CHARLES V. AND THE REFORMATION.
From 1519 to 1531.
Charles V. of Spain.--His Election as Emperor of Germany.--His
Coronation.--The first Constitution.--Progress of the Reformation.--The
Pope's Bull against Luther.--His Contempt for his Holiness.--The Diet at
Worms.--Frederic's Objection to the Condemnation of Luther by the
Diet.--He obtains for Luther the Right of Defense.--Luther's triumphal
March to the Tribunal.--Charles urged to violate his Safe Conduct.--
Luther's Patmos.--Marriage of Sister Catharine Bora to Luther.--Terrible
Insurrection.--The Holy League.--The Protest of Spires.--Confession of
Augsburg.--The two Confessions.--Compulsory Measures.
Charles V. of Spain, as the nearest male heir, inherited from Maximilian
the Austrian States. He was the grandson of the late emperor, son of
Philip and of Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and was born
on the 24th of February, 1500. He had been carefully educated in the
learning and accomplishments of the age, and particularly in the arts of
war. At the death of his grandfather, Ferdinand, Charles, though but
sixteen years of age, assumed the title of King of Spain, and though
strongly opposed for a time, he grasped firmly and held securely the
reins of government.
Joanna, his mother, was legally the sovereign, both by the laws of
united Castile and Arragon, and by the testaments of Isabella and
Ferdinand. But she was insane, and was sunk in such depths of melancholy
as to be almost unconscious of the scenes which were transpiring around
her. Two years had elapsed between the accession of Charles V. to the
throne of Spain and the death of his grandfather, Maximilian. The young
king, with wonderful energy of character, had, during that time,
established himself very firmly on the throne. Upon the death of
Maximilian many claimants rose for the imperial throne. Henry VIII. of
England and Francis of France, were prominent among the competitors. For
six months all the arts of diplomacy were exhausted by the various
candidates, and Charles of Spain won the prize. On the 28th of June,
1519, he was unanimously elected Emperor of Germany. The youthful
sovereign, who was but nineteen years of age, was at Barcelona when he
received the first intelligence of his election. He had sufficient
strength of character to avoid the slightest appearance of exultation,
but received the announcement with dignity and gravity far above his
years.
The Spaniards were exceedingly excited and alarmed by the news. They
feared that their young sovereign, of whom they had already begun to be
proud, would leave Spain to establish his court in the German empire,
and they should thus be left, as a distant province, to the government
of a viceroy. The king was consequently flooded with petitions, from all
parts of his dominions, not to accept the imperial crown. But Charles
was as ambitious as his grandfather, Maximilian, whose foresight and
maneuvering had set in train those influences which had elevated him to
the imperial dignity.
Soon a solemn embassy arrived, and, with the customary pomp, proffered
to Charles the crown which so many had coveted. Charles accepted the
office, and made immediate preparations, notwithstanding the increasing
clamor of his subjects, to go to Germany for his coronation. Intrusting
the government of Spain during his absence to officers in whom he
reposed confidence, he embarked on shipboard, and landing first at Dover
in England, made a visit of four days to Henry VIII. He then continued
his voyage to the Netherlands; proceeding thence to Aix-la-Chapelle, he
was crowned on the 20th of October, 1520, with magnificence far
surpassing that of any of his predecessors. Thus Charles V., when but
twenty years of age, was the King of Spain and the crowned Emperor of
Germany. It is a great mistake to suppose that youthful precocity is one
of the innovations of modern times.
In the changes of the political kaleidoscope, Austria had now become a
part of Spain, or rather a prince of Austrian descent, a lineal heir of
the house of Hapsburg, had inherited the dominion of Spain, the most
extensive monarchy, in its continental domains and its colonial
possessions, then upon the globe. The Germanic confederation at this
time made a decided step in advance. Hitherto the emperors, when
crowned, had made a sort of verbal promise to administer the government
in accordance with the laws and customs of the several states. They
were, however, apprehensive that the new emperor, availing himself of
the vast power which he possessed independently of the imperial crown,
might, by gradual encroachments, defraud them of their rights. A sort of
constitution was accordingly drawn up, consisting of thirty-six
articles, defining quite minutely the laws, customs and privileges of
the empire, which constitution Charles was required to sign before his
coronation.
Charles presided in person over his first diet which he had convened at
Worms on the 6th of January, 1521. The theological and political war of
the Reformation was now agitating all Germany, and raging with the
utmost violence. Luther had torn the vail from the corruptions of
papacy, and was exhibiting to astonished Europe the enormous aggression
and the unbridled licentiousness of pontifical power. Letter succeeded
letter, and pamphlet pamphlet, and they fell upon the decaying hierarchy
like shot and shell upon the walls of a fortress already crumbling and
tottering through age.
On the 15th of July, 1520, three months before the coronation of Charles
V., the pope issued his world-renowned bull against the intrepid monk.
He condemned Luther as a heretic, forbade the reading of his writings,
excommunicated him if he did not retract within sixty days, and all
princes and states were commanded, under pain of incurring the same
censure, to seize his person and punish him and his adherents. Many were
overawed by these menaces of the holy father, who held the keys of
heaven and of hell. The fate of Luther was considered sealed. His works
were publicly burned in several cities.
Luther, undaunted, replied with blow for blow. He declared the pope to
be antichrist, renounced all obedience to him, detailed with scathing
severity the conduct of corrupt pontiffs, and called upon the whole
nation to renounce all allegiance to the scandalous court of Rome. To
cap the climax of his contempt and defiance, he, on the 10th of
December, 1520, not two months after the crowning of Charles V., led his
admiring followers, the professors and students of the university of
Wittemberg, in procession to the eastern gate of the city, where, in the
presence of a vast concourse, he committed the papal bull to the flames,
exclaiming, in the words of Ezekiel, "Because thou hast troubled the
Holy One of God, let eternal fire consume thee." This dauntless spirit
of the reformer inspired his disciples throughout Germany with new
courage, and in many other cities the pope's bull of excommunication was
burned with expressions of indignation and contempt.
Such was the state of this great religious controversy when Charles V.
held his first diet at Worms. The pope, wielding all the energies of
religious fanaticism, and with immense temporal revenues at his
disposal, with ecclesiastics, officers of his spiritual court, scattered
all over Europe, who exercised almost a supernatural power over the
minds of the benighted masses, was still perhaps the most formidable
power in Europe. The new emperor, with immense schemes of ambition
opening before his youthful and ardent mind, and with no principles of
heartfelt piety to incline him to seek and love the truth, as a matter
of course sought the favor of the imperial pontiff, and was not at all
disposed to espouse the cause of the obscure monk.
Charles, therefore, received courteously the legates of the pontiff at
the diet, gave them a friendly hearing as they inveighed against the
heresy of Luther, and proposed that the diet should also condemn the
reformer. Fortunately for Luther he was a subject of the electorate of
Saxony, and neither pope nor emperor could touch him but through the
elector. Frederic, the Duke of Saxony, one of the electors of the
empire, governed a territory of nearly fifteen thousand square miles,
more than twice as large as the State of Massachusetts, and containing
nearly three millions of inhabitants. The duchy has since passed through
many changes and dismemberments, but in the early part of the sixteenth
century the Elector of Saxony was one of the most powerful princes of
the German empire. Frederic was not disposed to surrender his subject
untried and uncondemned to the discipline of the Roman pontiff. He
accordingly objected to this summary condemnation of Luther, and
declared that before judgment was pronounced, the accused should be
heard in his own defense. Charles, who was by no means aware how
extensively the opinions of Luther had been circulated and received, was
surprised to find many nobles, each emboldened by the rest, rise in the
diet and denounce, in terms of ever-increasing severity, the exactions
and the arrogance of the court of Rome.
Notwithstanding the remonstrances of the pope's legates, the emperor
found it necessary to yield to the demands of the diet, and to allow
Luther the privilege of being heard, though he avowed to the friends of
the pope that Luther should not be permitted to make any defense, but
should only have an opportunity to confess his heresy and implore
forgiveness. Worms, where the diet was in session, on the west banks of
the Rhine, was not within the territories of the Elector of Saxony, and
consequently the emperor, in sending a summons to Luther to present
himself before the diet, sent, also, a safe conduct. With alacrity the
bold reformer obeyed the summons. From Wittemberg, where Luther was both
professor in the university and also pastor of a church, to Worms, was a
distance of nearly three hundred miles. But the journey of the reformer,
through all of this long road was almost like a triumphal procession.
Crowds gathered everywhere to behold the man who had dared to bid
defiance to the terrors of that spiritual power before which the
haughtiest monarchs had trembled. The people had read the writings of
Luther, and justly regarded him as the advocate of civil and religious
liberty. The nobles, who had often been humiliated by the arrogance of
the pontiff, admired a man who was bringing a new power into the field
for their disenthrallment.
When Luther had arrived within three miles of Worms, accompanied by a
few friends and the imperial herald who had summoned him, he was met by
a procession of two thousand persons, who had come from the city to form
his escort. Some friends in the city sent him a warning that he could
not rely upon the protection of his _safe conduct_, that he would
probably be perfidiously arrested, and they intreated him to retire
immediately again to Saxony. Luther made the memorable reply,
"I will go to Worms, if as many devils meet me there as there are tiles
upon the roofs of the houses."
The emperor was astonished to find that greater crowds were assembled,
and greater enthusiasm was displayed in witnessing the entrance of the
monk of Wittemberg, than had greeted the imperial entrance to the city.
It was indeed an august assemblage before which Luther was arrayed. The
emperor himself presided, sustained by his brother, the Archduke
Ferdinand. Six electors, twenty-four dukes, seven margraves, thirty
bishops and prelates, and an uncounted number of princes, counts, lords
and ambassadors filled the spacious hall. It was the 18th of April,
1521. His speech, fearless, dignified, eloquent, unanswerable, occupied
two hours. He closed with the noble words,
"Let me be refuted and convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or
by the clearest arguments; otherwise I can not and will not recant; for
it is neither safe nor expedient to act against conscience. Here I take
my stand. I can do no otherwise, so help me God, Amen."
In this sublime moral conflict Luther came off the undisputed conqueror.
The legates of the pope, exasperated at his triumph, intreated the
emperor to arrest him, in defiance of his word of honor pledged for his
safety. Charles rejected the infamous proposal with disdain. Still he
was greatly annoyed at so serious a schism in the Church, which
threatened to alienate from him the patronage of the pope. It was
evident that Luther was too strongly intrenched in the hearts of the
Germans, for the youthful emperor, whose crown was not yet warm upon his
brow, and who was almost a stranger in Germany, to undertake to crush
him. To appease the pope he drew up an apologetic declaration, in which
he said, in terms which do not honor his memory,
"Descended as I am from the Christian emperors of Germany, the Catholic
kings of Spain, and from the archdukes of Austria and the Dukes of
Burgundy, all of whom have preserved, to the last moment of their lives,
their fidelity to the Church, and have always been the defenders and
protectors of the Catholic faith, its decrees, ceremonies and usages, I
have been, am still, and will ever be devoted to those Christian
doctrines, and the constitution of the Church which they have left to me
as a sacred inheritance. And as it is evident that a simple monk has
advanced opinions contrary to the sentiments of all Christians, past and
present, I am firmly determined to wipe away the reproach which a
toleration of such errors would cast on Germany, and to employ all my
powers and resources, my body, my blood, my life, and even my soul, in
checking the progress of this sacrilegious doctrine. I will not,
therefore, permit Luther to enter into any further explanation, and will
instantly dismiss and afterward treat him as a heretic. But I can not
violate my safe conduct, but will cause him to be conducted safely back
to Wittemberg."
The emperor now attempted to accomplish by intrigue that which he could
not attain by authority of force. He held a private interview with the
reformer, and endeavored, by all those arts at the disposal of an
emperor, to influence Luther to a recantation. Failing utterly in this,
he delayed further operations for a month, until many of the diet,
including the Elector of Saxony and other powerful friends of Luther,
had retired. He then, having carefully retained those who would be
obsequious to his will, caused a decree to be enacted, as if it were the
unanimous sentiment of the diet, that Luther was a heretic; confirmed
the sentence of the pope, and pronounced the ban of the empire against
all who should countenance or protect him.
But Luther, on the 26th of May, had left Worms on his return to
Wittemberg. When he had passed over about half the distance, his friend
and admirer, Frederic of Saxony, conscious of the imminent peril which
hung over the intrepid monk, sent a troop of masked horsemen who seized
him and conveyed him to the castle of Wartburg, where Frederic kept him
safely concealed for nine months, not allowing even his friends to know
the place of his concealment. Luther, acquiescing in the prudence of
this measure, called this retreat his Patmos, and devoted himself most
assiduously to the study of the Scriptures, and commenced his most
admirable translation of the Bible into the German language, a work
which has contributed vastly more than all others to disseminate the
principles of the Reformation throughout Germany.
It will be remembered that Maximilian's son Ferdinand, who was brother
to Charles V., had married Anne, daughter of Ladislaus, King of Hungary
and Bohemia. Disturbances in Spain rendered it necessary for the emperor
to leave Germany, and for eight years his attention was almost
constantly occupied by wars and intrigues in southern Europe. Ferdinand
was invested with the government of the Austrian States. In the year
1521, Leo X. died, and Adrian, who seems to have been truly a
conscientious Christian man, assumed the tiara. He saw the deep
corruptions of the Church, confessed them openly, mourned over them and
declared that the Church needed a thorough reformation.
This admission, of course, wonderfully strengthened the Lutheran party.
The diet, meeting soon after, drew up a list of a hundred grievances,
which they intreated the pope to reform, declaring that Germany could no
longer endure them. They declared that Luther had opened the eyes of the
people to these corruptions, and that they would not suffer the edicts
of the diet of Worms to be enforced. Ferdinand of Austria, entering into
the views of his brother, was anxious to arrest the progress of the new
ideas, now spreading with great rapidity, and he entered--instructed by
a legate, Campegio, from the pope--into an engagement with the Duke of
Bavaria, and most of the German bishops, to carry the edict of Worms
into effect.
Frederic, the Elector of Saxony, died in 1525, but he was succeeded by
his brother John the Constant, who cordially embraced and publicly
avowed the doctrines of the Reformation; and Luther, in July of this
year, gave the last signal proof of his entire emancipation from the
superstitions of the papacy by marrying Catharine Bora, a noble lady
who, having espoused his views, had left the nunnery where she had been
an inmate. It is impossible for one now to conceive the impression which
was produced in Catholic Europe by the marriage of a priest and a nun.
Many of the German princes now followed the example of John of Saxony,
and openly avowed their faith in the Lutheran doctrines. In the Austrian
States, notwithstanding all Ferdinand's efforts to the contrary, the new
faith steadily spread, commanding the assent of the most virtuous and
the most intelligent. Many of the nobles avowed themselves Lutherans, as
did even some of the professors in the university at Vienna. The vital
questions at issue, taking hold, as they did, of the deepest emotions of
the soul and the daily habits of life, roused the general mind to the
most intense activity. The bitterest hostility sprung up between the two
parties, and many persons, without piety and without judgment, threw off
the superstitions of the papacy, only to adopt other superstitions
equally revolting. The sect of Anabaptists rose, abjuring all civil as
well as all religious authority, claiming to be the elect of God,
advocating a community of goods and of wives, and discarding all
restraint. They roused the ignorant peasantry, and easily showed them
that they were suffering as much injustice from feudal lords as from
papal bishops. It was the breaking out of the French Revolution on a
small scale. Germany was desolated by infuriate bands, demolishing alike
the castles of the nobles and the palaces of the bishops, and sparing
neither age nor sex in their indiscriminate slaughter.
The insurrection was so terrible, that both Lutherans and papists united
to quell it; and so fierce were these fanatics, that a hundred thousand
perished on fields of blood before the rebellion was quelled. These
outrages were, of course, by the Catholics regarded as the legitimate
results of the new doctrines, and it surely can not be denied that they
sprung from them. The fire which glows on the hearth may consume the
dwelling. But Luther and his friends assailed the Anabaptists with every
weapon they could wield. The Catholics formed powerful combinations to
arrest the spread of evangelical views. The reformers organized
combinations equally powerful to diffuse those opinions, which they were
sure involved the welfare of the world.
Charles V., having somewhat allayed the troubles which harassed him in
southern Europe, now turned his attention to Germany, and resolved, with
a strong hand, to suppress the religious agitation. In a letter to the
German States he very peremptorily announced his determination,
declaring that he would exterminate the errors of Luther, exhorting
them, to resist all attacks against the ancient usages of the Church,
and expressing to each of the Catholic princes his earnest approval of
their conduct.
Germany was now threatened with civil war. The Catholics demanded the
enforcement of the edict of Worms. The reformers demanded perfect
toleration--that every man should enjoy freedom of opinion and of
worship. A new war in Italy perhaps prevented this appeal to arms, as
Charles V. found himself involved in new difficulties which engrossed
all his energies. Ferdinand found the Austrian States so divided by this
controversy, that it became necessary for him to assume some degree of
impartiality, and to submit to something like toleration. A new pope,
Clement VII., succeeded the short reign of Adrian, and all the ambition,
intrigue and corruption which had hitherto marked the course of the
court of Rome, resumed their sway. The pope formed the celebrated Holy
League to arrest the progress of the new opinions; and this led all the
princes of the empire, who had espoused the Lutheran doctrines, more
openly and cordially to combine in self-defense. In every country in
Europe the doctrines of the reformer spread rapidly, and the papal
throne was shaken to its base.
Charles V., whose arms were successful in southern Europe, and whose
power was daily increasing, was still very desirous of restoring quiet
to Europe by reëstablishing the supremacy of the papal Church, and
crushing out dissent. He accordingly convened another diet at Spires,
the capital of Rhenish Bavaria, on the 15th of March, 1529. As the
emperor was detained in Italy, his brother Ferdinand presided. The diet
was of course divided, but the majority passed very stringent
resolutions against the Reformation. It was enacted that the edict of
Worms should be enforced; that the mass should be reëstablished wherever
it had been abolished; and that preachers should promulgate no new
doctrines. The minority entered their protest. They urged that the mass
had been clearly proved to be contrary to the Word of God; that the
Scriptures were the only certain rule of life; and declared their
resolution to maintain the truths of the Old and New Testaments,
regardless of traditions. This _Protest_ was sustained by powerful
names--John, Elector of Saxony; George, Margrave of Brandenburg; two
Dukes of Brunswick; the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel; the Prince of Anhalt,
and fourteen imperial cities, to which were soon added ten more. Nothing
can more decisively show than this the wonderful progress which the
Reformation in so short a time had made. From this Protest the reformers
received the name of Protestants, which they have since retained.
The emperor, flushed with success, now resolved, with new energy, to
assail the principles of the Reformation. Leaving Spain he went to
Italy, and met the pope, Clement VII., at Bologna, in February, 1530.
The pope and the emperor held many long and private interviews. What
they said no one knows. But Charles V., who was eminently a sagacious
man, became convinced that the difficulty had become far too serious to
be easily healed, that men of such power had embraced the Lutheran
doctrines that it was expedient to change the tone of menace into one of
respect and conciliation. He accordingly issued a call for another diet
to meet in April, 1530, at the city of Augsburg in Bavaria.
"I have convened," he wrote, "this assembly to consider the difference
of opinion on the subject of religion. It is my intention to hear both
parties with candor and charity, to examine their respective arguments,
to correct and reform what requires to be corrected and reformed, that
the truth being known, and harmony established, there may, in future, be
only one pure and simple faith, and, as all are disciples of the same
Jesus, all may form one and the same Church."
These fair words, however, only excited the suspicions of the
Protestants, which suspicions subsequent events proved to be well
founded. The emperor entered Augsburg in great state, and immediately
assumed a dictatorial air, requiring the diet to attend high mass with
him, and to take part in the procession of the host.
"I will rather," said the Marquis of Brandenburg to the emperor,
"instantly offer my head to the executioner, than renounce the gospel
and approve idolatry. Christ did not institute the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper to be carried in pomp through the streets, nor to be
adored by the people. He said, 'Take, eat;' but never said, 'Put this
sacrament into a vase, carry it publicly in triumph, and let the people
prostrate themselves before it.'"
The Protestants, availing themselves of the emperor's declaration that
it was his intention to hear the sentiments of all, drew up a confession
of their faith, which they presented to the emperor in German and in
Latin. This celebrated creed is known in history as the _Confession of
Augsburg_. The emperor was quite embarrassed by this document, as he was
well aware of the argumentative powers of the reformers, and feared that
the document, attaining celebrity, and being read eagerly all over the
empire, would only multiply converts to their views. At first he refused
to allow it to be read. But finding that this only created commotion
which would add celebrity to the confession, he adjourned the diet to a
small chapel where but two hundred could be convened. When the
Chancellor of Saxony rose to read the confession, the emperor commanded
that he should read the Latin copy, a language which but few of the
Germans understood.
"Sire," said the chancellor, "we are now on German ground. I trust that
your majesty will not order the apology of our faith, which ought to be
made as public as possible, to be read in a language not understood by
the Germans."
The emperor was compelled to yield to so reasonable a request. The
adjacent apartments, and the court-yard of the palace, were all filled
with an eager crowd. The chancellor read the creed in a voice so clear
and loud that the whole multitude could hear. The emperor was very
uneasy, and at the close of the reading, which occupied two hours, took
both the Latin and the German copies, and requested that the confession
should not be published without his consent. Luther and Melancthon drew
up this celebrated document. Melancthon was an exceedingly mild and
amiable man, and such a lover of peace that he would perhaps do a little
violence to his own conscience in the attempt to conciliate those from
whom he was constrained to differ. Luther, on the contrary, was a man of
great force, decision and fearlessness, who would speak the truth in the
plainest terms, without softening a phrase to conciliate either friend
or foe. The Confession of Augsburg being the joint production of both
Melancthon and Luther, did not _exactly_ suit either. It was a little
too uncompromising for Melancthon, a little too pliant and yielding for
Luther. Melancthon soon after took the confession and changed it to
bring it into more entire accordance with his spirit. Hence a division
which, in oblivion of its origin, has continued to the present day.
Those who adhered to the original document which was presented to the
emperor, were called Lutherans; those who adopted the confession as
softened by Melancthon, were called German Reformed.
The emperor now threw off the mask, and carrying with him the majority
of the diet, issued a decree of intolerance and menace, in which he
declared that all the ceremonies, doctrines and usages of the papal
church, without exception, were to be reëstablished, married priests
deposed, suppressed convents restored, and every innovation, of whatever
kind, to be revoked. All who opposed this decree were to be exposed to
the ban of the empire, with all its pains and penalties.
This was indeed an appalling measure. Recantation or war was the only
alternative. Charles, being still much occupied by the affairs of his
vast kingdom of Spain, with all its ambitions and wars, needed a
coadjutor in the government of Germany, as serious trouble was evidently
near at hand. He therefore proposed the election of his brother
Ferdinand as coadjutor with him in administering the affairs of Germany.
Ferdinand, who had recently united to the Austrian territories the
crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, was consequently chosen, on the 5th of
January, 1531, King of the Romans. Charles was determined to enforce his
decrees, and both parties now prepared for war.