Outlines of Universal History Part 30

8. The influence of Christianity in its _ethical_ relations--as an instrument of political and social reform, and a motive to _philanthropy_--has become more active and conspicuous.

PERIOD I. FROM THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE TO THE REFORMATION _(1453-1517):_

THE CONSOLIDATION OF MONARCHY: INVENTION AND DISCOVERY: THE RENAISSANCE.

CHARACTER OF THIS PERIOD.--In this period monarchy, especially in France, England, and Spain, acquires new strength and extension. The period includes the reigns of three kings who did much to help forward this change: _Louis XI._ of France, _Henry VII._ of England, and _Ferdinand_ the Catholic of Spain. The Italian wars begin with the French invasion of Italy: the rivalship of the kingdoms, and the struggles pertaining to the balance of power, are thus initiated. In this period fall new _inventions_ which have altered the character of civilization, and great geographical _discoveries,_ of which the discovery of the New World is the chief. It is the epoch, moreover, of the _Renaissance,_ or the re-awakening of learning and art. There is a new era in culture. All these movements and changes foretoken greater revolutions in the age that was to follow.

CHAPTER I. FRANCE: ENGLAND: SPAIN: GERMANY: ITALY: THE OTTOMAN TURKS: RUSSIA: THE INVASIONS OF ITALY.

I. FRANCE.

CHARLES VII. AND THE n.o.bLES.--The result of the hundred-years' war was the acquisition of _Aquitaine_ by the French crown. Aquitaine was incorporated in France. Southern Gaul and Northern Gaul were now one. During the last years of _Charles VII._, his kingdom was comparatively peaceful. Its prosperity revived. A new sort of feudalism had sprung up in the room of the old n.o.blesse, whose power had been crushed. The new n.o.bility was made up of relatives of the royal family, as the Dukes of _Burgundy, Berry, Bourbon_, and the house of _Anjou_. On the east of France was _Burgundy_, which had expanded into a great European power. "The _duchy_ of Burgundy, with the county of Charolois, and the counties of Flanders and Artois, were joined under a common ruler with endless imperial fiefs in the Low Countries, and with the imperial _county_ of Burgundy." The Burgundian boundary was on the south of the Somme, and little more than fifty miles north of _Paris_. The Burgundian dukes were constantly striving to bring it still nearer. On the east and south, the house of _Anjou_ held the duchy of _Bar_ and _Provence_, besides other possessions. On the south, too, was the province of _Dauphiny_; and on the west the strong, half-independent duchy of _Bretagne_, or _Brittany_. _Charles_ had a standing quarrel with his son _Louis_, who early showed his power to inspire dread, but gave no signs of the policy which he triumphantly pursued, after he became king, of putting down feudal insubordination. His young wife _Margaret_, daughter of _James I._ of Scotland, was twelve years old when he, a boy of thirteen, was married to her. He aroused such terror and aversion in her mind that she died at twenty-one of a broken heart. _Louis_--to whom, much to his disgust, _Dauphiny_ instead of Normandy was given to rule--abetted the great lords in their resistance to his father's authority; and, when threatened with coercion, fled to _Brussels_, to the court of his father's cousin, _Philip of Burgundy_, where he was kindly entertained. _Charles VII._, who knew the traits of his son, said, "As for my cousin of Burgundy, he harbors a fox that will one day eat up his chickens." Even then the relations of _Louis_ and _Charles_, Count of Charolois, the heir of Burgundy, were cool and unsympathetic. The king occupied _Dauphiny_, and in 1457 it was fully incorporated in France. The rulers of France and Burgundy, taken up with their own schemes of territorial gain, turned a deaf ear to the calls of Pope _Pius II_. for a crusade against the Turks. It has been said that most of the kings of the house of _Valois_ were either bad or mad. The indolent and heartless Charles _VII._ would seem to have been both. In his last days he suspected that the Dauphin's plots were aided by persons about himself, and that his food was poisoned. He refused to eat, and died in 1461.

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XI.--_Louis XI._ (1461-1483) showed himself a master of "statecraft," or the cunning, diplomatic management which pursued its ends stealthily, held no engagements sacred, and was deterred by no scruples of conscience from whatever perfidy was thought requisite to attain the objects in view. _Louis_ was one of the earliest examples of the _kingcraft_ which in the succeeding age was deemed a gift to be coveted by princes. It was an art in which the Italians were masters; and its secrets were set forth, somewhat later than the time of _Louis_, in "The Prince"

of _Machiavelli_, a work in which that eminent statesman and historian describes the means by which despots may entrap and crush their enemies. Whether he meant to afford aid to tyrants, or aid to their subjects through an exposure of the tricks of their rulers, the "Machiavellian" spirit designates the policy of intrigue that prevailed all through the sixteenth century, and infected even some of the best of the public men of that age. _Louis_ was mean-looking, shabby in his dress, with a cunning aspect; in his whole deportment and character, in sharp contrast with the chivalrous princes, _Philip_ and _Charles_ of Burgundy. If he was vindictive, he was perhaps not more cruel than others; but he was ungenial, regarding men as his tools. He took pleasure in the society of his provosts or hangmen,--_Tristan l'Hermite_ and _Olivier le Daim._ He often ordered men to execution without so much as the form of a trial. There was in him a vein of superst.i.tion. He was punctilious in his devotions. He would not swear a false oath over the cross of St. Loup of Angers, because he thought that death would be the penalty. He did not quail before an enemy in battle; yet such was his alarm at the prospect of death, that he collected about him relics and charms, magicians and hermits, to help him prolong his days.

STRIFE WITH THE n.o.bLES.--The first years of _Louis's_ reign (1461-1467) were pa.s.sed in a struggle with the great lords whom he was determined to subdue. At the beginning his measures for this end were imprudent. They combined against him in the _League of the Public Weal_ in 1464. Their force was so great that he stood in imminent peril. He counted on the support of _Paris_, and was trying to reach that city when the hostile armies encountered one another at Montlhery (1465). It was an absurd battle, where at night both parties thought themselves beaten. The king secured his place of refuge. He deemed it prudent to make peace on the terms demanded by the _Count of Charolois,_ and the other n.o.bles. This treaty of _Conflans_ (1465) he caused the Parliament of Paris to refuse to ratify or register. He had trusted to his ability to regain what he might surrender. The strife between the _Duke of Brittany_ and the king's brother _Charles,_ now made _Duke of Normandy,_ enabled Louis soon to recover Normandy.

CHARLES THE BOLD, AND LOUIS.--The death of _Philip_ made his son, _Charles the Bold,_ Duke of Burgundy. Charles was in the prime of life, of a chivalrous temper, courteous and polished, fond of reading and music, as well as of knightly sports, and with his head full of dreams of ambition. With certain n.o.ble qualities, his pride was excessive, his temper not only hot but obstinate, and, as he grew older, he became more overbearing and cruel. He was the most powerful prince in Europe. The most of his lands were German. In the early part of his reign he pursued the same scheme as that which was at the root of the _League of the Public Weal_. He aimed to hem in _Louis_, and to build up his own power in the direction of France. He allied himself, in 1466, with the _House of York_, then uppermost in _England_. An English force was sent to _Calais_ in 1467. Threatened by this coalition of adversaries, _Louis_ hastened to attack _Brittany_, and forced its duke to conclude a separate peace. Trusting too much to his powers of negotiation, and yielding to the treacherous advice of Cardinal _Balue_, one of his chief counselors, the king determined to go in person to confer with _Charles of Burgundy_. He soon learned that his safe-conduct was of little value. At _Peronne_, he found himself in the midst of enemies, and in reality a prisoner. While there, _Liege_ was in revolt, as _Charles_ ascertained, at the king's instigation. The wrathful duke could be appeased only by agreeing to every thing that he required. _Louis_ had to undergo the humiliation of attending _Charles_ and his army, and of basely taking part in the vengeance inflicted on the city which he had himself stirred up to revolt. He was glad to escape with his life. After his return, he ordered _Balue_ to be put in an iron cage, where he was kept for ten years,--a mode of punishment of Balue's own invention. Louis repudiated the treaty of _Peronne_, under the advice of a body of _Notables_, all of whom he had nominated and summoned. A new league was organized against him; but the king by his wariness, and by his prompt.i.tude in attacking _Brittany_, gained advantages, so that a truce was concluded with the _Burgundian_ duke in 1472. _Philip de Commines_, at that time a companion and counselor of _Charles_, left his service for that of _Louis_. To his _Memoirs_ we owe most instructive and interesting details respecting these princes, and the manners and occurrences of the time.

CHARLES THE BOLD, AND THE SWISS.--From this time _Charles_ turned his attention _eastward_, and devoted himself to building up a great princ.i.p.ality on the _Rhine_, which might open the way for his succession to the empire. It seemed to be his plan to bring together the old kingdom of _Lotharingia_ and that of the _Burgundies_. He found no sympathy in his schemes from the emperor _Frederick III_. The great barrier in Charles's way was the freedom-loving spirit of the inhabitants of the Swiss mountains. Availing himself of a plausible pretext, he endeavored to get possession of _Cologne_ by first laying siege to _Neuss_, which lies below it. Wasting his strength in the unsuccessful attempt to capture this place, he failed to make a junction of his forces with the English troops who landed in _France_ under his ally, King _Edward IV_. The English king was persuaded to make a truce with France by the wily _Louis_, who was constantly on the watch for any mistakes or mishaps of his impetuous Burgundian adversary. The cruelty of _Charles_ to the Swiss inhabitants of _Granson_, who had surrendered, brought upon him an attack of their exasperated countrymen near that place (1476). The _Burgundians_ were routed; and the duke's camp, with all its treasures, including his sword, the plate of his chapel, and precious stones of inestimable value, fell into the hands of the hardy mountaineers, who knew nothing of the worth of these things. The next year the Duke once more flung his reckless valor against the strength of the Swiss infantry, and barely escaped from an utter defeat at _Morat_. Made desperate by misfortune, he risked another battle near _Nanci_, in 1477, at the head of an inferior force, composed partly of treacherous mercenaries, and was vanquished and slain. He had intended to make _Nanci_ his capital; but his body was found near by in a swamp, stripped of its clothing, frozen, and covered with wounds.

EXTENSION OF FRANCE.--_Louis XI_ could hardly stifle expressions of joy at the news of the death of his hated and formidable rival. While _Charles_ had been busy in Germany, _Louis_ had taken the opportunity to put down, one by one, the great n.o.bles who had shown themselves ill-affected. He secured to France _Roussillon_ and the northern slopes of the Pyrenees. It was now his purpose to lay hold of as many as possible of the possessions of the late duke. _Mary_, the daughter of _Charles the Bold_, the heiress of _Burgundy_, gave her hand in marriage to _Maximilian_ of _Austria_, an event which carried after it the most important consequences. The result of the conflicts of _Louis_ and _Maximilian_ was the Peace of _Arras_ (1482), which left in the hands of France the towns on the _Somme_, and the great _Burgundian duchy_. For a time _Maximilian_, as holder of the French fiefs of Flanders and Artois, was a va.s.sal of the French king. On the death of King _Rene_, in 1480, and the extinction of the house of _Anjou_, Louis annexed the three great districts of _Anjou, Maine_, and _Provence_, the last of which was a fief of the empire.

LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XI.--In his last days, old King _Louis_, in wretched health, tortured with the fear of death, and in constant dread of plots to destroy him, shut himself up in the castle of _Plessis-les-Tours_, which he strongly fortified, and manned with guards who were instructed to shoot all who approached without leave. He kept up his activity in management, and in truth devised schemes for the advantage of his realm. His selfish and malignant temper brought to him one unexpected joy from the sudden death of _Mary of Burgundy_ (1482), from which, however, France did not reap the advantages which he expected. He died in 1483, at the age of sixty-one. He, more than any other, was the founder of the French monarchy in the later form. He centralized the administration of the government. He fought against feudalism, old and new. He strengthened, however, local authority where it did not interfere with the power of the king. In matters of internal government he was often just and wise.

CHARLES VIII. (1483-1496): ANNE OF BEAUJEU.--_Charles VIII._ at the death of his father was only fourteen years old. But in his older sister, _Anne of Beaujeu_, the wife of _Peter of Bourbon_, he had an energetic guide who for ten years virtually managed public affairs. She proved too strong for the opposition of the royal princes, of the n.o.bility, and of the States General. The n.o.bles turned for support to _Richard III. of England_. _Anne_ strengthened with men and money _Henry of Richmond_, the rival and conqueror of Richard. The Duke of Brittany, with his allies, the Duke of Orleans, the Prince of Orange, and others, was defeated in a hardly contested battle in 1488, which was followed by a treaty advantageous to France. The crowning achievement of _Anne of Beaujeu_ was the marriage of _Anne of Brittany_ to _Charles VIII_. This was accomplished although she had already been married by proxy to _Maximilian_, while _Charles_ was pledged to marry _Margaret_, the emperor's daughter. If _Anne of Brittany_ should outlive _Charles_, she engaged to marry his successor. This second marriage actually took place: she became the wife of _Louis XII_. Brittany was thus incorporated in France. The Italian expeditions, the great events in the reign of _Charles VIII._, will be related hereafter.

II. ENGLAND.

WAR OF THE ROSES: THE HOUSE OF YORK.--The crown in England had come to be considered as the property of a family, to which the legitimate heir had a sacred claim. The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) grew out of family rivalries. It was a fight among n.o.bles. But other reasons were not without influence. The party of _York_ (whose badge was the white rose) was the popular party, which had its strength in Kent and in the trading cities. It went for reform of government. The party of _Lancaster_ (whose badge was the red rose) was the more conservative party, having its strength among the barons of the North. _Richard_, Duke of York, thought that he had a better claim to the English crown than _Henry VI._, because his ancestor, _Lionel_, was an older son of _Edward III._ than _John of Gaunt_, the ancestor of _Henry_. The king was insane at times, and _Richard_ was made Protector or Regent of Parliament. But _Henry_, becoming better, drove him from his presence. He organized an insurrection, but was defeated in a battle at _Wakefield_ by the troops of the strong-hearted queen. He was crowned with a wreath of gra.s.s, and then beheaded. His brave son, _Rutland_, was killed as he fled. But Richard's eldest son, _Edward--Edward IV._ (1461-1483)--supported by the powerful Earl of _Warwick_, "the king-maker," defeated the queen at _Towton_, took possession of the throne, and imprisoned _Henry VI._, who had fallen into imbecility. Edward was popular because he kept order. But the favors which he lavished on the _Woodvilles_, relatives of his Lancastrian wife _Elizabeth_, enabled the opposing party, to which _Warwick_ deserted, to get the upper hand (1470); and _Edward_ fled to Holland. But he soon returned, and won the battles of _Barnet_ and _Tewkesbury_ (1471). _Henry VI._ was secretly murdered in the Tower. The house of _York_ was now in the ascendant. A quarrel between the king and his ambitious brother _Clarence_, who had married _Warwick's_ daughter, led to the trial and condemnation of _Clarence_, who was put to death in the Tower. It was during the reign of _Edward IV._ that _Caxton_ set up the first printing-press in England. After Edward his brother reigned, _Richard III._ (1483-1485), a brave but merciless man, who made his way to the throne by the death of the two young princes _Edward_ and _Richard_, whose murder in the Tower he is with good reason supposed to have procured. He had pretended that _Edward IV._ had never been lawfully married to their mother. Henry _Tudor_, Earl of Richmond, descended by his mother from _John of Gaunt_, aided by France, landed in Wales, and won a victory at _Bosworth_ over the adherents of the white rose,--a victory which gave him a kingdom and a crown. Thus the house of _Lancaster_ in the person of _Henry VII._ (1485-1509), gained the throne. He married _Elizabeth_, the eldest daughter of _Edward IV._, and so the two hostile houses were united. He was the first of the TUDOR kings.

CHARACTER OF THE CIVIL WARS.--The Wars of the Roses are, in certain respects, peculiar. They extended over a long period, but did not include more than three years of actual fighting. The battles were fierce, and the combatants unsparing in the treatment of their foes. Yet the population of the country did not diminish. Business and the administration of justice went on as usual. Trade began to be held in high esteem, and traders to ama.s.s wealth. The number of journeymen and day-laborers increased, and there was a disposition to break through the guild laws.

EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL WARS.--The most striking result of the civil wars was the strengthening of the power of the king. Not more than thirty of the old n.o.bles survived. Laws were made forbidding the n.o.bles to keep armed "_retainers_;" and against "_maintenance_," or the custom of n.o.bles to promise to support, in their quarrels or law-cases, men who adhered to them. The court of the _Star Chamber_ was set up to prevent these abuses. It was turned into an instrument of tyranny in the hands of the kings. _Henry VII._ extorted from the rich, "_benevolences_," or gifts solicited by the king, which the law authorized him to collect as a tax. He contrived to get money in such ways, and thus to carry forward the government without Parliament, which met only once during the last thirteen years of his reign. Royal power, in relation to the n.o.bles, was further exalted by the introduction of cannon into warfare, which only the king possessed. Two pretenders to the throne, _Lambert Simnel_ (1487), and _Perkin Warbeck_ (1492), were raised up; but the efforts made to dethrone _Henry_ proved abortive. He kept watch over his enemies at home and abroad, and punished all resistance to his authority. Circ.u.mstances enabled the founder of the _Tudor_ line to exalt the power of the king over the heads of both the n.o.bles and the commons.

III. SPAIN.

FERDINAND OF ARAGON (1479-15l6).--The union of _Aragon_ and _Castile_, by the marriage of _Ferdinand_ and _Isabella_ (1474-1504), was nominal, as each sovereign reigned independently in his own dominion. But both sovereigns were bent on the same end,--that of subjecting the powerful grandees and feudal lords to their authority. In this policy they found efficient helpers in the shrewd and loyal counselor _Mendoza_, Cardinal and Archbishop of Toledo, and in _Ximenes_, who combined the qualities of a prelate of strict orthodoxy with those of a profound and energetic statesman. To bring both n.o.bles and clergy into subservience to the crown, was their great aim; and for this end the sagacious _Ferdinand_ procured from the Pope the privilege of filling the bishoprics and the grand masterships of the military orders. He deprived the n.o.bles of their _judicial_ functions, which he committed to impartial and severe tribunals of his own creation. He re-organized and strengthened the _Holy Hermanadad_, or militia of the cities, and thus had at his service against the grandees a standing military force. He used the n.o.bles and the cities to keep one another in check. Over both stood the _Inquisition_,--a tribunal established against the _Moors_ and the _Jews_ who had made an outward profession of Christianity, but which under _Torquemada_, who had been confessor of the queen, became a terror to all Spain. The king had the power to name the _Grand Inquisitor_ and all the judges; and he thus acquired in this inst.i.tution not only a fearful weapon against heretics of every description, but also a political instrument for the subjugation of the n.o.bles and the clergy. By this alliance of the throne and the altar, the despotic power of _Ferdinand_ had the firmest prop.

CONQUEST OF GRANADA.--After a ten-years' b.l.o.o.d.y war, the Moorish kingdom of _Granada_ was conquered. The capital, with the famous castle of _Alhambra_, was captured (1492). The dethroned Moorish king, _Boabdil_, robbed of his possessions, sailed to Africa, where he fell in battle. By the terms of their surrender, the Moors were to have the free exercise of their religion. But the promise was not kept. Choice was given to the Moslems to become Christians, or to emigrate. Many left to wage war elsewhere against their Spanish persecutors, either as corsairs in Africa, or as bands of robbers in _Sierra Nevada_. The professed converts were goaded by cruel treatment into repeated insurrections. It was a fierce war of races and religions. The frightful sufferings of the Moors, under the pressure of this double fanaticism, form a long and gloomy chapter of Spanish history. The dismal tale continues until the cruel expulsion from the kingdom of nearly a million of this unhappy people by _Philip III._, in 1609.

FERDINAND, REGENT OF CASTILE.--Most of the children of _Ferdinand_ and _Isabella_ died young. Their daughter _Joanna_ married _Philip of Burgundy_, son of _Maximilian_ and _Mary_; but he died in 1506, at the age of twenty-eight. They had been recognized as the rulers of _Castile_. But the mind of _Joanna_, who had always been eccentric, became disordered, so that the government devolved on _Ferdinand_, her father. He placed her in the castle at _Tordesillas_, where the remainder of her life, which continued forty-seven years longer, was spent. _Ferdinand_ was, in form, const.i.tuted by the _Cortes_ (1510), regent of the kingdom in the name of his daughter, and as guardian of her son _(Charles)_.

_Ferdinand_ administered the government with wisdom and moderation. As there were no children by his second marriage with _Germaine de Foix_, niece of _Louis XII._ of France, the succession of _Joanna's_ son remained secure. Ferdinand availed himself of the disturbances in France to annex to _Castile_ the portion of _Navarre_ lying on the south of the Pyrenees.

IV. GERMANY AND THE EMPIRE.

FREDERICK III. (1440-1493).--While _England, France_, and _Spain_ were organizing monarchy, _Italy_ and _Germany_ kept up the anarchical condition of the Middle Ages. Hence these countries, first _Italy_ and then _Germany_, became enticing fields of conquest for other nations. _Frederick III._ was the last emperor crowned at Rome (1452), and only one other emperor after him was crowned by the Pope. Frederick reigned longer than any other German king before or after him. He lacked energy, neglected the empire, and busied himself in enlarging his Austrian domains, which he erected into an _archduchy_ (1453). When he sought to interfere with the German princes, they set him at defiance. He did little more than remain an indolent spectator of the conflict in which the Swiss overthrew _Charles the Bold_. The great danger to Europe was now from the _Turks_. Christendom was defended by the Poles and the Hungarians. _Frederick_ left the Hungarians, under the gallant _John Hunyady_, without his help, to drive them, in 1456, from _Belgrade_. He tried to obtain the Bohemian and Hungarian crowns; but _Podiebrad_, a Utraquist n.o.bleman, was made king of Bohemia, and _Matthias Corvinus_ succeeded _Hunyady_, his father, on the throne of Hungary. By the death of _Albert_, the brother of _Frederick_, to whom the emperor had been compelled to give up _Vienna_, he became master of all the Austrian lands except Tyrol. He was bent on getting the Hungarian crown; but _Vienna_ was taken by _Matthias_, in 1485, and the emperor had to fly for his life. A great confederation, composed of princes, n.o.bles, and cities, was made in Swabia, for repressing private war, and did much good in South Germany. The western part of _Prussia_ was taken from the Teutonic Knights by the Peace of _Thorn_, in 1466, and annexed to _Poland_ by _Casimir IV_.

Maximilian I. (1493-15l9).--_Maximilian I._ was a restless prince, eager for adventure. Although not crowned, he was authorized by Pope _Julius II._ to style himself "Emperor Elect." In his reign, efforts, only in part successful, were made to secure peace and order in Germany. At the Diet of _Worms_ in 1495, a perpetual _public peace_, or prohibition of private feuds, was proclaimed; and a court called the _Imperial Chamber_, the judges of which, except the president, were appointed by the states, was const.i.tuted to adjust controversies among them. The benefits of this arrangement were partly defeated by the _Aulic Council_, an Austrian tribunal established by _Maximilian_ for his own domains, but which interfered in matters properly belonging to the _Chamber_. Germany was also divided into _circles_, or districts, for governmental purposes. In 1499 _Maximilian_ endeavored, without success, to coerce the _Swiss League_ into submission to the Imperial Chamber, and to punish it for helping the French in their Italian invasion. Although he was brave, cultured, and eloquent, he lacked perseverance, and not a few of his numerous projects failed. The most fortunate event in his life, as regards the aggrandizement of his house, was his marriage to _Mary of Burgundy_ (1477). His grandson _Ferdinand_ married the sister of _Louis II._, the last king of _Bohemia_ of the Polish line, who was also king of _Hungary_; and by the election of _Ferdinand_ to be his successor (1526), both these countries were added to the vast possessions of the Austrian family. To Maximilian's doings in _Italy_, we shall soon refer.

GERMAN CITIES.--From the middle of the thirteenth century there was a rapid growth of German cities, and an advance of the trading-cla.s.ses. The cities gained a large measure of self-government, and were prosperous little republics. They were centers of commerce and wealth, and often exercised power much beyond their own precincts, which were well defended by ditches, walls, and towers. The old Gothic town-halls in _Aix, Nuremburg, Cologne,_ etc., are monuments of munic.i.p.al thrift and dignity. Their churches and convents grew rich, and schools with numerous pupils were connected with them. Dwellings became more comfortable and attractive. All branches of art and manufacture flourished. The city n.o.bles and the guilds had their banquets. In the church festivals all the people took part. The German cities, such as _Mayence, Worms, Strasburg, Lubeck, Augsburg,_ excited the admiration even of Italian visitors.

THE MEDICI.

Giovanni d' Medici, _d._ 1429.

| +--COSMO ("Father of his Country"), _d._ 1464.

| | | +--PIERO, _d._ 1469.

| | | +--LORENZO (the Magnificent), _d._ 1492.

| | | | | +--Maddelena.

| | | | | +--PIERO _d._ 1503 | | | | | | | +--LORENZO II, Duke of Urbino, _d._ 1510.

| | | | | | | +--Catharine, _m._ Henry II of France.

| | | | | | | +--ALESSANDRO, First Duke of Florence, 1531-1537.

| | | | | +--GIOVANNI (Pope Leo X), _d._ 1521.

| | | | | +--GIULIANO, Duke of Nemours, _d._ 1516.

| | | | | +--Ippolito (Cardinal), _d._ 1535.

| | | +--GIULIANO, killed by Pozzi 1478.

| | | +--Giulio (Pope Clement VII), _d._ 1534.

| +--LORENZO, _d._ 1440.

| +--Piero Francesco, _d._ 1474.

| +--Giuliano, _d._ 1498.

| +--Giovanni (the Invincible), _d._ 1526.

| +--COSIMO I, First Grand Duke of Tuscany, 1537-1574.

| +--FRANCESCO, 1574-1587, _m._ Joanna, | daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I.

| | | +--Mary _m._ Henry IV of France.

| +--FERDINAND I, 1587-1600, _m._ Christina, daughter of Charles II of Lorraine.

| +--COSIMO II,1609-1621, _m._ Mary Magdalen, sister of Emperor Ferdinand II.

| +--FERDINAND II, 1621-1670.

| +--COSIMO III, 1670-1723.

| +--JOHN GASTON, 1723-1737.

V. ITALY.

CONDITION OF ITALY.--Italy, at the epoch of the French invasions, was the most prosperous as well as the most enlightened and civilized country in Europe. Its opulent and splendid cities were the admiration of all visitors from the less favored countries of the North. But national unity was wanting. The country was made up of discordant states. _Venice_ was ambitious of conquest; and the pontiffs in this period, to the grief of all true friends of religion, were absorbed in Italian politics, being eager to carve out princ.i.p.alities for their relatives. Italy was exposed to _two_ perils. On the one hand, it was menaced by the Ottoman Turks; not to speak of the kings of France and Spain, who were rival aspirants for control in the Italian peninsula. On the other hand, voyages of discovery were threatening to open new highways of commerce to supersede the old routes of traffic through its maritime cities.