THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION--PHILIP II
[Sidenote: The conservative or Catholic reformation.]
167. There had been many attempts, as we have seen, before Luther's
appearance, to better the clergy and remedy the evils in the Church
without altering its organization or teachings. Hopeful progress toward
such a conservative reform had been made even before the Protestants
threw off their allegiance to the pope.[308] Their revolt inevitably
hastened and stimulated the reform of the ancient Church, to which the
greater part of western Europe still remained faithful. The Roman
Catholic churchmen were aroused to great activity by the realization
that they could no longer rely upon the general acceptance of their
teachings. They were forced to defend the beliefs and ceremonies of
their Church from the attacks of the Protestants, to whose ranks whole
countries were deserting. If the clergy were to make head against the
dreaded heresy which threatened their position and power, they must
secure the loyalty of the people to them and to the great institution
which they represented, by leading upright lives, giving up the old
abuses, and thus regaining the confidence of those intrusted to their
spiritual care.
A general council was accordingly summoned at Trent to consider once
more the remedying of the long recognized evils, and to settle
authoritatively numerous questions of belief upon which theologians had
differed for centuries. New religious orders sprang up, whose object was
better to prepare the priests for their work and to bring home religion
to the hearts of the people. Energetic measures were taken to repress
the growth of heresy in countries which were still Roman Catholic and to
prevent the dissemination of Protestant doctrines in books and
pamphlets. Above all, better men were placed in office, from the pope
down. The cardinals, for example, were no longer merely humanists and
courtiers, but among them might be found the leaders of religious
thought in Italy. Many practices which had formerly irritated the people
were permanently abolished. These measures resulted in a remarkable
reformation of the ancient Church, such as the Council of Constance had
striven in vain to bring about.[309] Before turning to the terrible
struggles between the two religious parties in the Netherlands and
France during the latter half of the sixteenth century, a word must be
said of the Council of Trent and of an extraordinarily powerful new
religious order, the Jesuits.
[Sidenote: Charles V's confidence in the settlement of the religious
differences by a council.]
Charles V, who did not fully grasp the irreconcilable differences
between Protestant and Catholic beliefs, made repeated efforts to bring
the two parties together by ordering the Protestants to accept what
seemed to him a simple statement of the Christian faith. He had great
confidence that if representatives of the old and the new beliefs could
meet one another in a church council all points of disagreement might be
amicably settled. The pope was, however, reluctant to see a council
summoned in Germany, for he had by no means forgotten the conduct of the
Council of Basel. To call the German Protestants into Italy, on the
other hand, would have been useless, for none of them would have
responded or have paid any attention to the decisions of a body which
would appear to them to be under the pope's immediate control. It was
only after years of delay that in 1545, just before Luther's death, a
general council finally met in the city of Trent, on the border between
Germany and Italy.
[Sidenote: The Council of Trent, 1545-1563, sanctions the teaching of
the Roman Catholic Church.]
As the German Protestants were preoccupied at the moment by an
approaching conflict with the emperor and, moreover, hoped for nothing
from the council's action, they did not attend its sessions.
Consequently the papal representatives and the Roman Catholic prelates
were masters of the situation. The council immediately took up just
those matters in which the Protestants had departed farthest from the
old beliefs. In its early sessions it proclaimed all those accursed who
taught that the sinner was saved by faith alone, or who questioned man's
power, with God's aid, to forward his salvation by good works. Moreover,
it declared that if any one should say--as did the Protestants--that the
sacraments were not all instituted by Christ; "or that they are more or
less than seven, to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance,
Extreme Unction, Ordination, and Matrimony; or even that any one of
these is not truly and properly a sacrament, let him be accursed." The
ancient Latin translation of the Bible--the Vulgate--was fixed as the
standard. No one should presume to question its accuracy so far as
doctrine was concerned, or be permitted to publish any interpretation of
the Bible differing from that of the Church.
[Sidenote: Reform measures of the council.]
While the council thus finally rejected any possibility of compromise
with the Protestants, it took measures to do away with the abuses of
which the Protestants complained. The bishops were ordered to reside in
their respective dioceses, to preach regularly, and to see that those
who were appointed to church benefices should fulfill the duties of
their offices and not merely enjoy the revenue. Measures were also taken
to improve education and secure the regular reading of the Bible in
churches, monasteries, and schools.
[Sidenote: Final sessions of the Council of Trent, 1562-1563.]
[Sidenote: Importance of the council's work.]
When the council had been in session for something more than a year, its
meetings were interrupted by various unfavorable conditions. Little was
accomplished for a number of years, but in 1562 the members once more
reassembled to prosecute their work with renewed vigor. Many more of the
doctrines of the Roman Church in regard to which there had been some
uncertainty, were carefully defined, and the teachings of the heretics
explicitly rejected. A large number of decrees directed against existing
abuses were also ratified. _The Canons and Decrees of the Council of
Trent_, which fill a stout volume, provided a new and solid foundation
for the law and doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, and they
constitute an historical source of the utmost importance.[310] They
furnish, in fact, our most complete and authentic statement of the Roman
Catholic form of Christianity. They, however, only restate long-accepted
beliefs and sanction the organization of the Church briefly described in
an earlier chapter (XVI).
[Sidenote: Ignatius Loyola, 1491-1556, the founder of the Jesuits.]
168. Among those who, during the final sessions of the council, sturdily
opposed every attempt to reduce in any way the exalted powers of the
pope, was the head of a new religious society, which was becoming the
most powerful organization in Europe. The Jesuit order, or Society of
Jesus, was founded by a Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola. He had been a soldier
in his younger days, and while bravely fighting for his king, Charles V,
had been wounded by a cannon ball (1521). Obliged to lie inactive for
weeks, he occupied his time in reading the lives of the saints, and
became filled with a burning ambition to emulate their deeds. Upon
recovering he dedicated himself to the service of the Lord, donned a
beggar's gown, and started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When there he
began to realize that he could do little without an education. So he
returned to Spain and, although already thirty-three years old, took his
place beside the boys who were learning the elements of Latin grammar.
After two years he entered a Spanish university, and later went to Paris
to carry on his theological studies.
In Paris he sought to influence his fellow-students at the university,
and finally, in 1534, seven of his companions agreed to follow him to
Palestine, or, if they were prevented from that, to devote themselves to
the service of the pope. On arriving in Venice they found that war had
broken out between that republic and the Turks. They accordingly gave up
their plan for converting the infidels in the Orient and, with the
pope's permission, began to preach in the neighboring towns, explaining
the Scriptures and bringing comfort to those in the hospitals. When
asked to what order they belonged, they replied, "to the Society of
Jesus."
[Sidenote: Rigid organization and discipline of the Jesuits.]
In 1538 Loyola summoned his disciples to Rome, and there they worked out
the principles of their order. The pope then incorporated these in a
bull in which he gave his sanction to the new society.[311] The
organization was to be under the absolute control of a _general_, who
was to be chosen for life by the general assembly of the order. Loyola
had been a soldier, and he laid great and constant stress upon the
source of all efficient military discipline, namely, absolute and
unquestioning obedience. This he declared to be the mother of all virtue
and happiness. Not only were all the members to obey the pope as
Christ's representative on earth, and undertake without hesitation any
journey, no matter how distant or perilous, which he might command, but
each was to obey his superiors in the order as if he were receiving
directions from Christ in person. He must have no will or preference of
his own, but must be as the staff which supports and aids its bearer in
any way in which he sees fit to use it. This admirable organization and
incomparable discipline were the great secret of the later influence of
the Jesuits.
[Sidenote: Objects and methods of the new order.]
The object of the society was to cultivate piety and the love of God,
especially through example. The members were to pledge themselves to
lead a pure life of poverty and devotion. Their humility was to show
itself in face and attitude, so that their very appearance should
attract those with whom they came in contact to the service of God. The
methods adopted by the society for reaching its ends are of the utmost
importance. A great number of its members were priests, who went about
preaching, hearing confession, and encouraging devotional exercises. But
the Jesuits were teachers as well as preachers and confessors. They
clearly perceived the advantage of bringing young people under their
influence, and they became the schoolmasters of Catholic Europe. So
successful were their methods of instruction that even Protestants
sometimes sent their children to them.
[Sidenote: Rapid increase of the Jesuits in numbers.]
[Sidenote: Their missions and explorations.]
It was originally proposed that the number of persons admitted to the
order should not exceed sixty, but this limit was speedily removed, and
before the death of Loyola over a thousand persons had joined the
society. Under his successor the number was trebled, and it went on
increasing for two centuries. The founder of the order had been, as we
have seen, attracted to missionary work from the first, and the Jesuits
rapidly spread not only over Europe, but throughout the whole world.
Francis Xavier, one of Loyola's original little band, went to Hindustan,
the Moluccas, and Japan. Brazil, Florida, Mexico, and Peru were soon
fields of active missionary work at a time when Protestants scarcely
dreamed as yet of carrying Christianity to the heathen. We owe to the
Jesuits' reports much of our knowledge of the condition of America when
white men first began to explore Canada and the Mississippi valley, for
the followers of Loyola boldly penetrated into regions unknown to
Europeans, and settled among the natives with the purpose of bringing
the Gospel to them.[312]
[Sidenote: Their fight against the Protestants.]
Dedicated as they were to the service of the pope, the Jesuits early
directed their energies against Protestantism. They sent their members
into Germany and the Netherlands, and even made strenuous efforts to
reclaim England. Their success was most apparent in southern Germany and
Austria, where they became the confessors and confidential advisers of
the rulers. They not only succeeded in checking the progress of
Protestantism, but were able to reconquer for the pope districts in
which the old faith had been abandoned.
[Sidenote: Accusations brought against the Jesuits.]
Protestants soon realized that the new order was their most powerful and
dangerous enemy. Their apprehensions produced a bitter hatred which
blinded them to the high purposes of the founders of the order and led
them to attribute an evil purpose to every act of the Jesuits. The
Jesuits' air of humility the Protestants declared to be mere hypocrisy
under which they carried on their intrigues. The Jesuits' readiness to
adjust themselves to circumstances and the variety of the tasks that
they undertook seemed to their enemies a willingness to resort to any
means in order to reach their ends. They were popularly supposed to
justify the most deceitful and immoral measures on the ground that the
result would be "for the greater glory of God." The very obedience of
which the Jesuits said so much was viewed by the hostile Protestant as
one of their worst offenses, for he believed that the members of the
order were the blind tools of their superiors and that they would not
hesitate even to commit a crime if so ordered.
[Sidenote: Decline and abolition of the Jesuits, 1773.]
[Sidenote: Reëstablishment of the order, 1814.]
Doubtless there have been many unscrupulous Jesuits and some wicked
ones, and as time went on the order degenerated just as the earlier
ones had done. In the eighteenth century it was accused of undertaking
great commercial enterprises, and for this and other reasons lost the
confidence of even the Catholics. The king of Portugal was the first to
banish the Jesuits, and then France, where they had long been very
unpopular with an influential party of the Catholics, expelled them in
1764. Convinced that the order could no longer serve any useful purpose,
the pope abolished it in 1773. It was, however, restored in 1814, and
now again has thousands of members.
[Illustration: Philip II of Spain]
[Sidenote: Philip II, the chief enemy of Protestantism among the rulers
of Europe.]
169. The chief ally of the pope and the Jesuits in their efforts to
check Protestantism in the latter half of the sixteenth century was the
son of Charles V, Philip II. Like the Jesuits he enjoys a most
unenviable reputation among Protestants. Certain it is that they had no
more terrible enemy among the rulers of the day than he. He closely
watched the course of affairs in France and Germany with the hope of
promoting the cause of the Catholics. He eagerly forwarded every
conspiracy against England's Protestant queen, Elizabeth, and finally
manned a mighty fleet with the purpose of overthrowing her. He resorted,
moreover, to incredible cruelty in his attempts to bring back his
possessions in the Netherlands to what he considered the true faith.
[Sidenote: Division of the Hapsburg possessions between the German and
Spanish branches.]
Charles V, crippled with the gout and old before his time, laid down the
cares of government in 1555-1556. To his brother Ferdinand, who had
acquired by marriage the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, Charles had
earlier transferred the German possessions of the Hapsburgs. To his
son, Philip II (1556-1598), he gave Spain with its great American
colonies, Milan, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the
Netherlands.[313]
[Sidenote: Philip II's fervent desire to stamp out Protestantism.]
Charles had constantly striven to maintain the old religion within his
dominions. He had never hesitated to use the Inquisition in Spain and
the Netherlands, and it was the great disappointment of his life that a
part of his empire had become Protestant. He was, nevertheless, no
fanatic. Like many of the princes of the time, he was forced to take
sides on the religious question without, perhaps, himself having any
deep religious sentiments. The maintenance of the Catholic faith he
believed to be necessary in order that he should keep his hold upon his
scattered and diverse dominions. On the other hand, the whole life and
policy of his son Philip were guided by a fervent attachment to the old
religion. He was willing to sacrifice both himself and his country in
his long fight against the detested Protestants within and without his
realms. And he had vast resources at his disposal, for Spain was a
strong power, not only on account of her income from America, but also
because her soldiers and their commanders were the best in Europe at
this period.
[Sidenote: The Netherlands.]
170. The Netherlands,[314] which were to cause Philip his first and
greatest trouble, included seventeen provinces which Charles V had
inherited from his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy. They occupied the
position on the map where we now find the kingdoms of Holland and
Belgium. Each of the provinces had its own government, but Charles had
grouped them together and arranged that the German empire should protect
them. In the north the hardy Germanic population had been able, by means
of dikes which kept out the sea, to reclaim large tracts of lowlands.
Here considerable cities had grown up,--Harlem, Leyden, Amsterdam, and
Rotterdam. To the south were the flourishing towns of Ghent, Bruges,
Brussels, and Antwerp, which had for hundreds of years been centers of
manufacture and trade.
[Sidenote: Philip II's harsh attitude toward the Netherlands.]
Charles, in spite of some very harsh measures, had retained the loyalty
of the people of the Netherlands, for he was himself one of them and
they felt a patriotic pride in his achievements. Toward Philip their
attitude was very different. His sour face and haughty manner made a
disagreeable impression upon the people at Brussels when Charles V first
introduced him to them as their future ruler. He was to them a Spaniard
and a foreigner, and he ruled them as such after he returned to Spain.
Instead of attempting to win them by meeting their legitimate demands,
he did everything to alienate all classes in his Burgundian realm and
increase their natural hatred and suspicion of the Spaniards. The people
were forced to house Spanish soldiers whose insolence drove them nearly
to desperation. A half-sister of the king, the duchess of Parma, who did
not even know their language, was given to them as their regent. Philip
put his trust in a group of upstarts rather than in the nobility of the
provinces, who naturally felt that they should be given some part in the
direction of affairs.
[Sidenote: The Inquisition in the Netherlands.]
What was still worse, Philip proposed that the Inquisition should carry
on its work far more actively than hitherto and put an end to the heresy
which appeared to him to defile his fair realms. The Inquisition was no
new thing to the provinces. Charles V had issued the most cruel edicts
against the followers of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. According to a law
of 1550, heretics who persistently refused to recant were to be burned
alive. Even those who confessed their errors and abjured their heresy
were, if men, to lose their heads, if women, to be buried alive. In both
cases their property was to be confiscated. The lowest estimate of those
who were executed in the Netherlands during Charles' reign is fifty
thousand. Although these terrible laws had not checked the growth of
Protestantism, all of Charles' decrees were solemnly reënacted by Philip
in the first month of his reign.
[Sidenote: Protest against Philip's policy.]
[Sidenote: The 'Beggars.']
For ten years the people suffered Philip's rule; but their king, instead
of listening to the protests of their leaders who were quite as earnest
Catholics as himself, appeared to be bent on the destruction of the
land. So in 1566 some five hundred of the nobles, who were later joined
by many of the citizens, pledged themselves to make a common stand
against Spanish tyranny and the Inquisition. Although they had no idea
as yet of a revolt, they planned a great demonstration during which they
presented a petition to the duchess of Parma requesting the suspension
of the king's edicts. The story is that one of the duchess' councilors
assured her that she had no reason to fear these "beggars." This name
was voluntarily assumed by the petitioners and an important group of the
insurgents in the later troubles were known as "Beggars."
[Sidenote: The image-breaking Protestants.]
[Sidenote: Philip sends the duke of Alva to the Netherlands.]
The Protestant preachers now took courage, and large congregations
gathered in the fields to hear them. Excited by their exhortations,
those who were converted to the new religion rushed into the Catholic
churches, tore down the images, broke the stained glass windows, and
wrecked the altars. The duchess of Parma was just succeeding in quieting
the tumult when Philip took a step which led finally to the revolt of
the Netherlands. He decided to dispatch to the low countries the
remorseless duke of Alva, whose conduct has made his name synonymous
with blind and unmeasured cruelty.
171. The report that Alva was coming caused the flight of many of those
who especially feared his approach. William of Orange, who was to be the
leader in the approaching war against Spain, went to Germany. Thousands
of Flemish weavers fled across the North Sea, and the products of their
looms became before long an important article of export from England.
[Sidenote: Alva's cruel administration, 1567-1573.]
[Sidenote: The Council of Blood.]
Alva brought with him a fine army of Spanish soldiers, ten thousand in
number and superbly equipped. He judged that the wisest and quickest way
of pacifying the discontented provinces was to kill all those who
ventured to criticise "the best of kings," of whom he had the honor to
be the faithful servant. He accordingly established a special court for
the speedy trial and condemnation of all those whose fidelity to Philip
was suspected. This was popularly known as the Council of Blood, for its
aim was not justice but butchery. Alva's administration from 1567 to
1573 was a veritable reign of terror. He afterwards boasted that he had
slain eighteen thousand, but probably not more than a third of that
number were really executed.
[Sidenote: William of Orange, called the Silent, 1533-1584.]
The Netherlands found a leader in William, Prince of Orange and Count of
Nassau. He is a national hero whose career bears a striking resemblance
to that of Washington. Like the American patriot, he undertook the
seemingly hopeless task of freeing his people from the oppressive rule
of a distant king. To the Spaniards he appeared to be only an
impoverished nobleman at the head of a handful of armed peasants and
fishermen, contending against the sovereign of the richest realm in the
world.
[Sidenote: William the Silent collects an army.]
William had been a faithful servant of Charles V and would gladly have
continued to serve his son after him had the oppression and injustice of
the Spanish dominion not become intolerable. But Alva's policy convinced
him that it was useless to send any more complaints to Philip. He
accordingly collected a little army in 1568 and opened the long struggle
with Spain.
[Sidenote: Differences between the northern i.e., Dutch, provinces and
the southern.]
William found his main support in the northern provinces, of which
Holland was the chief. The Dutch, who had very generally accepted
Protestant teachings, were purely German in blood, while the people of
the southern provinces, who adhered (as they still do) to the Roman
Catholic faith, were more akin to the population of northern France.
[Sidenote: William chosen governor of Holland and Zealand, 1572.]
The Spanish soldiers found little trouble in defeating the troops which
William collected. Like Washington again, he seemed to lose almost every
battle and yet was never conquered. The first successes of the Dutch
were gained by the "sea beggars,"--freebooters who captured Spanish
ships and sold them in Protestant England. Finally they seized the town
of Brille and made it their headquarters. Encouraged by this, many of
the towns in the northern provinces of Holland and Zealand ventured to
choose William as their governor, although they did not throw off their
allegiance to Philip. In this way these two provinces became the nucleus
of the United Netherlands.
[Sidenote: Both the northern and southern provinces combine against
Spain, 1576.]
Alva recaptured a number of the revolted towns and treated their
inhabitants with his customary cruelty; even women and children were
slaughtered in cold blood. But instead of quenching the rebellion, he
aroused even the Catholic southern provinces to revolt. He introduced an
unwise system of taxation which required that ten per cent of the
proceeds of every sale should be paid to the government. This caused
the thrifty Catholic merchants of the southern towns to close their
shops in despair.
[Sidenote: The 'Spanish fury.']
After six years of this tyrannical and mistaken policy, Alva was
recalled. His successor soon died and left matters worse than ever. The
leaderless soldiers, trained in Alva's school, indulged in wild orgies
of robbery and murder; they plundered and partially reduced to ashes the
rich city of Antwerp. The "Spanish fury," as this outbreak was called,
together with the hated taxes, created such general indignation that
representatives from all of Philip's Burgundian provinces met at Ghent
in 1576 with the purpose of combining to put an end to the Spanish
tyranny.
[Sidenote: The Union of Utrecht.]
[Sidenote: The northern provinces declare themselves independent of
Spain, 1581.]
This union was, however, only temporary. Wiser and more moderate
governors were sent by Philip to the Netherlands, and they soon
succeeded in again winning the confidence of the southern provinces. So
the northern provinces went their own way. Guided by William the Silent,
they refused to consider the idea of again recognizing Philip as their
king. In 1579 seven provinces (Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gelderland,
Overyssel, Groningen, and Friesland, all lying north of the mouths of
the Rhine and the Scheldt) formed the new and firmer Union of Utrecht.
The articles of this union served as a constitution for the United
Provinces which, two years later, at last formally declared themselves
independent of Spain.
[Sidenote: Assassination of William the Silent.]
Philip realized that William was the soul of the revolt and that without
him it might not improbably have been put down. The king therefore
offered a patent of nobility and a large sum of money to any one who
should make away with the Dutch patriot. After several unsuccessful
attempts, William, who had been chosen hereditary governor of the United
Provinces, was shot in his house at Delft, 1584. He died praying the
Lord to have pity upon his soul and "on this poor people."
[Sidenote: Reasons why the Dutch finally won their independence.]
[Sidenote: Independence of the United Provinces acknowledged by Spain,
1648.]
The Dutch had long hoped for aid from Queen Elizabeth or from the
French, but had heretofore been disappointed. At last the English queen
decided to send troops to their assistance. While the English rendered
but little actual help, Elizabeth's policy so enraged Philip that he at
last decided to attempt the conquest of England. The destruction of the
great fleet which he equipped for that purpose interfered with further
attempts to subjugate the United Provinces, which might otherwise have
failed to preserve their liberty in spite of their heroic resistance.
Moreover, Spain's resources were being rapidly exhausted and the state
was on the verge of bankruptcy in spite of the wealth which it had been
drawing from across the sea. But even when Spain had to surrender the
hope of winning back the lost provinces, which now became a small but
important European power, she refused formally to acknowledge their
independence until 1648[315] (Peace of Westphalia).
172. The history of France during the latter part of the sixteenth
century is little more than a chronicle of a long and bloody series of
civil wars between the Catholics and Protestants. Each party, however,
had political as well as religious objects, and the religious issues
were often almost altogether obscured by the worldly ambition of the
leaders.
[Sidenote: Beginnings of Protestantism in France.]
[Sidenote: Lefèvre, 1450-1537.]
[Sidenote: Persecution of the Protestants under Francis I.]
[Sidenote: Massacre of the Waldensians, 1545.]
Protestantism began in France[316] in much the same way as in England.
Those who had learned from the Italians to love the Greek language,
turned to the New Testament in the original and commenced to study it
with new insight. Lefèvre, the most conspicuous of these Erasmus-like
reformers, translated the Bible into French and began to preach
justification by faith before he had ever heard of Luther. He and his
followers won the favor of Margaret, the sister of Francis I and queen
of the little kingdom of Navarre, and under her protection they were
left unmolested for some years. The Sorbonne, the famous theological
school at Paris, finally stirred up the suspicions of the king against
the new ideas. While, like his fellow-monarchs, Francis had no special
interest in religious matters, he was shocked by an act of desecration
ascribed to the Protestants, and in consequence forbade the circulation
of Protestant books. About 1535 several adherents of the new faith were
burned, and Calvin was forced to flee to Basel, where he prepared a
defense of his beliefs in his _Institutes of Christianity_. This is
prefaced by a letter to Francis in which he pleads with him to protect
the Protestants.[317] Francis, before his death, became so intolerant
that he ordered the massacre of three thousand defenseless peasants who
dwelt on the slopes of the Alps, and whose only offense was adherence to
the simple teachings of the Waldensians.[318]
[Sidenote: Persecution under Henry II, 1547-1559.]
Francis' son, Henry II (1547-1559), swore to extirpate the Protestants,
and hundreds of them were burned. Nevertheless, Henry's religious
convictions did not prevent him from willingly aiding the German
Protestants against his enemy Charles V, especially when they agreed to
hand over to him three bishoprics which lay on the French
boundary,--Metz, Verdun, and Toul.
[Sidenote: Francis II, 1559-1560, Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Guises.]
Henry II was accidentally killed in a tourney and left his kingdom to
three weak sons, the last scions of the house of Valois, who succeeded
in turn to the throne during a period of unprecedented civil war and
public calamity. The eldest son, Francis II, a boy of sixteen, succeeded
his father. His chief importance for France arose from his marriage with
the
RELATIONS OF THE GUISES, MARY STUART, THE VALOIS, AND THE BOURBONS
Claude, duke of Francis I (d. 1547)
Guise (d. 1527) |
| |
+--+------------+-----------+ |
| | | |
Francis, duke Charles, Mary, m. James V of Scotland, |
of Guise cardinal of | son of Henry VIII's Henry II (d. 1559), m. Catherine
(murdered 1563) Lorraine | sister | de' Medici
| | |
| +-----------------+ +-------------------------------+
| | |
| | +---------------+------+-----+----------+
| | | | | |
| Mary Stuart, m. Francis II Charles IX Henry III Margaret, m. Henry IV (d. 1610),
| Queen of Scots (d. 1560 (d. 1574 (d. 1589 king of Navarre,
| | without without without a descendant
| | heirs) heirs) heirs) through the
Henry, duke of | younger, _Bourbon_,
Guise (killed | line from St. Louis
1588) | |
| |
James VI of Scotland Louis XIII (d. 1643),
I of England, by Henry's second
by Mary's second marriage with
marriage with Mary de' Medici
Lord Darnley |
Louis XIV (d. 1715)
|
Louis XV (d. 1774)
great grandson of
Louis XIV
daughter of King James V of Scotland, Mary Stuart, who became famous as
Mary, Queen of Scots. Her mother was the sister of two very ambitious
French nobles, the duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine. Francis
II was so young that Mary's uncles, the Guises, eagerly seized the
opportunity to manage his affairs for him. The duke put himself at the
head of the army, and the cardinal of the government. When the king
died, after reigning but a year, the Guises were naturally reluctant to
surrender their power, and many of the woes of France for the next forty
years were due to the machinations which they carried on in the name of
the Holy Catholic religion.
[Sidenote: The queen mother, Catherine de' Medici.]
[Sidenote: The Bourbons.]
173. The new king, Charles IX (1560-1574), was but ten years old, and
his mother, Catherine de' Medici, of the famous Florentine family,
claimed the right to conduct the government for her son. The rivalries
of the time were complicated by the existence of a younger branch of the
French royal family, namely, the Bourbons, one of whom was king of
Navarre. The Bourbons formed an alliance with the Huguenots,[319] as the
French Calvinists were called.
[Sidenote: The Huguenots and their political ambition.]
Many of the leading Huguenots, including their chief Coligny, belonged
to noble families and were anxious to play a part in the politics of the
time. This fact tended to confuse religious with political motives. In
the long run this mixture of motives proved fatal to the Protestant
cause in France, but for the time being the Huguenots formed so strong a
party that they threatened to get control of the government.
[Sidenote: Catherine grants conditional toleration to the Protestants,
1562.]
Catherine tried at first to conciliate both parties, and granted a
Decree of Toleration (1562) suspending the former edicts against the
Protestants and permitting them to assemble for worship during the
daytime and outside of the towns. Even this restricted toleration of the
Protestants appeared an abomination to the more fanatical Catholics, and
a savage act of the duke of Guise precipitated civil war.
[Sidenote: The massacres of Vassy and the opening of the wars of
religion.]
As he was passing through the town of Vassy on a Sunday he found a
thousand Huguenots assembled in a barn for worship. The duke's followers
rudely interrupted the service, and a tumult arose in which the troops
killed a considerable number of the defenseless multitude. The news of
this massacre aroused the Huguenots and was the beginning of a war which
continued, broken only by short truces, until the last weak descendant
of the house of Valois ceased to reign. As in the other religious wars
of the time, both sides exhibited the most inhuman cruelty. France was
filled for a generation with burnings, pillage, and every form of
barbarity. The leaders of both the Catholic and the Protestant party, as
well as two of the French kings themselves, fell by the hands of
assassins, and France renewed in civil war all the horrors of the
English invasion in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
[Sidenote: Coligny's influence and plan for a national war against
Philip II.]
In 1570 a brief peace was concluded. The Huguenots were to be tolerated,
and certain towns were assigned to them, including La Rochelle, where
they might defend themselves in case of renewed attacks from the
Catholics. For a time both the king and the queen mother were on the
friendliest terms with the Huguenot leader Coligny, who became a sort of
prime minister. He was anxious that Catholics and Protestants should
join in a great national war against Spain. In this way the people of
France would combine, regardless of their differences in religion, in a
patriotic effort to win the county of Burgundy and a line of fortresses
to the north and east, which seemed naturally to belong to France rather
than to Spain. Coligny did not, of course, overlook the consideration
that in this way he could aid the Protestant cause in the Netherlands.
[Sidenote: The massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572.]
The strict Catholic party of the Guises frustrated this plan by a most
fearful expedient. They easily induced Catherine de' Medici to believe
that she was being deceived by Coligny, and an assassin was engaged to
put him out of the way; but the scoundrel missed his aim and only
wounded his victim. Fearful lest the young king, who was faithful to
Coligny, should discover her part in the attempted murder, the queen
mother invented a story of a great Huguenot conspiracy. The credulous
king was deceived, and the Catholic leaders at Paris arranged that at a
given signal not only Coligny, but all the Huguenots, who had gathered
in great numbers in the city to witness the marriage of the Protestant
Henry of Navarre with the king's sister, should be massacred on the eve
of St. Bartholomew's Day (August 23, 1572).
[Sidenote: The Holy League.]
The signal was duly given, and no less than two thousand persons were
ruthlessly murdered in Paris before the end of the next day. The news of
this attack spread into the provinces and it is probable that, at the
very least, ten thousand more Protestants were put to death outside of
the capital. Both the pope and Philip II expressed their gratification
at this signal example of French loyalty to the Church. Civil war again
broke out, and the Catholics formed the famous Holy League, under the
leadership of Henry of Guise, for the advancement of their interests and
the extirpation of heresy.
[Sidenote: Question of the succession to the French throne.]
Henry III (1574-1589), the last of the sons of Henry II, who succeeded
Charles IX, had no heirs, and the great question of succession arose.
The Huguenot, Henry of Navarre, was the nearest male relative, but the
League could never consent to permit the throne of France to be sullied
by heresy, especially as their leader, Henry of Guise, was himself
anxious to become king.
[Sidenote: War of the Three Henrys, 1585-1589.]
Henry III was driven weakly from one party to the other, and it finally
came to a war between the three Henrys,--Henry III, Henry of Navarre,
and Henry of Guise (1585-1589). It ended in a characteristic way. Henry
the king had Henry of Guise assassinated. The sympathizers of the League
then assassinated Henry the king, which left the field to Henry of
Navarre. He ascended the throne as Henry IV[320] in 1589, and is an
heroic figure in the line of French kings.
[Sidenote: Henry IV, 1589-1610, becomes a Catholic.]
174. The new king had many enemies, and his kingdom was devastated and
demoralized by years of war. He soon saw that he must accept the
religion of the majority of his people if he wished to reign over them.
He accordingly asked to be readmitted to the Catholic Church (1593),
excusing himself on the ground that "Paris was worth a mass." He did not
forget his old friends, however, and in 1598 he issued the Edict of
Nantes.
[Sidenote: The Edict of Nantes, 1598.]
By this edict of toleration the Calvinists were permitted to hold
services in all the towns and villages where they had previously held
them, but in Paris and a number of other towns all Protestant services
were prohibited. The Protestants were to enjoy the same political rights
as Catholics, and to be eligible to public office. A number of fortified
towns were to remain in the hands of the Huguenots, particularly La
Rochelle, Montauban, and Nîmes. Henry's only mistake lay in granting the
Huguenots the exceptional privilege of holding and governing fortified
towns. In the next generation, this privilege aroused the suspicion of
the king's minister, Richelieu, who attacked the Huguenots, not so much
on religious grounds, as on account of their independent position in the
state, which suggested that of the older feudal nobles.
[Sidenote: Ministry of Sully.]
Henry IV chose Sully, an upright and able Calvinist, for his chief
minister. Sully set to work to reëstablish the kingly power, which had
suffered greatly under the last three brothers of the house of Valois.
He undertook to lighten the tremendous burden of debt which weighed upon
the country. He laid out new roads and canals, and encouraged
agriculture and commerce; he dismissed the useless noblemen and officers
whom the government was supporting without any advantage to itself. Had
his administration not been prematurely interrupted, France might have
reached unprecedented power and prosperity; but religious fanaticism put
an end to his reforms.
[Sidenote: Assassination of Henry IV, 1610.]
In 1610 Henry IV, like William the Silent, was assassinated just in the
midst of his greatest usefulness to his country. Sully could not agree
with the regent, Henry's widow, and retired to his castle, where he
dictated his memoirs, which give a remarkable account of the stirring
times in which he had played so important a part. Before many years,
Richelieu, perhaps the greatest minister France has ever had, rose to
power, and from 1624 to his death in 1642 he governed France for Henry's
son, Louis XIII (1610-1643). Something will be said of his policy in
connection with the Thirty Years' War.[321]
[Sidenote: England under Elizabeth, 1558-1603.]
175. The long and disastrous civil war between Catholics and
Protestants, which desolated France in the sixteenth century, had
happily no counterpart in England. During her long and wise reign Queen
Elizabeth[322] succeeded not only in maintaining peace at home, but in
frustrating the conspiracies and attacks of Philip II, which threatened
her realm from without. Moreover, by her interference in the
Netherlands, she did much to secure their independence of Spain.
[Sidenote: Elizabeth restores the Protestant service.]
Upon the death of Catholic Mary and the accession of her sister
Elizabeth in 1558, the English government became once more Protestant.
Undoubtedly a great majority of Elizabeth's subjects would have been
satisfied to have had her return to the policy of her father, Henry
VIII. They still venerated the Mass and the other ancient ceremonies,
although they had no desire to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope
over their country. Elizabeth believed, however, that Protestantism
would finally prevail. She therefore reintroduced the Book of Prayer of
Edward VI, with some modifications, and proposed that all her subjects
should conform in public to the form of worship sanctioned by the state.
Elizabeth did not adopt the Presbyterian organization, which had a good
many advocates, but retained the old system of church government with
its archbishops, bishops, deans, etc. Naturally, however, Protestant
clergymen were substituted for the Catholics who had held office under
Mary. Elizabeth's first Parliament gave to the queen the power though
not the title of supreme head of the English church.
[Sidenote: Presbyterian Church established in Scotland.]
Elizabeth's position in regard to the religious question was first
threatened by events in Scotland. There, shortly after her accession,
the ancient Church was abolished, largely in the interest of the nobles,
who were anxious to get the lands of the bishops into their own hands
and enjoy the revenue from them. John Knox, a veritable second Calvin in
his stern energy, secured the introduction of the Presbyterian form of
faith and church government which still prevail in Scotland.
[Sidenote: Mary Stuart the Scotch queen, becomes the hope of the
Catholics.]
In 1561 the Scotch queen, Mary Stuart, whose French husband, Francis II,
had just died, landed at Leith. She was but nineteen years old, of great
beauty, and, by reason of her Catholic faith and French training, almost
a foreigner to her subjects. Her grandmother was a sister of Henry VIII,
and Mary claimed to be the rightful heiress to the English throne should
Elizabeth die childless. Consequently the beautiful Queen of Scots
became the hope of all those, including Philip II and Mary's relatives,
the Guises, who wished to bring back England and Scotland to the Roman
Catholic faith.
[Sidenote: Mary's suspicious conduct.]
[Sidenote: Mary flees to England, 1568.]
Mary made no effort to undo the work of John Knox, but she quickly
discredited herself with both Protestants and Catholics by her conduct.
After marrying her second cousin, Lord Darnley, she discovered that he
was a dissolute scapegrace, and came to despise him. She then formed an
attachment for a reckless nobleman named Bothwell. The house near
Edinburgh in which the wretched Darnley was lying ill was blown up one
night with gunpowder, and he was killed. The public suspected that both
Bothwell and the queen were implicated. How far Mary was responsible for
her husband's death no one can be sure. It is certain that she later
married Bothwell and that her indignant subjects thereupon deposed her
as a murderess. After fruitless attempts to regain her power, she
abdicated in favor of her infant son, James VI, and then fled to England
to appeal to Elizabeth. While the prudent Elizabeth denied the right of
the Scotch to depose their queen, she took good care to keep her rival
practically a prisoner.
[Sidenote: The rising in the north, 1569, and Catholic plans for
deposing Elizabeth.]
176. As time went on it became increasingly difficult for Elizabeth to
adhere to her policy of moderation in the treatment of the Catholics. A
rising in the north of England (1569) showed that there were many who
would gladly reëstablish the Catholic faith by freeing Mary and placing
her on the English throne. This was followed by the excommunication of
Elizabeth by the pope, who at the same time absolved her subjects from
their allegiance to their heretical ruler. Happily for Elizabeth the
rebels could look for no help either from Alva or the French king. The
Spaniards had their hands full, for the war in the Netherlands had just
begun; and Charles IX, who had accepted Coligny as his adviser, was at
that moment in hearty accord with the Huguenots. The rising in the north
was suppressed, but the English Catholics continued to harbor
treasonable designs and to look to Philip for help. They opened
correspondence with Alva and invited him to come with six thousand
Spanish troops to dethrone Elizabeth and make Mary Stuart queen of
England in her stead. Alva hesitated, for he characteristically thought
that it would be better to kill Elizabeth, or at least capture her.
Meanwhile the plot was discovered and came to naught.
[Sidenote: English mariners capture Spanish ships.]
Although Philip found himself unable to harm England, the English
mariners, like the Dutch "sea beggars," caused great loss to Spain. In
spite of the fact that Spain and England were not openly at war, the
English seamen extended their operations as far as the West Indies, and
seized Spanish treasure ships, with the firm conviction that in robbing
Philip they were serving God. The daring Sir Francis Drake even
ventured into the Pacific, where only the Spaniards had gone heretofore,
and carried off much booty on his little vessel, the _Pelican_. At last
he took "a great vessel with jewels in plenty, thirteen chests of silver
coin, eighty pounds weight of gold, and twenty-six tons of silver." He
then sailed around the world, and on his return presented his jewels to
Elizabeth, who paid little attention to the expostulations of the king
of Spain.[323]
[Sidenote: Relations between England and Catholic Ireland.]
One hope of the Catholics has not yet been mentioned, namely, Ireland,
whose relations with England from very early times down to the present
day form one of the most cheerless pages in the history of Europe.
Ireland was no longer, as it had been in the time of Gregory the Great,
a center of culture.[324] The population was divided into numerous clans
and their chieftains fought constantly with one another as well as with
the English, who were vainly endeavoring to subjugate the island. Under
Henry II and later kings England had conquered a district in the eastern
part of Ireland, and here the English managed to maintain a foothold in
spite of the anarchy outside. Henry VIII had suppressed a revolt of the
Irish and assumed the title of King of Ireland. Mary had hoped to
promote better relations by colonizing Kings County and Queens County
with Englishmen. This led, however, to a long struggle which only ended
when the colonists had killed all the natives in the district they
occupied.
Elizabeth's interest in the perennial Irish question was stimulated by
the probability that Ireland might become a basis for Catholic
operations, since Protestantism had made little progress among its
simple and half-barbarous people. Her fears were realized. Several
attempts were made by Catholic leaders to land troops in Ireland with
the purpose of making the island the base for an attack on England.
Elizabeth's officers were able to frustrate these enterprises, but the
resulting disturbances greatly increased the misery of the Irish. In
1582 no less than thirty thousand people are said to have perished,
chiefly from starvation.
[Sidenote: Persecution of the English Catholics.]
As Philip's troops began to get the better of the opposition in the
southern Netherlands, the prospect of sending a Spanish army to England
grew brighter. Two Jesuits were sent to England in 1580 to strengthen
the adherents of their faith and were supposed to be urging them to
assist the foreign force against their queen when it should come.
Parliament now grew more intolerant and ordered fines and imprisonment
to be inflicted on those who said or heard mass, or who refused to
attend the English services. One of the Jesuits was cruelly tortured and
executed for treason but the other escaped to the continent.
[Sidenote: Plans to assassinate Elizabeth.]
In the spring of 1582 the first attempt to assassinate the heretical
queen was made at Philip's instigation. It was proposed that, when
Elizabeth was out of the way, the duke of Guise should see that an army
was sent to England in the interest of the Catholics. But Guise was kept
busy at home by the War of the Three Henrys, and Philip was left to
undertake the invasion of England by himself.
[Sidenote: Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1587.]
Mary did not live to witness the attempt. She became implicated in
another plot for the assassination of Elizabeth. Parliament now realized
that as long as Mary lived Elizabeth's life was in constant danger;
whereas, if Mary were out of the way, Philip would have no interest in
the death of Elizabeth, since Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, was a
Protestant. Elizabeth was therefore reluctantly persuaded by her
advisers to sign a warrant for Mary's execution in 1587.[325]
[Sidenote: Destruction of Philip's Armada, 1588.]
Philip by no means gave up his project of reclaiming Protestant England.
In 1588 he brought together a great fleet, including his best and
largest warships, which was proudly called by the Spaniards the
"Invincible Armada" (i.e., fleet). This was to sail up the Channel to
Flanders and bring over the duke of Parma and his veterans, who, it was
expected, would soon make an end of Elizabeth's raw militia. The English
ships were inferior to those of Spain in size although not in number,
but they had trained commanders, such as Drake and Hawkins. These famous
captains had long sailed the Spanish Main and knew how to use their
cannon without getting near enough to the Spaniards to suffer from their
short-range weapons. When the Armada approached, it was permitted by the
English fleet to pass up the Channel before a strong wind which later
became a storm. The English ships then followed and both fleets were
driven past the coast of Flanders. Of the hundred and twenty Spanish
ships, only fifty-four returned home; the rest had been destroyed by
English valor, or by the gale to which Elizabeth herself ascribed the
victory.[326] The defeat of the Armada put an end to the danger from
Spain.
[Sidenote: Prospects of the Catholic cause at the opening of the reign
of Philip II.]
177. As we look back over the period covered by the reign of Philip II,
it is clear that it was a most notable one in the history of the
Catholic Church. When he ascended the throne Germany, as well as
Switzerland and the Netherlands, had become largely Protestant. England,
however, under his Catholic wife, Mary, seemed to be turning back to the
old religion, while the French monarchs showed no inclination to
tolerate the heretical Calvinists. Moreover, the new and enthusiastic
order of the Jesuits promised to be a potent agency in inducing the
disaffected people to accept once more the supremacy of the pope and the
doctrines of the ancient church as formulated by the Council of Trent.
The tremendous power and apparently boundless resources of Spain
itself,--which were viewed by the rest of Europe with the gravest
apprehension, not to say terror,--Philip was willing to dedicate to the
extirpation of heresy in his own dominions and the destruction of
Protestantism throughout western Europe.
[Sidenote: Outcome of Philip's policy.]
When Philip died all was changed. England was hopelessly Protestant: the
"Invincible Armada" had been miserably wrecked, and Philip's plan for
bringing England once more within the fold of the Roman Catholic Church
was forever frustrated. In France the terrible wars of religion were
over, and a powerful king, lately a Protestant himself, was on the
throne, who not only tolerated the Protestants but chose one of them for
his chief minister, and would brook no more meddling of Spain in French
affairs. A new Protestant state, the United Netherlands, had actually
appeared within the bounds of the realm bequeathed to Philip by his
father. In spite of its small size this state was destined to play, from
that time on, quite as important a part in European affairs as the harsh
Spanish stepmother from whose control it had escaped.
[Sidenote: Decline of Spain after the sixteenth century.]
Spain itself had suffered most of all from Philip's reign.[327] His
domestic policy and his expensive wars had weakened a country which had
never been intrinsically strong. The income from across the sea was
bound to decrease as the mines were exhausted. The final expulsion of
the industrious Moors, shortly after Philip's death, left the indolent
Spaniards to till their own fields, which rapidly declined in fertility
under their careless cultivation. Poverty was deemed no disgrace but
manual labor was. Some one once ventured to tell a Spanish king that
"not gold and silver but sweat is the most precious metal, a coin which
is always current and never depreciates"; but it was a rare form of
currency in the Spanish peninsula. After Philip II's death Spain sinks
to the rank of a secondary European power.