XI

15520

have suffered by being carried so far, he admitted into the BOOK hospitals which he had fitted up in the city for his own soldiers. As soon as they recovered, he sent them home under an escort of soldiers, and with money to bear their charges. By these acts of humanity, which were uncommon in that age, when war was carried on with greater rancour and ferocity than at present, the duke of Guise completed the fame which he had acquired by his gallant and successful defence of Metz, and engaged those whom he had vanquished to vie with his own countrymen in extolling his name 5.

tion of the

Italy.

To these calamities in Germany were added such un--Bad situ fortunate events in Italy as rendered this the most disast- emperor's rous year in the emperor's life. During his residence at afors ju Villach, Charles had applied to Cosmo di Medici for the loan of two hundred thousand crowns. But his credit at that time was so low, that, in order to obtain this inconsiderable sum, he was obliged to put him in possession of the principality of Piombino; and by giving up that, he lost the footing which he had hitherto maintained in Tuscany, and enabled Cosmo to assume, for the future, the tone and deportment of a prince altogether independent, Much about the time that his indigence constrained him to part with this valuable territory, he lost Siena, which was of still greater consequence, through the ill conduct of Don Diego de Mendoza.

Siena, like most of the great cities in Italy, had long The revolt enjoyed a republican government, under the protection of of Siena. the empire; but being torn in pieces by the dissensions between the nobility and the people, which divided all the Italian commonwealths, the faction of the people, which gained the ascendant, besought the emperor to become the guardian of the administration which they had established, and admitted into their city a small body of Spanish soldiers, whom he had sent to countenance the execution of

Sleid. 575. Thuan. lib. xi, 389, &c. Pere Daniel, Hist. de France, tom. iii, 392. Pere Daniel's account of this siege is taken from the journal of the sieur de Salignac, who was present. Natal. Comit. Hist. 129. * Thuan. lib, xi, 376.

BOOK

XI.

3552.

The Sic

nese court

ance of France.

the laws, and to preserve tranquillity among them. The command of these troops was given to Mendoza, at that time ambassador for the emperor at Rome, who persuaded the credulous multitude, that it was necessary for their security against any future attempt of the nobles, to allow him to build a citadel in Siena; and as he flattered himself that by means of this fortress he might render the emperor master of the city, he pushed on the works with all possible dispatch; but he threw off the mask too soon. Before the fortifications were completed, he began to indulge his natural haughtiness and severity of temper, and to treat the citizens with great insolence. At the same time, the soldiers in garrison being paid as irregularly as the emperor's troops usually were, lived almost at discretion upon the inhabitants, and were guilty of many acts of licence and oppression.

These injuries awakened the Sienese to a sense of their the assist danger. As they saw the necessity of exerting themselves, while the unfinished fortifications of the citadel left them any hopes of success, they applied to the French ambassador at Rome, who readily promised them his master's protection and assistance. At the same time, forgetting their domestic animosities when such a mortal blow was aimed at the liberty and existence of the republic, they sent agents to the exiled nobles, and invited them to concur with them in saving their country from the servitude with which it was threatened. As there was not a moment to lose, measures were concerted speedily, but with great prudence, and were executed with equal vigour. The citizens rose suddenly in arms; the exiles flocked into the town from different parts with all their partisans, and what troops they could draw together, and several bodies of mercenaries in the pay of France appeared to support them. The Spaniards, though surprised, and much inferior in number, defended themselves with great courage; but seeing no prospect of relief, and having no hopes of maintaining their station long in a half-finished fortress, they soon gave it up. The Sienese, with the utmost ala

XI.

1552.

arity, levelled it with the ground, that no monument might BOOK remain of that odious structure, which had been raised in order to enslave them. At the same time, renouncing all connection with the emperor, they sent ambassadors to thank the king of France as the restorer of their liberty, and to entreat that he would secure to them the perpetual enjoyment of that blessing, by continuing his protection -to their republic1.

in the

To these misfortunes one still more fatal had almost Descent of succeeded. The severe administration of Don Pedro de the Turks Toledo, viceroy of Naples, having filled that kingdom kingdom with murmuring and disaffection, the prince of Salerno, of Naple the head of the malecontents, had fled to the court of France, where all who bore ill-will to the emperor or his ministers were sure of finding prosection and assistance. That nobleman, in the usual style of exiles, boasting much of the number and power of his partisans, and of his great influence with them, prevailed on Henry to think of invading Naples, from an expectation of being joined by all those with whom the prince of Salerno held correspondence, or who were dissatisfied with Toledo's government. But though the first hint of this enterprise was suggested by the prince of Salerno, Henry did not choose that its success should entirely depend upon his being able to fulfil the promises which he had made. He applied for aid to Solyman, whom he courted, after his father's example, as his most vigorous auxiliary against the emperor, and solicited him to second his operations, by sending a powerful fleet into the Mediterranean. It was not difficult to obtain what he requested of the sultan, who, at this time, was highly incensed against the house of Austria, on account of the proceedings in Hungary. He ordered an hundred and fifty ships to be equipped, that they might sail towards the coast of Naples, at whatever time Henry should name, and might co-operate with the French troops in their attempts upon that kingdom. The

Pecci Memoric de Siena, vol. iii, p. 230, 261. Thuan. 375, 377, &c. Paruta. Hist. Venet. 267. Mem. de tibier, 424, &c.

XI.

15520

BOOK command of this fleet was given to the corsair Dragut, an officer trained up under Barbarossa, and scarcely inferior to his master, in courage, in talents, or in good fortune. He appeared on the coast of Calabria at the time which had been agreed on, landed at several places, plundered and burnt several villages, and, at last, casting anchor in the bay of Naples, filled that city with consternation. But as the French fleet, detained by some accident which the contemporary historians have not explained, did not join the Turks according to concert, they, after waiting twenty days, without hearing any tidings of it, set sail for Constantinople, and thus delivered the viceroy of Naples from the terror of an invasion which he was not in a condition to have resisted 1.

1553.

The empe for senal

ed with the

affairs.

As the French had never given so severe a check to the emperor in any former campaign, they expressed immobly affect- derate joy at the success of their arms. Charles himself, State of his accustomed to a long series of prosperity, felt the calamity most sensibly, and retired from Metz into the Low Countries, much dejected with the cruel reverse of fortune which affected him in his declining age, when the violence of the gout had increased to such a pitch, as entirely broke the vigour of his constitution, and rendered him peevish, difficult of access, and often incapable of applying to busiBut whenever he enjoyed any interval of ease, all his thoughts were bent on revenge; and he deliberated, with the greatest solicitude, concerning the most proper means of annoying France, and of effacing the stain which had obscured the reputation and glory of his arms. All the schemes concerning Germany which had engrossed him so long being disconcerted by the peace of Passau, the affairs of the empire became only secondary objects of attention; and enmity to France was the predominant passion which chiefly occupied his mind.

The violent proceedings of Albert of

Brandenburg.

ness.

The turbulent ambition of Albert of Brandenburg excited violent commotions which disturbed the empire during this year. That prince's troops having shared in the

Thuan. 375, 380. Mem. de Ribier, ii, 403. Gianone.

XI.

1553

calamities of the siege of Metz, were greatly reduced in BOOK number. But the emperor, prompted by gratitude for his distinguished services on that occasion, or, perhaps, with a secret view of fomenting divisions among the princes of the empire, having paid up all the money due to him, he was enabled with that sum to hire so many of the soldiers dismissed from the imperial army, that he was soon at the head of a body of men as numerous as ever. The bishops of Bamberg and Wurtzburg having solicited the imperial chamber to annul, by its authority, the iniquitous conditions which Albert had compelled them to sign, that court unanimously found all their engagements with him to be void in their own nature, because they had been extorted by force; enjoined Albert to renounce all claim to the performance of them; and, if he should persist in such an unjust demand, exhorted all the princes of the empire to take arms against him as a disturber of the public tranquillity. To this decision Albert opposed the confirmation of his transactions with the two prelates, which the emperor had granted him as the reward of his having joined the imperial army at Metz; and in order to intimidate his antagonists, as well as to convince them of his resolution not to relinquish his pretensions, he put his troops in motion, that he might secure the territory in question. Various endeavours were employed, and many expedients proposed, in order to prevent the kindling a new war in Germany. But the same warmth of temper which rendered Albert turbulent and enterprising, inspiring him with the most sanguine hopes of success, even in his wildest undertakings, he disdamfully rejected all reasonable overtures of accommodation.

ber.

Upon this, the imperial chamber issued its decree against He is condemned by him, and required the elector of Saxony, together with the impe several other princes mentioned by name, to take arms intial chamorder to carry it into execution. Maurice, and those associated with him, were not unwilling to undertake this service. They were extremely solicitous to maintain public order, by supporting the authority of the imperial cham