and Henry prepared to improve his opportunity by taking full
advantage of the Emperor's situation. The fact that the
Protestants among his own subjects were cruelly persecuted
did not deter the French monarch from furthering his
ambition by consenting to assist the German Protestants
against their own sovereign.
In 1551, when for six years there had been no actual war
between France and the empire, Henry entered into an
alliance with German princes against the Emperor. Several of
those princes, headed by Maurice of Saxony, had secretly
formed a league to resist by force of arms the "measures
employed by Charles to reduce Germany to insupportable and
perpetual servitude."
Charles V was on the point of becoming as despotic in Germany as he was
in Spain. The long interval of peace, though not very profound--war
being always threatened and attempts to provoke it frequent--yet was
sufficiently so to enable him to devote himself to his favorite scheme
of humbling the princes and free states of the empire. He had sown
dissension among them, succeeded in breaking up the League of Smalkald,
and detained in prison, threatened with perpetual captivity, the
Landgrave of Hesse and the elector John Frederick of Saxony. They had
been sentenced to death, having taken up arms against him. Frequently
appealed to to release them, Charles declared that to trouble him
further on their account would be to bring on them the execution of the
sentence they so richly merited.
His political aims he believed to be now accomplished, and the spirit of
German independence nearly, if not wholly, extinguished. But with this
he was not content. The time had arrived, he thought, for the full and
final extirpation of heresy, and the carrying out of his grand scheme of
"establishing uniformity of religion in the empire." The formula of
faith, called the "Interim," which he had drawn up for general
observance until the council reassembled, had been for the sake of peace
accepted with slight resistance, except at Magdeburg, which, for its
obstinate rejection of it, was placed under the ban of the empire. But
the prelates were assembling at Trent, and the full acquiescence of all
parties in their decisions--given, of course, in conformity with the
views of Charles V--was to be made imperative.
Henry II had already renewed the French alliance with Sultan Solyman,
and was urged to send his lieutenants to ravage the coast of Sicily--a
suggestion he was not at all loath to follow. Yet the proposal of an
alliance with the heretic German princes--though the league was not
simply a Protestant one--met with strenuous opposition from that
excellent Catholic, Anne de Montmorency. The persecuting King, too,
anxious as he was to oppose his arms to those of the Emperor, feared to
do so in alliance with heretics, lest he should compromise his soul's
salvation.
But the princes had offered him an irresistible bribe. They
proposed--even declared they thought it right--that the seigneur King
should take possession of those imperial cities which were not Germanic
in language--as Metz, Cambray, Toul, Verdun, and similar ones--and
retain them in quality of vicar of the Holy Empire. As a further
inducement, they promised--having accomplished their own objects--to aid
him with their troops to recover from Charles his heritage of Milan.
This was decisive.
On October 5th a pact was signed with France by the Lutheran elector
Maurice, in his own name and that of the confederate princes, Henry's
ambassador being the Catholic Bishop of Bayonne. Extensive preparations
for war were immediately set on foot and new taxes levied; for the King
had promised aid in money also--a considerable sum monthly as long as
hostilities continued.
He, however, deemed it expedient, before joining his army, to give some
striking proof of his continued orthodoxy; first, by way of
counterbalancing his heretical alliance with the Lutherans and his
infidel one with the Mussulmans; next, to destroy the false hopes
founded on them by French reformers. The heretics, during his absence,
were therefore to be hunted down with the utmost rigor. The Sorbonne was
charged "to examine minutely all books from Geneva, and no unlettered
person was permitted to discuss matters of faith." All cities and
municipalities were strictly enjoined to elect none but good Catholics
to the office of mayor or sheriff, exacting from them a certificate of
Catholicism before entering on the duties of their office. Neglect of
this would subject the electors themselves to the pains and penalties
inflicted on heretics.
A grand inquisitor was appointed to take care of the faith in Lyons, and
the daily burnings on the Place de Greve went on simultaneously with the
preparations in the arsenals, and no less vigorously. Thus the King was
enabled to enter on this war with a safe conscience. Montmorency,[57]
unwilling always to oppose the Emperor, was compelled, lest he should
seem less patriotic than his rivals, to add his voice also in favor of
the project that promised the realization of the views of Charles VII
and Francis I that the natural boundary of France was the Rhine.
To return to Germany and the Emperor--whose complicated affairs are so
entangled with those of France that they cannot be wholly separated,
each in some measure forming the complement of the other. The
command-in-chief of the German army was given to Maurice of Saxony--an
able general, full of resource, daring and dauntless in the field,
crafty and cautious in the cabinet as Charles himself. Throughout the
winter he secretly assembled troops, preparing to take the field early
in the spring, yet adroitly concealing his projects, and lulling into
security "the most artful monarch in Europe."
The Emperor had left Augsburg for Innspruck that he might at the same
time watch over the council and the affairs of Germany and Italy. He was
suffering from asthma, gout, and other maladies, chiefly brought on by
his excesses at table, and rendered incurable by his inability to put
any restraint on his immoderate appetite.
In his retreat some rumors had reached him that the movements of Maurice
of Saxony were suspicious, and that he was raising troops in
Transylvania. But he gave little heed to this, or to warnings pressed on
him by some of his partisans. For Maurice, to serve his own ambitious
views, had in fact, though professing the reformed faith, aided Charles
to acquire that power and ascendency, that almost unlimited despotism in
Germany he now proposed to overthrow. For his services he had obtained
the larger part of the electoral dominions of his unfortunate relative,
John Frederick of Saxony, whose release, as also that of the Landgrave,
now formed part of his programme for delivering Germany from her fetters
ere the imperial despot could--as Maurice saw he was prepared to
do--rivet them on her. To renew the Protestant league, to place himself
at its head and defy the despot, was more congenial to Maurice's
restless, aspiring mind than to play the part of his lieutenant.
The winter passed away without any serious suspicions on Charles' part.
To throw him off his guard Maurice had undertaken to subdue the
Magdeburgers. The leniency of his conduct toward "those rebels" with
whom he was secretly in league did at last excite a doubt in Charles'
mind. Maurice was summoned to Innspruck, ostensibly to confer with him
respecting the liberation of his father-in-law, the Landgrave of Hesse.
But Maurice was far too wary to put himself in his power, and readily
found some plausible excuse to delay his journey from time to time. But
when, early in March, at the head of twenty-five thousand men,
thoroughly equipped, he announced that he was about to set out on his
journey, the information was accompanied with a declaration of war. "It
was a war," he said, "for the defence of the true religion, its
ministers and preachers; for the deliverance of prisoners detained
against all faith and justice; to free Germany from her wretched
condition, and to oppose the Emperor's completion of that absolute
monarchy toward which he had so long been aiming."
To this manifesto was appended another from the King of France. Therein
Henry announced himself the "defender of the liberties of Germany, and
protector of her captive princes"; further stating "that, broken-hearted
[_le coeur navre_] at the condition of Germany, he could not refuse to
aid her, but had determined to do so to the utmost power of his ability,
even to personally engaging in this war, undertaken for liberty and not
for his personal benefit." This document--written in French--was headed
by the representation of a cap between two poniards, and around it the
inscription "The Emblem of Liberty." It is said to have been copied from
some ancient coins, and to have been appropriated as the symbol of
freedom by Caesar's assassins. Thus singularly was brought to light by a
king of the French Renaissance that terrible cap of liberty, before
which the ancient crown of France was one day destined to fall.
The declaration of the German princes and that of their ally, the King
of France, fell like a thunderbolt on the Emperor--so great was his
astonishment and consternation at the events so unexpected. With rapid
marches Maurice advanced on Upper Germany, while other divisions of the
army, headed by the confederate princes, hastened on toward Tyrol, by
way of Franconia and Swabia, everywhere being received with open arms as
"Germany's liberators." Maurice reached Augsburg on April 1st, and took
possession of that important city--the garrison offering no resistance,
and the inhabitants receiving him joyfully. There, as in other towns on
his march which had willingly opened their gates to him, the Interim was
abolished; the churches restored to the Protestants; the magistrates
appointed by the Emperor displaced, and those he had rejected
reinstated. Money, too, was freely offered him, and the deficiency in
his artillery supplied. At Trent the news that the Protestant princes,
joined by several of the Catholics and free states, "had taken up arms
for liberty," caused a terrible panic. The fathers of the council,
Italian, Spanish, and German, at once made a precipitate retreat, and
this famous council, without authority from pope or emperor, dissolved
itself, to reassemble only after even a longer interval than before.
When Maurice began his march Henry II had joined his army at Chalons,
and was on his way to Lorraine. Toul, on his approach, presented the
keys of the city to the constable commanding the vanguard--the King
afterward making his entry, and receiving the oath of fidelity from the
inhabitants, having previously sworn to maintain their rights and
privileges inviolate. After this easy conquest the French army continued
its march toward Metz. This old free republican city did not so readily
as Toul yield to the French. The municipal authorities very politely
offered provisions to the army, but declined to deliver the keys of the
city to the constable. They were, however, willing to admit the King and
the princes who accompanied him within their walls. "Troops were not
permitted to enter Metz, whatever their nation." This was one of their
privileges.
Montmorency cared little for privileges, and violence would probably
have been used but that the Bishop of Metz, who was a Frenchman,
prevailed on the principal burgesses to allow the constable to enter
with an escort of two ensigns, each with his company of infantry.
Montmorency availed himself of this permission to give his ensigns
fifteen hundred of his best troops. The city gates were thrown open, and
the burgesses then perceived their error, but too late to remedy it.
They were firmly repulsed when attempting to exclude the unwelcome
visitors; there was, however, no bloodshed. The people were soon
reconciled to the change; and the chief sheriff and town council on the
King's entry having assembled on the cathedral porch, Henry there, in
the presence of an anxious multitude who crowded around him to hear him,
made oath strictly to maintain their franchises and immunities. Thus
easily was captured the former capital of the ancient Austrian kings,
which remained under the dominion of France until separated from her by
the misfortunes of the second empire.
The city of Verdun followed the example of Toul; so that Henry's defence
of the liberties of Germany was thus far nothing more than a military
promenade, with grand public entries, banquets, and general festivity.
The inhabitants of Metz--like the rest of his conquests, French in
language and manners--petitioned the King not to restore their city to
the empire, of which it had been a vassal republic from the beginning of
the feudal era; they feared the Emperor's revenge. Henry, however, had
no thought of relinquishing Metz; he was too well pleased with his new
possession, and "proposed to make it one of the ramparts of France."
But while Henry for the defence of German independence was making
conquests and annexing them to his dominions, Charles V had fled before
Maurice's vigorous pursuit, and had only escaped capture by a mere
mischance that briefly retarded his pursuers' progress. When Augsburg
was taken, Charles felt that he was not safe at Innspruck. He was
neither in a position to crush the rebellious princes nor to resist the
invasion of the King of France. Want of means had induced him to disband
a large part of his army; Mexico and Peru for some time had failed to
make any remittances to his treasury; the bankers of Venice and Genoa
were not willing to lend him money, and it was only by placing Piombino
in the hands of Cosmo de' Medici that he obtained from him the small sum
of two hundred thousand crowns.
His first impulse was to endeavor to pass over the route of the
Netherlands by the valleys of the Inn and the Rhine; but as he could
only move, owing to his gout, from place to place in a litter, he was
compelled, from physical suffering, after proceeding a very short
distance on his journey, to return to Innspruck. There he remained with
a small body of soldiers sufficient to guard himself personally--having
sent all he could possibly spare to hold the mountain pass leading to
the almost inaccessible castle of Ehrenberg. But, guided by a shepherd,
the heights of Ehrenberg were reached by the troops under George of
Brandenburg, after infinite fatigue and danger. The walls were scaled,
and the garrison, terrified by the appearance of this unlooked-for
enemy, threw down their arms and surrendered.
A few hours only separated Innspruck from Ehrenberg, and Maurice
proposed to push on rapidly so as to anticipate the arrival there of any
accounts of the loss of the castle, hoping to surprise the Emperor and
his attendants in an open, defenceless town, and there to dictate
conditions of peace. The dissatisfaction of a portion of the troops at
not immediately receiving the usual gratuity for taking a place by
assault occasioned a short delay in the advance of Maurice's army. He
arrived at Innspruck in the middle of the night, and learned that the
Emperor had fled only two hours before to Carinthia, followed by his
ministers and attendants, on foot, on horses, in litters, as they
could, but in the greatest hurry and confusion.
The night was stormy; rain was falling in torrents when the modern
Charlemagne, unable to move, was borne in a litter by the light of
torches across steep mountain paths with a swiftness most surprising;
terror adding wings to the footsteps of his bearers, lest they and their
gouty burden should fall into the hands of the heretic army, said to be
in pursuit. But pursuit was soon given up, for the troops were worn and
weary with forced marches and climbing the heights of Ehrenberg; they
needed rest, and there was the imperial palace of Innspruck to pillage,
Maurice having given it up to them.
Negotiations for peace were opened on May 20th at Passau on the Danube.
The King of France was informed of this, it being found necessary to put
some check on his proceedings; to remind him that he was the "defender
of the liberties of Germany," not Germany's oppressor. He and his army
had advanced into Alsace, and Montmorency had assured him that it would
be "as easy to enter Strasburg and other cities of the Rhine as to
penetrate butter." However, when they knocked at the gates of Strasburg
and courteously requested that the Venetian, Florentine, and other
ambassadors might be permitted to enter and admire the beautiful city,
they found the Strasburgers insensible to these amenities--butter by no
means easily melted; for not only they refused to gratify the
_soi-disant_ ambassadors with a sight of their fine city, but mounted
and pointed their cannon, as a hint to their visitors that they would do
well to withdraw.
Henry, perceiving that he would be unable in the present campaign to
extend his dominions to the banks of the Rhine, contented himself,
"before turning his back on it, with the fact that the horses of his
army had drunk of the waters of that stream." The Austrasian expedition
was less brilliant in its results than he had expected; nevertheless,
whether he was to be included in the peace then negotiating or not, he
resolved to retain the three bishoprics--Toul, Metz, and Verdun.
Meanwhile the conference of Passau, between Maurice with his princes of
the league on the one part; Ferdinand, King of the Romans, and the
Emperor's plenipotentiaries on the other, proceeded less rapidly than
Maurice desired. By prolonging the negotiation Charles hoped to gain
time to assemble an army, when the Catholic princes might rally around
him. But even those who had joined the league were exceedingly lukewarm
toward their Emperor; his despotism, they considered, being as dangerous
to them as to the Protestants. Even his brother Ferdinand--who was on
such excellent terms with Maurice that it would almost seem that he had
connived at an enterprise he could not openly join in--is said to have
seen with satisfaction the check put on Charles by the dauntless leader
of the league.
But Maurice's propositions being at first rejected, and no counter ones
proposed, he at once set off for his army to renew hostilities, as
though the negotiations were closed. Charles doubtless renounced the
realization of the dream of his life with a pang of despair. That it
should vanish at the very moment when he looked for its fulfilment was
anguish to him. But pressed by Ferdinand, convinced, too, that
resistance is useless, Charles yields an unwilling assent to the demands
of the princes, and the "Treaty of Public Peace" is signed on August 2d.
Henceforth "the two religions are to be on a footing of equality in the
empire"; Germany divided between Luther and the Pope, who are to live
side by side in peace, neither interrupting the other. The ban of the
empire to be withdrawn from all persons and places; the captive princes,
detained for five years in prison if not in fetters, released; while
many other matters relating to imperial encroachments are to be
satisfactorily settled within six months.
"The defender of German liberty" was not included in this treaty. As he
proposed to keep the cities he was to occupy but as vicar of the empire,
he would have to fight a battle for them with Charles himself. Though
compelled to renounce absolute sway over Germany, he yet thought it
incumbent on him to reestablish the territory of the empire in its full
integrity. His valiant sister, the Dowager-queen of Hungary, who
governed the Netherlands so ably for him, was diligently collecting an
army for the destitute monarch of many kingdoms, and troops were on
their way from Spain.
In spite of his infirmities, Charles was in such haste to chastise the
French, and revenge himself on Henry--having succeeded in raising an
army sixty thousand strong, besides seven thousand pioneers--that he
rejected the prudent counsels of his generals, who begged him to wait
until the spring, when Metz might be attacked with much greater
advantage. But his excessive obstinacy, which had led to so many of his
disasters, again prevailed. The Duc de Guise, now Governor of Metz, had
put the citadel into a state of defence. The garrison was numerous, and,
as was usual wherever he commanded, thither followed all the young,
ardent spirits among the great families of France.
The siege of Metz was a terrible disaster for the Emperor. The extreme
severity of the winter, a scant supply of clothing and other
necessaries, were soon followed by sickness, typhus, and many deaths.
Desertions were numerous; for the sufferings of the troops had quenched
all war and subverted all discipline. Desperate efforts to take Metz
were continued for nearly three months without avail, when Charles,
thoroughly disheartened, and unable to rise from his couch except for
removal to his litter, raised the siege--abandoning the greater part of
his artillery, which was half buried in the mud. "Fortune," he
exclaimed, "I perceive is indeed a woman; she prefers a young king to an
old emperor." The spectacle that met the eyes of the victorious
defenders of Metz, on issuing forth in pursuit of the enemy, is said to
have been one of so harrowing a nature that even rough soldiers,
accustomed to the horrors of war, looked on the misery around them with
emotions of deepest pity. There lay the dying and the dead heaped up
together; the wounded and those who had been stricken down by fever
stretched side by side on the gory, muddy earth. Others had sunk into
it, and, unable to extricate themselves, were frozen to their knees, and
plaintively asked for death to put an end to their wretchedness.
Scattered along the route of the retreat lay dead horses, tents, arms,
portions of the baggage, and many sick soldiers who had fallen by the
way in their efforts to keep up with the hasty march of the remnant of
the army--a sad and terrible scene indeed in a career called one of
glory.
Francois de Guise greatly distinguished himself as a general, and added
to his military renown by his defence of Metz; but far greater glory
attaches to his name for his humane and generous conduct to the
suffering, abandoned troops of Charles' army. All whose lives could be
saved, or sufferings relieved, received every care and attention that he
and the surgeons of his army could bestow on them. Following his
example, instead of the savage brutality with which the victors were
then accustomed to treat their fallen foes, kindness and good offices
were rendered by all to the poor victims of the Emperor's revenge for
the loss of Metz. So utterly contrary was such treatment to the practice
of the age that the generosity and humanity of Francois de Guise toward
an enemy's troops passed into a proverb as the "_Courtoisie de Metz_."
FOOTNOTES:
[57] Anne de Montmorency, Marshal and Constable of France. He was
distinguished in the wars against Charles V.
THE RELIGIOUS PEACE OF AUGSBURG
ABDICATION OF CHARLES V
A.D. 1555
WILLIAM ROBERTSON
By the victory of Charles V at Muehlberg, in 1547, the
Emperor obtained a decided advantage over the Smalkaldic
League, and seemed to be master of the situation in Germany.
He convened a diet at Augsburg, and promulgated an
"interim," or provisional arrangement for peace, but it was
imperfectly carried out. Later interims also proving
unsatisfactory, various other attempts at settlement were
made, and finally, by the Peace of Passau (1552), religious
liberty was granted to the Protestants.
Charles now appeared to be at the height of his power; but
new danger threatened him from France. The alliance of King
Henry II with Maurice of Saxony, and other Protestant
princes, was followed by what is sometimes called the second
Smalkaldic War. Charles was quickly worsted, and only
escaped capture by fleeing into Switzerland. In a later
attack upon France he gained but little success.