BOOK XI, BOOK Maurice As soon as the treaty of Passau was signed, Maurice, in consequence of his engagements with Ferdinand, marched into Hungary at the head of twenty thousand men. 1552. But the great superiority of the Turkish armies, the fre- Aug. 3. quent mutinies both of the Spanish and German soldiers, marches occasioned by their want of pay, together with the dis- into Hunsensions between Maurice and Castaldo, who was piqued gainst the at being obliged to resign the chief command to him, prevented his performing any thing in that country suitable to his former fame, or of great benefit to the king of the Romans". gary a. Turks. Hesse re covers his. When Maurice set out for Hungary, the prince of The lan Hesse parted from him with the forces under his com- grave of mand, and marched back into his own country, that he might be ready to receive his father upon his return, and liberty; give up to him the reins of government, which he had held during his absence. But Fortune was not yet weary of persecuting the landgrave. A battalion of mercenary troops, which had been in the pay of Hesse, being seduced by Reifenberg their colonel, a soldier of fortune, ready to engage in any enterprise, secretly withdrew from the young prince as he was marching homewards, and joined Albert of Brandenburg, who still continued in arms against the emperor, refusing to be included in the treaty of Passau. Unhappily for the landgrave, an account of a Istuanbaffi Hist. Hungar. 289. Thuan. x, 371. X. 1552 BOOK this reached the Netherlands, just as he was dismissed from the citadel of Mechlin, where he had been confined, but before he had got beyond the frontiers of that country. The queen of Hungary, who governed there in her brother's name, incensed at such an open violation of the treaty to which he owed his liberty, issued orders to arrest him, and committed him again to the custody of the same Spanish captain who had guarded him for five years with the most severe vigilance. Philip beheld all the horrors of his imprisonment renewed, and his spirits subsiding in the same proportion as they had risen during the short interval in which he had enjoyed liberty, he sunk into despair, and believed himself to be doomed to perpetual captivity. But the matter being so explained to the emperor, as fully satisfied him that the revolt of Reifenberg's mercenaries could be imputed neither to the landgrave nor to his son, he gave orders for his release; and Philip at last obtained the liberty for which he had so long languished. But though he recovered his freedom, and was reinstated in his dominions, his sufferings seem to have broken the vigour, and to have extinguished the activity, of his mind: from being the boldest as well as most enterprising prince in the empire, he became the most timid and cautious, and passed the remainder of his days in a pacific indolence. Likewise of Saxony. The degraded elector of Saxony likewise procured his the elector liberty in consequence of the treaty of Passau. The emperor having been obliged to relinquish all his schemes for extirpating the protestant religion, had no longer any mo tive for detaining him a prisoner; and being extremely solicitous, at that juncture, to recover the confidence and good-will of the Germans, whose assistance was essential to the success of the enterprise which he meditated against the king of France, he, among other expedients for that purpose, thought of releasing from imprisonment a prince whose merit entitled him no less to esteem than his sufferings rendered him the object of compassion. John Sleid. 573. Belcarii Comment. 834. 4 XI. 15529 Frederick took possession accordingly of that part of his BOOK territories which had been reserved for him, when Maurice was invested with the electoral dignity. As in this situation he continued to display the same virtuous magnanimity for which he had been conspicuous in a more prosperous and splendid state, and which he had retainedamidst all his sufferings, he maintained, during the remainder of his life, that high reputation to which he had so just a title. solves to France. The loss of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, had made a deep The en impression on the emperor. Accustomed to terminate all peror rehis operations against France with advantage to himself, make war he thought that it nearly concerned his honour not to al- upon low Henry the superiority in this war, or to suffer his own administration to be stained with the infamy of having permitted territories of such consequence to be dismembered from the empire. This was no less a point of interest than of honour. As the frontier of Champagne was more naked, and lay more exposed than that of any province in France, Charles had frequently, during his wars with that kingdom, made inroads upon that quarter with great success and effect; but if Henry were allowed to retain his late conquests, France would gain such a formidable barrier on that side, as to be altogether secure where formerly she had been weakest. On the other hand, the empire had now lost as much, in point of security, as France had acquired; and being stripped of the defence which those cities afforded, it lay open to be invaded on a quarter where all the towns, having been hitherto considered as interior, and remote from any enemy, were but slightly fortified. These considerations determined Charles to attempt recovering the three towns of which Henry had made himself master; and the preparations which he had made against Maurice and his associates, enabled him to carry his resolution into immediate execution. As soon, then, as the peace was concluded at Passau, His prehe left his inglorious retreat at Villach, and advanced to parations Augsburg, at the head of a considerable body of Germans purpose. for this XI. 15520 BOOK which he had levied, together with all the troops which he had drawn out of Italy and Spain. To these he added several battalions, which, having been in the pay of the confederates, entered into his service when dismissed by them; and he prevailed likewise on some princes of the empire to join him with their vassals. In order to conceal the destination of this formidable army, and to guard against alarming the French king, so as to put him on preparing for the defence of his late conquests, he gave out that he was to march forthwith into Hungary, in order to second Maurice in his operations against the infidels. When he began to advance towards the Rhine, and could no longer employ that pretext, he tried a new artifice, and spread a report, that he took this route in order to chastise Albert of Brandenburg, whose cruel exactions in that part of the empire called loudly for his interposition to check them." The precautions of for the defence of Metz. of Guise But the French having grown acquainted, at last, with the French arts by which they had been so often deceived, viewed all Charles's motions with distrust. Henry immediately discerned the true object of his vast preparations, and resolved to defend the important conquests which he had gained, with vigour equal to that with which they were about to be attacked. As he foresaw that the whole weight of the war would be turned against Metz, by whose fate that of Toul and Verdun would be determined, he nomiThe duke nated Francis of Lorrain, duke of Guise, to take the comappointed mand in that city during the siege, the issue of which governor of would equally affect the honour and interest of his country. His choice could not have fallen upon any person more worthy of that trust. The duke of Guise possessed, in a high degree, all the talents of courage, sagacity, and presence of mind, which render men eminent in military command. He was largely endowed with that magnanimity of soul which delights in bold enterprises, and aspires to fame by splendid and extraordinary actions. He repaired with joy to the dangerous station assigned him, as to a theatre on which he might display his great qua the town. XI. 1552. lities under the immediate eye of his countrymen, all BOOK ready to applaud him. The martial genius of the French nobility in that age, which considered it as the greatest reproach to remain inactive when there was any opportunity of signalizing their courage, prompted great numbers to follow a leader, who was the darling as well as the pattern of every one that courted military fame. Several princes of the blood, many noblemen of the highest rank, and all the young officers who could obtain the king's permission, entered Metz as volunteers. By their presence they added spirit to the garrison, and enabled the duke of Guise to employ, on every emergency, persons eager to distinguish themselves, and fit to conduct any service. But with whatever alacrity the duke of Guise undertook Prepares the defence of Metz, he found every thing, upon his ar-rous de for a vigorival there, in such a situation as might have induced any fence. person of less intrepid courage to despair of defending it with success. The city was of great exent, with large suburbs; the walls were in many places feeble and without ramparts; the ditch narrow; and the old towers, which projected instead of bastions, were at too great distance from each other to defend the space between them. For all these defects he endeavoured to provide the best remedy which the time would permit. He ordered the suburbs, without sparing the monasteries or churches, not even that of St Arnulph, in which several kings of France had been buried, to be levelled with the ground; but in order to guard against the imputation of impiety, to which such a violation of so many sacred edifices, as well as of the ashes of the dead, might expose him, he executed this with much religious ceremony. Having ordered all the holy vestments and utensils, together with the bones of the kings and other persons deposited in these churches, to be removed, they were carried in solemn procession to a church within the walls, he himself walking before them bare-headed, with a torch in his hand. He then pulled down such houses as stood near |