CHAPTER XI.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRUCE OF NUREMBERGCOUNCIL OF TRENT-PREPARATIONS FOR WARDEATH OF LUTHER-INVASION OF SAXONY-SUBMISSION OF THE PROTESTANTS-CAPTURE OF FREDERIC-SUBMISSION OF THE LANDGRAVE OF HESSE. 1532-1547.

THE truce of Nuremberg was a great gain to the Protestants. Having brought the Emperor to consent to their terms, they assumed an attitude of dignity and importance among the powers of Europe, and those who, although with them in opinion, had hitherto been too doubtful of their success to join them openly, now hesitated no longer. Charles having learned that the league of Smalcald was not to be despised, appears to have been anxious to fulfil his part of the late treaty with that body. He stopt at Bologna, on his way to Spain in 1532, and had an interview with the Pope; in which he urged him most strenuously to summon the Council which had been promised. This Clement was unwilling to do, and manifested great displeasure at the favor shown to the Reformers.

Not being prepared, however, to quarrel with the Emperor, he pretended to consent to his wishes. Propositions were made for the conven

tion of a Council; but in all negotiations for this purpose the court of Rome took care to throw insurmountable obstacles in the way of its accomplishment. The Pope fixed upon Italy as the country in which the Council should be held, and insisted that the writings of the doctors and fathers of the Church should be deemed of equal authority with the Bible. To this the Protestants refused to listen. They demanded a free Council to meet in Germany, and that all points in dispute should be determined by an appeal to the words of Scripture alone. Before these differences could be adjusted Clement died, September 25th, 1534, and was succeeded by Paul III.

The new Pontiff was no less averse than his predecessor to a compliance with the request of the Emperor, and he likewise evaded it for a long time by the most artful policy. He seemed indeed quite tractable at first, and in 1536 issued letters summoning a Council to meet at Mantua. These letters he knew very well would not be obeyed, as he had purposely selected a place for the proposed assembly, which was not only objected to by the Protestants, but by several other princes, including the Emperor and the king of France. The Reformers expresed their dissatisfaction at another meeting at Smalcald, where they renewed their confederacy for ten years, and protested against the designs of the Pope.

Matters proceeded much in this way for a number of years, and nothing effectual was done towards a settlement of the religious disputes. Charles was engaged in an expedition into Africa, and was afterwards so involved in wars with France and the Turks, that he was in no condition to do much to compose the differences among his German subjects. As he needed the aid of the Protestants, he continued to grant them many indulgences, and endeavoured to secure their good will by appointing a conference between the Catholic and Lutheran divines, and by persevering in his efforts to induce the Pope to call a Council. But all was of no avail. At last having made a peace with Francis, and in some measure relieved himself from the pressure of his other concerns, he resolved to change his policy, and to bring to an end the contest between the Romanists and the Reformers.

The Pope having renewed his proposal for a Council, to be convened at the city of Trent, Charles insisted, in a Diet held at Worms in 1545, that the Protestants should consent to it; if they did not, recourse was to be had to arms to compel their obedience or to punish their obstinacy. The Protestants remonstrated, and resolved to run every risk rather than abandon their principles or retract their just demands. Open hostilities seemed now to be inevitable. The Emperor

had been making preparations for this crisis, and the Elector of Saxony, with his allies, began to take measures to meet the approaching storm.

While the hostile parties were arming themselves for war, and his country was about to become the scene of sanguinary conflicts, Luther died. Worn out with his many labors and troubled with many infirmities, he set out on a journey to Eisleben, his native city, to adjust some difficulties which had arisen between its inhabitants and the Counts under whose jurisdiction they lived. Soon after his arrival he was seized with a violent inflammation in the stomach. Medicine did him no good, and he expired on the morning of the 18th of January, 1546, in the sixty-third year of his age. The character of this eminent man was one of strong lights and shadows. To great energy, courage, and zeal were added other qualities less worthy of commendation. His faults of temper were a source of sorrow to himself, as well as to his friends. Inclined to be headstrong and obstinate, he frequently failed to exercise that " charity which is not easily provoked;" and partly in accordance with the bad taste of the age, and partly from the sinful indulgence of an irritable disposition, he was apt, in the heat of controversy or when opposed by others, to descend to the use of coarse, scurrilous, and abusive language.

with all these defects, which are neither to be excused nor denied, he claims respect for the many noble qualities and deeds, by which they are to some extent redeemed. He was fearless and conscientious in his search after truth, and bold and honest in its defence. Sincere in his piety, inflexible in his principles, and ready to sacrifice interest and to expose life at the call of duty, he deserved the gratitude which he has received from the Protestant world.

The rupture between the Emperor and the Protestants was now rapidly advancing to open warfare. Some account of the parties about to engage in the conflict will help the reader to understand its character.

The defence of the Romish Church, although the ostensible, was by no means the principal, object of Charles V. It was the earnest desire of that ambitious monarch to tighten the loose bonds of the Germanic Confederacy, and to subject the whole empire to his supreme authority. The members of the league of Smalcald had asserted their independence and opposed the despotic sway coveted by their sovereign. While this formidable body existed, the Emperor knew that his power would be resisted; and it was this consideration, rather than any personal interest in the religious controversy, which made him anxious for its destruction. His motive and de