V. 1530. 1531. BOOK hereditary in his family, and would of course establish in the empire an absolute dominion, to which elective princes could not have aspired with equal facility. They determined, therefore, to oppose the election of Ferdinand with the utmost vigour, and to rouse their countrymen, by their example and exhortations, to withstand this eneroachment on their liberties. The elector of Saxony, January 5. accordingly, not only refused to be present at the electoral college, which the emperor summoned to meet at Cologne, but instructed his eldest son to appear there, and to protest against the election as informal, illegal, contrary to the articles of the golden bull, and subversive of the liberties of the empire. But the other electors, whom Charles had been at great pains to gain, without regarding either his absence or protest, chose Ferdinand king of the Romans, who, a few days after, was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle 1. He is chosen. Negocia Protestants * France; Feb. 29. When the Protestants, who were assembled a second tions of the time at Smalkalde, received an account of this transaction, with and heard, at the same time, that prosecutions were commenced in the imperial chamber against some of their number on account of their religious principles, they thought it necessary, not only to renew their former confederacy, but immediately to dispatch their ambassadors into France and England. Francis had observed, with all the jealousy of a rival, the reputation which the emperor had acquired by his seeming disinterestedness and moderation in settling the affairs of Italy; and beheld, with great concern, the successful step which he had taken towards perpetuating and extending his authority in Germany by the election of a king of the Romans. Nothing, however, would have been more impolitic than to precipitate his kingdom into a new war when exhausted by extraordinary efforts, and discouraged by ill success, before it had got time to recruit its strength, or to forget past misfortunes. As no provocation had been 1 Sleid, 142. Seck. iii, 1. P. Heuter, Rer. Austr. lib. x, c. 6, p. given by the emperor, and hardly a pretext for a rupture had been afforded him, he could not violate a treaty of: peace which he himself had so lately solicited, without forfeiting the esteem of all Europe, and being detested as a prince void of probity and honour. He observed, with great joy, powerful factions beginning to form in the empire; he listened with the utmost eagerness to the complaints of the Protestant princes; and, without seeming to countenance their religious opinions, determined secretly to cherish those sparks of political discord which might be afterwards kindled into a flame. For this purpose, he sent William de Bellay, one of the ablest negociators in France, into Germany, who, visiting the courts of the malecontent princes, and heightening their ill humour by various arts, concluded an alliance between them and his masterTM, which, though concealed at that time, and productive of no immediate effects, laid the foundation of an union fatal on many occasions to Charles's ambitious projects, and shewed the discontented princes of Germany, where, for the future, they might find a protector no less able than willing to undertake their defence against the encroachments of the emperor. LOOK V. 1531. land. The king of England, highly incensed against Charles, with Engin complaisance to whom the pope had long retarded, and now openly opposed, his divorce, was no less disposed than Francis to strengthen a league which might be rendered so formidable to the emperor. But his favourite project of the divorce led him into such a labyrinth of schemes and negociations, and he was, at the same time, so intent on abolishing the papal jurisdiction in England, that he had no leisure for foreign affairs. This obliged him to rest satisfied with giving general promises, together with a small supply in money, to the confederates of Smalkalde ". Meanwhile, many circumstances convinced Charles Charles that this was not a juncture when the extirpation of heresy courts the Bellay, 129, a. 130, b. Sec. iii, 14. Protes tants BOOK V. 1531. Grants them fa- July 23. was to be attempted by violence and rigour; that, in After V. 1531. ment shall be declared void. On their part, the Pro- BOOK testants engaged to assist the emperor with all their forces in resisting the invasion of the Turks. Thus, by their firmness in adhering to their principles, by the unanimity with which they urged all their claims, and by their dexterity in availing themselves of the emperor's situa tion, the Protestants obtained terms which amounted al most to a toleration of their religion; all the concessions were made by Charles, none by them; even the favourite point of their approving his brother's election was not mentioned; and the Protestants of Germany, who had hitherto been viewed only as a religious sect, came henceforth to be considered as a political body of no small consequence P. gary. The intelligence which Charles received of Solyman's Campaign having entered Hungary at the head of three hundred in Hunthousand men, brought the deliberations of the diet at Ratisbon to a period; the contingent both of troops and money, which each prince was to furnish towards the defence of the empire, having been already settled. The Protestants, as a testimony of their gratitude to the emperor, exerted themselves with extraordinary zeal, and brought into the field forces which exceeded in number the quota imposed on them; the Catholics, imitating their example, one of the greatest and best appointed armies that had ever been levied in Germany assembled near Vienna. Being joined by a body of Spanish and Italian veterans, under the marquis del Guasto, by some heavyarmed cavalry from the Low Countries, and by the troops which Ferdinand had raised in Bohemia, Austria,' and his other territories, it amounted in all to ninety thousand disciplined foot, and thirty thousand horse, besides a prodigious swarm of irregulars. Of this vast army, worthy the first prince in Christendom, the emperor took the command in person; and mankind waited in suspense the issue of a decisive battle between the two greatest mo • Du Mont Corps Diplomatique, tom. iv, part ii, 87, 89. ber. V. 1532. BOOK narchs in the world. But each of them dreading the other's power and good fortune, they both conducted their operations with such excessive caution, that a campaign, for which such immense preparations had been September made, ended without any memorable event. Solyman, and Octo- finding it impossible to gain ground upon an enemy always attentive and on his guard, marched back to Constantinople towards the end of autumn 9. It is remarkable, that in such a martial age, when every gentleman was a soldier and every prince a general, this was the first time that Charles, who had already carried on such extensive wars and gained so many victories, appeared at the head of his troops. In this first essay of his arms, to have opposed such a leader as Solyman was no small honour; to have obliged him to retreat merited very considerable praise. Aug. 16. The empe view with About the beginning of this campaign the elector of Saxony died, and was succeeded by his son John Frederic. The reformation rather gained than lost by that event; the new elector, no less attached than his predecessors to the opinions of Luther, occupied the station which they had held at the head of the Protestant party, and defended, with the boldness and zeal of youth, that cause which they had fostered and reared with the caution of more advanced age. Immediately after the retreat of the Turks, Charles, ror's inter- impatient to revisit Spain, set out on his way thither for the pope in Italy. As he was extremely desirous of an interview with his way to the pope, they met a second time at Bologna, with the Spam same external demonstrations of respect and friendship, but with little of that confidence which had subsisted between them during their late negociations there. Clement was much dissatisfied with the emperor's proceedings at Augsburg; his concessions with regard to the speedy convocation of a council having more than cancelled all the merit of the severe decree against the doctrines of the Jorii Hist. lib. xxx, p. 100, &c. Barre Hist. de l'Empire, i, 8, |