CONFERENCES AT SMALCALD AND CALAIS.
(MARCH TO OCTOBER 1532.)
[Sidenote: DU BELLAY'S PROJECTS.]
France, or at least the king and the influential men, appeared at this
time to be veering towards a moderate Reform. Francis I. seemed to have
some liking for his sister's religion; but there were other motives
inclining him to entertain these ideas. Finding himself without allies
in Europe, he endeavoured to gain the friendship of the protestants,
hoping that with their help he would be in a condition to oppose the
emperor and restore the French preponderance in Italy. One man in
particular set himself the task of directing his country into a new
path; this was William du Bellay, brother to the Bishop of Paris, and
'one of the greatest men France ever had,' says a catholic
historian.[243] A skilful, active, and prudent diplomatist, Du Bellay
called to mind the memorable struggles that had formerly taken place
between the popes and the kings of France; he believed that christendom
was in a state of transition, and desired, as the Chancellor de
l'Hôpital did in later years, that the new times should be marked with
more liberty, and not with more servitude, as the Guises, the Valois,
and the Bourbons would have wished. He went even farther: he thought
that the sixteenth century would substitute for the papacy of the middle
ages a form of christianity, catholic of course, but more in conformity
with the ancient Scriptures and the modern requirements. From that hour
his dominant idea, his chief business, was to unite catholic France to
protestant Germany.
Having received the instructions of Francis I., Du Bellay left Honfleur,
where the king was staying,[244] on the 11th of March, 1532, and crossed
the Rhine about the middle of April. At Schweinfurth-on-the-Maine,
between Wurtzburg and Bamberg, he found an assembly composed of a few
protestant princes on one side, and a few mediators on the other, among
whom was the elector-archbishop of Mayence. As this brings us into
Germany, it is necessary that we should take a glance at what had
happened there since the great diet of Augsburg in 1530.[245]
The catholics and protestants had made up their minds at that time for a
contest, and everything foreboded the bursting of the storm in the next
spring (1531). There were, so to say, two contrary currents among the
friends of the Reformation in Germany. One party (the men of prudence)
wished that the evangelical states should seek powerful alliances and
prepare to resist the emperor by force of arms; the other (the men of
piety) called to mind that the Reformation had triumphed at Augsburg by
faith, and added that from faith all its future triumphs were to be
expected. These two parties had frequent meetings at Wittemberg, Torgau,
and elsewhere. One man especially, with open countenance and firm look,
whose lips seemed always ready to speak, made his clear and sonorous
voice heard: this was Luther. 'To God alone,' he told the elector,
'belongs the government of the future; your Highness must therefore
persevere in that faith and confidence in God which you have just
displayed so gloriously at Augsburg.'[246] But the jurists of Torgau
were not entirely of that opinion, and they endeavoured to prove that
their rights in the empire authorised the protestants to repel force by
force. Luther was not to be shaken. 'If war breaks out,' he replied, 'I
call God and the world to witness, that the Lutherans have in no wise
provoked it; that they have never drawn the sword, never thrown men into
prison, never burnt, killed, and pillaged, as their adversaries have
done; and, in a word, that they have never sought anything but peace and
quietness.'[247] The politicians smiled at such enthusiasm, and said
that in real life things must go on very differently. A conference was
appointed for the consideration of what was to be done, and in the
meanwhile great efforts were made to win over new allies to the
protestant cause.
[Sidenote: ALLIANCE OF SMALCALD.]
On the 29th of March, 1531, the deputies of the protestant states met at
Smalcald, in the electorate of Hesse. In the eyes of the peace party
this was a place of evil omen: the town was fortified, and there were
iron mines in the neighbourhood, from which arms have been manufactured
and cannons founded. As the deputies proceeded to the castle of
Wilhelmsburg, built on a hill near the town, they wore a mournful
anxious look. They were disappointed in the hope they had entertained of
seeing Denmark, Switzerland, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania join them.
Nevertheless they did not hesitate, notwithstanding their weakness, to
assert their rights against the power of Charles V. Nine princes and
eleven cities entered into an alliance for six years 'to resist all who
should try to constrain them to forsake the Word of God and the truth of
Christ.'
This resolution was received with very different sentiments. Some said
that it was an encroachment on the spirituality of the Church; others
maintained that since liberty of conscience was a civil as well as a
religious right, it ought to be upheld, if necessary, by force of arms.
They soon went farther. Some persons proposed, with a view of making the
alliance closer, to introduce into all the evangelical churches a
perfect uniformity both of worship and ecclesiastical constitution; but
energetic voices exclaimed that this would be an infringement of
religious liberty under the pretence of upholding it. When the deputies
met again at Frankfort, on the 4th of June, these generous men said
boldly: 'We will maintain diversity for fear that uniformity should,
sooner or later, lead to a kind of popery.' They understood that the
inward unity of faith is better than the superficial unity of form.[248]
After various negotiations the evangelicals met at Schweinfurth to
receive the proposals of their adversaries; and it was during this
conference (April and May 1532) that the ambassador of the King of
France arrived. When the protestants saw him appear, they were rather
embarrassed; but still they received him with respect. He soon found out
in what a critical position the men of the confession of Augsburg were
placed. True, the mediators offered them peace, but it was on condition
that they made no stipulations in favour of those who might embrace the
Gospel hereafter. This proposal greatly irritated the Landgrave of
Hesse, his chancellor Feig, and the other members of the conference.
'What!' exclaimed the Hessians, 'shall a barrier be raised between
protestantism and popery, and no one be allowed to pass it?... No! the
treaty of peace must equally protect those who now adhere to the
confession of Augsburg and those who may hereafter do so.'—'It is an
affair of conscience,' wrote the evangelical theologians, and Urban
Regius in particular; 'this is a point to be given up on no
account.'[249] The electoral prince himself was resolved to adopt this
line of conduct.
[Sidenote: LUTHER OPPOSES DIPLOMACY AND WAR.]
Luther was not at Schweinfurth, but he kept on the look-out for news. He
spoke about the meeting to his friends; he attacked the schemes of the
politicians; all these negotiations, stipulations, conventions,
signatures, ratifications, and treaties in behalf of the Gospel annoyed
him. When he learnt what they were going to do at Schweinfurth, he was
dismayed. To presume to save the faith with protocols was almost
blasphemous in his eyes! One of his powerful letters fell like a
bomb-shell into the midst of the conference. 'When we were without any
support,' he said, 'and entirely new in the empire, with struggles and
combats all around us, the Gospel triumphed and truth was upheld,
despite the enemies who wished to stifle them both. Why should not the
Gospel triumph now with its own strength? Why should it be necessary to
help it with our diplomacy and our treaties? Is not God as mighty now as
then? Does the Almighty want us to vote the aid that we mean to give him
in future by our human stipulations?'...
These words of Luther caused general consternation. People said to one
another that 'the Doctor had been ill, and that he had consoled his
friends by saying: "Do not be afraid; if I were to sink now, the papists
would be too happy; therefore I shall not die." They added that his
advice against treaties was no doubt a remnant of his fever; the great
man is not quite right in his mind; the prince-electoral and the
excellent chancellor Bruck wrote to the elector, who was in Saxony, that
everybody was against Luther, who appeared to have no understanding of
business.' But the reformer did not suffer himself to be checked; on the
contrary, he begged the elector to write a sharp letter to his
representatives. 'The princes and burgesses have embraced the Gospel at
their own risk and peril,' he said, 'and in like manner every one must
in future receive and profess it at his own expense.' At the same time
he began to agitate Wittemberg, and drew up an opinion which Pomeranus
signed with him. In it he said: 'I will never take upon my conscience to
provoke the shedding of blood, even to maintain our articles of faith.
It would be the best means of destroying the true doctrine, in the midst
of the confusions of war.'[250] The reformer thought that if the
Lutherans and the Zwinglians, the Germans and the Swiss united, they
would feel so strong, that they would assume the initiative and draw the
sword—which he wished to avert by all means in his power.
[Sidenote: DU BELLAY'S OVERTURES.]
But the politicians were not more inclined to give way than the
theologians. On the contrary, they made preparations for receiving the
ambassador of France, in which, however, there was some difficulty. The
diplomatist's arrival compromised them with the imperialists; they could
not receive him in the assembly at Schweinfurth, since catholic princes
would be present. The protestants therefore went a few miles off, to the
little town of Königsberg in Franconia, between Coburg, Bamberg, and
Schweinfurth. Here they formed themselves into a secret committee and
received the ambassador. 'Most honoured lords,' said Du Bellay, 'the
king my master begs you will excuse him for not having sent me to you
sooner. That proceeds neither from negligence nor from want of
affection, but because he desired to come to some understanding with the
King of England, who also wishes to help you in your great enterprise.
The negotiations are not yet ended; but my august master, desirous of
avoiding longer delay, has commissioned me to say that you will find him
ready to assist you. Yes, though he should do it alone; though his
brother of England (which he does not believe) were to refuse; though
the emperor should march his armies against you, the king will not
abandon you. On the honour of a prince, he said. I have received ample
powers to arrange with you about the share of the war expenses which his
Majesty is ready to pay.'[251]
The circumstances were not favourable for the proposals of Francis I.
The pacific ideas of Luther prevailed. The Elector of Saxony, who was
then ill, desired to die in peace. He therefore sided with the reformer,
and it was agreed to name in the act of alliance the princes and cities
that had already adhered to the confession of Augsburg, and that they
alone should be included in the league. These peaceful ideas of the
protestants did not harmonise with the warlike ideas of King Francis. Du
Bellay was not discouraged, and skilfully went upon another tack; while
the Saxon diplomatists were compelled to yield to the will of their
master, Du Bellay remarked a young prince, full of spirit and daring,
who spared nobody and said aloud what he thought. This was the Landgrave
of Hesse, who complained unceasingly either of Luther's advice, or of
the resolution of the conference. 'The future will show,' he told
everybody, 'whether they have acted wisely in this matter.' The minister
of Francis I., who was of the landgrave's opinion, entered into
communication with him.
An important question—the question of Wurtemberg—at that time occupied
Germany. In 1512 Duke Ulrich, annoyed because he had not more influence
in the Suabian league, had seceded from it, quarrelled with the emperor,
thrown that prince's adherents into prison, burdened his subjects with
oppressive taxes, and caused trouble in his own family. In consequence
of all this, the emperor expelled him from his states in 1519 and 1520,
and he took refuge in his principality of Montbéliard. It seemed that
adversity had not been profitless to him. In 1524, when Farel went to
preach the Reformation at Montbéliard, Ulrich (as we have seen[252])
defended religious liberty. When the emperor was at Augsburg in 1530,
wishing to aggrandise the power of Austria, he had given the duchy of
Wurtemberg to his brother Ferdinand, to the great indignation of the
protestants, and especially of the landgrave. 'We must restore the
legitimate sovereign in Wurtemberg,' said this young and energetic
prince: 'that will take the duchy from the catholic party and give it to
the protestants.' But all the negotiations undertaken with this view had
failed. If, however, one of the great powers of Europe should take up
the cause of the dukes of Wurtemberg, their restoration would be easier.
Francis I. had not failed to see that he could checkmate the emperor
here. 'As for the Duke of Wurtemberg,' said Du Bellay to the Königsberg
conference, 'the king my lord will heartily undertake to serve him to
the utmost of his power, without infringing the treaties.'[253] The
landgrave had taken note of these words, and their result was to
establish the Reformation in a country which is distinguished by its
fervent protestantism and its zeal in propagating the Gospel to the ends
of the world.
[Sidenote: PEACE OF NUREMBERG.]
A mixed assembly of catholics and protestants having met at Nuremberg in
the month of May, the protestants demanded a council in which everything
should be decided 'according to the pure Word of God.' The members of
the Romish party looked discontented: 'It is a captious, prejudiced, and
anti-catholic condition,' they said. Yet, as the Turks were threatening
the empire, it was necessary to make some concessions to the
Reformation, in order to be in a condition to resist them. The violent
fanatics represented to no purpose that Luther was not much better than
Mahomet; peace was concluded at Nuremberg on the 23rd of July, 1532, and
it was agreed that, while waiting for the next free and general council,
the _status quo_ should be preserved, and all Germans should exercise a
sincere and christian friendship. This first religious peace cheered
with its mild beams the last days of the elector John of Saxony. On the
14th of August, 1532, that venerable prince, whom even the imperialists
styled 'the Father of the German land,' was struck with apoplexy. 'God
help me!' he exclaimed, and immediately expired. 'Wisdom died with the
elector Frederick,' said Luther, 'and piety with the elector John.'
Yet Du Bellay was always harassed by the desire of emancipating from
Rome that France which the Medici, the Guises, the Valois, and
afterwards the Bourbons, were about to surrender to her. He therefore
increased his exertions among the protestants to induce them to accept
the friendship, if not the alliance, of his master. But they had no
great confidence in 'the Frenchman;' they were afraid that they would be
surprised, deceived, and then abandoned by Francis; they 'shook with
fear.' The ambassador was more urgent than ever; he accepted the
conditions of the protestants, and the two parties signed a sort of
agreement. Du Bellay returned to Francis I., who was then in Brittany,
and the king having heard him, sent him instantly to England, to give
Henry VIII. a full account of all his negotiations with the protestant
princes.[254]
Thus politicians were intriguing on every side. In Germany, France, and
England, the princes imagined that they could conquer by means of
diplomacy; but far different were the forces by which the victory was to
be gained. In the midst of all this activity of courts and cabinets,
there was an inner and secret activity which stirred the human mind and
excited in it a burning thirst, which the truth and the life of God
alone could quench. Centuries before, as early as 1020, the revival had
begun in Aquitaine, at Orleans, and on the Rhine. Men had proclaimed
that christians 'ought to be filled with the Holy Ghost; that God would
be with them, and would give them the treasures of his wisdom.'[255]
This inward movement had gone on growing from age to age. The Waldenses
in the twelfth century, the purest portion of the Albigenses in the
thirteenth, Wickliffe and the Lollards in the fourteenth, and John Huss
and his followers in the fifteenth, are the heroes of this noble war.
This christian life arose, increased, and spread; if it was extinguished
in one country, it reappeared in another. The religious movement of the
mind gained strength; the electricity was accumulated in the battery;
the mine was charged, and the explosion was certain erelong. All this
was being accomplished under the guidance of a sovereign commander. He
applied the match in the sixteenth century by the hand of Luther; once
more he sprang the mine by the powerful preaching of Calvin, Knox, and
others. It was this that won the victory, and not diplomacy. However, we
have not yet done with it.
[Sidenote: MEETING OF FRANCIS AND HENRY.]
At this time Francis I. was enraptured with Henry VIII., calling him his
'good brother' and 'perpetual ally.' Wearied of the pope and of the
popedom, which appeared as if unable to shake off the tutelage of
Charles V., the King of France saw Germany separating from Rome, and
England doing the same, and Du Bellay was continually asking him why he
would not conclude a triple alliance with these two powers? Such a
coalition, formed in the name of the revival of learning and of reform
in the Church, would certainly triumph over all the opposition made to
it by ignorance and superstition. Francis I. had not made up his mind to
break entirely with the pope, though he was resolved to unite with the
pope's enemies. In order to conclude a close alliance with Henry, he
chose the moment when that prince was most out of humour with the court
of Rome. The articles were drawn up on the 23rd of June, 1532.[256]
The two kings were not content with making preparations only for the
great campaign they meditated against the emperor and Rome: they
determined to have an interview. On the 11th of October, 1532, the
gallant Henry, accompanied by a brilliant court, crossed the Channel and
arrived at Calais, at that time an English possession; while the elegant
Francis, attended by his three sons and many of his nobles, arrived at
Boulogne one or two days later. The great point with Francis was glory—a
victory to be gained over Charles V.; the great point with Henry was to
gratify his passions, and as Clement VII. thwarted him, he had a special
grudge against the pope. With such hatreds and such intentions, it was
easy for the two kings to come to an understanding.
Their first meeting was at Boulogne, in the abbot's palace, where they
stayed four days under the same roof. Francis was inexhaustible in
attentions to his guest; but the important part of their business was
transacted in one of their closets, where these impetuous princes
confided to each other their anger and their plans. The King of England
gave vent to 'great complaints and grievances' against Clement VII. 'He
wants to force me to go to Rome in person. If he means to institute an
inquiry, let him send his proctors to England. Let us summon the pope
(he added) to appear before a free council empowered to inquire into the
abuses under which princes and people suffer so severely, and to reform
them.'[257]
Francis, who also had 'goodwill to complain,' filled the abbot's palace
with his grievances: 'I have need of the clergy-tenths (the tenth part
of the Church revenues), in order that I may resist the Turk; but the
holy father opposes my levying them. I have need of all the resources of
my subjects; but the holy father is continually inventing new exactions,
which transfer the money of my kingdom into the coffers of the popedom.
He makes us pay annates, maintain pontifical officers at a great
expense, and give large presents to prothonotaries, valets,
chamberlains, ushers, and others. And what is the consequence? The
clergy are poor; the ruined churches are not repaired; and the indigent
lack food.... Most assuredly the Roman government is only _a net to
catch money_. We must have a council.'[258]
The two princes resolved to 'take from the pope the obedience of their
kingdoms,' as Guicciardini says.[259] However, before resorting to
extreme measures, Francis desired to begin with milder means, and Henry
was forced to consent that France should forward his grievances to Rome.
[Sidenote: THE MASKED LADY.]
After living together for four days at Boulogne, Henry and Francis went
to Calais, where the latter found his apartments hung with cloth of
gold, embroidered with pearls and precious stones. At table, the viands
were served on one hundred and seventy dishes of solid gold. Henry gave
a grand masked ball, at which the King of France was considerably
tantalised by a masked lady of very elegant manners with whom he danced.
She spoke French like a Frenchwoman, abounded in wit and grace, and
knew, in its most trifling details, all the scandal of the court of
France. The king declared the lady to be charming, and her neck the
prettiest he had ever seen. He little imagined then that this neck would
one day be severed by the orders of Henry VIII. At the end of the dance,
the King of England, with a smile, removed the lady's mask, and showed
the features of Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke, who (it will be
recollected) had been brought up at the court of the French king's
sister.[260]
Pleasure did not make the two princes forget business. They were again
closeted, and signed a treaty, in accordance with which they engaged to
raise an army of 65,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry, intended apparently
to act against the Turks.[261] Du Bellay's policy was in the ascendant.
'The great king,' he said, 'is staggering from his obedience.'[262]
[Sidenote: FRANCIS THREATENS SEPARATION.]
Wishing to make a last effort before determining to break with the pope,
Francis summoned Cardinals de Tournon and de Gramont, men devoted to his
person, and said to them: 'You will go to the holy father and lay before
him in confidence both our grievances and our dissatisfaction. You will
tell him that we are determined to employ, as soon as may be advisable,
all our alliances, public as well as private, to execute great things ...
from which much damage may ensue and perpetual regret for the
future. You will tell him that, in accord with other christian princes,
we shall assemble a council without him, and that we shall forbid our
subjects in future to send money to Rome. You will add—but as a secret
and after taking the pope aside—that in case his holiness should think
of censuring me and forcing me to go to Rome for absolution, I shall
come, but _so well attended_ that his holiness will be only too eager to
grant it me....
'Let the pope consider well,' added the king, 'that the Germans, the
Swiss League, and several other countries in Christendom, have separated
from Rome. Let him understand that if two powerful kings like us should
also secede, we should find many imitators, _both Italians and
others_;[263] and that, at the least, there would be a greater war in
Europe than any known in time past.'[264]
Such were the proud words France sent to Rome. The two kings separated.
A young prince, held captive by Charles V., gave them the first
opportunity of acting together against both emperor and pope.
[Footnote 243: Le Grand, _Hist. du Divorce de Henri VIII._ i. p. 20.]
[Footnote 244: 'Ex oppido unde fluctu Lexoviorum.'—Rommel, _Philippe le
M._ ii. p. 259.]
[Footnote 245: _History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century_,
vol. iv. bk. xiv. ch. xii.]
[Footnote 246: Lutheri _Epp._ iv. p. 201—Dec. 1530.]
[Footnote 247: _Warnung an seine lieben Deutschen._ Lutheri _Opp._ lib.
xx. p. 298.]
[Footnote 248: Seckendorf, pp. 1174-1192, sqq.]
[Footnote 249: Urban Regius to the Landgrave.]
[Footnote 250: Lutheri _Epp._ iv. pp. 335, 337, 369, 372, sqq.]
[Footnote 251: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, pp. 168, 169, Paris, 1588. The
historian is very well informed, especially on everything concerning his
brother's missions.]
[Footnote 252: _Hist. of the Ref. of the Sixteenth Cent._ vol. iii. bk.
xii. chap. xi.]
[Footnote 253: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, pp. 171, 172.]
[Footnote 254: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, pp. 171, 172.]
[Footnote 255: 'Deus tibi comes nunquam deerit, in quo sapentiæ thesauri
atque divitiarum consistunt.' See Ademarus, monk of Angoulême in 1029,
_Chronic._ _Gesta Synodi Aurelianensis_, &c.]
[Footnote 256: The articles are given in Herbert's _Life of Henry VIII._
p. 366, sqq. Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, p. 171.]
[Footnote 257: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, p. 173.]
[Footnote 258: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, pp. 173, 174.]
[Footnote 259: Guicciardini, _Hist. des Guerres d'Italie_, ii. liv. xx.
p. 893.]
[Footnote 260: 'The French king talked with the marchioness a space.'—
_Hall_, p. 794.]
[Footnote 261: Le Grand, _Hist. du Divorce de Henri VIII._ p. 238.]
[Footnote 262: Brantôme, _Mémoires_, i. p. 235.]
[Footnote 263: The words _tant italiens que autres_, are not in the
speech delivered at Calais according to Du Bellay; but they are in the
written instructions given to the two cardinals. _Preuves des Libertés_,
p. 260.]
[Footnote 264: Du Bellay, _Mémoires_, pp. 175, 176, sqq.]