X. 1552. tention LITTLE attention was paid to the interests of the French B O O K King during the negociations at Passau. Maurice and his associates, having gained what they had in view, discovered no great solicitude about an ally, whom, perhaps, they Little atreckoned to be overpaid for the assistance which he had paid to given them, by his acquisitions in Lorrain. A short clause the French which they procured to be inserted in the treaty, importing, treaty. king in this that the King of France might communicate to the confederates his particular pretensions or causes of hostility, which they would lay before the Emperor, was the only sign that they gave of their remembering how much they had been indebted to him for their success. Henry experienced the same treatment, which every Prince who lends his aid to the authors of a civil war may expect. As soon as the rage of faction began to subside, and any prospect of accommodation to open, his services were forgotten, and his associates made a merit with their sovereign of the ingratitude with which they abandoned their protector. But how much soever Henry might be enraged at the perfidy of his allies, or at the impatience with which they hastened to make their peace with the Emperor, at his expense, he was perfectly sensible that it was more his interest to keep well with the Germanic body, than to resent the indignities offered him by any particular members of it. For that reason he dismissed the hostages which he had received from Maurice and his associates, and affected to talk in the same strain as formerly, concerning his zeal for maintaining the ancient constitution and liberties of the Empire. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. BOOK XI. воок XI. 1552. marches 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. But the great superiority of the Turkish armies, the frequent Maurice mutinies both of the Spanish and German soldiers, occasion- into Huned by their want of pay, together with the dissentions be- gary atween Maurice and Castaldo, who was piqued at being gainst the 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 2. Turks. grave of liberty. WHEN Maurice set out for Hungary, the Prince of The LandHesse parted from him with the forces under his command, Hesse reand marched back into his own country, that he might be covers his ready to receive his father upon his return, and 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, re a Istuanhaffii Hist. Hungar. 288. Thuan. lib. x. 371. XI. 1552. BOOK fusing to be included in the treaty of Passau. Unhappily for the Landgrave, an account of 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 re-instated 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 the Elector his 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 motive 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 suffer b Sleid. 573. Belcarii Comment. 834. XI.* 1552. ings rendered him the object of compassion. John Frede B O O K rick took possession accordingly of that part of his 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 retained amidst all his sufferings, he maintained during the remainder of his life that high reputation to which he had so just a title.. ror resolves France. THE loss of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, had made a deep The empeimpression on the Emperor. Accustomed to terminate all to make his operations against France with advantage to himself, he war upon thought that it nearly concerned his honour not to allow 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 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 weak 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, he left his inglorious retreat at Villach, and advanced to Augs His prepa this pur tions for pose. |
