668 



TRENT. 



to Vienna to take possession of the property of his 

 cousin, who died in 1749, and then took a journey 

 to Italy. On his return, he was appointed a cap- 

 tuin of Austrian cuirassiers, and, joining his regi- 

 ment in Hungary, he contributed materially to its 

 improvement in discipline. The death of his mo- 

 ther taking place in 1758, he went to Dantzic to 

 arrange the disposition of her property, when lie 

 was arrested, and conducted to the fortress of Mag- 

 deburg, where he remained in close confinement till 

 1763. His involuntary seclusion was devoted to 

 ineffectual projects for effecting his escape, to study, 

 and to writing verses. Being at length set at lib- 

 erty, probably through the interference of the prin- 

 cess Amelia, he went, to Aix-la-Chapelle, where 

 he fixed his residence, and, in 1765, married the 

 daughter of a burgomaster of that city. Litera- 

 ture, politics, and commerce as a wine-merchant, 

 then alternately engaged his attention. He wrote 

 a piece entitled the Macedonian Hero, the pro- 

 fessed design of which was to unmask the cha- 

 racter of Frederick II., and edited a weekly paper 

 called the Friend of Men. In 1772, he commenced 

 a gazette at Aix-la-Chapelle, which he conducted 

 for some time with considerable success. His wine 

 trade failing, he returned to Germany, and was em- 

 ployed in various political missions. At Vienna he 

 received new favours from the empress, Maria The- 

 resa, who bestowed a pension on the baroness 

 Trenck, which, however, she lost on the death of 

 that princess, for whom Trenck composed a funeral 

 oration and ode. He then retired to his castle of 

 Zwerback, in Hungary, where, for six years, he de- 

 voted himself to agricultural pursuits. He also 

 published, by subscription, various works in prose 

 and verse, including the history of his own life. 

 After an exile of forty-two years, he was permitted 

 to revisit his native country in 1787, when he was 

 kindly received by the successor of the great Fre- 

 derick ; and he had an interview with the princess, 

 to whose favour he had owed so many of his mis- 

 fortunes. The revolution in France found a ready 

 partisan in Trenck, who published some political 

 pamphlets, which involved him in disgrace with the 

 Austrian government ; and he not only lost a pen- 

 sion which he had hitherto received, but also suf- 

 fered a short imprisonment. Towards the end of 

 1791, he revisited France, but was arrested on sus- 

 picion of being a secret emissary of the king of 

 Prussia, and imprisoned at St Lazarus. There be- 

 ing no evidence to support this charge, he was ac- 

 cused of having taken part in a conspiracy in the 

 prison, for which he was guillotined, July 25, 1~94. 

 TRENT ; a city of Tyrol (in Latin, Tridentum, 

 called by the Italians Trcnto, and by the Germans 

 Trient}, formerly capital of a princely bishopric of 

 the same name, sixty-five miles north-west of Ve- 

 nice ; Ion. 11 4' E. ; lat. 46 6' N. ; population, 

 9603. It is situated on the Adige, in a delightful 

 valley among the Alps ; but its climate is subject 

 to great extremes, being intensely cold in winter, 

 and hot in summer. It is surrounded with wall?, 

 and contains a cathedral, two other churches, an 

 hospital, a gymnasium, and a lyceum, or central 

 school. The streets are tolerably wide and well 

 paved, the houses generally old. The inhabitants 

 are employed partly in the manufacture of silk, and 

 partly in the culture of vines and tobacco. Trent 

 is remarkable for a famous council, commenced in 

 1545, terminated Dec. 4, 1563, having continued, 

 with more or less interruption, during, eighteen 

 years. See the next article. 



TRENT, COUNCIL or. The reformation of the 

 church, which had been the object of the councils 

 of Constance and Basle, the policy of the popes 

 would not suffer to be carried into execution. Pius 

 II., in 1460, forbade an appeal to H ^rncral council, 

 and Julius II. renewed this prohibition in l.)U. 

 But to such a council only could Catholic Christen- 

 dom look for the accomplishment of its earnest 

 wish for a thorough reformation of the church; and 

 in the course of the German reformation, even the 

 Protestant princes expressed their desire for Mich 

 an assemblage of the clergy. The emperor Charles 

 V. urged it zealously. He found it a very effect ual 

 mode of alarming the pope, and curbing the Pro- 

 testant princes, and thus controlling both parties, 

 to persevere in demanding that a council should be 

 convoked on German soil; for whilst the pope 

 justly feared the questions which might come under 

 investigation, the German Protestants dared not, 

 on account of the Catholic states, refuse at least to 

 accept a proposal, which, in reality, was of impor- 

 tance only for the latter. Charles solemnly an- 

 nounced a council to the states at the diet of Augs- 

 burg, in 1530, and, in order to prevent his summon- 

 ing it also, preparations for it were made in Rome. 

 Accordingly, Clement VII., in that same year, de- 

 creed it, but without fixing the time; and Paul III., 

 his successor, appointed it to be held, May 27, 1537, 

 at Mantua. As the conditions offered by the duke 

 of Mantua were not acceptable, the place was 

 ' changed to Vicenza, and May 1, 1538, was fixed 

 upon, when, as no prelates arrived, it was again 

 delayed till Easter, 1539; and, as neither France 

 nor Germany consented to the place selected, it 

 was again postponed to an indefinite period, in con- 

 sequence of the resolutions of the diet of Ratisbon, 

 in 1541. Paul summoned it again for November 1, 

 1542, and showed his willingness to choose a Ger- 

 man city by naming Trent. His legates arrived 

 there November 22; but a war of the emperor with 

 France gave occasion to another postponement to a 

 more convenient time. Such a time the pope be- 

 lieved he had found amidst the preparations of 

 Charles against the Protestants, and summoned the 

 council to meet on March 15, 1545. The cardinals 

 Del Monte, Cervino della Croce, and Pole, arrived 

 at Trent, at the appointed time, as presiding legates ; 

 but as the number of bishops (twenty) and envoys 

 who followed was but small, the time was spent in 

 disputes about rank, and in pleasure excursions ; 

 the summer passed away, during which the prelates 

 came and went, till at length, at the command of 

 the pope, December 13, 1545, the general council 

 of Trent (Sacrosancta cEcumenica et generalis sijno- 

 dus Tridentina, prcesidentibus legatis apostolicis, 

 thus called :n the papal brief) was solemnly opened, 

 twenty-five bishops and some other prelates being 

 present. In the succeeding confidential conferences, 

 it was agreed that committees of bishops and doc- 

 tors of theology should prepare the subjects to be 

 treated in particular and general meetings (not pub- 

 lic sessions of the fathers), the proposed decrees 

 and canons should be decided by a majority of votes 

 (the votes being reckoned, not by nations, as at 

 Constance, but by heads) ; the public sessions in 

 the cathedral, with mass and preaching, should be 

 merely ceremonial acts, for publishing and confirm- 

 ing the resolutions that had been adopted. This 

 method of voting by heads, of which the Italian 

 prelates and the titular bishops (who were both on 

 the side of the pope) formed the majority ; and the 

 circumstance that the committees were chosen and 



