Outlines of Universal History Part 34

PROTESTANTISM IN SCANDINAVIA.--In the Scandinavian countries, monarchical power was built up by means of the Reformation. The union of _Calmar_ (1397) under Queen _Margaret_, between _Denmark, Norway,_ and _Sweden,_ had been a dynastic union. The several peoples were not united in feeling. The sovereign, moreover, had his power limited by a strong feudal n.o.bility, and by a rich Church impatient of control. First the Church was overcome by means of Protestantism, and then the n.o.bles.

THE REFORMATION IN DENMARK--On the accession of _Christian I._ of _Oldenburg_ (1448-1481), the duchies of _Holstein_ and _Schleswig_ became connected with Denmark in a personal union. His grandson, _Christian II._ (1513-1523), did not rule the duchies, which were governed by _Frederic I_., who afterwards succeeded _Christian II_. as king of Denmark. _Christian II_. was bent on putting down the aristocracy, lay and clerical, but lacked the moral qualities necessary to success in so difficult a task. He at first favored Protestantism from political motives. He hoped to bring the _Swedes_ into subjection by the aid of the _Danes_, and then to subdue the Danish n.o.bility. In _Sweden_ the n.o.bles practically ruled; and the regency was in the hands of the _Stures_, who befriended the common people, and were opposed by the other n.o.bles and the clergy. _Christian_ made use of these divisions, and of the help of German and French troops, to get possession of _Stockholm_ (1520). He took the Catholic side. But his perfidy, and the ma.s.sacre of eminent Swedes,--known as the _Ma.s.sacre of Stockholm,_--excited an inextinguishable hatred against _Denmark_. The Danish n.o.bles feared the same sort of treatment. The king's attempts at reform offended them without pleasing the peasants, and a revolution took place which dethroned him. Duke _Frederic_ of _Schleswig_ was made king (1523): the duchies and _Denmark_ were again together. _Frederic_ swore not to introduce the Reformation, nor to attack Catholicism. But he was an ardent Lutheran. The new doctrine had come into the land, and was spreading. The n.o.bles, who coveted the possessions of the Church, espoused it. At the Diet of _Odensee_, in 1527, toleration was granted to Lutheranism. On _Frederic's_ death, in 1533, an effort of the bishops to restore the exclusive domination of the old system of religion was defeated. _Christian III._ was made king; and at a Diet at _Copenhagen_ in 1536, the Reformation was legalized, and the Lutheran system, with bishops or superintendents, was established.

THE REFORMATION IN SWEDEN.--After the ma.s.sacre of Stockholm, _Denmark_ was detested by the Swedes. A great political revolution occurred, which involved also a religious revolution. The author of the change, and the real founder of the Swedish monarchy, was _Gustavus Vasa_, a young Swede of n.o.ble family, who had been held as a captive in _Copenhagen_, but had escaped and returned to his country. He was of imposing presence, prudent yet daring, and with a natural gift of eloquence. Amid great dangers and sufferings, such as tradition ascribed to King _Alfred_ of England, he succeeded, at the head of a force gathered to him in the province of Dalecarlia, in gaining the most important places in the country, and was proclaimed king in 1523. He was not deeply interested in the religious controversy, although he favored Lutheranism; but he made it his steady aim to break down the clerical aristocracy, to weaken the n.o.bles, and to organize a strong and prosperous monarchy. He proceeded carefully: but the peasants, who had been his warmest supporters, were strongly attached to the old Church; and the opposition to his measures from all quarters was such that at the _Diet of Westeras_, in 1527, he took the bold step of offering to lay down the crown. At this Diet he had a.s.sembled representatives of the citizens and peasants, as well as the clergy and n.o.bles. He proposed to pay an enormous debt which was due to _Lubeck_, by using the colossal wealth of the Church for this purpose, and to shake off the monopoly of trade which the Hanse towns enjoyed. Finding himself withstood, he renounced the throne. The distraction and tumults which followed his act of relinquishing the crown were such that a great party of the n.o.bles joined him. Three days after his abdication, he was recalled to the throne: the clergy submitted abjectly, and the Church was no longer a power in the state, or possessed of wealth. Trade was released from its bondage to _Lubeck_ and the other towns; commerce was opened with foreign countries; and a market was provided for _iron_, the main product of the country. The n.o.bles were held in subjection. The _Lutheran_ doctrine made very rapid progress, and became dominant.

ENGLAND: HENRY VIII. AND LUTHER.--In England, as in France, there were earnest desires for church reform, partly aroused by such serious-minded humanists as _Colet_, _More_, and _Erasmus_. Even _Cardinal Wolsey_ sympathized with this movement, and intended to endow colleges and bishoprics out of the confiscated wealth of the more useless monasteries. What might have been a slow development of religious thought was transformed by the requirements of the king's own policy. Of all the _Tudor_ princes none had a more obstinate and tyrannical will than _Henry VIII_. The advantages derived from the effect of the civil wars, which had reduced the strength and numbers of the n.o.bility, and the natural English jealousy, always shown, of foreign and papal supremacy, enabled _Henry_ to break off the connection of England with _Rome_; while, at the same time, he resisted Protestantism and persecuted its adherents. Proud of his theological acquirements, he appeared, in 1522, as an author against _Luther_, in a book in defense of the _Seven Sacraments_, for which he received from the Pope the t.i.tle of _Defender of the Faith_. The vituperative character of Luther's answer confirmed him in his hatred of the new doctrine. "When G.o.d," said the blunt Saxon reformer, "wants a fool, he turns a king into a theological writer."

THE DIVORCE QUESTION.--What made the breach between _Henry VIII_. and the papacy was the question of the king's divorce. He had been married in his twelfth year to _Catherine_ of Aragon, the aunt of _Charles V_. and the widow of Henry's deceased brother _Arthur_ (who had been married to her in 1501, when he was fifteen years old, and had died the next year). A dispensation permitting the marriage of Henry had been granted by Pope _Julius II_. How far _Henry's_ pa.s.sion for _Anne Boleyn_, whom he desired to wed, was at the root of his scruples respecting the validity of his marriage, it may not be easy to decide. His application to _Clement VII_. for a separation reached the Pope after the Peace of _Madrid_, when there was a desire to lessen the power of the emperor. Cardinal _Wolsey_, the favorite counselor of _Henry_, who himself aspired to the papal office, was obliged to help on the cause of his imperious master. But whatever disposition there was at _Rome_ to gratify _Henry_, there was no inclination to hurry the proceedings. There were long delays in England, whither a papal legate, _Campeggio_, had been sent to investigate and determine the cause. In 1529 the legates decided that the case must be determined at Rome. This the queen had before demanded in vain. Aside from other objections to the divorce, _Clement VII_. was now at peace with _Charles V_., whom it was undesirable to offend. The incensed king took the matter into his own hands. _Wolsey_, having been one of the legates, was deprived of all his dignities: he was charged with treason, his strength melted away on his fall from the heights of power, and he died a broken-spirited man.

SEPARATION OF ENGLAND FROM ROME.--_Henry_ now gave free rein to the spirit of opposition in Parliament to Rome. He took for his princ.i.p.al minister, who became vicegerent in ecclesiastical affairs, _Thomas Cromwell_. _Cromwell_, unlike _Wolsey_, was hostile to the temporal power of Rome. He made _Thomas Cranmer_ Archbishop of Canterbury, who was inclined toward Protestant views, but, though sincere in his beliefs, was a man of pliant temper, indisposed to resist the king's will, preferring to bow to a storm, and to wait for it to pa.s.s by. By _Cranmer_ the divorce was decreed, but this was after the marriage with _Anne Boleyn_ had taken place. _Henry_ was excommunicated by the Pope. Acts of Parliament abolished the Pope's, and established the king's, supremacy in the Church of England. In 1536 the cloisters were abolished. Their property was confiscated, and fell to a large extent into the hands of the n.o.bles and the gentry. This measure bound them to the policy of the sovereign. The mitered abbots were expelled from the House of Lords, which left the preponderance of power with the lay n.o.bles. The hierarchy bowed to the will of the king.

THE TWO PARTIES.--There were two parties in England among the upholders of the king's supremacy. There were the Protestants by conviction, who were for spreading the new doctrine. This had already taken root and spread in the universities, and in some other places in the country. The new literary culture had paved the way for it. In the North, there were still left many _Lollards_, disciples of _Wickliffe_. _Cromwell, Cranmer_, and one of the bishops, _Latimer_, were prominent leaders of this party. Against them were the adherents of the Catholic theology, such as _Gardiner_, _Tunstal_ of Durham, and other bishops. At first the king inclined towards the first of these two parties. One of his most important acts was the ordering of a translation of the Bible into English, a copy of which was to be placed in every church. But a popular rebellion in 1536 was followed by a change of ecclesiastical policy. The _Six Articles_ were pa.s.sed, a.s.serting the Roman Catholic doctrines, and punishing those who denied transubstantiation with death. The queen, _Anne Boleyn_, who was an adherent of the Protestant side, was executed on the charge of infidelity to her marriage vows (1536). A few years later _Cromwell_ was sent to the scaffold because the king no longer approved of his policy and, seeing how unpopular he had become, used him as a scapegoat (1540). Lutheran bishops were thrown into the Tower: _Cranmer_ alone was shielded by the king's personal favor, and by his own prudence. This system of a national church, of which the king, and not the Pope, was the head, where the doctrine was Roman Catholic, and the great ecclesiastical officers were appointed, like civil officers, by the monarch, was the creation of _Henry VIII_. His strong will was able to keep down the conflicting parties. Despite his sensuality and cruelty, he was a popular sovereign. One of his princ.i.p.al crimes was the execution of _Sir Thomas More_ for refusing to take the oath of supremacy because this contained an affirmation of the invalidity of the king's marriage with _Catherine_. _More_ was one of the n.o.blest men in England, a man who combined vigor with gentleness. He was willing to swear that the children of _Anne_ were lawful heirs to the throne, because Parliament, he believed, could regulate the succession; but this did not satisfy the tyrannical monarch. In the latter portion of his reign he grew more suspicious, willful, and cruel.

CHAPTER III. THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY, FROM THE PEACE OF NUREMBERG TO THE PEACE OF AUGSBURG (1532-1555).

THE PARTIES IN GERMANY, 1532-1542.--For ten years after the Peace of _Nuremberg_, the Protestants in Germany were left unmolested. The menacing att.i.tude of the _Turks_, and the occupations of the emperor in Italy and in other lands, rendered it impossible to interfere with them. _Philip_, the Landgrave of Hesse, a chivalrous Protestant prince, led the way in the armed restoration of Duke _Ulrich of Wurtemberg_, who had been driven out of his dominion. Thus a Protestant prince was established in the heart of Southern Germany (1534). In _Westphalia_, a fanatical branch of the Anabaptist sect at _Munster_, with whom the Lutherans did not sympathize, was broken up by the neighboring Catholic princes. The overthrow of the power of _Lubeck_ and of the Hanseatic League did not check the advance of Lutheranism. It continued to make great progress in different directions. The _Smalcald League_ was extended. A _league_ of the Catholic states was formed at _Nuremberg_ in 1538. During three years (1538-1541) efforts were made by the emperor to secure peace and union. Of these the Conference and Diet of _Ratisbon_ in 1541 is the most remarkable. The Protestants and Catholics could not agree upon statements of doctrine; but the necessity of getting Protestant help against the Turks compelled _Charles_ to sanction the Peace of _Nuremberg_, and to make to the Lutherans other important concessions. This arrangement the emperor regarded as only a temporary truce. Among the conquests of Protestantism after the Peace of _Nuremberg_, and prior to 1544, were _Brandenburg_ and _Ducal Saxony_, whose rulers adopted the new doctrine. It was spreading in _Austria_, in _Bavaria_, and in other states. Duke _Henry of Brunswick_ fell into conflict with the Smalcaldic League, and was conquered, so that his princ.i.p.ality became Protestant. Even the ecclesiastical elector of _Cologne_ was taking steps towards joining the Protestant side. This would have given to the Lutherans a majority in the electoral college. The bishoprics with temporal power were numerous in Germany. If they were secularized, the old religious system would be deprived of a princ.i.p.al support.

THE SMALCALDIC WAR.--_Charles V_. was now secretly resolved to coerce the Protestants in Germany, and silently made his preparations for war. Before hostilities commenced, _Luther_ died (1546). The emperor concluded the _Peace of Crespy_, after a fourth war with _Francis I_. It was a part of the agreement, that they should act jointly against the heretics. But as _Francis_ in the last two wars against the emperor (1536-1538, 1542-1544) had taken for allies the Turks under _Soliman_, it could not be predicted how long he would abide by his engagements. For the present, _Charles_ was safe in this quarter. He now took pains to shut the eyes of the Protestant princes to their danger. The Smalcaldic League was over-confident of its strength. Its members were discordant among themselves. Of the two chief leaders, the elector of Saxony, _John Frederic_, was a slow and unskillful general; and _Philip_, the Landgrave of Hesse, a brave and capable soldier, could not take command over an elector. Above all, _Maurice_, the Duke of Saxony, was in the midst of a quarrel with his relative, the elector, and coveted a part of his territories. _Maurice_ was an able and adroit man, a Protestant, but without the earnest religious convictions that belonged to the electors and to that generation of princes which was pa.s.sing away. _Maurice_ was won by the emperor, through promises of enrichment and favor, and pledges not to interfere with religion in his princ.i.p.ality. _Charles_ might have been prevented from bringing in foreign troops from the Netherlands and from Italy, but the military conduct of the elector was feeble and indecisive. He was defeated and captured in 1547 at _Muhlberg_, and the surrender of the Landgrave _Philip_ soon followed. The Protestant cause was prostrate. The clever _Maurice_ had his reward: the electoral office was transferred to him; he obtained a goodly portion of the elector's territory.

THE RESULT: THE INTERIM.--_Charles_ was victorious, and apparently master of Germany. The country was occupied by his forces as far north as the Elbe. He was engaged in the work of pacification and of confirming his authority. In 1548 he issued the _Interim of Augsburg_, in which concessions were made to both parties, which proved satisfactory to neither. Skillful as the emperor was in diplomacy, he always showed weakness in dealing with the religious question. He proceeded to force the new measure on the refractory cities in the South. In the North it had little effect. _Maurice_ modified it in his own dominion. When _Charles_ seemed to himself to be on the eve of a complete triumph, he was deserted by the allies on whom he counted,--_Rome_, _France_, and the princes, especially _Maurice_.

BREACH OF CHARLES WITH ROME.--The emperor's a.s.suming to regulate the affairs of religion was regarded with disfavor at Rome. There had been a constant call for a general council to adjust the religious controversies. Rome, from fear of imperial influence, and for other reasons, had opposed the measure. At length, in 1545, the famous _Council of Trent_ a.s.sembled. The emperor wanted that body to begin with measures for the reformation of abuses. He looked for co-operation in his scheme for uniting the parties in Germany. But the council took another path: it began with anathemas against the heretical doctrines. Charles found himself at variance with the policy of Rome, at the moment when he was trying to bring Germany to submission.

DISAFFECTION OF MAURICE.--The emperor's course in Germany produced general alarm. He separated the _Netherlands_ from the jurisdiction of the empire, but settled the succession in the government in the house of _Hapsburg_. He drove the Diet into other measures which looked towards the acquiring of military supremacy for himself in Germany. He violated his pledges respecting the two captive princes. _Philip_ of Hesse, the father-in-law of _Maurice_, he treated with great severity and indignity. Threats were thrown out by the counselors of _Charles_ against the other princes, and even against _Maurice_, who complained of the treatment of _Philip_, and was sore under the load of unpopularity that rested on him on account of his warfare against his co-religionists, by whom he was considered another Judas.

THE PEACE OF AUGSBURG.--_Maurice_ laid his plans with secrecy and with masterly skill. He secured the cooperation of other German princes. He concluded an alliance with _Henry II_. of France. He arranged with _Magdeburg_, which he had been besieging, to make it a place of refuge if there should be need of an asylum. When all was ready, without having excited any suspicion on the part of _Charles_, he suddenly took the field, marched southward with an army that increased as he advanced, crossed the Alps, and forced the emperor, tormented with the gout, to fly hastily from _Innsbruck_ (1552). The captive princes were released. It was decided that Germany was not to be ruled by Spanish soldiery. The dream of imperial domination vanished. The Protestants were promised by _Ferdinand_ of Austria, in the name of his brother, toleration, and equality of rights. At the Diet of _Augsburg_ in 1555, the _Religious Peace_ was concluded. Every prince was to be allowed to choose between the Catholic religion and the Augsburg Confession, and the religion of the prince was to be that of the land over which he reigned: that is, each government was to choose the creed for its subjects. Ferdinand put in the "ecclesiastical reservation," which provided that if the head of an ecclesiastical state should become a Lutheran, he should resign his benefice. He also declared that the Lutheran subjects of ecclesiastical princes were not to be disturbed. The "reservation" was to please the Catholics: the additional provision was to meet the wishes of the Protestants. Neither stood on the same basis as the other part of the treaty.

From Maurice the electoral dignity descended in the _Albertine_ line of Saxon princes. The _Ernestine_ line retained Weimar, Gotha, etc.

CHAPTER IV. CALVINISM IN GENEVA: BEGINNING OF THE CATHOLIC COUNTER-REFORMATION.

CALVIN.--Second in reputation to Luther only, among the founders of Protestantism, is _John Calvin_. He was a Frenchman, born in 1509, and was consequently a child when the Saxon Reformation began. He was keen and logical in his mental habit, with a great organizing capacity, naturally of a retiring temper, yet fearless, and endued with extraordinary intensity and firmness of will. A more finished scholar than Luther, he lacked his geniality and tenderness, and his imaginative power. Calvin first studied for the priesthood at _Paris_; but when his father determined to make him a jurist, he studied law at _Orleans_ and _Bourges_. Espousing the Protestant doctrines, he was obliged to fly from _Paris_, and, when still young, published his _Inst.i.tutes of the Christian Religion_, in which he expounded the Protestant creed in a systematic although fervid way. In his type of theology, he laid much stress on the sovereignty of G.o.d, and predestination; and taught a view of the Lord's Supper not so far from that of the old Church as the doctrine of _Zwingli_, but farther removed from it than was the doctrine of Luther.

THE GENEVAN GOVERNMENT.--In 1536, reluctantly yielding to the exhortations of _Farel_, a French preacher of the Protestant doctrine at _Geneva, Calvin_ established himself in that city. _Geneva_ was a fragment of the old kingdom of _Burgundy_. The dukes of _Savoy_ claimed a temporal authority in the city, which was subject to its bishop. The authority of the dukes was overthrown by a revolution, and power pa.s.sed from the bishop into the hands of the people (1533). The change was effected with the aid of _Berne_ and _Freiburg_. There had been two parties in _Geneva_,--the party of the "Confederates," who were for striking hands with the Swiss, and the party of the "Mamelukes," adherents of the dukes. The civil was followed by an ecclesiastical revolution. Protestantism, with the aid of _Berne_, was legally established (1535). _Geneva_ was a prosperous, gay, and dissolute city. _Farel_, a popular orator of striking power, unsparing in denunciation, found the people impatient of the restraints that the new religious system which they had adopted laid upon them. The regulations as to doctrine, worship, and discipline, which _Calvin_ and his a.s.sociates proceeded to introduce, were so distasteful, that the preachers were expelled by the _Council_ and by the _a.s.sembly of Citizens_ from the place. After he had been absent three years, Calvin, in consequence of the increase of disorder and vice, and the distraction occasioned by contending factions, was recalled, and remained in Geneva until his death. He became the virtual lawgiver of the city. He framed a system of ecclesiastical and civil government. It was an ecclesiastical state, in which orthodoxy of belief, and purity of conduct, were not only inculcated by systematic teaching, but enforced by stringent enactments. Offenses comparatively trivial were punished by strict and severe penalties. To the system of church discipline, stretching over the life of every individual, and carried out by the civil magistrates in alliance with the pastors, there was much opposition, which led to outbreakings of violent resistance. But the supporters of Calvin were reinforced by numerous Protestant refugees from _France_. The improvement of the city in morals and in public order was signal. In the end, _Calvin_, who was as firm as a rock, triumphed over all opposition. _Geneva_ became a place of resort for exiles and students from various countries. By his writings and correspondence, Calvin's influence spread far and wide. In the affairs of the French Protestants, in particular, his influence was predominant.

SERVETUS.--The Reformers were not, any more than their adversaries, advocates of liberty in religious beliefs and professions. A melancholy example of the prevailing idea, that it was the duty of the civil authority to inflict penalties upon heresy, is the case of _Michael Servetus_. A Spaniard by birth, with a remarkable apt.i.tude for natural science and medicine, adventurous and fickle, he had published books in which doctrines received by both the great divisions of the Church, especially the doctrine of the Trinity, were a.s.sailed. He escaped out of the hands of the Catholics, and came to _Geneva_. There he was tried for heresy and blasphemy, and was burned at the stake (1553). This was at a time when Calvin was in the midst of his contest with the "Libertines," the party actuated by hostility to him. They appear to have stood behind _Servetus_ in his defiant att.i.tude towards the Genevan authorities.

INFLUENCE OF CALVINISM.--The personal influence of _Calvin_ was directly exerted upon the more cultured and educated. His religious system has wielded a great power, not only on this cla.s.s, but also over the common people in different countries. Calvinism was never awed by monarchical authority. Like the Church of Rome, it always refused to subordinate the Church and religion to the civil power. It numbered among its votaries many men of dauntless courage and of unbending fidelity to their principles.

THE CATHOLIC REACTION.--The first effectual resistance to the spread of Protestant opinions was made in _Italy_. In that country, there was opposition to the papacy from those who saw in it an instrument of political disunion, and also from some who were aggrieved by ecclesiastical abuses. The prevailing feeling, however, was that of pride in the papacy, which, in other countries, was attacked as an Italian inst.i.tution. The humanist learning had done much to undermine belief in the old religious system. In the train of the new studies, came much indifference and infidelity. The books of the Protestant leaders, however, were widely circulated. There were not a few sincere converts to the new doctrine in the cities; but they were chiefly confined to the educated cla.s.s, and to persons in high station. It took no root among the common people. After the time of the Medici popes, a new spirit of faith and devotion awoke in circles earnestly devoted to the papacy and to the Church. There was at Rome an "Oratory of Divine Love,"--a group of persons who met together for mutual edification. In this cla.s.s were some, like _Contarini_, afterwards a cardinal, who were not wholly without sympathy with the Lutheran doctrine as to faith and justification; but out of the same cla.s.s came others who led in the great _Catholic Reaction_, which, while it aimed at a rigid reform in morals, was inflexibly hostile to all innovations in doctrine, and was bent on regaining for the Church the ground that had been lost.

THE COUNCIL OF TRENT: CARAFFA.--The Council of Trent was governed in its conclusions by this Catholic reactionary and reforming party. It allowed no curtailing of the prerogatives of the Pope. On points of doctrine in dispute within the pale of the Church, it adopted formulas which the different schools might accept. Practical reforms, for example in respect to the education of the clergy, were adopted; but dogma and teaching were to remain unaltered. Cardinal _Caraffa_, the most energetic mover in the Catholic reform and restoration, became Pope, under the name of _Paul IV._ (1555-1559).

THE ORDER OF JESUS.--The Council of Trent, by providing a clear definition of doctrine, cemented unity, and was the first great bulwark raised against Protestantism. Another means of defense, and of attack as well, was provided in new orders, especially the order of _Jesuits_. This was founded by _Ignatius Loyola_, a Spanish soldier of n.o.ble birth, who mingled with the spirit of chivalry a strong devotional sentiment. It was the temper of mediaeval knighthood, which still lingered in Spain. Wounded at the siege of _Pampeluna_, and disabled from war, he had visions of a spiritual knighthood; out of which grew the _Society of Jesus_, which was sanctioned by Pope _Paul III._ in 1540. Its members took the monastic vows. They went through a rigorous spiritual drill. They were bound to unquestioning obedience to the Pope. The organization was strict, like that of an army; each province having a provincial at its head, with a general over all. To him all the members were absolutely subject. All other ties were renounced: to serve the Church and the order, was the one supreme obligation.

INFLUENCE OF THE JESUITS.--The influence of the Jesuit order was manifold. It was active in preaching, and in hearing confessions. It made the education of youth a great part of its business. Its members found their way into high stations in Church and State: they were in the cabinets of princes. From the beginning, they showed an ardent zeal in missionary labors among the heathen in distant lands, and for the reconquest of countries won by the Protestants.

THE INQUISITION.--Under the auspices of Cardinal Caraffa (_Paul IV._), the Inquisition was introduced into Italy (1542), and exerted the utmost vigilance and severity in crushing out the new faith. One of its instruments was the censorship of the press. So thorough was this work, that of the little book on the _Benefits of Christ's Death_, which had an immense circulation, it has been possible in recent years to find but two or three copies. The "Index" of prohibited books was established. The result of these measures was, that Protestantism was suppressed in Italy, and the type of Catholicism that was partially sympathetic with certain doctrinal features of the Saxon Reform likewise vanished.

CHAPTER V. PHILIP II., AND THE BEVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.

CHARACTER OF PHILIP II.--In 1555 Charles V., enfeebled by his lifelong enemy, the gout, resigned his crowns, and devolved on his son, _Philip II._, the government of the _Netherlands_, together with the rest of his dominions in _Spain_, _Italy_, and _America_. The closing part of his life, the emperor pa.s.sed in the secluded convent of _Yuste_, in Spain, where, notwithstanding the time spent by him in religious exercises, and in his favorite diversion of experimenting with clocks and watches, he remained an attentive observer of public affairs. Political and religious absolutism was the main article in _Philip's_ creed. He was more thoroughly a Spaniard in his tone and temper than his father, who was born in the Netherlands, and always loved the people there, as he was loved by them. _Philip_ was cold and forbidding in his manners. He was shy, as well as haughty, in his deportment to those who approached him. To re-establish everywhere the old religion by the unrelenting exercise of force, was his fixed purpose. Only one thing did he value more; and that was his own power, which he would not suffer Church or clergy to curb or invade. He had few ideas, but was an adept in concealment and treachery. A man of untiring industry, he was a plodder without insight. He lived to see the vast strength which fell to him as a legacy slip out of his hands, and to see Spain sink to a condition of comparative weakness. _Charles V_. had consolidated his dominion in that country by putting down democratic insurrections. This he had done by military force and the arm of the Inquisition. What _Charles_ had left undone in this line, Philip completed. He quelled the resistance of the _Aragonese_, and reduced them to submission. Spain swarmed with civil and ecclesiastical officials. The new religious doctrine, which a.s.sumed the same type as in Italy, was stifled. The monarch displayed his zeal by personal attendance at the _autos da fe_, the great public ceremonials for the execution of heretics, where the victims of his intolerance perished. A system of brutal military administration was adopted in the colonies.

STATE OF THE LOW COUNTRIES.--_Philip_ undertook to treat the _Netherlands_ as a Spanish province, and to break down the spirit of local independence. The people of the Low Countries were industrious, intelligent, prosperous, spirited. Each of the _seventeen provinces_ had its own const.i.tution. In the North, it was more democratic; in _Flanders_ and _Brabant_, there was a landed aristocracy. In all parts of the country, there were local privileges and cherished rights. The population numbered three millions. _Antwerp_, with its hundred thousand inhabitants, had more trade than any other European city. The Reformation, first in the Lutheran but later in the Calvinistic form, had numerous adherents in the _Netherlands_, whom severe edicts of _Charles V_., under which large numbers were put to death, did not extirpate.

TYRANNY OF PHILIP.--Philip did not select for his regent in the _Netherlands_ one of the aristocracy of the country. Of this cla.s.s was Count _Egmont_, a n.o.bleman of brilliant courage and attractive manners. _William_, _Prince of Orange_, united with far more self-control the sagacity of a statesman. He was destined to be the formidable antagonist of Spanish tyranny, and the liberator of Holland. _Philip_ pa.s.sed by the n.o.bles, whom he distrusted and disliked, and appointed as regent the illegitimate daughter of _Charles V_., _Margaret_ of Parma (1559-1567); placing at her side, as her princ.i.p.al adviser, the astute _Granvelle_, the Bishop of Arras, one of his devoted servants, who was made cardinal in 1561. Three n.o.bles, _William of Orange_, and the Counts _Egmont_ and _Horn_, were in the council. The power was in _Granvelle's_ hands. There was soon a breach between him and the n.o.bles. Two measures of _Philip_ created disaffection. He was slow in withdrawing the hated Spanish soldiers; he increased the number of bishops, a cherished scheme of _Charles V_. Moreover, he renewed and proceeded to enforce edicts, embracing minute provisions of a most rigorous character, against the property and lives of the Protestants, although the Inquisition had lost public favor. The terror and indignation of the people found expression through the n.o.bles. They left the council. At length _Granvelle_ had to be withdrawn from the country (1564). _Egmont_ went to Spain to procure a mitigation of the king's policy, but found on his return that he had been duped by false promises. The young n.o.bility formed an agreement called _the Compromise_, to withstand the king's system, at first by legal means (1566). They were contemptuously called "beggars" by the regent, and themselves adopted the name. The king professed a willingness to make some concessions: he was only gaining time for measures of a different sort. In the same year a storm of iconoclasm burst out: the Calvinists made reprisals for what they had suffered; they vented their zeal against what they called "idolatry," by sacking the churches, and by destroying paintings and images, and other symbols and implements of worship. _Orange_ penetrated the designs of _Philip_, and retired to Na.s.sau. _Egmont_, more credulous and confiding, remained.

ALVA'S RULE.--_Philip_ now sent into the Netherlands the _Duke of Alva_, an officer of considerable military capacity, cold, arrogant, and merciless in his temper. His force consisted of ten thousand men. A tribunal was erected by him, called the "Council of Blood." _Egmont_ and _Horn_ were executed at _Brussels_ (1568). Great numbers of executions of men and women, of all ranks, who were accused of some sort of insubordination, or some manifestation of heresy, followed. _William of Orange_ was active in devising means of deliverance. The first marked success was the capture of _Briel_ by the "sea-beggars," inhabitants of the coasts of _Holland_ and _Zealand_, under their admiral, _William de la Mark_. The barbarities and extortion of Alva by degrees aroused universal and intense hatred. _Holland_ and _Zealand_ threw off Alva's rule, and made _William_ their stadtholder. The nominal connection with Spain was still kept up. The ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew (1572) cut off _William_ from the help which he expected from the French. It was felt, however, that _Alva_ had failed in his attempt to subjugate the people, and he was withdrawn from the country by _Philip_ (1573).

THE UTRECHT UNION.--From the capture of _Briel_ may be dated the beginning of the long and arduous struggle which resulted in the building-up of the Dutch Republic of the _United Provinces_, and the ultimate prostration of the power of _Spain_. The hero of the struggle was _William of Orange_. The successor of Alva, _Requesens_, was really more dangerous than _Alva_, because he was more magnanimous, and therefore excited less antagonism. In 1574 occurred the memorable siege of _Leyden_ by the Spanish forces. That city, when reduced to the last extremity, was saved by letting in the sea and by inundating the neighboring plains, which compelled the Spaniards to flee in dismay. As a memorial of the heroic defense of the place, the University of Leyden was founded. A new Protestant state was growing up in the North, under the guidance of _William_. In the South, where Catholicism prevailed, _Requesens_ was more successful. But when he died, in 1576, a frightful revolt of his soldiers, who were loosed from restraint, in the cities, moved all Netherlands to unite, in the _Pacification of Ghent_, against the Spanish dominion. _Don John_ of Austria, a brilliant and manly soldier, who had defeated the Turks at _Lepanto_, was the next regent (1576-1578). He made large concessions: these were welcome in the South, and weakened the Union. _Alexander of Parma_ (1578, 1579), his successor, was the ablest general of the time. The Catholic South was at variance with the Protestant North. In 1579, there was formed between the seven provinces in the North the _Utrecht Union_, the germ of the Dutch Republic. _Philip_ proclaimed _William_ an outlaw, and set a price on his head. After six ineffectual attempts at a.s.sa.s.sination, this heroic leader, the idol of his countrymen, was fatally shot, in his own house (1584). His work as a deliverer of his people was mainly accomplished. When the Utrecht Union was formed, the greater part of the Catholic provinces in the South entered into an arrangement with _Parma_. _Brabant_ and _Flanders_ were recovered to Spain. The attention of _Philip_ had to be mainly given to the affairs of _France_ and _England_ during the remainder of his life.

CHAPTER VI. THE CIVIL WARS IN FRANCE, TO THE DEATH OF HENRY IV. (1610).

FRANCIS I.: HENRY II.--In France, the old faith had strong support in the _Sorbonne_, the influential theological faculty of the University of Paris, and in the Parliament. The new culture, the influx of Italian scholars and Italian influences, produced a party averse to the former style of education, and, to some extent, unfriendly to the old opinions. The Lutheran doctrines were first introduced; but it was _Calvinism_ which prevailed among the French converts to Protestantism, and acquired a strong hold in the middle and higher cla.s.ses, although the preponderance of numbers in the country was always on the Catholic side. _Francis I_. was a friend of the new learning. His sister _Margaret_, Queen of _Navarre_, who was of a mystical turn, was favorably inclined to the new doctrines, and befriended preachers who were of the same spirit. The king did the same until after the battle of _Pavia_, when he helped on the persecution of them; for his conduct was governed by the interest of the hour, and by political motives. It was doubtful what course he would finally take amid the conflict of parties; but his motto was, "One king, one code, one creed." He would put down the new doctrine at home, and sustain it by force, if expedient, abroad. _Henry II._, who acceded to the throne in 1547, unlike his father had no personal sympathy with Protestantism. The _Huguenots_, as the Calvinists were called, were led to the stake, and their books burned. Yet in 1558 they had two thousand places of worship in France: they soon held a general synod at _Paris_, and organized themselves (1559). That same year, when, in the Peace of _Cateau-Cambresis, Henry_ had given up all his conquests except the three bishoprics of _Metz, Toul_ and _Verdun_, and _Calais_, he suddenly died from a wound in the eye, accidentally inflicted in a tilt.

CATHERINE DE MEDICI: THE TWO PARTIES.--The widow of Henry II. was _Catherine de Medici_, to whom he had been married from political considerations. She was a woman of talents, full of ambition which had hitherto found no field for its exercise, trained from infancy in an atmosphere of deceit, and void of moral principle. Her aim was to rule by keeping up an ascendency over her sons, and by holding in check whatever party threatened to be dominant. For this end she did not scruple to accustom her children to debauchery, and to resort to whatever other means, however false and however cruel, to effect her purposes. She proved to be the curse of the house of _Valois_, and the evil genius of France. _Francis II._ was a boy of sixteen, and legally of age; but his mother expected to manage the government. She was thwarted by the control over him exercised by the family of _Guise_, sons of _Claude_ of Guise, a wealthy and prominent n.o.bleman of _Lorraine_, who had distinguished himself at _Marignano_, and in later contests against _Charles V. Francis_, the _Duke of Guise_, had defended _Metz_, and had taken _Calais. Charles_, the Cardinal of Lorraine, was the king's confessor. Their sister had married _James V._ of Scotland. Her daughter, _Mary Stuart_, a charming young girl, was married to _Francis II._, who was infirm in mind and body, and easily managed by his wife and her uncles. The great n.o.bles of France, especially the _Bourbons_, sprung in a collateral line from _Louis IX._, Montmorency, and his three nephews, among them a man of extraordinary ability and worth, the Admiral _Coligny_, looked on the _Guises_ as upstarts. The _Bourbons_ and the n.o.bles allied to them were, some from sincere conviction and some from policy, adherents of _Calvinism_. Thus the Protestants in France became a political party, as well as a religious body, and a party with anti-monarchical tendencies. _Anthony_ of Bourbon, a weak and vacillating person, had married _Jeanne d'Albret_, the heiress of _Bearn_ and _Navarre_, a heroic woman and an earnest Protestant, the mother of _Henry IV_. His brother _Louis_, Prince of Conde, a brave, impetuous soldier, whose wife, the niece of the Grand Constable _Montmorency_, was a strict Protestant, joined that side.

CONSPIRACY OF AMBOISE.--_La Renaudie_, a Protestant n.o.bleman who was determined to avenge the execution of a brother, contrived the Conspiracy of Amboise (1560) in order to dispossess the Guises of their power by force. The plan was discovered, and a savage revenge was taken upon the conspirators. A great number of innocent persons, who had no share in the plot, were put to death. The Estates were summoned to _Orleans_, and the occasion was to be seized for extirpating heresy throughout the kingdom. _Conde_ was under arrest, and charged with high treason. Just then, on Dec. 5, 1560, the young king died.

CHARLES IX.: EDICT OF ST. GERMAIN.--The coveted opportunity of the queen-mother had come. _Charles IX_. (1560-1574) was only ten years old. She a.s.sumed the practical guardianship over him, and with it a virtual regency. The plan of the _Guises_ had failed, and they had to give way. There were now two parties in the council. The States-general were called together in 1561, and a great religious colloquy was held before a brilliant concourse at _Poissy_, where _Theodore Beza_, an eloquent and polished scholar and a man of high birth, pleaded the cause of the Calvinists. In 1562 the _Edict of January_ was issued, which gave up the policy that had been pursued for forty years, of extirpating religious dissent. A very restricted toleration was given to Protestants: they could hold their meetings outside of the walls of cities, unarmed, and in the daytime. _Calvin_ and his followers expected the largest results from this measure of liberty. _Catherine_ wished for peace, without a rupture with the _Pope_ and _Philip II_.

CIVIL WAR.--It was impossible to prevent outbreakings of violence against the hated dissenters. The _Guises_ and their a.s.sociates were resolved not to allow toleration. The event that occasioned war was the ma.s.sacre of _Va.s.sy_. On the 1st of March, 1562, the soldiers of the _Duke of Guise_, who was pa.s.sing through the town, attacked some Huguenots who were worshiping in a barn at the village of _Va.s.sy_. A large number were slain, and some houses plundered, in spite of the Duke's efforts to check his troops. The civil wars, so begun, closed only with the accession of _Henry IV_. to the throne. France was a prey to religious and political fanaticism. Other nations mingled in the frightful contest, and the country was well-nigh robbed of its independence. At first, there was petty warfare at _Paris_, _Sens_, and other places. The Huguenots destroyed altars and censers, monuments of art and sepulchers, which, as they thought, ministered to idolatry. Rouen was captured by the Catholics and sacked. At _Dreux_ (1562) the Protestants were defeated; but in 1563 _Guise_, the leader of their adversaries, was a.s.sa.s.sinated by a Huguenot n.o.bleman. The charge that _Coligny_ had a part in the deed was false; but he was considered responsible for it, and vengeance was kept in store by the family of the slain chief. The _Edict of Amboise_ (1563) was favorable to the Protestant n.o.bles, but less favorable to the smaller gentry and to the towns. _Paris_, from which Calvinist worship was excluded, became more and more a stronghold of the Catholic party. Another war ended in the _Peace of Longjumeau_ (1568), which was essentially the same as the Edict of Amboise. _Philip II._ and the _Duke of Alva_ spared no effort to induce France to set about the extermination of the heretics. In the _third_ war, the Huguenots were beaten at _Jarnac_, where _Conde_ fell, leaving his name to his son _Henry_, a youth of seventeen (1569). The same year they were defeated again at _Moncontour_. _La Roch.e.l.le_ was a place of safety to the Protestants, who were strong in the wise leadership of _Coligny_. There the Queen of Navarre held her court. Thence the Huguenot cavalry with the young princes _Conde_, and _Henry of Navarre_, her son, sallied forth and traversed France.

ENGLAND OR SPAIN.--The ambition of _Philip_ alarmed the French.

His complex schemes, if carried out, would involve the reduction of their country under Spanish control. He wanted to liberate _Mary_, Queen of Scots, then a prisoner of _Elizabeth_, to marry her to his half-brother, _Don John_, and to marry his sister to _Charles IX_. The court, in 1570, agreed to the _Peace of St. Germain_, which, for the security of the Huguenots, placed four fortified towns in their possession. Thus France became a kingdom divided against itself. _England_, as well as France, looked with alarm upon the ambitious projects of _Philip II_., who was now in union with _Venice_ and with the _Pope_, and had beaten the _Turks_ at _Lepanto_. It was proposed to marry the brother of Charles IX., the _Duke of Anjou_, to Queen _Elizabeth_; and when this negotiation was broken off, it was proposed that the _Duke of Alencon_, a younger brother, should marry her. _Catherine de Medici_ fell in with this anti-Spanish policy. It was agreed that her youngest daughter, _Margaret of Valois_, should become the wife of _Henry of Navarre._ The policy favored by the Huguenots was in the ascendant. Their leaders were invited to _Paris_ to be present at the nuptials. _Coligny_ came, with _Henry of Navarre_, _Conde_, and a large number of their adherents. There was no place where the animosity against them was so rancorous.

THE Ma.s.sACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW.--The ma.s.sacre of St. Bartholomew was devised by _Catherine de Medici_, who brought to her aid the _d.u.c.h.ess of Nemours_, widow of _Francis_ of Guise and mother of _Henry_ of Guise, _Anjou_ (afterwards _Henry III_.), and Italian counselors who were no strangers to plots of a.s.sa.s.sination. The motive of the queen-mother was her dread of the ascendency which she saw that _Coligny_ was gaining over the morbid mind of the king, in whom the Huguenot veteran had inspired esteem, and had stirred up a desire to enter into the proposed war against _Philip II_. in the _Netherlands_. On the 22d of August (1572), a shot was fired at _Coligny_, from a window of a house, by an adherent of the Guises. He was wounded, but not killed. _Charles_ was incensed. At a visit made to the wounded chief, the king was warned by him, as Catherine quickly learned, against her pernicious influence in the government. Thereupon she arranged with her confederates for a general slaughter of the Huguenots, and almost coerced the half-frantic and irresolute king to acquiesce in the plan. Perhaps, in gathering them into the city, she had foreseen the possible expediency of a change of policy, and that such a crime as she now undertook to perpetrate might be found desirable. In the night of the 24th of August, at a concerted signal, the fanatical enemies of the Huguenots were let loose, and fell upon their victims. Several thousands, including _Coligny_, were murdered. Couriers were sent through the country, and like b.l.o.o.d.y scenes were enacted in many other cities and towns. _Navarre_ and _Conde_, to save their lives, professed conformity to the Catholic Church. If these atrocious events excited joy in the mind of _Philip II_., and of the numerous intolerant party of which he was the head, they were regarded with horror and execration elsewhere, among the Catholic as well as the Protestant nations.

THE POLITIQUES: THE LEAGUE: HENRY III.--The queen-mother did not even now forsake her general policy. She stood aloof from the combinations of _Philip_. A new party, the _Politiques_, or liberal Catholics, in favor of toleration, arose. _Henry III_. (1574-1589) was incompetent to govern a country torn by factions, with an exhausted treasury, and a people groaning under the burdens of taxation. By his double dealing he lost the confidence of both the religious parties. In May, 1576, he agreed to allow the religious freedom which the _Huguenots_ and _Politiques_ demanded. But he had to reckon with the _Catholic League_ which was organized under _Henry of Guise_. In 1584 _Henry of Navarre_ was left the next heir to the throne. The _League_, with _Spain_ and _Rome_, resolved that he should not reign. Together with _Conde_, he was excommunicated. In the war of he "three Henrys," he was supported by England, and by troops from Germany and Switzerland. _Henry III_., finding that _Henry of Guise_ was virtual master, and that the States-general at _Blois_ (1588) reduced the royal power to the lowest point, caused _Guise_ and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, to be a.s.sa.s.sinated. Excommunicated, and detested by the adherents of the League, the king took refuge in the camp of _Henry of Navarre_, where he was killed by a fanatical priest (1589).

ABJURATION AND ACCESSION OF HENRY IV.--The _Duke of Mayenne_, brother of the slain _Guises_, was at the head of the government provisionally established by the League. _Philip II_. was intriguing to bring the Catholic nations under his sway. There was discord in the League, from the jealousy of _Philip_ on the part of _Mayenne. Henry_, a dashing soldier, gained a brilliant victory at _Ivry_ in 1590. The grand obstacle in his way to the throne was his adhesion to Protestantism. A Calvinist by birth and education, but without profound religious convictions, a gallant and sagacious man, but loose in his morals, he yielded, for the sake of giving peace to France, to the persuasions addressed to him, and, from motives of expediency, conformed to the Catholic Church. The nation was now easily won to his cause.