Part 12 (1/2)

1332. Lucerne.

1335. Zurich.

1352. { Glarus.

{ Zug.

1353. Bern.

1481. { Fribourg.

{ Solothurn.

[39] List of 'Confderati' before 1497--

The league of Wallis, or Valais Schaffhausen Mulhausen Rothweil Appenzell.

1497, The Grisons.

1498, The League of G.o.d's House.

[40]

Casimir IV. of Poland, 1445-1492 | +--------------+-----------+-+-----------+ | | | | John Albert Alexander Sigismund I. Ladislas, King of Hungary and 1492-1501 1501-1506 1506-1548 Bohemia, 1471-1516 | +----------------------+-------------------+ | | Lewis = Mary, _g.d._ of Max. Anne, _g.d._ of Max. = Ferdinand I.

1516-1526

[41] The success of these and other marriages of the Hapsburgs is commemorated in the lines:--

'Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube, Nam quae Mars aliis, dat tibi regna Venus.'

CHAPTER III

FROM THE ELECTION OF CHARLES TO THE BATTLE OF PAVIA

The Imperial Election--Preparations of Charles and Francis for war, which is, however, delayed--The Revolt of the Comuneros--The Diet of Worms--The Council of Regency--The Renaissance and the Reformation--Erasmus and Luther--The Imperial Ban--War between Charles and Francis--Their Alliances--Successes of Imperial Troops--Adrian VI. succeeds Leo X.--His quarrel with Charles--Battle of Bicocca--Treaty of Windsor--Luther and the Council of Regency--Diet of Nuremberg--The Knights' War--Congress of Ratisbon--Battle of Pavia--The Peasants' War.

-- 1. _The Imperial Election._

| The three candidates for the Imperial throne.

On the death of Maximilian in January 1519, the destinies of Europe fell into the hands of three young Monarchs, all of them of marked individuality and of great ambition. Of these Henry VIII., now in his twenty-eighth year, was the eldest. The profound impression made on foreigners by his personal appearance is probably in part to be attributed to the fairness of his complexion, always much admired on the Continent; but although in after-life he became very corpulent, his high colouring, his ma.s.sive head and wide-set eyes, his tall, powerful, yet active frame must have been striking enough. When to this is added his prowess in games and in the joust, his proficiency in music and languages, and, above all, his masterful character, we shall probably not think the estimate exaggerated.

Francis I. was only three years younger. Nearly as tall as Henry, his dark complexion, his corpulence and thin legs especially struck contemporaries. A patron of art, a lover of pleasure, he was a true son of the Renaissance in its shallower aspects. With little foresight, prudence, or statesmans.h.i.+p--a bad King and a bad man--he was bold to rashness, fully as ambitious as his rivals and yet was gifted with a certain chivalrous spirit which was wanting in Charles, and which formed the redeeming feature of his otherwise worthless character.

Of Charles little was at that time known, and little expected. He was only nineteen, and was completely under the control of his Flemish counsellor, William de Croy, 'le Sieur de Chievres.' Of middle height and slouching gait, his fine forehead and powerful aquiline nose were spoilt by the underhanging jaw of the Hapsburg, and small bad teeth. The troubles of his early life, the quarrels between his father and his grandfather Ferdinand, the jealousy which Ferdinand had subsequently shown him, the madness of his mother, had made him reserved and grave, and perhaps destroyed the enthusiasm of youth. These qualities gave the impression of stupidity; yet he was soon to show the world that, beneath that impa.s.sive exterior, lay a clear-headedness, a business capacity, and a determination which, coupled with indifference to sentiment, was to prove him the ablest statesman of the three.

These young Kings were the most important candidates for the imperial throne vacant by Maximilian's death, the election to which now monopolised the attention of Europe. Maximilian had squandered money and promises to win the Electors, and fondly believed that he had secured the votes of five of them for his grandson; but no sooner was he dead, than they repudiated their engagements, and began to chaffer again for bribes. Henry was scarcely a serious candidate; of the other two, the chances of Francis seemed at first the best. The victory of Marignano, and his ambition for military renown, pointed him out as the most likely leader of that Crusade of which Europe was ever talking, though never undertaking; and Francis vowed that, if elected, he would be in Constantinople within three years. Leo X., although unwilling to declare himself, hoped to see Francis elected. The possession of Milan by the French made their friends.h.i.+p necessary if the Medici were to be secure in Florence, and it was the traditional policy of the Popes to prevent Naples and the Empire from falling into the same hands. 'Do you know,' said Leo, 'that it is only forty miles from Rome to the Neapolitan frontier?' The Electors, more especially Frederick the Wise of Saxony, and Joachim I. of Brandenburg, had many of them been irritated by Maximilian's opposition to reform, and by his general policy towards them (cf. p. 110 ff.). The Rhenish Electors--that is, the three Archbishops of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, and the Elector Palatine--feared the vengeance of Francis if they refused their votes and Richard Greifenklau, the Elector of Treves, was an ally of the Duke of Gueldres, the inveterate enemy of the Hapsburgs.

Francis, moreover, was determined to obtain the coveted t.i.tle. 'And he spent three millions of gold,' he said, 'he would be Emperor'; and the bribes he offered to the Electors were higher than Charles had to give. So poor indeed did the prospects of Charles appear that he was urged by some to retire in favour of his brother Ferdinand, an alternative which Charles rejected with warmth, as fatal to the interests of his house, though promising that, if elected, he would prevail upon Germany to accept his brother as his successor. He then instructed his agents, for he himself was in Spain, to spare no pains and to refuse nothing whereby his election might be secured. Thus the dishonourable traffic continued with the Electors, who were at the election itself to swear that they gave their votes free from all promise, engagement, or earnest-money.

| German sentiment declares for Charles.