hope of finally bringing about the union so long desired and
so frequently attempted, but which he despaired of effecting
through a council which the Protestants had rejected in
advance. ... By the famous 'Interim' of Augsburg--the joint
production of Julius von Pflug, Bishop of Naumberg; Michael
Helding, coadjutor of Mentz; and the wily and subtle John
Agricola, preacher to the Elector of Brandenburg--Protestants
were permitted to receive the Holy Eucharist under both kinds;
the Protestant clergy already married to retain their wives;
and a tacit approval given to the retention of property
already taken from the Church. This instrument was, from
beginning to end, a masterpiece of duplicity, and as such
satisfied no party. The Catholics of Germany, the Protestants,
and the Court of Rome, each took exception to it. ... Maurice,
the new Elector of Saxony, unwilling to give the Interim an
unconditional approval, consulted with a number of Protestant
theologians, headed by Melancthon, as to how far he might
accept its provisions with a safe conscience. In reply they
drew up what is known as the Leipsig Interim (1548), in which
they stated that questions of ritual and ceremony, and others
of minor importance, which they designated by the generic word
adiaphora, might be wholly overlooked; and even in points of a
strictly doctrinal character, they expressed themselves
favourable to concession and compromise. ... Such Lutheran
preachers as professed to be faithful followers of their
master, made a determined opposition to the 'Interim,' and
began a vigorous assault upon its adiaphoristic clauses. The
Anti-adiaphorists, as they were called, were headed by Flacius
Illyricus, who being an ardent disciple of Luther's, and
possessing somewhat of his courage and energy, repaired to
Magdeburg, whose bold citizens were as defiant of imperial
power as they were contemptuous of papal authority. But in
spite of this spirited opposition, the Interim was gradually
accepted by several Protestant countries and cities--a fact
which encouraged the emperor at the Diet of Augsburg, in 1550,
to make a final effort to have the Protestants attend the
sessions of the Council of Trent, again opened by Pope Julius
III. ... After a short delay, deputies from Brandenburg,
Würtemberg, and Saxony began to appear at Trent; and even the
Wittenberg theologians, headed by Melancthon, were already on
their way to the Council, when Maurice of Saxony, having
secured all the advantages he hoped to obtain by an alliance
with the Catholic party, and regardless of the obligations by
which he was bound, proceeded to betray both the emperor and
his country.
{1464}
Having received a commission to carry into effect the ban of
the empire passed upon Magdeburg, he was in a position to
assemble a large body of troops in Germany without exciting
suspicion, or revealing his ulterior purposes. Besides uniting
to himself, as confederates in his plot, John Albert, Duke of
Mecklenburg; Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg; and William,
Landgrave of Hesse, eldest son of Philip of Hesse, he entered
into a secret treaty (Oct. 5, 1551) with Henry II., King of
France, who, as was pretended, coming into Germany as the
saviour of the country, seized the cities of Metz, Toul, and
Verdun. Maurice also held out to Henry the prospect of
securing the imperial crown. Everything being in readiness for
action, Maurice advancing through Thuringia, seized the city
of Augsburg, and suddenly made his appearance before
Innspruck, whence the emperor, who lay sick of a severe attack
of the gout, was hastily conveyed on a litter, through the
passes of the mountains, to Villach, in Carinthia. While
Maurice was thus making himself master of Innspruck, the King
of the French was carrying out his part of the programme by
actively prosecuting the war in Lorraine. Charles V., now
destitute of the material resources necessary to carry on a
successful campaign against the combined armies of the French
king and the German princes, and despairing of putting an end
to the obstinate conflict by his personal endeavours, resolved
to re-establish, if possible, his waning power by peaceful
negotiations. To this end, he commissioned his brother
Ferdinand to conclude the Treaty of Passau (July 30, 1552),
which provided that Philip of Hesse should be set at liberty,
and gave pledges for the speedy settlement of all religious
and political differences by a Diet, to be summoned at an
early day. It further provided that neither the emperor nor
the Protestant princes should put any restraint upon freedom
of conscience, and that all questions arising in the interval
between the two parties should be referred for settlement to
an Imperial Commission, composed of an equal number of
Catholics and Protestants. In consequence of the war then
being carried on by the empire against France for the recovery
of the three bishoprics of Lorraine of which the French had
taken possession, the Diet did not convene until February 5,
1555."
_J. Alzog,
Manual of Universal Church History,
volume 3, pages 276-279._
ALSO IN:
_W. Robertson,
History of the Reign of Charles V.,
books 8-10 (volume 2-3)._
_L. von Ranke,
Civil Wars and Monarchy in France,
chapter 6._
_E. E. Crowe,
Cardinal Granvelle and Maurice of Saxony
(Eminent Foreign Statesmen, volume 1)._
_L. Häusser,
The Period of the Reformation,
chapters 15-17._
_G. P. Fisher,
History of the Reformation,
chapter 5._
_F. Kohlrausch,
History of Germany,
chapter 20._
GERMANY: A. D. 1547.
Pragmatic Sanction of Charles V., changing the relations of
the Netherland provinces to the Empire.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1547.
GERMANY: A. D. 1552-1561.
Battle of Sievershausen and death of Maurice.
The Religious Peace of Augsburg.
Abdication of Charles V.
Succession of Ferdinand I.
The halting of the Reformation and the rally of Catholic
resistance.
By the treaty of Passau, Maurice of Saxony bound himself to
defend the empire against the French and the Turks. "He
accordingly took the field against the latter, but with little
success, the imperial commander, Castaldo, contravening all
his efforts by plundering Hungary and drawing upon himself the
hatred of the people. Charles, meanwhile, marched against the
French, and, without hesitation, again deposed the corporative
governments reinstated by Maurice, on his way through
Augsburg, Ulm, Esslingen, etc. Metz, valiantly defended by the
Duke de Guise, was vainly besieged for some months, and the
Emperor was at length forced to retreat. The French were,
nevertheless, driven out of Italy. The aged emperor now sighed
for peace. Ferdinand, averse to open warfare, placed his hopes
on the imperceptible effect of a consistently pursued system
of suppression and Jesuitical obscurantism. Maurice was
answerable for the continuance of the peace, the terms of
which he had prescribed. ... Albert the Wild [of Brandenburg]
was the only one among the princes who was still desirous of
war. Indifferent to aught else, he marched at the head of some
thousand followers through central Germany, murdering and
plundering as he passed along, with the intent of once more
laying the Franconian and Saxon bishoprics waste in the name
of the gospel. The princes at length formed the Heidelberg
confederacy against this monster and the emperor put him under
the bann of the empire, which Maurice undertook to execute,
although he had been his old friend and companion in arms.
Albert was engaged in plundering the archbishopric of
Magdeburg, when Maurice came up with him at Sievershausen. A
murderous engagement took place (A. D. 1553). Three of the
princes of Brunswick were slain. Albert was severely wounded,
and Maurice fell at the moment when victory declared in his
favour, in the 33d year of his age, in the midst of his
promising career. ... Every obstacle was now removed, and a
peace, known as the religious peace of Augsburg, was concluded
by the diet held in that city, A. D. 1555. This peace was
naturally a mere political agreement provisionally entered
into by the princes for the benefit, not of religion, but of
themselves. Popular opinion was dumb, knights, burgesses, and
peasants bending in lowly submission to the mandate of their
sovereigns. By this treaty, branded in history as the most
lawless ever concerted in Germany, the principle 'cujus regio,
ejus religio,' the faith of the prince must be that of the
people, was laid down, By it not only all the Reformed
subjects of a Catholic prince were exposed to the utmost
cruelty and tyranny, but the religion of each separate country
was rendered dependent on the caprice of the reigning prince;
of this the Pfalz offered a sad example, the religion of the
people being thus four times arbitrarily changed. ... Freedom
of belief, confined to the immediate subjects of the empire,
for instance, to the reigning princes, the free nobility, and
the city councillors, was monopolized by at most 20,000
privileged persons. ... The false peace concluded at Augsburg
was immediately followed by Charles V. 's abdication of his
numerous crowns [see NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555]. He would
willingly have resigned that of the empire to his son Philip,
had not the Spanish education of that prince, his gloomy and
bigoted character, inspired the Germans with an aversion as
unconquerable as that with which he beheld them.
{1465}
Ferdinand had, moreover, gained the favour of the German
princes. Charles, nevertheless, influenced by affection
towards his son, bestowed upon him one of the finest of the
German provinces, the Netherlands, besides Spain, Milan,
Naples, and the West Indies (America). Ferdinand received the
rest of the German hereditary possessions of his house,
besides Bohemia and Hungary. ... Ferdinand I., opposed in his
hereditary provinces by a predominating Protestant party,
which he was compelled to tolerate, was politically
overbalanced by his nephew, Philip II., in Spain and Italy,
where Catholicism flourished. The preponderance of the Spanish
over the Austrian branch of the house of Habsburg exercised
the most pernicious influence on the whole of Germany, by
securing to the Catholics a support which rendered
reconciliation impossible. ... The religious disputes and
petty egotism of the several estates of the empire had utterly
stifled every sentiment of patriotism, and not a dissentient
voice was raised against the will of Charles V., which
bestowed the whole of the Netherlands, one of the finest of
the provinces of Germany, upon Spain, the division and
consequent weakening of the powerful house of Habsburg being
regarded by the princes with delight. At the same time that
the power of the Protestant party was shaken by the peace of
Augsburg, Cardinal Caraffa mounted the pontifical throne as
Paul IV., the first pope who, following the plan of the
Jesuits, abandoned the system of defence for that of attack.
The Reformation no sooner ceased to progress, than a
preventive movement began [see PAPACY: A. D. 1537-1563]. ...
Ferdinand I. was in a difficult position. Paul IV. refused to
acknowledge him on account of the peace concluded between him
and the Protestants, whom he was unable to oppose, and whose
tenets he refused to embrace, notwithstanding the expressed
wish of the majority of his subjects. Like his brother, he
intrigued and diplomatized until his Jesuitical confessor,
Bobadilla, and the new pope, Pius IV., again placed him on
good terms with Rome, A. D. 1559. ... Augustus, elector of
Saxony, the brother of Maurice, alarmed at the fresh alliance
between the emperor and pope, convoked a meeting of the
Protestant leaders at Naumberg. His fears were, however,
allayed by the peaceful proposals of the emperor (A. D. 1561).
... A last attempt to save the unity of the German church, in
the event of its separation from that of Rome, was made by
Ferdinand, who convoked the spiritual electoral princes, the
archbishops and bishops, for that purpose to Vienna, but the
consideration with which he was compelled to treat the pope
rendered his efforts weak and ineffectual. ... The
Protestants, blind to the unity and strength resulting from
the policy of the Catholics, weakened themselves more and more
by division."
_W. Menzel,
History of Germany,
sections 197-198 (volume 2)._
GERMANY: A. D. 1556-1558.
Abdication of the emperor, Charles V., and election of his
brother, Ferdinand.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555.
GERMANY: A. D. 1556-1609.
The degeneracy of the Reformation.
Internal hostilities of Protestantism.
Tolerant reigns of Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II.
Renewed persecution under Rudolf II.
The risings against him.
His cessions and abdications.
"Germany was externally at peace. When the peace was broken in
Protestant states, the Protestants themselves, that is, a part
of their divines, were the cause of' the disturbance. These
were 'frantic' Lutherans. The theologian Flacius, at Jena,
openly attacked Melancthon as a 'traitor to the church,' on
account of his strivings for peace. The religious
controversies in the bosom of the adherents of the Augsburg
Confession had been since Luther's death inflamed to madness
by a strict Lutheran party, by slaves of the letter, who raged
not only against the Zwinglian and Calvinistic reformations,
but against Melancthon and those who sympathized with him. The
theological pugilists disgraced Protestantism, and aroused such
a spirit of persecution that Melancthon died on the 19th of
April, 1560, 'weary and full of anxiety of soul about the
future of the Reformation and the German nation.' His
followers, 'Lutheran' preachers and professors, were
persecuted, banished, imprisoned, on account of suspicion of
being inclined to the 'Reformed' [Calvinistic] as
distinguished from 'Evangelical' views; prayers for the
'extirpation of heresy' were offered in the churches of
Saxony, and a medal struck 'to commemorate the victory of
Christ over the Devil and Reason,' that is, over Melancthon
and his moderate party. ... Each parson and professor held
himself to be a divinely inspired watchman of Zion, who had to
watch over purity of doctrine. ... The universal prevalence of
'trials for witchcraft' in Protestant districts, with their
chambers of torture and burnings at the stake, marked the new
priestcraft of Lutheran Protestantism in its debasement into a
dogmatizing church. This quickly degenerating Protestant Church
comprised a mass of separate churches, because the vanity and
selfishness of the court clergy at every court, and the
professors of every university, would have a church of their
own. ... Every misfortune to the 'Reformed' churches caused a
malevolent joy in the Lutheran camp, and every common measure
against the common enemy was rejected by the Lutheran clergy
from hatred to the 'Reformed.' ... The emperor Ferdinand I.
had long been convinced that some change was required in the
Church of Rome. As he wrote to his ambassador in Trent, 'If a
reform of the Church did not proceed from the Church herself,
he would undertake the charge of it in Germany.' He never
ceased to offer his mediation between the two religious
parties. He thought, and thought justly, that a compromise was
possible in Germany. ... The change which gradually took place
in the head and heart of Ferdinand had not extended to those
who sat in St. Peter's chair. Ferdinand I., to improve the
moral state of the old Church, insisted most strongly on the
abolition of the celibacy of the clergy; this the Pope
declared the most indispensable prop of the Papacy. As thus
his proposals came to naught, he attempted to introduce the
proposed reformation into his hereditary domains; but just as
he was beginning to be the Reformer of these provinces, death
removed him from the world, on the 25th of July, 1564. ... His
oldest son and successor, Maximilian II., ... was out and out
German. Growing up in the great movement of the time, the
Emperor Maximilian II. was warmly devoted to the new ideas. He
hated the Jesuits and the Papacy. ...
{1466}
He remained in the middle between Protestants and Catholics,'
but really above both. ... He favored the Reformation in his
Austrian dominions; at the very time when Philip II. of Spain,
the son of Charles V., had commenced the bloodiest persecution
against the Reformed Church in the Netherlands ... ; at the
very time when the French court, ruled and led by Jesuits, put
into execution the long-prepared conspiracy of St.
Bartholomew. ... He never ceased to call the kings of France
and Spain to gentleness and toleration. ... 'I have no power,'
said the emperor, 'over consciences, and may constrain no
man's faith.' The princes unanimously elected the son of
Maximilian as King of the Romans, and Max received another
gratification: he was elected king by the gallant nation of
the Poles. Thus the house of Austria was again powerfully
strengthened. Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, and Germany, united
under one ruler, formed a power which could meet Turkey and
Russia. The Turks and the Russians were pressing forward. The
Turkish wars, more than anything else, prevented Max from
carrying out his long-cherished plan and giving a constitution
to the empire and church of the Germans. He who towered high
above the Papal party and the miserable controversies of
Protestant divines, and whose clear mind saw what the times
required, would have had every qualification for such a task.
But in the midst of his great projects, Maximilian II. died,
in his 49th year, on the 12th of October, 1576; as emperor,
honest, mild and wise, and elevated above all religious
controversies to a degree that no prince has ever reached. He
had always been a rock of offence to the Catholic party. ...
But Rudolf [son of Maximilian II.], when he became emperor
[1576], surrounded by secret Jesuits who had been his teachers
and advisers, became the humblest slave of the order and let
it do what it would. Rudolf had been sent by his father for
the interests of his own house to the Spanish court; a
terrible punishment now followed this self-seeking. Rudolf
confirmed liberty of conscience only to the nobles, not to the
citizens or peasants. He forbade the two latter classes to
visit the Evangelical churches, he closed their schools,
ordered them to frequent Catholic churches, threatened
disobedience with banishment, and even in the case of nobles
he dismissed from his court charges all who were not strict
papists. The people of Vienna and Austria hated him for these
orders. ... Without any judicial investigation he threatened
free cities with 'execution.' Aix la Chapelle expelled his
troops. Gebhard, the elector of Cologne, married a Countess
von Mansfeld and went over to Protestantism. ... The
Protestants supported him badly; Lutherans and Calvinists were
at bitter feud with each other, and weakened themselves in the
struggle. ... It was a croaking of ravens, and a great field
of the dead was not far off. ... The Emperor Rudolf, ... on a
return journey from Rome, vowed to Our Lady of Loretto, 'his
Generalissima,' to extirpate heretics at the risk of his life.
In his hereditary estates he ordered all who were not papists
to leave the territory. Soon afterwards he pulled down the
Evangelical churches, and dispersed the citizens by arms. He
intended soon to begin the same proceedings in Hungary and
Bohemia; but in Hungary the nation rose in defence of its
liberty and faith. The receipt of the intelligence that the
Hungarian malcontents were progressing victoriously
produced--what there had been symptoms of before--insanity.
The members of the house of Austria assembled, and declared
'The Emperor Rudolf can be no longer head of the house,
because unfortunately it is too plain that his Roman Imperial
Majesty ... was not competent or fit to govern the kingdoms.'
The Archduke Matthias [eldest brother of Rudolf] was elected
head of the Austrian house [1606]. He collected an army of
20,000 men, and made known that he would depose the emperor
from the government of his hereditary domains. Rudolf's
Jesuitical flatterers had named him the 'Bohemian Solomon.' He
now, in terror, without drawing sword, ceded Hungary and Austria
to Matthias, and gave him also the government of Moravia.
Matthias guaranteed religious liberty to the Austrians. Rudolf
did the same to the Bohemians and Silesians by the 'Letters of
Majesty.' Rudolf, to escape deposition by Matthias, abdicated
the throne of Bohemia."
_W. Zimmerman,
Popular History of Germany,
book 5, chapter 2 (volume 4)._
ALSO IN:
_F. Kohlrausch,
History of Germany,
chapter 21._
GERMANY: A. D. 1608-1618.
The Evangelical Union and the Catholic League.
The Jülich-Cleve contest.
Troubles in Bohemia.
The beginning of the Thirty Years War.