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Maurice

general.

liberties of their country. Even such as had not resolution B O OK to exert the same spirit, admired the gallantry of their enterprise, and wished it success. But the presence of the Spanish troops, together with the dread of the Emperor's displeasure, overawed the members of the diet to such a degree, that, without venturing to utter their own sentiments, they tamely ratified, by their votes, whatever the Emperor was pleased to prescribe. The rigorous decrees, which Charles had issued by his own authority against the Magdeburgers, were confirmed; a resolution was taken to raise troops in order to besiege the city in form; and persons were named to fix the contingent in men or money to be furnished by each state. At the same time, the diet peti- Appoint tioned that Maurice might be intrusted with the command of that army; to which Charles gave his consent with great alacrity, and with high encomiums upon the wisdom of the choice which they had made h. As Maurice conducted all his schemes with profound and impenetrable secrecy, it is probable that he took no step avowedly in order to obtain this charge. The recommendation of his countrymen was either purely accidental, or flowed from the opinion general. ly entertained of his great abilities; and neither the diet had any foresight, nor the Emperor any dread, of the consequences which followed upon this nomination. Maurice accepted, without hesitation, the command to which he was recommended, instantly discerning the important advantages which he might derive from having it committed to him.

moned to

Trent.

MEANWHILE, Julius, in preparing the bull for the convo- The councation of the council, observed all those tedious forms which cil sumthe court of Rome can artfully employ to retard any dis- re-assem. agreeable measure. At last however it was published, and ble at the council was summoned to meet at Trent on the first December. day of the ensuing month of May. As he knew that many of the Germans rejected or disputed the authority and jurisdiction which the Papal See claims with respect to general councils, he took care, in the preamble of the bull, to assert,

h Sleid. 503, 512.

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1551. Feb. 13.

BOOK in the strongest terms, his own right, not only to call and preside in that assembly, but to direct its proceedings; nor would he soften these expressions, in any degree, in com pliance with the repeated solicitations of the Emperor, who foresaw what offence they would give, and what construction might be put on them. They were censured accordingly with great severity by several members of the diet; but whatever disgust or suspicion they excited, such complete influence over all their deliberations had the Emperor acquired, that he procured a recess, in which the authority of the council was recognized, and declared to be the proper remedy for the evils which at that time afflicted the church; all the princes and states of the Empire, such as had made innovations in religion, as well as those who adhered to the system of their forefathers, were required to send their representatives to the council; the Emperor engaged to grant a safe-conduct to such as demanded it, and to secure them an impartial hearing in the council; he promised to fix his residence in some city of the Empire, in the neighbourhood of Trent, that he might protect the members of the council by his presence, and take care that, by conducting their deliberations agreeably to scripture and the doctrine of the fathers, they might bring them to a desirable issue. In this recess, the observation of the Interim was more strictly enjoined than ever; and the Emperor threatened all who had hitherto neglected or refused to conform to it, with the severest effects of his vengeance, if they persisted in their disobedience i.

Another

tempt to

DURING the meeting of this diet, a new attempt was made, fruitless at- in order to procure liberty to the Landgrave. That Prince, procure the nowise reconciled to his situation by time, grew every day Landgrave liberty. more impatient of restraint. Having often applied to Maurice and the Elector of Brandenburg, who took every occasion of soliciting the Emperor in his behalf, though without any effect, he now commanded his sons to summon them, with legal formality, to perform what was contained in the bond which they had granted him, by surrendering themselves

i Sleid. 512. Thuan. lib. vi. 233. Goldasti Constit. Imperiales, vol. iis 340.

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into their hands to be treated with the same rigour as the BOOK Emperor had used him. This furnished them with a fresh pretext for renewing their application to the Emperor, together with an additional argument to enforce it. Charles firmly resolved not to grant their request; though, at the same time, being extremely desirous to be delivered from their incessant importunity, he endeavoured to prevail on the Landgrave to give up the bond which he had received from the two Electors. But that Prince refusing to part with a security which he deemed essential to his fafety, the Emperor boldly cut the knot which he could not untie ; and by a public deed annulled the bond which Maurice and the Elector of Brandenburg had granted, absolving them from all their engagements to the Landgrave. No pretension to a power so pernicious to society as that of abrogating at pleasure the most sacred laws of honour, and most formal obligations of public faith, had hitherto been formed by any but the Roman Pontiffs, who, in consequence of their claim of supreme power on earth, arrogate the right of dispensing with precepts and duties of every kind. All Germany was filled with astonishment, when Charles assumed the same prerogative. The state of subjection, to which the Empire was reduced, appeared to be more rigorous, as well as intolerable, than that of the most wretched and enslaved nations, if the Emperor, by an arbitrary decree, might cancel those solemn contracts, which are the foundation of that mutual confidence whereby men are held together in social union. The Landgrave himself now gave up all hopes of recovering his liberty by the Emperor's consent, and endeavoured to procure it by his own address. But the plan which he had formed to deceive his guards being discovered, such of his attendants as he had gained to favour his escape, were put to death, and he was confined in the citadel of Mechlen more closely than ever k.

ANOTHER transaction was carried on during this diet, Charles's with respect to an affair more nearly interesting to the plan of proEmperor, and which occasioned likewise a general alarm Imperial

k Sleid. 504. Thuan. 1. vi. 234, 235.

curing the

crown for his son Philip.

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BOOK among the Princes of the Empire. Charles, though formed with talents which fitted him for conceiving and conducting great designs, was not capable, as has been often observed, of bearing extraordinary success. Its operation on his mind was so violent and intoxicating, that it elevated him beyond what was moderate or attainable, and turned his whole attention to the pursuit of vast but chimerical objects. Such had been the effect of his victory over the confederates of Smalkalde. He did not long rest satisfied with the substantial and certain advantages which were the result of that event, but, despising these, as poor or inconsiderable fruits of such great success, he aimed at nothing less than at bringing all Germany to an uniformity in religion, and at rendering the Imperial power despotic. These were objects extremely splendid indeed, and alluring to an ambitious mind; the pursuit of them, however, was attended with manifest danger, and the hope of attaining them very un, certain. But the steps which he had already taken towards them, having been accompanied with such success, his imagination, warmed with contemplating this alluring object, overlooked or despised all remaining difficulties. As he conceived the execution of his plan to be certain, he began to be solicitous how he might render the possession of such an important acquisition perpetual in his family, by transmitting the German Empire, together with the kingdoms of Spain, and his dominions in Italy and the Low-Countries, to his son. Having long revolved this flattering idea in his mind, without communicating it, even to those ministers whom he most trusted, he had called Philip out of Spain, in hopes that his presence would facilitate the carrying forward the scheme.

The obsta

cles that stood in

its way.

GREAT obstacles, however, and such as would have deterred any ambition less accustomed to overcome difficulties, were to be surmounted. He had, in the year one thousand five hundred and thirty, imprudently assisted in procuring his brother Ferdinand the dignity of King of the Romans, and there was no probability that this Prince, who was still in the prime of life, and had a son grown up to the years of manhood, would relinquish, in favour of his nephew, the

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near prospect of the Imperial throne, which Charles's infir B O OK mities and declining state of health opened to himself. This did not deter the Emperor from venturing to make the pro position; and when Ferdinand, notwithstanding his profound reverence for his brother, and obsequious submission to his will in other instances, rejected it in a peremptory tone, he was not discouraged by one repulse. He renewed his applications to him by his sister, Mary Queen of Hungary, to whom Ferdinand stood indebted for the crowns both of Hungary and Bohemia, and who, by her great abilities, tempered with extreme gentleness of disposition, had acquired an extraordinary influence over both the brothers. She entered warmly into a measure, which tended so manifestly to aggrandize the house of Austria; and, flattering herself that she could tempt Ferdinand to renounce the reversionary possession of the Imperial dignity for an immediate establishment, she assured him that the Emperor, by way of compensation for his giving up his chance of succession, would instantly bestow upon him territories of very consi derable value, and pointed out in particular those of the Duke of Wurtemberg, which might be confiscated upon different pretexts. But neither by her address nor entreaties, could she induce Ferdinand to approve of a plan, which would not only have degraded him from the highest rank among the Monarchs of Europe to that of a subordinate and dependent Prince, but would have involved both him and his posterity in perpetual contests. He was, at the same time, more attached to his children, than by a rash conces sion to frustrate all the high hopes, in prospect of which they had been educated.

surmount

NOTWITHSTANDING the immoveable firmness which Fer- His endeadinand discovered, the Emperor did not abandon his scheme. yours to He flattered himself that he might attain the object in view these. by another channel, and that it was not impossible to prevail on the Electors to cancel their former choice of Ferdinand, or at least to elect Philip a second King of the Romans, substituting him as next in succession to his uncle. With this view, he took Philip along with him to the diet, that the Germans might have an opportunity to observe and become

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