IV. BOOK dered for the birth of his son Philip to be stopped; and employing an artifice no less hypocritical than gross, he appointed prayers and processions throughout all Spain for the recovery of the Pope's liberty, which, by an order to his generals, he could have immediately granted him. 1527. Solyman invades Hungary. 1526. Defeat of THE good fortune of the house of Austria was no less conspicuous in another part of Europe. Solyman having invaded Hungary with an army of three hundred thousand men, Lewis II. King of that country, and of Bohemia, a weak and unexperienced prince, advanced rashly to meet him with a body of men which did not amount to thirty thousand. With an imprudence still more unpardonable, he gave the command of these troops to Paul Tomorri, a Franciscan monk, archbishop of Golocza. This awkward general, in the dress of his order, girt with its cord, marched at the head of the troops; and, hurried on by his own presumption, as well as by the impetuosity of nobles who despised danger, but were impatient of long service, he fought Aug. 29, the fatal battle of Mohacz, in which the King, the flower of the Hungarian nobility, and upwards of twenty thousand men, fell the victims of his folly and ill conduct. Solyman, after his victory, seized and kept possession of several towns of the greatest strength in the southern provinces of Hungary, and over-running the rest of the country, carried near two hundred thousand persons into captivity. As Lewis was the last male of the royal family of Jagellon, the Archduke Ferdinand claimed both his crowns. This claim was founded on a double title; the one derived from the ancient pretensions of the house of Austria to both kingdoms; the other from the right of his wife, the only sister of the deceased monarch. The feudal institutions, however, subsisted both in Hungary and Bohemia in such vigour, and the nobles possessed such extensive power, that the crowns were still elective, and Ferdinand's rights, if they had not been powerfully supported, would have met with little regard. But his own personal merit; the respect due to the brother of the greatest Monarch in Christendom; the ne the Hungarians, and death of their King. d Sleid. 109. Sandov. i. 822. Mauroc Hist. Veneta, lib. iii. 220. 1527. cessity of choosing a prince able to afford his subjects some B O O K additional protection against the Turkish arms, which, as IV. they had recently felt their power, they greatly dreaded; together with the intrigues of his sister, who had been mar- Ferdinaud ried to the late King, overcame the prejudices which the elected King. Hungarians had conceived against the Archduke as a foreigner; and though a considerable party voted for the Vaywode of Transilvania, at length secured Ferdinand the throne of that kingdom. The states of Bohemia imitated the example of their neighbour kingdom; but in order to ascertain and secure their own privileges, they obliged Ferdinand, before his coronation, to subscribe a deed which they term a Reverse, declaring that he held that crown not by any previous right, but by their gratuitous and voluntary election. By such a vast accession of territories, the hereditary possession of which they secured in process of time to their family, the princes of the house of Austria attained that pre-eminence in power which hath rendered them so formidable to the rest of Germany. formation. 1526. THE dissentions between the Pope and Emperor prov- Progress of ed extremely favourable to the progress of Lutheranism. the ReCharles, exasperated by Clement's conduct, and fully employed in opposing the league which he had formed against him, had little inclination, and less leisure, to take any measures for suppressing the new opinions in Germany. In a diet of the Empire held at Spires, the state of religion came June 25, to be considered, and all that the Emperor required of the princes was, that they would wait patiently, and without encouraging innovations, for the meeting of a general council which he had demanded of the Pope. They, in return, acknowledged the convocation of a council to be the proper and regular step towards reforming abuses in the church; but contended, that a national council held in Germany would be more effectual for that purpose than what he had proposed. To his advice, concerning the discouragement of innovations, they paid so little regard, that even during e Steph. Broderick Procancelarii Hungar. Clades in Campo Mohacz, ap. Scardium, ii. 218. P. Barre Hist. d' Allemagne, tom. viii. part i. p. 198.. IV. 1527. BOOK the meeting of the diet at Spires, the divines who attended the Elector of Saxony and Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel thither, preached publicly, and administered the sacraments according to the rites of the Reformed Church. The Emperor's own example emboldened the Germans to treat the Papal authority with little reverence. During the heat of his resentment against Clement, he had published a long reply to an angry brief which the Pope had intended as an apology for his own conduct. In this manifesto, the empe ror, after having enumerated many instances of that pontiff's ingratitude, deceit, and ambition, all which he painted in the strongest and most aggravated colours, appealed from him to a general council. At the same time he wrote to the college of Cardinals, complaining of Clement's partiality and injustice; and requiring them, if he refused or delayed to call a council, to show their concern for the peace of the Christian church, so shamefully neglected by its chief pastor, by summoning that assembly in their own name %. This manifesto, little inferior in virulence to the invectives of Luther himself, was dispersed over Germany with great industry, and being eagerly read by persons of every rank, did much more than counterbalance the effect of all Charles's declarations against the new opinions. ₤ Sleid. 103. g Goldast. Polit. Imper. p. 984. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. BOOK V. THE account of the cruel manner in which the Pope had B O_O K V. been treated, filled all Europe with astonishment or horror. To see a Christian Emperor, who, by possessing that 1527. dignity, ought to have been the protector and advocate of General indignation the holy see, lay violent hands on him who represented excited Christ on earth, and detain his sacred person in a rigorous against the Emperor. captivity, was considered as an impiety that merited the severest vengeance, and which called for the immediate interposition of every dutiful son of the church. Francis and Henry, alarmed at the progress of the Imperial arms in Italy, had, even before the taking of Rome, entered into a closer alliance; and, in order to give some check to the Emperor's ambition, had agreed to make a vigorous diversion in the Low-Countries. The force of every motive, which had influenced them at that time, was now increased; and to these were added the desire of rescuing the Pope out of the Emperor's hands, a measure no less politic, than it appeared to be pious. This, however, rendered it necessary to abandon their hostile intentions against the LowCountries, and to make Italy the seat of war, as it was by vigorous operations there they might contribute most effectually towards delivering Rome, and setting Clement at liberty. Francis being now sensible, that, in his system with regard to the affairs of Italy, the spirit of refinement had V. 1527. BOOK carried him too far; and that, by an excess of remissness, he had allowed Charles to attain advantages which he might easily have prevented, was eager to make reparation for an error, of which he was not often guilty, by an activity more suitable to his temper. Henry thought his interposition necessary, in order to hinder the Emperor from becoming master of all Italy, and acquiring by that means such superiority of power, as would enable him, for the future, to dictate without control to the other princes of Europe. Wolsey, whom Francis had taken care to secure by flattery and presents, the certain methods of gaining his favour, neglected nothing that could incense his master against the EmpeBesides all these public considerations, Henry was influenced by one of a more private nature; having begun, about this time, to form his great scheme of divorcing Catharine of Aragon, towards the execution of which he knew that the sanction of papal authority would be necessary, he was desirous to acquire as much merit as possible with Clement, by appearing to be the chief instrument of his deli Confedera him. July 11. ror. verance. THE negociation, between princes thus disposed, was not cy against tedious. Wolsey himself conducted it, on the part of his sovereign, with unbounded powers. Francis treated with him in person at Amiens, where the Cardinal appeared, and was received with royal magnificence. A marriage between the duke of Orleans and the princess Mary was agreed to as the basis of the confederacy; it was resolved that Italy should be the theatre of war; the strength of the army which should take the field, as well as the contingent of troops or of money, which each prince should furnish, were settled; and if the Emperor did not accept of the proposals they were jointly to make him, they bound themselves immediately to declare war, and to begin hostilities. Henry, who took every resolution with impetuosity, entered so eagerly into this new alliance, that, in order to give Francis the strongest proof of his friendship and respect, he formally renounced the ancient claim of the English monarchs to the crown of France, which had long been the pride and ruin of the nation; as a full compensation for which he ac Aug. 18. |