BOOK portunity of mortifying and distressing his rival, which presented itself during his whole reign. VIII. 1546. Protest ants take the field with a great ar my. BUT, notwithstanding their ill success in their negociations with foreign courts, the confederates found no difficulty at home, in bringing a sufficient force into the field. Germany abounded at that time in inhabitants; the feudal institutions, which subsisted in full force, enabled the nobles to call out their numerous vassals, and to put them in motion on the shortest warning; the martial spirit of the Germans, not broken or enervated by the introduction of commerce and arts, had acquired additional vigour during the continual wars in which they had been employed, for half a century, either in the pay of the Emperors, or the kings of France. Upon every opportunity of entering into service, they were accustomed to run eagerly to arms; and to every standard that was erected, volunteers flocked from all quarters". Zeal seconded, on this occasion, their native ardour. Men on whom the doctrines of the Reformation had made that deep impression which accompanies truth when first discovered, prepared to maintain it with proportional vigour; and among a warlike people, it appeared infamous to remain inactive, when the defence of religion was the motive for taking arms. Accident combined with all these circumstanAces in facilitating the levy of soldiers among the confedeA considerable number of Germans, in the pay of France, being dismissed by the King on the prospect of peace with England, joined in a body the standard of the Protestants". By such a concurrence of causes, they were enabled to assemble in a few weeks an army composed of seventy thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse, provided with a train of an hundred and twenty cannon, eight hundred ammunition waggons, eight thousand beasts of burden, and six thousand pioneers. This army, one of the most numerous, and undoubtedly the best appointed, of any which had been levied in Europe during that century, did not require the united effort of the whole Protestant body to raise rates. q Seck. 1. iii 161. r Thuan. 1. i. 68. s Thuan. 1. i. 601. Ludovici ab Avila & Zuniga Commentariorum de Bel. Germ. lib. duo, Antw. 1550. 12mo. p. 13, a. VIII. 1546. it. The Elector of Saxony, the Landgrave of Hesse, the BOOK Duke of Wurtemberg, the Princes of Anhalt, and the Imperial cities of Augsbourg, Ulm, and Strasburg, were the only powers which contributed towards this great armament: the Electors of Cologne, of Brandenburg, and the Count Palatine, overawed by the Emperor's threats, or deceived by his professions, remained neuter. John marquis of Brandenburg Bareith, and Albert of Brandenburg Anspatch, though both early converts to Lutheranism, entered openly into the Emperor's service, under pretext of having obtained his promise for the security of the Protestant religion; and Maurice of Saxony soon followed their example. a the empe THE number of their troops, as well as the amazing ra- The inpidity wherewith they had assembled them, astonished the equality of Emperor, and filled him with the most disquieting appre- ror's forces hensions. He was, indeed, in no condition to resist such to theirs. mighty force. Shut up in Ratisbon, a town of no great strength, whose inhabitants, being mostly Lutherans, would have been more ready to betray than to assist him, with only three thousand Spanish foot, who had served in Hungary, and about five thousand Germans who had joined him from different parts of the Empire, he must have been overwhelmed by the approach of such a formidable army, which he could not fight, nor could he even hope to retreat from it in safety. The Pope's troops, though in full march to his relief, had hardly reached the frontiers of Germany; the forces which he expected from the Low-Countries had not yet begun to move, and were even far from being complete. His situation, however, called for more immediate succour, nor did it seem practicable for him to wait for such distant auxiliaries, with whom his junction was so precarious. BUT it happened fortunately for Charles, that the con- They imfederates did not avail themselves of the advantage which prudently negociate lay so full in their view. In civil wars, the first steps are instead of acting. VIII. 1546. BOOK commonly taken with much timidity and hesitation. Men are solicitous, at that time, to put on the semblance of moderation and equity; they strive to gain partisans by seeming to adhere strictly to known forms; nor can they be brought, at once, to violate those established institutions, which in times of tranquillity they have been accustomed to reverence; hence their proceedings are often feeble or dilatory, when they ought to be most vigorous and decisive. Influenced by those considerations, which, happily for the peace of society, operate powerfully on the human mind, the confederates could not think of throwing off that allegiance which they owed to the head of the Empire, or of turning their arms against him, without one solemn appeal more to his candour, and to the impartial judgment of their fellowJuly 15. subjects. For this purpose, they addressed a letter to the Emperor, and a manifesto to all the inhabitants of Germany. The tenour of both was the same. They represented their own conduct with regard to civil affairs as dutiful and submissive; they mentioned the inviolable union in which they had lived with the Emperor, as well as the many and recent marks of his good-will and gratitude wherewithal they had been honoured; they asserted religion to be the sole cause of the violence which the Emperor now meditated against them; and in proof of this produced many arguments to convince those who were so weak as to be deceived by the artifices with which he endeavoured to cover his real, intentions; they declared their own resolution to risk every thing in maintenance of their religious rights, and foretold the dissolution of the German constitution, if the Emperor should finally prevail against them". The empe ror puts them under CHARLES, though in such a perilous situation as might have inspired him with moderate sentiments, appeared as the ban of inflexible and haughty as if his affairs had been in the most the empire. July 20. prosperous state. His only reply to the address and manifesto of the Protestants, was to publish the ban of the Empire against the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave of Hesse, their leaders, and against all who should dare to assist them. u Sleid. 384. VIII. 1546. By this sentence, the ultimate and most rigorous one which B O O K the German jurisprudence has provided for the punishment of traitors, or enemies to their country, they were declared rebels and outlaws, and deprived of every privilege which they enjoyed as members of the Germanic body; their goods were confiscated; their subjects absolved from their oath of allegiance; and it became not only lawful but meritorious to invade their territories. The nobles, and free cities, who framed or perfected the constitution of the German government, had not been so negligent of their own safety and privileges as to trust the Emperor with this formidable jurisdiction. The authority of a diet of the Empire ought to have been interposed before any of its members could be put under the ban. But Charles overlooked that formality, well knowing that, if his arms were crowned with success, there would remain none who would have either power or courage to call in question what he had done. The Emperor, however, did not found his sentence against the Elector and Landgrave on their revolt from the estab lished church, or their conduct with regard to religion; he affected to assign for it reasons purely civil, and those too expressed in such general and ambiguous terms, without specifying the nature or circumstances of their guilt, as rendered it more like an act of despotic power than of a legal and limited jurisdiction. Nor was it altogether from choice, or to conceal his intentions, that Charles had recourse to the ambiguity of general expressions; but he durst not mention too particularly the causes of his sentence, as every action which he could have charged upon the Elector and Landgrave as a crime, might have been employed with equal justice to condemn many of the Protestants whom he still pretended to consider as faithful subjects, and whom it would have been extremely imprudent to alarm or disgust. THE Confederates, now perceiving all hopes of accommo- They dedation to be at an end, had only to choose whether they would clare war submit without reserve to the Emperor's will, or proceed to Charles. v Sleid, 386. Du Mont Corps Diplom. iv. p. 11. 314. Pfeffel Hist. Abregé du Droit Publ. 168. 756. 158. against VIII. 1546. BOOK open hostilities. They were not destitute either of public spirit, or of resolution to make the proper choice. A few days after the ban of the Empire was published, they, according to the custom of that age, sent a herald to the Imperial camp, with a solemn declaration of war against Charles, to whom they no longer gave any other title than that of pretended Emperor, and renounced all allegiance, homage, or duty which he might claim, or which they had hitherto yielded to him. But previous to this formality, Their first part of their troops had begun to act. The command of a operations; considerable body of men, raised by the city of Augsburg, having been given to Sebastian Schertel, a soldier of fortune, who by the booty that he got when the Imperialists plundered Rome, together with the merit of long service, had acquired wealth and authority which placed him on a level with the chief of the German nobles: that gallant veteran resolved, before he joined the main body of the cons federates, to attempt something suitable to his former fame, and to the expectation of his countrymen. As the Pope's forces were hastening towards Tyrol, in order to penetrate into Germany by the narrow passes through the mountains which run across that country, he advanced thither with the utmost rapidity, and seized Ehrenberg and Cuffstein, two strong castles which commanded the principal defiles. Without stopping a moment, he continued his march towards Inspruck, by getting possession of which he would have obliged the Italians to stop short, and with a small body of men could have resisted all the efforts of the greatest armies. Castlealto, the governor of Trent, knowing what a fatal blow this would be to the Emperor, all whose designs must have proved abortive if his Italian auxiliaries had been intercepted, raised a few troops with the utmost dispatch, and threw himself into the town. Schertel, however, did not abandon the enterprise, and was preparing to attack the place, when the intelligence of the approach of the Italians, and an order from the Elector and Landgrave, obliged him to desist. By his retreat the passes were left open, and the Italians entered Germany without any opposition, but from the garrisons which Schertel had placed |