150 



CHARLES. 



The chief features of it were the reservations made 

 liy the electors, securing themselves against foreign 

 influence. The emperor was not to begin any war 

 without their consent ; no language but the German 

 or Latin was to be used in the administration of the 

 ntfuirs of the empire ; and the rich commercial con- 

 federacies of merchants, whose wealth, as the instru- 

 ment expressed it, had enabled them to act according 

 to their own will , were to be abolished by the emperor, 

 assisted by the advice of the members of the empire. 

 The association aimed at was the powerful Hanseatic 

 league, whose influence had excited the electors' 

 jealousy. The progress of the reformation in Ger- 

 many demanded the care of the new emperor, who 

 held a diet at Worms. Luther, who appeared at this 

 diet, with a safe conduct from Charles, defended his 

 ranse with energy and boldness. The emperor kept 

 silent; but, after Luther's departure, a severe edict 

 appeared against him, in the name of Charles, who 

 thought it lor his advantage to show himself the de- 

 fender of the Roman church. The claims which 

 Francis I. liad advanced to the empire, and those 

 which he still preferred to Italy, the Netherlands, and 

 Navarre, made war appear inevitable. Charles pre- 

 pared for it by an alliance with the pope. Hostili- 

 ties broke out in 1521. The French, victorious be- 

 yond the Pyrenees, were unsuccessful in the Nether- 

 lands. A congress held at Calais only increased the 

 irritation, and gave Henry VIII., king of England, a 

 pretext for declaring himself for Charles, whose party 

 daily acquired strength. A serious insurrection in 

 Spain was happily subdued. The defeat of Bon- 

 nivet, in the Milanese, and the accession of the 

 constable of Bourbon, indemnified Charles V. for 

 his want of success in Provence. Francis, who 

 was besieging Pavia, was defeated by the impe- 

 rial forces, and taken prisoner, in 1525. On this oc- 

 casion, Charles feigned the moderation of a Chris- 

 tian hero. Without improving his advantages, he 

 remained inactive in Spain. But he thought to at- 

 tain his object in another way. He proposed to Francis 

 I. such hard conditions, that this unfortunate prince 

 swore tliat he would die in captivity, rather than ac- 

 cede to them. Meanwhile, he was carried to Spain, 

 and treated with respect. Charles, however, did not 

 visit him, until he was informed that the life of his 

 prisoner was in danger. The interview was brief. 

 Charles promised his captive a speedy release. The 

 treaty of Madrid was finally concluded in January, 

 1526. 



The power of Charles now became a source of unea- 

 siness to most other princes of Europe. Pope Cle- 

 ment VII. placed himself at the head of a league of 

 the principal states of Italy against the emperor ; but 

 their ill-directed efforts were productive of new mis- 

 fortunes. Rome was taken by storm by the troops 

 of the constable, sacked, and the pope himself made 

 prisoner. Charles V. publicly disavowed the pro- 

 ceedings of the constable, went into mourning with 

 his court, and carried his hypocrisy so far as to order 

 prayers for the deliverance of the pope. On restor- 

 ing the holy father to liberty, he demanded a ransom 

 of 400,000 crowns of gold, but was satisfied with a 

 quarter of that sum. He also released, for 2,000,000, 

 the French princes, who had been given to him as 

 hostages. Henry VIII. of England now allied him- 

 self with the French monarch against Charles, who 

 accused Francis of having broken his word, given on 

 the honour of a gentleman. The quarrel brought on 

 a challenge to a duel, which did not, however, take 

 place. The war was terminated in 1529, by the 

 treaty of Cambray, of which the conditions were fa- 

 vourable to. the emperor. Charles soon after left 

 Spain, and was crowned in Bologna as king of Lom- 

 bardy and Roman emperor. On the occasion of this 



solemnity, the proud Charles kissed the feet of the 

 same pope who had been his prisoner. In 1530, he 

 seemed desirous, at the diet of Augsburg, to recon- 

 cile the various parties ; but, not succeeding, lie issu- 

 ed a decree against the Protestants, which they met 

 by the Smalcaldic league. He also published, in 

 1532, a law of criminal procedure. (See Carolina.) 

 Notwithstanding his undertakings in favour of the 

 Catholic religion, Charles always showed himself mo- 

 derate towards the Protestants, whenever his interest 

 left room for toleration. Nor did the Protestant 

 princes hesitate to furnish their contingents, when he 

 was assembling an army against the 1 urks. Having 

 compelled Solyman to retreat, he undertook, in 1535, 

 an expedition against Tunis, reinstated the dey, and 

 released 20,000 Christian slaves. This success added 

 to liis character somewhat of the chivalric, which 

 gave him still more influence in Christendom, and 

 promoted his political projects. He manifested this 

 chivalrous spirit still more in a speech, which he 

 made at Rome, before the pope and cardinals, when 

 hostilities were renewed in Italy against France. In 

 this he proposed a duel, in which the duchy of Bur- 

 gundy on the one part, and the duchy of Milan on 

 the other, were to be the prize ; but, on the follow- 

 ing day, he expressed himself in such a manner to the 

 French ambassador, that it was suspected that his 

 challenge was only a figure of speech. His invasions 

 of Provence and Picardy met with small success. A 

 truce was concluded in 1537, and, in 1538, prolong- 

 ed for ten years. The two monarchs had an inter- 

 view, in which they spoke only of mutual respect and 

 esteem. Soon after, Charles, who was in Spain, 

 where he had annihilated the old constitution of the 

 cortes, wished to pass through France to the Nether- 

 lands. He spent six days with Francis I. in Paris 

 where the two princes appeared together in all pub- 

 lic places like brothers. Courtiers were not wanting, 

 who advised the king of France to detain his guest, 

 until he had annulled the treaty of Madrid; but 

 Francis was satisfied with promises, which Charles 

 very soon forgot. Having quelled the disturbances 

 in the Netherlands, Charles resolved, hi 1541, to 

 crown his reputation by the conquest of Algiers. 

 Against Doria's advice, he embarked in the stormy 

 season, and lost a part of his fleet and army, without 

 gaming any advantage. After his return, his refusal 

 to invest the king of France with the territory of 

 Milan involved him in a new war, in which the king 

 of England embraced his part. The army of Charles 

 was defeated at Cerisola ; but, on the other hand, he 

 penetrated to the heart of Champagne. The distur- 

 bances caused hi Germany by the reformation in- 

 duced the emperor to accede to the peace of Crespy, 

 in 1545. 



The policy of Charles was to reconcile the two par- 

 ties, and, towards the Protestants, he employed alter- 

 nately threats and promises. After some show of 

 negotiation, the Protestant princes raised the stand- 

 ard of war. The emperor declared, in 1546, the 

 heads of the league under the ban of the empire, ex- 

 cited divisions among the confederates, collected an 

 army hi haste, and obtained several advantages over 

 his enemies. John Frederic, the elector of Saxony, 

 was taken prisoner in the battle of Mnhlberg, in 1547. 

 Charles received him sternly, and gave him over to a 

 court-martial, consisting of Italians and Spaniards, 

 under the presidency of Alva, which condemned him 

 to death. The elector saved his life only by renounc- 

 ing his electorate and his hereditary estates ; but he 

 remained a prisoner. Meanwhile, the emperor ap- 

 peared somewliat more moderately inclined towards 

 the vanquished party. On coming to Wittenberg, 

 he expressed surprise that the exercise of the Luthe- 

 ran worship had been discontinued. He visited the 



