburg, and above all, Niirnberg — organized their churches accordinoj to evan- gelical principles. AYe shall return to this subject in another place. The territory of Wiirtemberg, which had been * " Das man das lautei" rayn evangelion on menschliche Zusatzung predigen soil, furstlicher Befelch zu Weymar besche- hen," — " That the pure Gospel should be preached without any human additions. Sovereign command issued at Weimar." — Circular from the minister Kisstvetter at Erfurt to Master Hainrich at Elxlebeti, a. d. Gera," 1525. f According to a description by Casimir himself in a letter from Sclu-auttenbach to the Landgrave Philip, dated 27th Dec. 1525, in Neudeckers Urkunden, p. 16. 2G6 FIRST ATTEMPTS Book III. conquered by tlie League, and could hardly have been hnagined capable of taking any resolutions of its o'svn, now declared itself on the same side ; the Estates expressed their conviction that the tran- quillity of the country could oidy be maintained by preaching to the people the pure word of God, unalloyed by the selfishness and vain conceits of men. Already the evangelical preachers began formally to emancipate themselves from the authority of the bishops. At "Wittenberg, in May 1525, they de- termined to give ordination themselves. Melanch- thon justifies this, on the ground that the bishops neglected their duties.* The preachers now asserted their underived vocation as against the bishops, in the same manner as those had done against the pope. Melanchthon says that the princes could not be called upon to support a jurisdiction of whose abusive and corrupt nature they were convinced. In Hessen and Brandenburg, too, even in the towns, the clergy began to eman- cipate themselves from the episcopal jurisdiction. We perceive that the two opposite tendencies came out of the conflict with the peasants, exactly in the same state in which they entered into it ; only with increased activity on either side. The papal party had the advantage, in so far as in a great part of the empire, the penal power, of which it made such fearful use, was in its hands ; but on the whole, the evangelical party had gained still more in the struggle. * De Jure Reformandi. Corp. Reform., i. p. 765. Chap. VTT. AT SECULARIZATION. 2G7 Never had the aversion to the S2:)iritual part of the constitution of Germany been so general and so avowed. The clergy were accused of those acts of grinding oppression which had mainly caused the revolt. The hostility of the people was specially directed against them ; the peasants of the Allgau, for example, who were besieging Fiissen, raised the siege as soon as that town threw off its allegiance to its lord, the Bishop of Augsburg, and hoisted the banner of Austria. On the other hand, thouo-h the ecclesiastical princes had contributed very little to extinguish the flame of rebellion, they now made the most tyrannical and merciless use of the victory won by others. Hence it happened that the evangelical party found it so easy to shake off the episcopal authority ; it is, however, more remarkable that an analogous effect was produced in the catholic party. If the one side questioned the spiritual, the other no less vigorously attacked the temporal jurisdiction. We must here again recur to the events of Tyrol and Salzburg. Archduke Ferdinand had taken up the most remarkable position in the world. At the diet of Tyrol, which we have already mentioned, there were assembled only the nobles, the cities, and rural districts (Gerichte*); thceccle- * Gericht here means a certain community. Grimm (Deutsche Rechts Alterthlimer, p. 755.) says, " By Gericht we now understand a tribunal for the decision of litigated matters, or the punishment of offences. Originally, however, the pre- dominant idea was that of a popular assembly (concilium), in which all the public business of the Mark, the commune, or the district was discussed, disputes settled, and fines adjudged. 268 FIRST ATTEMPTS Book III. siastical body did not appear. The anti-ecclesiastical temper which this produced Avas very strongly ex- pressed in the resolutions that were passed. In the recess ofthis diet it was proclaimed, that the appoint- ment to the inferior situations in the church should be rendered totally independent of the bishops ; in future, cities and rural districts (Gerichte) should have the right of presentation, which the sovereign of the country should confirm, and all complaints of the clergy should be addressed by the former to the latter.* The petition of the Bishop of Trent for leave to call in foreign troops to punish the in- surgents within his see, was refused ; for the common people were of opinion, says Ferdinand, that the clergy ought to have no jurisdiction what- ever in temporal affairs ; were such a permission granted to the bishop, the nobles would complain that he was goading the people to a fresh revolt, which would bring trouble and ruin upon them also.f This was even carried much further. The Bishop of Brixen proving himself incapable of re- storing order in his see, where one of his secre- taries and toll collectors was the leader of the revolt, the Tyrolese determined not to afford him the least assistance, but at once to secularize the see. Archduke Ferdinand took possession of it, and committed the government to one of his coun- The main element of the Gericht is now the judges ; but then, it was the congregated free men All judicial power was exercised by the community of free men under the presidency of an elected or hereditary head." — Teansl. * Bucholtz, viii. p. 338. t Ferdinand to Bishop Bernhard of Trent, Lispruck, 9th July, 1525, Bucholtz, ix. p. 640. CiiAr. VII. AT SECULARIZATION. 269 cil, " till some Ihture council, or the reformation of the empire ; " he received the homage from all the vassals and the official persons of the see.* The captain of Ehrenberg, which was garrisoned by Ty- rolese, would not g-o to the succour of the town of Fiisscn till it surrendered itself as an hereditary fief to the house of Austria, and did homage to the Archduke.f The Zillerthalers were thus enabled to throw off their allegiance to Salzburg, to attach themselves to Tyrol, and to accept the Archduke, who had already high authority over them, as their lord and sovereign. J Nay, even in Bavaria, similar notions prevailed. When Matthew, Arch- * Patent of occupation, 21 st July. " Auf Beger und mit Rat ainer ersamen Landscliaft dieser unsrer f. G. Tii'ol, — zu furkumung nachtail schadens imd geferlichait, so dieselben unser Grafscliaft nnd dem Stift zu Brichscn, des Vogt Scliirm und Schutzheri' wir dann sein, enstchen mechten." — " At the request and with the advice of the honourable province of this our free county of Tirol — for the prevention of loss, damage, and danger, which might accrue to our country and the see of Brichsen, whereof we are bailiff, lord, and protector." f Martin Furtenbach, the town notary at Fiissen : report on the insurrection of the peasants, in Oechsle's Beitrage, p. 478. " Das Volk schrie Hei Oestreich damit wir nicht gar vei'derbt warden, derHauptmann nahm die Erbhuldigung auf ein Hinter- sichbringen an." — " The people cried, ' Hey Austria,' so that we might not be entirely ruined : the governor received our he- reditary homage on a hint given him.") The delegates of the town went to Inspruck, and were there well greeted (wohl begriisst). Ferdinand declared that he would soon go there himself and receive the homage in person. J Instruction to Liechtenstein and Stockel, " was sy mit dem Pfleger zu Kropfsberg, mit der Nachparschaft im Zillerthal reden soUen." — " what they should say to the parish priest at Kropfsberg, and to the neighbourhood in Zillerthal." — Bucholtz, ix. p. 630. 270 FIRST ATTEMPTS Book III. bishop of Salzburg, was besieged in his citadel by the peasants, and reduced to the greatest extremity, Doctor Lesch, a Bavarian chancellor, presented himself before the archduke and proposed to him to sequester the archbishopric in common ; so that the part lying on the confines of Bavaria should be taken possession of by the dukes, and that bordering on Austria by the archduke. Fer- dinand joyfully acceded to the proposal ; he autho- rized the commissioners he had sent to the peasants to use all their endeavours (but with the knowledge of the archbishop) that the see might be given up to Austria and' Bavaria.* In Bavaria, however, this was only a transient thought ; the plan here pursued was that of an unconditional restoration, from the accomplishment of which the dukes might justly expect a still greater degree of authority than they had already acquired, over the neigh- bouring bishoprics. They therefore furnished aid in every direction. In Tyrol, on the other hand, the province had agreed with the prince on the concessions to be made to the rebels; by a resolute postponement of spiritual interests, they thought they should at once allay the tumults and enhance their own liberty and power. The Bavarians, con- sequently, soon abandoned the plans above men- tioned, and resolved to come to the assistance of the archbishop in this exigency with the forces of the Swabian League. The motives which deter- mined the dukes were not, however, of a very * Instruction of Ferdinand to the mediating commissioners, Bucholtz, p. 621. Chap. VI f. AT . SECULARIZATION. 271 disinterested nature ; tliey calculated on this op- portunity of securing the succession to the arch- bishopric for their brother, Ernest of Passau ; which they preferred to contributing to place the greater part of it in the hands of Austria, and thence in a hostile relation to themselves. In vain the states of Tyrol made an attempt to restrain the Swabian League from its intended campaign, by re- presentations of the ancient privileges and alliances of Salzburg.* Atlnsbruck a strong desire prevailed to secure the succession to Don George of Austria, natural son of Emperor Maximilian, and a disposi- tion to afford protection to the peasantry. f But the dukes had already the advantage. Duke Louis of Bavaria, the general in chief of the Swabian League, led its armies against Salzburg at the end of August. He too deemed it expedient, and strongly urged George Frundsberg, who was general of the county of Tyrol, at first to grant the peasants a favourable treaty — afterwards, indeed, they were as severely dealt with here as elsewhere — as a means of attaining all their other objects. The chapter of the cathedral promised the succession to the bishopric of Salzburg to the Bavarian prince Ernest, to whom the archbishop also made some concessions ; the lordships of Laufen, Geisfelden, Titmanning, and Mattsee were mortgaged to the * " Die vom Ausschuss der dreier Stiin c — an Hauptlcute und Rathedes Pundts zu Schwaben 31 Juli." — lb. ix. p. 624. — " The committee of the three estates to the governors and councillors of the Swabian League. •j" Excerpts from a rescript of Ferdinand, ib. viii. p. 109. 272 FORMATION OF Book III. dukes for the expenses of the war. In short, they obtained a general ascendency in Salzburg ; nor was it till some time afterwards that the archbishop took courage timidly to admonish them to demand nothing of him at variance with the rights and dignities of his see.* Thus, as we see, the plans of the League triumphed over the inclinations of the people of Tyrol. The archduke was also forced to cede Fiissen again to Augsburg, and the. Zillerthal to Salzburg. Notwithstanding this, Ferdinand did not relin- quish the ideas he had once conceived. When the Wiirtemberg territory made the demands we have mentioned, and pointed very unequivocally to a secularization of the church lands, as a means of meeting the exigencies of the country, Ferdinand showed not the smallest displeasure : he permitted that country to send deputies to the approaching diet at Augsburg, and promised that whatever should there be determined in regard to a reforma- tion of the clergy, should be carried into effect, as well in Wiirtemburg as in his other dominion s.f The views entertained on these points by Archduke Ferdinand entirely coincided with those of the evangelical party, who, with perfect justice, regarded the revocation of the summons for the meeting at Spire as the immediate cause of the recent tumults. In the autumn of 1525 the project of settling the * Zauner, Salzburger Chronik, v. p. 225. 133. t Extractus landschaftlichei- Schlusserklarung bei Sattlei', Herzoge, Beilagen zum zweiten Theil nr. 124., and Landtags- abschied, 30tli Oct. 1525, nr. 125. (iii. i. 4.) CuAP. VII. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 273 religious cliiFerences at an assembly of the empire tmd of there proceeding to a thorough reformation, was once more universally stirred. In addition to the meetings in Dessau and Saal- feld, there was a third and corresponding one between the Landgrave Philip and the Elector Palatine, at Alzey. They agreed " that things must be put on an equitable footing : " every means must be employed to bring about union among the States.* Markgrave Casimir proceeded from Saalfeld to Auerbach, to a conference with the Count Palatine Frederic, who governed the Upper Palatinate in the name of his nephew. They determined, in the first place, to lighten the burthens of the common people as much as possible ; and in the next, again to petition the emperor to hold an eclesiastical council in the German nation, " in order to come to some common understanding as to the exposition of the divine word." In September the cities held a meeting, and Ferdinand thought he had reason to fear very hos- tile and objectionable resolutions on their part ; but their decision only amounted to this : to urge anew upon himself and the emperor the necessity of in- troducing a clear and uniform order into the whole * Letter from the Elector Louis of the Palatinate, in Neu- deckers ActenstUcken, i. p. 16. From the words, " von E. L. und unserm Freund, von ir und uns," — from E. L. and our friend, from him and from us," we may conclude that the Elector of Treves was also there present. VOL. II. T 274 SCHEME OF SECULARIZATION. — 1525. Book III. empire, with respect to the ceremonies of the church. In the universal discussion of these subjects, every possible change was suggested, and thus ideas and plans of the most extraordinary nature became current. In a project drawn up towards the end of the year 1525, and discussed at one or two meetings of the empire, it is assumed in the outset, that the pro- perty of the church is no longer of any use or be- nefit either to religion or to the empire : that some change in the disposition of it is therefore indispens- able; that this must not, however, be left to the common people, but must be undertaken by the supreme authorities ; i. e. by the emperor and the temporal Estates. People no longer scrupled to propose the secu- larisation of all ecclesiastical property. So much might, they said, be assigned to the spi- ritual princes and prelates as was necessary for the maintenance of a suitable mode of living; nor should any thing, for the present, be taken from the canons, but both they and their superiors should be allowed gradually to die out. Of the convents, a few might be retained for young women of noble birth, but with fuU right and liberty to quit them. With the funds thus obtained, the first care must be to supply the new spiritual wants ; to appoint pastors and preachers ; to nominate in every circle a pious and learned man as bishop, with a fixed salary, but wholly without temjDoral functions, and solely a superintendent of the other ministers of the church j Chap. VII. SCHEME OF SECULARIZATION. — 1525. 275 and, lastly, to establish a liigh school in every circle, in which the languages and the exposition of the Holy Scriptures according to their true sense, should be taught. But the party which suggested these reforms also entertained the hope that they should thus acquire strength to give a new form to the whole secular constitution of the country. The proposal to that effect contained in this project is, to establish a particular Council of Regency, or administrative body, in each circle; consisting of twelve councillors, three from each of the four estates, sovereigns, princes, — counts and lords (nobles), — and imperial cities ; and a chief or president, chosen from the states of the circle, but approved by the emperor, with nearly the same powers as the governors and the councillors of the Swabian League. This body was to put in execu- tion all the plans determined on by the States; to form a supreme court of judicature, and, above all, to maintain the public peace, and for that purpose to keep a standing force of horse and foot always in the field. The young nobility were to serve in the army, instead of occupying the posts in the chapters. With these troops any succours granted by the emperor and the empire could then be rendered effective, without imposing burdens on any body. They would constitute so great a per- manent force as no emperor had had at his com- mand since the birth of Christ.* *. " Rathschlag was man mit geistlichen Gutern zu gemeinem und des Reichs Nutz furnemen und handeln soil." — " Opinion T 2 276 FORMATION OF Book III. The particular provisions of this project are far less important and interesting than the general ideas upon which it is founded : — the secularization of ecclesiastical property; the empire represented exclusively by temporal estates (the constitution of which was mainly based upon the extension of the functions of the circles) ; a standing army spe- cially for the advantage of the young nobles : — all things Avhich, in their mature and finished form, gave their character to the succeeding centuries, and constituted modern Germany. The most distant results were boldly contemplated, but the way that led to them Avas long and arduous. The ecclesiastical princes were yet far too strong ; and it may easily be imagined that plans of the kind above mentioned, which could not remain concealed from them, would make them feel the necessity of collecting all their strength. The clergy already complained that they were kept out of pos- session of many things, of which they had been robbed during the late commotions ; and even that their enemies proceeded in depriving them of their accustomed jurisdiction ; they showed a determina- tion not to await the attack at the next diet, but to press for a complete restitution of their rights and possessions. To this course they were emboldened by a rescript of the emperor, in which mention was as to what should be done with ecclesiastical property for the common good and that of the empire." In the Weimar Records. It is indeed true that this is among the acts of 1526, but as the diet of Augsburg is mentioned in it, it was doubtless originally intended for that. Chap. VIT. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 277 made of the suppression of all things that threat- ened the destruction of our holy faith, and in such severe terms as seemed to imply that an entire restoration of the old order of things was contemplated.* The Council of Regency which was sitting in Esslingen, and of which we now liear once more, prepared to propose measures in the same spirit, f The course taken by the Swabian League was nearly the same. At a meet- ing held by that body in November, it received a letter from Pope Clement, exhorting it to show the same zeal in the completion of the work, that had inspired the first undertaking of it, and to finish the most glorious deed that had been done for centuries. J The sovereigns of eastern Germany felt in the same manner ; the instruction given by Duke George to his delegate at the diet is still extant. After vehement complaints of the enormous mischief done by the Lutheran Gospel, he demands * Tolleten in Castilien, 24th May, 1525. ("W. A.) f Feilitsch, Esslingen, Monday after St. Martin's day : " Er halt genzlichen dafiir, dass von denen die sich der Aufruhr theilhaftig gemacht, auch denen die Kirchen und Kloster gewaltig zerstort, dcnselbigen GUter eingenommen und davon wieder geben was ihnen gefallig, dass wider diese auf dem Reichstag gehandelt werden soil." — " He was entirely of opinion that the property sliould be taken from those who had been parties to the seditious movements, and who had violently destroyed churches and convents, and that such of it should be restored as they thought fit. Proceedings against these persons should be taken at the diet." I Papal Brief, delivered in November. Oehsle, p. 305. T 3 278 FORMATION OF Book 111. that no change shall be made in the traditional or- dinances without the sanction of a general council ; adding, that even if an angel should come down from heaven he was not to be obeyed, unless in a full Christian assembly. * Moreover a papal nuncio was sent to attend the diet. The idea of a change was, it is true, as widely diffused as it was comprehensive ; but the opposite tendency, towards the maintenance of the existing ecclesiastical institutions, or rather towards their restoration in their complete integrity, was still exceedingly powerful. Even while the j^artisans of the new faith cherished the most sweeping schemes, they could not disguise from themselves that the diet might very possibly take a turn highly unfavourable to their wishes. Some believed that the good and the bad would be destroyed together ; that truth would be suppressed together with falsehood ; that a rule of faith and life would be established in accordance with the old law, and that those who did not receive it willingly would be compelled by violence to conform to it. As Elector John and Landgrave Philip had de- clared, themselves most openly for the new doctrines, they had the greatest reason for fear. The land- grave, because his territory was surrounded on all sides by jDuissant ecclesiastical princes ; the elector, because already there was an idea of depriving him * Instruction to Otto v. Pack in the Dresden Archives. It also contains some censure of Luther's marriage ; — " that he and his Kate wanted as much for themselves alone as the whole Augustine convent had formerly required." Chap. VII. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 279 of his electorate as a seceder from the Church of Rome ; he was advised to place himself on a better footing mth his neighbours — doubtless especially with Duke George, — for' that many intrigues were on foot against him in that direction. It was less the view of effecting any change, than the dread of danger to themselves, and the neces- sity of maintaining the position which they had taken up, that determined these two princes to enter into a closer alliance with each other. Landgrave Philip made the first advances in this matter by sending his chamberlain, Rudolf of Waiblingen to Torgau, where Elector John was holding his court, charged with the proposal to combine with him in making a common resistance at the next diet, to any measures that might be attempted in support of abuses, or for the suppres- sion of truth ; to accede to no ordinance at vari- ance with the word of God, and to unite steadfastly to that end with all who held the same oj^inions. This commission was received with great joy by the elector, with whose sentiments and convictions it so fully harmonised. At the beginning of No- vember his son John-Frederic, set out to hold a conference with the landgrave, and to concert the course they were to pursue. * The interview took place at the strongly defended hunting-seat of Friedewalt, in the Sullinger forest. * Instruction in Romnicl's Urkundenbuch, p. 10. Credentials of the same date (5th Oct.) in tlie Weimar Records. There is also a note of the answer that "Waiblingen was to deliver to Torgau, 13th Oct. T 4 280 RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. Book III. The two young princes perfectly understood each other. There is in the Weimar archives a note of an opinion " of our dear cousin and brother the land- grave," in the hand- writing of John- Frederic himself, Avhich is, without doubt, the result of this convers- ation. Its contents do not show that any actual treaty as yet existed ; the resolutions were such as the cir- cumstances of the moment called forth : such as, that the contracting parties should come to a fuller understanding as to the evangelical cause, and should induce as many princes, counts, and cities of si- milar views as possible to join them (they had even the hope of gaining over the Elector of Treves) ; and should then enter a common protest against the expressions contained in the rescript, which were favourable to old usages, but pernicious to the word of God ; and that they should stand as one man for the evangelical cause. The electoral court did not only approve these conditions, but thought it good to extend the agreement to other things, " in which one might be worse treated than the other." * * " Verzaicliniss des Bedenkens unsres lieben Vetters und Bruders auf die vertreuliche Unterrede, so wir mit S. L. jetzo allhie geliabt, so vil das h. gottl. TVoi-t belangen thut. Friede- walt Mitw. nach Bernardi (8tli Nov.)." — " Note of the opinion of our dear cousin and brother, expressed at our confidential meeting held here, so far as they concern the holy word of God. Friedewalt, Wednesday after St. Bernard's day, i. e. 8th Nov." The copy which was made in Torgau differs from the paper written in the prince's own hand in this respect : — the prince had only written that they would make an alliance together for the sake of the Gospel; but in the copy the words above quoted are added: — " Auch sunsten in andern Sachen, do eyner vor dem Chap. VII. DIET OF AUGSBURG, 1525. 281 In the beginning of December tlie hostile parties thus met at Augsburg, furnished with directly con- trary instructions. The same disagreement which prevailed among the deputies, manifested itself in the imperial commis- sion. This consisted (independently of Archduke Ferdinand, whose behaviour was necessarily am- biguous) of Duke William of Bavaria, the leader and champion of the papists, and Markgrave Casimir of Brandenburg, who had so long been attached to the evangelical party. Casimir declined indeed to enter into the compact proposed to him by the envoys of Hessen and Saxony ; but he declared that he would advocate his o^vn convictions in the com- mission, and thus, he urged, do more service to the cause than he could by joining a formal alliance. Had the princes been present in person, the strug- gle must now have become vehement, earnest, and decisive; it would soon have been clearly seen to which side the majority inclined. But neither party was at bottom sincerely re- solved on bringing matters to an issue. Each saw too clearly what might be the consequences of such a decision : they wished to assemble all their forces, and to secure to themselves every kind of support. The princes at Friedewalt thought it expedient to remove the diet of the empire immediately to Spire or to Worms. On the other side, the arrival of the Mainz deputy, without whom no step could be taken, inasmuch as he brought with him the imperial andern Recht leyden kunt, ausgeschlossen gegen den, so in der Er- beynung sind." I intend to make ample extracts in the Appendix. 282 DIET OF AUGSBURG, 1525. Book III. chancery, was unduly delayed. No prince as yet appeared in person ; even the commission was not complete, and a great number of the deputies were still missing. The first prehminary meeting was held on the eleventh of December. Archduke Ferdinand be- sought those who were assembled to have patience awhile, till a larger number arrived, and promised to report to the emperor the good dispositions of those present.* But some weeks elapsed, and their numbers were little augmented ; on the renewed application of the States, the commissioners at length held a definitive meeting on the 30th December. f It was evident to every body that, considering the incompleteness of the assembly of the States, and the importance of the questions at issue, no permanent result could be obtained. Duke William suggested whether it would not be better to adjourn the diet. The three colleges separated, and were unanimously of that opinion. They adjourned the diet to Spire, on the first of May ; there, however, they said, every prince must appear in person ; " there they would with greater dignity treat of the holy faith, of peace and justice." In order, however, to have done at least something, and in consideration of the continued ferment among the people, a committee was appointed to draw up a Recess. * Letter from Feilitscli to the Elector John, 24th December. Weimar Records. t Feilitsch und Minkwitzto the Elector John, 2d Jan. 1526. Chap. VII. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 283 Tlie only remarkable circumstance as to this is, that the ordinances of the foregoing diets of 1523 and 1524 — that the Gospel should be preached pure and intelligible, according to the interpretations of the received expositors — was repeated, without any mention of the Fathers of the Latin Church, or of the edict of AVorms. The States mutually agreed to hold themselves prepared to put down instantly every attempt at insurrection ; and so for restored to their rights and station those who had been de- clared infamous on account of their participation in the disturbances, that the latter were allowed to take part in the sittings of the courts of justice.* They were so numerous that the village tribunals would otherwise have been entirely at a stand. The whole attention of the public, as well as its active measures of preparation, were now directed towards the approaching meeting, which, indeed, proved to be decisive. Saxony and Hessen had not as yet found the sympathy they expected in their scheme of an evan- gelical league; in fact, the Niirnberg dej^uties alone had really shown an earnest inclination towards it : but this discouragement did not induce those princes to abandon the idea : the two ambassadors were of opinion that the affair must be undertaken with * Recess (Neue Samml.), ii, 271. §§ 1. 4. This was then looked upon as a victory obtained by the Protestants. Letters from the Niirnbergers, quoted by Ilortleder, i. viii. 1. Spalatin Annales in Mencken, ii, 652. : " Concidit spes sperantium, eo conventu totum Baalem restitutum iri." 284 FORMATION OF Book III. redoubled vigour, in a personal interview between their respective masters. Meanwhile the other party also concentrated its forces. The chapter of the cathedral of Mainz brought forward its long-forgotten metropolitan powers, and summoned the chapters of its suffra- gans to an assembly at the mother-church. The attention of this meeting was called to the danger which threatened the clergy generally ; and the reso- lution was passed, to send a deputation who should lay before the emperor and the pope a complaint that the spiritual jurisdiction was invaded by the temporal authorities ; to remind them of the services which the spiritual princes had, from the earliest times, rendered to the empire and the church ; and to declare that they were ready to perform similar and yet greater services in future, but that, in return, they should expect their ancient privileges to be protected. They thought it most expedient to entrust this protection to certain princes who had not fallen off from the faith, whom they specified.* The wishes of these princes seemed to tend to the same point. Duke George of Saxony and Duke Henry of Brunswick met at the residence of the Elector of Mainz at Halle. A few days after, we find them again at Leipzig, together with the Bishop of Strasburg; they too determined to address them- selves to the emperor. They represented to him that, seeing the uninterrupted progress of the * Letter from Count Albert of Mansfeld, sent with a copy of the treaty, to the Elector of Saxony, in the Weimar Records. Letter from Waklenfels to Vogler in v. d. Lith, p. 1 60. Chap. VII. RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. 285 " damnable Lutheran doctrine," nothing could be expected but a repetition of the rebellion ; nay, ev^^. an open war, between the princes and lords tnem- selves ; that attempts were daily made to draw them too over to the Lutheran party; and, since these were not likely to succeed by amicable means, it seemed as if it were the design of the Lutherans to force them into it, by instigating their subjects to revolt. Against these attempts they now called upon the emperor for support.* Lnmediately after the meeting, Duke Henry of Brunswick went to Spain, thus throwing the weight of his personal solicitations into the balance. Every thing was thus prepared for the decisive battle. If the adherents of innovation found their strongest support in the sympathy of the nation, and in the mighty movement of the public mind generally ; on the other hand, the champions of the papacy were sustained by the natural strength of established institutions, and the resolute aversion of some powerful princes to all change. But they now likewise sought to engage in their behalf the active interference of the two supreme authorities whose dignity was so intimately bound up with the spiritual constitution of the empire. They did not doubt that these potentates would bring all their influence to their aid. But they thus came into contact with two great political powers which stood in very difl'erent * Excerpt from a judgment given at Leipzig, quoted by Schmidt in his Deutsche Geschichte, viii. p. 202. Yet I know not whether this meeting took place at Leipzig or at Halle. 286 RELIGIOUS LEAGUES. Book III. relations to each other, from that which subsisted between them in Germany; — a relation subject at every moment to be changed by the great events of Italy, and the course of European policy. We shall be unable to understand the affairs of Germany, if we do not first devote our attention to these events : they are also important, as exhibiting another phase of the character and condition of the German people. BOOK IV. FOREIGN RELATIONS— FOUNDATION OF THE NATIONAL CHURCHES OF GERINIANY. 1521—1528. 289 BOOK IV. FOREIGN RELATIONS. -FOUNDATION OF THE NATIONAL CHURCHES OF GERMANY. 1521—1528. CHAPTER I. FRENCH AND ITALIAN WARS, DOAVN TO THE LIGUE OF COGNAC, 1521 — 1526. In the tenth century, when the peoples of the West, just strugglmg into intellectual life and culture, were exposed on every side to attacks from mighty and hostile forces, the first great victory was won by the Germans. In defending themselves, they rendered inestimable service to all others. They restored security and independence to the West; their successes in arms revived the idea of a western empire ; two thirds of the great Carolingian heritage devolved upon them. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the majesty and supremacy of the empire were recognised by all the surrounding nations, north and south, east and west. Aries and Lyons, Milan and Pisa, were included within its dominions. At the end of the twelfth, and the former half of the thirteenth century, we find the emperors of Germany founding a strong domestic power in Italy : more than once the idea VOL. II. u 290 FOREIGN RELATIONS. Book IV. of annexing the eastern empire to that of the west suggested itself to them. Meanwhile wide tracts of country in the north and east were covered with settlements ; and as outposts in the far dis- tance, those great colonies of military orders were established, which were unquestionably the best constituted and strongest power in the north. For a while the conquests of the empire continued to advance, although the imperial government no longer retained its pristine energy ; but at length the dissolution of internal order, and the annihilation of the real independence of the imperial throne, was felt on its frontiers : the empire was no longer able to maintain its lofty station. The spoliation began with the pope, who wrested Rome, the States of the Church, and Avignon from the empire. In alliance with him, the French crown got possession, noiselessly and bit by bit, of the kingdom of Aries ; shortly after, the rising power of Poland and Lithuania gained a decisive victory over the Teutonic order, no longer adequately sup- ported. In the fifteenth century, Bohemia made herself independent ; the states of Italy scarcely preserved their allegiance to the empire even in name ; and, lastly, the principle of separation reacted even on the races of German blood and languasre who inhabited the Alps and the Netherlands. The contemplation of so many disasters awoke that sorrowful indignation in the hearts of true patriots to which we have already alluded. As yet, however, no definitive act of cession had been made on the side of the empire ; exce^^ting on Chap. I. FOREIGN RKLATIONS. 291 somepointsi, in favour of the pope, mth whom, how- ever, the boundary line of their respective powers had not yet been very firmly settled : it was still open to every kind of suggestion or discussion. Xever, above all, had the project of giving up the north of Italy been entertained. As early as the beginning of the fifteenth century, Rupert, King of the Romans, made a resolute attack on Milan : in the middle of it, after the Visconti became extinct, a party arose in Milan disposed to place the city under the power of the emperor ; and we have traced tlie life-long attempts of Maximilian to conquer Lombardy. He did not, it is true, succeed : after many fluctuations in the fortunes of war, the French at length kept possession of Milan and Genoa; but the ancient claims were held in the liveliest remembrance; and Francis I., who, more- over, had never received investiture of the fief, was by no means regarded in the empire in the light of a legitimate possessor. On Charles V.'s accession to the throne, the magnificent prospect of a recovery of all its rights once more opened on the empire. We must remember, that this was the point of view which immediately presented itself to men's minds, on the first approximation of Burgundy and Austria. When Charles the Bold sent to ofi'er his alliance to Frederic III., he told him that he would make him more formidable than any emperor had been for three hundred years : he represented to him what an irresistible power must result from V 2 292 EOEEIGN IIELATIONS. Book IV. the union of their possessions and privileges.* The youthful prince who now ascended the throne was the great grandson and heir of both those sovereigns, and his principalities and kingdoms extended be- yond the farthest limit that any imagination could at that time have reached. How, then, was it possible that ideas of this kind should fail to arise within him? Of all the nations of Western Europe, the German was, without doubt, the best prepared for war. The nobles of that country were the first to throw off the use of the lance — that chivalrous weapon which the new art of war had rendered nearly useless : lords and vassals fought in the same ranks. f The foot-soldiers, or landsknechts, who were peasants, had no equals except among the Swiss, — also of German race. The citizens were masters in the use of fire-arms ; nor could any other nation in the world have measured its naval forces against those of the Hanse towns and the Netherlands combined. All these elements of strength had been paralysed by the want of an emperor endued with energy enough to put them in motion. Such an one had never yet arisen ; but a new era now appeared at hand. The landsknechts hailed its advent in a song, the burden of which is, that they had now a prince * The only account which may, howevei", be considered au- thentic, is given by Schmidt from the Imj)erial Archives, book vii. cap. 24. f A passage from Pasqualigo's narrative will explain this further. CiiAP. I. BREAKING OUT OF WAR WITH FRANCE. 293 who would be able to pay them, and to keep them in the field. At the diet of Worms, the reconquest of the lost or ceded dominions of the empire was dis- cussed with great earnestness. But here again we must not for a moment lose sight of the fact, that the augmentation of the imperial power was not the offspring of any essential change in the sen- timents of the nation. The nation was not disposed to grant to Charles Y. greater rights than it had granted to his predecessors ; nor to rally round him with greater unanimity. The difference consisted in the union of power, such as had never before centred in one house, with the rights and powers of the empire. But the former included elements so heteroo-eneous that it could never be amalgamated o o with the power conferred by the imperial throne. The position of Charles Y. was twofold ; hence it must of necessity in time give birth to difficulties as peculiar as its own nature, and might become perilous to the rights of the German empire in so far as they were distinct from those of the indivi- dual then wearing the imperial crown.* Even the origin of his wars is to be traced far more to the aggregate of his various relations than to the peculiar interests of the empire. We have already alluded to the revival of the old hostility between France and Burgundy. In the beginning of the year 1521 the declared enemies of the emperor were favourably received and advanced at the French court. Francis I. formed a connexion with the revolted communes in * See translator's note, vol. i. p. 112. u 3 294 BREAKING OUT OF WAR Book IV. Castile ; in Germany, also, the emperor continually thought he detected traces of his enemy's machina- tions : letters and schemes of the most hostile na- ture reached him from Italy * : in May, Francis I. made an attempt to restore Navarre by force to Albert. When the English expressed their pacific views and wishes, he replied that he could not allow himself to be stopped in his victorious career.f He openly took under his protection Robert de la Mark, who, in order to avenge a violation of his jurisdiction on the part of the Chancellor of Brabant, was proceeding to acts of violence against Luxemburg. On the other hand, the emperor now concluded his treaty with Pope Leo X., to whom the as- cendency of the French in Italy was extremely oppressive, and any augmentation of it, intolerable. J The alliance was destined to revive and restore the riglits of the papacy and the empire conjointly, and even remote contingencies were not forgotten. The emperor promised to assist in establishing, the * Tractat de subtrahenclis omnibus Cajsaris amicis, — solicitat licet frustra sacri imperii electores, — concitat et Uteris et nunciis turbatos Hispanioe jiopulos. From these and similar complaints in the Refutatio Apologise Dissuasoria3 in Goldast Polit. Imp. p. 870. is seen what especially irritated the emperor in addition to the direct attacks. f Extracts from the despatches of Fitzwilliam, the English minister in Paris, dated 18th Feb. and 29tli of May : Raumer, Letters from Paris, vol. i. p. 237. X This motive, which the Italians seem afterwards to have forgotten, is very apparent in a conference held by Henry VIII. with the French minister : " fere off extreme subjection." — State Papers, Henri/ VIII., i. p. 13. Chap. I. WITH FRANCE. 295 pope's claims on Ferrara ; the pope, those of the empire on A'enice.* But they first determined jointly to conquer Lombardy. Parma and Pia- cenza were to fall to the share of the pope ; Milan and Genoa, to be governed by native rulers who were to acknowledge the emperor as their sovereign lord. There is frequent reference in the treaty to the legitimate subjection of all princes to the pope and the emperor, from Avliom God would here- after demand an account of the state of the Christian republic. In Germany well-meaning people were anxious to bring about a reconciliation between the king and the emperor. The electors drew up a sort of me- morial, exhorting the King of France to a peaceful demeanour, and a recognition of the rights of the empire. But the emperor was not pleased at their interference ; he forbade the Elector of Mainz to send this paper ; his chancellor declared to the Elector of Treves that no negotiation would have any effect with the king, who would keep the peace only when restrained by force. f The purposes, moreover, which had dictated the treaty with the pope were wholly irreconcilable with an accommodation of the differences with the king of France. * " Omnibus viribus suis spiritualibus et temporalibus." Art. 19. — Dumont, iv. iii. p. 99. •j- " Wurde keine Handlung leiden, er sey denn dermaassen zu'Tericht, dass er das Friedciis begere." — " He would hear of no negotiations unless he were in a condition to ask for peace." From the mouth of the Elector of Treves : Planitz to Frederic of Saxony. Nov. 1. 1521. u 4 296 BREAKING OUT OF WAR Book IV. In August, 1521, it is true, delegates from the emperor and the king, together with plenipotentiaries from Rome and England, met again in Calais ; but from the first, little was to be anticipated from this conference. Of the mediators, one was already in alliance with the emperor, while the other had long been negotiating with him, with a view to a stricter alliance. They went over the old treaties, article by article ; each party maintaining that it was the other who was chargeable with the breach of it. The greatest impression was produced by a letter of Francis to the Count of Carpi, which had fallen into the hands of the imperialists, and in which the king spoke very plainly of the assistance he gave to Robert de la Mark, and of his views on Naples and Sicily. When at length a renewal of these treaties was proposed, the emperor's grand chancellor, without the slightest hesitation, refused ; alleging that the basis on which they were constructed was unsound ; the emperor having ancient claims on France, of which they contained no mention. He not only denied, as might be expected, the suzerainty of France over Flanders and Artois, which he pro- nounced a mere momentary concession ; but de- manded that the inheritance of Charles the Bold should be given back entire and undiminished ; he reminded the mediators what the throne of Aragon, and what the emjoire was entitled to claim in the south of France:* — pretensions which, in fact, * Garnier, Histoire de France, xxiii. p. 359., from the MSS. of Betliune, whicL, however, he does not mention, gives a very- unsatisfactory account of the matter. At the time of the first Chap. I. WITH FRANCE. 2i)7 expressed nothing less than a resokite determin- ation to try the fortune of war ; and which it was impossible for Francis to admit unless he had suf- fered a defeat. From this congress at Calais, Charles Y. reaped one advantage — he won over the King of England. Henry VIII. had before solemnly engaged to de- clare himself against the one of his neighbours who should first break the peace. The intercepted letter in question convinced him that the blame rested with Francis I.* He had, therefore, no hesitation in espousing the side of the emperor, from whom he carefully obtained security for com- pensation for whatever pecuniary injury might arise to him from his rupture with France. His plenipotentiary, Cardinal Wolsey, proceeded from Calais to Bruges, where the stricter alliance, which had formerly been discussed, was concluded. edition, I remai'ked that in time something material should be done (which would be easy enough) in France for the authentic elucidations of this history. Since then a beginning has been made by the publication of the papers of Cartlinal Gravella. In the first volume, p. 1 25 — 24 1 ., we find a Precis des Conferences de Calais, a report written by the Grand Chancellor of the emjiire in Latin, and put into the " langue Valonne ou Fran^oise " (so he calls it) by Claude de Chassey. * " Letters sent unto Rome by the Frenshe King to the Counte de Carpye signed with his hande and subscribed by Robt. Tett (Robertet), which I have seen, conteyning the hoole discourse of his intended enterprise, as well by Robt. de la Marche in those parties, as the commotion of Italic and dis- turbance of Naples^ wherby the invasion of his partie evidently apperithe." Wolsey to King Henry. — State Papers, i. 27. From the answer of Pace, p. 35., it appears that the king thought this testimony decisive. 298 CAMPAIGN OF 1521-22. Book IV. The emperor really wished not to engage in the war without full justification. As, in consequence of the ambiguously worded article in the treaty of 23eace, there was a doubt which party was in the right in the affair of Navarre, he was rather glad than otherwise when he heard the news of the serious demonstrations of the French in favour of Robert de la Mark. " God be praised ! " exclaimed he ; " it is not I who begin the war ; God affords me an oc- casion for defending myself." He was the more determined to pursue the enterprise to the end. " I must be a miserable emperor," said he, " or he shall become a pitiable king of France."* Such was the beginning of the war between Charles Y. and Francis I. It was, in fact, a direct continuation of the ancient hostilities between Burgundy and France. At the same time, it was immensely important to the Germanic empire, to which, for the first time, a well-grounded prospect of re-establishing its rights and authority was re-opened. The war, with the political changes consequent upon it, would then incessantly react on its internal condition ; as we have already remarked, and shall soon more dis- tinctly perceive. CAIklPAIGN OF 1521, 1522. It seemed at first as if the struggle would be decided on the ancient theatre of the Burgundian * Aluigi Aleandro de' Galeazzi, Brusselles 3. Luglio, 1521. Lettere di principi, i. 93. That is doubtless the meaning of this speech. CiiAr. I. CAMPAIGN OF 1521. 299 wars — the border countiy of France and tlie Ne- therlands. From the territory of Robert de la Mark, which had been subdued without much difficulty, a stately imperial army, under the command of the Count of Nassau, Sickingen, and Frundsberg marched upon the French frontiers, conquered Mouzon, besieged Mezieres, and threatened the whole of Champagne. In the mean time, however, Francis assembled his best forces, and had soon so confident a feeling of his own superiority, that he declared that God himself was evidently on the side of France. The imperialists were compelled to raise the siege of Mezieres, and when they met the French near Valenciennes, esteemed themselves happy to escape without a beating. George Frunds- berg regarded this retreat as one of his most glo- rious achievements ; and it did, in fact, in some degree, restore the balance of affairs : the French took some strong places in Artois ; the imperialists, Tournay ; but these momentary successes led to no great efforts or important results.* In It>aly, on the other hand, events unexpectedly advanced to a crisis. This Avas mainly brought about by the Swiss Confederation, which, though still retaining the form of subjection to the empire, and receiving its pay, enjoyed, in fact, political independence, and had for many years been principally instrumental in * The Memoirs of Bellay and of.Fleuranges on one side, and of Pontus Ileuterus and Sandoval on tlie other, describe this war. I shall insert a very unpoetical, but instructive historical song, in the Appendix. 300 CAIMPAIGN OF 1521. Book IV. deciding all the great struggles in the north of Italy. Recently (a.d. 1512) the Swiss had reconquered Milan for the Sforzas, and its loss, determined in a most bloody battle, was entirely the result of their divisions. In the year 1516, Maximilian had un- dertaken, with their aid, a second expedition into Lombardy, the failure of Mdiich was attributed solely to his defective conduct of it. Now, too, both the pope and the emperor, in all their plans, reckoned on the assistance of these neighbouring, brave and warlike troops, as indispensable to the success of their arms. Their intention was to march 16,000 Swiss across the Alps and to advance upon Milan, at the same time tliat an imperial fleet appeared before Genoa, and a combined papal and Neapolitan force on the Po.* It seemed hardly possible to entertain a doubt of the success of their efforts. The Confederation had espoused the part of the House of Austria at the election, and was closely allied with the See of Rome. In the beginning of the year, some thousand Swiss had entered Leo's service, and their captains had been decorated by that pontiff with chains of gold. But there was another party in Switzerland attached to France. This party had been the cause of the division in the army in 1515; had afterwards concluded the permanent peace with France ; and though it did not actually support the pretensions of the king to the imperial crown (which would have given him legitimate claims to * This plan is adopted in the treaty of alliance. Art. 9. Chap. I. CAMPAIGN OF 1521. 301 their services), being now free from any anxiety on that score, manifested the liveliest desire to enter into a strict alliance with him. The French left nothing undone that could secure or strengthen the attachment of this party. Their means were simple and infallible. They openly promised pensions, and secretly administered bribes. Anshelm declares that not only the members of councils and the bur- gesses were bribed, but all the loudest village orators ; that many were bought Avith ten gulden, while not less than three thousand found their way, by different channels, into some houses.* Opposition was, indeed, not wanting. It was remarked that the contracting parties bound themselves to a most unequal obligation in engaging mutually to defend each other's territorry ; the Confederation, the ex- tensive dominions of the king on either side the Alps ; the king, the narrow territory of Switzer- land : it was said that Francis, by means of pen- sions, bribes, and promises, would become almost absolute master of the Confederation f ; but as ma- jorities are generally swayed rather by interests than by arguments, these representations had no effect. The reply was, that the Confederation wanted something to fall back upon in unexpected emergen- cies ; and where could a better connexion be found ? that while the only sacrifice demanded of them was * Anshelm, Berner Chronik, vi. p. 2.5. ■j" Arguments on the other side are to be found, especially in the address of the city of Zurich to the canton, quoted by Bul- linger, i. p. 42. 302 CAMPAIGN OF 1521. Book IV. to let tlieir hot-blooded youth, whom they could not keep in order, flock to the king's standard, they would derive great advantages from him in return. In Zurich alone a firm resistance was ofi^ered — the result in part of more profound religious convic- tions ; but all other parts, — even at last Schwyz and Glarus, which held out the longest — gave way. On the 5th of May, 1521, just as these plans were ma- turing, the alliance was ratified at Lucern, according to the terms of which, the king raised the pensions already granted to the Confederation by one half * ; while the Swiss, on their side, promised to come to his aid whenever any part of his dominions was attacked, with a force of from six to sixteen thou- sand men. This is the basis of every subsequent treaty between France and Switzerland. How great a weight in Europe would the renewal of that re- lation to Milan which had subsisted from 1512 to 1515 have given to Switzerland! But this she disregarded ; she sold her arm and her strength — the whole of that warlike power by which she had won herself a name among the nations — to the crown of France, and became the hired instrument of its designs. She advanced another step in the career of separation from the empire, to which she was bound by the ties of nationality and of history, and sustained by which, she might have assumed a lofty station among the powers of Europe. In July, 1521, a solemn deputation repaired to Dijon, to deliver to * " Ut cognoscant intimum aniorem, libevalitatem, benevolen- tiam, et affectionem dicti Christianissimi regis in eos." — Dumont, iv. i. p. 334. CuAP. I. CAMPAIGN OF 1521. 303 Francis I. the sealed copy of the treaty ; and the kino-'s mother was delic^hted at the marks of reve- rential homage addressed to her son at this cere- mony; immediately after which, bands of Swiss joined the king's troops both in Picardy and in Italy. It is evident how completely this must have thwarted all the plans of the pope and the em- peror. In Italy, the breaking out of hostilities was hastened by a very ill-concerted attack of the French on the town of Reggio, where they in- tended to carry off some Milanese emigrants, hi July, 1521, Prospero Colonna, to whom the supreme command over the combined papal and imperial forces was given, left Bologna to attack Parma ; a fleet was sent to sea against Genoa ; in Trent, Ger- man foot- soldiers flocked to the standard of Fran- cesco Sforza, son oT Luigi il Moro ; while the exiled Ghibellines appeared with a few boats on the Lake of Como, where they had always carried on a sort of banditti warfare.* But to what could all these detached eflbrts lead, when the force from which the grand attack on the Milanese was expected had now made common cause with the enemy, whose confidence was thus raised at all points ? The enterprises against Genoa and Como completel}'' failed. It was for- tunate, that at least the Germans from Trent found * Benedictus Jovius ITistoria Novocomensis in Gra^vii Thes. Ital. iv. p. 71., names, as leader, Johannes a Brinzia, cof^nomento stultus ; that is, Matto da Brinzi, as he is otherwise called. 304 CAMPAIGN OF 1521. Book IV. means to effect a junction with the army before Parma, where the troops which had been destined for the attack upon Genoa now likewise collected ; but, even with this addition, they did not feel themselves strong enough for a serious and decisive attack : on the 12th of September the siege was raised.* The French at this time possessed an unques- tioned superiority over their enemies. The Vene- tians had sent into the field five hundred men- at-arms, and six thousand foot soldiers ; the Duke of Ferrara, who was not blind to the danger impending over him, fell upon the papal territory ; the Swiss came down from their mountains in detachments, at their head the Bernese, led by the most ardent partisans of the French. The historian Guicciardini, who was with the allied armies as papal commissioner, declares, that if the French had attacked them at that moment, when also discords and disorders had broken out among them, they would have obtained an easy victory. f But just at this moment, hope of succour and of safety dawned in the very point whence the danger had arisen. Imperial and papal envoys had arrived in Swit- zerland, richly provided with money and all the * The somewhat contradictory details of the raising of this siege are to be found in Guicciardini, Capella, Jovius (Vita Pesc. ii. 300. Leonis Xnii, iii. 100.) See also Nardi, Storie fiorentine, vi. p. 170. f Guicciardini, xiv. p. 408. Se fosse sopravenuto Lautrech, gli metteva facilissimamente in fuga. Chap. I. CAMPAIGN OF 1521. 305 means of corruption, and had again found a soil very favourable to the fulfilment of their commission. By pressing on the Swiss their old obhgations towards the emperor and Austria, and especially towards the pope, they brought into full and dis- tinct light the extent of the danger into which the Confederation had rushed. They were bound by ancient treaties to defend part of the territories of Austria (i. e. Franche Comte), and all those of the Church ; yet in the teeth of these, they had en- tered into a new treaty, a special clause of w^hich declared that they were to take the field against all parties specified, and especially against Austria and the pope, if they should attack the king's dominions. There were still some Swiss in the papal armies, who had taken part in the attack on Parma, while others of their countrymen co-operated, under Lau- trec, in the relief of that place ; and it was not easy to see what would be the result of their coming in con- tact. The French alliance "svas the work of a party, and nothino; was more natural than that another party should be formed in every place to oppose it. The disorderly and ill-timed departure was also u ground of complaint and reproach ; in some places the Avhole labour of getting in the harvest had been left to women. Zurich, which had rejected the French alliance by an unanimous resolution of the council in the city and the communes in the country, was determined at all events to maintain that with the pope. xVll these various incHnations and f)^ssions were now laid hold of, and turned to account by the old master of Swiss VOL. II. X 306 CAMPAIGN OF 1521. Book IV. intrigues, Cardinal von Sitten. In Ziirich he was allowed to levy 2700 men, though under the con- dition that they were to be employed solely for the defence of the papal possessions, and on no account for the attack on Milan: these troops however formed a mere rallying point around which parti- sans of the pope and emperor gathered from all parts ; the cardinal granted still higher pay than the French plenipotentiaries : we find that a banner or company, which had been recruited for the ser- vice of France, went over in a body, with the single exception of its captain, to that of the pope : above 6000 men mustered in Coire, towards the end of September, and were quickly joined by troops from the Grisons and the Pays de Vaud.* The pope was already in great dismay and per- plexity at the ill results of his undertakings, when he received these tidings. His nuncio Ennio assured him that the clause in the agreement with Ziirich would not restrain the troops of that canton from attacking Parma, Piacenza, and even Ferrara, though they belonged to the Church ; nay, that he was confident that if he did but distribute money among some of the leaders, he could induce them to undertake any thing he wished. f * The offers made by the imperial and papal party are to be seen in Anshelm. Bullinger is more explicit as to the affairs of Ziirich, cap. 24 — 26. See Hottinger, Geschichte der Eidge- nosscn (Miiller's continuation), i, p. 55. 63. t Galeacius Capella gives, p. 180,, an extract from the letter : " Demum pecunia facile esse duces corrumpere, qui milites quo res postularet technis suasionibusque impellerent." Chap. I. CAMrAIGN OF 1521. 307 This revived the almost extinguished hopes of the allies. It was evident that the mere appear- ance of so strong a Swiss force in the combined army must cripple the strength of the enemy, which mainly consisted of the Swiss in his service. The only question was, how to effect a junction, and to accomplish this the army set itself in motion. Cardinal Giulio de' Medici had just arrived from Florence, and had appeased all the quarrels of the leaders and secured the good will of the troops by the Florentine gold of which he was the bearer ; he had thirteen sumpter mules in his train, all said to be laden with money. On the first of October, Prospero Colonna crossed the Po at Casal Maggiore and marched up the river Oglio. Meanwhile the Swiss who had come down from the Alps across the Morbegno arrived from Chiavenna. Neither mountain nor flood, neither the warnings of their countrymen nor the hostilities of the French, had power to deter them. At the end of October they too appeared on the other side the Oglio. It was evident that the safety of the French depended on preventing the junction of these two bodies of troops. Prospero Colonna had taken up a position near Rebecca, so little advantageous, that even the cautious Venetians were tempted to attack him ; the Swiss were urgent to do so : they wanted to fight before their countrymen reached the scene of warfare ; and in a council of war which was held, the voices were nearly unanimous for the attack. The commander-in- chief, Lautrec, alone was not to be induced to X 2 308 CAMPAIGN OF 1521. Book IV. comply Avith their wishes.* ]\Iany motives for his refusal were assigned ; the most generally received was his want of resolution : he was not a general fitted for enterprising warfare. He chose rather to strengthen the garrisons in the nearest fortified towns, and to take up a strong position behind the Adda. Prospero Colonna soon after joined the Swiss at Gambara without any impediment. A part of them, as the nuncio had predicted, were not reluctant to advance with him upon Milan. The more conscientious, who could not be induced by any promises to do so, marched upon Reggio, whence they were to make an attack on the papal cities of Parma and Piacenza. The allied army thus acquired an incontestable superiority. The Swiss in the French service, dis- contented at not having earned the bounty dis- tributed after a battle ; dissatisfied with Lautrec, who preferred his German guard to them ; and exhorted by messengers from Switzerland, for God's sake not to fight their brother confederates, de- serted the ranks and returned home in troops. If, therefore, in 1515, the dissensions of the Swiss had essentially fiicilitated the conquest of Milan to the * The version which Leferroii (v. p. 130.) quotes from the mouth of an eje-witness — that Lautrec had really intended to make the attack on the following day, but was pi-evented by the Venetians — is a mere pretext, Bellay says : " La tardivete de nos cliefs fut cause de les nous fiiire perdre." — Coll. Univ.. torn. xvii. p. 180. The particulars are mentioned by the most trustworthy Italians, such as Galeazzo. "We may judge of the effect of this event from the Chronicles of Rabbi Josef : he says of the French, " They are a nation voyd of counsel." Chap. r. CAMPAIGN OF 1521. 309 French, the consequences of those dissensions now mainly occasioned their disasters. The allies, at this moment, reinforced by fresh troops from the Grisons, effected their passage across the Adda with equal skill and success. Lautrec found himself entirely confined to the fortified toAvns. But these had long been the scene of hostile ferment. The Ghibellines hated the French govern- ment ; nor were the Guelphs treated by it with all the consideration they expected ; their most eminent leader, the aged Trivulzi, whose authority had for a time been superior to that of the French governor, had, on that account, fallen into the disfavour of the king, which had terminated only "with his life. To these causes of discontent were added the acts of extortion and violence which generally render the domination of the French hateful to every country subject to their sway. On Lautrec's arrival in Milan, he found so great an agitation, that he thought it necessary to put it down by severe military exe- cutions ; he caused the aged Christofero Pallavicini, a near relation of the House of Medici, and one of the chiefs of the Ghibelline faction, to-be beheaded in the castle.* It is easy to imagine what was the impression produced by this cruelty, combined with the spectacle of a defeated army and the report of the approach of an enemy of overwhelming force. Upon the state of the public mind resulting from such causes, Prospero and Cardinal Giulio had all along placed their hopes. f Francesco Sforza had * Cronaca Grumello, in Verri, iii. p. 221. f Sepulveda, Prrefatio in Aristotelem de parvis Naturalibus X 3 310 CAMPAIGN OF 1521. Book IV. fostered this by proclamations, breathing nothing but clemency and mildness, and promising the paternal rule of a native prince, which were read with avidity. As the allies approached Milan, they were urged to advance without delay and to venture on an attack ; the whole city, it was said, would rise in their favour. It was in November, the weather and the roads as bad as possible ; but under these adverse circumstances they marched forwards. On the evening of the 19th they reached Milan, and immediately pitched their camp before it. Mean- while, a small party of light horsemen having re- ported the bad state of the entrenchments which Lautrec had hastily thrown up round the city, the Marquess Pescara, commander of the Spanish infan- try, said, " We must find quarters in the suburbs ;" and instantly placing himself at the head of sixty Spauish riflemen, advanced on the Porta Romana, followed by an irregular troop of Landsknechts. The event which was to decide the fate of Italy for centuries, began like an adventure undertaken in wantonness and sport. Prospero Colonna, unwill- ing to be outdone, collected another party of Germans and Spaniards, and marched on the Porta Ticinese. The entrenchments were easily forced ; but, as nearly the whole of the enemy's army lay in the city, and (Cf. Sepulvedse Vita et Scripta, p. cvii.), says, of Giulio : " Non ignarus, in uno Mediolano cetera oppida expugnari," Vettori admirably describes the change of circumstances. " In Milano in facto la parte Ghibellina e superiore assai, i popoli sono sempre desiderosi di mutazioni : chi lascia la campagna e si retira dentro alle mura, perde di riputazione." CuAP. I. CAMPAIGX OF 1521. 311 rallied in haste to make resistance, the aflfair was still doubtful, and a part at least of the assailants held it expedient to retire. At this crisis the population rose ; the streets resounded with the cry "the Duke! the Empire for ever! down with the French ! " a universal insurrection appeared immi- nent, and as the main body of the allied army at this moment approached, and the Landsknechts, wading up to their belts in water through the ditches, mounted the entrenchments, Lautrec thought the defence of the city desperate, and retreated through the Porta Comasina on the opposite side. The Venetians were easily disarmed. The Swiss officers would not abandon the French, and hurried after them. In less than two hours the city was taken.* On entering it, the impe- rialists found all the streets brilliantly illuminated. The same evening it was publicly proclaimed that the emperor and pope had determined to restore to the Milanese their hereditary sovereign, Duke Francesco Sforza. Geronimo Morone, the confi- dential councillor of that prince, who had kept alive the connection with the Ghibelline families, and had contributed more than any other individual to the success of the enterprize, took the reins of government. * A letter of the Marquis of Mantua to his mother, dated 21st Nov. 1521, and printed in the thirty-second volume of Sanuto's Chronicle, contains the best and the most trustworthy- account of this event. I shall give it in the Appendix, as well as a letter of the Legate, Giulio Medici, written between the evening of the 19th and the morning of the 20th. X 4 312 CAMPAIGN OF 1521. Book IV Pavia and Lodi, on the one side the Po, Parma and Piacenza on the other, followed the example of Milan. The latter cities received very welcome assistance from the Swiss of Zug and Ziirich, who had not accompanied the army to Milan. The matter was, however, by no means at an end. The French army had not dispersed, as was expected ; it took up a strong position in Cremona, whence it menaced MiUm on the one side and Parma and Piacenza on the other ; it was still in possession of a number of castles ; Novara, Trezzo, Pizzighetone, in the Milanese ; the strongholds in the passes of the Alps ; Domo d'Ossola and Arona, with all the others on the Lago Maggiore. The sudden death of Leo X., whom fate summoned away just as he received the first favourable tidings, compelled the allied commanders to be frugal, and to discharge as many of their troops as they could possibly spare. For the moment, at least, they could not reckon on any further support from the Tuscan or Papal dominions, which were distracted by troubles of their own ; while the French had at their disposal the resources of Venice and Genoa. The most im- portant thing, however, was that, after this disaster, of which they were themselves the sole cause, the Swiss acted with greater concert. The emperor in- vited them to enter into alliance with him ; the Coun- cil of Regency reminded them of their duties as mem- bers of the empire ; an embassy from Milan offered them a subsidy ; but all was in vain : the French party, reinforced by the powerful captains who Chap. I. CAMPAIGN OF 1522. 313 were returned from Italy, asserted its superiority * ; its adversaries themselves were struck by the danger which threatened the Confederation from opposition to the will of the majority. Ziirich now recalled her citizens from Italy, and the twelve cantons granted the king a levy of 16,000 men : they gave leave to the French plenipotentiary to inspect them himself, which had never been granted before ; and at the end of January, 1522, whilst falling snow still covered the roads with fresh drifts, they marched across the Alps. By this event the whole political face of things assumed a new and most complicated aspect. The Swiss being thus opposed to the claims of the emperor and the empire, they were only to be maintained (if indeed it was possible to maintain them at all) by purely German resources : no union of hereditary possessions, no negotiation, availed the emperor further ; he had nothing to look to but the strong arm and the tried faith of his Lands- knechts. A considerable body of these troops Avere already collected in the Milanese. They had been levied the preceding year in Tyrol and Swabia, chiefly with the pope's money : it appears from extant documents that the Wiirtenberg government or- dered its servants to let every man go who would * On the 29th November, we find the French agent, Galeazzo Visconti, in Lucern : " Queste lige," he says, '• sono in grosso dixordine, — ma a tuto spero troverase bono recapito, etiam che cum faticha et spexa." — Moli?ii, Doc. i. p. 132. 814 CAMPAIGN OF 1522. Book IV. be better out of the country than in it.* Francis of Castelalt had raised five companies. f The most renowned of German captains, George of Frunds- berg, now set himself in motion. He was per- sonally acquainted with Francesco Sforza, who had once paid him a visit at his castle of Mindelheim : another Italian pretender, Geronimo Adorno, who aspired at regaining his power in Genoa, and had rendered important service at the conclusion of the treaty, appeared in Germany well provided with money; the drum was beat in the streets of Augsburg, and in a very short time twelve companies of Landsknechts flocked to the standard of George Frundsberg, and marched under his orders from Glurns on the 12th of February. He had to contend with all the difficulties of the season, and under their severest form ; the Grisoners would not allow him to pass over the Yaltelline, so that he was obliged to take a much worse road, which the labour of two hundred peasants was re- quired to clear and level, over the Wormser Joch to Lovere and the Lago d'Iseo ; notwithstanding which he arrived at the right moment, just as the Swiss and French were about to attack Milan from Monza.J A third German army, 6000 strong, had also * Avvisi da Trento, dated 9th July, 1521 ; Molini, i, p. 99. On the loth the order was published in Wiirtenberg. — Saltier, p. 77. -j- Jovius, Vita Alfonsi, p. 185., names him. % Reissner, Historia Hern Georgen und Hern Casparen von Frundsberg. Chap. I. CAMPAIGN OF 1522. r>15 assembled at Trent, under the command of Fran- cesco Sforza ; Adorno, whose personal hopes and interests all hung on the issue of this campaign, hurried back to lead on these troops to the scene of action. The French made an attempt on Milan ; but Prospero had put himself in an excellent state of defence, both against the castle within, and the enemy without. He belonged to the classical school of Italy of that time, and it was affirmed that Ccesar's defence of Alesia had served as a model for his operations.* The French and Swiss took JSTovara, Vigevene, and some other places ; but — what was much more important — they were unable to prevent the junction of Francesco Sforza with Prospero: on the 4th of April, after an absence of twenty-two years, the new duke entered Milan, amidst the ringing of bells, the incessant firing of guns, and the joyous shouts of the whole population : a foreign yoke had now taught them the value of a prince of their o^vn race and country ; and they deemed that such an one would be more solicitous for their welfare, and more attached to their persons and interests than a stranger. Francesco Sforza lay under the un- fortunate necessity of beginning his reign with demands ; nevertheless, his people vied with each * .Tovius : Pescara, p. 316. If lie must have an example, that of the Thebans when they besieged the Cadmeia, and en- deavoured at the same time to defend themselves against Alex- ander (Arrian, i. 7.), would be more appropriate. 316 BATTLE OF BICOCCA. Book IV. other in the zeal with which they complied with them. High and low brought money and money's worth ; every body strove to show him aifection, and to obtain his favour.* An Augustine friar, Andrea da Ferrara, fostered this spirit in the people, by the fervid eloquence of discourses in which he represented the French as enemies of God. The imperialists were thus once more in a con- dition to appear in the field. After relieving Pavia they took up a strong position at Bicocca, before Milan, in the hope that their impetuous enemy would attack them here. Nor did they long expect in vain. As usual, the error last committed was that now most anxiously avoided. It was the unanimous opinion in the French army that nothing had been wanting the preceding autumn at Rebecca but a resolute attack, to have ensured the victory: the Swiss, in par- ticular, were convinced of this ; they determined not to let the opportunity slip by again, and loudly urged their leaders to lead them on to the enemy. Lautrec had lost his judgment and presence of mind. Though he did not entirely approve of the proposition of the Swiss, he did not dare re- solutely to oppose them ; he suffered himself to be over-ruled. On the morning of the 27th of April the S^viss and the French moved upon Bicocca. The imperialists had encamped in a spot enclosed by morass, hollow ways, hedges, and ditches ; had en- * Grumello, quoted by Verri, p. 223. Chap. I. BATTLE OF BICOCCA. 317 trenched themselves here according to the rules of art, as in a fortification, and placed their guns on lofty breastworks. The army consisted of the German companies, which occupied the front under George Frundsberg and Rudolf Hiil; of Spanish infantry, especially arquebusiers, who had remained in Italy ever since the former wars, and had fought, under Gonsalvo di Cordova, by the side of the Germans ; and, lastly, of Italian Ghibellines, who wished to see the power of the empire restored, in order that they might avail themselves of its pro- tection to obtain the mastery over their adversaries. It was an army which fuUy represented the substan- tial powers of Spain and Germany, as united under the wearer of the imperial crown. Francesco Sforza, whose interests were most immediately at stake, the very next morning occupied a bridge which would have aiForded access to the camp, with Milanese troops, horse and foot. He Avas accompanied by a monk of San Marco, Avho proclaimed that heaven had decreed the victory to the new duke. This patriotic excitement was another ally of the impe- rial cause. On the other hand, the troops of the Confede- ration stood now undivided on the side of the French. As often as this had been the case before, they had turned the scale of victor)^, and they were enflamed with confidence in their present success. Their tactic had hitherto always consisted in a headlong, furious, straightforward onset on the camp or the artillery of the enemy ; and this was the mode of attack they uoav adopted. They formed into two 318 BATTLE OF BICOCCA. Book IV. large bodies; the one out of the country parts, under Arnold von Winkelried of Unterwalden ; the other from the cities, under Albrecht von Stein. They would submit to no intermixture with the foreigner, and responded to the exhortations of their leaders, who sought to moderate their impetuosity, with shouts and curses ; according to the plan of attack, the body from the villages was to have made the first onset, and that from the cities the second ; but they advanced nearly in line, so as to form a right and left wing ; the Junkers, pensioners and camp fol- lowers were forced by the cries of the multitude to advance into the foremost ranks. Inspired by the ferocity of savages rather than by the noble enthusiasm of heroes, they trusted only to them- selves and despised all discipline and guidance. They knew that they were mercenaries, but every one of them was bent on doing his duty : their only thought was to fight out the matter hand to hand ; to earn the storming money {Sturmgeld), and to con- quer their old foes, the Swabians — the Landsknechts. But the camp upon which they were now ad- vancing was in a better state of defence than any they had before attacked. As they moved forward, their left flank experienced a fearful reception from the enemy's well-posted infantry, and the order of battle was disturbed from that moment ; the country troops pressed upon those of the towns. As these, however, did not give way, the former recovered their ranks, and, in spite of the incessant fire of the arquebusiers, both bodies at once charged the lines of the imperial entrenchments. CiiAP. I. BATTLE OF BICOCCA. 319 Seeing the enemy approach, George Frunds- berg alighted from his horse, took a halberd, and placed himself in the ranks of the landsknechts. They fell on their knees and prayed. Meanwhile, the Swiss came on. " Be it so," cried Frundsberg, " in a good hour, and in God's name." The lands- knechts sprang to their feet ; the Swiss advanced in deep columns through the ditches and hollow ways against the landsknechts, and began the fight. " Pla ! do I meet thee there, old comrade?" exclaimed Arnold of Winkelried, as he caught sight of George of Frundsberg, with whom he had formerly served ; " then by my hand must thou die." " God willing," replied Frundsberg, " thou by mine." Frundsberg received a stab in the thigh ; Winkelried was struck to the earth by a shot. The combatants rushed forward into each other's lines, and Avere mingled in one common struggle. The valour of Rudolf Hal and of Castelalt ; of the standard-bearer Brandesser and of Striilin's troop, were celebrated in song and story. But the Swiss, too, kept their ground, which was the more re- markable, as they were not yet out of the range of the artillery ; they still hoped to overcome the enemy, spite of his present advantages. Meanwhile, the Frencli cavalry had made an attack on the bridge, and had been repulsed ; their retreat had borne along the troops in the rear. The cry arose, " The rear is running ! " To the effect of the artillery, the impossibility of carrying the entrenchments, and the obstinate resistance of the enemy, was now added the danger of being aban- 320 BATTLE OF BICOCCA. Book IV. doned. The retreat of the Swiss was characterised by the same impetuosity as their onslaught. They left two or three thousand men dead on the field, but they retreated in tolerably good order. The Italian cavalry and the Spanish infantry now rushed out upon them from behind the en- trenchments, but without doing them much injury. Frundsberg, too, was urged to pursue them ; but he was satisfied with the repulse of so powerful an enemy : he said that he had earned honour enough for one day : he felt too sensibly the importance of the victory to endanger it by a tumultuous pursuit.* As the military chest of the French was ex- * lu the account of this battle I have adhered to the oklest and simplest sources : Anshelm among the Swiss, Galeazzo Capra among the Italians ; the historical song which I shall publish in the Appendix, and Reissner's Historia der Frunds- berge, among the Germans. I am not ignorant of the ob- jections made, especially by Bullinger, against certain passages of the latter. The vSwiss would not allow that they had been beaten by the landsknechts, but replied to the songs in which the Germans celebrated their deeds, others in which they de- fended their own. One song (reprinted by Griineisen, p. 400.) by Nicholas Manuel, which is grossly false, is very well known. But even there it is not positively denied, as Bullinger will have it, that the combatants fought hand to hand. According to the information brought the next day by a Venetian spy, about 1000 men fell on the side of the imperialists. The state- ment of Ugo Foscolo, in Sanuto's Chronicle, vol. xxxiii., is by no means clear. " Non si sa," he finishes by saying, " chel causasse, nostri si misseno a ritirare in gran desor- dine." His description certainly leaves the matter in complete obscurity. Chap. I. CONQUEST OF GENOA. 321 hausted, the Swiss were no longer to be kept in the field ; they betook themselves to their homes. The French too now gave up the campaign as lost. At different points, they found their way back across the Alps. The whole JMilanese territory fell once more into the hands of the Sforzas, and acknowledged the emperor as its feudal lord. This rendered it impossible for the French party to retain its footing in Genoa. Unfortunately, however, though powerless for any effectual resist- ance, it was powerful enough to prevent the con- clusion of a treaty, while it was yet time. The city was taken and given over to pillage. The Adorni now attained the end which they had aimed at from the first, and got possession of the government. In the Italian historians the share taken in this event by the Germans appears less prominent than it really was. The historical ballad*, however, circumstantially relates, " how the eagle was once more let loose, and many a one who had borne his head high must now cower before it ; how George , Frundsberg led an army at the Emperor's command towards the sea-coast to attack Genoa : wilUngly do the landsknechts follow him ; the Genoese feel that they cannot withstand the imperial crown, but the arrival of French succours under Peter Navarra leads them to attempt it : then the cannons are brought into the field, and are cheerily served * " Ein Hupsch neii lied von der Stat Genna und wie sy die Lantzknecht erobert liaben." — "A pretty new song of tlie city of Genoa, and how it was conquered by the Landsknechts." — • See Varese, Storici di Genova, iv. p. 315. VOL. II. Y 322 CONQUEST OF GENOA. Book IV. by the landskneclits ; there is a skmiiish under the walls; the storming party and the battle are a sport to the Germans; it is they who conquer the city." There is no allusion whatever to any foreign co-operation, to any foreign leader. It is certain that they had the largest share both in the victory and the plunder. " They measured the broad cloth with their spears; they clothed them- selves in silk and in velvet." A number of the wealthier families of Genoa bought an exemption from pillage. Frundsberg was much displeased that treasure Avhich would have sufficed to main- tain the army in the field for months, fell into their hands in so disorderly a manner. He selected out of the booty a beautiful mariner's compass for himself, as a memorial of the day. Great as was the loss of the Genoese, it did not seem to affect them much ; they had feared the far more serious evil of a shock to their credit.* Thus were these dependencies of the Imperial Chamber, Genoa and Milan, after long separation, re- annexed : a victorious imperial army, more powei'ful than any that had existed since the time of Henry YL, placed over them rulers recommended by their hereditary claims, and by their attachment to the empire. The result was in fact greater than the emperor expected — greater than he would even have ventured to aim at. At the beginning of the year, he had aspired only to gain over the Swiss, or even to buy their services with a yearly pension ; * Polydorus Virgilius, Hist. Angl. 27. 64. Chap. I. HOSTILE DESIGNS ON FRANCE. 323 now, they were defeated and repulsed. The forces of Central Germany, which were far more at the emperor's command, liad fought the battle and completed the conquest. And at this moment the prospect and the induce- ment to enterprizes of far Avider reach presented themselves to his view. CAMPAIGN OF 1523, 1524. ATTACK ON FRANCE. The claims of the empire extended not alone to Italy ; they also embraced a large part of the south of France, nor had this portion of them by any means fallen into oblivion. The Elector of Treves still bore the title of arch-chancellor of Aries ; in the year 1401, Rupert had destined his son to fill the post of vicar of that kingdom ; in 1444, Fre- deric had summoned the dauphin to his assistance " as the kinsman and vicar of the Holy Roman Empire." At a later period, it had often been remarked that France had neglected to renew its fief as feudatory of the empire. It was likewise to be considered that Charles Y. was not merely emperor ; as prince of Burgundy, he possessed other rights which he had never re- nounced ; he never ceased to demand the restitu- tion of the French possessions which had been wrest- ed from his house; the blood and the 'spirit of one of the ancient vassals of France still lived in him. For his schemes on this side the Alps, Charles now found as powerful an ally in Henry VIII. of Y 2 324 DESIGNS OF ENGLAND. Book IV. England as, for those on the other, in the pope. Henry, too, had not forgotten the ancient claims of his predecessors on France ; he still retained the title which expressed them, and Calais was still in the hands of the English. Immediately after the conclusion of the treaty at Bruges, in which the em- peror and the king mutually promised to maintain their claims by force of arms, with combined efforts by sea and land, Wolsey laid before his master a long list of provinces, towns, and castles which he meditated wresting from the French.* In the correspondence of the king with the cardinal, it is seriously proposed that he should invade France in person f ; and this project is given as a reason for endeavouring to keep the Scottish border at peace. At one time, the English were inclhied to confine themselves within the part of France nearest to them, from Calais to the Somrae, as being easier to maintain than the more distant Guyenne ; but oc- casionally the idea of placing the crown of France on his own head floated before Henry's imagination. On hearing a report of the bad state of things in that country, he exclaimed that " they were making a way for him there, as King Richard III. had done for his father in England J : he trusted he * Pace to Wolsey, 10th Sept. 1521. State Papers, i. 52. t Wolsey to Henry, Sept. 1522. Ibid., p. 107. J More to Wolsey, p. 111. " The kinges grace saied that he trusted in God to be theyre governour hym selfe, and that they shold by thys meanys make a way for hym, as King Richard did for his father." 21st Sept. 1522. No one will believe that this was the first time such an idea crossed his mind. Chap. I. DESIGNS OF ENGLAND. 325 should govern France himself." These thoughts were sedulously fostered by Leo, who caused a draft of a bull to be prepared, in which he formally released the subjects of Francis L from their oath of fidelity.* On the other hand, the king, as well as the emperor, promised him aid against the he- retics, f It forms a link in this chain of circum- stances, that Henry VIIL — like his cardinal, a zealous adherent of Thomas Aquinas — broke a lance with Luther, in behalf of that great teacher of the church: he was deli2:hted with the favourable re- ception his book experienced in Rome J, and with the title of Defender of the Faith Avhich it procured hun. In March, 1522, Henry VIIL caused war to be proclaimed against the King of France, by his herald. Already the English merchants had left the ports, and the English students the uni- versities, of France ; very little English property fell into Francis's hands. In June, Lord Surrey, admiral of both the imperial and the English fleets, made an attack on the coast near Cherbourg ; in Sep- tember, an army from England and the Netherlands joined and invaded Picardy ; but no considerable results ensued either there or elsewhere : a fcAv * " Excoramunicatio lata per Leonem Papain X. contra Fran- ciscuni I. . . . qua etiam subditos ejus plenissime absolvit ab omni fidelitatis nexu et juramento. 4th Sept. 1521." — Du Mont, Supplement, iii. p. 70. t Herbert, Life of Henry VIIL, p. 118. X Pace to Wolsey, 27th Oct. 1521. " Itt is to Hys Graces gretc contentacion and comfortc." Y 3 326 BOURBON. BookIV. towns were plundered, and some small districts laid waste; then came the unfavourable time of year, and the troops retreated. Much more brilliant were the prospects which opened on the campaign of the following year (1523). As in the earlier times of the monarchy, a powerful vassal of the French crown took part with its foes. The constable Bourbon, the second man in the realm, proffered his assistance to the emperor and the king. This fact is of so general an interest, that we may be excused for dwelling upon it somewhat at length, even in a German history. Louis XL, who had already found means to reduce to subjection so many of the territories of the great vassals, had also meditated a scheme for bringing about the escheat of the possessions of the house of Bourbon to the crown. On the marriage of his daughter with Pierre de Bourbon-Beaujeu, he extorted from that prince a promise that, in default of male issue, he would leave to the crown all the possessions of his house which were alienable.* A younger branch of the house still flourished in the person of the Count de Mont- pensier, whom it was the king's intention to ex- clude from the succession. After some time, the event which had been fore- * " Eu tant qu'il le touchoit ou pourroit toucher, que tous les ducliez, contez et vicomtez de la Maison de Bourbon, advenant qu'il n'eust enfans masles de son mariage, appai-tinssent au Roi." . — Extract from the original document in Pasquier, Recherches de la France, vi. c. xi. Chap. I. BOURBON. 327 seen actually occurred ; Duke Peter died and left only one daughter, Countess Susanna. Meanwhile, however, Louis XIL had ascended the throne, and was not inclined rigidly to enforce the claims of the crown, acquired by such question- able means. He recognised the feudal rights of the house of Montpensier, nor did he contest certain of the hereditary claims of the surviving princess ; in order to prevent all dispute, he brought about a marriage between the young Count Charles de Montpensier and Countess Su- sanna, and their rights were completely blended by a mutual donation founded on a prudent and equit- able basis. Such was the origin of the vast power of Charles, Duke of Bourbon. He united in his person two principalities, two duchies, four counties, two vis- counties, and seven considerable lordships ; his in- come was reckoned at 120,000 crowns ; far more than the richest of German princes then possessed. He had strong places garrisoned by his troops ; he convoked his states, and levied taxes ; to crown all, King Francis revived the dignity of constable in his person. He was brave, bountiful, and af- fable ; and since he had succeeded in repulsing Maximilian's attack on Milan in the year 1516, he enjoyed the universal respect both of the army and the nation. Even then his thoughts took the highest flights ; the lineal succession to the throne was by no means secure ; he hoped in time to ascend it himself. The family of Alencon, indeed, pos- sessed nearer claims ; but he flattered himself that Y 4 328 BOURBON. Book IV. these had been forfeited by the former rebellion of that line. He even went so far as to solicit the support of the republic of Venice, in case of the king's death.* Events however took a totally different course. The succession to the throne became more secure ; the government was entirely in the hands of the confidential servants of the king and his mother. Bourbon was recalled from Milan, and excluded from any share in affairs of state at home ; in the very next campaign, that of the Netherlands, the privileges of constable were no longer granted him. He might already be regarded as leader of the nu- merous malcontents created by the disorders in the government of Francis I., when, in the year 1522, his proud and splendid station was threatened by over- whelming danger. His wife, Susanna, died without issue ; and although she had confirmed by fresh acts the dona- tions made to him at her marriage, the most formidable pretensions to her inheritance were im- mediately put forward. The king's mother, Louisa of Savoy, niece of Duke Peter, and hence a member of the elder line, made a general demand to enter upon all the rights enjoyed by Susanna ; but scarcely was her suit * Notes taken especially from Badoer, Relatione di Milano, in Sanuto's Chronicle. Bourbon explained these claims to the envoy, adding, — " perho in quel caso la ser™*^ Signoria volesse ajutarlo." Badoer describes him thus : " Prosperoso, traze un pallo di ferro molto gaiardamente, teme dio, e devoto, piatoso, humano e liberalissimo." Chap. I. BOUKBON. 329 commenced, Avlien the Crown itself came forward with still more sweeping claims ; alleging not only the promise made by Count Peter, but a multitude of other very plausible titles. The more clear and incontestable of these were soon declared valid ; and even with regard to the others, the parliament could give no other advice to the duke than that he should endeavour to come to some arrangement with the adverse party.* The constable saw him- self in imminent danger of sinking to the rank of an insignificant Count of Montpensier. But to this he was determined not tamely to submit. He addressed himself to that house which was then preparing to avenge on the crown of France the violated and oppressed rights of the great vassals. It was not the emperor who sought him ; the first advances were made by Bourbon ; and at the same moment in which his suit began, in the month of August, 1522, he sent Adrian de Beaurain to the court of the Netherlands, where the only surprise expressed by Margaret was, that he had so much confidence in so young a man.f The more perilous and un- certain the aspect of his legal affairs, the more earnestly did he prosecute this negotiation. To * Gaillard (Histoire de Francois I.) has given a fuller de- scription of tlie passion said to be entertained by Louisa for the Constable Bourbon. His remarks on tlie suit itself in the Appendix have somewhat more value ; yet even on this subject he is far surpassed by Garnier, vol. xxiv. p. 17. Neither does Sismondi make the real motives sufficiently clear. ■f Notices from the Austrian Archives in Hormayr's Ai'chi\'. for the year 1810. No. 6. 330 ATTACK ON TRANCE, 1523. Book IV. the emperor and king nothing could be more welcome. Beaurain went backwards and forwards several times, and, at a later period, Sir John Russell visited the constable in disguise, on the part of Henry VIII.* It was agreed that a German army should invade Burgundy, a Spanish, Lan- guedoc, and an English, Picardy, at the same moment, and that Bourbon should declare himself independent. He flattered himself that he should be able to bring into the field 500 men at arms and 10,000 foot soldiers. The emperor promised to give him his sister in marriage, and to raise him to the kingly rank ; while he, on his side, promised to acknowledge the king of England as his suzerain, if the emperor should desire it. Francis I. had just formed the determination, since his general had been so unfortunate, to make another attempt in person on Milan. A magnificent army was assembled, and Admiral Bonnivet, who * Herbert, Records, p. 119. According to the extracts in Hormayr (p. 27.), the matter was not officially announced to the English court before the 1st June, 1523 ; and, if I am not mistaken, it was to this that Wolsey's undated letter among the State Papers refers (No. 78. p. 148.). For what else can the " mervailous fordell " mean, the like of which was not to be expected, " for the atteynyng of Fraunce ? " The league was signed the beginning of August (letter of De Praet, dated 9th August. Ibid.). It were much to be wished that the authentic instrument itself could be produced. The letters of Wolsey to the English envoys in Spain, Sarnpson and Jerning- ham, in Fiddes' Collection, appended to his Life of Wolsey, No. 69. and 70., give, in greater detail, the plans of that period. Tlie precise terms of the treaty I have, however, sought there in vain. Chap. I. ATTACK ON FRANCE, 1523. 331 commanded the vanguard, had already advanced to occupy the passes of the Alps : the king set out to follow him. The allies intended to put their plan in execution as soon as he should have left France. But the affair was already known to too many not to transpire. The court of the Netherlands feared it might get Avind from England ; the English court, from the Netherlands : even in France itself, the conspirators had been compelled to communicate it to some not perfectly trustworthy persons. In short, the king's suspicions were ex- cited, and Bourbon had to esteem liimseK fortunate that he was able to escape. The king was induced by these circumstances to commit the army of Italy to the sole command of the admiral, and to remain at his post, to take measures of defence against the various dangers mth which his kingdom was threatened, from within as well as from without. Bourbon fled through Besan9on to the country of Pfirt, whence he projected making an immediate descent upon France. A few thousand Lands- knechts under the Count of Flirstenberg entered Champagne, and occupied some fortified towns in the neighbourhood of Chaumont and Langres * ; Bourbon's idea had always been that the English should, at the same time, advance as far as possible into the heart of the kingdom, carefully abstaining from plunder, and appearing only in the character * Bellay, IMcjmoires, i. p. 294. Petri Martyris Epp., No. 790., who thinks that attempts wore made to bribe the German commanders. 332 CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1524. Book IV. of liberators from tlie tyranny of Francis I. Then, he thought, every town would open its gates to them.* But the landsknechts were soon compelled to retreat, by want of money and provisions ; the combined army of English and Netherlanders con- tinued its march through' Picardy, and, for a moment, struck terror into Paris : but its leaders followed the traditional . mode of warfare, and it could no where obtain a firm footing. The warlike ardour of the Spaniards expended itself before Fuenterrabia, which the French had taken. Bourbon perceived that he could accomplish nothing for the present on this side the Alps, and repaired to Italy. Italy was destined to be again the field where the fortune of war was to be decided. When Bonnivet appeared in Lombardy with the fine army which the king had raised to revive his fame and regain his conquests (it was estimated at 30,000 foot and 4000 horse), the imperialists were unable to contest the passage of the Tessino, or to meet it in the open country. Prosper© Colonna was compelled to confine himself to the defence of the four most important fortified towns — Como, Cremona, Milan and Pavia. Fortunately he had now nothing to fear from the Italian states usually in alliance with France. Im- mediately before the arrival of the French army, * More to Wolsey, 20th Sept. St. P. p. 139. " The duke adviseth that the Kinges army shall in the marching proclayme libertie, sparing the cuntre fro burnyng and spoile. The king thought that they would soon exclaim, ' Home ! home ! ' if they should also forbere the profite of the spoile." Chap. I. CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1524. 333 the emperor had concluded an anti-French alliance with the Italian poAvers. It was of great advan- tage to him that his old preceptor, Adrian, now filled the papal chair : and as he entirely dis- claimed all the plans of conquest of his prede- cessors— for example, the designs upon Ferrara — the emperor on his side renounced all views on A^enice : the Venetians entered into alliance with the emperor, the pope and the king of Eng- land*, and promised to protect Sforza in his duchy. Every thing now depended on the Milanese, and it was deemed expedient, as the French were ad- vancing, to learn their dispositions. They again declared their entire devotion to the duke and the empire. At the first sound of the bells on the 2 2d of September, they flocked in as great numbers as ever to the appointed place of meeting ; most of them in full armour, many who had come in haste, unarmed. f The duke rode among the assembled crowd. He told them he would govern them with the mildness and magnanimity of his forefathers ; and they, on their side, declared their wilUngness to defend his cause. The aged Prospero Colonna was a man exactly formed to keep alive these senti- ments. He enjoyed the reputation of being equally * We see in Paruta, p. 217., that regard to England on com- mercial grounds liuil considerable effect here. Wolsey said plainly to his master that the treaty had come to pass, " by your mediacion and moost for your sake." — State Papers, No. 66. f Lettera di Milano, narra quelli succcssi de di 16 Stt. a dl 22. Sanuto's Chronicle, vol. xxxv. 334 CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1524. Book IV. zealous for the happiness of his country, and for the power and glory of the empire. Amidst the horrors and calamities of war, he had ever appeared in the character of protector of the citizen and the peasant. Now, too, he was intent upon the com- mon good. There had been time to lay in abun- dant stores for the winter ; handmills and windmills had been erected within the walls, and there was wine in profusion. The fortifications, spite of the great circumference of the city, were in ad- mirable order. Sorties were daily made, and rarely without the capture of prisoners : the people were grown so daring that they often begged for leave to go out in a mass to attack the French.* Even independently of these adverse circum- stances, Bonnivet saw himself compelled by frost and snow to raise the siege, and already other and far more formidable forces were gathering around him. By degrees the newly recruited Italian infantry arrived ; Lannoy, the Viceroy of Naples, brought up light and heavy cavalry ; the Venetians ap- peared in the field ; but the most important re- inforcement consisted of 7000 landsknechts, whom the Archduke Ferdinand f had taken infinite pains to get together under Ludwig von Lodron and * Lettera di Gratiani, 21 Ott. in Sanuto. " Tanto stimano Frances! e Sguizari come se fussero tante puttane." As to the mention of scarcity in Milan alluded to, this could only refer to the first days, before every thing was fully arranged. See Gal. Capella and Carpesanus, p. 1356. "I" For this the emperor afterwards thanked him. Letter in Bucholtz, ii. p. 264. Chap. I. CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1524. 335 Eitelfritz von ZoUern. George Frundsl)erg had remained at home, but had sent his son Caspar in his place. Some enterprising chiefs like Schartlin von Burtenbach, came at their own charges. The Marquis of Pescara, too, who commanded the Spanish infantry mth the same singular and instinc- tive talent as Frundsberg the German, came again. Fortunately, he arrived just at the moment of Prospero's death, in consequence of which the con- duct of things devolved mainly upon him. If, however, the imperial army was once more in a condition to meet the enemy in the field, it had not a moment to lose ; since he too expected rein- forcements which would restore to him his former superiority. The king had concluded a new treaty with the Grisons ; the Bernese aided him with money, and considerable bodies of men were on their way from both countries. Nevertheless, the imperialists and their allies did not yet deem it expedient to venture on a battle ; the Venetian Proweditore was especially opposed to it. " I do not believe, however," said the gene- ral-in-chief of the Venetians, the Duke of Urbino, to the Proweditore, Pier da cha Pesaro, " I do not believe that the republic maintains so many caparisoned horses, so large a body of infantry, and all these arms which glitter around us, for any other reason than to do battle when it is needful," " My lord," replied the Proweditore, " what ad- vantage would it be to the republic if we fought ? A defeat would endanger all her possessions : vic- tory cannot escape us if we do not fight. Were 336 CAMrAIGN IN ITALY, 1524. Book IV. the emperor here in person he would not give battle." This opinion, which convinced the general, prevailed in every council of war from that time. It was agreed not to attempt to overcome the enemy by open attack, but by strategy. While one division of the army posted itself in the territory of Como and Bergamo to keep off the Grison troops, the main force, accompanied by Bourbon, who was now invested with the rank of Lieutenant of the empire, crossed the Tessino near Pavia, and, by an unexpected attack, took the fortress of Garlasco which commanded all the surrounding country. This compelled Bonnivet to retreat across the Tessino, and to abandon his strong encampment of Abbiate-Grasso, that he might at least defend Vigevene, and the fertile plains of the Lomellino, whence he drew his provisions.* The imperialists immediately crossed the Gogna and took Sartirana. Whilst Bonnivet, menaced in his new position, as he had been in his former one, prepared to drive tliem thence, they got possession of Vercelli, by the favour of the Ghibelline faction of the toAvn, and by that means obtained a footing on the other side * Galeazzo Capella, lib. iii. p. 191., from whom most other writers have drawn their information. Even Du Bellay's is only a version of Capella's text, with some French additions. Anshelm introduces some particulars about the Swiss, and Sandoval some, but very few, about the Spaniards. In other respects they both merely translate him. It is a great pity that no one who knew the deeds of the Landsknechts took the trouble of supplying the deficiencies in his narrative. Hence we know nothing more of them in this campaign than what we gather from the life of Sebastian Schilrtlin. Chap. I. DEATH OF BAYARD. 337 the Sesia, so as to cut off the admiral from the base of his operations. He had now nothing left but to retreat to the Upper Sesia, towards Gattinara, where a new body of Swiss were just arrived from Ivrea. He still did not relinquish the hope, with this reinforcement, of turning round upon the enemy and once more offering him battle. But even on his road he found the smaller places occupied by the imperialists. When he reached the banks of the Sesia, the Swiss refused to cross to him, and he was obliged to take measures for transporting his troops over the river. While thus engaged, he was attacked by Pescara ; uni- versal confusion ensued ; the bridge broke down ; Gattinara was in flames ; and, insignificant as was the number of the imperialists on the other side the river (about a thousand light horse and the same number of foot), the loss of the French was im- mense ; nothing remained for them but once more to abandon Italy. It was evident that the mode of warfare by which they had, within the last thirty years, obtained such brilliant triumphs in Italy, was no longer available. Single deeds of arms, momen- tary advantages, chivalrous bravery, no longer decided the fortune of a war. The awakened national antipathy rendered a more obstinate and regular system of defence possible : in tlie field, the calculations of strategy and the skilful use of the arquebuss carried all before them. In this retreat fell, among other distinguished men, the good knight — the knight Avitliout fear and without re- proach— Bayard, who united in his own person all VOL. II. z 338 DEATH OF BAYARD. Book IV the fair and glorious qualities of knighthood, and presented them, for the last time, to the admiration of friend and foe. He had always hated the arque- busiers with all his heart, and reluctantly granted quarter to one who fell into his hands : he was doomed to receive his death from a bullet.* There is something at once symbolical, and ominous of universal change in this death, which has been dwelt on emphatically by so many historians ; and, indeed, in the defeat of this chivalrous army alto- gether. Like the fall of Sickingen, they were ex- pressions of a great revolution in human affairs. The coat of mail was conquered by the musket, and the massive wall of the castle fell prostrate before the cannon. The landsknechts took a very active part in the pursuit. Sebastian Schartlin relates that for three days and three nights they followed the enemy to the foot of St. Bernard ; they dragged the * I will not dwell long on the circumstances attending his death ; the rather, because they appear to me doubtful. The French (Bellay, 342.) relate that Bourbon spoke to him during his last moments, and that Bayard reproached him with his treason. It is remarkable that we find nothing of this in the life of Bayard, Coll. Univ. xv. p. 412. But in Italy exactly the re- verse was related, — that he died lamenting the injustice of the king and the disorders prevailing in the French government. Carpesanus, p. 1375. : " Questus de injusta in Borbonium ira, de fortuna et male animatorum hominum factione cuncta in Gallia permiscente." His feelings may have vibrated between the two sentiments here expressed, and both may be true. Lastly, the Spaniards make him praise God that he died, " en servicio de su ley y a manos de la mejor nacion del mundo." — Batalla de Pabia. MS. Alb. Chap. I. ATTACK ON FRANCE, 1524. 339 cannon they had taken, croAvned with garlands, from the valley of Aosta to the camp. All the places which the French still possessed in Italy imme- diately surrendered ; their defeat was as complete as it was possible to imagine. As a sort of necessary consequence, the thought immediately arose in the minds of the conquerors that the attack on France, which had failed a year ago, might now be attempted witli greater prudence and success. Bourbon found the imperial army in admirable order, while his bravery excited their respect and confidence. The state of Italy, too, seemed to render aggres- sive measures necessary. Either peace must be obtained (of which there seemed little prospect) *, or employment must be found for the King of France. Lannoy wrote to the em2:)cror, that the Duke of Milan would be a costly bargain to him, if he could not succeed in clipping the wings of his restless neighbour. The emperor reflected that it would be better to seek the enemy in his own country than to await him in Italy, where the army must be kept together at great expense, and gave his consent. On this occasion, as formerly, the idea of attack- * The Instruction secrete, &c., in Buclioltz, ii. p. 503., cannot deceive us on this point. The multitude of suggestions — and there are no less than nine — shows how impracticable each was. Peter Martyr observes this very justly in his Epp. 798. p. 472. July, 1524 : " Temperate hujus tam incompositi psalterii chordas. . . . Dira ferri acies et humano cruore flueutes rivi has diriment querelas." z 2 340 ATTACK ON FllANCE, 1524. Book IV. ing France at various points was entertained, but after the experience of tlie former year, was quickly abandoned. None of the parties concerned had money enough. They esteemed themselves fortu- nate if they could raise sufficient funds to keep the army of Italy quiet for a few months. Bourbon hoped to accomplish the most brilliant achievements with this alone. " Your affairs, sire," says he, in a letter to the emperor, " will prosper. If we are able to give battle to the King of France, and win it, as I hope, you will be the greatest inixn that ever lived, and will give laws to the world." * In July, 1524, Bourbon therefore led the imperial army, 5000 Germans under Zollern and Lodron, 3000 Spaniards under Pescara, and a number of Italians from Italy, into France. Francis had no inclination to meet these warlike and victorious bands in the open field. Bourbon met with no re- sistance, invested Antibes, Frejus, Hieres, and Toulon, and caused them to do homage to him. He bore the title of Count of Provence, but had taken the oath of vassalage to the King of Eng- land.f On the 9th of August, he took Aix, * Extract in Bucholtz, ii. p. 263. I Guicciardini says indeed (xiv. p. 448.), " Borbone con- stantemente ricuso di riconoscere il re d'Ingliilterra." It is nevertheless not the less certain that he did take the oaths, as is stated by Herbert (p. 133.), and as we learn beyond a doubt from a letter of De Praet in Hormayr (p. 27.). The King of England was besides fully in the secret of the undertaking. Richard Pace told tlie Venetian Suriano, that his monarch had empowered him, by a letter of the 28th June, to strengthen BoLU"bon in his intentions ; indeed, that Cardinal Wolsey had Chap. I. ATTACK ON FRANCE, 1524. 341 the chief town of the province, and on the lOtli arrived before Marseilles, "vvell knowing that all his other successes were useless if he did not obtain possession of that fortified city. He felt of what incalculable value it would be to the em- peror to command a harbour of such importance between Barcelona and Genoa. Marseilles would form the true defence of Italy, and an incomparable basis for all future operations against France. Beaurain had entertained the design of putting Toulon in a state of defence for the emperor, but he was utterly without the means.* These things increased the ardour with which the army engaged in the siege of Marseilles. Now, however, it became evident how greatly times had altered in France. Italians who knew the country, such as Ludovico Canossa, Bishop of Bayeux, had always predicted this change. f Spite oiferecl on the 28tli Sept. to cause a landing to be attempted, if that might be of any assistance. Pace excuses liimself for not ac- curately stating the amount of the succours, on the ground that the emperor had not always done so. In the mean while we know that John Russell brought 20,000/. into the camp before Marseilles. That Pace went very honestly to work, is evident from this ; that, spite of all appearances, he expressed a certain suspicion of the good intentions of the Cardinal, who, he said, was a bad man : — " attenta la pessima natura del ditto Cardenal." Whatever may be the case, it is certain that the result of the expedition was anxiously expected in England. Bourbon acknowledged no other king than Henry VIII. * The letter in Hormayr. He imagines that he could ac- complish this with 10,000 ducats. f E. g. Lettere di Principi, i. 132. " E siatc ccrto clie Fran- cesi adorano il loro re, c uon vi fondate nelle ribellioni altre 342 ATTACK ON FRANCE, 1524. Book IV. of the many causes of discontent afforded by the king, it yet ajopeared that he was the object of general adoration. On the other hand, Bourbon had lost all credit by his treason. It must be considered that Bourbon's influence, powerful as he was, had not been of suflicient duration to acquire much strength : in most of his posses- sions he was a new master; nor was there any man of importance so independent of the crown as to venture to embrace his cause. This conjunc- ture suffices to prove to what an extent the conso- lidation of France had been silently advancing to its completion. Not alone did no one rise in Bour- bon's favour, but the attack secured to the king m.ore implicit obedience and more cordial loyalty than had been yielded him before. He was able to levy three extremely heavy taxes, amounting in all to five millions, one after the other. The clergy con- sented to raise contributions ; the good cities granted voluntary aids ; even the nobility was fain to submit to forced loans. What could the tardy and doubtful payments, laboriously obtained from Spain or from England, effect against such abundant pecuniary resources ? * Francis brought an army into the field which might vie with any former one in mag- nificence ; two thousand men-at-arms, seven thou- sand French infantry, principally composed of the warlike peasantry of Dauphine, and six thousand Swiss. In the present low state of the German go- volte seguite in Francia, perclie noii vi sono piu cli quei tali princlpi clie le causavano." * Garnier, xxiv. p. 102. Sismondi, xvi. Chap. I. ATTACK ON FRANCE, 1524. 343 vcrnment he had even found no difficulty in tempt- ing a body of landsknechts to enter his service by the oiFer of high pay. While these troops assembled in the country round Avignon, the imperialists carried on the siege of Marseilles with great pertinacity : they brought up the cannon fit for service, which they had found in the places they had taken from the French ; they excavated mines with immense diffi- culty, and erected a battery from which they made breaches in the walls. Pescara was conspicuous above aU in the skirmishes, in his singular dress. He wore a red vest and hose, over which was a short black coat without sleeves, and a hat like those of the landsknechts, but with large waving plumes. The eyes of the men followed him like a banner. His nephew Guasto vied with him in enterprising valour. The army was in the highest spirits up to the middle of September ; on the 21st they intended to storm the city. Pescara drank to his Spaniards, and put them in good humour ; Bourbon promised royal gratitude ; the soldiers prepared themselves for the last extremities by confession. On the other hand, the garrison, commanded by Renzo da Ceri, an Italian of the Orsini faction, was undaunted, and had put the city in an excellent state of defence. At the first preliminary attempts, the imperialists saw with whom they had to deaL They learned from their prisoners that mines filled with powder were dug behind the breaches, cannon planted at the corners of streets, and the troops posted at all z 4 344 ATTACK ON FRANCE, 1524. Book IV. the most exposed points, armed andready for action.* Suddenly Pescara changed his mind. " He who has a mind to eat his supper in hell," said he, "may storm the city." A council of war was called, in which not only the probability of a defeat before Marseilles, but even the danger to Italy of a longer delay, were A¥eighed and discussed. The suspicion began to be entertained that the king might, without troubling himself about Marseilles, march directly upon Italy. " Sirs," exclaimed Pescara, " let him who would preserve Italy to the emperor follow me." Bourbon reluctantly abandoned the hope of once more gaining a footing in his own country ; but the German leaders, Zollern and Lodron, sided with Pescara. On the 28th of September the siege was raised. We shall not attempt to decide whether the king really entertained the design attributed to him : thus much at least is certain, — that as soon as he heard of Bourbon's retreat, he seized on this idea with the greatest eagerness, and, in defiance of any representations, determined to lead the noble army he again beheld around him, across the Alps without delay. He was determined to strain every nerve for the reconquest of Milan. On the sleeves of his body-guard were embroidered the words, " Once more, and no more." f The two armies rivalled each other in the * Sandoval, lib. xi. p. i. p. 598. In this place a mere literal repetition of an old narrative entitled La Batalla de Pabia, by wliicli Sandoval must be here and there corrected ; as, for ex- ample, for Pisarmo, read Pisaiio. ■j" Carpesanus, lib. x. in Martene, v. p. 1379. CiiAr. I. FRANCIS I. IN ITALY, 1524. 345 rapidity with which they crossed the Alps. The imperiahsts inarched as light as possible. They took only a part of their cannon, which they dis- mounted and placed on mules ; the rest were buried or sent to Toulon. They advanced in two columns, but along the same road, so that the first always left their quarters before the other arrived. One day a few of the Gertnans had got drunk and could not march. Pescara set fire to the house in which they lay, without pity, and burned them in it ; he would not leave one man in the hands of the peasants, whose vengeance he feared to irritate. Thus they passed Nice, Yentimiglia, and the Maritime Alps, considerably reduced in external appearance, but not dispirited : they had suffered no defeat : they were followed by a long baggage- train, consisting of all the spoils of the wars of pre- ceding years. Meanwhile Francis I. marched at the head of his fresh and brilliant army across the Upper Alps, Briangon, Pignerol, &c. ; and so, without halting, to the plains of Lombardy. He hoped still to be beforehand with the imperial army. A Milanese chronicle afiirms that the two armies crossed the Tessino on the same day ; the French at Abbiate Grasso, the imperiahsts in the neigh- bourhood of Pavia.* Be that as it may, the imperialists Avere at a great disadvantage. They could not take possession of Milan, where the plague had broken out. Fran- cesco Sforza said he was not a bird to let himself * Martino Verri, in P. Verri, iii. p. 241. 346 SIEGE OF PA VIA. Book IV. be shut up in that cage. They left a garrison in the castle only; the other troops were divided between Pavia, Lodi, and Cremona. The powerful body of troops which a few months before appeared about to make the emperor lord of the world, had suddenly vanished from the field. Maestro Pasquino published an advertisement at Rome, setting forth that an imperial army was lost in the Alps ; the honest finder was requested to bring it to the owner, and a handsome reward offered. The French were undisputed masters of the country. They prepared to conquer the fortified towns, and in the first place, Pavia. The attack on France, which was to banish Francis to the other side of the Alps, had only served to knit together all the energies of his kingdom, and to secure to him the ascendancy in Upper Italy. BATTLE OF PAVIA. The affairs of the emperor were not, however, in so desperate a condition as they appeared to be. He had now, as before, Germans in his service, and could without difficulty procure more. In forming the design of laying immediate siege to Pavia, Francis I. was actuated by the hope that he should be able to seduce the Germans who formed the garrison to desert to his side. But he was destined to become better iicquainted with their character. The two colonels, ZoUern and Lodron, were under manifold obligations to the Chap. I. SIEGE OF PA VIA. 347 House of Austria, and even the captains had passed a considerable time under the imperial banner. I shall not attempt to say what course they would have pursued had they now had to take service for the first time ; but it is certain that not one of them was disposed to abandon the cause which he had espoused.* Nor was the Ghibelline city of Pavia at all the place to suggest thoughts of such a kind. There, women of high rank might be seen taking a part in the labours on the fortifications ; the wealth- iest citizen, Matteo Beccaria, had raised a com- pany at his o^vn cost, and of his own retainers ; when scarcity began already to be felt elsewhere, he gave the ofiicers a splendid feast, and even the common soldiers never wanted " white bread and cool wine." Antonio Leiva, the imperial com- mander, in praising the young Caspar Frundsberg, Avho had now risen to the rank of captain, says that he had kept hun himself in good spirits. Antonio Leiva, too, was exactly fitted for emer- gencies of this kind ; equally prudent and resolute, * Sandoval, indeed, mentions that Zollern had meditated treason, and had been therefore poisoned at a feast. This is also alluded to by G. Capella, yet with the addition, " multi exis- timavere," which has also been repeated by others, with more or less qualification. According to the account of Tajgius, phy- sician and knight, who remained in Pavia during the siege (De Obsidione Urbis Ticinensis, ed. Fez, p. 9.), Zollern died " post longas vigilias et assiduos labores ex tabida febre xvi. Cal. Febr." It was said in Pavia that he was related to the imperial family : " aliquali sffinitate cum Coesare conjunctus." He is celebrated in the songs of the time as the person who took the most active part in the defence of the town. 348 SIEGE OF PA VIA. Book IV. devoted to the emperor's cause, and capable of any sacrifice ; he took the gold chain from his own neck and gave it to be coined into ducats. The Germans derived great advantage from their skill as miners * ; while the river opposed an in- superable obstacle to the king, the attempt to turn the course of the Tessino having totally failed, as might indeed have been expected. In short, in January, 1525, he found that he could do no more than surround the to^\ni, with a view to starve it into submission. f He despatched some thousand men under the Duke of Albania with orders to attempt a diversion in central or lower Italy. Meanwhile fresh troops descended the Alps from Germany. Bourbon had sold the jewels which he had saved in his flight, and had then gone to In- sbruck and to Augsburg. Supported by Archduke Ferdinand, he now brought eighteen companies of landskn edits under Marx Sittich of Ems over the mountains. Count Nicholas of Salm accompanied them with two hundred horses of the retainers of the court. At the same time the viceroy of Naples sold every thing for which he could find a * Carpesanus ascribes tlie destruction of a bridge, " Gerraanis, ingeuiosis viris." Tosgius gives high praise on this account to Gliirns, who " instrumentis ferreis mirabili arte in medio re- scindit " this same bridge. f Lettera di Pavia, 10 Genu. Chr. Ven. MS. It was under- stood, " che il re X"^° avea deliberato di non voler piii dar bat- taglia a Pavia per non far morir gente, ma volea terier quella assediata et in simil modo averhi." CiiAP. I. SIEGE OF PA VIA. 849 purchaser, and sent a messenger with the money directly to George Frundsberg, who regarded the emperor's Italian power (which he himself had helped to establish) with the most intense interest; and who had a yet stronger motive in the thought that it was his own son whom he was going to relieve. The day after Christmas he mustered eleven companies at Meran : he was surrounded by twenty-five distinguished captains and brother- soldiers of good family; — younger sons, or gentle- men without inheritance, followed by a retinue of peasants' sons, who, like themselves, could find no employment at home. On the 21st of January, the two divisions joined the Italian arm}'' at Lodi.* They saw the necessity of taking the field im- mediately. In spite of all the exertions that had been made, there was not money enough forth- coming to keep the troops quiet for any con- siderable time. Most of them had received nothing but their marching money, and had only engaged to serve for a certain fixed period without pay. Pavia, too, must be relieved. On the 4th of February, the army arrived in the neighbourhood of that city, threw into it a few troops with munitions of war, and did every thing they could to provoke the king to quit his strong encampment. These efibrts were, however, vain. The king would not abandon the strong position he had taken up in the park near Pavia : it was well * Reissner, Historia Herrn Georgen und Herrn Casparn von Frundsberg, p. 38. See G. Barthold's Frundsberg. 350 BATTLE OF PA VI A. Book IV. fortified *, the army was in comfortable quarters, and abundantly supplied with provisions. He thought it more advantageous to wait for an attack, as at Marignano, than to make it, which had proved so disastrous to his army at Bicocca. On the other hand the imperialists were forced by want, both of money and provisions, to resolve on attacking.f They thought it as disgraceful to disperse in sight of the enemy, as to suffer a defeat. " God grant me a hundred years' war, and not one battle," said Pescara ; " but now there is no escape." He went into the midst of his Spaniards, and represented to them that they had not a foot of land they could call their own, nor a bit of bread for the morrow ; " but there, before you," added he, " is the camp, where there is bread in plenty, and meat and wine and carp from the Lago di Garda. We must have it ; we must drive out the enemy ; we will make St. Matthew's day memorable." Already had George Frunsdberg addressed his Germans in a similar strain. With uplifted hands they had promised him to do their * Extrait des lettres ecrites en Allemand a Monseigneur I'Arcliiduc Ferdinand par Messire George de Fronsberg. Ur- kundenbuch zu Buckholtz, Ferdinand, i. p. 1. I In an anonymous account of that time, Lettere di Principi, i. p. 153., and from tlience transferred by Sismoudi to his Hist, de France, xvi. p. 232., it is said indeed, that, two days before the battle, 150,000 scudi reached the camp from Spain: this, how- ever, must be a false statement. In Pescara's despatch it is ex- pressly said, "De ninguno canto nostra necessidad tenia rimedio." He had foreseen " que deshazer el exercito a lavio del enemigo era tan ma,l como perdillo con batalla." Chap. I. BATTLE OF TAVIA. 351 best against their splendid foe, and to succonr tlieir brethren in Pavia. This was not likely to be one of those briUiant battles in which two chivalrous armies were wont to contend for the prize of honour ; a needy band of mercenaries, urged by hunger and privation, and counting the days of the service they had con- tracted for, must be led on to the assault, or they would disperse. Their objects were, to plunder the rich camp of the enemy, to relieve their brothers in arms, and once for all to secure the possession of the often conquered land. Circumstances were most unfavourable to them. " Either," writes Pescara to the emperor, " your majesty must gain the desired victory, or we shall fulfil by our death the duty of serving you." Pescara's plan was to surprise the enemy by night. In the middle of the park was the farm of Mirabella, where the market of the camp was commonly held ; and a part of the cavalry was posted at this point. He wished, if possible, to effect a junction with the garrison of Pavia. About midnight they began to puU down the walls of the park. Two thousand Germans of the regiments of Frundsberg and of Ems, and a thousand Spaniards, with linen shirts over their coats of mail, were to fall on the camp. But the walls were stronger than they thought ; it was daylight before they had made breaches sufficiently large to pass through. When, at length — on the morning of the 24th of February — the troops pressed through, the French were fuUy prepared, 352 BATTLE OF PA VIA. Book IV. and in motion.* One point was gained, — namely, that tliey left their strong position and came out into the open ground on the heath ; but the im- perial army itself incurred the greatest danger. The division of the landsknechts, as they were marching up, were within range of the very superior artillery of the French, and suffered great loss ; the light cavalry, too, were in disorder. King Francis, who rushed into the thick of the fight at this point and killed a brave knight with his own hand, was delighted when he saw some companies broken and fleeing before him. " To-day," said he to his companion, reining up his horse to let him recover breath, " 1 call myself Lord of Milan." f His army advanced in the best order, the artillery keeping up an uninter- rupted fire. But the moment which seemed that of victory, was, in fact, but the beginning of the battle. Pescara had rallied round him the three thousand men, who were now unable to effect anything, in consequence of the non-appearance of their friends from Pavia ; and they were gradually joined by the two large bodies under the command of George Frundsberg, and Marx Sittich of Ems. Frundsberg, with his companions, the Counts of Ortenburg, Hag, Virne- burg, and the Lords of Losenstein and Fleckenstein, * " Epitre du Roy traitant de son partement de France et de sa prise devant Pavie," in Lenglet and Gobel, p. 30, : " Au matin ils feirent leur entree . . . Et nous aussi estions ja en bataille." I Lettera di Paulo Luzasco al S'" Marchese di Mantua, ac- cording to a statement of the king himself, in the Appendix. Chap. I. BATTLE OF PAVIA. 353 and by liis side Marx Sittich, now formed the left wing* ; Pescara, with his Spaniards and two thou- sand Germans, the right. The cavalry near him had also recovered its order. As it was manifestly no match for the French, Pescara and Frundsberg ordered fifteen hundred arquebusiers to support it. The viceroy, who had always been of opinion that they might entrench themselves opposite to the enemy in the park, now clearly perceived that this was impossible. " There is no help but in God's mercy," said he: " Sirs, do as I do ;" so saying, and crossing himself, he put spurs to his horse and charged the enemy. The melee thus began on the right wing, where a part of the French men-at-arms, the king at their head, fought with the Spanish-Italian horse, and Salm's reiters ; in the centre, but somewhat further off, other French horsemen under Alengon advanced with twenty-eight companies of Swiss : against Pes- cara and Guasto with their Spaniards and Germans, the black companies (as the Germans fromGueldres and Lorraine in the king's service were called), ad- mirably supported by artillery, moved upon the * " This appears from the despatch of Frundsberg, " Moy et ma bande tirasmes a la main senestre vers le dite Marchsith contre les dits Fran9ois." There is also to be found the number of arquebusiers, who were generally supposed to amount to 500. Ta;gius mentions as many, but it may have been only the Spaniards. That the landsknechts were armed with arquebusses is proved, among other things, by the line of the song — '* Fire into them, you good landsknechts " (" Schiesst Drein, schiesst Drein, ilir frummc Landsknecht"). — Soltau, p. 250, VOL. II. A A 354 BATTLE OF PAVIA. Book IV. left wing of the imperialists, consisting of the two jxreat bodies of landskneclits. On this point the first decisive stroke was struck. The Germans in the service of France, and the im- perialists, were those between whom the bitterest and most determined hatred prevailed. An Augs- burger, named Hans Langemnantel, stepped from the ranks of the former, and challenged the two German colonels to single combat. But he was held unworthy to do battle with them, in conse- quence of his having taken service under the French, and was instantly felled to the ground and killed. A landsknecht held up his hand, severed from the body and covered with rings of gold, as a trophy. Upon this the combat became furious. Marx Sittich, by a rapid evolution, threw himself on the flank of the black companies.* They made a most gallant defence, and were killed almost to a man. Their cannon fell into the hands of the imperialists. Meanwhile the centre had advanced. Already * " Ein sclions neiiwes Lied von der Schlacht newlich yor Pavia gescliehen " — "A beautiful new song of the battle lately- fouglit before Pavia," by no means poetical, but very accurate, which is proved by its accordance with Frundsberg's despatch : " Da das ersachen die Lanntzknecht, bey dem Frantzosen, mer kendt rechtt, zugendt vnns vnnder augen, Herr Jorgen Ilauff gryifenn sie an, vnnd thatten m nitt fragenn. Da dz ersach HerrMarxen hauft'an disem orth, gryifen sie drauffgar tapfferlich durchtrungen." — " When the landsknechts perceived this among the French, taking good note and marching past us, the Lord George's troop attacked them without asking their leave. When the Lord Marx's troop saw this at this place, they at- tacked right bravely, and forced their way through." Chap. L BATTLE OF PAVIA. 355 the arquebiisiers had made a fearful impression on the men-at-arms, for no armour was stout enough to resist the fire of their matchlocks, when Pescara, at the head of his Spanish veterans, attacked the Smss.* The fight now became general ; the fury of the attack, the eftect of the fire-arms on the cavalry, the sight of the defeat of the black com- panies, and the rush of the victorious squadron of the imperial Germans, threw the French centre into confusion. Alencon was the first of the men- at-arms who took to flight ; a part of the Swiss were hurried along with him ; a part had their ranks broken : at this moment the garrison of Pavia appeared in the rear of the disordered French troops, and an universal flight followed. The gallant king was spurring his charger along the right wing, under a heavy fire from the arque- busiers, when he looked round and saw his people in full retreat. " My God, what is this ?" ex- claimed he. He thought, at least, to rally the Swiss, and hastened after them. But the decided superiority of the enemy rendered this impossible. Even he himself was borne along with the retreating torrent. He wore on his arm an embroidered scarf, given to him in happier days in France by the lady of his love, to whom, in return, he had vowed * His own despatch, agreeing with the statement of the king in Luzasio. When he says that he sent Guasto with the Ger- mans against the king's landsknechts, it is only to be under- stood that Guasto had a share in Sittich's onslaught. The German accounts prove that he and Frundsberg contributed greatly to the success of this attack. A A 2 356 BATTLE OF PAVIA. Book IV. never, under any circumstances, to give way before the enemy.* True knight as he was, he retreated as slowly as possible, and not without continually facing round in an attitude of defence ; he was now overtaken by the pursuing Germans. Nicholas von Salm stabbed his horse under him ; the king fell, and was compelled to surrender. At this moment the viceroy came up, reached out his hand to him respectfully, and took him prisoner. Within an hour and a half, the most magnificent army that the world could then behold was annihi- lated. It was calculated that ten thousand men were left dead on the field, or drowned in the waters of the Tessino : among them many Swiss, the ancient fame of whose arms, established in the Burgundian wars, was now obscured for ever. The leaders of the French, with few exceptions, were killed or taken prisoners : above all, their puissant monarch had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Never Avas a victory more complete and triumphant. f * " L'heureux present, par lequel te promys point ne fair devant mes ennemjs. — Epitre du Mot." t In this account of the battle, I have not thought myself bound to adhere exclusively to the earlier historians, such as Capella, Guicciardini, Jovius, and Bellay. I have also avoided all that Reissner has borrowed from Jovius, as we are now enabled to draw more authentic information from the despatches of the commanders themselves : 1 . those of Frundsberg in Bucholtz, identical with an old German edition, " Wahrlicher Bericht," &c. (" True Account," &c.) which, however, I never saw : 2. those of Pescara in the Appendix : 3. those of Francis L in the letters of Luzasco in the Appendix and in the Epitre. Besides these, there exists a detailed Spanish account, which Chap. I. CIIAllLES V. 357 The victors seized on the plunder of the camp, to satisfy their most pressing wants. They were at length lords and masters in the state of ]\Iilan, and had no fresh attack to fear. The Italian powers who, so long as things were in suspense, maintained a very doubtful attitude, now called to mind their old engagements, and consented to pay up the arrears of subsidies they had promised, so that the army at last gradually received its well-earned pay. But the fears of some, the hopes of others, and the attention of all, were now turned upon the young emperor, for Avliom this victory had been won; while he, in tranquil retirement in Castile, had been slowly recovering from the quartan ague which had long tormented him. Charles Y. was standing in a room of the palace in Madrid, talking of the state of things in Italy, and of the situation of his army, which he still felt to be very dangerous, when a courier from that army arrived. Without announcing to any one the tidings with which he was charged, he walked in : he chose to deliver them first to the emperor in person. " Sire," said he, " there has been a battle before Pavia. Your Majesty's troops have gained the victory : the French army is de- stroyed ; the king himself is a prisoner, and in your majesty's power." Great and unexpected good fortune has at the moment the same effect as a has been used by Sandoval, and whicli contains some remarkable passages. The song before quoted, which I intend to print in the Appendix, is a bulletin in verse, and therefore worthy of credit. A A 3 358 CONSEQUENCES OF THE Book IV. sudden calamity. While Charles listened to these words, the blood seemed congealed in his veins, and for a few moments he did not speak. When at length he found utterance, he only repeated, " The King of France is in my power — the victory is mine!" Hereupon he retired into the adjoining chamber, where his bed stood, and kneeling down before an image of the Holy Virgin, tried to raise his thoughts to God and to the greatness of his vocation. He caused processions to be made and prayers to be offered up, that God would be pleased to grant him still higher favour in the war he meditated with the infidels. He spoke of an expedition against Constantinople and Jeru- salem.* Projects of this kind, however, were yet at a vast distance. The immediate concern was to improve the present moment. The first idea which presented itself was, that the great victory could in no way be turned to so much advantage as by a renewal of the so-often- attempted invasion of France. The Duke of Bourbon began immediately to make preparations for carrying this into execution. The King of England was urgent in his per- suasions to the same effect. The instructions drawn up by Henry VHL, for an embassy which he sent to the emperor in consequence of the battle of Pavia, are extremely curious, and show how far that monarch's views extended. He expresses * Letter of the Mantuan envoy Suardin to the Margrave of Mantua, 15th March, 1526. Sanuto, vol. xxxviii. Chap. I. BATTLE OF PAVIA. 359 ibis opinion tluit the King of France should, under no conditions, be reinstated on the throne ; — there are none, he says, that Francis will observe : he requires that he should be absolutely deprived of the crown. With regard to a successor, there can, he says, be no question as to Bourbon, who could neither plead any defensible claim, nor afford the em- peror any satisfactory guarantee ; on the other hand, the King of England had the best and most incon- testable right to the French crown, — a right, indeed, already recognised by the emperor. In the course of the next summer, Charles might attack France in person from the side of Spain, while he would do the same from that of England: he would assist him with large subsidies ; no formidable resistance was now to be feared, and he hoped to meet his imperial majesty in Paris. If he were once crowned in that city, he would accompany the emperor to Rome to be present at his coronation. All that had been wrested from the House of Bur- gundy or the empire should be restored to him ; nay, even eventually France and England itself, if, in conformity with, the existing treaties, he married the youthful Princess Mary. At first he had affected to raise difficulties on this head, but in the end he consented to give his daughter, who was yet a child, into the guardianship of the emperor till she should be of age to marry.* * Fiddes, in his Life of Wolsey, 346 — 352., quotes at length the instruction to Tunstall and Wingfiekl. Herbex't, p. 168., gives a very imperfect notice of it. Robertson, vol. iv., who had only read Herbert and not Fiddes, ti'eats it all as a sort of pre- A A 4 3G0 CONSEQUENCES OF THE Book IV From time to time, projects like this are revived in Europe, — either of the universal dominion of a single nation, or of a partition of power be- tween two preponderant states ; but though at a distance they seem to threaten universal convid- sion, they are invariably ^vrecked against the massive strength of existing institutions. Young as the emperor was, he was of far too sedate a character to be carried away by such extravagant propositions. Nor had England by any means afforded him such a degree of assistance in the war, as would have warranted her claiming so large a share of the fruits of victory. The secret negotiations which the cardinal had carried on with France were well known in Spain. Chancellor Gattinara advised the emperor to answer, that it would be unseemly to make war upon an enemy who could not defend himself; and that neither did the interests of peace require any such proceeding. He thought that if the King of England resolved to try his fortune, the best way to thwart his schemes were to send him no assist- text. But it is only necessary to read "Wolsey's letter to the king, dated 12tli Feb., 1525 (State Papers, p. 158.), where he already reckons on victory, to be convinced that people promised themselves honour and advantage from this course. " The matters succeeding to the advantage of the imperiallis, the thanke, laude, and praise shal comme unto Your Grace." It is impossible, however, to agree with Fiddes, who denies that any arrangement with France had been already entered into. The same letter throws light upon this. If France were victorious, Wolsey says he had provided against that event " by such communications as be set furth with France aparte." CuAP. I. CATTLE OF PAVIA. oGl ance. He esteemed a union of France and Eng- land in the highest degree dangerous to the empire and to Europe : his idea was to maintain the independence of the throne of France, but at the same time to establish for ever the svipremacy of Austria. A project drawn up by his liand, which is to be found in the Austrian Archives*, goes di- rectly to the same decisive object which he already contemplated in the year 1521. The king was to renounce all his claims on Italy, both on j\Iilan and Naples ; further, to restore Burgundy to the house to which it appertained ; and, lastly, to acknowledge the rights of the empire over the south of France. To Provence he made a direct claim, as " an ap- purtenance of the empire : " the emperor's intention was to grant this in fee to the Duke of Bourbon. Dauphine, too, might be demanded back, because the renewal of the investiture had so lono- been o neglected ; but the emperor was disposed to leave this to the successor to the throne of France, pro- vided always that he married a princess of the house of Austria. If Francis I. accepted these conditions, he would certainly be too much sunk and enfeebled to be an object of dread. The emperor's supremacy would then be establised on an immutable basis : he Avould have no rival re- maining who could attempt to measure himself against him. A feeling pervaded the whole West, that the emperor was the predestined ruler of * In Bucholtz. ii. p. 280. To the same intent are the de- mands which occur in a letter of the emperor to the king's mother. Papiers d'etat de Granvelle, i. p. 264. 362 MISUNDERSTANDINGS BETWEEN Book IV. Europe. A Neapolitan descri2:)tion of the battle of Pavia concludes with the words, " Thou hast placed the world under his feet." " Now," said Wolsey, to one of Charles's ambassadors, " your master will be emperor no longer in title, but in fact also." " The counsels of God," exclaims a minister of the pope, " are a deep abyss." Such a prospect was not, however, welcome to all. No man had ever yet assumed a station of this kind in Europe without exciting the animosity and the resistance of all that had a feeling of independence. The King of England was, of course, offended by the emperor's refusal to accede to his proposals, and every moment increased the coolness between them. But this was not all. In another of the emperor's allies — the Papal States — opposition to his schemes arose. Indeed, the exclamation of a papal minister which we have just quoted savours more of the terror of one who feels himself menaced, than of the sympathy of an ally. For some time past misunderstandings of a very serious nature had arisen between the pope and the em- peror. They originated, indeed, merely in a question of territory, but soon assumed the character of one of the most important features in the affairs of the times. MISUNDERSTANDINGS BETWEEN THE POPE AND TPIE EMPEROR. When Leo X. concluded his alliance with the emperor, it was, as we have seen, with a view of CiiAP. I. THE POPE AND THE Ex^lPEROR. 3G3 getting possession of all tlie countries which were still claimed by the see of Rome, especially Ferrara ; in this the emperor promised him his assistance. On the sudden death of Leo, the Duke of Ferrara caused a medal to be struck, mth the inscription, " The lamb rescued from the jaws of the lion." But he was not only rescued ; he found occasion, during the vacancy of the Holy See, to get pos- session of Ref»'o:io and Rubiera. Over Adrian VI. he gained such an influence, that that pontiff renewed his fief, in spite of these encroachments. Adrian's successor, however, Clement VIL, was of a totally different way of thinking : no sooner were the French driven out of Italy in 1524, than he asked the imperialists to assist him against the duke, and, in the first place, to expel the latter from Reggio. This, however, they did not consider themselves bound to do. Their thoughts were exclusively bent on the invasion of France, and they wished to excite no troubles in their rear. The viceroy answered, that if the pope loved the emperor, he ought rather to complete his satisfaction by giving him back Modena.* This suggestion was deeply offensive to the pope. If he had not latterly contributed much to the success of the common cause, the share which he * Giberti agli oratori in Spagna 22 Ott. 1524. The duke's retreat, after having made a short advance, was ascribed entirely to the impei'ialists : '"Che tal miitatione del duca e determinations di non i-endere e processa del vicere." — Sanga, 21 Nov. Letter e di principi 21 Nov. 3G4 MISUNDERSTANDINGS BETWEEN Book IV. had personally taken in the conquest of Milan was still fresh in his memory. Was this now to turn exclusively to the profit of the empire ? was the papacy not only not to obtain the extension of ter- ritory it desired, but to give up cities it had for- merly possessed ? So long as the imperial arms were successful in Provence, Clement was silent ; but scarcely could he have received the news of the retreat of Bourbon from Marseilles, than he sent an envoy (the same Geronimo Aleander who is already well known to us) to the King of France * ; and as soon as Francis touched the soil of Italy, Giberti, the pope's most confidential minister, Avho had always been regarded as in the French interest, went to meet him ; in order, as his credentials set forth, " to negotiate concerning things and jDlans which touch the honour and advantage both of the pope and the king."f The course and the result of their negotiations are not accurately known ; but thus much is certain, that a treaty was agreed on, the basis of which was, that the king should retain possession of Milan. In this case the king promised not to demand the restitution of Parma or Piacenza ; to import the salt for the consumption of Milan from the papal salt- works (a source of considerable revenue to the apostolic chamber), and to support the pope against * His credentials, dated 14th Oct, 1524, are to be found in Molini, i. 177. " Magnis do rebus christianteque reipublicaj hoc tempore non solum salutaribus sed etiam necessariis." f For Montmorency, dated 30th Oct. Ibid. p. 178. "Mit- tentes Gibertum ad regem pro rebus ac consiliis utriusque nostrum honorem et commodum spectantibus." Chap. I. THE POPE AND THE EMPEROR. 365 his rebellious vassals ; — meaning, no doubt, Ferrara.* On Giberti's return, people remarked that he never "svent to the pope without the head-dress which then distinguished the French; the pages of the palace were dressed in the French fashion, and French officers were allowed to recruit in Rome in aid of the Duke of Albania, who had undertaken an expedition against Naples : the Germans at the papal court were persuaded that the pope had even made a grant of Sicily and Naples to the king.f This was an error : it was impossible that the sovereignty of the French in Naples could be agreeable to the pope. His view, doubtless, was only to favour a diversion which promised to restore the balance of power in Italy J ; but even this de- sign, his whole demeanour, his undeniable defection in the moment of danger, awakened the hostility of the imperial commanders. They rejected his offers of mediation with disdain. " He who is not for me," writes the viceroy to him, " is against me." * The articles of this treaty have never been published in au authentic form ; nevertheless the pope communicated them to the Archduke Ferdinand, and in this form Spalatin has pre- served them. Annales in Mencken Scriptt., ii. p. 641. t Ziegler Historia dementis VII. in Schellhorn Amoenitates, ii. p. 372. Ziegler was then present at the court. :{: Fr. Vettori says that the treaty made by the mediator of Alb. Carpi had reference only to the free passage of the troops. " Solo a questo che il papa la (gente) lasciasse passare, pagan do quello aveva bisogno ; et il papa stimo certo, che chome questa gente del re si metteva in camino, che gli imperiali si dovessino ritirare verso Napoli, onde seguirebbe che Francesco divente- rebbe Signore di Milano . . . . et ciascuno di loro avrebbc cura che I'altro non divcntassi maggiore in Italia. 366 MISUNDERSTANDINGS BETWEEN Book IV. Frundsberg drove a papal agent out of his presence at the point of the sword, and anxiety as to the effect of the papal intrigues certainly hastened on the battle : the imperialists threw on the pope the whole blame of the dilatoriness of the Venetians in fulfilling their engagements.* This state of things sufficiently explains the painful impression made at Rome by the news of the king's defeat ; and indeed Frundsberg actually recommended making; an immediate attack on the pope in person. Letters were received in the eccle- siastical States from the other generals, full of threats, and imperial troops instantly invested the territory of Piacenza. Clement VII. avowed that he had been influenced solely by this sort of coer- cion to pay the imperialists 100,000 ducats, and to conclude a fresh treaty with them.f Unfortunately, too, we have no authentic copy of this treaty ; but from the state papers which were afterwards exchanged, it appears that in some articles the pope stipulated for the same conditions as had been granted to him by the king. He de- manded the monopoly of salt in the Milanese, the recognition of his claims on Reggio, and assistance in the prosecution of them. He did not doubt that the emperor would accede to these demands. But one of them was no longer possible. Arch- * Contarini Relatione di Spagna, 1525. Al papa davano principalmente la colpa, clie V. Celsitudine fosse andata cosi ri- tenuta con S. M\ t Listrnttione al C\ Farnese. Fursten und Volker, iv. App. 15. (Eanke's History of the Popes, vol. iii. App. p. 32.) Chap. T. THE POPE AND THE EMPEROR. 3G7 duke Ferdinand, who had conducted himself so meritoriously in the last expedition, had taken advantage of the favourable moment to conclude a treaty with Francesco Sforza, in virtue of which Milan was to purchase its salt from Austria.* This was the first solid advantage Austria derived from her sovereignty in Lombardy. Nor would the emperor accede to the other con- dition. He had no mind to make a forcible attack on the Duke of Ferrara. Moreover, the feudal rights of the empire came into collision, on this ground, with those of the See of Rome. These the emperor would on no account surrender. He accepted the treaty in the main, but these particular articles lie refused to ratify. " As our sovereign lord now saw," says a sub- sequent papal instruction, " that he was betrayed ; that, contrary to all expectation, his footing with the emperor was worse and worse, he lent an ear to the old assertion, that the emperor's design was entirely to subjugate Italy ; he, therefore, deter- mined to ally himself with those who had a com- mon cause with him, in order to avert the danger which threatened him. f It is evident, therefore, that the real questions at issue related to the north of Italy. The pope 2:)ut forward financial claims on Milan, and territorial ones on Ferrara ; and these the emperor refused to admit. * Rescriptum ad criminationes. f The fore-mentioned Instruttione, (Ranke's History of tlie Popes, App. p. 32.) 368 MISUNDERSTANDINGS BETWEEN Book IV. Let US examine the conduct of Charles Y. By his treaties of 1521, he was bound to make an attack both on France and on Ferrara. His allies, on their side, thought themselves warranted in claiming a share of the advantages of the victory. But their co-operation had been trifling, their be- haviour, latterly, equivocal ; and hence the emperor thought himself exonerated from all these obli- gations. The victory was due to his arms alone, and alone he would reap the fruits of it : what inducement could he have to expose himself to new dangers in order to aggrandise allies of so doubtful a kind ? The situation of the pope was in effect the same as that of England ; it marks the spirit of the age, that the pope was the first who had the courage to oppose the rising power which threatened to become universal. He was afraid the empire might once more become too powerful for the church ; and the idea of the independence of Italy haunted him as it had done Julius II. The popes had hitherto always given the impulse which led to great poli- tical changes, and their views had generally been carried out. Clement VII. ventured to present himself as the centre of the opposition to Charles V. His first object necessarily was to bring about a reconciliation between England and France. As early as the 8th of March, Ludovico Canossa, in concert with Giberti *, began to move in this * See a later letter of Giberti, Lett, cli pr. i. 171. CiiAP. I. THE rOPE AND THE EIMPEROR. 3G9 affair in France. On the IGtli of j\Iarch, the latter exliorted the papal nuncios in England to use all their influence with Henry VIII. and Wolsey, to effect an amicable arrang-ement with France.* In April, the negotiations were already known in the Netherlands. They were attended with little diffi- culty; especially since the emperor's reluctance to fulfil his engagement to marry tlie king's daughter, became more and more obvious ; whereas Francis I. declared that he Avould enter into no agreement without the good counsel of the King of England, f On the 14th of July, Wolsey, according to Gi- berti's report, appeared not only inclined to a re- conciliation with France, but inflamed Avith ardour for it. J On the 80th of June, the nuncios declared that all hesitation was at an end. Another important circumstance was, that the Italian powers once more assumed an attitude cal- culated to inspire respect. To this end, the pope had sought to renew the ancient alliance with Swit- zerland, that he might be able to command tlie prompt succour of eight or ten thousand men, in case of need. He had already established a good understanding with the Duke of Milan and the Venetians. The fortified places belonging to the * Lcttere di Principi, 157. T Instructions to Tonstall and Wyngfield : Herbert, 168. ^ In Wolscy's own handwriting to the king (8t. I*. No. 88.), tlie demands of the emperor in reference to France as well as to Milan are declared to be exorbitant ; his offers to England, to be "lytel or nothing to your commodite, prount, or be- nefit." VOL. II. B B 370 PESCARA. Book IV. former, the fine army maintained by the latter, (1000 lances, 500 light horse, and 16,000 foot,) formed an admirable basis for the schemes in agi- tation.* An alliance with France was necessary, and was desired ; but the first condition of the treaty was to be, a renunciation on the part of that power of all its Italian claims ; of those on Milan in fiivour of Sforza, and of those on Naples in favour of the pope. Then would Italy — for that name appears once more — bring a magnificent army into the field for the deliverance of Francis I. The persons by whom the pope was surrounded really indulged the hope that it would be possible to keep the French for ever at a distance ; to drive out the Spaniards, and to raise Italy to the state in which she was before the year 1494. The feeling of nationality, which had often given signs of its existence, and especially in the unrivalled culture of letters and art, which was the pride and the distinction of Italy, now took possession of all minds. The pope was strongly inclined to place himself at the head of the enterprise. Meanwhile a prospect of reaching the goal of their wishes with unhoped-for rapidity now opened upon the papal party. Immediately after the battle of Pavia, misunder- standings had broken out between the imperial commanders. Lannoy who, on that eventful day, had done the least, received the greatest proofs of personal favour, and at length presumed, in direct * Paruta Storia Vcnetiana, v. p. 243. CiiAP, I. TESCARA. 871 opposition to the decision of all the others, to take tlic royal captive on his own authority to Spain.* This gave general disgust. Pescara, v/ho felt that his services were not duly acknowledged or re- quited, begged for his dismissal ; in order, as he said, to close his life in some obscure corner of tlie earth, " fjxr from suspicion and from war." f This was known to the Italians, and it was, indeed, no very far-fetched idea to ground a scheme upon the discontent of such a leader. Had not the first knight and captain of France lately set an example of defection ? Was it impossible to lead Pescara to a similar course ? He, too, was born in Italy, and was, in the exactest sense of the word, an Italian. The consequences which would result from gain- ing over such a man were incalculable. He was the most experienced and the ablest of all the emperor's generals ; in every campaign the most signal and successful actions had been his ; the Spanish infantry were absolutely devoted to him. If they could succeed in gaining over the general, the best part of the army was sure to follow him, and the rest would easily be destroyed. * Letter of Bourbon, 10th Juhe, in Raumer's Briefen, i. p. 244. It is, however, officially asserted in the Refut. Apologia3, that the journey was undertaken by the king's own proposal, " inscio atque inconsulto Cir!sare." f Sepulveda, Hist. vi. 1. According to Juvius he wished to retain Carpi or Sora, but was put off with empty words. Ac- cording to Sandoval, i. p. 671., the right which he claimed of exacting ransom from the King of Navarre whom he had taken prisoner, was contested. D B 2 372 PESCAEA. Book I Y. And magniticent was the prize they had to offer him. The Spaniards were to be driven out of Naples and Sicily. Now it was impossible for the pope to administer and to defend these countries himself, and the thought suggested itself, to re- ward the defection of Pescara with this crown. The very act would have bound him closely to the Italian powers. The unity and the freedom of Italy would have been obtained at one stroke. Geromino Morone, the confidential minister of Sforza, who had evinced so much prudence in pre- paring, and so much energy in effecting, the restora- tion of his master ; who also held all the threads of the intrigues now going on in his hand, one day took courage to open the matter to the marquis ; first extorting from him a solemn promise, not to disclose to any human being what he was about to say to him. Having fully discussed the political state of Europe, he touched on the possibility of freeing themselves from a foreign yoke which now offered itself to the Italians (among whom he in- cluded Pescara) : he spoke of the confidence he inspired ; of the great deed expected from him, and, lastly, he mentioned the prize by which that deed was to be rewarded.* * How far matters went is shown by the often-quoted answer of the emperor : " Cum audivisset marchio nuncium ad id per Vestram Sanctitatem transmissum, eidem sni parte, ut ait, ofFe- rentem sub cujusdam apostolici brevis credentia regni nostri Neapolitani investituram et possessionem ut inde Sancti- tas Vestra nos etiam ab omni imperiali dignitate deponeret." — Goldast Pol Imp. 997. CiiAP. I. TESCAKA. 373 Such a proposal was calculak'd to excite a storm of contencling emotions in the breast of Tescura. The prospect opened to him was brilliant and boundless, and he had just causes of displeasure with the court : on the other hand, lie was incensed at the treachery of the Italians, and his old Spanish blood rose in his veins. He instantly saw the ne- cessity, and felt the desire, to come to the ])ottom of the aifair. The crafty warrior who had so often surprised the enemy at tlie right moment, and had never in his life laid himself open to attack, showed all his wonted caution and self-command on this occasion. "It is a great thing which you say to me," replied he to Morone ; " and it is not less great, that you say it to me^ He admitted that he had cause to be dissatisfied ; " but no dissatisfaction in the world," continued he, " could induce me to act contrary to the laws of honour. If I quit the em- peror's service, it must be done in such a manner that the best knight in the Avorld could not have behaved otherwise. I should do it only to show the emperor that I am of more importance than certain people whom he prefers before me."* Ex- pressions in which Morone thought he perceived a leaning but slightly veiled, and by no means dubious. This opinion, coinciding with the favour- able intelligence from France and England, gave wings to all these projects. " I see the world ut- terly changed," exclaimed Giberti ; " Italy will * Personal narrative of Pescara in a document dated 30th of July, 152 J, in Hormayr's Archiv. for 1810, pp. 29, 30. B IJ 3 374 PESCARA. Book IV. arise out of the deepest misery to the highest felicity."* Writers were employed completely to remove Pescara's scruples ; couriers were despatched to make communications to the allied courts: — the commencement of the work was impatiently ex- pected. But, we may ask, were the means contemplated really of a nature to lead to the desired end? The independence of a people is so vast a good, that, when once lost, it can only be regained Ijy straining every physical power and every moral faculty. In the present case, the need of it was lii'st felt by the literary class alone ; the mass of the nation were unconscious of it : they had no military point of honour to wound, nor had they to complain of violated legal or political rights ; the right of the emperor was of the highest an- tiquity, and was incontestable. Hence, therefore, the leaders did not rely on the nation, in the proper sense of the word. They thought chiefly of the favourable conjuncture of circumstances, of foreign aid, and of this unlooked-for defection of Pescara : a lucky political combination was to effect the whole. But this soon appeared doubtful. As early as the vSeptember of 1525, Giberti remarkedf that the intention of the French was only to take ad- vantage of the connexion with Italy, in order to obtain favourable terms from the emperor. * Lettera a Ghinucci. Lettere di Principi, i. 170. How then could Giovio (Vita Piscar., p. 408.) maintain that Giberti warned the pope against these things ? t Al vescovo di Bajiisa 4. Sett. Ibid. Chai-. I. PESCARA. 375 Whilst the French party continued to reckon on the defection of the imperial general, they learned that the fortified towns in the ^Milanese AVTre repairing. A courier who had been despatched to France had disappeared in that territory ; nay, declarations reached tliern from the Spanish court, which seemed to contain some allusions to the mat- ter. People knew not what to think. Was Morone a traitor ? But what advantage could he propose to himself, that would outweigh the detestation he had to expect from Italy ? Or was Pescara playing a double game ? "I cannot believe it," says Giberti. " What he has done for the emperor, a kingdom could not requite; can he mean to use this occasion to crouch before him again, and beg for his favour anew? It were a sin to imagine that so base a thought could find place in so noble a soul." * And yet this was the fact. Pescara was born in Italy, but he had the soul of a Spaniard. All his forefathers had devoted their lives to the one object of establishing the Aragonese sovereignty in Italy. His great-grandfather, Ruy Lopez di Avalos, had attached himself to the person and fortunes of Alfonso V. ; his son, Inigo, had been that king's confidential adviser ; and his son, Alonzo, had perished by the hand of a Moor, in the attack of the French f; the existence of our hero was bound up with the prosperity of the same cause. His whole soul was devoted to the command of the * To Domenico Sauli. Ibid., p. 174. f Zurita Anales de Aragon, v. 5S b. u u 4 376 PESCARA. Book IV. Spanish infantry, which was entrusted to him : he knew every one of his men by name; 'was indulgent to all their offences, even their forbidden pillage, and spared them whenever it was possible. It was enough for him if they fought bravely at the critical moment; and in this they never failed him. When he marched at their head, with his broad shoes of German make, his waving plumes on his hat, and holding his drawn sword straight before him in both hands, he was at the height of his felicity and glory. The Italians, on the contrary, he hated ; he held them for cowardly and untrustworthy ; there liad even been examples at the conquest of a city, of his ordering all the Italian soldiers to be massacred. People asked him, " Why, — since they are your countrymen ? " " For that very reason," replied he; "they are my countrymen, and yet serve the enemy." As, in his capacity of general, he curbed his natural intrepidity by prudence and caution, so was he ambitious, high-spirited and arrogant, but always within the bounds of loyalty and honour. The character of the soul is deter- mined, more than is commonly imagined, by the contemplation of some Ideal. To ideas like those which were prevalent in Italy from the study of classical antiquity, Pescara was an utter stranger ; but the notions and feelings of personal devoted- ness and fidelity which form the basis of a feudal state, and from which Italy was the first to emancipate herself, governed all his thoughts and feelings. He had grown up in intercourse with the heroes of Spanish romance ; perhaps he com- Chav. I. PESCAllA. 377 pared himself to the Cid, who, tliougli oflx'iidcd and repulsed by his king, remained inflexibly true to him, without bating, for a single moment, one jot of his haughty bearing. Chivalrous feeling and feudal honour were thus opposed to the spirit of Italy, whose national feeling was the oiFspring of classical culture, and who had thrown otF the political morality of the middle ages. That morality did indeed make one more struggle for existence ; but in doing so, it betrayed ho\v much it had already been affected by contact with tlie world of which Machiavelli was the organ and the representative. Pescara had not the refined moral culture which would have led him to reject the proposals made to him with the disgust and scorn they merited. He thought, indeed, while listening to them, that Morone deserved to be thrown out of the window ; but he reflected that it was necessary to learn the whole plan in order to counteract it efl'ectually. AVhile, therefore, he kept up a good understanding with Morone, he communicated the afi"air, from the very first day, to the imperial commissioners, and to his brother commanders, Bourbon and Leiva : he wrote instantly to Insbruck for succours, and sent a courier with the inteUigence to Spain. AVhile Gi- berti was amused with dreams of the dawn of a new freedom for Italy, he was already betraj^ed. In September the emperor gave the marquis full powers to act in the matter before him as he should think necesary.* * Pescara to Archduke Ferdinaucl, 4th Oct. 13ucholtz, iii. ii. 378 PESCAKA. Book IV. Nothing was, however, more necessary than to o-et a firm foothior in Milan, and to annul all the claims of the Sforzas. The imperial generals thought that without the concurrence of the marquis they should all have been lost.* The first step was to secure the person of Moronc. On the i4th Oct. 1525, when he paid a confidential visit to Pescara, Leiva was con- cealed behind the tapestry for the purpose of over- hearing the conversation, and on Morone rising to take his leave, he was arrested. Pescara, liowever, requested the emperor to grant him the liberty of this man, who might still be of great use if an occasion offered for employing him. Pescara now required the duke to deliver up the strong places of the duchy to the imperial troops — a measure demanded, as he said, by the interests of the emperor's service. The duke, robbed of his minister, and consious of his own treacherous conduct, did not venture to refuse ; especially since the two strongest, Milan and Cremona, were left him. But these were passed over in silence only so long as the others were not taken possession of: as soon as that was the case, Pescara demanded the surrender of the citadels of Cremona and Milan. The duke made representations. Pescara replied, that he knew from the letters of Domenico Sauli, the duke's plenipotentiary in Rome, that his excel- lency had offered the aid of his person and his state * Letter of Leiva in Hormayr, 29, 30. Chai>. I. PESCARA. 371) ill the liberation of Italy from tlie imperial troops ; and insisted that at least the commanders of the castles should take an oath of fidelity to the emperor.* As Sforza refused to yield to these demands, Pescara had no hesitation in employing force. He took possession of Cremona, and advanced to besiege the citadel of Milan, which emplo3^ed three thousand Germans. f He immedi- ately impeached the duke of felony. He announced to the emperor, that God and the world, and the dictates of common sense, required him to keep Milan in his own hands. The emperor declared his resolution of letting the prosecution take its course, and abiding by the sentence of the judges ; though indeed of the nature of this there could be no doubt. t Such Avas the result of this first attempt of the Italians to shake off the yoke of foreign armies. As the principal element of their calculation was the treason of Pescara, their enterprise was ren- dered abortive by the fidelity Avith which he adhered to the emperor. Charles could now reasonably entertain the project of keeping Milan in his own hands. But the matter was not yet decided. The uni- versal hatred entertained for the imperial troops * Pescara to Ferdinand, 4tli Nov. Buclioltz, iii. 14. f Custode. Continuation of Varri from the national chro- niclers, p. 29. I Sandoval, i. 668., asserts that he saw the instruments of infeudation which were already drawn up for Bourbon ; nay, that he had actually been invested with the fief with all due forms. 380 CONDUCT OF THE EMPEROR. Book IV. (who lived at the charge of the inhabitants) all over Lombardy, and the obstinacy with which the citadel of Milan defended itself, afforded a hope that what had not been accomplished by cunning might still be effected by force. Another favour- able circumstance was, that at this juncture the general, who had always inspired the most fear, and now with good reason the bitterest hate — Pescara — died. Above all, the great questions at issue between the emperor and the King of France were treated in a manner that justified the most confident anticipations of fresh commotions throughout Europe. It was clear, that the emperor, though he did not enter into the English plans, overrated the advantages which might accrue to him from the king's captivity. I shall not enlarge on his want of magnanimity ; — though I hold it to be perfectly true, that the power of freely and cordially forgiv- ing his enemies was not in his nature ; but it may also be said that his conduct arose from a defect of judgment. He had conquered Milan and Genoa, and he, probably, thought that he might take ad- vantage of the king's captivity to induce him to renounce his Italian claims. He had gained no- thing whatever from France itself; his attack on that Idngdom having been completely repulsed. He nevertheless demanded, obstinately and pe- remptorily, the cession of Burgundy. Neither the illness into which Francis fell from vexation and anxiety, nor the negotiations of his sister, who had travelled to Spain on purpose to obtain her Chap. I. TEACE OF MADRID. 881 brother's liberation, nor the arguments of his o-svii councillors, made the shghtest impression on Charles.* He would hear of no indemnity; he would have back the heritage of his fathers, whence he derived the name and the arms he bore. But his victory was far from being complete enough for this. The principle of unity and nationality which daily became more and more powerful in France, had remained unshaken and unharmed, even by the defection of the constable ; it was Ijut slightly affected by the disasters in Italy. Ardently as the king's mother desired her son's return, she declared that it were better that he should remain in prison for ever, than that the kingdom should be dismembered. On the other hand, purer conceptions of mo- rality and dignity would have taught the king rather to endure his imprisonment than to assent to conditions which he was predetermined not to adhere to. But this would have been asking too much of him : he felt his situation insupportable, and was ready to purchase freedom at any price. At length, on the 14th of January, he signed the conditions submitted to him by the emperor. He promised to renounce all his claims on Italy, on the suzerainty of Flanders and Artois, and his alliances with the enemies of the emperor in Ger- * We see from the Refutatio Apologia^ p. 877., that the em- peror was angiy because the Duchess of Alcii(;oii, with a view to the machinations going on in Italy, woukl not agree to all that the king had before pledged himself to ; chiefly because she wished to assist him in making his escape. 382 CONDUCT or FEANCIS I. Book W. many, Wiirtemberg, and Gueldres ; he consented to give up Burgundy. He did not reject the supposi- tion that these concessions were to put an end for ever to all disputes, and contracted himself in marriage with the emperor's sister, the widowed Queen of Por- tugal : — but in the same day — the same hour — nay, one moment before - - he had secretly signed a protest, in which he declared that he accepted the treaty only under the pressure of compulsion ; that all the stipulations contained in it were, and would remain, null and void ; and that he intended never- theless to maintain all the rights appertaining to his crown.* His ideas of religion did not prevent him from takiiiof an oath at the solemn celebration of the mass, and with his hand on the Gospels, never to break the treaty all the days of his life. He now let the papal legate know that he did not mean to observe the treaty f, while he himself made overtures towards an alliance with the Italian powers : at the same time, he went to Illescas to celebrate his betrothal with the emperor's sister, which rested on the presumption that the treaty would be executed. The emperor and the king now saw each other more frequently, rode out together, were carried in the same litter, and called each other brother. They took leave near Illescas, beneath a crucifix which stands at the point where the roads to * Treaty and protest in Du Mont, iv. 1. 399. 412. f Giberti to the Bishop of Bajusa, Lettere di Principi, ii. p. 31.b. CiiAr 1. CONDUCT OF FRANCIS I. 383 Madrid and Toledo divide. " Brother," said the emperor, " think on what we have promised each other." The king repUed, " I could repeat the articles, without missing a word." " Tell me the truth," said Charles, " are you minded to keep them ?" " Nothing in my kingdom shall hinder me from doing so," replied iTuncis. The emperor then said, " One thing, I pray you ; if you mean to deceive me in any thing, let it not concern my sister, your bride ; for she," added he, " would not be able to revenge herself"* We see the lowering tempest which slumbered behind this appearance of confidence. Immediately after, in a bark on the Bidassoa, Francis was exchanged for his two sons, the daupliin and the future king Henry II., who were to be left as hostages for the performance of his engagements. " Sire," said Lannoy, " your highness is now free ; fulfil now what you have promised." " All will be fulfilled," said the king, and sprang into the French boat. He was now once more among his own people, and saw himself received with all the marks of respect of which he had so long been deprived : he felt completely himself again. Mounting, as soon as he touched land, a Turkish horse that stood ready caparisoned, he exclaimed, "I am the king, the king ! " and galloped off.f This was the moment for Avhich the Italians had been waiting. When the terms of the peace of Madrid were re- * Narrative in Sandoval, i. 717. f Report in Sandoval, i. 738. o84 LIGUE OF COGNAC. Book IV. ported to the pope, he declared that he approved them, provided the king did not observe them : the only difference would then be, that the emperor would have the king's sons in his custody, instead of the king, which would avail him little.* He now ab- solved the king from his oathf; he caused it to be represented to him in common with the Venetians, what an excellent army was already in the field ; that it would not be very difficult to extort better terms ; that if he was but resolute, and would take up arms for the relief of his sons and the deliverance of Italy, the Italians too would show themselves men, and would not yield themselves up to the will of the emperor. For a moment the Idng paused : he hesitated to enter into this alliance. He convoked the notables of Burgundy ; and resting on their declar- ation, that the King of France, in virtue of the ancient compacts of the province with the crown, had no right whatever to cede it J, he repeated to the emperor his former proposal of giving an in- demnity for it in money. He probably thought the ferment in Italy would induce Charles to accept this offer. § * The Bishop of Worcester to Wolsey, 12th Jan. 7th Feb. Raumer, i. 247. ■\ Sandoval, i. 746. " Embio el papa al rey de Francia re- laxacion del juramento que avia hecho : " — There is in Eainaldus a similar release from an oath, dated 3d July, 1 526. xx. 460. X The emperor did not much regard this declai^ation : Apologise dissuasoriae liefutatio, p. 884. " Satis plane constat, eos duntaxat vocatos quos rex ipse antea stipendiarios et juratos habebat." § Official information in the Oratio ad Proceres Germanias in Chai>. t. ligue of cognac. 385 Let us pause to examine the situation of the emperor. At his court and among his most faith- ful servants the treaty had experienced great op- position, not on account of the exorbitance of its demands, but of the slender security afforded for its observance ; they said the conditions were very good as child's play, but nothing more : neverthe- less, suppressing a secret anxiety which he too felt, he had concluded it : — he had already appointed a governor of Burgundy who was on the way thither; his sister waited in Vittoria for the ex- ecution of the treaty in order to enter France as queen ; — and now he received this proposal, — the same he had before rejected. He saw that Francis thought he should compel him by the fear of hos- tilities in Italy : the consciousness that he had not conducted the affair well, the vexation at being deceived, the wounded feeling of knightly honour, the pride of power — all arose at once within him. He answered the king, that if he was prevented from fulfilling the conditions of his freedom, he had better return to his capti\T.ty, where a fresh agreement might then be made.* In earlier ages this would have been done ; but those times were past. The king. did not hesitate to conclude his treaty with the Italian states on the 22d May, 152G, at Cognac. The terms proposed conventu Eatisbon 1527, in Goldast. Polit. i. p. 902. " Condi- tionem ultro sibi delatam tantisper accipere sustinuit, dum lega- tis rursus missis ultimum experiretur." * Charles relates this himself in the before quoted Refu- tation. VOL. II. C C 386 LIGUE or COGNAC. Book IV. were, that the emperor should be required to give up the French princes for a ransom, cede Milan to Francesco Sforza, and restore the States of Italy in general to the condition in which they were before the breaking out of hostilities ; further, on his pro- gress to his coronation he was to be escorted by no more troops than the pope and Venice thought fit to permit : they thought to treat him as they had formerly treated Maximilian. They determined to lay these conditions before him as soon as they had equipped a powerful array, and if he refused to accept them, which did not admit of a doubt, to drive him out of Naples, the subsequent disposal of which the pope reserved to himself.* It was a combination of the whole of Western Europe to counteract the consequences of the battle of Pavia ; to check the preponderance, the views and the fortune of the house of Burgundy. These objects had the concurrence of England. The king and the cardinal exhorted Francis not to fulfil eno:ao;ements which would make him the servant of Spain. "j" They did every thing in their power to promote the LigueJ, though Henry VIII did not deem it expedient to become a member of it. * Traite de confederation, appelle la -Sainte Ligue, in Dumont, iv. i. 451. f Extract from Cheney's Instructions, in Fiddes, 380. I " That the leegge shold be, bj all meanys possibyll, sett forwardys." Clerk to Wolsey, 31st May, St. P., p. 164. In a paper of the 9th Oct. (p. 180.), Wolsey ascribes the league especially to the king. " Your Highness, by whois counsaile this liege had been begon." CuAP. I. ligup: of cognac. 387 At tlie court of Komc, the ideas which had been cherished a year before, now revived with redoubled strength. There was no longer a question of a struggle for the sovereignty of Italy between the two princes. Francis demanded no more than Asti and the feudal superiority of Genoa ; and hopes were really entertained that Italy would be restored to the state in which she was in 1494. The Venetians showed an enthusiasm not inferior to that displayed at Rome : their ambassador, Francesco Foscari, boasts that it was he who had held the pope fast to his resolutions; the Republic promised to do wonders. The Florentines were completely at the pope's dis- posal, and it was reported from Piedmont that the duke wished to emancipate himself from the imj)erial domination. The papal party thought themselves secure of the assistance of the French, as the king had so strong a personal interest in the war ; and they reckoned with greater certainty than ever on the Swiss, whose diets would be subject to the combined influence of the courts of France and of Rome ; the King of England, it was hoped, would accept the protectorate of the alliance, which was offered him, or at least consent to advance money. Could the imperial army possibly withstand so many united forces ? Francesco Sforza still held out in the castle of Milan ; the people were ripe for insurrection ; they thought they could destroy the flower of the imperial troops on the spot.* The * Giberti to Don Michele de Silva, 1 st July. Lett, di Pi-inc, i. 230. See Provisioni per la guerra che disegno Pp. Clemente VII. contra I'imperatore. Inform. Politt. torn. xii. no. 46. It \ c c 2 388 LIGUE OE COGNAC. Book IV. letters of the Datarius Giberti, who at length saw himself in the position he had always desired, breathe all the determination which a grand and noble enterprize inspires. In June, 1526, the empe- ror proposed the mildest and most moderate con- ditions to the pope. Clement YIL, having already joined the Ligue, rejected them "without hesi- tation.* Open war once more broke out between the two greatest powers of Europe. But, in the situation of things and the stage of civilization which now prevailed, it became evident that the emperor had other weapons within his grasp than had ever been wielded by his predecessors. These he determined to employ. appears from this that there was an intention of acting at the same time against Milan, Genoa, Naples, and Sienna, where the imperialist party prevailed ; — in Sienna with the aid of the exiled party ; in Naples with the aid of the Orsini ; they were determined to suffer no assemblage of Spaniards in the towns, and no correspondence with Spain. They were to accept the offer of the Duke of Savoy, so that the cause might appear to be that of the whole of Italy. * Sanga to Sambara, 19th June. Ibid., 210. 38i) CHAPTER II. DIET OF SPIRE, A.D. 1526. The events of Italy necessarily reacted with no inconsiderable force on Germany. The attack on the emperor was an attack on the rights of the empire ; and Charles, with great dexterity and tact, pointed the public attention to the fact that no mention was made of the empire in the treaty of Cognac ; it seemed to be regarded indeed as already dispossessed of all its rights. In all former years, it was its German forces which had decided its conquests in Italy. In the present war, more perilous than any preceding, it was to them it must look for efficient support. It could not be a matter of indifference to the nation whether the empire should have any significance in Italy, or none. Weighty, however, as this consideration was, it was in truth the less important side of the matter. The mind and heart of the nation was incom- parably more actively engaged in the spiritual in- terests,— in the great questions which embraced the whole moral and intellectual futurity of the world. We know how mighty an influence political affairs had from the first exercised on the emperor's conduct with regard to these questions : the edict of Worms, the revocation of the summons for the c c 3 390 DUKE HENRY IN SPAIN. Book IV. assembly at Spire, had been the fruits of his al- liance with the pope : to please him, he had as- sumed an air of strict adherence to the ancient church ; it remained to be seen whether he would maintain it. In the spring of 1526, there was still every appearance that he would not depart from it a hair's breadth. Henry of Brunswick, who had just then arrived in Spain, obtained from the emperor declarations which sounded as decided as ever. In fact he had arrived in a moment the most favourable that could be conceived for the proposal he had to make in his own name and the names of his friends. The peace of Madrid was concluded ; and the court was persuaded that the great dispute ^vith France was thus settled for ever.* Hence the views of the government were rather directed towards Germany. If we examine this peace more nearly, we shall find that it involved not only the adjust- ment of personal and political disputes, but also an agreement upon a common enterprise against the Turks, and " against heretics who have severed themselves from the bosom of the holy church;" the two contracting princes already entreat the pope to co-operate with them by ecclesiastical conces- sions.f It was left to the good pleasure of the * " Nacli dem langen Triibsal und Krieg," writes Heinricli von Nassau from the Spanish court to his brother in Dillenburg, " hat uns Gott den heiligen Frieden wiedergegeben." — "After the long misery and war, God has again given us blessed peace." Toledo, 22d Jan. : Arnoldi, p. 203. f Pour dresser tous les moyens convenables pour les dites Chap. ir. IMPERIAL ADMONITION. 391 emperor with which of these undertakings to begin, and when to set about them. It was Francis's o^vn voluntary offer, that if the emperor would make war either upon the infidels or the Lutherans, he would bear half the cost and accompany the army in person.* In the days in which people still believed in the execution of this treaty, — when the king returned to his kingdom, Leonora prepared to follow him, and Orange to take possession of Burgundy, — that, in the midst of all the magnificent solemnities of the church with which the marriage of the emperor with a princess of Portugal Avas celebrated at Seville, the proposals of Duke Henry were brought under discussion in that splendid and stately court. They were extremely welcome, and he received the most encouraging answer. On the 23d of March, 1526f, the emperor issued an admonition to certain emprises et expeditions tant centre les dits Turcs et infideles que centre les dits heretiques alienes du greme de la sainte eglise. Art. 26. * Apologife Dissuasoriaj Refutatio, in Goldast. Pol. Imp. 884. " Quod inquit (autor apologias), quocumque proficisceretur Ctesar, illuc etiam maxima cum militum manu regi eundum erat," — " on the part of the French this was one motive for refusing to carry out the treaty," — " hie profecto se proprio gladio percutit, quum potissime rex ipse id obtulerit, ut si Cresari adversus hostes fidei eundum esset aut in Lutheranos movendum, is dimidium impensaj sustineret, et si Cossari gratum esset, cum eo per- sonaliter adesset, quam oblationem Caesar pro Christianas re- ligionis augmento respuendam non censuit." f The exchange of Francis I. took place on the 16th March. The first letters must have arrived about the 23d : in these Francis still promised to hold to the treaty. Even in Cognac, c c 4 392 IMPERIAL ADMONITION. Book IV. princes and lords of the empire, to remain steadfast in the old faith, and to use their influence with their neighbours, that the heretical doctrines which were the cause of all the disturbances might be wholly eradicated. In this document he commends the anti-Lutheran alliance which had been concluded between Duke Henry, Duke George, Elector Albert, and some other princes. He announces his inten- tion of shortly going to Rome ; after which he would resort to every measure for the radical extir- pation of heresy. Admonitions of this sort were addressed to the Counts of Nassau and Konigstein, to the Bishop of Strasburg, and Duke Erich of Calenberg. The two former were to communicate with the counts on the Rhine, in the Westerwald, and the Netherlands ; the bishop with the princes of Upper, and the duke with those of Lower Germany.* The emperor, as we perceive, entirely shared the ideas of the orthodox party in Germany, which indeed was observed to display unwonted spirit and boldness from the time of Duke Henry's arrival. Duke George was reported to say that if he liked he could be elector of Saxony. f His chancellor one day in Torgau expressed himself to the eff*ect, that Francis I. said to the viceroy, Lannoy, that the protest of the Burgundians was of no importance. Eefutatio Apologia?. * In the Weim. Arch. See Rommell, Urkundenbuch, p. 13. f See Rommel, Ind. p. 22. From Duke George's answer, it appears that he had only said that the councillors could be electors of Saxony if they willed it, i. e. they could administer the aiFairs of the electorate. It appears as if he merely sought to explain away what he had said. Chap. IT. TREATY OF GOTH A. 393 the Lutlieran affair would not last long ; people had better take care what they were about. This however necessarily obliged the opposite party to rally all their forces, towards Mdiich, indeed, they had already taken some steps. The alliance which had been talked of at the end of the former year was now really brought to bear. It is commonly called the league of Torgau, but it was only ratified on the side of Saxony in Torgau ; it was concluded about the end of Fe- bruary 1526 at Gotha. Here, in pursuance of the arrangement made by their several envoys at Augsburg, the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hessen met, and agreed to stand by each other with all their might, in case they were attacked on account of the word of God, or the removal of abuses. According to the first draft, the union was to subsist only " until a Christian and equitable adjustment should be effected at the next diet of the empire." It seems, however, that this clause was afterwards thought too restrictive, and it was omitted. It was also specified that they would afibrd each other the needful help " at their own cost and damage." As the reigning princes treated in person, no pro- tocol was taken of their conferences ; but thus much is clear, — that in the course of their delibera- tions the ties between them were gradually drawn closer.* But the alliance of two princes, although among * The documents in the Weim, Arch. The ratification at Torgau took phice on the 4th March. See Hortleder, i, viii. 1. 394 TREATY OF GOTHA. Book IV. the most powerful in the empire, could effect little : they immediately determined, according to their former intentions, to try to induce other states of the empire to join them. Each of them accord- ingly began with his near friends and old allies ; Pliilip, with those of the Oberland, Elector John, with the Low Germans. Their success was very unequal. In the Ober- land, public opinion was not yet favourable to a positive league. The Niirnbergers had shown themselves well disposed at the last diet, but in Gotha they declared, " they would respectfully await the time of his Imperial Majesty and the next diet." They feared the emperor might con- ceive displeasure against them and abandon them to their enemies. The Landgrave then applied to Frankfurt, but the council declined the proposal; and an alhance with the people, who, the Land- grave was assured, would find means to force the council to do as they would have it, would have been a dangerous precedent. The Elector of Treves was out of the question ; he abandoned, at this very moment, the place in the opposition which he had hitherto held, and accepted a pension of 6000 gulden from the emperor and his brother.* It was impossible to bring the Elector Palatine to a resolution : at a fresh interview with the Land- grave, he declared, indeed, that he would venture person and property in the cause, but he did not accept the proffered alliance ; he only held out * Excerpt of the treaty in Bucholtz, ix. 5. Cii.vr. IT. MEETING AT MAGDEBURG. 395 the hope that he would jom it at the diet; he also raised some objections to the draft of the treaty.* On the other hand, the negotiations of the Elector of Saxony in Lower Germany were emi- nently successful. There were a number of princes who had always been attached to the house of Saxony, some of wliom were nearly akin to it. After some preliminary negotiations, Duke Ernest of Liineburg', Philip of Grubenhagen, Henry of Mecklenburg, Prince Wolf of Anhalt, and Count Albert of Mansfeld, repaired, on the invitation of the elector, to Magdeburg, f On the appointed day, 9th June, Elector John with his son and his cousin also arrived at Liineburg. All were alarmed at the admonition issued by the emperor from Seville, which had only now come to their know- ledge. On the 10th of June the proceedings were opened ; Electoral Saxony spoke first : he reminded the assembled princes of the danger which threat- ened them from the alliance formed at Mainz, and from the document in question ; and of the necessity * "Da wolle man, sagte er, die Notel weiter stellen." — "It was intended, he said, to extend the terms." Letter of the Landgrave to the Elector, Wednesday after Palm Sunday, 28th I^Iarch. W. A. I It runs thus : " In Meinung und in Sachen des gottlichen Wortes, damit, so der Reichstag Fortgang gewonne, die Sache in christlichen Bedenken zuvor berathschlagt vviire." " In the opi- nion and cause of the Word of God, so that as the diet proceeded, the affair should first be subjected to Chx-istian deliberation." In- struction for Caspar v. Minkwitz, which was sent to George of Brandenburg, who, howevex*, did not appeal-. W. A. 396 MEETING AT MAGDEBURG. Book IV. of giving in an unanimous declaration at the next diet. The compact entered into by Saxony and Hes&en was then laid before them, together with the proposal to join it. They were all willing : on the 12th of June they signed the treaty, as it had been drawn up at Gotha and ratified at Torgau, and appended their several seals to it.* It is especially remarkable that the princes did not disdain to receive into their alliance a city, which, it is true, enjoyed great franchises, but had by no means the rank or character of an imme- diate imperial city — Magdeburg, where their meet- ing was held, f It was important to them as a central point for all the States of Lower Germany ; * Handlung uf den Tag zu Magdeburg. The Proceedings at the Diet at Magdeburg, — properly, instructions for the pro- ceedings at this meeting. " Ferner ist bedacht, das Bundniss so uns. gn. Herr mit dem Landgrafen zu Gotlia aufgericht, den Fiirsten freundlich und vertraulicli zu zeigen, und wo I. F. Gn. auch darein willigen und schliessen wollten, als u. gn. Hr. sich genzlichen versehen auch frundlich bitten thiite, sollt alsdann solch Bundniss durch cine Beschreibung immaassen mit u. gn^'«i Herrn vorgemeldt (dem Landgrafen) auch aufgericht und voll- zogen werden." " Further it is intended to show in friend- ship and confidence to the princes, the treaty Avhich our gracious lord has made with the landgrave at Gotha ; and should the princes agree and be willing to enter into it, as our gracious lord fully expected and cordially requested, then should this treaty be concluded and ratified, by a written contract to that intent with our gracious lord aforementioned (the landgrave)." + " At your humble seeking, prayer, and request," says the elector, " we have included the burghermaster, councillors, and guildmasters of the old city of Magdeburg in this Christian agreement, because we know that by God's grace they are well inclined to the godly word." Chap.il diet of sriRE, 152G. 397 and moreover it was desirable for tliem that it should be able to maintain itself against the arch- bishop without their aid. Such was . the first formation of a compact evangelical party ; in presence of the imminent danger which threatened them from the union of the emperor mth their antagonists, tliey united to defend the truth they acknowledged, and above all, to prevent the passing of any hostile resolution at the ensuing diet. It was an extension of the old Saxon alliance from religious motives. Such were the preparations made on either side for a decisive struggle, when, in the summer of 1526, the diet was convoked at Spire. The Pro- position was laid before the diet on the 25tli of June, and brought the affairs of the church im- mediately under discussion,* It was couched in terms which might be satisfactory to both parties. The States were herein exhorted to consult as to ways and means, " whereby Christian faith and well-established good Christian practice and order might be maintained until the meeting of a free council." Measures were proposed for insuring obedience to the imperial edicts and the decrees which were now about to be passed. It is remark- able how gently the edict of Worms is alluded to in this last passage, f The deliberations began in the Colleges of the Princes, and in them too the first resolutions were * According to the report of Esslingcn of the 1st of April, sign- ed, " Ferdinandus Arclii. Aust. C. in Imp. Locut." F. A. vol. xli. f Extract in Neudecker's Actenstiicken, p. 21. 398 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV. indifferent. It was laid down as a principle that, in affairs of faith, no decision should be come to, and that the old established good customs should be observed ; — a principle which each party might in- terpret in its o^vn sense. But it was different when they came to speak of the abuses which must be reformed. The clergy required that this matter should be referred to a council ; it could not, they said, be within the competence of a diet to separate the good from the evil. On the . other hand, the laity did not choose to be again put off: they de- clared that the common people were so far in- structed that they would no longer suffer themselves to be led with tlie same simple credulity as here- tofore. They had on their side the cogency of circumstances, the reasonableness of their purpose, and even the words of the Proposition — that good customs should be maintained and evil ones severed from them and rejected. In spite of the vehement resistance made by the clergy, who appeared in great numbers, it was at length resolved to discuss the reformation of abuses, and to enforce universal obe- dience to whatever might be agreed on. The clergy had the consolation of thinking that they would have their share of influence in determining what the abuses were which it was desirable to remove.* * The judgment in the Frankf. Acten, voL xlii. Otto von Pack gives to Duke George of Saxony an account of the proceedings, Vis. Mar. 2d July. (Dresden Arch.) " 1st daruf gestanden, dass der einig Artikel den Reichstag solt zutrennt haben, wenn dy Geystlichen nicht bewilligt das sy von den Missbrauchen wollten handeln lassen." " It is agreed, that the only ciiTum- Chap. II. DIET OF SriRE, 152G. 399 But it instantly became evident that they were at a great disadvantage even here. The cities to which the resolution of the princes was communicated on the 30tli of June, received it with joy; but the interpretation which they in- stantly affixed to . it was quite unequivocal. In their answer they declared that, by good customs no other could be understood but such as were not contrary to faith in Christ. But it was notorious to all how many directly opposed to this, had, to the universal corruption, crept into the church. It was a great joy to them to learn that these were to be abolished.* On the 4th of July, when the bishops took their seats in the council of princes, they opposed the reception of this declaration : they maintained that the disturbed state of the people arose not from the alleged abuses, but from seditious writings and discourses ; in the heat of debate, one of them let fall the expression, that it would be better if all the booAS that were printed were burned every eighth year. Such exaggeration and violence could of course injure only themselves ; they were reproached with wishing to stifle all science, art, and reason. The answer of the cities was accepted as it stood. Upon this the whole diet of the empire was now broken up into various commissions, for the re- stance which slioulcl have powei* to dissolve the diet should be, the clergy not consenting to any arrangement concerning the abuses of the church." * The answer of the cities, printed by Kapp and "Walch, xvi. 246. 400 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV. form of spiritual abuses ; — one of electors, one of princes, and one of cities — in the same manner as had been formerly adopted at Worms, for the discussion of the charges against the papal see. The sentiment of dislike and distrust of the clergy which reigned in the nation became also the prevailing one in the diet. " The clergy," says the Frankfurt envoy, " seek nothing but their o^vn advantage, and neglect the public good." * We find the same complaints in the letters of the envoy of Ducal Saxony, notwithstanding the strict Ca- tholicism of his master. " The greater part of the clergy," he says, " have only their own aggrandise- ment in their eye ; they cannot deny the mischief created by the abuses that have crept into the church, yet they will eradicate none. There is more solicitude for the true interests of Christianity to be discerned among the laity than among the clergy." j- * Hammann von Holzliusen, 1st ed. : "Die Geistlicheii bear- beiten sicli heftiglicb um iren eignen und vergessen den gemeinen Nutzen." — "The clergy exert themselves vehemently for their own, and forget the common interests." f Otto von Pack. " 1st am Tage, wenn die Geystlichen ge- meyne Christenheit also meinten wy dy Laien, so blib Gottes Ehr, alle gute christliche Ordnung, und bliben darzu sye selbst mit aller irer Hab Ehr und Gut, denn ich hab bisher keyn Leyen vermerkt der da wolt ein Buchstaben von den guten Kirchenordnungen abthun adder der Geystlichen Giiter um einen Pfennig schmiilern. Nicht weiss ich was der Churfurst von Sachsen und Hessen bringen werden." " It is evident that if the clergy meant the same common Christianity as the laity, the honour of God and good Chi-istian ordei', as well as they themselves with all their wealth, honour and property, would Chap.il diet, of spire, 1526. 401 It may be easily imagined how greatly this disposition of the puljlic mind was heightened by the arrival of the allied princes of the evangelical party. The Elector of Saxony appeared with the state befitting the most puissant prince of the empire. He rode in at the head of a numerous retinue of horsemen : seven hundred persons lived daily at his charge, and his followers boast how well they fared in his service. He was good humoured and magnificent. One day he gave a banquet, at which twenty-six princes dined with him ; they were seated at four tables, their nobles and councillors at separate ones ; some went away early, others stayed till ten o'clock, and played high. The Land- grave, on the other hand, with his earnest and learned zeal, made a great impression : he shoAved himself more deeply versed in the Scriptures than any of the bishops. * Both these princes had ad- monished their people, that, since they had taken a name after the Gospel, they should abstain from all levities. They had preaching in their houses every other day, which, on Sundays and holy days, thou- sands resorted to hear. The armorial bearings over their doors were encircled with the words, " Verbum Dei manet in neternum." Such were the influences under which the reports remain unhurt ; for I have as yet seen no layman wlio wished to take away an iota from the good discipline of the Church, or to diminish its possessions by one penny. I know not what the Elector of Saxony and Hessen will bring about." * Annales Spalatini in Mencken, 659. VOL. II. D D 402 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV. of the committees of the diet were made. All the old complaints and charges against the encroach- ments of Rome were revived ; among others, that it exacted far too much subservience from the bishops, since they were also councillors of the empire ; against commendams and annates, the monstrosity of the mendicant orders, &c. It was thought that never had language so free been di- rected against the pope and the bishops. The cities pressed especially for a better provision for the parishes out of the funds of the church, and the right of every civil government to appoint priests to officiate in them ; they demanded that the clergy should be subject to the civil burdens and tribunals. * But by far the most remarkable thing was the report which issued from the committee of the princes, consisting of the bishops of Wiirzburg, Strasburg, Freisingen, and of George Truchsess for the spiritual ; and of Hessen, the Palatinate, Baden, and the Count of Solms for the temporal bench, f I have not been able to discover which of them had the predominant influence, whether the well-loiown moderation of the Bishop of Frei- singen, or the ardent earnestness of the young landgrave, turned the scale ; be that as it may, in the discussions of this committee, the original * Memorial of the free and imperial cities against the clergy, in Holzhusen's handwriting in the Frankf. A., vol. xlii. f Report of the Hessian delegate, Schrauttenbach, Thursday after St. Udalric (5th July), in the acts of the diet, "Weimar Archives. They ai*e in other respects very confused, and afford but little information for this year. Chap.il diet of spire, 1526. 403 idea of erecting one norm or standarcl equally binding on both parties was kept steadily in view ; and was, in fact, realised in a resolution passed to that effect. There was as yet, spite of all the struggles between the ruling powers, no actual division in the nation itself. The different races of Germany stood on nearly the same stage of civil- isation : all without exception — as we had lately occasion to observe of Tyrol — whether in the north or the south, had the same tendency to reform, though their ideas respecting the means by which it was to be effected might differ. But since these were not yet fixed, they might still be moulded into more than one form. It mifrht be imagined that a well-conceived endeavour to establisli a good understanding throughout the nation might yet perhaps destroy those elements of discord, and reconcile those wide divergences of opinions, which lay in the league of Regensburg and its consequences. In such a spirit of conciliation were these propositions conceived. They particu- larly insisted on the expediency of permitting the marriage of the clergy, and granting the cup to the laity. It was proposed to leave every man free to receive the Holy Sacrament in one kind or in both ; and it was represented to the emperor that it were better for the priesthood to contract matrimony than to live with women of ill fame.* The committee proposed that the severity * " Zuzulassen, dass die Empfaliung des hoclnvurdigen Sacraments unter einer oder beidei'lei Gestalten cines Jedcn Gewissen und freiem Willen heiragesetzt wurde, — dass mit- » D 2 404 DIET OF SPIKE, 1526. Book IV. of fasts and confession should be mitigated, private masses abolished, and at the ceremonies of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the Latin and German languages be used jointly ; that the other sacra- ments should not, indeed, be discontinued, but be administered gratuitously. In regard to preaching, the formula of 1523 was repeated; — that God's word should be preached according to right and sound understanding, and according to the inter- pretation of the expositors acknowledged by the Christian church ; but with an addition which evinced a still stronger inclination to reform and to the sentiments of Luther ; viz. that Scripture must always be explained by Scripture.* Such were the propositions which issued from a commission composed of an equal number of spi- ritual and temporal members. We clearly perceive that if the Council of Regency formerly showed itself favourably inclined to reform, this was not the effect of caprice, nor even of choice : the ne- cessity of this step arose out of the situation of things, and the strength of that universal con- viction from whose influence no man can withdraw himself. lerzeit gegen den elielichen Priestern von keyner Uberkeyt geistlichsoder weltlichs Standes etwas streflichs werd fiirgenom- men.'' — "To concede, that tlie reception of the most venerable Sacrament under one or both kinds should be allowed to every one according to his conscience and free will, — that mean- while no punishment should be inflicted on married priests, either by the ecclesiastical or temporal authorities." * Judgment of the eight commissioners in the Dresden Archives. CiiAP. II. DIET OF SPIRE, 152G. 405 After so many abortive attempts and dangerous agitations, the nation once more showed the possi- bility of preserving its unity on the most important concern that can occupy the mind of man. On the 1st of August, a committee chosen from all the States was appointed to submit this project to final discussion — a discussion that promised to be of the greatest interest. There is no doubt that the project would have experienced much opposition, since the evangelical party protested against retaining the four sacraments, about which nothing is to be found in Scripture * ; nor were the catholics satisfied. Duke Geor^-e remarked that the worst abuses were yet untouched ; the origin of all the evil lay in the bad manner in which the prelates found entrance to the church — by the right door or the wrong — by the help of powerful kindred : in short, the most vehement debates would have taken place f ; but there is no ground for doubting that there would have been a decided majority, and that it would have passed definitive resolutions, binding on the whole empire. It was a crisis like that which had occurred two years before, when universal preparation was made for a national assembly. The difficulties were now greater, because on both sides independent forms of thought and culture had begun to take * Treatise in Walcb, xvi. 258. A reply to the principles laid down by the eight commissioners, partly agreeing with, and partly combating, them. f Letter of Duke George in the acts of the imperial diet, Dresden Archives. s D 3 406 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV. root ; but it was the more important to oppose some check to their growth, and it was yet possible to do so. Again, however, did that power intervene which had forbidden the national assembly, and had so often thwarted the resolutions of the collective empire. The emperor seemed determined to adhere inflexibly to his old policy. At the same time that he published the catholic admonition, which we have already mentioned, at Seville, he issued instructions to his commissioners, commanding them to assent to no resolution of the diet that might run counter to the established doc- trine or practice of the church, and again urged the execution of the edict of Worms.* This affair is involved in some obscurity. The instructions must have arrived long before, for a considerable time had elapsed since Duke Henry's return ; and it is not easy to see how the connnissioners could, neverthe- less, feel themselves authorised at first to j^i'oduce others ; — unless we suppose that they did so in pursuance of a hint subsequently given to the archduke. Be this as it may, it was not till this ad- vanced stage of the business that the instructions in question were produced, at the instigation, as it was asserted in Spire, of certain powerful ec- clesiastics, and not without corruption and intrigue ('■^Finanz und Hinteiiisf^) : they created an extraor- dinary sensation. The great committee preserved its firmness and composure: it declared that it would adopt such a course as it could answer to * Commission of the 23dMai'cliin the Fr. A. vol. xlii. p. 32. CuAP. II. DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. 407 the world ; but it seemed impossible to effect any thing, since every new ordinance they might frame would be met by the clear, express words of the emperor. There was a general persuasion that nothing more whatever was to be accomplished. Many declared they would not stay a moment longer : the evan- gelical party feared that recourse would be had to force. For this cause mainly, the cities now inclined to the union with Saxony and Hessen, in order to have a support and defence in case violence should be resorted to against them.* Nilrnberg, Strasburg, Augsburg and Ulm, now gave their assent to the proposal of the princes. The complication was most singular. Whilst in Italy the pope was employing every means of attack on the emperor, and stirring up an European war against him, the imperial power was once more rendered subservient to the maintenance of the authority of the papal see in Germany. But such a relation was too wide a departure from the ordinary nature and course of human affairs to endure long. In Germany people had already ceased to believe in the sincerity of the opinions expressed in the instructions. Though their attention was chiefly engrossed by internal affairs, they knew of the * Then would "soldi Ansuclien unci Fulgung zu grossem Nutz gereichen" — " such applications and following be of great use." Letter of Holzhusen, 21st August. The other cities had their answer by tlic 25th August. They waited to see what the deputies would accomplish before they came to a final decision. 408 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV treaty of Cognac, and of the misunderstandings be- tween the pope and the emperor. The cities first remarked how very remote was the date of the in- structions. At that time, indeed, the emperor and pope were on a good understanding, but now the pope's troops were in the field against the emperor. They were told that every improvement must be reserved for the decision of a general council ; but how, under the present circumstances, was it pos- sible to expect one ? Were the emperor present, he would see that they could not observe his edict, if they would. It was rumoured that a caution had been sent to the Lady Margaret in the Netherlands, to handle all matters connected with the evangelical religion gently. In the persuasion that they were acting in accordance with the emperor's real sentiments, the cities therefore proposed to send a deputation which should represent to him the state of affairs, and pray him, either to grant a national council, or at least to recall the order that the edict of Worms should be executed. This proposal found a ready hearing in the great committee, in which an anti-eccle- siastical majority had instantly declared itself. During the discussion of the grievances of the common people, the abuses of the clergy had, in spite of their opposition, been expressly designated as the chief cause of the late insurrection. People now called to mind that the imperial edict had been ac- cepted, only in so far as it should be found possible to execute it ; — but it was found utterly impossible. Nobody was forthcoming who had executed it, nay, whose conscience would allow him to execute it, OiiAP. II. DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. 409 according to the letter.* And how were they to furnish succours against the Turks, if they saw danger impending over them at home? The great committee assented to the proposition of sending a deputation to Spain ; and inmiediately drew up instructions for it, wherein it ascribed the rehgious divisions of the country more es- * A rough draft of the instruction in the Dresden Archives proves that these were the motives alleged : the petition runs thus : " Der Kaiser wolle die Execution der Peen und Straf desselbigen Edictes bis uf ein kvinftig Concilium in Ruw stehn lassen, Ursach es habcn die Stennd das Edict night anders ange- nommen dan so vil In miiglich, wie die kaiserliche Instruction selbs mit ir bringt, und nachdem Etlichen unmiiglich gewesen das Edict zu halten, so seyen sie audi nicht in die Peen gefallen, zum andern so man die Buchstabcn besieht, so ist kain Fiirst oder Bisehof der das Edict geliallten oder der uicht ein Ent- setzen hat dasselbige ad literam zu halten." — " The emperor wished to let the execution of the pains and penalties im- posed by this edict rest until a future council ; therefore the estates did accept the edict only so far as it was possible to carry it out, as was set forth in the imperial instruction ; and as some had found it impossible to enforce the edict, they were not subjected to the penalties : — on the other hand, if the letter of the edict be looked to, it were impossible that any prince or bishop could enforce it, or not have a horror of enforcing it ad literam." Then follows the in- struction itself. The Frankfurt deputies say, in a letter written from this diet, " So woUen wir audi E. F. W. nicht bergcn, dass audi das kais. Edict so ao 21 zu Worms ausgangen, allliie auf diesem Reichstag von Fiirsten Grafen Herrn und Stedten hochlich und fast als unmoglich in alien Puncten zu halten angefochten wird." "We will not conceal from your princely worsliips that the imperial edict publislied at Worms, anno 21, wiU be opposed at this diet by princes, counts, lords, and cities, as being almost impossible to be enforced in all points." 410 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV. pecially to the prohibition of the national assembly, and prayed the emperor as soon as possible to call a council of the nation at least ; and, until then, gra- ciously to suspend the execution of the edict, which, to some, was impossible on conscientious grounds ; to others, because they had reason to fear it would cause a rebellion among their subjects; and to a third ]3arty, for these reasons combined. It is very remarkable that while such were the resolutions come to in Germany, they were met by corresponding ideas from Spain. We know the point of view from which the imperial court from the first regarded the Lutheran opinions. It had opposed them so long as it was in alliance with the papacy; but its devotion to the church did not go the length of requiting the war which Clement YII. made upon it in Italy, with friendly offices in Germany. Immediately after the battle of Pavia, when it first became apparent how little reliance could be placed on the pope's good intentions, the Grand Chancellor, Gat- tinara, proposed to demand a council ; not, as he said, really to convoke it, but only to force the pope to shew a more compliant spirit in his negotiations.* England, at the same time, begged Clement to con- sider how easily any partiality shown to France miglit cost him the obedience of that portion of the States of the empire which yet adhered to the church. f * The decree in Bucholtz, ii. p. 281. f Extract of a letter from Wolsey to the Bishop of Bath im- mediately before the battle of Pavia (before Parma, is doubt- less a clerical error). Fiddes, Life of Wolsey, 32. Wolsey CiiAP. II. DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. 411 But the hostility to him had now become far more decided. From Germany itself he had been apprised that the diet would be more unfavourable than ever to his cause : he himself indeed expected nothinf^ else.* Long — almost too long — did the emperor hesitate to declare himself. At length, however, after the latest negotiations had failed, he assumed a more resolute bearing. After many consultations in the council of state which he had just then constituted for affairs of Spain and Germany, he wrote to his brother on the 27th July, that a proposal which lie now subjoined had been submitted to that body, for abolishing the penal clauses of the edict of AVorms, and for submitting the truth of the evan- gelical doctrines to the decision of a council. The pope would not have cause to complain, since it was only the secular, and not the spiritual punish- ments that it was proposed to abolish. It was to be hoped that the emperor might then obtain effi- cient succours, in horse and foot, against the Turks or against Italy, for the good of Christendom. f thought that the course adopted by Campeggi promised to lead to the desired end, but " that Germany being now so much infected with the Lutheran heresy, such members of it as still continue in the communion of the church, may be provoked to withdraw their obedience, shoukl his holiness appear to act in fjivour of the French king against the emperor." * Albert da Carpi au Roi de France, 24th June, 1526, in Molini Docum. stor. i. p. 208. : " que a cette heure se feroit Ic tout le pis que se pourroit centre luy et la ste. siege." From a declaration of the Elector of Treves of the 9th June. •f" Extract in Bucholtz, iii. 371. "In his council a draft of a well-constructed and well-grounded edict was made, the fruit of which was to be, that those who adhered to the errors of 412 DIET OF SPIEE, 1526. Book IV. Under these circumstances — the emperor hmi- self having made the concession which Germany urgently demanded — who would not have expected that it would be definitively granted and pro- claimed? It appears from the original documents that Markgrave Casimir of Brandenburg, one of the imperial commissioners, zealously advocated this abolition of penalties.* It unquestionably depended on Ferdinand alone ; but he was not favourable to it. His chief ground of opposition was doubtless the fear of displeasing those states of Germany which were inclined to the ancient faith. Charles, indeed, had remarked in the letter above men- tioned, that a part of his council thought it ex- pedient to put off the repeal of the edict, which mio-ht otherwise convert the adversaries of Luther- anism into enemies of his government. f Ferdinand doubtless knew even better than his brother how necessary it was to conciliate them. The idea had at this moment been suggested at Rome of offering the Roman crown to some antagonist of the em- peror J: and Duke William of Bavaria had already Luther were to be drawn away from tliem by mildness and leniency ; and a way be afforded them by which tlie truth of the evangelical doctrine might he decided hy a good council, xvhich the pope now feared; at the same time they would support Ferdinand against the Turks or against Italy, for the common good of Christendom." * See the Lith. Erliinterung, p. 172. f Cause, " d'estre mauvais avec les aultres." Bucholtz, 372. Pity the whole letter is not printed. \ In the Provvisioni per la guerra di Clemente VII. (Inform, polit.) this is described as a desirable measure. Chap. II. DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. 413 begun to canvass the most influential electors witli a view to obtaining that dignity. To wrest from the catholic princes the edict upon which they principally based their persecution of the Lutherans, might have converted them into the most resolute and dangerous enemies. He too thought it prudent to suspend the repeal of the edict of Worms. He thought that when the emperor was once more within the limits of the empire, and had established his power there on a solid basis, this measure might be carried into effect with advantage, and without any shock to the established religion : then too he might obtain a good sum of money from the Luthe- rans in return for this act of grace and lenity.* But if he was not disposed to hasten the revocation of the edict of Worms, he had just as little inclina- tion or power to urge its general execution. A complete triumph of the pope's adherents would have been extremely injurious to the house of Austria. As, therefore, it seemed neither expedient to exe- cute the edict nor to repeal it ; as no proposals of a middle course had any chance of acceptance ; a principle came into action which had already in- fluenced the course of events, though rather beneath the surface, and without as yet exciting general attention. The principle of the development of the several territorial powers now prevailed * Excerpt of a letter from Ferdinand, 22d Sept. There is no question that the letter of 27tli July arrived in the middle of August. Letters from Spain were generally a fortnight on the road. 414 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV. even in the affairs of religion. I find that the cities were the first to bring this into pubhc notice and discussion. They alleged that it was no longer j)ossible to re-establish entire the ceremonies of the church : that in many places these had been altered, in others, had been left wholly untouched ; that each party thought that his way was the right ; that it was impossible in this case to resort to force ; and that nothing remained but to leave every man to the form of religion he had adopted, till such time as a free council should be able, by the help of the divine word, to decide the matter * : — A proposal fundamentally at variance with the nature of a diet of the empire, which represented unity, and with the former decrees of the empire, which had always been of universal application and validity ; but which was imperiously commanded by the state of things. It was equally impracticable to withdraw the edict of Worms from the catholic states, or to impose it on the evangelical : the thought of granting to every district and every state the independence in regard to rehgion which it had, in fact, begun to enjoy, speedily gained ground. It was the most easy and natural solution of the difficulty ; nobody had any thing better to advise. The impulse towards religious separation which had grown up since 1524, triumphed over aU attempts to preserve and to cement unity by means of reform. The committee decreed that " each state should act in such wise as it could answer it to God and the * Memorial of the cities. Frankf. A. A. vol. xlii. Cii.vr. II. DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. 415 emperor ; " — that is to say, it should do as it thoui^ht expedient. The committee immediately inserted this resolution in the instructions for the deputation to the emperor. There is a moment at which all the interests of Europe at large, and Germany in particular, converge and become implicated with each other ; a moment which, though it appears unimportant, was in fact the point at which the early history of Germany ends and the modern begins : — the moment when the Archduke Ferdinand accepted the report of the committee, sanctioned the sending of the deputation, and approved the instructions drawn up for it. It was ordered in the Recess, that until the general or national assembly of the church, which was prayed for, should be convoked, each state should, in all matters appertaining to the edict of Worms, " so live, rule, and bear itself as it thought it could answer it to God and the emperor." * * " Demnach haben wir (die Commissarien) audi Cliur- fiirsten Fiirsten unci Stiinde des Eeicbs luid derselben Bott- schafter uns jetzo allbie auf diesem Reicbstag einmlitbiglicb verglicben xmd vereiniget, mittler Zeit des Concilii oder aber Nationalversammlung nicbts desto minder (d. i. obne die Riick- kunft der Gesandtscbaft zu envarten) mit unsern Untertbanen ein jeglicber in Sachen, so das Edict, durcb Kais. Mt. auf dem Reicbstag zu Worms gebalten ausgangcn, belangen mocbten, fUr sicb also zu leben, zu regieren und zu balten, wie ein jeder solcbes gegen Gott un Kais. Mt. boffet und vertrauet zu verantworten." — " Tbereupon bave we (tbe commissioners), also tbe electors, princes, and estates of tbe empire, and tbe ambassadors of tbe same, now berc at tbis present diet, unanimously agreed and resolved, in tbe midst of tbe sitting of tbe council or national assembly {i. e. witbout waiting for tbe return of tbe deputa- 416 DIET OF SPIRE, 1526. Book IV. The reader must pardon the repetition of these words, in consideration of the infinite importance they afterwards acquired. They contain the legal foundation of the constitution of the national churches of Germany, and at the same time they involve (although leaving open the possibility of a future re-union) the separation of the nation into two great religious parties. They are^the words.,, which cledjded the_fate_of Germany. Ca- tholicism would not have been able to maintain itself if the edict of Worms had been formally re- pealed. The evangelical party would not have been able to constitute itself legally, if the em- peror and the States had insisted on the execution of that edict. The future existence and develop- ment of both hung on this point. ^ Generally considered, it was the immediate and necessary consequence of the division between the emperor and the pope. Their alliance had pro- duced the edict of Worms : that alliance being broken, the emperor and his brother revoked the edict in so far as its revocation was consistent with their own interests, tion) with our subjects, on the matters which the edict pub- lished by his imperial majesty at the diet holden at Worms may concern, each one so to live, govern, and carry himself as he hopes and trusts to answer it to God and his imperial majesty."— iVeit; Collection of Recesses, ii. 274. 417 CHAPTER III. CONQUEST OF ROME, A. D. 1527. While these deliberations were going on in Ger- many, in Italy war had already broken out. The allies had taken the field in June ; luiques- tionably not A\dth the necessary promptitude and decision ; since the imperialists had gained time sufficient to put down the insurrection of the Mi- lanese, and had at length succeeded in taking the citadel. On the other hand, however, the allies took Lodi and Cremona; the Swiss, so long ex- pected in vain, at length arrived in considerable numbers, and a brilhant corps of French men-at- arms joined the army. In September the Ligue were evidently masters of the country, while the imperialists, cooped up in a city inclined to re- belUon, ill paid, and almost cut off from the sur- rounding country, found themselves in a very cri- tical situation. * But the emperor had means of resistance and of retaliation at his command, even in Italy itself. In June he once more made overtures of peace to the pope ; at the same time charging his pleni- potentiary, Ugo Moncado, in case he received a * From a letter of Guicciardini to tlie Datarius, 24th Sept., 1526, it appears that there was an idea of making a new attempt to drive the imperialists out of MiUui. VOL. II. E E 418 ASSAULT ON HOME Book IV. refusal, to find means of diverting the forces of the enemy from Milan. * This was not difficult to accomplish ; the state, the city, nay, the Vatican itself, was filled with partisans of the empire. When the imperial envoy, the Duke of Sessa, rode home from the last fruitless audience, he took a fool behind him on his horse, who by a thousand antic tricks and buffooneries gave the people to understand that there was nothing to be done, f The pope's open enemies held meetings under his own eyes in the houses of the Colonnas. In order to fulfil the intentions of the emperor, they resorted to what we may be permitted to call the lowest cunning. They began to make warlike pre- parations on the frontiers of Naples, in the do- minions of the Colonnas; upon which the pope too took up arms. They then offered to enter into a treaty with him. Clement consented, and was now so devoid of all solicitude, that he discharged a great number of his troops in Rome. This was exactly the moment they waited for. Having lulled him into security, they determined to attack him. Pompeo Colonna — the warlike cardinal who had once rent his stole and gone forth to decide a quarrel by single combat — who had always dis- played a bitter personal hatred to Clement, now made common cause with Don Ugo, as Sciarra Colonna had done with Nogaret. On the 19th of September, the troops of Colonna appeared * Letter from Charles : Bucholtz, iii. 52. I Albert da Cai-pi to Francis I. Molini, Documente, i. 205. Chap. III. BY COLONNA. 41^ before the walls of Rome, and entered without re- sistance. The city was utterly defenceless : the people did not stir ; they were curious to see whe- ther Colonna would really do what he said — take possession of the Vatican in the name of the Roman emperor. * There was no one to prevent his fulfilling this threat ; and the pope, who had fled to the castle of St. Angelo, was compelled, in order to have his palace restored to him, to consent to a truce, not only with Naples and the Colonnas, but Avith Milan and Genoa; in short, in respect of all his own troops by land or sea. f It was only on these terms that Colonna's army left the city, from which it carried off a booty of 300,000 ducats. Clement must surely now have perceived the feebleness of his resources and the magnitude of the danger ; he must have heard the voice that foretells the fall of the avalanche ; but again he was under the dominion of exasperation and vengeance. The obligations which he had so so- lemnly and publicly taken upon himself were, as his plenipotentiary, Guicciardini, wrote to him, far more sacred than these conditions, extorted from him by force J ; nor was he disposed to observe the * Contemporary account, in Buder, Saramlung, ungetlruckter Schriften, p. 563. Negri to Micheli, 24th Sept. Lettere di Principi, i. 234. (The date in the printed copy is wrong.) I Conventione di Clemente VII. con Ugo di Moncada in MoUni, i. 229. I Guicciardini to Datarius, 27th Sept. Lett, di Prin. ii. 14. He expi-essed himself very characteristically: "Nell osservare la triegua veggo vergogna, non si fugge spesa et si E E 2 420 WARLIKE PREPARATIONS Book IV. truce an hour longer than expediency required * ; no sooner was he in some degree prepared, than he attacked the Colonnas and the Neapohtan territory ; in a short time he received French and Enghsh subsidies in money, and the celebrated defender of Marseilles, Renzo da Ceri, undertook to lead the papal army into the Abruzzi. Meanwhile his other troops served against Milan and Genoa, just as they had done before the truce. At this moment, however, a new and far greater danger arose in another quarter: the emperor had forces at his disposal of a very different character from any that Italy could produce. In that letter of the 27th July, 1526, which was so decisive for. the issue of the diet, Charles had invited his brother either to go to Italy in person, (in which case he meant to give him no instructions, but merely full powers, as his alter ego,) or at least to fit out and send a strong army.")" Ferdinand was prevented from going in person by the affairs of Hungary, which urgently de- manded his presence ; but he addressed himself to the man who had always led the Landsknechts in Italy to victory — George Frundsberg of Min- delsheim, who was ready once more to devote all augumenta il pericolo : perche quanto all' honore, piu e obligato N. S''® ad una lega fatta volontariamente et con tante solennita per salute publica, clie ad un' accordo fatto per forza et con ruina del mondo." * Excerpt of a letter wherein Clement declares that the treaty is not binding on him. f Excerpt in Bucholtz, iii. 42. Chap. in. IN GERMANY. 421 the vigour that age had left him to the service of the emperor. The great difficulty was to raise money.* Ferdinand gave his plenipotentiaries full powers to mortgage land and people, castles and cities ; he declared himself ready to send his jewels to pawn in Augsburg. Frundsbcrg, too, pawned his wife's jewels, and offered his own lands to mortgage, f The Italian commanders, who declared that they could only hold out for a short time unless they received succours, sent some ready money ; at length enough was got together to give the men at least their marching money and half a month's pay. Hereupon the drum was beat in all the imperial cities of the Oberland, and troops flocked to the standard from all quarters. We run no risk of error in affirming that it was not mere martial ardour that now drew them together ; they knew that they were to march against the pope. * From the report of Otto von Pack, who was sent to Insbruck to collect money for Duke George, we see what diffi- culties he encountered : the Welsers were not in funds ; the Fuggers wanted the cash that was in their hands in order to dissolve their partnership after the death of Jacob Fugger (Dr. A.). According to a letter of Ferdinand's to Charles, 28th October, 1526, (Gevay, Documents and Acts, part i. p. 22.) it appears as if nothing whatever was to be obtained from the money changers. ■\ " Voire que luy mesmes a voulsu engaiger ct mectre ez mains des fouckres les terres et biens quil a a lentour daugs- purg, ne luy a este possible sauoir deulx ny autremeiit recouurer argent Neantmoins affin que le tout ne se perde . . . nou obstant mes grans affaires iay enuoye audict messire george ce dargent quay peu finer, tellement que de ceste heure 11 passe B £ 3 422 WAKLIKE PREPAKATIONS Book IV. This had been foreseen in Rome. Giberti remarked, in the preceding July, that numerous bodies of men might easily be collected in Germany, " on account of the natural hatred which they cherish against us, and of the hope of plunder." The emperor's exhortations were conceived in the most insidious terms. His brother, he said, had only to give out that the army he was levying was to march against the Turks : every body would know what Turks were meant. In a manifesto published by the emperor in September, 1526, he expressed himself in a manner which no follower of Luther would have needed to disown : he testified his surprise that the pope should be willing to cause bloodshed for any possession what- soever ; a thing wholly at variance with the doc- trine of the Gospel.* In October he begged the cardinals to remind the pope that he was not raised to the pontifical throne " in order to bear arms, nor for the injury of the people of Christendom : " he again proposed a council, and urged the cardinals, if the pope continued to refuse it, to call one in his stead : he declared that he at least would be guiltless, " if injury should accrue to the Christian audict ytalie auec X™ bons pietons et vne bonne bande dartil- lerie. * Rescriptum ad Papse Criminationes. " Quod tamen S" V™^ non placuit, it is said (Goldast, Constit., i. 489., nr. 19.), licet credere non possemus, eura qui Christi vices in terris gerit, vel unius guttas humani sanguinis jactura quamcunque secularem di- tionem sibi vendicare velle, cum id ah evangelica doctrine pro7-siis alienum videretur." Chap. 111. IN GERMANY. 423 republic from its deninl."* As to Frundsberg, there is no doubt that he had for some time cherished evangelical oj^inions, and had, moreover, conceived the bitterest hatred against the pope during the late war.f Immediately after the battle of Pavia, he had proposed to march into the States of the Church, and attack him on his own ground. He was encouraged in this way of thinking by his secretary and companion, Jacob Ziegler, who had long been resident at the court of Rome, and whose biography of Clement YII. is still extant. From this we learn what the Germans there thought and said among themselves of the pope ; — of his illegitimate birth, which ought from the first to have excluded him from the priesthood; his cunning and craftiness, and his insatiable and scandalous rapacity. They accused him of a con- nexion -svith poisoners, and of the most shameful vices. They caught up and repeated all the rumours of the court, true or false, to feed the national an- tipathy of which they were themselves full. These stories, combined with the hostility shown by Rome to the emperor, which was esteemed most unjust, awakened in the Germans, both leaders and com- mon men, the same politico-religious zeal against the pope, which had been fatal to so many bishops in the Peasants' War. George of Frundsberg was thoroughly imbued with it J ; added to which, he * Epistola Caroli ad Collegium Cardinalium Vl'" Octobris. Goldast, Pol. Imp., p. 1013. •f See the passage quoted at p. 96. I Schelhorn, de Vita et Scriptis Jacobi Ziegleri, §21. He E E 4 424 FUUNDSBEEG's MAKCH. BookIV. was sorry, he said, for " the good honest fellows " who were besieged in Milan and Cremona.* He declared that he was resolved " to make an end of the affair, and to do the pope a mischief, if he could get him into his hands." If the emperor's policy seconded the religious efforts of the Germans, the religious spirit by which those efforts were prompted was favourable, on the other hand, to the policy of the emperor. No sooner did he show the smallest leaning to the inclinations of the people than they tendered their whole powers to his assistance. In November nearly 11,000 men assembled on the mustering ground at Meran and Botzen f : they were joined in Trent by the garrison which had just evacuated Cremona, under Conradin of Gliirns : they were all wiUing, spite of the poor pay they received: about 4000 more joined them on their march without any pay whatever ; " a choice army, refers to an unprinted work of Ziegler's, " magnanimo heroi, G. F° in expeditione Italica versanti eum fuisse vel a consiliis vel ab epistolis," * Letter from Frundsberg to Margaret, 19tli Sept., 1526, ". . . •where the want of money was such a hinderance to such help and succour, that it was to be feared the good honest fellows would be abandoned, and not only the duchy of Milan lost, but Naples, Calabria, and Sicily also ; and likewise that the hereditary and other dominions of his imperial Majesty must be reduced to great extremity." •j" From the diaiy in Hormayr's Archiv,, 1812, p. 424., we see that the army consisted of 10,650 men, and i-equired for its main- tenance, and that of the various officers and followers attached to it, 25,900 gulden (with the exchange, 34,842 gulden). The commissaries lent Frundsberg 2000 ,.ulden, " that he might have something in hand," He accepted it " with overflowing eyes." Chap. III. FRUNDSBERG's MARCH. 425 such as had not been beheld m Italy in the memory of man." The great and immediate difficulty was to get there ; to cross the Alps, and then to effect a junc- tion with the troops in ]\Iilan. Frundsberg had no mind to waste his time and strength on the well-garrisoned fortress of Verona : he took the far more difficult road over the Sarka mountain, towards the domains of his brother-in- law, the Count of Lodron. Here, again, two roads lay before him : the one on the right practicable for an army, but commanded by the fortress of Anfo ; the other on the left, a mere footpath between preci- pices and chasms, which a single peasant could have rendered completely impassable, but which the enemy had not observed. Along this path Frunds- berg began his march on the 17th of November. His brother-in-law, who knew every pass and defile of the neighbourhood of his hereditary castle, gave him escort for three miles, up to the summit of the mountain. They could take but very few horses, and even of these some fell over the precipices : of the men, some perished in the same manner, and the boldest did not venture to cast his eyes into the abyss below. A few sure-footed landsknechts forming a sort of railing with their long spears, guarded the steps of their veteran leader ; and thus holding on one before him and pushed on by another, he traversed the terrific pass. They reached Aa in the evening, and on the 18th arrived at Sabbio without encountering any resistance. On the 19th they appeared at the foot of the Alps, ■426 FEUNDSBERG's march. BookIV. at the village of Gavardo, in the territory of Brescia. Their provisions were just exhausted, but here they found good Farnazio wine ; and having driven to- gether 8000 head of cattle, they made merry after their long privations.* Their intention had been to effect an immediate junction with the army at Milan. But the enemy was far too strong in the field to allow this. The Duke of Urbino, comander-in-chief of the Ligue, ap- peared on their right flank, and kept them off from Oglio. They saw the impossibility of attacking any of the neighbouring cities, which were all in a good state of defence, while they themselves were without artillery: nothing remained but to endeavour to cross the Po, where the enemy was not so strong, and where Bourbon might in time be able to join them, f Thither Frundsberg took his way, in three * Eeissner Frunclsberge, 86. Tliun, in Hormayr, 428. Very minute details of this whole enterprise are to be found in Jacob Ziegler's unprinted work, Acta Paparum Urbis Romse, of which I intend to give a fuller account in the Aj^pendix. I shall only remark here, that it is the main source whence Reissner has taken his book, which it surpasses in brevity and distinctness. It says of the march upon Mantua : " Vnd dieweil gfiirlich vnd schwilr fur die grosse stett press vnd Bergom vber die grossen wasser, die allenthalb verlegt durch die gwaltigen haufFen der feind, den nechsten auf Mailand zuziehen, hat er sich auf Mantua gewendt." — " And then with danger and diffi- culty, past the great cities Brescia and Bergamo, across the great water, which was obstructed on all sides by the strong bands of the enemy ; in order to take the nearest way to Milan, he turned upon Mantua." t Bourbon wrote to Frundsberg that he could not fix a route for him. Frundsberg was determined, if necessary, to fight, but otherwise *' to put himself in no peril." — Letter in H. p. 424. Chap. III. FRUNDSBERG'S MARCH. 427 close columns. The allies had not yet courage to make a serious attack on him ; they merely annoyed him with their light cavalry, or with their mus- keteers, who lay in ambush behind hedges or in ditches.* Once only he was in serious danger. As he entered the fortifications round Mantua, over a long and narrow dam, the enemy attacked him in the rear, and at the same time moved forward to occupy the bridge over the Mincio, which he had to pass at Governolo. He would have been lost if he had suffered himself to be hemmed in in this most unfavourable place. Frundsberg, however, though chiefly conspicuous for his rough soldier- like bravery, Avas by no means without a simple and efficient system of tactics. He had secured this bridge exactly at the right moment : the at- tack in liis rear was repulsed by the musketeers ; and, just as a considerable body of the enemy's troops appeared on the other side of the river and seemed about to contest the passage with him, for- tune favoured him so far that one of his first shots inflicted a mortal wound on their captain, Giovanni de Medici f , in whom the Italian soldiery put im- * Leoni ; Vita di Francesco Maria d'Urbino, p. 364. f The incident that this was exactly the first shot out of the falconet just arrived from Ferrara, is first found in Ziegler. Reissner also used Jovius (Vita Alfonsi, p. 189.) and Guicciar- dini (b. 27. p. 34.), who expresses more clearly what Ziegler tells somewhat obscm-ely : " he (Giov. de Medici) had one leg shot off at the knee, by a shot from a falconet." " Roppe una gamba alquanto sopra al ginocchio." According to the diary in Hormayr, two falconets and two culverins arrived from the duke, 428 JUNCTION OF THE Book IV. plicit trust. He was a man completely after the tastes and opinions of Italy at that period — accom- plished, prudent, addicted to all th^ vices and de- baucheries of the south, but at the same time ener- getic and daring, and gifted with every other quality of a good leader. Hereupon Frundsberg crossed the Po at Ostiglia, and marched up the right bank as far as the Trebbia. On the 28th of December he ar- rived in the neis-hbourhood of Piacenza. " Here we o are," he writes to Bourbon ; " over the high moun- tains, and the deep waters, through the midst of the enemy, in hunger and want and misery, we have arrived safe and sound. What shall we do ?" Bourbon required the whole of January to reduce Milan to such a state of tranquillity as that he could entrust it to a part of his troops, and march with the remainder to join the German forces. On the 12th January the junction was effected near Firen- zuola.* There could be no doubt as to the course which it was expedient for them to pursue. We are already acquainted with the dispositions of Frundsberg ; nor can it be matter of wonder that Bourbon now hated the pope more than any man living ; since the emperor's demand that he should be created Duke of Milan, to which Clement would together with 1000 gulden. " Had I," says Frundsberg, " had 400 or 500 horse, I would, with God's help, have won no slight honour for his imperial majesty and his princely highness. You may, in short, believe that I never in my life saw a more hurried retreat." The enemy lost five hundred horse. * Frundsberg was very discontented at the long delay. He began to suspect treachery : what is told him, he believes " like St. Thomas." Letter passim, 430. Chap. III. IMPERIAL ARMIES. 429 never accede, was the condition Avhich liad hitherto rendered all negotiations abortive. Their sole ally in Italy was the Duke of Ferrara, who cherished a bitter hatred to the pope, having been incessantly menaced, even in his hereditary domains, both by Leo and by Clement : he supplied the troops mth provisions on their march, and urged their leaders not to lose a moment, and to seek their common enemy in Rome itself.* On the 22d Feb- ruary the combined army, 20,000 strong, in six divisions, with some cannon and a small body of light horse, broke up their camp at Firenzuola and took the high road to Rome. Leaders and men were equally persuaded of the fact that the pope had begun the war afresh : they knew very well that if the emperor allowed them to be without pay it was only from want of means, and they determined to go and seek it for themselves in Rome. Religious antipathy, and the desire to avenge the emperor — perhaps to re-establish the ancient power of the empire i^ Italy f ; — the just notion that a war is only * As early as November, the Duke of Ferrara had advised him to establish the Bentivogli in Bologna : if that was im- possible, " to undertake the campaign against the pope ; if Bourbon could raise no money, then to levy contributions on the towns and villages for the support of the landsknechts." I Ziegler : " Dcsshalben aus manigt'altiger getrungner not alle einheUig beschlossen, das sie eilends den papa, den anfaher dess kriegs vnd dieser bundtnus, vberfallen, daselbs bezalung suchen welten ; wann das haubt bezwungen, so wurden sich die stett vnd das land selbs ergeben, wo es ihnen dann gluckhen vnd dem kaiser geliebt sein wurd, so wolten sie gantz Italia wieder zum reich bringen." — " Therefore from manifold urgent need, all unanimously determined, that they would suddenly fall 430 MUTINY IN THE CAMP. Book IV. to be concluded in the enemy's capital ; tlie eagerness to get possession of their well-earned pay, and the rumour of treasures brought from all parts of the globe and accumulated in Rome for centuries, — all these various feelings and motives were blended into one mass of passionate determination to conquer and to plunder Rome. At the very first obstacle that placed itself in their way, this temper — now become independent and untameable — burst out with the most violent explosion. At the end of February and the beginning of March the papal troops had gained some advantages in the Neapolitan territory, and the viceroy had actually determined to conclude a truce with the pope ; in which, however, the sum of money that was to be contributed to the support of the army was either not mentioned at all, or very vaguely ; though its retreat into Lombardy was distinctly stipulated.* upon the pope, tlie beginner of the war, and upon this league, and Avould there seek pay : when the head was subdued, the city and the country would surrender of themselves ; if they had luck, and the emperor pleased, they would bring back the whole of Italy to the empire." * Treaty in Bucholtz, iii. 605. The contents of this treaty as given by Guicciardini (xviii. 5.) do not exactly correspond with this ; e. g. there is no mention in Bucholtz of the 60,000 ducats which, according to Guicciardini, were to be paid. Ziegler says, too, " Er welt sechtzig tausent ducaten, iedem knecht, das sie aus dem land ziehen, ainen monatsold geben ;" — "he would give sixty thousand ducats — the amount of a month's pay for all the landsknecht whom they brought out of the countiy," which is adopted word for word by Reissner, p. 103. I am inclined to think, however, that thei'e were some secret articles, as in the Ligue of Cognac. Vettori speaks of 65,000 ducats. Chap. III. MUTINY IN THE CAMP. 431 It was not very likely that this treaty would be ratified l)y the emperor, or accepted by the leaders of the army ; nor, indeed, that it would be executed by the papal general ; since the army of the Ligue threatened in that case to separate itself entirely from the papal troops.* But the mere rumour of such a thing, the sight of an envoy coming from Rome and returning thither directly, threw the whole army into agitation. f The Spaniards mur- mured first. They threatened that they would go over to another master who would satisfy their claims better ; — an empty threat — for whom could they find ? Since the emperor owed them eight months' pay, nothing remained but to stand by their leader. It was fortunate for Bourbon that he was able to make his escape ; his tent was plun- dered, and his best garment found the following day in a ditch. The Spaniards instantly communicated their own mutinous spirit to the Germans : their in- cessant cry was, Lanz! Lanz! Geld! Geld! (Lance! Lance ! Money! Money!) this was all the German they knew; it was like the inarticulate cry of passion. Frundsberg, however, did not as yet see any ground for fear ; he still trusted to his well- tried personal influence over the landsknechts. He ordered the drums to beat, a ring to be formed, and had the courage to go into the middle * These uncertainties reduced the papal agents to despair. " Si e sempre consigliato lo accordo, ma s' intendeva un accordo che fusse fermo e non dubio e intrigato, come questo che si e fatto in Roma e non osservato in Lombardia." f Sepulveda, vi. 1. 432 MUTINY IN THE CAMP. Book IV. of it, accompanied by the Prince of Orange (who had followed the army from Germany) and the chief commanders : he thought he should still be able to effect something by means of a few words of reason. He called upon them to remember how he had al- ways been their friend*, and had never left them in good times or in evil : he promised that he would always be true to his good landsknechts ; he re- minded them that they had sworn to stand by one another in life and in death, till they should all be paid and satisfied ; then he meant to stop : the em- peror's foe, the beginner of the war, he would carry off with them.f But reason has little power over congregated masses of men, nor is their violence to be controlled by any arguments. The rational address of their leader, whom every man of them individually loved and honoured, they answered with the cry, Money ! Money ! which ran like the muttering of a storm through their ranks : they levelled their lances against the commanders in their centre as if they meant to transfix them. Never could such a moment have presented it- self to the imagination or the fears of Frunds- berg. It was with him that the organization * In a former letter from the army it is said, " Die Knecht sind vast woU mit im zufrieden : er ritt auch unter ihnen um wie ein Held, und ist allweg der fordriste beim Haufen." Wittenb'ach, 4tli Feb. 27. in Hormayr's Oestreichischer Plu- tarch, xiii. 112. f Reissner Frundsberge, 104. (Bax'thold's Frundsberg, I presume.) True and short account in Buder, p. 526. ; and in Goklast, Polit. Reichshandel, p. 443. : there are some small differences which can hardly be reconciled. Chap. HI. GEORGE FRUNDSBERG. 433 and tactics of the landsknechts had mainly ori- ginated; they called him, and with justice, their teacher and father. He had fought at their head in almost all the wars of the house of Austria during that century ; he had conquered the most powerful enemies, spite of every inferiority of numbers or disadvantage of position. His reputation did not rest on the mere animal courage of a soldier ; he commanded respect by his coolness and presence of mind in the midst of danger ; by the promptitude with which he took a salutary resolution, and the dauntless valour with which he executed it. His homely sayings are very characteristic : " Kriegs- rath mit der That" (Counsel in war, with action) ; " Viel Feinde, viel Ehre" (Many enemies, much honour) ; they inspired both the officers and men who served under him with boundless confi- dence. His command fully justified their obedience. He still hoped by their aid to effect every thing ; he did not even despair of beating the Turks, and of driving them to the frontiers of Europe. Like a true partisan and servant of the empire, he embraced with a glance Rome and Constantinople. His loyalty never wavered, although, spite of all his services, he was sometimes ill at court ; he gave vent to his dissatisfaction in a few rhymes, and at the next trouble or disaster that befel his master, he took down his armour from the wall : he held to the great Idea of the empire with unshaken con- stancy. He had now to encounter this imlooked- for resistance. He was a man of extraordinary personal strength ; on one occasion he had pushed VOL. II. F F 434 GEORGE FRUNDSBERG. Book IV. aside a very powerful adversary with one finger, as if in sport ; fear he knew not, nor had any sud- den mishap ever had power to throw him off his guard ; — but that those should rebel against him whom he had made what they were, — that they should turn against him the spears which he had taught them to wield — this was too much for him. Its effect was such as no one could have antici- pated ; in the same moment — at one stroke — he lost utterance and consciousness, and sank down upon a drum ;, he had reached the goal of his heroic career. Singular catastrophe ! He died on the field, but not by the hands of the enemy ; not in the heat of the battle which he had come forth to wage : his simple heroic spirit, which had striven, with all its honour and all its earnestness, to stem the rising torrent of rebellion in the troops by whom he had so long been implicitly obeyed, sank when he saw that the tempest was ungovernable — the passion of revolt triumphant ; — it was a sight that struck him with instant death. It has been afiirmed, that the crafty enemy who was now advancing against him had stirred up the fire of mutiny by secret practices and emissaries. And as against himself, no other weapon was needed. If, however, the pope thought to gain any thing by these means, he was greatly in error. The re-action produced in the army by this sudden calamity was violent as had been the conduct that caused it. It ef- fected what no persuasion, no reason could have done. The lances were taken up again, the wild tumult was stilled ; the words of the chiefs once Chap. ni. MAKCII ON ROME. 435 more found a hearing ; the whole disorderly mass dispersed. Four days after, Frundsberg recovered liis speech, but he could no longer lead the army. He could only beg the Duke of Bourbon not to draw back ; hitherto, he said, God had guided them ; he would not abandon their cause to the end. Some money arrived from Ferrara for the Spaniards ; the landsknechts had ceased to clamour for it ; they themselves entreated Bourbon to lose no more time ; — all they asked was to be allowed to march. Had Bourbon intended to retreat, he could no longer have induced the army to do so.* The violence of the hatred entertained against the pope by his enemies, was equalled by the cool indiiFerence manifested by his friends. The army of the Ligue followed the imperialists at a distance, and seemed rather intended to obstruct their re- treat than their progress. All the great towns of the Ecclesiastical States were in as good a state of defence as those of Lombardy, while the army pos- sessed nothing but the road along which it marched ; yet it found no obstacles save those presented by inclement weather and alpine passes : it en- countered no enemy. Bourbon advanced slowly : on the 5th of April we find him at Imola, after * According to Maccliiavelli, Speditione a Francesco Guicci- ai'dini lettera XIV. 29 Marzo, Bourbon expressed to the le- gate, " quanto egli ha desiderate la pace, e la fatica ch' egli lia durata per far content! quelli soldati a questa tregua, c che in elFetto non ha potuto fargli contenti, mostrando che bisogna piii danari, ne dice il numero." F F 2 43G MAKCn ON ROME. Book IV. taking and plundering smaller towns. He then turned to the right towards the Alps, and took the road of Val di Bagno.* The larger guns he sent to the Duke of Ferrara, the smaller were dragged up the mountains ; there was sometimes a scarcity of bread, but never of meat and wine ; the heights were ascended without much toil in the neighbour- hood where the Sapio, Folia, Metora, and several other tributaries of the Arno rise, and where numerous springs meet and form the sources of the Tibenf On the 18th of April the imperialists appeared at Pieve di San Stefano, whence they threatened at the same time the valleys of the Arno and the Tiber, — Flo- rence and Rome ; and left it impossible for the ene- my to decide on which side they would first direct their attacks. The whole of this region was panic- stricken. The pope now perceived that the treaty he had concluded with Lannoy was too favourable to be executed. He could no longer refuse what the imperialists had always demanded of him — money to satisfy the troops. He saw that his own safety depended on their dispositions. He commissioned * Foscari, Relatione di Fiorenza, 1527, says that Bourbon could pass either tlie Val di Lamone, or the Via della Maria, fx-om Rimini or the Val di Bagno. Only the middle and easiest road was fortified. The others might also have been fortified with very little trouble, " si fata deum, si mens non laeva fuisset." From Macchiavelli's letters it appears that when the army broke up its quarters at San Giovanni it was thought that it might still return, and take the road to Lucca, or attack Ravenna. t PUnius, Hist. Nat., iii. 175. ed. Lugd. Flavius Blondus, Italia illustr., p. 344. C«AP. III. MARCH ON ROME. 437 Lannoy to repair to Florence to sec what could be raised there. Lannoy obtained the assurance of 150,000 scudi, to be paid at stated terms, and hastened towards the Alps, in order if possible to induce the army by this promise to retrace its steps.* On the 21st of April he arrived at the camp, where he staid three days. He was seen to eat and drink with Bourbon ; all their misunderstand- ings were at an end ; but it was clear that the offer of the Florentines was not sufficient for their wants ; they declared that they must have at least 210,000 scudi to induce the army to return. Whether even then they would have found this possible — whether they would have seriously at- tempted it, — is, I think, extremely questionable. The tumults of that camp were too fresh in men's minds. Nor do I find that they received any encouragement from the emperor. The situation of the emperor, we must remark, is once more extremely singular. The expressions of paternal kindness and filial obedience which are traditional in the Catholic world, had been frequently and ostentatiously ex- changed between him and the pope ; the emperor still occasionally spoke of the extirpation of the Lutherans ; in respect of Italy, he gave assurances of which the pope said, he would have given the whole world and his own soul into the hands of the * Instruction of Lannoy in Hormayr's Archiv. 1812, p. 377. The Excerpts in Bucholtz, \}. 71. are taken from the same papers. F F 3 438 MAECH ON ROME. Book IV. emperor upon the faith of them.* But Charles's directions to his generals have a totally diiferent tendency. Lannoy was admonished in February, by no means to allow himself to be the dupe of any treaty whatever; if he supported Colonna's party on the one side, and if, on the other, Bourbon came up with his German troops, many great and good things might be accomplished. " We see clearly," says he in a letter, " that they (in Rome) will do no good unless they are well thrashed. It will be necessary to cut thongs out of foreign leather (i. e. to raise money to pay our troops) wherever we can lay our hands on it ; and we must not forget Florence, which has also deserved a good castigation." f These are nearly the opinions which prevailed in the army. The letters to Bourbon are in the same tone. The emperor tells him to do every thing he can to make up the accounts of the war. " You see, the game lasts long ; you will neglect no means of bringing it to a close." J He did not, it is true, break off the nego- tiations ; he even caused a ratification of the truce, and full powers for concluding a peace, to be drawn up ; but he at the same time commanded the vice- roy to deliver up the ratification only in case no chanfi-e in the state of affairs had been brouo;ht about in the mean time by the army, which might render it possible to make better terms. At the * Instruttione a Farnese, Ranke's History of the Popes, vol. iii. Appendix, p. 19. I Excerpts in Buclioltz, iii. 57. X 14th Feb. and 31st March. Bucholtz, p. 67. CiiAP. III. MARCH ON ROME. 439 distance at which he was, his instructions could only arrive very late and produce a general effect. But it is most remarkable that on the very same day when Lannoy and Bourbon were together — on the 23d of April — after Charles must have known of the truce — he did not say a single word to his commander-in-chief about observing it. "I see, cousin, that you are advancing on Rome," said he, carefully avoiding any expression of disapprobation ; on the contrary, he insinuated that a truce or a peace might best be negotiated there ; that he would not send him the full poAvers, although his was the first name that occurred in them, in order that it might not appear as if he came to sue for peace, so that people might know he would compel it by force.* In one word, the emperor was well content that his army marched on Rome to extort its pay there as it could, and to dictate a peace to the enemy. Let us observe, too, that at this moment, the pope was no longer inclined to observe the truce which separated him from his allies. At the very same time — 25th April — whether it be that he had al- ready learned the new demands of the army, and had thought them such as it was impossible to comply with, or that he was determined by the general aspect of politics — he concluded a new alliance with the Ligue, the terms of which were kept secret, but which, we learn from his own declaration, contained much that was unfavourable to the emperor.f * Extract in Bucholtz, p. 67. f Instruttione al C Faniese, App. p. 31.: " consentendo a molte conditioni che erano in px-egiudicio della M'^ Cesarea." F F 4 440 CONQUEST OF EOISIE. Book IV. In short, both the emperor and the pope were determined to try their fortune in war. The imperialists, who had felt their hands tied by the former truce, were now set at liberty. Bourbon delayed not a moment to take advantage of this change. After some demonstrations against Florence and Arezzo, in which he was supported by Siena, on the 28th of April he took that high road to Rome which for centuries had been trodden alternately by hostile armies and pious troops of pilgrims from the north. The cavalry of the Ligue was close at his heels, but before him he found no obstacle. On the 2d of May he was in Viterbo, where he was welcomed by the German leaders ; on the 4th he drove the first papal troops that encountered him, under Ranuccio Farnese, out of Romiglione ; on the 5th he traversed the Cam- pagna, and appeared towards evening, from the side of Monte Mario, before the walls of the Yatican.* The German army thus reached Rome in the same state as it had quitted Tyrol and Swabia, without having encountered the slightest resistance, and having seen all its enemies disperse -before it ; its hatred exasperated by the Spaniards and Italians who had joined it, and who sought in Rome pay and vengeance ; led by a general who had already quitted the usual path of the morality and policy * In the 21st hour (between 4 and 5 o'clock). The Com- mentai'ius capttc ui'bis says, that the army arrived before Rome on the 4th. A part of it must indeed have appeared there at that time, if it is true that it was exposed for a day and two iiights to the fire of the Roman artillery. Chap. III. CONQUEST OF ROME. 441 of his age and country, and who hated in the pope the most formidable opponent of all his claims and projects. It would be utterly inexplicable how it hap- pened that the prudent Clement did not seek by every possible means to avert this storm, were it not clear that he always believed himself to be the stronger. In Naples he had gained ground, in Lombardy he had lost none ; the enemy's unresisted advance he imputed to his own imprudence in con- cluding a truce which had perplexed his allies: now, as he had recalled this measure and renewed the Ligue, he did not doubt that its army, which was already in Tuscany, would still come to his assist- ance in time : tiU then, he thought, Rome would be in no danger; the walls were well furnished with cannon, and five thousand arquebusiers were taken into pay : the defence of the city was en- trusted to the very captain who had so successfully repulsed the same leader with a similar army from Marseille. It remained to be seen how the event would justify his security. Bourbon summoned the pope to open the city, over which, he said, the bishop had no right, to the emperor, to whom, as head of the Roman empire, it had of all time belonged. The pope sent for answer to the trumpet, that if he did not instantly be gone, he should be shot. Hereupon a council of war was called, the issue of which could not be doubtful. The leaders saw very clearly, that they must not allow themselves to be overtaken before these walls by the well- 442 CONQUEST OF ROME. Book IV. commanded enemy who was marching on their rear. They resolved to commend themselves to God, and at once without delay to storm Rome ; even though the victory should be dearly bought. During the night they did not neglect to keep the enemy in breath by incessant alarms. Mean- while every thing was prepared for storming. Bourbon gave his confessor a commission which affords us a tolerable insight into the sphere of ideas in which his mind moved. He desired him to tell the emperor, in the first place, for the future to keep his troops in good humour — especially the Ger- mans, without whom he could not hold Italy in check : in the second, to cause himself to be crowned in Rome, which would be very advantageous to him for securing peace with the pope, and obe- dience from the -princes of the empire. As to him- self, he declared that his intention was only to force the pope to grant him a loan for the payment of his troops, and to prepare the coronation of the emperor. It is evident that he felt himself entirely a soldier of the emperor ; he thought to hold Rome garrisoned by his victorious and contented army, and to procure for his master the rank and dignity of an emperor of antiquity. It is a remarkable fact, that the sentiments of a portion of the population within the walls were of the same kind. Rome possessed no compact body of citizens, held together by hereditary j-ights, such as was at that time to be found in almost every other city in Europe ; the mass of the inha- bitants were recent settlers from other parts, who CiiAP. in. CONQUEST OF ROME. 443 lived upon the business of the court. As there had been a great and continual falling off in its consideration and revenues, they would not have been sorry to see the government of the priests superseded by the court of a puissant emperor, which would have afforded them the same or greater advantages. * On the morning of the 6th of May — on a Mon- day — the imperialists advanced to the assault of the walls surrounding the Vatican. They had got a quantity of trellises from the gardens, which they had converted into scaling ladders by binding them together with willow rods. The right side, to- wards the Porta Santo Spirito, was to be stormed by the Germans ; the left, towards the Porta Per- tusa, immediately behind St. Peter's church, by the Spaniards. A thick fog rendei'ed it impossible for the enemy to direct his fire from the distant castle of St. Angelo against them, or even to see their approach. At the point of their attack, the walls Avere low and the intrenchments thrown up in haste. Meanwhile the fire of the carronades, culverines and falconets which were planted on the fortifications was so effective that the first assault of both troops was repulsed. They, however, in- stantly prepared for a second. The Germans were animated by the exhortations of Philip Stumpf, who led them to a more favourable spot. Bourbon * Vettori : Sacco di Roma, scritto in dialogo. " Gli Romani si persuadevano che 1' imperatore avessi a pigliare Roma e farvi la sua residenza, e dovere avere quelle medesimc comoditk e utile che avevano dal dominio de' preti." 444 CONQUEST OF ROME. Book IV. himself was seen to lead on the Spaniards, upon whom the first repulse had made some impression, and to seize a ladder with his own hand. The forlorn hope of the Germans, though under a heavy fire of musketry, now succeeded in carrying the mound and the entrenchments. From this time they encountered no resistance. Claus Seiden- sticker, a veteran captain, was one of the first to mount the walls with his huge battle sword in his hand ; Michael Hartmann, with a few comrades, leaped down ; at last they found so little steady resistance that they themselves hardly knew how they had got over ; in their fanatical ardour, they thought tliat God had gone before them in the mist. The task of the Spaniards was not so easy. Their leader, Bourbon, was struck at the moment in which he was mounting the ladder by a bullet, whether from the hand of an enemy, or an acci- dental shot of one of his own troops, is uncertain.* He was destined only to conduct events to the point at which they might be left to their own spontaneous movement ; they now passed over him, following their own unaided and ungoverned courses. But the fury of the Spaniards was roused by the loss of their leader to a pitch which nothing could with- stand ; shouting Espana, they too scaled the walls. The papal guns were easily taken, and the gates * According to tlie Ferrarese account in Hormayr, 437., Bourbon fell either the first or the third : a musket ball broke his ribs, and penetrated the intestines ; in half an hour he was dead. Chap. ni. CONQUEST OF ROME. 445 and sally-ports opened to the crowd that pressed on behind ; a few hundred Swiss, who here too were opposed to the landsknechts, were routed without difficulty ; the Borgo was conquered before the jDope actually knew that the attack had begun : he had only just time enough left to seek refuge in the Castle of St. Angelo.* The original text of one of the oldest accounts states that Bourbon was carried still living, in front of St. Peter's Church ; here he must have felt the full sense of victory — and here he breathed his last. The body was carried into the Sixtine Chapel. The army was sufficiently well disciplined to preserve its order after his death; to abstain at first from plunder, and to propose further terms to the pope.f A few months before, Lannoy had de- manded 200,000 scudi ; and Bourbon, a few days before, 240,000. The generals now, under the eyes of the pope, demanded 300,000 ; and, as security for payment, the Transteverine city. The pope, * Vettori, Storia cV Italia, relates what he witnessed as foUoAvs. " La mattina delli sei appresento (Borbone) la battaglia tra il portone del borgo, che e drieto alia casa del C Cesis, e quello di S. Spirito, dove ne' piu di luoghi non e muro, ma bene vi era facto qualche poco di riparo. Era la mattina nebbia grande, che causava che I'artigliria non si poteva in modo indirizzare che nocesse alii inimici i quali dettono la battaglia, e quelli di drento si difendevano gagliardamente, ma furono tanti quelli di fuori che con le mani guastavano i ripari, che erano di terra e deboli, e si ridussono a combattere a piano." See Sepulveda, who was also present, and fled into the castle with Alberto Carpi, vii. 7. f The Ferraresc account relates that only the camp followers plundered at this moment. The attack had cost 200 men. 446 SACK OF ROME. Book IV. who lived in the hope that every moment would bring the army of the Ligue — some pretended they already descried its advanced guard — and that the city, properly so called, would be able to hold out till its arrival, even at this moment rejected all proposals. After four hours' delay, the troops once more set themselves in motion to bring their work to a conclusion. They took the Trastevere without drawing a sword; the fire of the matchlocks suf- ficed to clear the battlements, and some blocks that served as battering rams, to force the gates off their hino;es ; the bridg-es that led to the interior of the city were feebly defended: the conquerors advanced unopposed through the deserted streets ; the inhabitants had all taken refuge in their houses. At an hour after sunset the whole city was in their hands. Until midnight they remained in the order in which they had been posted ; the mass of the Spaniards remained on the Piazza Navona; that of the Germans, on the Campofiore, — at that time the most frequented part : at length, as no enemy appeared either in the city or near it, they rushed forth to plunder the houses. For the last seventy or eighty years, uncounted treasures had flowed in a continual stream into Rome: ecclesiastical revenues from every country on earth ; gifts of pilgrims ; proceeds of jubilees ; in- comes of benefices held by the prelates: the money for which every spiritual favour had been bartered*: * Francesco Vettori, Storia d' Italia, MS., adds : " Romani vendevano tutte le loro cntrate care et affittavano le loro case Chap. III. SACK OF ROME. 447 and all these riches now fell into the hands of naked, hungry, rapacious soldiers, who had so long been only kept in heart by the hope of this hour. Within the first day or two, twenty thousand persons paid contributions: those of the imperial party, Ghibellines, were as little spared as the Guelfs ; the churches as little respected as private houses. The great basilics before the gates of San Lorenzo and San Paolo were plundered ; the tomb of Saint Peter was ransacked, the ring torn from the body of Julius II. : it was calculated that the value of ten millions of gold had fallen into the hands of the army.* The Spaniards made the richest booty ; they might be said to scent gold; they showed equal skill in discovering the most hidden treasures, and in extorting them by torture. The Neapolitans were personally yet more fero- cious and malignant. f Fortunately, after some days Pompeo Colonna arrived ; he strove to protect a gran pregj ne pagavano alcuna tassa o gabella," He also mentions the profit of each calling : " 11 artigiani, il popolo minuto, le meretrici. Never was a richer city plundered. * Nova quomodo Roma capta sit relatio in Schardius, ii. 611. "Per decem integros dies ecclesias gynecia monachos moniales et cardinales episcopos pra3latos bancarios spoliarunt, deditos ceperunt, libros et registra lacerarunt," &c. Vettori : " La uccisione fu poca, perche rari si uccidono quelli che non si vogliono defendere, ma la preda fu inestimabile di danari contanti, di gioie, d' oro e d' argento lavorato, di vestiti, d'arazzi, paramenti di case, mercantie d' ogni sorte e di taglie." f An Italian, Jovius, Vita Pompeji Columnce, pp. 191, 192., di-aws this distinction. 448 SACK OF ROME. Book IV. the Eoman nobles, at least from the most revolting outrages, and opened a sort of asylum in his house. The Germans were satisfied with having once more enough to eat and drink ; where they found no resistance, they were rather good-natured than otherwise.* They allowed the Jews to make their profit without grudging. There was much gam- bling in Campofiore ; men had grown so suddenly rich, that they staked hundreds of gulden on a throw. Many came laden with vases of gold, which they lost to more successful players. Or they feasted Simon Battista, who had been imprisoned by the papal government for prophesying the pil- lage of the city. But though they had set him at liberty, he predicted no good to them; he told them that soldiers' riches and priests' lands went the same way. " Take all you can, plunder and spoil," exclaimed he, " you will soon lose it all again !" Their anti-catholic feelings vented them- selves in unseemly jests. Soldiers dressed as car- dinals, with one in the midst bearing the triple crown on his head and personating the pope, rode in solemn procession through the city, sur- * In the Sacco di Romaj ascribed to Francesco Guicciardini, or to one Jacopo Buonaparte, these details are given at length. At first I did not venture to make use of them, as I was not quite sure as to the origin of the woi'k ; but after further in- vestigation, I think the facts may be as related. I shall give, in the Appendix, my views as to the author of this writing, as well as of the book called " Memorie storiche dei principali avvenimenti politici d' Italia seguiti durante il pontificato di Clemente VII. opera di Patrizio de' Rossi, Roma, 1837." Chap. in. CONQUEST OF ROME. 449 rounded by guards and heralds : they halted before the Castle of St. Angelo, where the mock pope, flourishing a huge drinking glass, gave the car- dinals his benediction ; they then held a consistory, and promised in future to be more faithful ser- vants of the Roman empire : the papal throne they meant to bestow on Luther.* Occasionally discords broke out between the several nations. A committee was then chosen, consisting of three Spanish and three German officers, who patroled the streets all night on horse- back to keep order, f The leaders lay in the Vatican ; the Prince of Orange occupied the pope's chamber. Every man kept his horse as near him as possible that it might not be stolen. ]\Ieanwhile, the viceroy had arrived in Rome and renewed the former negotiations. For a time, the pope hoped for succour; the Duke of Urbino appeared in the neighbourhood, and three times every night signals were made from the castle that the garrison still held out. But he appeared to fear that the Germans would defend themselves * Reissner. Wahrhaftiger Bericht. Much more violent ef- fusions of Griinewald's against the pope, " who acts contrary to the word of God," are related by CochljEus, and repeated by Rainaldus. f "AXworte Romaj, in Hofmann, Nova Collectio, p. 535. The Germans would not allow the Spaniards to commit their abomin- able outrages, — for example, on the persons of female children ; the Spaniards, on the other hand, forbade the Germans to mock at the priests, which they declared one of the most ungodly of sins. VOL. II. G G 450 CONQUEST OF ROME. Book IV. with more vio-our than would be shown in attackins^ them.* Nor was it hkely that he would be inclined to incur any great danger for the sake of the pope, since, but a few years before, he had been involved in a stru2:g;le for life and death with the house of Medici, and driven by them out of his own dominions. He retreated again without making the slightest attempt at a rescue. The pope was at length compelled to accept, in a greatly ag- gravated form, the terms he had so often rejected. He now promised to pay 400,000 scudi by in- stalments : as a pledge, he allowed the allies to garrison some of the strongest places which still held out ; in Lombardy, Modena, Parma and Piacenza, and in his own states, Ostia and Civita Vecchia. On the 15th June this treaty was con- cluded, and the following day Spanish and German soldiers mounted guard in the Castle of St. Angelo. Two hundred of the handsomest and stoutest landsknechts were picked out to do duty about the person of the pope. The emperor now thought his designs on Italy ac- complished. He doubted not that his army would be able to make an advantageous convention with the Florentines, who, in the general confusion, had driven out the house of Medici and deserted the cause of the pope : it was then to march against Venice and * The Germans, at least, were much inclined to march against him. Schweglei' writes (Hormayi", passim ; p. 446.), in the camp of the enemy there is hunger and discontent : if they come nearer, we will seek them in the field. Chap. III. CONQUEST OF ROME. 451 encamp in the territory of the republic, in order to compel that state also to make peace. In this enter- prise the assistance of Ferrara would be valuable.* The title of apostolic, was already exchanged in iiome for that of imperial, chamber. The Germans had here an opportunity of seeing distinctly how the empire had been the prey and the dupe of the popes ; people showed them the ruins of the emperor's palace, and explained to them all the stratagems by which he had been stripped of the country and the city, and even of his own imperial residence within its walls. But they consoled themselves with the thought, that the man who had exalted himself to the station of a god on earth would now be brought low by the might of the jealous and offended God of heaven. They were persuaded that He had opened to them a way across the Alps, over the steep rocks which they had climbed like the wild goat ; He had preserved them unhurt at Mantua, where their enemies had thought to catch them as in a net ; He had commissioned the first shot to lay prostrate the pope's ablest captain ; and, lastly, having led them by all the large cities, in face of the enemy, and once more over the trackless mountains, safe and sound, * Letter of Charles's of the 30th of June, in Hormayr, 1812, 381. His intention was to appoint the Duke of Ferrara captain general : Milan, Charles could not promise to any body, but must wait tiU Sforza's process was decided. In a letter of Angerer's of the 1st of July, it is said, if 6000 men were but now sent to the assistance of Leiva, "all Italy would be won and con- quered." G G 2 452 CONQUEST OF ROME. Book IV. to Rome, He had gone before them in the mist across the strong walls. Thus did the mighty God strike Antichrist with the lightnings of his judg- ment.* They indulged the hope that now times were changed, and the beloved young emperor Charles would rule by his mild virtues according to the word of our Redeemer alone.f * Ziegler's Acta Tp. contain these reflections. f Words of the Wahrhaftiger Bei'icht. (True Eeport.) It concludes, " In order that our souls, over which God is Lord, at our temporal departure may be taken to eternal joy, therefore did the Lord Jesus come down into this world, and died on the cross for the love of all men. This may the Lord God grant 453 CHAPTER IV. OCCUPATION OF BOUEMIA AND HUNGARY. At the moment of this signal success, the warlike power of Germany, taking another channel, poured itself over Hungary; and here also, for the ag- grandisement of the house of Austria. If we would form a clear conception of the origin and import of this event, we niust bear in mind, above all, that the three eastern monarchies of western Christendom, — Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, had only attained to a somewhat stable government, and to a share in the benefits of Chris- tianity and civilisation, by German influence under various forms. At the end of the fourteenth cen- tury, it once more seemed as if this connexion were indissolubly restored. The most powerful house of Germany, that of Luxemburg, possessed Bohemia and Hungary; while the heiress of Poland was educated as the affianced bride of an Austrian prince. But in all these countries there also existed tendencies opposed to German interference. The most formidable enemy of the Germans, the Grand Prince Jagjel of Lithuania, succeeded in driving the Duke of Austria from the throne of Poland; he 454 FALL OF HUNGARY. Book IV. afterwards sent liis nephew, Koribut, to Bohemia, and his son obtained the crown of Hungary. The race of Jagellon thus consolidated its power throughout the east of Europe ; on the one side it presented a bulwark against the incursions of the Ottomans, and on the other, excluded all German influence : in spite of many turns of fortune, it still maintained itself in the beginning of the 16th century. Sigismund I. ruled over Poland and Li- thuania ; Wladislas II. over Bohemia and Hungary. But it no longer possessed any internal strength. Wladislas II. was by no means the man to curb the stormy nobles of Hungary.* He was fitted only for the simplest private life. Those about him re- marked that he spoke of the affairs of daily life with a certain degree of good sense, but that this deserted him as soon as the discourse fell on matters of state. He would not believe any thing bad that was told him of any man, and could with difficulty be brought to sign a sentence of death f ; every body, therefore, did what he liked. Under King Matthias the public revenues had exceeded 800,000 ducats ; * They would fain have driven away Matthias too. The Kelatio Nuncii apostolici of 1480, in Engel, ii. 14., says ex- pressly, " Li Baroni cercano di cacciarlo del reame." -f- Relatione di Sebastian Zustignan venuto orator di Hon- garia in Sanuto, iv., 1503. " II re e homo grande di persona e di degnissima genealogia : devoto e religioso, e si dice, nun- quam habuit concubitum cum muliere, e mai si adii'a, mai dice mal di niun, e se niun dice mai di qualcuno, dicit rex : forsan non est verum. . . . Dice assa oration, aide tre messe al zorno, ma in reliquis e come una statu a. . . . Est piii presto homo rectus quam rex." Chap. IV. FALL OF HUNGARY. 455 under Wladislas they gradually fell off to 200,000 ; soon after his death, there was not money enough to pay the expenses of the royal kitchen. Every thing fell into ruin and decay. " Two things," it is said in the Maxims of Tolna of the year 1518, " are required for the maintenance of every king- dom— arms and laws ; in our kingdom of Hungary we have neither the one nor the other.* Under these circumstances, the Jagellons gradually saw the expediency of attaching themselves again to the nearest and most powerful German fiimily — to the house of Austria. The Emperor Maxi- milian, who, as he said, had never for a moment lost sight of " his own rights and those of the German nation " on Hungary and Bohemia, had at length, in the year 1515, the singular satisfaction of receiving both kings — Sigismund and Wladislas — at his court, and of concluding the strictest alliance with them. AVladislas betrothed his son and daughter to a grand-daughter and grandson of the emperor ; Sigismund promised to marry Bona Sforza, who was also related to the house of Austria. The year after, AVladislas died, and Louis II. ascended the throne, under the joint guardianship of Maximi- lian and Sigismund. By degrees a German party took firm root at the court ; especially after the marriage between Louis and the grand-daughter of Maximilian, Mary of Austria, had actually been concluded (a. d. 1521). All was, however, still in the greatest confusion. Heberstein cannot find words * Ex Ludovici II. decretis Tolnensis conventus in Katona Hist. crit. Ungaria;, xix. p. 89. G G 4 456 JOHN ZAPOLYA. Book IV. to describe how the great nobles, spiritual as well as temporal, vied with each other in insolence*; how the frontiers were without defence, while their armed bands obstructed the streets of the capital ; how the loud trumpets called the magnates to dinner, while the king sat almost alone; — all places were distributed by favour, and the currency was dete- riorated. At length the intelligent queen, at least, formed plans for reviving the authority of the state ; but already had a power arisen capable of opposing a formidable resistance to the court. Under King Matthias the house of Zapolya, so called from a Slavonic village near Poschega, whence it originated, rose to peculiar eminence. To this house, in particular. King Wladislas had owed his accession to the throne ; whence, however, it thought itself entitled to claim a share in the sovereign power, and even a sort of prospective right to the throne. Its members were the wealth- iest of all the magnates ; they possessed seventy-two castles f ; the chief seat of the family being Trentsin, a fortress perched on a steep rock overhanging the Waag, adorned with the most beautiful gardens, watered from wells dug a hundred fathoms deep by Turkish prisoners, and defended by strong fortifi- cations. It is said that a prophecy early promised the crown to the young John Zapolya. Possessed of all the power conferred by his rich inheritance, * Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii, Basil, 1571, p. 146. t According to Tui'iiscliwamb (Engel, i. p. 193.) many of them were confided only to trusty hands, such as Father John and Stephen Zapolya. Chap. IV. JOHN ZAPOLYA. 457 Count of Zips, and Woiwode of Transylvania, lie soon collected a strong party around him. It was he who mainly persuaded the Hungarians, in the year 1505, to exclude all foreigners from the throne by a formal decree ; which, though they were not always able to maintain in force, they could never be induced absolutely to revoke. In the year 1514 the Woiwode succeeded in putting down an exceedingly formidable insurrection of the peasants with his own forces ; a service which the lesser no- bility prized the more highly, because it enabled them to reduce the peasantry to a still harder state of servitude.* His wish was, on the death of Wladislas, to become Gubernator of the kingdom, to marry the deceased king's daughter Anne, and then to await the course of events. But he was here encountered by the policy of Maximilian. Anne was married to the Archduke Ferdinand ; Zapolya was excluded from the administration of tlie kingdom ; even the vacant Palatinate Avas re- fused him and given to his old rival Stephen Bathory. He was highly incensed: indeed at the meeting of the Rakosch, in 1518, the emperor kept a few thousand men ready to come to the aid of the Hungarian government in case of any violence on the part of Zapolya. f But it was not * The revolt was dix'ected precisely against the nobility. Zeckel called himself, in one of his px-oclamations, " Regis Ilun- gariae tantummodo subditus et non dominorum." — Katona, xviii. 720, f Maximilian's Instructions to Heberstein in Senkenberg's Sammlung ungedruckter Schriften, iv. p. 26. 458 JOHN ZAPOLYA. Book IV. till the year 1525 that Zapolya got the upper hand at the Eakosch. The king having nevertheless re- jected his proposals, his followers summoned an extraordinary diet at Hatwan, at which they made an attempt to exclude all strangers, to alter the whole government and take it into their own hands. They deposed the palatine, Bathory, and elected in his stead the Woiwode's most intimate friend, Stephen Verbocz. As to Zapolya, no one entertained a doubt that he aimed at the throne. " The Woiwode," says a Venetian report of 1523, " has a good head, he is very clever, and universally beloved : he would be glad if the kingdom suffered some disaster ; he would then reconquer it with his own forces and make himself king."* " He strives," says another, of the year 1525, " with all the powers of his mind after the crown, and prepares every thing so that he may be able to seize it." In order to- arrest these hasty and undisguised strides of a vassal towards the final goal of his am- bition, his opponents, who had every thing to fear from his success, rallied more closely round the court ; declared, at a national assembly, the decrees of Hatwan null and void, reinstated Bathory, and requested the king at length to exert his authority. This the queen was fully prepared to do. She de- manded complete liberty in the administration of the finances, and the direct dependence of the * Relatione del S'^d'Orio, 12tli Dec. 1523. " Saria contento che quel regno si perdesse e poi lui con il favor de Transilvani ricuperai'lo e farsi re." Chap. IV. INVASION BY SOLIMAN, 1526. 459 frontier troops on the government. She warned the papal nuncio not to put too much fuel on the fire. But before any thing was accomplished — on the contrary, just as these party conflicts had thrown the country into the utmost confusion, the mighty enemy, Soliman, appeared on the frontiers of Hun- gary, determined to put an end to the anarchy. Ottomans and Jagellons had long stood opposed to each other on the eastern verge of Europe : the propitious moment had at length arrived, in which the Sultan might hope, at least as far as Hungary was concerned, to fight out this long pending duel. Five years before, he had conquered Belgrade ; which, it was said, had fallen, partly because the Hungarian government could not raise the fifty gulden necessary for the transport of the ammunition lying ready at Ofen. Since then, the strong places on the frontier of Croatia had fallen into the hands of the pachas, and the plain country was laid open to a great blow. Such an one the sultan now felt himself encouraged to strike, both by the internal state of Hungary and the ge- neral distraction of Europe. In his prison at Madrid, Francis I. had found means to entreat the assistance of Soliman ; urging that it well beseemed a great emperor to succour the oppressed. Plans were laid at Constantinople, according to which the two sovereigns were to attack Spain with a combined fleet, and to send armies to invade Hungary and the north of Italy.* Soliman, without any formal * Narrative of Ibraim (the Imberi-Wascha) in the Report by Lamberg and Jurischitsch in Gevay's Urkunden und Actcn- 460 INVASION BY SOLIMAN, 1526. Book IV. treaty, was by his position an ally of the Ligue, as the king of Hungary was, of the emperor. On the 23d of April, 1526, Soliman, after visiting the graves of his forefathers and of the old Moslem martyrs, marched - out of Constantinople with a mighty host, consisting of about a hundred thousand men, and incessantly strengthened by fresh recruits on its road. He understood the art of keeping his troops under the severest discipline. His diary shows that he ordered men to be beheaded for having driven the horses of the peasantry, or destroyed the standing corn in a village.* Still in the bloom of youth, he displayed those brilliant qualities of energy and love of conquest which had raised his ancestors to greatness. AVhat power had Hungary, in the condition we have just described, of resisting such an attack ? Ibrahim Pacha had already laid siege to Peter- wardein before the Hungarians had taken any measures for defence. The troops had not long before been called out, but none had appeared : contributions had been demanded, but scarcely any thing had been raised. With great difficulty, Anton Fugger had been induced to advance fifty thousand gulden on the Neusohler mines. The young king took the field with a following of not more than three thousand men/j" stiicken zur Geschichte der Verhaltnisse zwischen Oesterreich Ungern unci der Pforte, 1530, p. 42. * Hammer's Geschichte der Osmanen, v. iii. p. 639. I Broderithus : Descriptio cladis Mohaczianae in appendice Bonfinii ed Sambucus, p. 558. See Tiu'nschwanb, p. 204. Chap. IV. BATTLE OF MOHACZ. 461 Ibrahim had conquered Pcterwardein, and had welcomed his sovereign on the Hungarian soil with an offering of five hundred heads. The Ottoman army was now nearly three hundred thousand strong, and had begun to ascend the Danube : Soliman caused it to be ^^roclaimed through his camp that his object was Ofen. Meanwhile the troops of some Gespannschafts (counties) and a few magnates collected around the king ; a few companies hired by the pope, and a few by Poland, also joined him. On his arrival in Tolna, he might have from ten to twelve thousand men.* The most pressing necessity was to defend the passage of the Drave, whither the palatine, who was certainly not deficient in zeal, now hastened. But a number of magnates refused to advance without the king. Sohman thus gained time to build a convenient bridge, over which his anny marched without interruption for five days. King Louis said, " I see my head must be stuck up instead of yours ; well then, I will carry it thither myself! " He proceeded to the fatal plain of Mohacz, fully resolved with his small band to await in the open field the overwhelming force of the enemy. The troops of the kingdom were as yet far from being assembled ; the two mightiest vassals, the Ban of Croatia and the Woiwode of Transylvania, were still missing ; the Bohemian and Moravian allies had not yet arrived; — with all its recent additions, the army in Mohacz amounted to from twenty to * Among tliem, 4000 foot. Brod. 559. He does not state the exact number of the cavalry. 462 BATTLE OF MOHACZ. Book IV. twenty-four thousand men. Few of them had ever seen a pitched battle. The command was intrusted to a Muscovite friar, Paul Tomory, Archbishop of Colocza, who had formerly distinguished himself in a few marauding expeditions. Spite of all these disadvantages, the Hungarians still indulged the most extravagant self-confidence. It would have been impossible to induce them to retreat * ; they would not even form a barricade of their waggons. As soon as the enemy descended the hills in front of them, into the plain where they lay encamped, Avith- out a moment's pause they rushed upon him. But Soliman was as prudent as he was daring. The Hungarians thought to decide the battle by an impetuous charge ; " they trusted in their harness of the blue steel." Ill provided with infantry or artillery, they made war in the spirit and manner of the past centur}^ On the other hand, Soliman, barbarian as he might otherwise be, knew how to avail himself of the most recent improvements in the advancing art of war ; he had planted three hundred cannon behind the heights we have mentioned, and his janizaries were as well skilled in the use of the matchlock as any sol- diery in the world. The Hungarians found no difficulty in dispersing the advanced Turkish squadrons and occupying the hill. Already they thought they had conquered, but here they * Ongari si havea potuti ritrar salvo verso Buda. Copia di un aviso avuto da Constantinopoli in Hammer's Wiens erste aufgehobene tiirkische Belagerung App., No. viii.: a simple but good statement. Chap. IV. BATTLE OF MOIIACZ. 4G3 first beheld the boundless camp of the Osmans. They rushed forward headlong, as if the im- possible were possible to their valour, and were received by a tremendous fire ; the right whig, from the artillery, the centre from the musketry of the janizaries, while the Sipahi horse attacked them on both flanks. Here personal valour could avail nothing. The Hungarians were im- mediately thrown into disorder*, their best men fell, the others took to flight. The young king was compelled to flee. It was not even granted him to die in the field of battle ; a far more miserable end awaited him. Mounted behind a Silesian soldier, who served him as a guide, he had already been carried across the dark waters that divide the plain; his horse was already climbing the bank, when he slipped, fell back, and buried himself and his rider in the morass. f This rendered the de- feat decisive. The leader of the nation — the king — and a great part of the magnates had fallen. J For the present, no further resistance could be thought of. The land was ravaged far and wide ; * Extract from the Heiduck Nagy's History of the Cam- paign of Mohacz, preserved in Petschewi's Ottoman History (the singular example of a really useful Oriental narrative from an Oriental work) : communicated by Hammer, in Hormayr's Archiv. for 1827, No. 15. •j- This account (in Nagy and others) is confirmed by the letter in Katona, xix. p. 697., concerning the discovery of the body. t Katona, p. 703. " Magna dehinc rerum conversio secuta fuit, pluribus et pragsulibus et proceribus una hac dimicatione exstinctis." 464 CLAIMS TO THE SUCCESSION. Book IV. the keys of Ofen were carried to the sultan, who celebrated the Beiram there. Soliman had gained one of those victories which decide the fate of nations during long epochs. The great power at the head of which he stood, the power which had carried the principles of Islam, such as they had been established in Asia under Tartar influence, into the other quarters of the globe, had been raised by him to complete ascend- ency in eastern Europe. Who was strong enough to overturn it ? roubli ng himself little about the defence of the places he had taken, he turned back and placed the trophies of Ofen on the Plip- podrome and the mosque of Aja Sofia. That two thrones, the succession to which was not entirely free from doubt, had thus been left vacant, was an event that necessarily caused a great asfitation throuo:hout Christendom. It was still a question whether such a European power as Austria would continue to exist ; — a question which it is only necessary to state, in order to be aware of its vast importance to the fate of mankind at large, and of Germany in particular. Before the nature of the relations which might subsist between Europe and the Ottoman empire could even be discussed, this great question had to be decided. The claims of Ferdinand to both crowns, un- questionable as they might be in reference to the treaties with the reigning houses, were opposed in the nations themselves, by the right of election and the authority of considerable rivals. In Hungary, as soon as the Turks had retired, John Zapolya appeared with the fine army which Chap. IV. PLANS OF THE DUKES OF BAVARIA. 465 he had kept back from the conflict : the fall of the king was at the same time the fall of his adversaries. The faction which had framed the resolutions of Ilatwan was now omnipotent ; and, at an assembly at Tokay, they determined that, as nothing could be undertaken without a Idng and ruler, they would immediately proceed to elect one, and to that end convoke a diet at Stuhlweissenburg."* Even in Tokay, however, John Zapolyawas saluted as king. Meanwhile, the dukes of Bavaria conceived the design of getting possession of the throne of Bohemia: in this they were encouraged by several obsequious nobles of that country; and in Sep- tember they despatched their councillor Weissen- felder to Prague, who found their prospects so promising that they determined to send a solemn embassy to Bohemia. Nor was it in the two kingdoms alone that these pretenders had a considerable party. The state of politics in Europe was such as to insure them powerful supporters abroad. In the first place, Francis I. was intimately con- nected with Zapolya : in a short time a delegate from the pope was at his side, and the Germans in Rome maintained that Clement assisted the faction of the Woiwode with money.f Zapolya sent an * Among the contradictory accounts of tlie chroniclers, the only trustworthy document is the answer of the King of Poland to the invitation sent to him from Tokay. Dogiel and Katona, xix. p. 748. f Ziegler, Vita Clem. VII., in Schelhorn's Amocnitates, ii. 308. : " Ea pecunia (he is speaking of exactions) Trentschinii factionem contra Ferdinandum regem aliquamdiu juvit." VOL. II. H H 466 PLANS OF THE DUKES OF BAVARIA. Book IV. agent to Venice with a direct request to be ad- mitted a member of the Ligue of Cognac. In Bohemia, too, the French had long had devoted partisans. We find that, in the year 1523, they had the project of attacking Austria from the side of Bohemia, and had carried on a corre- spondence with an ancestor of Wallenstein, with that object.* As the King of Poland, who had for some time withdrawn himself from the Austrian alliance, and likewise set up pretensions to the throne of Bohemia, found he had no chance of success, the Polish as well as the French envoys promised their support to the agents of Bavaria. By this political combination Duke William of Ba- varia was encouraged to form still more ambitious plans. We have already observed, that Kome felt the necessity of placing a king of the Romans by the side of, or rather in opposition to, the emperor Charles. Meanwhile Duke William, one of the most devoted adherents of the Curia, had already con- ceived the thought of raising himself to this high station, and had actually taken steps in consequence. At the same diet of 1524, in which the Council of Regency was overthrown, the houses of Bavaria and the Palatinate, engaged in a common struggle against the nobles, laid aside their old hostilities and concluded a new hereditary alliance. Leon- hard Eck addressed amicable reproaches to the * Lettera di Franc. Massario in Sanuto, torn, xxxv., calls liim " Waldestein, barone e gran capitano di Boliemia, volentier. veniria a servir la S"" n""*^ cum 10, 20, 30™ persone. Questo e quel capitano che '1 re X™" voleva condurre." Chap. IV. PLANS OF THE DUKES OF BAVAEIA. 467 elector, that at the last vacancy of the imperial crown, he had forgotten his own pretensions, and had subsequently ceded his right to the Vicariate to the Council of Regency.* Shortly afterwards, when the 2'>rinces met at the cross-bow match at Heidelberg, which we have al- ready mentioned, Duke AYilliam no longer concealed that he aspired to the Roman crown for himself. At an interview at Ellwangen, soon after, tliey again discussed the matter. Duke William ap- peared willing to give the precedency to the elector ; but as that prince had taken no measures towards the accomplishment of such an object, he commenced negotiations without scruple on his own account. In the autumn of 1526, overtures were also made to the Elector of Saxony, though without success, since that prince belonged to a party professing opinions radically diiFerent.f The consequences that must have resulted, had this scheme succeeded, are so incalculable, that it is not too much to say they would have completely changed the political history of Europe. The power of Bavaria would have outweighed that of Austria in both German and Slavonian countries, and Zapolya, thus supported, would have ])een able to maintain his station ; the Ligue, and with * Memoires de la Vie et des Faicts de Frederic I. (Comte Palatin), in Hoffman's Sammlung ungedruckter Nachrichten, ch. xlii. •j- " There are traces," says the Bavarian Staatsarchivar_ Stumpf, '•' that Pope Clement VII. and the King of France tried to forward the duke's designs." 468 ELECTION TO THE Book IV. it high ultra-montane opinions, would have held the ascendency in eastern Europe. Never was there a project more pregnant with danger to the growing power of the house of Austria. Ferdinand behaved with all the prudence and energy which that house has so often displayed in difficult emergencies. For the present, the all-important object was the crown of Bohemia. His situation as husband of a Princess of Hun- gary and Bohemia, and as brother of the widowed queen, brought him into frequent personal contact with the most puissant nobles. He perfectly under- stood the art of turning to his own advantage every favourable disposition arising out of these circum- stances, and of extinguishing every germ of anti- pathy by favours. The influential High Burggrave, Low von Rozmital, received the assurance that the account which he was bound to render of his admi- nistration would either be altogether dispensed with, or very slightly inspected. Important concessions were also made to Schwanberg, Schlich, Pflug, and the Duke of Miinsterberg. The Chancellor Adam von Neuhaus had hastened in the retinue of the Austrian envoy, to use his influence in favour of Ferdinand. While a certain number of Bohemian nobles were quickly induced by these measures to declare that they would acknowledge no other master than the archduke*, no means were neglected of conciliating the mass of the population. Though * Extract from a letter of Weissenfelder in Stumpf, Baierns Polit. Gescli. i. p. 39. Chap. IV. THRONE OF BOHEMIA. 469 thoroughly convinced that his wife (and therefore he himself) had an unquestionable hereditary right to the throne, he carefully avoided oflfending the pride which the nation felt in the belief that, in a case like the present, it had absolute freedom of election. He let it appear that his claim was by no means the chief motive for his offering himself to their choice. At hrst he thought of at once assuming the title of king, but this project he dropped at the advice of his envoys. He acceded to the demand of the Bo- hemians, that he would take upon himself a part of the public debt, inconvenient as that was in the straitened state of his finances. Nor did he disdain to give the most careful answers to all the objections which his envoys said were urged against him.* In a word, all his measures were taken with such skill and prudence, that on the. day of election, though the Bavarian agent had, up to the last mo- ment, not the slightest doubt of the success of his negotiations, an overwhelming majority in the three estates elected Ferdinand to the throne of Bohemia. This took place on the 23d October, 1526. A solemn embassy proceeded to Vienna to invite him to take possession of his new kingdom; — one of the fairest in the world, including, as it did, Silesia and Lusatia. A very important question, deserving a more ac- curate inquiry, here suggests itself ; — what influence religious considerations had in this election. AH the countries subject to the Bohemian crown * Extract from the Instructions and the Ambassador's Corre- spondence, Bucholtz, ii. p. 407. u u 3 470 ELECTION TO THE Book IV. were filled with anti-papal elements. In Silesia and the Lusatias, the evangelical doctrines were widely diffused ; in Bohemia and Moravia, the Utraquists formed a most powerful community. It is hardly probable that, in the choice of a king, the interests of these different confessions were disregarded. In this point of view, Ferdinand was infinitely to be preferred to a duke of Bavaria. The dukes were unqualified adherents of the papacy, and fierce per- secutors. The archduke, on the contrary, however strict a catholic himself, however careful to appear so (for in all the countries in question there was stiU a very considerable catholic party), had for some time showed great moderation in his hereditary do- minions. We have seen how little he was inclined to favour the secular claims of the clergy, and what equivocal decrees the German diet had passed under his influence. Moreover, he was at this moment at open war with the pope ; the Bohemian election took place while the recruiting for Frundsberg's army was going on. We find no traces of the negotiations which were probably carried on with relation to rehgious affairs ; but from the Recesses it appears that Ferdinand ac- ceded to very remarkable concessions. It is weU konwn that the court of Kome never fully recognised the Compactata of the Council of Basle (a line of policy it afterwards pursued with reference to many treaties unfavourable to itself), and, since the time of Pius II., had expressly refused to confirm them. Ferdinand now promised to give their full efii- Chap. IV. THRONE OF BOHEMIA. 471 cacy to the Compactata *, and to assume, in treat- ing with the pope, that they were conhrmed.f One of the greatest grievances of the Utraquists was, that they had long been A\'ithout bishops to ordain their priests, and that they had been reduced to many strange and even hurtful expedients to supply this want. Ferdinand promised to procure for them an archbishop who should put in force the Compactata in relation to both spiritual and temporal affairs. In short, he solemnly undertook not only to protect the Utraquists, but to obtain for them a fresh recognition of their privileges. This was, perhaps, rendered less difficult by the fact, that a party hostile to Luther was now formed among the Utraquists themselves ; notwithstanding which, however, they were still treated as heretics. Nor were the general abuses and errors of the church entirely forgotten. Ferdinand promised the Bohemians to take measures to promote a Christian union and reformation — a promise which, indeed, either side might interpret in its own favour, — but which, as it related only to the conduct of the emperor, not to that of the pope, — to some assem- bly, of whatever nature, not to a general council in which all the nations of Christendom were to take part J, — could, in fact, hardly be understood in any * " Quod rursuni ad suum vigorem pervenirent." Ferdi- nand! Literae, 15tli Dec. 1526, ap. Dumont, iv. pp. 1. 469. f " Promisimus, cum summo Pontifice illud tractare, ac si Boliemis ac Moravis ilia (compactata) cum effectu essent con- firmata." X Excerpt of the article inserted in the Landtafel, Bucholtz, ii. p. 420. u u 4 472 ELECTION TO THE Book IV. other sense than that intended by the German diets. The Silesians expressed themselves still more plainly and unequivocally. At a meeting .of the States at Leobschiitz, on the 4th December, 1526, after they had recognised Ferdinand's hereditary right — though not mthout keeping up the appearance of a certain freedom, — they commissioned the delegates who were to be the bearers of this recognition to Vienna, (among Avhom were princes greatly inclined to evangelical opinions, — for example, Frederic of Liegnitz and George of Brandenburg,) to call the attention of the new king and archduke to the putting an end to religious dissension, " according to the gospel and word of God." * In conformity with these instructions the delegates entreated the king to * The words of the instruction in Buckisch, Religionsacten, MS., torn. i. p. 206. are as follows : — " Und nachdem der allm, Gott aus seiner gottlichen Verordnung geschickt und verliehen, dass wir S. Kon. Mt. zu unserm Erbkonige eintrachtiglich angenommen, welcher einmiittigen und trostlichen Meinung wir s. Allmachtigkeit billig Lob und Dank sagen, so befinden wir nun in Notturft unser Seel und Leibs gliickseliger Wolfahrt, die jetzige vorfallende Irrung und Zwiespalt, so sich in dem h. christl. Glauben zugetragen, bei S. K. M. anzuregen, damit dieselb aus solchem Irrthum und Zertrennung erhaben, und nach Verordnung der h. christl. Kirchen dem Evangelio und Worte Gottes gemass nach S. K. Mt. Ausssatz und durch unser aller einmiithig und freundliches Vergleichen in recht christl. Bestand und gleichformigen Gebrauch gebracht wiirde, welches E. L. ihn und E. F. Gn. bei S. K. Mt. alles in Unterthiinigkeit bitten werden, auf dass S. K. Mt. dasselbe als ein christl. Konig zu Trost und Heil unsrer Seelen Seligkeit, auch zu Dempfung erfolgenden Unraths nach dem h. Evangelio gnlidiglich zu ver- Chap. IV. THRONE OF BOHEMIA. 473 take into consideration the establishment of a Christian ordinance according to the standard of the gospel ; that so all might live together in peace and unity. Ferdinand repUed, he would do all that coidd conduce to christian unity and the praise of Almighty God.* As opposed to the traditional opinion, it may sound like a paradox to affirm — what however the general combination of events warrants us in concluding, — that the bearing which the house of Austria had at this crisis assumed,' — opposed to Rome in its political, and moderate in its religious views, contributed to secure to it the obedience of these countries, which Avere filled with such va- rious elements of opposition to Rome. By a singular concatenation of circumstances, ordnen und zu verschaffeu geruhe." — "And since Almighty God, in his divine providence, has ordained and granted that we have unanimously accepted H. R. M>'. to be our hereditary king, for which unanimous and comfortable opinion we give due praise and thanks to the Almighty, we now find it needful for the welfare of our souls and bodies to bring the errors and divisions which now prevail in the holy Christian faith before H. R. M''., whereby the same may be raised out of such error and division, and according to the ordinances of the holy Christian church, and agreably to the gospel and the word of God may, conformably with H. R. M^'.'s pleasure, and by our unanimous and amicable agreement, be brought to a true Christian understanding, and a uniform practice. Your princely graces will, in all submission, pray 11. R. M*'., in order that H. R. M'., as a Christian king, may be pleased graciously to order and procure the same to be done according to the Holy Gospel, for the comfort and benefit of our souls, and for the prevention of future troubles." * Petition and Resolution, in Schickfuss, Schlesischc Chronik, iii. 171. Also in the Appendix to Buchoitz, ii. 523. 474 OCCUPATION OF HUNGARY. Book IV. the high Romanist opinions, of which Bavaria was the champion, contributed, from the very first, to the defeat of her plans. On his brother's birth-day, the 24th of February, 1527, Ferdinand was crowned at Prague ; on the 11th of May he- received the act of homage and allegiance in the market-place in Breslau, and the German princes hastened to accept from the new suzerain a renewal of the fiefs which they held of the Bohemian crown. A Muscovite ambassador, who happened to be then at the court, expressed his surprise that so magnificent a kingdom should have passed into the hands of a new lord without a sword being drawn. * The aifairs of Hungary were not so easily or so peacefully settled. That country oiFered a certain analogy to Bo- hemia in a religious point of view. Queen Mary, around whom the Austrian party gathered, was esteemed a friend of the new opinions : she did not keep the fasts, read Lutheran writings, and had followers of Luther at her court. In November, 1526, Luther dedicated a psalm to her, for con- solation under her misfortune. On the other hand, Zapolya's partisans affected strict orthodoxy : their chief organ, Yerboez, passed among the Lutherans for a great hypocrite ; he had caused a covered way to be constructed from his own house to the neighbouring Capuchin convent, that he might enjoy uninterrupted communication Avith it.f * Herberstein Tl. M. C, p. 154. f Turnschwamb, in Engcl, i. 197. " Stephen Verbocz ami- cus S"'." Relatio Actorum ; Engel, ii. p. 55. Chap. IV. OCCUPATION OF HUNGARY. 475 The political consequences of these conflicting opinions were, however, not very obvious in Hun- gary. The inclinations in favour of a church differing in form from that established, were as yet too scattered, too insignificant, to produce any sensible effect. Ferdinand, who had been re- proached with surrounding his wife with Germans, who, it was said, were all Lutherans*, carefully endeavoured to maintain his reputation as a good catholic. On the Good Friday of 1527 he took occasion to admonish his sister concerning her re- ligious leanings. f On Corpus Christi day of the same year, he was seen following the procession through the streets of Vienna, in regal ornaments, Avith a sword girt at his side and a missal in his hand, looking around to see that every body paid due reverence to the holy elements. From time to time he issued mandates for the maintenance of the ancient practices of the church. But in Hungary, superiority of force was at that time more important than questions of religion. It could not be said that the whole nation was split into two hostile parties ; rather, that two political tendencies existed in its bosom; the one inclining to the court and the palatine, the other, * Diarium in Comitiis Pcsthanis, in Engel, ii, 51, " Dcdit ei Germanos qui omnes fuerimt Lutherani." In Katona, xix. 515. Art. V. " Fukkarii ablegeutur : oratores Caisareus et Venetus (the latter only for the sake of the former, as the Venetian Relation expresses) exniittantur : Lutlierani etianx omnes de regno extirpentur, — ubicumque reperti fuerint, libcrc comburantur." f Correspondence in Bucholtz, ix. 476' OCCUPATION OF HUNGARY. Book IV. to the opposition and Zapolya. After the disaster of Mohacz they stood in the same relation to each other as before ; the preponderancy of either was de- pendent on the momentary assent of the majority, who had attached themselves decidedly neither to the one party nor the other. At first, when Zapolya came forward, full armed and powerful out of the general desolation, he had the uncontested superiority. The capital of the king- dom sought his protection, after which he marched to Stuhlweissenburg, where his partisans bore down all attempts at opposition * : he was elected and crowned (11th of November, 1526) ; in Croatia, too, he was acknowledged king at a diet ; he filled all the numerous places, temporal and spiritual, left vacant by the disaster of Mohacz, with his friends. We have mentioned the negotiations he set on foot in all directions. In Venice and Rome, in Munich and Constantinople, we find his agents. When some one showed him an address of Fer- dinand's, exhorting the Hungarians to abandon him, he smiled, and said, " kingdoms were not con- quered in that manner." But Ferdinand soon had recourse to other ex- pedients. The party of the former court had still sufficient strength and importance to convoke a diet on behalf of Ferdinand, the husband of a Jagellon, who had * So at least the Bishop of Nitra, Podmanizky, excused him- self for placing the crown on Zapolya's head. He says he should have been in danger of his life if he had refused. — Diploma Ferdinandi ; Katoua, xix. p. 752. Chap. IV. OCCUPATION OF HUNGARY. 477 SO many ancient treaties in his favour. It was held at Presburg — also in November, 1526 — and elected him king. Stephen Bathory and Alexis Thiirzo, the Bishop of Wesprim, were extremely active in his service. There is a diploma of Ferdinand's, in which he names his adherents, expresses his gratitude to them, and promises his supporters the best posts and offices hereafter.* Nor did lie neglect to try the efficacy of gold ; mindful of the hint of his sister Mary, that he could accomplish more with a gulden now, than in future perhaps with a large sum. Heavily as they pressed upon him, his gifts were still insufficient to put an end to the waverings of the magnates. Ferdinand saw indeed — for he had too much good sense to indulge in any illusions — that the grand thing was superiority in arms. The acquisition of the crown of Bohemia gradually enabled him to obtain the necessary force, and he received some pecuniary aid from his brother. If he hesitated to reject the negotiations which the King of Poland set on foot at Olmiitz, it was, as he expressly says in an extant letter, merely in order to gain time for his preparations. At length he had proceeded far enough, f * Katona, XX. 19. " Pra^laturas et dignitates et beneficia ec- clesiastica ac bona et jura hereditaria ct officia qua; ad oolla- tionem nostram re 21 am — devolventur, prsefatis consiliariis et his qui nostras partes sequentur, pro suis cuique meritis ante alios donabimus." — Ferdinand describes the circumstances of both elections in a letter to his brother, of 31st Dec. 1526. (Gevay, p. 30.) He asserts that he was elected by a vast majority. -j- Ferdinand to Mary, 7th April. " Combien que nay nulle- 478 occurATioN of Hungary. BookIV. On the 31st July, 1527, Ferdinand reached the half-ruined tower on the high road between Vienna and Ofen, which marks the boundary between Austria ' and Hungary : he was received by the palatine and a few Hungarian horsemen. As soon as he touched the soil of Hungary, he alighted from his horse and swore to maintain the privileges of the kingdom. He had brought a noble army into the field. The grants of his new kingdom had enabled him to raise an excellent body of infantry : he was pre- ceded by Katzianer ; • and he now distinguished himself by the most rigorous discipline, which he enforced even on the Bohemians. Rogendorf, who had returned from Spain, and the veteran captains, Marx Sittich and Eck von Reischach, had brought up the most experienced lands- knechts. Besides these, the king's new vassals, Casimir of Brandenburg, George of Saxony and the aged warrior, Erich of Brunswick, had been in- duced to send some squadrons of German reiters to his aid. Casimir, notwithstanding that he had adopted decided, though moderate, evangelical opinions, was invested with the chief command. Nicholas von Salm, whose name we met with at the battle of Pavia, and Johann Hilchen, the com- panion of Sickingen, were with this army. It amounted to 8000 foot and 3000 horse. The king was advised not to expose his person to danger, lest ment en voulente — riens traicter ny conclure, neantmoings — ■ pour entretenir les affaires jusques a ce que sole de tout prest pour me mectre aux champs, . . . ie luy (au Eoi de Pologne) ay bien voulu accorder icelle journee." — Gevay, p. 60. Chap. IV. OCCUPATION OF HUNGARY. 479 he should share the fate of his predecessor ; but as at this moment he received the intelligence that a son was born to him, and the succession thus se- cured, he insisted on accompanying the expedition.* Nor did this assume a very formidable aspect. The first fortified places, Comorn, Tata, and Gran, fell without much resistance : the excellent artillery, the red-liot cannon balls, quickly reduced the garri- son to despair. The Germans advanced without interruption; and as soon as it appeared possible that Ferdinand might be successful, Zapolya's fol- lowers began to desert him. The fleet in the Danube went over first, — the military imj)ortance of which was equal to its moral effect ; next the Ban Bathyany, who had already changed sides more than once, returned to that of Ferdinand. Peter Pereny, who is regarded as the first evangelical magnate in Hungary, and Valentine Torok, sus- pected of being actuated by the desire to retain possession of some sequestrated church lands, ap- peared with splendid retinues, f The example of . * Ursinus Velius de Bello Pannonico, eel. Kollar. From the collations in Katona, who has inserted this work entire, it is evident how inferior is Isthuansi and even Zermegh to these contemporaneous and circumstantial accounts. t Gebhardi Gesch. v. Ungarn, ii. 287. In Bucholtz, ix. 323., there is a document concerning the submission of Pereny, which probably relates to this matter, and is extremely remarkable. Pereny represents the following as his first demand: — " Inprimis cupit D. Petrus per S. M'®™ assecurari, ne a religione sua unquam prohibeatur, quandoquidem verum et bonum Chris- tianum se profiteatur et scientem fidem Ch""""" per Christum jnxta evangeliunu^ Ferdinand answers : " Concedit M. S. uti 480 occurATioN of Hungary. BookIV. tliese great men was followed by innumerable ob- scurer ones. Zapolya saw that liis antagonist was the stronger, and neither ventured to meet him in the field, nor even to hold the capital against him, but retreated to his own dominions. On the 20th August, St. Stephen's day, Ferdinand made his entry into Ofen. Whilst the States of the kingdom assembled about him in that city, the German reiters under Nicholas von Salm — Markgrave Casimir having died at Ofen — pursued the Woiwode across the Theis. Never did the German troops display more bravery and constancy.* They had often neither meat nor bread, and were obliged to live on such fruits as they found in the gardens : the inhabitants were wavering and uncertain — they submitted, and then revolted again to the enemy ; Zapolya's troops, aided by their knowledge of the ground, made se- veral very formidable attacks by night ; but the Germans evinced, in the moment of danger, the skill and determination of a Roman legion : they showed, too, a noble constancy under difficulties and privations. At Tokay they defeated Zapolya and compelled him to quit Hungary ; after which they had the honour to escort their royal leader and se gerat verum et bonum Ch''""™ ut cujiisque erga deum pietas fidesque nostra vera et catolica dictai-e et postulare videtur." A concession which, though very equivocal, seems to have satisfied Pereny. "Without doubt, he thought himself also in possession of the fides vera et catholica. * Velius : " Hand unquam alias Germani militis virtus et patientia in bello magis enituit." CiiAr. IV. OCCUPATION OF HUNGARY. 481 countryman to Stuhlweissenburg in silken and em- broidered surcoats over their glittering armour. On the 3d November, 1527, Ferdinand was crown- ed in Stuhlweissenburg : only five of the magnates of the kingdom adhered to Zapolya. The victory appeared complete. Ferdinand, however, distinctly felt that this appearance was delusive. " Monseigneur," lie writes in the same November to his brother, " I do not doubt that the nature of the Hungarians, — the fickleness of their will, is known to you.* They nmst be held in with a short rein if you would be sure of them." It was not without great hesitation tliat he could resolve to leave Hungary again at this moment. In Bohemia, too, his power was far from secure. His Bavarian neighbours had not relinquished the liope of driving him from the throne at the first general turn of afi*airs. The Ottomans, meanwhile, acting upon the per- suasion that every land in which the head of their chief had rested belonged of right to them, were pre- paring to return to Hungary ; either to take possession of it themselves, or at first, as was their custom, to bestow it on a native ruler — Zapolya, Avho now eagerly sought an alliance with them — as their vassal. This was a state of things in which the most important events often hang on the fate of a battle. * " Leur muable et ft-agille vouloir." Gevay, p. 120. Bu- choltz, iii. 114. VOL. II. II 482 HUNGARY. Book IV. The house of Austria had no other means of maintaining the position it had reached, than the assistance of the empire, to which it was compelled incessantly to appeal. On the Germans now devolved the defence of Christendom against the Ottoman power. 483 CHAPTER V. FOUNDATION OF EVANGELICAL STATES. So important, in respect of the foreign relations of Germany, were the consequences of the events Avhich coincided with the meeting of the diet at Spire. 13ut that assembly at the same time gave rise to other consequences, affecting the internal affairs of the empire and the church, which, comparatively insignificant as they at first appeared, were intrinsi- cally, and with relation to the whole future condition of Germany, of far higher and more unequivocal importance than any external acquisitions. Those of the States inclined to evangelical opinions under- took to form new ecclesiastical establishments in their territories, on the basis laid doAvn by the Recess of the empire : they proceeded to sever themselves definitively from the world- embracing hierarchy of the Latin church. But as it usually happens that, at the beginning of radical changes, the principles most strongly opposed to the existing order of things are the most prominent and influential, so, in the present case, the extremest objects were those most anxi- ously aimed at ; and the ideas most in favour were those most at variance Avitli the absolute dominion of the papacy. Luther, at an earlier period, had contributed I I 2 484 NEW IDEA OF THE Book IV. to this result. In the year 1523, the Bohemians, having fallen into intolerable confusion and per- plexity, in consequence of their adherence to the necessity of episcopal ordination, he advised them to choose their pastors and bishops themselves without scruple. "^ First prepare yourselves by prayer," said he, " and then assemble together in God's name and proceed to the election. Let the most eminent and respected among you lay their Nhands with good courage on the chosen candidate, and, when this has taken place in several parishes, let the pastors have a right to elect a head or superintendent to visit them, as Peter visited the first Christian communities."* Ideas of this kind were at that time very popular and widely dif- fused, both in Switzerland and Germany. We find even an obscure congregation declaring to its new pastor, that he is not their master but their servant and minister ; peremptorily forbidding him to apply to the bishop concerning any one of his congregation, and threatening him with dismissal, if he does not adhere to the single and eternal word of God.f The congregations began to regard them- * L. de instituendis Ministris Ecclesise ad clarissimum Se- natum Pragensem. 0pp. Jen. ii. p. 554. " Convocatis et con- venientibus libere quorum coi'da Deus tetigerit, ut vobiscum unum sentiant et sapiant, procedatis in nomine Domini et eligite quern et quos volueritis, qui digni et idonei visi fuerint, turn impositis super eos manibus illorum qui potiores inter vos fuerint, confirmetis et commendetis eos populo et ecclesiaa seu universitati sintque hoc ipso vestri episcopi ministri seu pastores. Amen." ■j- Dorfmaister und Gemaind zu Wendelstains Fiirhalten den Ciivr. \^ ' CONSTITUTION OF A CllUllCH. 485 selves as the sources of spiritual power. Had these principles become universal, the edifice of a new church must have been raised on a purely demo- cratical basis. And, in fact, the experiment was tried in one large principality of Germany. There is nothing in the history of these times more remarkable than the decree of the synod Av^hich Landgrave Phihp of Hessen held with the spiritual and temporal estates of his dominions at Romberg. The objection raised by the guardian of the Fran- ciscans of Marburg — tJiat at so small an assembly no decision could be taken on affairs which properly belonged to a general council — w^as easily over- rided ; since even at the diet the impossibility of waiting for such a council had been admitted. On the other hand, Francis Lambert succeeded in esta- blishing the contrary principle — that every Cliris- Amptleuten zu Schwobacli iron newangeenden Pfarrherrn getlian Mittw. nach Galli, 1524. Abgedruckt in Riedercr's Nacliricliteii zur Buchergeschiclitc, &c. ii. 334. " Nachdem ainer cliristlichen Gemain gebiirt, einhellig in sich in die Gemaind zu gi-eifen nacli einem erbarn unverleumpten Mann, . . . welchen audi dieselbe Gemaind INIacht liat wieder abzuschafFen. Der Wider- christ, der sie in der babylonischen Gefangenschaft Iialtc, habc ihnen auch diese Freiheit entzogcn," &c. — The mastei* (magis- trate) and parish of Wendelstain's charge to the functionaries at Schwobach, as to their new priest, Wednesday after Galli, 1524. Printed in Riedercr's Nachrichten, &c., 334. " Afterwards it is incumbent on a Christian congregation to look out unani- mously for an honest and blameless man, . . . whom the same congregation has power to dismiss again. The antichrist who holds you in Babylonish captivity has robbed you of this liberty among others," &c. I 1 3 486 NEW IDEA OF THE Book IV. tian is participant in the priesthood ; that the true church consists only in their fellowship, and that it is for this church to decide, according to God's word, upon articles of faith.* The idea was formed of constituting a church consisting solely of true believers. The following was the scheme drawn up to that effect, f It was proposed that, after a sermon, a meeting- should be held, and every one should be asked whe- ther he was determined to submit himself to the laws, or not. Those who refused should be put out and regarded as heathens. But the names of those who chose to be in the number of the saints, should be written down ; they must not be troubled if, at first, they should be few, for God would soon increase their number : these would constitute the congregation. The most important business of their meetings would be the choice of their spiritual leaders (here simply called bishops). For this station any citizen of irreproachable life and competent instruction should be eligible, whatever were his profession ; but he should be allowed to retain it only so long as he preached the genuine word of God. Each parish or congregation should have some members who should perform military * Paradoxa Francisci Lamberti in Scultetus, Annales Evang. p. 68. Tit.vi. §6. Tit. iii. § 1. ■j" Reformatio ecclesiarum Hassite juxta certissimam sermo- num Dei regulam ordinata in venerabili synodo per clem™'™ Hassorum principem Philippura ao 1526. d. 20tli Oct. Hom- bergi celebrata cui ipse princeps interfuit. Schmincke Monu- menta Hassorum, ii. p. 588. Bickell Zeitschrift des Vereins i'iir hessisclie Geschichte i. 63 — 69. Chap. V. CONSTITUTION OF A CHURCH. 487 service, and a common chest or treasury, to Avliich all should contribute, and out of which the poor, and those who had been driven from their homes for the Gospel's sake, should receive assistance. The right of excommunicating, it was affirmed, is inherent in every man : the crimes which draw down this punishment are specified : absolution can only be granted after sin has been confessed and repented of. [We see that the most rigid church discipline is united with the fullest inde- pendence of the several religious communities. The pretensions set up arc sanctified by the pro- found earnestness of spirit which dictates them.] Every year the churches, represented by bishops and deputies, should assemble in general synod, where all complaints should be heard and doubts resolved. A committee of thirteen should be ap- pointed to prepare the business and lay it before the meeting, to be decided according to God's word. At the general synod, the meeting of which was permanently fixed for the third Sunday after Easter, three visitors were to be chosen, who were to examine the state of each individual church. It is very remarkable that the man who worked out these ideas into so complete a scheme of church government, was a foreigner — a Frenchman of Avignon — who, converted by Zwingli, had become deeply imbued with evangelical doctrines in the school of Luther. The ideas are the same on which the French, Scotch, and American churches were afterwards founded, and indeed on which the ex- istence and the development of North America I I 4 488 PRINCIPLE OF THE Book IV. may truly be said to rest. Their historical im- portance is beyond all calculation. We trace them in the very first attempt at the constitution of a church ; they were adopted by a small German synod. It was another question, however, whether they could be carried into execution in Germany ge- nerally. Luther at least had already renounced them. In the first place, he found them attended with almost insurmountable difficulties. Throughout the whole of his labours, he had found a powerful ally in the desire of the higher secular ranks to emancipate themselves from the immediate super- vision of the clergy. People would not now consent to have an equally galling yoke laid upon them in another form. Moreover, Luther found that he had no men fitted for an institution of this kind. He was often highly incensed at the stub- born indocility of the peasants, who could not even be prevailed on to maintain their clergy. He said " the ordinances of the church fared as they might do if they had to be practised in the market-place, among Turks and heathen : the greater part stood and gaped, as if they were only looking at something new." * In short, the whole state of things was-not adapted to such institutions. If these ideas, which we may describe as ecclesiastically democratic, afterwards triumphed in other countries, it was * Preface to the Book on the German Mass. Altenb. iii. 468. CiiAi-. V. EVANGELICAL ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 489 ])ccanse the new church rose in opposition to the civil power ; its real root and strength were in the lower classes of the people. But it was far other- wise in Germany. The new churches were founded under the protection, the immediate influence, of the reigning authorities, and its form was naturally determined by that circumstance. For the ideas which find their way into the world are modified by external circumstances. The moment of their production has an inevitable and permanent effect on their whole existence ; they live on under the same conditions which at- tended their birth. It is worth while, at the point at which we are arrived, where we have to examine into the found- ation of the evangelical church, to endeavour to acquire a precise and compreliensive notion of the circumstances under which it took place. We shall thus be able to form a more exact estimate of the lawfulness of the measures adopted. The principle of the ecclesiastical law of the evangelical church, on Avhich the whole structure is founded, may, if I mistake not, be arrived at by an historical deduction. The first and most important consideration which presents itself is, that the real origin of the movement is to be found in the internal divisions of the church ; that the secession took place within her own proper domain. A university, with those nurtured in its bosom, set the example ; the lower clergy through a great part of Germany followed ; they were the men who changed the opinions of 490 PKINCIPLE OF THE Book IV. all classes, the lowest as well as the highest — who carried all along with them. In innumer- able places the established form of worship fell of itself. It was the immediate business of the spiritual power to repress this movement; — but it was unable to do so. The pope's bulls were not executed. In one portion of the empire the secular power no longer lent its arm to enforce the ordinances of the bishops. The new opinions were become so strong in a number of the princes of the empire, that they no longer regarded this as their duty. Hence the ecclesiastical power had addressed it- self to the emperor, and an edict had been published in its favour ; but as this did not spring from any intrinsic necessity but from partial political con- siderations, it had been found impossible to carry it into execution. After all the ebbs and flows of the religious agitation, the diet had at length de- termined not to revoke it, but to leave to the dis- cretion of every member of the empire, whether he would execute it or not. What under these circumstances could be the re- sult in the territories infected with the ideas of the reformation? Should their princes seek to restore an authority Avith which they had incessantly been at bitter strife, which had drawn upon itself the hatred of the whole nation, and whose ministry they deemed unchristian? The Recess of the diet did not enjoin this upon them. It said, that no man must be robbed of his goods or his revenues ; the re-establishment of the spiritual jurisdiction was CiiAP. V. EVANGELICAL ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 491 purposely passed over in silence. Or were they to wait till a council should be convened, and should restore order? It was impossible to foresee when that might take place ; — the diet itself had found it impossible. Nor could things be left to their own undirected course, or to chance. If the nation were not to be given up to a wild anarchy, the existing lawful authorities must take measures for the restoration of order. If it be asked, how the princes of Germany were empowered to act thus, their warrant must not be traced to a sort of episcopal authority ; at least not at the beginning. It was on this occasion tliat Luther expressly declared, " that the temporal power was not commanded to govern spiritually." Another opinion then put forward is more plau- sible ; namely, that the church actually existing committed to the sovereign of the country the office of supervision. Luther, however, who maturely weighed all these things, and would do nothing without full certainty, only said, " that people prayed the princes, out of love and for God's sake, to take upon themselves this affair." The new church was not yet itself constituted ; it is quite certain that it did not esteem itself competent to confer a right on others. The right, properly so called, is derived, if I mis- take not, from another source. It were hardly possible to question the competency of the empire, in the prevailing state of confusion, to frame ordinances respecting ecclesiastical, as well as civil affairs, at a regular assembly like that in- 492 PRINCIPLE OF THE Book. IV. tended to be held at Spire. It is true that scruples were urged from more than one quarter, but these scruples were at a subsequent period removed. Otherwise we must call in question the legality of the Religious Peace, as well as of the peace of Westphalia, neither of which was ever acknowledged by the papal power. Nor was the validity of the Recesses of 1523 and 1524, which were so important to the cause of re- ligion, ever doubted in Germany. Had the assembly of the empire, proceeding in this course, used its unquestioned right, and organ- ised a reform for all classes, a total revolution must have been the result. The meeting of the empire could not, it is true, come to any such unanimous decision ; but it did not on that account relinquish its powers, as is proved by the way in which it subsequently used them. At the time we are speaking of, the diet deemed it expedient — for that is the point on which the whole depends — to entrust the exercise of its rights to the territorial rulers. For what other interpretation can be put upon the liberty granted by the diet to the princes, to agree with their respective subjects whether or not they would obey the edict of Worms ? — a matter necessitating the most decisive and sweep- ing measures.* What the assembly of the empire * " Das ist je die Wahrheit, dass das kais. Edict anders nichts iiineii liiilt, denn die Sachen unsern h. Glauben vind Religion, audi die Irsallehren und Missbiiiuch so daraus ent- sprungcii seyn, belangend. So denn an denselben, nemlich wie Chap. V. EVANGELICAL ECCLESIASTICAL LAW. 493 was not unanimous or determined enough to ex- ecute, it left to be executed by the several States. Thus the matter was understood by Landgrave Philip, when he invited his " subjects of spiritual and temporal estate " to repair to Homberg, " in order to come to an agreement with them in aiFairs relating to the holy faith." Markgrave Casimir of Ijrandenburg takes the same ground, when, as a god-loving prince (as he calls himself) and a dutiful subject of his imperial majesty, he makes an arrangement ^vith the deputies of his dominions, the spirit of v/hich, notwithstanding a certain dis- creet reserve, is unquestionably evangelical. We possess a little treatise of that time, in which not only the competency, but the duty of j^rinces to make regulations conformable with the standard of the Divine Word, concerning the whole Christian unci was man glauben, was man lehren predigen und halten, was man audi in solchem fliehen und vermeiden soil, cin ganz christlich Leben und unser einige Seligkeit ohne Mittel gelegen ist, ... so folget gewisslich, dass der angezeigte Artikel auf ein ordentlich christlich Leben Regiment und Wesen muss gezogen werden. Die hineingebrachten Wort des Edicts machen audi den Artikel viel liiuterer." (Worte der gleich anzufiihrenden Schrift.) — " That is the truth, that the im- perial edict contains nothing but what concerns the aifairs of our holy faith and religion, and the false doctrines and abuses that have sprung out of it. So then, as upon this, — namely how and what we must believe, what should be taught and preached and held, also what should be eschewed and avoided, — a wholly Christian life and our own salvation immediately depend, so it of a certainty follows that the above-mentioned article must extend to the rule and nature of a proper Christian life. The words of the edict make the article much clearer." (Words of the writing in which the above edict is quoted.) 494 Luther's idea of the church. BookIV. life and conversation (since the edict was intended to extend to them also), is deduced frojm the words of the Recess.* To this Luther alludes when he mentions that the Emperor Constantine found him- self constrained, during the prevalence of the Arian troubles, to interfere, at least so far as to summon a council in order to put a stop to further disorders. In a word, it was the incontestable right of the highest power in the state, on the breaking out of these dissensions in the church, to take measures for putting an end to them — the right of the whole collective body of the empire, transferred to the several States, — in virtue of which the evangelical princes proceeded to carry through the reform in their own dominions. Hence the democratical ideas we have mentioned could not gain ascendency ; the existing facts did not tend that way ; the church did not constitute itself from below. Nor had that community of true believers, answering to the idea of the invisi- ble Church, to which the right of giving laws to itself might have been committed, any actual exist- ence. Luther continued to regard the Church as a divine institution to be supported by all temporal authorities (as heretofore) ; instituted not for the * " Ein christlicher Rathschlag . . . welcher gestalt sich alle christliche Personen von Obern unci Untertbanen balten sollen, dass sie das nach Anzeigung eines sondern Artikels im Abscbied des jiingstgebaltenen Reichstagszu Speier . . . mogen verant- worten." — " A Cbristian counsel . . wbat conduct all Christian persons, rulers, or subjects should observe, that they may answer it, according to tbe admonition of a particular article in the re- cess of the last held diet at Spire." — Hortleder, b. i. c. 2. Chap. V. SAXON VISITATION. 495 purpose of representing the great Mystery, but above all, for the instruction of the people ; " as a public incitement," as he expresses it, " to faith and Chris- tianity." Wliilst he denounced the bishops who had suffered the people to remain in such a state of barbarous ignorance, that they had not even learned the Lord's Prayer or the Ten Commandments, and knew nothing of the Christian faith, he, at the same time, combated the notions of some reformers, who thought that education being rendered more access- ible and general, the priesthood might be entirely dispensed with : in his view, the Church is a living, divine institution, for the maintenance and the dif- fusion of the Gospel by the ministering of the sa- craments, and by preaching : his idea is, as he says, " to drive the doctrine of the Scriptures into the hearts of men ; that so present and future genera- tions may be replenished with it." These were the ideas which presided over the ecclesiastical institutions of the Saxon dominions. The elector had nominated certain Visitors who should examine the state of each parish as to doc- trine and life. Instructions dra^\ai up by Melanch- thon, and approved, nay edited, by Luther, were sent in their name to the respective clergymen. These are well worthy of attention. The opposition to the papacy, veliement as was the struggle still pending, had already fallen very much into the back-ground ; it was admitted that this was not a fit topic to be debated in the pul[)it and before the people. The preachers were ad- monished not to use reproachful language con- 496 SAXON VISITATION. Book IV. cerning the pope or the bishops, but to keep solely in view the wants of the many — the im- planting of the evangelical doctrine in the minds of the common people. The greatest respect for all that was traditional and established was shown. It was not thought necessary positively to forbid the use of Latin for the mass : the administration of the sacrament in one kind was even deemed allowable, where any one from scruples of con- science was unwilling entirely to throw off the ancient ritual ; though the compulsion to auri- cular confession was rejected as unauthorised by the Holy Scriptures, it was declared salutary for every one to confess the sins by which he felt his conscience burdened, and about which he needed counsel : nor were even all the festivals of the saints abolished ; it was enough if they were not invoked or their intercession prayed for. The idea which we have already frequently ex- pressed— that the reformers rejected only the preten- sions to infallibility and to exclusive saving power, which were the growth of later centuries, but by no means abandoned the ground on Avhich the Latin church stands, — here presents itself again in great distinctness. They sought only to get rid of the load of perplexing .traditions, to free them- selves from hierarchical usurpations, and to recover the pure meaning of the Holy Scripture — the re- vealed Word.* Whatever could be retained con- * See Luther's Vorrecle auf das Buchlin des Herrn Licen- tiaten Klingenbeil, 1528. Altenb. iv. 456. " Wir haben die Schrift fiir uns, dazu der alten Vater Spriiche und der vorigen Chap.V. SAXON VISITATION. 497 sistently with this, they retained. They took care not to perplex the minds of the common people with difficult controversial, doctrines, especially those concerninc; o-ood w^orks and free will. Not that they had in the least degree fallen off from the convictions they had come to; — from the funda- mental doctrine of justification by faith; from the conflict with the error of seeking salvation in the observance of human ordinances : on the contrary, they repeatedly proclaimed these principles with all possible clearness, but they required at the same time penitence, contrition and sorrow, shunning of sin and piety of life. For it is unquestionably in the power of man to flee from evil and to do that which is right ; the impotence of the will means only that it cannot purify the heart or bring forth divine gifts ; these must be sought from God alone.* The end they proposed to themselves was, to lead men to inward religion, to faith and love, to blameless conversation, honesty and good order. Far from departing on any point whatsoever from genuine Christianity, they made it their chief merit Kirchen Gesetze, dazu des Pupsts selbst eigenen Brauch da bleiben wir bei : vsie aber haben etlicher Viiter Gegenspriiclie, newe Canones und ihi-en eignen Muthwilleii ohn alle Sclirifft und Wort Gottes." — " We have the Scripture for us, and also the maxims of the old fathers and the laws of the early church, and likewise the usage of the pope himself — by that we abide : but they have the contrary maxims of some fathers, new canons, and their own wantonness, without any Scripture and word of God." * Instructions of the Visitatores to the parish priests of the Elector of Saxony. Altenb. iv. 389. VOL. II. K K 498 SAXON VISITATION. Book IV. to imbue the minds of their hearers more and more deeply with its principles. Luther deems it his highest praise that he applies the maxims of the Gospel to common life. He made it his especial business to instruct the several classes of society in their duties, on religious grounds: the secular authorities and their subjects, the heads of families and their several members. He displayed a match- less talent for popular teaching. He tells the clergy how to preach with benefit to the common people ; schoolmasters how to instruct the young in the several stages of learning, — how to connect science with religion, and to avoid exaggeration ; masters of families how to keep their servants in the fear of God : he prescribes to each and all texts for the good ordering of their lives ; the pastor and his flock, men and women, aged people and children, men-servants and maid-servants, young and old; he gives them the formula of the Benedicite and the Gratias at table ; of the morning and evening benediction. He is the patriarch of the austere and devout discipline and manners which characterise the domestic life of Northern Germany. What countless milKons of times has his "Das wait Gott*," reminded the tradesman and the peasant, immersed in the dull routine of the working day, of his relation to the Eternal ! The Catechism, which he published in the year 1529, — of which he said, that he repeated it himself with devotion, old doctor as he was, — is as * Literally, that God rules or disposes ; — or, as we should say. As it please God. — Transl. Chap.V. SAXON VISITATION. 499 childlike as it is profound, as intelligible as simple and sublime. Happy the man whose soul has been nourished Avith it, and who holds fast to it ! It contains enduring comfort in every affliction, and under a slight husk, the kernel of truths able to satisfy the wisest of the wise. But, in order to insure stability to this tendency towards popular instruction, — this substitution of preachers for priests, — a new external establish- ment of the churches was immediately necessary. We must here bear in mind that the property of the church was menaced from every side. AVe have already remarked how the first dissolution of con- vents originated in the high catholic party, and what claims were made by the Austrian government on the secular administration of the episcopal domains : these arbitrary acts daily acquired a more open and violent character. Luther said, the papist Junkers were in this respect more Lutheran than the Lutherans themselves ; he thought it his duty to complain of the measures of the Elector of Mainz against his convent in Halle.* Landgrave Philip, too, remarked that people began to scramble among themselves for the conventual lands : every * Bericht an einen guten Freund aufs Bischofs von Meissen Mandat. Altenb. iii. 895. " Man nehme den Klostern und Stiftern ihre Barschaft und Klcinodien, greife den Geistlichen in ihre Freiheit, bescliwere sie mit Schatzungen, laure auf ihre liegenden Griinde." — Report to a good Friend on the Mandate of the Bishop of Meissen. (Alt. iii. 895.) " They strip the convents and abbeys of their money and jewels, assail the freedom of the clergy, oppress them with contributions, and lie in watch for their lands." 500 SAXON VISITATION. Book IV. man stretched out his hand after them, though in other respects they would not be called evangelical.* This disposition however was not confined to Ger- many ; it showed itself all over Europe. In the two years 1524 and 1525, Cardinal Wolsey dissolved more than twenty convents and abbeys in England, in order to endow with their funds the New College in Oxford, by which he hoped to immortalise his name.f We must fully understand the general temper of the times, which was connected with the attempts at reform, before we can be competent to judge the steps taken in the evangelical territories. In Saxony a great number of convents had dis- solved of themselves ; the monks had dispersed, and the neighbouring nobles already stretched out their hands towards the vacant lands and houses. Luther's opinion was, that this ought not to be permitted. He said that as the lands were originally designed for the support of God's service, they ought in future to be applied to that destination. He required, above all, that the rural parishes, which were very poorly endowed, and, in con- sequence of the great falling off in the fees, could not maintain a priest, should be enriched from the funds of the vacant benefices. Whatever remained might be given to the poor or used for the exigences of the state. It was only to the highest power, * Letter from Philip to Luther, 1526. llommel Hess. Gesch. V. p. 861. ; es sey " viel Rappens um die geistlichen Giiter," — there was " much snatching at the church property." f Catalogue in Fiddes's Collection, No. 76. There are es- pecially many Augustin convents. Chap. V. SAXON VISITATION. 501 " the supreme head," as he expresses it, that he ascribed " the right, and at the same time the duty, of ordering these things after the papal yoke had been removed from the land." He once forced him- self into the apartments of his elector, to impress upon him the duty of protecting the church property from the rapacity of the nobles.* The Visitors were now commissioned to order the new establishments conformably with these views. It must be acknowledged that they pro- ceeded with great moderation. The abbeys and chapters which had become evangelical, as for example, those of Eisenach and Gotha, remained untouched. In Hensdorf and Weimar, nuns were tolerated and allowed to adhere strictly to the old ceremonies. The Franciscan convents in Altenburg and Saalfield, which had made a violent resistance to the new doctrines, were yet suffered to remain ; they were only admonished, and, as the original report expresses it, "commended to God" {Gott befohlen).f I have not found any trace of the actual abolition of subsisting institutions. The commission only disposed of the estates of benefices already fallen vacant ; these were apphed to in- creasing the endowments of parish churches and schools ; the existing chapters were compelled to contribute to the same objects. Some of the prelates, for example, the Abbot of Bosan, were * Letter of Luther to the Elector, 22d Nov. 1526, in De Wette, iii. p. 137.; an Spalatin, 1st Jan. 1527, ibid. 147. See p. 153. f Extracts from the Visitation Acts ; Seckendorf, ii. p. 102. K K 3 502 SAXON VISITATION. Book IV- very well inclined to this ; with others it was necessary to use severe compulsion. Instead of censuring this employment of power, we have only to wish it had been from the first more decisive — more large and sweeping in its plans and operations. In the first freshness and vigour of the religious impulse, much more extensive and beneficial changes might have been eifected than could be attempted at a later period. What then might not have been achieved for the cause of religion and of civilisation, had the empire itself undertaken the guidance of this mighty revolution ! As things now stood, the reformers were forced to content themselves with bringing matters to a tolerable condition, not inconsistent with the simple existence of the new church. Nevertheless, even these institutions contained the germ of a vast development. In the centre of Latin Christendom — so essen- tially hierarchical — a new form of Church and State, emancipated from every kind of hierarchy, arose. If, on the one hand, an alliance had been formed in Bavaria between the civil sovereignty, the university and the papacy, which exercised supervision and control over the regular hierar- chical authorities, on the other, a union was here efi^ected between the prince, the university and the inferior clergy, which completely excluded the episcopal jurisdiction. The lower clergy acquired great independence. They might be said to govern themselves, by means of the superintendents whom the sovereign chose out of their ranks, and to whom Chap. V. REFORMATION IN HESSEN. 503 some of the functions of bishops were committed. By rejecting celibacy, they secured a new influence over the mind of the nation. The body of married clergy became a nursery for the learned professions and civil offices ; the centre of a cultivated middle class. It is to the greater care which the tranquillity of a country life enables parents to bestow on the education of their children, and which the dignity of their calling in some measure imposed upon the country clergy, that Germany owes some of its most distinguished men. The suppression of monasteries and the restoration of their inhabit- ants to social life, gradually led to a very sensible increase of the population. In the year 1750, Justus Muser reckoned that from ten to fifteen millions of human beings in all countries and regions of the globe owed their existence to Luther and to his example, and adds, " A statue ought to be erected to him as the preserver of the species." * Institutions of the kind we have been describing were far more consonant with the situation of Germany and the natural course of events, than the rash and subversive ideas, ill suited to the state of things, which had been put forth at Hom- bers". As the instructions to the Saxon A^isita- tores were adopted in Hessen, as early as the year 1528, the Saxon ordinances very soon followed; in 1531, Landgrave Philip nominated six superin- tendents.f It was only in relation to church pro- * Lettre a Mr. de Voltaire Osn. 6th Sept. 1750, in Abeken's Reliquien von Justus Moser, p. 88. f Rommel Landg. Philipp, ii. pp. 123, 124. K K 4 504 REFOKMATION IN HESSEN. Book IV. perty, that the measures employed in Hessen were more sweeping and uniform than in Saxony. Land- grave Phihp was still inflamed by the first ardour of religious and patriotic ideas : " I will help Hessen," exclaimed lie once with enthusiasm ; yet he did not disguise from himself the danger that " he might be overcome by the flesh, and led away from the right path." He conceived the design of placing the monasteries under an administration dependent on the prince and states conjointly, — providing both for those inmates who chose to remain, and for those who quitted them; and of applying the surplus to the public wants, especially of a spiritual nature : he himself would not have the right to touch this fund without the consent of the states.* The interests of the country were here peculiarly powerful. As a motive for the confiscation of conventual property, it was alleged, that perhaps only a fourth part of the monks and nuns were natives ; the rest were foreigners, and therefore such property was of no advantage to the country. Some mo- nasteries which had embraced the evangelical faith were suftered to remain, but by far the greater number were suppressed ; some, because they drew * " Das eine Oberkeit zu clem Kasten nit kommen kont one Vei'willigung der Landschaft, sonst so verkompt das Gut, und der Oberkeit odei* Landt vvurd es nit gepessert." — " That no one of the authorities should be able to touch the fund without the consent of the countiy ; otherwise the property would be spent, and the government or the country not be the better for it." — Letter to Luther in Rommel, v. p. 862. Chap. V. REFORMATION IN IIESSEN. 505 their funds from alms, which nobody ^\■ould now contribute ; others, because the members dispersed, either from Christian motives, as they express it, — from conscientious scruples, — or because some fa- vourable opportunity presented itself. They accepted compensation in money or in kind ; the surplus was, according to the regulations of a diet held in October, 1527, to be given in part to the nobility *, in part to an university which it was determined to found at Marburg, and the remainder to form a fund for the use of the prince, the nobles, and the cities; but only to be resorted to with their joint consent. Many of these dispositions were altered in the course of the slow and gradual execution of them. Yet some great institutions were really founded : two endowments for young ladies of noble birth, four large public hospitals, and, above all, the university of Marburg, with its Seminarium theologicum. For this newly founded evangelical * " S. F. Gn. woUen 30 Mannspersonnen (vom Atlel), 15 im odern, 15 im. nidern Fiirstenthumben, mit etlicher Steuwer an Frucht Korn und Habern Fiirselmng thun, damit sie sich in Riistung erhalten und auf Erforderung desto stattlicher dicnen mijgen." — " His princely grace will provide 30 men (no- bles), 15 in the upper, and 15 in the lower principality, Avith certain dues in wheat, rye and oats, that so they may hold themselves in readiness and serve in more noble wise when called out." — " Was der durchlcuchtige FUrst . . . Hr Philips . . . mit den Glosterpersonen Plarrherren und abgottischen Bildnussen vorgenommen hat." — " What the most illustrious prince — the Lord Philip — has done and provided as to monks, parish priests, and idolatrous figures." Hortledcr, i. v. ii. § II. — " It recalls the ideas which dictated the Augsburg scheme of secularisation, 1525." 506 BRANDENBUKG. Book IV. university was more especially a theological school ; the other faculties were only slight and incomplete beginnings. The synod of Homberg had decreed that nothing should be studied there which might be " contrary to the kingdom of God ; " and every member was obliged to take an oath on his admis- sion, that he would attempt no innovation contrary to God's word. It was of great importance that another centre of evangelical theology thus arose by the side of the school of Wittenberg ; at first, indeed, without the imperial privilege, but this was afterwards granted. The influence of these events was felt in the Franconian principalities of Brandenburg, though affairs were here more complicated. Of the two princes who governed conjointly, the one, Mark- grave Casimir, married to a Bavarian princess and allied to the house of Austria, adhered as closely as he could to the established party ; while the other, Markgrave George, who resided in Silesia, cherished and avowed decidedly evangelical opi- nions. In October, 1526, Markgrave Casimir held a diet of his estates at Anspach, on occasion of the Recess of Spire, in which resolutions of a still more ambiguous nature were passed than those embodied in the Recess itself. It is impossible to doubt of their evangelical tendency : in the very first article it is ordained, that the preachers throughout the country shall preach the pure Gospel and word of God, and nothing contrary to it ; nor are the con- cessions as to the ritual to be judged with rigour, when it is remembered how tolerant even Luther CuAr. V. BRANDENBURG. 507 was on that point. To many, doubtless, it must have appeared shocking, that Markgrave Casimir ordered the mass to be said in Latin ; that he prayed, though he did not command, his subjects to keep the fasts, and even thought it expedient to maintain the en- dowed masses for the dead, and the vigils.* Mark- grave George was extremely dissatisfied ; the letter which he sent his brother, together with the copy of these resolutions, is full of bitter remarks. The whole country remained in a state of doubt. And as the neighbouring bishops refused their approbation — refused to consent to the loss of their jurisdiction, and still made attempts to present to livings, which were not repressed with sufficient energy, — every thing fell into confusion. Under these circum- stances it was an event of great importance that * Recess and Opinion, Onolzbach, "Wednesday after St. Fran- cis (in 1526, St. Francis's day fell on a "Wednesday, 4th Oct.). Hortleder, i. i. 3. The extract in Lang entirely effaces the evangelical character, e. g. Accoi'ding to Lang, it was said that the holy sacrament should in no case be given in both kinds, and that nothing should be taught contrary to the doctrine of transubstantiation. Li fact, however, we find there (No. 5. Hortleder, p. 39.), " Wollen uns versehen, dass sich ein jeder mit Empfahung des Sacraments also halte, wie er das gegcn Gott und Kais. Mt. verhoff zu verantworten." — "We will take care that every one carry himself so as to the receiving of the Sacrament, as he may hope to answer it to God and his imperial majesty," which, however, involves complete freedom. " Es soil audi wider das hochw. Sacrament, — als ob in dem h. Sacrament der Leib und das Blut nicht gegenwertig wiirc, nit gepredigt werden." — ■ " There shall also be nothing preached against the holy Sacrament, — as if the body and the blood were not present in the holy Sacrament." Between the pre- sence and transubstantiation, however, what a difference ! 508 NURNBERG. Book IV. Casimir died in the Hungarian campaign, and Markgrave George took upon himself the sole go- vernment of the principalities. With his acces- sion, the zealous evangelical councillors, Hans von Schwarzenberg and George Vogler acquired unob- structed influence. At another diet at Anspach, 1st of March, 1528, an explanation of the former Recess, dictated by purely evangelical opinions, was given ; and now, too, nothing contrary to God's word was to be tolerated in the ceremonial of the church. A visitation, on the model of that of Saxony, was immediately appointed in connexion with the city of Nlirnberg ; and by its agency an evangelical church constitution was established in both territories. For the reform had meanwhile been carried through in Niirnberg. We have already men- tioned the great leaning which the burghers of that city had shown from the first to the new doc- trines, and the support they experienced from their two provosts — patricians of Niirnberg — in the appointment of evangelical preachers. Here, too, no changes were at first made, except those strictly necessary. In the year 1524, for example, the bap- tismal service was first read in the German tongue. Although an admonition to that effect had been pub- lished a year before by Luther, the Niirnbergers chose rather merely to translate the entire formula of the Bamberg Agenda into German : the custom of putting salt into the mouth of the child, of breathing thrice on its eyes, and anointing its breast with oil, was still adhered to: nor was one of Chap. V. NURNBERG. 509 the traditionary formulae of exorcism discontinued.* It deserves to he noticed, as an illustration of the transition going on, that the rector of St. Sebaldus altered the ancient form, " Ave Regina, mater misericordiae ! " into, " Ave JesuChriste, rexmiseri- cordias ! "f The most important changes were, the administration of the Lord's Supper in both kinds, and the omission of the canon ; the abolition of vigils, masses and anniversaries for the dead, and particular hours of the day for prayer. But it will be readily concluded that this was far too much for their ordinary, the Bishop of Bamberg. He at length excluded the two provosts from the community of the church, declared their offices vacant, and re- quired those with whom it rested, to proceed to a new election. But things were totally altered since the year 1520. Then, it was still necessary to come to a compromise with the papal commis- sioners, distant as they were ; now, the excom- munication of a neighbouring and powerful bishop made no impression. The provosts appealed from him to " a free, sure, Christian, and godly coun- cil." J The most active members of the council gradually adopted their way of thinking. Jerome Ebner, a man distinguished alike for the rigour of * History of Exorcism in the Cliurch of Nlirnberg ; Strobel Miscell., iv. p. 173. f Instead of " advocata nostra " it is, " mediator noster : " in- stead of " Jesum benedictum frnctum vcntris tui nobis post hoc exilium ostende," it is, " O Jesu benedicte faciem patris tui nobis post hoc exilium ostende." I Appeal and Petition of the Provosts and the Prior of the Augustines at NUrnberg ; Strobel Miscell., iii. p. 62. 510 NURNBERG. Book IV. his conscience and the mildness of his temper, Caspar Niitzel, Christopher Scheurl, Jerome Baumgartner, and Lazarus Spengler, secretary to the council, who united the liveliest interest in questions of religion and church government ge- nerally, with extraordinary talents for business. At all the meetings of the cities, from the August of 1524, the council of Niirnberg boldly asserted its evangelical opinions, whether against members of the Swabian League, the States of the empire, or the emperor and his representatives. Nlirn- berof was one of those cities which caused Charles to declare, that he could not act otherwise than he did, on account of the temper of the citizens. But let us not forget that it also gained great political advantages by this conduct. Church reform was the only means of putting an end to the disorders and insubordination of the clergy, with which the civil power had so long had to contend. The Niirn- bergers turned the insurrection of the peasants to account for this purpose. They urged the clergy to remember their own critical position ; the danger that threatened them from the mob, and their pressing need of protection ; and at length actu- ally succeeded in persuading the whole body to yield duty and obedience to the civil authorities. Even the Commander and Spital-master of the Teutonic Order submitted, with the consent of the Franconian House-commander, to the obligation of paying taxes.* The council was thus, for the first * Extract from an apologetic Address of the Council of Niirn- berg in Milliner's MS. Annals. " Es sind aber," adds the author, "die Hausscommenthurm mit nachfolgenden Conditionen CuAP. V. NURNBERG. 511 time, master mthin its own walls. The monasteries were compelled to appoint evangelical preachers, and to promise to admit no ncAV members: they soon dissolved, or were closed. The jurisdiction of the bishop had no longer an object. To all his complaints the council answered, that it only per- formed the duties of a Christian government and executed the orders of the Recess of the empire. It did not scruple to unite with the markgrave in the visitation of the churches ; " since the bisho2D had never been in the habit of visiting the churches." It is obvious how vastly this course of affairs must have tended to encrease the independence of the secular power, as well of the cities as of the princes. Let us here call to mind the primitive organisa- tion of the church of Germany under Charlemagne, founded on the combined power and agency of the bishops and counts. zu Burgex'n aufgenommen worden, 1.) class sic Biirgerpflicht tliun und Iiinter die Viertelsmeister scliworen solltcn, 2.) dass sie den deutschen Hof mit seinen zugeliorigen Giitern diesseit des Wassers gelegen verlosungen soUten, 3.) sollen sie von allem Getrank so im Hof und Spital einglegt wird, das Umgeld zahlen, 4) sollen sie mit dem Holze auf des Reichs Boden sich besclieidentlich halten." — " The House Commanders were, however, admitted citizens under the following conditions : 1st, that they should perform all civic services and duties, and swear behind the Viertel meister (literally, quarter-master, i. e. magistrate of a quarter of the city); 2d, that they should sell the Deutscher Hof (German House), with the lands appertaining on this side of the water ; 3d, that they should pay the duty on all drink brought into the Hof or the Spital ; 4th, that they should bear themselves modestly as to the wood on the imperial lands." 512 BRANDENBURG AND NURNBERG. Book IVr While, in those remote ages, the bishops had succeeded in getting into their own hands the se- cular authority, at least in a part of the territories subject to their spiritual sway, and in constituting themselves sovereign lords ; at the time we are treating of, on the other hand, the temporal autho- rities who exercised, though under another form, the rights and privileges formerly held by the counts, excluded the bishops from all participation in the temporal government of their sees. We should be misled by appearances, were we to regard this simply as an extinction of the ec- clesiastical principle. For it cannot be denied that the episcopal authority had been chiefly ex- erted for the maintenance of all sorts of exemp- tions, dues, and claims, which had little in common with religion. It was, for example, one of the chief causes of quarrel between Bamberg and Niirnberg, that the city, during the revolt of the peasants, had omitted to pay the small tithes, which the bishop absolutely refused to give up. The temporal power could never have accomplished its purpose, had it not taken upon itself to represent the truly ecclesiastical, i. e. the religious principle ; for example, to make better provision for the reli- gious instruction of the parishes. A deputy of the congregation was summoned out of each parish in Brandenburg and Niirnberg, to give true inform- ation as to the life and teaching of the clergyman. The governments were determined to put an end to the disgraceful state of the inferior' clergy, to Chap. V. BRANDENBURG AND NURNBERG. 513 whom no bishop seriously paid any attention. It was impossible to deny that the higher clergy had left the formation and interpretation of doctrine to the universities ; and the office of preaching the Word to ill-paid and ill-governed hirelings. It can excite no wonder that, after the high schools had so long acted the part of cliampions of the clerical claims, one of them at length adopted doctrines of a contrary tendency; or that, in those Avho had devoted themselves to the proper service of the church, there arose a disgust at so contemptible and already contemned a state of things, a feeling of the pecuhar importance of their calling, and a fervent zeal for reform, springing from a conviction of the exclusive authority of the Gospel. The temporal power did nothing more than avail itself of the authority given to it by the Recess, to secure freedom for the development of these en- deavours which were manifestly of a spiritual nature. It is absurd to say that the church was thus become the slave of the state. If by the church is understood the influence of religious principles, it would be more just to say that it only now arose into power ; for never were those principles more powerful and efficacious, than in the times which immediately followed those of which we are speaking. What was begun by the evangelical governments, was carried on in an ana- logous manner by the catholic. But it is at the same time clear, that the efficacy of tlie evan- gelical church did not rest on wealthy endowments, high rank, or the pomp of hierarchical ordinances ; VOL. II. L L 514 CITIES OF THE OBERLAND — LUNEBURG. Book IV. but on inward energy, pious zeal, and the free cul- ture and growth of the intellect. On no other foundation can the church ever be established in Germany ; and this is the source of her strength. The same events which had taken place in Nlirn- berg, occurred also in many of the cities of the Oberland ; first in Augsburg and in Ulm, — indeed meetings of these three cities were frequently held and measures agreed on : in the year 1.528, there was ao-ain a talk of a new alliance between all the imperial cities ; then followed Strasburg, and above all, the towns of Switzerland; in the year 1528, Berne adopted the religious changes. But we must leave the events in these countries till our next volume, where we have devoted closer attention to the modifications which the doctrine underwent in Switzerland. The whole of Lower Germany, on the other hand, adhered to the forms established under Luther's influence in Saxony. The slight variations which they underwent, depended only on the difference of the civil constitution or the form of sovereignty in each country. In Llineburg the change took place in conse- quence of a union of the prince and the nobles at the diet at Scharnebeck in the year 1527. The prelates had refused to appear at previous meetings, and at their instigation the aged prince, who had abdicated and gone to France where he remained true to the catholic faith, came back to oppose the innovations. But it was now too late. At that diet the reigning duke and his subjects promised CuAi». V. EAST FRIESLAND. 515 each other to cause the Gospel to be preached, pure, clear, and plain ; they resolved that the prelates should be compelled to do the like in their churches and convents, although ihoy were permitted, in regard to ceremonies, to act as they thought they could answer it to God.* From this time the reform gradually spread over the whole country. The Chancellor Klammer rendered the same services here as Briick had done in Saxony, Feige in Hessen, Vogler in Anspach, and Spengler in Niirnberg. In East Fricsland the power of the count was still too new to enable him to decide in aifairs so delicate and so dependent on the most intimate convictions. When Count Etzard, who at first had been much impressed by the Lutheran opinions, had afterwards come to the determination to hold fast to the exist- ing form of the church, a chieftain. Junker Ulrich of Dornum, took upon himself the conduct of the cause. At his suggestion a solemn disputation was held at Oldersum. It began in a very characteristic man- ner. " Say the Lord's prayer," exclaimed Henry Arnoldi, the champion of the Lutherans ; " and an Ave, Maria," added Prior Laurence, the Domi- nican who defended the catholic side ; and the controversy turned chiefly on the worship of the Virgin Mary. But as the Lutherans persisted in carrying on the argument solely with passages from Scripture, the Dominicans were left without an answer. Nor was this all ; desertion soon crept into * Extract from the ducal edict in Pfeffinger, Historic des Braunschweig Lvineburgisclien Hauses, ii. 347. See Schlegel's Kirchengeschichte, ii. 50. L L 2 516 SCHLESWIG AND HOLSTEIN. Book IV. their own ranks. On the New Year's day of 1527, Resius, a Dominican, ascended the pulpit in the church at Norden, to defend certain Lutheran pro- positions which he had already advanced ; a single antagonist arose who, however, was soon reduced to silence ; whereupon the Dominican, in sign of his conversion, laid aside his cowl in the very pulpit.* In the year 1527, Lutheranism was the prevailing religion in almost all the parishes. In the year 1528, the East Friesland churches published a full confession of faith. Fortunately for Schleswig and Holstein, the bishops of the dioceses of Schleswig and Liibek offered no strenuous opposition to the Reform- ation, while on the other hand the government afforded it protection, and left the revenues of its clerical adherents untouched. The transition from the one confession to the other was here peculiarly easy. As one of the four and twenty papal vicars, Hermann Tast had been the first to preach evan- gelical doctrines : his colleagues easily accommo- dated themselves to the change ; — premising always that their incomes were to be secured to them for their lives. Many of the country priests adopted the reformed faith without a struggle ; they readily accepted the articles laid before them. In the towns there was almost as much resistance opposed by the anabaptists as by the adherents of the pa- pacy. The immediate disciples of Luther, for ex- ample Marquard Schuldorf, of Kiel, lent efficient * Ubbo Einraius Rerum Frisciarum Hist., lib. liv. p. 839. CnAi>. V. SILESIA. 517 help against both antagonists.* Here, too, the ec- clesiastical institutions were gradually placed on the footing of those of Saxony. In Silesia, too, as we have already mentioned, the evangelical doctrine had made early and mighty progress. This country, indeed, differed from other parts of Germany, inasmuch as it was not an immediate dependency of the empire, and could therefore ground no pretensions on the Recess of Spire. But the circumstances were nearly akin ; its chief city and its princes assumed a scarcely less independent posture with regard to the croAvii of Bohemia, to which they belonged, than the States of the empire had done towards the emperor : every fluctuation of opinion in central Germany was here immediately answered by an analogous movement. Breslau, which no long time before, in the affairs of Podiebrad, had held Avitli unshaken firmness to the side of the pope, now took the lead in the struggle against him. Here, too, the inclinations of the council and citizens had received an anti-clerical bias from a great number of circumstances. They would no longer have a Bernardino convent, because they thought themselves injured by its connection with the king's court. They were discontented at the disgraceful scenes carried on in the parish of St. Mary IMagdalen, where one pretender to the benefice was continually driven out by another, f * Hunter's Kirchengeschichte von Diinemark, iii. p. 584. con- tains a laborious collection of these very scattered notices, f Schutzred des erbarn llaths und ganzen Gemeind der K. 518 SILESIA. Book IV. There were a thousand causes of bickering with the canons in the city. The Lutheran tendencies, there- fore, found the ground well prepared. In the year 1523 the citizens of Breslau ventured to appoint to the parish in question, of their own authority. Dr. Johann Hess, one of the most intimate friends of Luther and Melanchthon, who had just come from Wittenberg ; upon which matters took the same course here as elsewhere. The new principles were triumphantly maintained in a solemn disputation ; the people were gained over ; the reformers began by altering the ceremonies, keeping as close as possible on various incidental points to the tra- ditionary ritual of the see of Breslau. The Bern- ardines had quitted the city rather than submit to be united to the Jacobites, as was proposed to them : the monasteries now dissolved themselves ; the council offered no impediment to the monks and nuns who quitted them and married. But it must not be imagined that the Lutheran clergy, who unquestionably owed their ascendency to the council, were absolutely at its disposal. In April, 1525, Dr. Hess suddenly left off preaching, upon which the council sent to ask him the cause. He answered, that he saw the blessed Lord Christ lying before the church doors, and that he could not walk over him. What he meant was this; — he had often exhorted the council to provide for the beggars who filled the city, and lay during the time of service before the church doors ; but always Stadt Breslau bei Schickfuss, Neuvermehrte Schlesische Cliron., iii. p. 58. CiiAr. V. SILESIA. 519 in vain. This earnest demonstration, however, made an impression. The really indigent were separated from the idle, and placed in six different hospitals. In the year 1526 the first stone of the great spital was laid by Hess himself ; the opulent citizens gave the materials, and the various artisans their labour ; so that the building was finished in a year — a genuine work of the new-born evan- gelical zeal. Hess was strongly and actively sup- ported by the to^vn-clerk, John Corvinus, who had taken part in the earlier literary movement, and had taught in some of the first schools of poetry. There was a general consent and co-operation : the councillor declared to the court that he had never seen a more obedient com- munity.* If this was the case with regard to those who had opposed Podiebrad, what was to be expected from his adherents ? The son of his son, Duke Charles, ruled over Miinsterberg, (3ls and Frankenstein; the son of his daughter, Duke Fre- deric II. of Liegnitz, had united Brieg and Wolau with that domain. It may easily be imagined what opinions they held. Duke Charles wished to see the memory of his grandfather restored to honour by Luther. Duke Frederic not only gave a ready ear to the prayers of his nobles and cities, that he would o-rant them a freer exercise of their religion, but gradually became inspired by the most ardent * Die Jalirbuclier der Stacit Breslau von Nicolaus Pol. Bd. iii. die Jahre, 1521 — 1527. Compared to the veracious ac- counts of tins simple chronicler, the stories of Bukisch, who borrowed from him, are often like bad caricatures. L L 4 520 SILESIA. Book IV. zeal in the same cause*; he conceived the design of founding another evangelical university, and had not the doctrines and followers of Schwenkfeld caused troubles in his dominions, would have or- ganised one on a noble and comprehensive plan.f Just then Markgrave George of Brandenburg had acquired Jilgerndorf, and of course allowed the Lu- theran doctrines free course there. The young duke Wenceslas Adam of Teschen, was soon deeply im- pressed with the new opinions. All these things passed without any serious opposition, either from the spiritual or the temporal authorities. Jacob of Salza, bishop of Breslau, saw very clearly that Christianity did not consist in the presence or absence of a few ceremonies more or less. The evangelical doctrine found powerful protectors at the court of King Louis. King Ferdinand, as we have seen, at least did not venture to reject the demands regarding religion which were laid before him at his election ; and if he occasionally published mandates which sounded zealously orthodox, he was not in a condition to give them effect. The Breslauers once represented to him in so lively a manner the impossibility of returning to the an- cient practices, that he no longer ventured to press it : " Well, then," said he, at length, " only keep the peace, and believe as you think you can answer it to God and the emperor." J He at the same time * Des Erlauchten, &c. Herzog Friedrichs 11. Grundursach und Entschuldigung auf etlicliex* Verunglimpfen in Scliickfuss S. 65. f Thebesii Liegnitzische Jalirbiicher, iii. p. 29. i Nic. Pol. iii. p. 52. CiiAP. V. PRUSSIA. .')21 extended to his o^vn province the concessions made to the empire. Thus •was formed in Silesia the constitution which for a century prevailed there, as well in the Austrian, as in all other dominions : evangelical states strenuously maintained their po- litical and religious privileges, and the government was compelled to use leniency and toleration. By far the most remarkable and sweeping change took place, however, in Prussia. Various causes had contributed to prepare this event. The political importance, nay in eifect also the position of the Teutonic Order relatively to the Prussian government, had been annihilated for more than half a century. At the peace of Thorn, in the j^ear 1466, the Order had been compelled to cede the larger half of its territory, with all its richest and most powerful cities, to Poland ; and for the smaller, which was left in its possession, to recognise the king of that country as its feudal lord. If we inquire how this came to pass, we shall find that it was not so much the consequence of the military superiority of Poland, which, though indisputable, would never have sufficed to produce such results ; but of the internal situation of the country, — the misunderstandings between the order and the territory over which it ruled. Prussia was a colony which had gradually risen to independence. The order, which Avas no longer inspired by the ancient impulses of religion, honour, or love of war, and came into the country only to govern and to enjoy, was most oppressive to the 522 PRUSSIA. ^ Book IV. inhabitants. They complained that they were allowed no share in the administration ; that they were treated hke serfs, subjected to acts of violence, and denied all right and justice. The relation which arose between them was like that between the Creoles and Chapetons in South America; between the Pullains and the Fils Arnaud in Jerusalem; in short, such as must arise in every colony as its civilisation advances. At first the country sought to protect itself by its great union of 1440 ; but as this was opposed by the emperor, it turned to Poland. It was the native population of Prussia that put those arms into the hands of the King of Poland against the grand master, by means of which the former gained the victory, and extorted so advantageous a peace as that of Thorn. The city of Danzig had expended 700,000 marks in this cause. In return, the King of Poland granted to the allies, for the first time, the blessing of self- government, which the knights had steadily refused them.* In the smaller division of the country which had remained in the possession of the order, but which had also taken part in the league and in the war, similar tendencies continued, as may easily be imagined, to show themselves. We find that the states, whose business it was to grant the taxes, more than once refused them. They demanded the * His very first promise is, " ut in mutatione principum commutatam etiam aut sublatam deprehenderent oppressionem." Litterce Casimiri Regis, in Dlugoss Historia Pol., ii. p. 138. See Toigt Preuss. Gesch., viii. p. 378. I Chap. V. PRUSSIA. 523 right of appointing, jointly with the grand master, a lieutenant to act for him during his absence ; a post Ave sometimes find occupied by a burghermaster. In a scheme for the defence of tlie country drawn up in the year 1507, fifteen governors, or chiefs of districts, were nominated ; and of these fourteen belonged to the native nobility, and only one to the order.* Not only was the order thus checked and con- trolled in its functions, but its peculiar republican character was gradually superseded by one more monarchical. It was found expedient to choose native princes as grand masters ; for example, in 1498, Frederic of Saxony, and in 1511, Albert of Brandenburg ; and in order to secure to them a state and maintenance suited to their rank, whole commanderies were confiscated. These princes en- trusted the public affairs to chancellors who did not even belong to the order, and to their own par- ticular councillors, after the manner of the German courts. Their position became more and more Kke that of hereditary rulers, in consequence of the necessity they lay under of granting a great degree of independence to their subordinates out of the country — both the Master in Livonia, and the Teu- tonic Master (^Deutschmeister) ; in fact, of eman- cipating the former from all important obligations and services. f In the place of the wide general * Baczko Preussische Gesh. iv. p. 142. I Albert mentions (Scliutz Hist. Rer. Pruss., p. 331.) "was er sich gegen den beidea Meistern verschi-eiben und obligiren 524 PRUSSIA. Book IV. relations of the order, arose narrow territorial interests. The only question now was, — one which in- volved a remote and permanent change — whether they should submit to the peace of Thorn, or not. The last grand masters refused to do homage as their immediate predecessors had done ; they de- manded a revision of the terms of the peace, " ac- cording to natural and Christian laws ; " they made incessant claims on the assistance of the empire (es- pecially of the knightly body), Avhich was afforded to this possession of Prussia. At length, in the year 1519, the grand master (Markgrave Albert of Brandenburg) had once more recourse to arms. But what had been injurious to his predecessors, proved disadvantageous to him. The cities and districts which had fallen off from the order, no longer lent their aid to the support of its power ; it was indeed to the cities of Danzig and Elbingen, and to the families of the lords of the league, that the public opinion of that time attributed the breach of the peace ; their intention was to strip the order alto- gether of its territory and subjects*; it was they who urged on the war with the greatest energy and suc- cess. From Germany, on the other hand, the order received no efficient help. The grand master was miissen ; damit sie sich denn ganz und gai' aus dem Geliorsam gezogen," — " to what he must subscribe and bind himself to- wards both Masters ; wherewith they then withdrew themselves entirely from their obedience." * " Eyn newes Geticht von dem negstvorgangenen Krieg zu Preussen." Beitriige zur Kunde Preussens Bd., ii. p. 287. Chap. V PRUSSIA. 525 again compelled to cede eleven towns with their ter- ritories, and to consent to a truce for four years, during which affairs were to be definitively ar- ranged, under the mediation of the Emperor and the king of Hungary. Albert went to Germany, in order once more to try in person what he could obtain from the states and nobles of the empire. Had victory declared on the side of Siekingen, with whom he had long been connected, Prussia might have reckoned on assistance. But Siekingen fell ; the knights of the empire suffered great losses ; they were unable to maintain their independence at home, much less to attempt enterprises abroad. The Council of Regency, too, on which some of its hopes were placed, was overthrown. The emperor was so far from holding out any expectation of assistance, that he rather favoured the claims of the Jagellons. The promised mediation was not even attempted. The grand master had nothing left but either to do homage agreeably to the treaty of Thorn, or to abdicate. And indeed the abdication was seriously discussed. It might either take place according to the views of the order, in which case Duke Erich of Brunswick was suggested as successor ; or to those of the country and of Poland, in which case it would have been in favour of Sigismund ; the kins sent an ambassador to Niirnbero; in 1524, in the hope of inducing the grand master to consent to this latter scheme.* * Memorial of the Grancl INIaster Albert, given by Faber, Beitr. zur Kuiicle Preussens, iv. 83. 526 PRUSSIA. Book IV. The Order and its government in Prussia, were doubtless the most singular product of the hier- archical and chivalrous spirit of the preceding centuries in the German nation ; but to what had it sunk ! The greater part of its territory gone ; in what remained, powerful and growing states ; the internal unity in which its strength lay, broken ; its tie to the mother country relaxed and feeble ; — submission was become inevitable — its time was over. It was however not easy at present to see what could or ought to be done ; there existed no clue by which to escape from the labyrinth of such difficult contingencies. Such were the circumstances under which the new religious doctrine appeared in the country. In no part of the world was it more wanted — in none more welcome. People saw that the institution, so long revered as intrinsi- cally religious, by no means stood in that profound and inward relation to the idea, or the original spirit of Christianity, which had been presumed. The states seized with joy a doctrine which justified their old opposition, on higher grounds. The bishops, who were elsewhere almost universally its opponents, lent a glad ear to it : under the direc- tion of the bishop of Samland, fasts were abolished, mass said in German, the ceremonies altered, and the monasteries cleared.* Even the members of the * How Rome stirred against and thought to overthrow it. Voigt Preussische Geschichte, ix. pp. 732. 737. That he sub- scribed himself only, by the grace of God, without mentioning the apostolic see, was there regarded as apostacy. This had, Chap. V. PRUSSIA. 527 Order could not withstand the universal current of opinion. They were seen attending- the sermons of the Lutheran preachers ; many laid aside their cross ; some determined to marry. Their number was indeed no longer great, and at last only live remained faithful to the institution. At length the sermons of Osiander, the society of men like Planitz, and the private conversation he held with Luther, imbued the mind of the grand master him- self with the evangelical opinions prevalent in Saxony and in Niirnberg. On the one hand, he was convinced that his profession had not the merit which had been imputed to it, nor even conformity Avitli the word of God. On the other, people repre- sented to him that he could not abdicate, since he had duties to perform to the country from which he could not so lightly withdraw himself The country required him to lay to heart its desolation and its weakness, and to procure for it a lasting- peace ; to grant it preachers of the pure word of God, and to abolish whatever was repugnant to that ; most probably including, in that expression, the vow of the Order.* Albert though he still ad- hered to it, had doubtless in his heart determined too, an influence on the safety of the grand master, who was moreover attacked by the Teutonic master. * " Sind darum aus geistlichem Suchen und Begern derselben Landschaft zw diefer Verenderung und Vertrag mit dcr Kron Polen kommen." — " Are thereupon come to this alteration and agreement with the crown of Poland, in consequence of the spiritual request and desire of that country." Albert's answer to the proposals of Griifeudorf, the Saxon ambassador. W. A. 528 PRUSSIA. Book IV. on the course he meant to pursue, when he set on foot new negotiations with Poland. In Poland the diet of Petricau had just then come to the resolution that the grand master should either do homage or be driven out of Prussia, to- gether with his order.* It was therefore very fortunate for Markgrave Albert that in Silesia, which in all the previous troubles had adhered to the king, he had two of his nearest relations ; his brother, Markgrave George, and his brother in law, Frederic of Liegnitz — both like himself, nephews of the king — who undertook once more to conciliate Sigismund, and to procure for Albert favourable conditions. The king had gone to Cracow with a committee of the diet. Here the two princes, both, as we are aware, zealous partisans of the evangelical faith? went to meet him : they adopted the principles laid down by the diet ; but at the same time re- marked that no arrangement with the Order would be of any avail, since the government Avas in the hands of so many that no reliance could be placed on its actions. They proposed to the king that the grand master should be declared hereditary duke of Prussia.! * Literae regioe ad sedem apostolicam : " alioquin haec tra- goedia nullum unquam finem habere potuisset, praesertim cum subditi raei omnes a me exigerent modis omnibus neque ab hoc instituto dimoveri potuerint in conventu generali regni mei no- vissimo, vel cogendum tandem magistrum Prussite ad proestan- dam obedientiam et omagium mihi et regno meo debitum vel ilium ac ordinem ex terris illis exturbandum." f " Literas Andrese Critii Episcopii Pi'esmiliensis ad Joan- Chap. V. PRUSSIA. 529 The king said, he would take into consideration what was to be done, and what Albert's kinsmen required of him.* He acquiesced with joy. When the aiFair was brought before the royal council of Poland, some voices indeed were raised against it on religious grounds ; but to these others replied, that no injury was inflicted on Catholicism, since the Order had already gone over to Lutheran- ism, and held nothing in greater abhorrence than the name of the pope f; they ought rather to thank God that it had fallen of itself. The diet decided in favour of the king's project. Meanwhile, negotiations were carried on in Beuthen, whither plenipotentiaries of the Order and of the States had repaired to meet the Mark- grave. The envoys of the Order, who were un- questionably the most important, spoke first. They entirely approved the proposition, and only urged their claim to certain advantages due to them from Poland. The delegates of the States were chiefly solicitous lest they should be attacked by the remnant of the order in Germany, and by the nem Antonium Puleonem (he should be called Burgonem, foi* J. A. V. Burgo was then nuncio in Hungary) lib. Bar. et nun- cium apostolicum. Principes ingenue e vestigio et citra ullas ambages id quod attulerant proposuerunt." — Samuelis Nakielski Miechovia sive Promtuarium, Sfc, p. 609. * Literje regis : " condictis conditionibus qua3 pro tempore fieri potuerunt, et quales mutua nostra necessitudo postulavit." f " Luteranismum apud ordinem ipsum sacrosanctum, Ronia- nam vero ecclesiam et ejus ritus execrabiles esse (nihil apud eum nomine pontificis contemptibilius esse), plerosque commendato- res et sacrificos nubere," &c. he VOL. II. M M 530 PKUSSIA. Book IV. empire, and not sufficiently defended by Poland. They demanded of their new sovereign a promise that he would rather increase than diminish their privileges, and appoint no foreigner to a public office : though he did not accede to the latter sti- pulation, they were on the whole satisfied with his declarations.* The envoys of the Order too were content, on the king consenting to restore the for- tified places taken from it in the last war, and granting a small revenue for the new princes. All parties thus easily and gladly combined to bring about this great change. The King of Poland saw his suzerainty at length willingly acknowledged, and the descendants of his sister established within his extended frontiers. The country acquired the independence of foreign in- fluence it had so long aspired after. The Order, which had secularised itself, thus secured pro- tection ; it associated itself with the natives^ of the country whom it had hitherto opposed. Mark- grave Albert's aim, in short, was not alone to found a hereditary sovereignty, he thought he served his country by securing for it peace, and the free diff'usion of evangelical opinions. * The negotiations are to be found in the last pages of Schiitz, The duke declared to the deputies of the states, who were in fact not specially commissioned for that purpose, " er werde ihnen dermaassen beweisliche Urkunden mitgeben, dass sie den Diren entschuldigt seyn soUten," — "that he would give them such authentic documents that they should stand excused to their constituents." This was shown immediately on the duke's return. Chap. V. PRUSSIA. 531 On the 10th of April, 1525, the solemn infeu- dation took place at the Ring at Cracow. The king, in his sacerdotal ornaments, surrounded by his bishops, delivered to the new duke, by the symbol of the banner (which Markgrave George also grasped, in sign that the investiture extended to the whole line of Brandenburg), " the whole land in Prussia which had been held by the Order." Albert took the oath of homage and allegiance in a formula in which no mention was made of the saints. At his entrance into Konigsberg, he was greeted by an evangelical preacher with a religious dis- course. He was received Avith all the festivities and honours which could be offered to an hereditary prince ; the bells were rung, the houses hung Avith tapestry, and the roads strewed with flowers. The States, of course, did not hesitate to approve the negotiations of their delegates ; they confirmed the treaty of Cracow, and took the oath of alle- giance. The original document, by Avhich Albert had confirmed " the privileges, franchises, and praiseworthy customs " of the country, was de- livered into the keeping of the magistrate of the Altstadt of Konigsberg. In the place of the great officers of the Order now appeared Marshal, Landhofmeister, Oberburggraf *and Chancellor; all which offices were in future to be filled by natives. The courts of justice were newly constituted with the advice and assistance of the nobles. * Titles of offices to which we have none coiTesponding. — Transl. M M 2 532 PRUSSIA. Book IV. Only one of the knights of the order oifered any persevering resistance ; Erich of Brunswick, in whose favour Albert had thought of resigning, held out in Memel ; he was afterwards provided for by means of a small pension. The religious establishments were formed without difficulty : the bishops themselves, as we have said, were in their favour. At the very first assembly, Bishop Polenz of Samland abdicated the temporal part of his authority, alleging that the service of the Gospel alone belonged to a bishop, not the enjoyment of worldly honours ; he gave his power into the hands of the duke, who took the states to witness this voluntary tradition. This example was soon followed by Bishop Erhard Quels of Pome- sania. Their spiritual authority was left entire — the more so, since now, as before, they adminis- tered it by officials.* They introduced a hturgy in which they still kept as close as possible to traditional forms: the convents were turned into hospitals : the efforts to spread Christianity in the lowest regions of society and those hitherto the least touched by its influence, here found a wide sphere of action among the Slavonian population, which still occupied a great portion of the land ; functionaries called Tolken, i.e. interpreters, were attached to the parish priests, and repeated every sentence of the sermon in the ancient language of Prussia, f In order to keep the clergy themselves * Bock Leben Albreclits, i. p. 187. -j- Hartknocli Preussische Kircheugeschichte, p. 277. Chap. V. PRUSSIA. 583 in the right way, the Markgrave caused the Pos- tilles * to be brought twice a year from Wittenberg, two hundred of each at a time. Lucas Cranach had a general commission to send him all the good and valuable books that appeared. f Duke Albert's marriage with Dorothea, Princess of Denmark, which took place in the year 1526, ai^pears like the consummation and bond of all these things. Alliances cemented by this kind of uniformity of oj^inion are now almost universal among the crowned heads of Europe. The duchess gradually gave evidence of as strong evangelical con- victions, " as firm a faith and trust in our Saviour," as her husband. Nor was she less fitted to render domestic life happy. He dwells with untired delight on her noble and amiable qualities ; and adds that, had she been a poor serving girl, she could not have borne herself with more lowliness and truth, with more unchanging love, to liim unwor- thy.J Her brother Christian, afterwards King of Denmark, having married a princess of Lauenburg, out of which house Gustavus Vasa of Sweden after- wards took his wife, all these new evangelical powers of the North were united by the closest bonds. Let us observe the general direction of the policy of the North, of which these events formed the con- * A book containing expository sermons on the Gosjiels and Epistles. — Tkansl. f Letter to Cranach, and his account, inserted by Voigt in the Beitrtigen zur Kunde Preussens, iii. p. 246. J Fabcr Ciniges iider die Herzogin Dorothea. Beitr. z. K. Preussens, iii. p. 126. 534 PRUSSIA. Book IV. summation. In the year 1515, Maximilian had thought to connect all the northern territories of Slavonic and Germanic tongue, in one great alliance, of which he was to be the head. Poland severed itself first ; then Christiern II. was driven out of Denmark and Sweden ; and now Albert, who had hitherto remained attached to Christiern, formed an alliance of amity and marriage with the new king. Erich of Brunswick was removed from Memel, because he persisted in keeping up an in- tercourse with Severin Norby, the admiral of Christiern.* The position which Albert acquired at his first reception among the northern powers, was extremely strong and advantageous. The evangelical princes of Germany also afforded him support from another side. Even at the time when Elector John of Saxony, and his neighbouring co-religionists, were nego- tiating about the meeting at Magdeburg, he sent to Prussia to propose to the new duke, that if he were aggrieved in any thing relating to the evangelical faith, he would stand by him steadfastly. This message was most welcome to the d.uke. He sent the Bishop of Pomesania, who had the general conduct of his foreign affairs, and had arranged the relations with Poland and Denmark, to Breslau, in 1526, where he was met by Hans von Minkwitz on the part of Saxony. Here a formal agreement was concluded. f The duke had observed that * See Albert's Instruction, 18tli April 1525. Beitr. z. K. Pr., iv. p. 395., and an essay by Faber, vi. p. 539. t Recess of Kcinigsberg, 5th July 1526. W. A. Chap. V. PRUSSIA. 535 Prussia was so exhausted in the last war, that he could not engage to furnish more than a hundred armed horsemen. Elector John was satisfied and promised the duke an equal number in case he was attacked. The party sending assistance was to pay the troops and bear the losses ; the party receiving- it, to provide them with necessaries. In December 1526, the ratification arrived at Weimar. The duke and his bishop had a design of extending this alliance to the states of Silesia, the Markgrave George of Jagerndorf, the Duke of Liegnitz, and the city of Breslau * : some deliberations had already taken place about a common and more intimate concert with Denmark, for which the elector evinced perfect readiness. It has often been said, and with perfect truth, that the empire sustained a great loss by the act of. homage to Poland. But this was inevitable. The Polish diet had taken the determination to proceed no further on a middle course, and, if necessary, to decide the matter by force; the country was wholly incapable of resistance, and no help was to be expected from the empire. Had the Order not yielded, it would have been driven out of Konigsberg, as it had been out of Danzig ; the territory would have become a Polish province, like the kingdom of Prussia. Under these circum- * Letter from Minkwitz, Leipzig, Sunday after St. Francis's day : " Trost, es soil kein Mangel haben." — " Take comfort, there shall be no want." I do not find, however, that any resolution was come to. The Landgrave of Hessen, too, thought the mutual obligations too insignificant. 53 G CONCLUDING REMARKS. Book IV. stances, it is unquestionably to be regarded as one of the most fortunate events for the maintenance of the Germanic principle in those countries, that a duchy — an hereditary German sovereignty — was erected. If we compare this province^ with Livonia, we see that though there, too, the Reformation had penetrated, though the powerful Grand Master Plettenberg, who was now absolutely independent, protected it, and found means still to keep the Order in existence for a time, — it was but for a time ; the country was afterwards secularised like the rest, but fell under a foreign yoke, and soon lost its sympathy with the German nation. Nor did royal Prussia reap any advantage from having no prince at its head; the influence of Poland became overwhelming, and the country had to endure indescribable oppressions, both of a political and religious kind. The progress of German civilisation was not only arrested, but •forced back. On the other hand, ducal Prussia gra- dually became completely German ; by its family alliances with a powerful German house, it re- mained in strict and indissoluble political con- nection with the great fatherland. Amidst all the distraction of the theological and literary contro- versies which followed in the train of the Reform- ation, here was an independent centre of German culture, from which the grandest developments of German nationality have sprung. We cannot contemplate Germany at this mo- ment, without a deep sense of the grandeur of her character and position. CuAP.V. CONCLUDING REMARKS. 537 Belgium and the Netherlands, Bohemia and the neighbouring countries, might once more be reckoned as parts of the German empire. German arms had wrested Italy from the influence of France, as well as from that of Switzerland, which had now severed itself from the empire : they had restored the name of the empire in Italy, and in its ancient metropolis : more than once they had made threat- ening advances from the south and east into France ; and in the west, they had aided the Spa- niards to reconquer the lost border fortresses, and to vanquish the Moors of Valencia. They had just gained possession of Hungary. With the assistance of the German maritime cities, they had put the two northern monarchs in possession of their crowns. If Poland had reaped the advantage, she was indebted for it solely to the instigation and the assistance of the German provinces, which sufficiently shewed that this was a state of things that could not last. In Livonia, the at- tacks of the Russians were repulsed in successive engagements, and, in the year 1522, peace was ob- tained on very advantageous terms. And all this had been accomplished in the ab- sence of any vigorous central government, — amid the storms of the most violent internal dissension. But these very storms were the symptoms of a far wider tendency — one which was destined to em- brace the world. It was reserved for the mind of Germany to sever the intrinsic truth of Christiaiuty from the accidental forms which, in later ages, had grown around it under the influences of the papacy. 538 CONCLUDING EEMARKS. Book IV. and with equal moderation and firmness to secure to it a legal adoption in its extensive territories. In one electorate, two or three duchies, the largest landgravate, the largest county of the empire, one or two markgravates, and a great number of cities, the new doctrine had become predominant, and had pervaded the populations with whose cha- racter and turn of mind it had a natural affinity. In order to bring vividly before our minds the original views of a positive and negative kind, we should compare the written confessions of faith which had now been published at so many places ; the articles of the Visitation of Saxony and Hessen, and still more those of Brandenburg and Niirnberg ; the Confession of East Friesland ; the Instructions to the preachers of SchlesAvig-Hol- stein ; the Apologies of the States of Silesia ; the Synodal Constitutions of Prussia. In all these documents we perceive the same feeling of an obli- gatory return from the accidental to the essential ; a resistless conviction, not yet indeed defined in arti- cles of faith, but assured of its truth. It is manifest that since the development of these opinions took place in narrow territories, the infant church could not enter into the most distant rivalry as to ex- ternal grandeur and splendour with the established hierarchy, in which was expressed the unity of an aggregate of great kingdoms : its essence and its worth consisted in its intellectual depth and strength. The office it had taken on itself was that of bringing the principles of Christianity home to the minds of the common people ; of expounding its Chap. V. CONCLUDING REMARKS. 539 meaning and spirit, freed from all disguises of foreign forms and rites ; that so it might at length be brought home to the consciousness of all the nations of the earth. Already was the new doctrine proclaimed in almost every tongue. We mentioned the interpreters of the Prussian clergy : in Breslau Doctor Hess caused the Gospel to be read in Slavonic ; Luther's disciples preached it in Denmark and Sweden; one of the first names in- scribed at the university of Marburg, was the founder of the Scottish church ; in 1527 a society of men inclined to Lutheran opinions, was founded in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, which may be regarded as the seminary of the new opinions.* Meanwhile from the year 1528, an immediate eifect had been produced on Geneva and the Roman world. In Italy, the doctrine pervaded the old literary associations ; in Spain, it soon laid hold of the Franciscans ; in France, it found a powerful patroness in the Queen of Navarre. Luther, who was a stranger to ambition — who had not even a genuine zeal for proselyting f and expected every thing from the silent inborn force of conviction — yet remarked that his efforts to restore the preaching of the Gospel would some time or other form the sub- ject of a church history. But at present he was occupied with higher hopes. " It will draw the * Fiddes, "Wolsey., p. 416. -j- See his letter to the people of Erfurt, in de "W., iii. p. 227. *' Wer uns nicht horen will, von dem sind wir leicht und bald geschieden." — "He who will not hear us, from him arc we easily and quickly departed." 540 CONCLUDING EEMAKKS. Book IV. cedars of Lebanon to itself," said he. He applied to it the words of Isaiah *, " I will say to the North give up, and to the South keep not back ; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth." * " Eine schone lierrliche und trostliclie Yorrede D, M. L. auf das Buchlin dei* gottseligen Fijrstin F- Ursulen Herzogin zu Munsterberg." — "A fair, noble, and comfortable pi'eface of Dr. Martin Luther to the little book of the godly princess the Lady Ursula, Duchess of Miinsterberg." Altenb., iv. p. 416. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. LONUON : Printed by A. SvoTiiswooDf, New- Street- Square. ^ Date Due .itw^^-'-'w *"■ '^f»!««f«»»V*l s, ■ , ,^^mmm i D ':&mm^. f*^ ea>-<«r^6 ig«-*-«*^:. ^^^t^^' (■■ w m ■f^t ft' 1 jHlij ^^^W^^^^^^^HBU WrKi -.^..i-.-***^ ■Si-^?'- (|) PRINTED IN U. S. A, >^«; I m