Papal Intrigues in Germany under the reigns of Otho I--of
Henry IV.--of Henry V--of Frederic I--of Frederic II--of
Conrad IV.--of ALbert I--of Henry VII--of Louis of Bavaria--
of Charles IV.--of Sigis-mund--of Charles V.--of Ferdinand
II,--Papal Intrigues in Austria--in Prussia--and in the
Netherlands.
Wittikind the Great, King of Saxony, after a vigorous resistance for
thirty-three years against the arms of Charlemagne, the confederate of
the pope, submitted to be baptized to spare the further effusion of
the blood of his subjects. But in the events of one hundred years, the
conquered became the emperors, and the Franks were supplanted on the
throne by the Saxons. From the time that the Carlovingian dynasty was
established until the dissolution of the empire in 1806, the secular
power had to continually struggle against the intrigues and usurpations
of the Papal See.
The pope's claim of being the disposer of crowns, and the source of
secular power, achieved something of a triumph in 962, when through a
crafty policy the pontiff bestowed the diadem on Otho. From motives
of policy the emperor conceded the spiritual claims of the pope, but
prudently nullified them by placing him under his authority. While Otho
acknowledged that he was emperor by the grace of God and the pope, he
required the latter, who was John XII., to swear allegiance to him, and
the Roman See to enter into a solemn agreement with him that henceforth
no pope should be chosen except in the presence of a Germanic imperial
commission. This judicious check on the intriguing policy of the Papal
See, was too unpleasant to be tolerated longer than weakness made it
unavoidable. Presumptuous as false, Pope John XII. was led to violate
his oath of allegiance, and to take up arms to acquire independence of
secular authority. For this act of perjury, treason, and violation of a
solemn treaty--which in a layman would have been a capital offence, but
in a priest was aggravated by the additional crime of hypocrisy--the
emperor could not do less than depose him.
In the papal monarchy virtue and ability were seldom conspicuous, and
generally when either appeared in its administration, it was less the
offspring of Catholicism than of the Germanic authority. The emperors
of Germany were far better men than the popes of Rome. While the first
labored to reform the church, the latter did little else than corrupt
it. Virtue, the foundation of public order and concord, could not but
be encouraged in the subjects by a sagacious monarch; and vice, the
indulgent mother of fraud and imposition, could not but be cultivated
by a crafty and ambitious priest. In the progress of the conduct of the
papal and the imperial policy, so mutually antagonistical, Henry III.,
who became Emperor of Germany in 1046, had to depose three popes, and to
fill the papal chair during his life with men of his own choice. He
also held the papal monarchy under strict surveillance, and forbade the
bestowal of any spiritual dignity, or the appropriation of any church
property without his sanction. The wholesome effects of his severity
won commendations even from those upon whom they were most rigorously
enforced; in proof of which it may be stated that the clergy
spontaneously bestowed on him the title of "The Pious," which he
condescended to accept.
In 1056 Henry IV. ascended the throne of Germany. The Papal See,
bitterly groaning under the jealous restraint which had been imposed on
it by the secular authority, eagerly watched, and artfully intrigued for
an opportunity to remove them. The impolitic and tyrannical conduct of
Henry IV. appeared, perhaps in its eye, as a providential circumstance
designed to aid the success of its long cherished design. The emperor,
governed by the advice of Archbishop Adelbert, attempted, by building
castles, and committing brutal and violent acts, to rule his people
through the terror of his authority. Neglecting to guard popular
interests, which alone can secure popular attachment, his efforts to
overawe his subjects produced only dissatisfaction and insurrection. In
an outburst of popular violence provoked by his imprudence, considerable
damage was done to some churches in Saxony and Thuringia. These
disorders gave Henry the opportunity of gratifying his revengeful
feelings in accusing the inhabitants before the pope of sacrilege, and
of entering their territory and perpetrating the most barbarous cruelty.
The consequences of this proceeding eventuated in such a favorable
crisis to the papal designs, that, had the ablest pope projected and
engineered them they could not have culminated more propitiously. The
injured and exasperated inhabitants appealed to the pope. Pope Gregory
VII., having ascended the papal throne without the consent of the German
court, eagerly embraced a cause which enabled him to assert his claim
claim to independent sovereignty, and supremacy over all secular
authority. Fully aware that the tyranny of Henry had deprived him of
the affections and support of his subjects, he commanded the unpopular
monarch to appear before him, under pain of excommunication. In
punishment for this ferocious warrant the emperor summoned a council
of bishops at Worms, and obliged them to renounce their allegiance to
Gregory. This daring act so irritated the pope that he began to lavish,
with unsparing liberality, anathemas on the head of the monarch. Henry
at first treated this display of arrogated divinity with scornful
indifference, but his vices had too much disembarrassed the action of
the papal machinery not to allow it to disable his power and revenge.
His subjects disowned their allegiance to him; his friends deserted him;
his soldiers disobeyed his orders; and he found himself helplessly at
the mercy of a revengeful and irritated priest. With a refinement of
malice that seems to do credit to papal ingenuity, at least, the emperor
was required to dress in penitential robes, formally to solicit for
three days an interview with the sacerdotal despot, and then to promise
unconditional obedience to him in all things. But the acts of tyranny
carry with them the seeds of retribution. The tyrant who could impose
such conditions on a fallen foe, could also have been guilty, in the
exercise of his power, of inflicting injuries on his subjects which
would be calculated to excite a disposition to revolt and retaliation,
This was precisely the case with Pope Gregory VII. He had oppressed the
Italian provinces to such a degree that the inhabitants longed for an
opportunity to depose him; and now the misfortunes of Henry appearing
to render him an available agent in the accomplishment of their designs,
they proposed a coalition with him. The pope becoming acquainted with
this secret machination, set about to counteract it. By the operation of
his skilful machinery he was enabled suddenly to create a conspiracy
in the heart of Germany, for the deposition of the emperor; but the
vigilance and valor of the latter defeated the revolutionary movement.
Having in vain exhausted all resources to subject the incorrigible
monarch to his absolute authority, he now sought to beguile the
mortification of his defeat by hurling anathemas at his obstinate head.
But the temper of Henry not disposing him to indulge the chagrined pope
in insolent sports, summoned a council of German and Italian bishops at
Brixen, and by proving to their satisfaction that Pope Gregory VII. was
a heretic, a sorcerer, and had dealings with the devil, effected his
degradation, and placed Clement III. in the papal chair.
The spirit and pretensions of Catholicism are so inimical to secular
authority that, to whatever extent they obtain a controlling influence
in a government they tend to abridge its sovereignty, and threaten its
subversion. This tendency, so clearly indicated by the principles of
the papal monarchy, and so fearfully illustrated in its history, is
incapable of being restrained by any sense of gratitude, or by any
obligation of oaths, A knowledge of this unhappy truth will prevent
surprise that the munificent favors which Henry bestowed on Pope Clement
III., in elevating him to the papal dignity, should not have caused the
repeal of the anathemas and excommunications which had been pronounced
against him, nor arrested the papal machinery in its insidious and
treacherous operations, in fostering the elements of discord which
existed in the empire. Nothing but the surrender of the principles of
sovereignty will ever conciliate a pope to the authority of a secular
government. The prudence, courage, and talents of the king were hence
constantly called into requisition to defeat the secret machinations of
his enemies. His eldest son was instigated to rebel against him.
After he had subdued him, his second son, whom he had crowned as
his successor, obliged him to surrender into his hands the imperial
authority. By the implacable revenge of the Papal See, operating through
its varied machinery, he was deprived of power, reduced to scorn and
neglect, and after it had murdered him by degrees, prohibited the
interment of his anathematized corpse in consecrated ground.
After Henry V., in 1106, had wrung from his father's hand the imperial
sceptre, he sought to have this atrocious act sanctified in the eyes
of his subjects by being crowned at Rome by the pope--Paschal II. This
sanction of unfilial conduct the pope was willing to accord; but as
it seemed to present an opportunity for making a good speculation, he
exacted, as the only condition on which the favor could be granted, a
concession to the Holy See of all the rights and privileges which had
been claimed for it by Pope Gregory VII.
This proposition startled Henry; he saw the ambitious designs of the
pope, and he felt the importance of checking them. Boldly denying the
papal pretensions, and rejecting with indignant contempt the proposition
of Paschal, he marched his army on Rome, dragged the pope from the altar
while he was celebrating mass, and casting him into prison, determined
that he should there remain until he consented to crown him without any
condition. To be restored to liberty and luxury the pope acceded to all
the terms dictated to him by the emperor, but with a secret disposition
to render them nugatory at the first opportunity. Disturbances occurring
in Germany, the pope was agreeably relieved of the embarrassing
restraints of the emperor's presence. To suppress the Germanic
revolution the skill and valor of Henry was occupied for two years. In
the meantime the pope, in order to nullify the concessions which he had
made, organized an Italian conspiracy against the emperor. Soon as Henry
had quelled the insubordination in Germany, he therefore returned to
Italy to punish the author of the calamities of his reign. But Pope
Paschal evaded the designed chastisement by absconding to Apulea, where
he shortly afterwards died.
Pope Galatius II., an enemy of Henry, having obtained the papal dignity,
the latter deposed him, and caused Bourden, under the name of Gregory
VIII., to be substituted in his place. The deposed pope and his
cardinals, having the control of the papal machinery, were enabled to
oppose, with great success, the policy of Henry in every part of
his dominion. Galatius assembled a council of bishops at Vienna and
excommunicated him; Calaxtus II. convened one at Rheims, and repeated
the sentence; the nobles broke out in frequent rebellion; and finally
such insubordination prevailed in the empire, and such violent outbursts
so frequently disturbed the public peace, that in order to restore
tranquillity Henry was compelled to subscribe to a concordat at Worms,
in which he renounced the right of investiture, and to any interference
in the consecration of bishops.
Frederic I. succeeded to the imperial throne in 1152. The increasing
opulence and power of the Italian and Lombardine cities owing allegience
to Germanic authority, the ambitious aspirations of the Papal See for
illimitable dominion, and the insidious operations of its machinery in
producing public taste and opinion in harmony with its desires, had,
at the beginning of the reign of Frederic I., produced revolts and
usurpations in Lombardy and Italy, which obliged the emperor to visit
and chastise the insurrectionary districts. Pope Alexander III., the
chief source of the public discord, fled on the approach of Frederic
to France, and excommunicated him. A league was then formed between
the pope, Venice, and the Greek empire against Frederic; and for twenty
years the calamities of war were protracted. The cruelty which the
emperor had exercised towards the rebellious cities created a desperate
opposition to his authority, and exercised an important influence in
stimulating the valor and energy of the people, by which their freedom
was finally achieved in the treaty of Venice in 1177.
The spiritual and temporal crown of the world which the Roman See
attempted to manufacture out of the fishhooks of St. Peter, however
visionary it might originally have appeared, assumed in the progress of
the papal political intrigues, the appearance of a stubborn, formidable
and frightful reality. With the profound policy which it elaborated, and
the systematic course of measures which it adopted, accommodated to all
exigencies and pursued through all periods, and at all places; with its'
machinery ramifying the political, social, and literary institutions of
Christendom; with its confessors transmitting to Rome every important
fact; with its inquisition extorting from victims an admission of
every false charge of which ecclesiastical interests required the
establishment; with its preachers and spiritual guides manufacturing,
private and public opinion suitable to its demands by perverted facts
and false statements; and with its army of monks, knights, sycophant
princes, servile kings, and deluded devotees; it had at the period of
Pope Innocent III. subjugated Christendom under its despotic authority.
During the progress of its aggressive course the voice of reason and
patriotism had often lifted up remonstrances against its advancement;
but the eloquent tones died away unheeded amid the clamorous chaunts of
superstitious rites. But now, after supineness had allowed it to
amass supreme and despotic power, and fortify itself by every means
of defence, the antagonism of the people began to be energetically
manifested. It is the fate of despotism of every form, when it has
developed the full strength of its all-blasting power, to awaken another
power destined to trample it in the dust. That power is the strength
which slumbers in the popular arm. When the papal despotism was no more
a pretension, but a fact, when it stood distinctly before the world
clotted with the blood of generations, surrounded by broken sceptres and
crushed thrones, with its feet on the neck of kings and people, and its
usurping hand grasping at the crowns of earth, heaven and hell, a murmur
of horror broke from the lips of the world. Then learning began to
scoff at its claims, research to expose its frauds, wit to ridicule
its pretensions; and then religious liberty, through the Albigenses and
Waldenses uttered that memorable peal, which is destined to reverberate
as an undying tone through all future ages. Then arose the free cities
from their long degradation, and began to perfect their internal
organizations by the establishment of corporations; then appeared the
first universities, arousing the dormant spirit of free inquiry and
investigation; then the abrogation of the system of violence began to
restore public security; and then the separate members of the empire
began to be assembled and deliberate on public affairs, originating the
principle of the provincial diets.
Frederic II., son of the emperor Henry VI., was born at this illustrious
period of German history. Philip, Duke of Suabia, was nominated
regent during Frederic's minority, but the pope, wishing a more pliant
instrument, substituted Berthold. Finding this scheme impracticable he
recommended Otho, and Philip being murdered, the papal policy succeeded.
But the pope soon found that his intrigue had vested with power a mortal
foe to the Papal See. For Otho clearly manifested a design of not only
wresting Sicily from Frederic, which the latter inherited from his
mother, princess of Constance, but of establishing the authority
of Germany over certain possessions of Italy which it claimed as an
inheritance. To counteract the mistake of his policy the pope took
Frederic under his protection, and called into requisition all the power
of his machinery. At the age of twenty-one years he crowned his protege
Emperor of Germany; but in order to bind him to his interests he exacted
a coronation oath that he would undertake a crusade in behalf of the
church. Frederic, enjoying the favor and influence of the pope, and
the advantageous co-operation of his machinery, soon defeated Otho, and
became sole sovereign of the empire.
With a grasp of intellect, and versatility of talent that rarely have
sprung from a royal cradle, Frederic II. elaborated projects which,
although they transcended the liberality and enlightenment of his age,
yet laid the foundation for their development in a future period. The
possession of the German and Sicilian crowns led him to hope that he
would be able to repress the powerful hierarchy of Rome, and reduce the
pope to the dignity of a bishop. Impressed with the importance of
this object, and the difficulty of its accomplishment, he slowly and
cautiously removed obstacle after obstacle, and selected the elements
for his great enterprise. As a preliminary measure he caused his son to
be crowned King of Rome. This act alarmed the jealousy of Pope Honorious
III., who desired to be acquainted with the motive of it. The emperor
replied that his coronation oath required him to undertake a crusade,
and the fulfilment of it rendered it necessary to invest his son with
regal authority. However ungratifying this reasoning was to the pope, he
could not refute it, and as the emperor promised to deal severely with
the heretics, and to exclude them from offices of trust or profit, he
became greatly pacified. In maturing his measures for the restoration
of the Italian empire, the emperor procrastinated for twelve years the
fulfilment of his undertaking, a crusade; and though the pope frequently
reminded him of the solemnity of his obligation, yet his apologies
were so plausible that they seemed fully to justify the delay. The
inexplicable mystery of Frederic's conduct, however, excited the
apprehensions of Pope Gregory IX.--and to get rid of his presence in
Europe he peremptorily demanded that he should undertake the promised
crusade. With a show of obedience to the pope's injunction, he commenced
preparing for the enterprise, but upon such an extensive scale, and
so interruptedly and slowly that it damped the fire, consumed the
provisions, and thinned the ranks of the pilgrims. At length he set
sail with his fleet, but becoming indisposed after three days' voyage
returned home. The return of his formidable army alarmed the fears of
the pope, who appears to have equally dreaded the success of his arms
abroad and of his presence at home. Adopting the customary policy of
the popes in their emergency, he endeavored to embarrass the designs
of Frederic by pronouncing sentence of excommunication on him, and
suspending all religious services in his dominions. The justice of this
sentence being attempted to be supported by the failure of the emperor
to fulfil his coronation oath, Frederic endeavored to nullify it, if not
in the eyes of the pope, yet in those of the people, by undertaking a
vigorous crusade. But the infallible pope who had excommunicated him for
not becoming a crusader, now excommunicated him for becoming one. During
the emperor's absence the pope preached a crusade against him in his own
dominions, organized a conspiracy against him, and devastated his empire
with his own troops. That he might weaken the power and popularity of
the emperor abroad, he ordered the bishops and knights of the army of
the cross in Palestine to dispute his command and oppose his designs.
But the remarkable genius of Frederic, undaunted by difficulties, and
unimpressible by discouragement and reverses, made him victorious, as
well over the arms of the Turks as over the intrigues of the pope. He
entered Jerusalem in triumph; and, not finding a bishop who would incur
the papal anathemas by crowning him, he performed the ceremony himself.
The success of Frederic filled Christendom with joy, but the pope with
indignation. He declared every church into which he entered profaned;
interdicted the celebration of divine worship in Jerusalem; and such
was his influence with the chivalrous knighthood, that among its members
were found persons base enough to secretly inform the Sultan how he
might dispose of his victor, by assassination, in his customary visits
to the river Jordan. But the magnanimity of the Sultan rejected the
proposition with contempt, and communicated the matter to the emperor to
place him on his guard.
While Frederic exacted from the pope what justice and self respect
demanded, he was so far from being disposed to treat him with
unnecessary rigor that, when his vices and tyranny had excited his
subjects into a rebellion, he interposed in his behalf and restored
tranquillity, An act so generous in the emperor should have awakened in
the pope an equal degree of magnanimity, but so far was he incapable of
any sense of gratitude, that he instigated the emperors son to conspire
against him, and assured him of the assistance of the Lombards. This
conspiracy was detected, and defeated in its bud; and, the emperor
regarding his son more as the victim of sacerdotal craft than as a real
foe to his authority, pardoned his disloyalty. The sense of gratitude
naturally arising from this act of clemency, added to the weight of
filial affection, should have been sufficient to form a disposition
which would have subjected the son to the most affectionate
subordination to the father. But the dispensations and absolutions
with which the church pretends to nullify social and civil obligations,
unhappily interfered with the natural instincts of the son's mind, and
led him to add to the guilt of his treason, the ignominy of attempting
to assassinate his father. This atrocious act cancelling every
obligation of nature, would have justified the emperor in proceeding to
extremes; but his native magnanimity prevailed, and he sentenced his son
to perpetual banishment.
The success of the policy of Frederic comprehended a union of the
hostile elements of his southern territory, the subjugation of the
Germanic aristocracy, and of the Italian cities in alliance with the
pope. Preparatory to the execution of this policy he made some conquests
in Lombardy These successes excited the revenge of the pope, who
accordingly visited on his head another excommunication. But the Vatican
thunder was allowed to roll on, as amid its music the emperor inarched
on from victory to victory. At length, in the development of the policy
of Frederic, the time arrived for striking a decisive blow at the
heart of the public disorder. By a sudden movement he entered the papal
dominions. The pope trembled on his throne. He saw his monarchy at the
mercy of an emperor, whom he had anathematized, whose son he had taught
to rebel, whose subjects he had corrupted, and whose downfall he had
labored to effect. The consummation of the policy of Frederic was
in his grasp; but the magnificent prospect which skill and valor had
obtained, superstition blasted. Having some reverence for the office,
though none for the character of the pope, and conscious of the powerful
influence it wielded over the superstitious, he ventured to listen
to the papal monarch, who professed a willingness to concede all his
demands, but proposed that they should first be sanctioned by a council
of the bishops of the church. The emperor soon perceived, but too
late, that this specious proposition was but a popish device. The
preliminaries for holding the proposed council established the
fact, that the pope intended to have it chiefly composed of the most
inveterate enemies of the emperor; in fact none but such were invited to
participate in its proceedings. Frederic felt justified, therefore,
in forbidding the convention to assemble. As his prohibition was
disregarded, he intercepted a Genoese fleet of one hundred bishops, and
brought them captive to Naples. This manoeuvre broke up the council, and
perhaps broke the pope's heart, as he shortly afterwards died.
Cardinal Fiesco, a warm friend of the emperor, became Pope Innocent IV.;
but the dignity of pope making him regard the emperor as hostile to
his monarchial pretensions; converted his former friendship into bitter
annimosity. Returning to Lyons, he confirmed all the anathemas that had
been pronounced against Frederic, and summoned him to appear at the bar
of a grand council to be convened at that place. In the proceedings of
this council the most ridiculous and groundless charges were preferred
against Frederic, and though completely refuted by his deputies, yet as
the proceedure was merely the semblance of a judicial trial, to sanction
preconcerted malice and revenge by forms of legality, the council
did not hesitate to declare him guilty, any proof of innocence to the
contrary, It seems to have concentrated its ingenuity in devising new
and unheard of methods to give terrific importance to the ventilation
of its hate. An anathema was pronounced on the body and soul of the
emperor, and on all his interests, friends and allies. While pronouncing
these religious curses, the priests, like fiends administering at some
infernal ceremonies, held in their hands lighted torches, and upon its
conclusion suddenly extinguished them; and by the theatrical trick of
uttering discordant shrieks and howls, seemed in the darkness of the
cathedral to have converted the holy place into the lower regions,
peopled with the arch-fiend and his agents. Though these artistical
elaborations were not without some effect, yet the vigor of the
emperor's genius, the magnanimity which he constantly displayed, his
vast popularity, and the triumph of his arms--which continued to his
death--demonstrated to the intelligent that there was no real curse in
the papal anathemas.
Conrad IV., son of Frederic II., became emperor of Germany in 1250.
Innocent IV., whose policy it was to profess any friendship, and violate
any obligation that contributed to his interests, determined to complete
on the son the vengeance he had commenced on the father. Presumptuous
as vindictive he declared that inasmuch as Frederic II. had been
excommunicated, his son could not inherit the throne. On the ground
of this ridiculous pretext, he pronounced him dispossessed of all his
inheritance; laid on him an interdict; and persecuted him by all the
means which his power and influence afforded. But notwithstanding a
revengeful pope, whose malice through his machinery operated everywhere,
yet, he had more than his equal to contend with. The courage and heroism
of Conrad defeated the papal army, kept the pope's allies in check, and
was about to enter Lombardy with the fairest prospects of success when
his illegitimate brother, by administering poison to him, relieved the
pope of a formidable adversary.
Conradin, son of Conrad IV., the last of the noble house of
Hohenstaufen, was the heir to the throne, The pope refused to
acknowledge his right to succession, because his father had been
excommunicated. He declared also that Conradin had forfeited his right
of inheritance to the crown of Naples and Sicily, and undertook to
bestow it on Charles of Anjou. But Conradin entered Italy and defeated
the usurper; but while he was pursuing the flying enemy with too much
recklessness, he was captured by the vanquished. The world expected
that his youth and valor could not but win compassion even from the
iron-hearted pope, but the intense hatred of the papal monarch to the
noble house of which this intrepid lad was the last scion, would
not permit him to allow an opportunity to escape of extinguishing it
forever. Conradin was therefore, though but sixteen years old, publicly
executed as a criminal; but his heroism, and the circumstances under
which he met death, crowned his memory with immortal honor, while it
cast a deeper tinge of ignominy on the already blackened character of
the pope.
The usurpation of territory, and interference in political affairs,
which are so strongly characteristic of the papal policy, originate from
the constitutional principles of the Roman See. In conformity with them
Pope Boniface VIII. proclaimed himself King of Rome; and declared that
the Roman See was the source whence the Germanic electors derived their
rights. Albert I. being chosen emperor by the electors in 1298; was
summoned by the pope to appear before him and apologize for having
accepted the crown without consulting his pleasure, and to expiate the
guilt of his offence by the performance of such penance as should be
prescribed. To enforce compliance with this injunction the pope formed
an allegiance with the archbishop of Mentz, a powerful military bishop,
and a former friend of Albert. To resist the belligerent pope Albert
effected an alliance with Philip la Belle, of France. Making a sudden
diversion into the electorate of Mentz, Albert obliged the bishop to
form a league with him for five years. The pope then suggested peaceful
negotiation rather than disastrous war. It was finally agreed between
the two contracting parties that the pope should give to Albert the
possessions of his ally, and that Albert should acknowledge that the
western empire was a grant as a fief from the pope, that the electors
derived their right from the Roman See, and that he would defend the
papal interests with his arms. The pope then proceeded, by virtue of an
excommunication, to invalidate the title of Louis la Belle, of France,
to his kingdom, and officially to transfer it to Albert I.
During the reign of Henry VII., who became emperor of Germany in 1308,
the tyranny and ambition of the pope were held in decent check, and the
Papal See was unusually quiet and respectable. The emperor, whom the
pope hated, but whom he dared not anathematize, was finally removed
by poison administered in the sacramental wine, by Moltipulcian, a
Dominican monk. Soon as this event occurred the pope's vengeance, which
had been accumulating in fury for years, but which was too much overawed
to utter a murmur, now burst forth with the most impetuous and indecent
violence in anathemas on the soul, the corpse, the coffin, and the tomb
of the dead emperor; but it is not supposed that they done any damage,
except to the character and good sense of the Roman See.
Louis IV., of Bavaria, became emperor of Germany in 1330, To arrest the
encroachments of the Papal See on the rights of the sovereignty of the
empire, the diet of Rense framed a constitution, in 1338, which provided
that the choice of the electors of the union should be final in
its decision, and independent of the Pope of Rome. These patriotic
proceedings seemed to the pope to be interfering with his rights; and
John XXI. accordingly prohibited the performance of divine worship in
the empire, until the obnoxious constitution should be annulled. But
Louis soon repaired this calamity by the creation of Pope Nicholas V.,
who, having equal authority with Pope John XXI., nullified all his
acts. Pope Clement VII., who succeeded to the papal throne in 1342,
excommunicated Louis, and by his intrigues caused five electors
to declare in favor of Charles of Luxemburg. This violation of the
celebrated constitution of 1338 induced three electors to assemble at
Lahstein, and declare the choice of Charles null and void; and as Louis
had died, they elected Edward of England, but he declining, they elected
Frederic the Severe; he also declining, the crown was finally settled
on Gunter of Schwarzburg. But Gunter being removed by poison, the papal
policy triumphed in the coronation of Charles of Luxemburg.
Charles IV., in 1346, wishing to be crowned by the pope at Rome, visited
Italy to negotiate for that favor; Pope Innocent VI., always inclined
to make the vanity and ambition of his subjects administer to his
aggrandizement, signified a disposition to accommodate the emperor,
but on such disgraceful conditions that, by accepting them he subjected
himself to the scorn and derision of the world. This self-degradation
was much aggravated by the fact that many distinguished Romans,
oppressed by the papal administration, united in requesting Charles
to claim the city of Rome as a portion of his empire. Instead of
improving this opportunity to extend the limits of his government, he
renounced all rights, not only to the city of Rome, but to the States of
the Church, to Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. He also consented
to impose a tax on the empire for the benefit of the Papal See, equal
to one-tenth of the ecclesiastical revenues; and further added to his
disgrace by taking an oath never to enter Italy without the pope's
sanction. For this base sycophancy he was assailed by princes and
people with a storm of indignation. To allay the fury of this tempest he
announced an intention of convening a council for the reformation of the
clergy, and for making liberal concessions to the popular demands. But
this attempt to calm the people aroused the indignation of the Papal
See. The pope exhorted the electors to depose him instantly. Assailed on
all sides, dangers thickening around him from all quarters, but dreading
less the indignation of the empire than the anathema of the Roman See,
he yielded to the dictation of the pope and confirmed the clergy in all
their privileges, sanctioned all their abuses, protected them in all
their possessions, and made them entirely independent of the secular
power.
The papal power, at the period of Frederic II., seemed to tremble on
the verge of inevitable destruction; but by a profound and unscrupulous
policy, and a system of crafty intrigues, aided by a political machinery
whose various parts ramified every portion of the empire, and acted
in concert through all ages and dynasties, it had steadily carried its
advancements through the blood of millions and the ruins of thrones,
until, at the time of Charles, it had regained its supremacy in the
empire; and dictated treaties to the emperors, measures to the diets,
and laws to the people. A power that could at its option excite or quell
a popular outburst, create or destroy a dynasty, might be an object
of terror to people and princes, but never an object of reverence. The
dread it cast on the mind was always unpleasant, and in proportion
as its power became oppressive and disadvantageous, opposition and
resistance were inevitably excited. The love of independence, the native
individualism of the Germanic character, was always a mortal foe to
papal despotism. It might be cowered into silence, but it still grew
in vigor, became more impatient as the pope became more despotic, and
bolder as it became more conscious of its numerical strength. This
spirit, in 1411, when Sigismund became Emperor of Germany, displayed
an energy prophetic of stirring events and important consequences. The
spirit of Germanic individualism led distinguished men of the nation to
deny, with emphatic boldness, the pretensions of the pope; to denounce
the profligacy of the clergy; and to demand in the body and head of the
church a thorough reformation. Prominent among the apostles of religious
freedom, which rose into consequence at that time, was John Huss, and
his disciples. The success of these reformers excited and alarmed the
pope. Hating any semblance of a right to participate in his authority,
or to assume any approach to an equality with him, he was strongly
averse to the assembling of a deliberative council; but conscious that
his divine attributes and prerogatives were not adequate to the existing
emergency, he consented that the Council of Constance should be called,
on condition that it should adopt the most energetic means for the
extirpation of the heretics.. With the secret design of betraying the
amiable reformer, John Huss, he was invited to respond in person to
a summons of the council. To quiet his apprehensions of danger, the
emperor furnished him with a safe conduct, and the pope pledged his
honor to protect him from harm. Thus guarded by the honor of the state
and the church, he was, notwithstanding, perfidiously betrayed, and
condemned to be burnt alive. The perfidy of the infallible pope is
justified by the saints and authorities of the Catholic church, on the
ground that no pledge, assurance, or oath, can rightfully protect a
heretic from punishment. Sigis-mund attended the horrid ceremonies; and
being reminded by a by-stander that the course of the wind might bear an
offensive efluvia to the position he occupied, answered: "The odor of a
burning heretic can never be offensive to Sigismund."
The death of John Huss was terribly revenged. The stake became the
watchword of union. The hitherto mild and submissive reformers became
desperate revengers. Churches and convents were burnt; monks and priests
slaughtered without mercy. The insurgents met and defeated the imperial
forces. The strongest armies of the cross withered before their
ferocity. For fifteen years they devastated the Papal dominions, and
shook the government with the violence of their retribution. Seeing
it impossible to restrain their rage, Sigismund obliged the Council of
Basle to negotiate with them for the adjustment of their difficulties.
This politic measure so incensed Pope Eugenius IV., whose uncompromising
vengeance longed for the extermination of every opponent to papal
despotism, that he ordered his legates to dissolve the obnoxious
assembly. But the laity had advanced in liberality and knowledge far
beyond the possible attainment of a papal despot, and in defiance of
his maledictions and intrigues, continued their useful session, and
terminated, by peaceful concessions, the war with the Hussites.
The grand struggle between religious freedom and Catholic despotism
was visibly approaching when Charles V., King of Spain, in 1519 became
Emperor of Germany. His design was to conquer the world, and his policy
was to unite all parties in augmenting the national strength. To
secure the favor of the pope, and the co-operation of his extensive and
effective machinery, he declared himself the defender of the Catholic
faith. To conciliate the Protestants he convened a diet at Worms, at
which, under a plausible show of toleration he allowed Luther, in his
presence, to defend the principles of the reformation. But his ambiguous
policy becoming offensive to the Roman See, he issued an edict against
the Protestants. A Catholic from interest, he was more disposed to make
the pope auxiliary to the success of his designs than to be governed by
him. Hence, when Francis I. preferred claims to certain portions of the
Germanic empire, he leagued with the pope and accomplished the defeat
of the king; but he was equally disposed to defend his interests against
the pope. The papal monarch, always apprehensive of the political power
of friend or foe, seeing that his confederacy with Charles had vastly
augmented the latter's preponderating power, and placed the papal
interests at his disposal, formed against him a counter league with the
Italian States. This effort to retrieve the errors of his policy only
aggravated his misfortune. The forces of the Holy League were defeated
by the arms of Charles, Rome taken by storm, the city plundered, the
pope imprisoned, and four hundred thousand crowns of gold demanded for
his ransom. When Charles heard of the success of his arms, in evident
mockery he dressed himself in mourning for the pope, ordered masses
to be said in all the churches for his deliverance from prison, and in
alleviation of his misfortune reduced the ransom to 100,000 crowns, The
power of Charles overawing the papal throne, it prudently refrained
from venting in insulting anathemas the ebullitions of its wrath. Pope
Clement VII., after the peace of Cambray in 1592, crowned Charles as
King of Lombardy and Rome.
On this occasion the emperor dutifully kissed the feet of the papal
monarch. The cause of this affection and harmony was shortly afterwards
manifested in an intolerant edict against the Protestants. This
significant menace led the Protestant princes to form the Smalkalden
League for the protection of Protestantism. Two years afterwards a
holy league was formed by the Catholic princes for the protection of
Catholicism. After some abortive attempts at negotiation, the Protestant
league raised the standard of war. The emperor by strategetic
movements, and by creating jealousy and divisions among the Protestant
confederates, obtained important advantages over their arms, and finally
succeeded in dissolving the league. But Maurice of Saxony had secretly
formed another league, which was joined by Henry II., King of France.
While Charles was at Innspruck, attending the Council of Trent, Maurice
suddenly appeared at the head of an army, and the emperor barely escaped
amid the darkness of a stormy night from being captured. The council was
consequently dissolved, and the Protestants dictated the terms of peace
at Passau; which the emperor ratified at Augsburg. By the terms of this
treaty it was agreed that no one should be attacked on account of his
religious belief; that no one should be molested in the enjoyment of his
property or mode of worship; that religious disputes should be adjusted
by pacific means; that persons for religious reasons should be allowed
to change their residences; that bishops on becoming Protestants should
forfeit their office and salary; and that every Protestant should enjoy
his faith until a religious compromise should be established!
Charles, broken down in health and constitution, enfeebled in mind, and
conceiving that he was haunted by some invisible power which blasted all
his prospects, abdicated the throne and retired to a monastery, where
he passed the remainder of his life in making wooden clocks, and in
performing his funeral ceremonies.
Ferdinand II., King of Spain, succeeded to the crown of Germany in 1619.
He was by nature of a morose and revengeful disposition, and the
bigotry and prejudice which had been instilled into his mind by Catholic
preceptors made him an accomplished instrument in the hands of the
church, in executing its exterminating vengeance on the heretics. During
the course of his tutelage he made a pilgrimage to Rome, where an oath
was administered to him by the pope, that if he should ever become
emperor he would exterminate heresy in his dominions. When he ascended
the throne Germany was divided into two factions. The one was known as
the "Catholic League," and the other as the "Evangelical Union." The
Catholic League was headed by Maximilian, elector of Bavaria, and
comprised the bishops and princes attached to the house of Austria.
The Evangelical Union was headed by the Duke of Wittenberg, the elector
of Saxony and Brandenburg, and composed of Lutheran and Calvinistic
princes and knights. A number of the princes of Bavaria assembled at
Prague, and declaring that they would not submit to Maximilian, chose
for their king Frederic, elector of the Palatina, a member of the
Evangelical Union. This revolt benefited the Evangelical Union by a
powerful accession. A desperate and bloody struggle was imminent between
these two parties. Notwithstanding the Protestant influence in Bavaria,
Ferdinand succeeded in having himself elected king. After this event he
tore up in a violent rage the charter which Rudolph II. had granted the
Bohemians, because it allowed them to build churches and school-houses.
He then showed his remembrance of his popish oath by persecuting the
Protestants, banishing their preachers, and depopulating the kingdom
by an intolerance which caused emigrations of whole sections from his
dominions. The victory of his troops near Prague enabling him to
dictate a treaty which crushed the Protestant cause, and dissolved
the Evangelical Union, he proceeded to restore the ecclesiastical
institutions which had been abolished by the Protestants, to exclude
Calvinists from the benefits of the religious peace of Augsburg, and
to require Protestants living under Catholic princes to believe in
Catholicism. Besides these decrees, enforced by the military power, the
conquest of the Palatinate of Frederic, the bestowal of that dignity on
Maximilian, the emperor's favorite, giving the Catholics the ascendency
in the electoral college, the army of Tilly in Lower Saxony, where no
existing enemy made it excusable, depriving the Protestants of their
churches, committing wanton violence on the Lutherans, and compelling
thousands to abandon their homes, property and country, were such gross
violations of treaties, and such strong incentives to resistance, that
the Protestant princes were impelled to unite in a league with the
King of Denmark and the Duke of Holstein, determining to exhaust every
resource in the defence of religious liberty. After some successes the
confederated forces were defeated, and the Protestants lost all that
they had acquired since the peace of Augsburg. At this dark hour in
the fortunes of the league, Gustavus Adolphus, with an army of thirty
thousand veterans, espoused its cause. His heroism, strategetic skill,
and indomitable valor soon annihilated Tilly's army, reduced the
imperial allies to extreme distress, conquered Lower Saxony and Bavaria,
and delivered the Protestants from their perilous situation. Tilly
having died, Wallenstein assumed command. Having raised an immense and
formidable army, the new general was enabled to attack Adolphus with
such overwhelming force that he compelled him to retire from Bavaria. In
1642, at Lutzen, the two powerful armies came to a general and decisive
engagement; the genius of Adolphus crowned his arms with victory, but
his intrepidity cost him his life. Through a wise policy the Swedes
still continued a triumphant career, victoriously marching through
the empire with incredible rapidity, and finally, after the battle of
Prague, dictating the peace of Westphalia.
By the terms of the peace of Westphalia Calvinists acquired the same
rights with Lutherans; princes were bound not to persecute subjects on
account of religious differences; all acquisitions of Protestants since
the peace of Augsburg were confirmed; entire equality of sect,
liberty of conscience, and the exercise of all modes of religion were
guaranteed, and the independence of Switzerland and of the Netherlands
acknowledged.
Pope Innocent X. strenuously protested against this peace, complaining
in bitter terms of the deep injury it inflicted on the church. Though
the consequences of the treaty have been of the most benignant nature
to Europe, still the Papal See has, through all periods maintained, with
unabated animosity, its original opposition to the invaluable treaty.
The papal intrigues, so prolific of disastrous wars, were no less
pernicious to Austria than they had been to other powers. Upon the death
of Duke Frederic, its ruler, Frederic II., of Germany, declared the
duchy a vacant fief of his empire, and appointed over it a governor.
Pope Innocent V. persuaded Margaret, the sister of the deceased duke,
and Gertrude, his neice, to claim the duchy as their inheritance. The
Margrave Hermann, by the aid of the pope and his machinery, was enabled
to command a strong party in support of the project. After a war of
thirty-six years the dispute was settled by the interference of the
emperor Rodolph, who gave it to his two sons, Albert and Ro-dolph.
On the death of Maria Theresa, Joseph, her son, succeeded to the throne
of Austria. Maria Theresa was a very devout and superstitious princess,
a circumstance which enabled the sacerdotal fraternity to gain and
betray her confidence. But in making her an object of their craft they
made her son their enemy. Their duplicity having excited in the mind of
Joseph a strong aversion to the intermeddling and intriguing profession,
he no sooner ascended the throne than he manifested a disposition to
adopt a policy more in accordance with the enlightenment of the age than
was agreeable to the pope and the clergy. The world with pleasure, but
the church with consternation, beheld him enlarging the liberty of the
press, tolerating the Protestants, treating the Jews with moderation,
annulling ecclesiastical sinecures, and abolishing such monasteries and
nunneries as were not useful as schools or hospitals. Uneasy at these
useful reforms, yet not daring to mutter his Vatican thunder, and
finding his machinery unable to stop their progress, Pope Pius IV.
sought a personal interview with the liberal minded emperor, to dissuade
him from the further prosecution of his beneficent intentions. But
notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of the vicar of Christ, the
emperor still continued to reduce the number of the monasteries, and to
effect reforms in the churches, and in the various departments of the
government. This wise and sagacious policy, which relieved the people of
the oppression of spiritual despotism, and renewed the vigor of national
energy, was not appreciated by the masses through the ignorance and
superstition of the age. The emperor not only had to contend with
opposition from those for whose moral advancement he was laboring, but
also with the disguised hostility of the pope, and the subtle operation
of his treacherous machinery. But still, amid wars, seditions and
rebellions, he pursued his magnanimous policy; and if he did not effect
all the reforms in the church, and in his government, that he had
contemplated, it was more through the intrigues of the pope than through
any want of disposition, skill and energy on his part.
The various orders of knights, whose avocation it was to enforce
conformity to the demands of Catholicism by the vengeance of the sword,
was an important part of the papal machinery. All who yielded not to
this argument were threatened with extermination; all who did, became
the slaves of spiritual despotism. Under pretext of protecting Poland
from the ravages of Prussian heathen, the Teutonic Knights, in 1226,
won from Conrad of Masovia a small strip of land on the Vistula. For
fifty-three years they carried on a war against the Persian tribes,
and finally obliged them to embrace Catholicism. This war, suggested
by papal craft, continued by incredible barbarity, culminated in the
grossest perfidy. In their protection of Poland they inflicted deeper
injuries on her than the savages of Prussia had ever contemplated, or
in fact had the ability to inflict. They subjugated the Baltic seaboard,
from the Oder to the Gulf of Finland, and wrung from her her maritime
commerce, and her northern line of defence. Poland and Prussia having
both been plundered and oppressed by the knights, united in a bond of
union against their common enemy, and a ferocious war was inaugurated,
during which the knights lost a great portion of their territory, and
finally their power was broken. In the various vicissitudes of the
succeeding fifty years the knights became abolished in Prussia, and
their possessions converted into a hereditary duchy, under the male
line of Prince Albert, which, under Francis III. became the kingdom of
Prussia.
The papal intrigues with regard to the Netherlands, were fruitful of
sanguinary and deplorable consequences. Under the reign of Charles
V. one hundred thousand Protestants fell a sacrifice to the papal
intolerance. Philip, his son and successor, narrow in his views,
irritable in his temper, and implacable in his hate, transcended
even Charles in the inhumanity of his measures towards his Protestant
subjects. Cardinal Granvella having introduced into the Netherlands the
inquisition, for the extirpation of religious freedom, the Prince of
Orange, in conjunction with other distinguished personages, remonstrated
against the measure. This remonstrance was regarded by the government
as an act of treason. The haughtiness of the cardinal, and the severe
measures he introduced to intimidate the people, produced great disorder
and alarm. The nobles conspired to defend their rights; the Protestants
boldly celebrated their religious ceremonies, and the people fled
in crowds to England and Saxony. In spite of intolerant edicts and
excruciating torture, a bold spirit of resistance was excited in the
provinces. Philip recalled Cardinal Granvella, but appointed in his
place Alva, a more cruel and implacable tyrant. Proud, fierce and
imperious, this man knew of nothing but to command in a despotic tone,
and expect his subjects to tremble and obey. Sixty years of warfare
always successful, had familiarized him to deeds of blood, without
humbling him by the salutary lessons of misfortune. Death, the usual
penalty of disobedience to his commands, gave his mandate a terrific
importance. As soon as he had assumed the direction of the Netherland
provinces, he established a council of blood by means of, which he
condemned all whom he suspected of heresy, or whose fortunes excited a
prospect of increasing his own, The noblest of the nation fell under the
axe of his executioner; and as avarice had always been a prominent
trait of his character, he now illustrated the obduracy with which it is
capable of debasing humanity, by confiscating the property, not only of
the present but of the absent; not only of the living but of the dead.
Having cited the Prince of Orange to appear before his council, and that
prince having refused on the ground of his exemption by privilege, law
and usage, he declared him dispossessed of all property, and seizing
on his son, sent him to Spain as a hostage. The prince, heretofore a
liberal-minded Catholic, now declared himself a Protestant, and drew
his sword in favor of religious freedom. By a perseverance which no
difficulties could prostrate, a sagacity which no subterfuge could
deceive, a heroism which no danger could appall, and a magnanimity
which commanded the admiration of the world, he struggled through
discouragement, vexation and defeat until he had laid a solid foundation
for the freedom of the provinces, by reconstructing them in a judicious
confederacy, under the name of the United Provinces of the Netherlands,
and inducing them to renounce allegiance to Spain. Philip hence declared
the prince an outlaw, and offered a reward of two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars for either his apprehension or his assassination. In
1584 the noble prince was shot dead by Balthazar Gerard, who confessed
that he had been instigated to the deed by a Franciscan monk and a
Jesuist priest. But though the founder of the republic fell a victim to
Romish treachery, its defence was continued with insuperable skill and
valor. Army after army sent against the republic was annihilated by the
indomitable bravery of its troops, until its soil became the cemetery
of the military strength of Spain. Its tolerance gave it population; its
freedom, energy; its maritime contests, a knowledge of navigation; and
its enterprise, commerce trade and prosperity. After a war of thirty
years, replete with heroism and magnanimity, it wrung from Spain, in the
Westphalia treaty, a full recognition of independence.