CHARLES. 



149 



the elector of Brandenburg Tyrol as a fief, and was 

 unanimously elected emperor, and consecrated at 

 Aix-la-Chapelle. But no sooner was he crowned, 

 than he took possession of the imperial insignia, and, 

 contrary to his express promise, conveyed them to 

 Bohemia. He persuaded his father-in-law, the elector 

 of the palatinate, to subject a great portion of the 

 upper palatinate to the feudal court of Bohemia. 

 This tribunal, which he regarded as the most proper 

 instrument for the subjugation of Germany, was en- 

 larged in its jurisdiction more and more. In 1354, 

 the emperor went to Italy, to be crowned by the 

 pope ; but this favour he purcliased on terms which 

 made him an object of ridicule and contempt. He 

 engaged to appear without any armed force. Hav- 

 ing been consecrated, at Milan, king of Italy, he 

 confirmed the Visconti in the possession of all the 

 usurpations of which he had promised to deprive 

 them. He also annulled all the acts of his grand- 

 father, Henry VII., against Florence, and, by a treaty 

 concluded at Padua, resigned the latter city, with 

 Verona and Vicenza, to Venice. Trafficking thus 

 with his rights, he went to Rome, and was crowned 

 by a delegate of the pope, but did not dare to remain 

 there a single day. He refused the request of some 

 Romans, to claim the city, as belonging to him, in 

 the name of the empire, and, in a treaty, renounced 

 all sovereignty over Rome, the States of the Church, 

 Ferrara, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, and 

 even took an oath not to return to Italy without the 

 consent of the pope. Despised by the Guelphs, 

 detested by the Ghibellines, Charles returned to 

 Germany, where he issued the celebrated golden 

 bull, which, till recently, continued a fundamental 

 law of the German empire. (See Bull.) He thus 

 acquired some claims to the public gratitude : but 

 these were soon effaced by the general indigna- 

 tion, excited by the proposal made, with his con- 

 sent, by the papal nuncio, to introduce a tax, equal 

 to the tithe of all ecclesiastical revenues, for the 

 benefit of the holy see. All the members of the 

 diet opposed it ; and Charles, in his anxiety to 

 conciliate the princes of the empire, announced that 

 he would propose to the assembly a reform of the 

 German clergy. The pope, enraged at this proposal 

 of the emperor, exhorted the electors to depose him. 

 Charles immediately relapsed into his accustomed 

 submissiveness, and not only abandoned all his re- 

 forms, but even confirmed, in 1359, all the privileges 

 of the clergy, all their present and future posses- 

 sions, and made them independent of the secular 

 power. Such vacillating conduct subjected him to 

 the contempt of both parties, of which he received a 

 proof before the close of the same diet, which was 

 held at Mentz. Several princes had, by degrees, ob- 

 tained possession of many territories, formerly fiefs 

 of the empire. Charles attempted to reunite them 

 with the empire ; but the dissatisfaction which was 

 manifested at the attempt, frustrated this plan of the 

 weak emperor, who indemnified himself by selling to 

 the king of Poland the rights of sovereignty, which 

 had been hitherto exercised by the German emperors, 

 over some of his provinces. It may be easily sup- 

 posed tliat, under such an emperor, Germany did not 

 enjoy internal tranquillity. Bands of robbers plun- 

 dered the country in all quarters. The emperor 

 marched against them without accomplishing any 

 tiling, and, finally, left the princes and cities to pro- 

 tect themselves by mutual alliances, as well as they 

 were able. The state of Italy was no less melan- 

 choly. Tuscany was suffering the evils of anarchy ; 

 Lombardy was distracted by civil wars, and the Vis- 

 conti had made themselves masters of the Milanese. 

 The emperor, true to liis principle of sanctioning 

 i lower wherever found, appointed these usurpers his 



vicars-general in Lombardy. Imboldened by this, 

 Barnabas Visconti threatened to subject all Italy to 

 his yoke. Pope Urban V. sent an invitation to 

 Charles to concert measures of resistance with him, 

 hastened from Avignon to Rome, concluded several 

 alliances, levied troops, and waited for the emperor, 

 who actually appeared with a considerable force; 

 so that Italy, for a short time, deemed itself safe. 

 Charles took advantage of the pope's situation to 

 persuade him to crown his fourth wife, Elizabeth of 

 Pomerania, at Rome, and, in return, entered into the 

 most positive engagements with Urban. Notwith- 

 standing this, he again engaged in negotiations with 

 the Visconti, and sold them a formal confirmation of 

 all their usurpations. In like manner, during his re- 

 sidence in Italy, he sold states and cities to the 

 highest bidder, or, if they themselves offered most, 

 made them independent republics. With great 

 treasures, but despised by his enemies, and hated by 

 his allies, he returned to Germany. Gregory XI., 

 having given his consent that his son Wenceslaus 

 should be elected king of the Romans,* he employed 

 his ill-gotten wealth to purchase the votes of the 

 electors, who were irritated at the conduct of the 

 pope, and distributed among them, in addition, the 

 domains of the empire on the Rhine, and several 

 free imperial cities. Thus he attained his object. 

 To maintain their rights against the arbitrary mea- 

 sures of the emperor, the imperial cities in Suabia 

 formed the (so called) Suabian league, which Charles 

 opposed in vain. To the pope he manifested his 

 gratitude by extending the privileges of the clergy. 

 The empire was nearly ruined, when Charles died at 

 Prague, in 1378. To his eldest son, Wenceslaus, he 

 left Bohemia and Silesia ; to the second, Sigismund, 

 the electorate of Brandenburg ; and to the third, 

 Lusatia. His reign is remarkable for the improve- 

 ment and prosperity of Bohemia ; for the founding 

 of the universities of Prague and Vienna ; for a ter- 

 rible persecution of the Jews, and as the period when 

 the sale of letters of nobility commenced in Ger- 

 many. The history of this prince affords a fine illus- 

 tration of the soundness of the theory of legitimacy 

 many of his usurpations having become a part of the 

 " divine right " of succeeding rulers. 



CHARLES V., emperor of Germany and king of 

 Spain (in the latter capacity, he is called Charles /.), 

 the eldest son of Philip, archduke of Austria, and of 

 Joanna, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of 

 Spain, was born at Ghent, Feb. 24, 1500. Philip 

 was the son of the emperor Maximilian and Mary, 

 daughter of Charles the Bold, last duke of Burgundy. 

 Charles's birth gave him claims to the fairest coun- 

 tries of Europe. He was educated in the Nether- 

 lands, under the care of William of Croy, lord of 

 Chi&vres. Charles preferred military exercises to 

 study. Chievres, without diverting him from his fa- 

 vourite occupations, taught him history, formed him 

 for affairs of state, and implanted in him that gravity 

 which he retained through life. After the death of 

 Ferdinand, his grandfather, in 1516, Charles assumed 

 the title of king of Spain. The management of this 

 kingdom was intrusted to the celebrated cardinal Xi. 

 menes, who, by his genius, prepared the way for the 

 glorious reign of Charles V. In 1519, Maximilian 

 likewise died, and Charles was now elected emperor. 

 He left Spain to take possession of his new dignity, 

 for which he had to contend with Francis I., king of 

 France. His coronation took place at Aix-la-Cha- 

 pelle, with extraordinary splendour. The elective 

 capitulation (fPahlcapitulation, see Capitulation), sign- 

 ed by his ambassadors, he ratified without hesitation. 



* This was the title given to the person elected during 

 the lifetime of the emperor, to succeed him after his dtatli 



