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ENGRAVED    BY    CHARLES    COOK 


LONDON.  C£OftG£  fiOUTC£  DC  e  »  C 


HISTOIIY  OE  THE  REIGN 


CHARLES    THE   FIFTH, 


BY   WILLIAM   ROBERTSON,    D.D. 


WITH   AN   ACCOUNT  OP 


THE  EMPEROR'S  LIFE  AFTER  HIS  ABDICATION, 


WILLIAM   H.   PEESCOTT, 

CORRESPONDING    MEMBER   OF   THE   INSTITUTE    OF   FRANCE,    OF   THE   ROYAL 
ACADEMY    OF    HISTORY    AT    MADRID,    ETC. 


TWO     V  0  L  U  M  E  S. 

VOL.  I. 


LONDON: 
GEORGE  ROUTLEDGE  &  CO.   FARRINGDON  STREET. 

1857. 


LONDON  : 
PRINTED  BY   RICHARD  CLAT,   BREAD  STREET  HILL. 


DO 

V.  I 
ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  life  of  Charles  the  Fifth  subsequently  to 
his  abdication  is  disposed  of  by  Dr.  Robertson 
in  some  six  or  seven  pages.  It  did  not,  in  truth, 
come  strictly  within  the  author's  plan,  which  pro- 
posed only  a  history  of  the  reign  of  the  emperor. 
But  unfortunately  these  few  pages  contain  many 
inaccuracies,  and,  among  others,  a  very  erroneous 
view  of  the  interest  which  Charles,  in  his  retire- 
ment, took  in  the  concerns  of  the  government. 
Yet  it  would  be  unjust  to  impute  these  inaccuracies 
to  want  of  care  in  the  historian,  since  he  had  no 
access  to  such  authentic  sources  of  information  as 
would  have  enabled  him  to  correct  them.  Such 
information  was  to  be  derived  from  documents  in 
the  archives  of  Simancas,  consisting,  among  other 
things,  of  the  orginial  correspondence  of  the  em- 
peror and  his  household,  and  showing  conclusively 
that  the  monarch,  instead  of  remaining  dead  to  the 
world  in  his  retreat,  took,  not  merely  an  interest, 


iv  ADVERTISEMENT. 

but  a  decided  part,  in  the  management  of  affairs. 
But  in  Robertson's  day,  Simancas  was  closed 
against  the  native  as  well  as  the  foreigner  ;  and  it 
is  not  until  within  a  few  years  that  the  scholar 
has  been  permitted  to  enter  its  dusty  recesses, 
and  draw  thence  materials  to  illustrate  the  national 
history.  It  is  particularly  rich  in  materials  for 
the  illustration  of  Charles  the  Fifth's  life  after  his 
abdication.  Availing  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunities thus  afforded,  several  eminent  writers, 
both  in  England  and  on  the  Continent,  have  be- 
stowed much  pains  in  investigating  a  passage  of 
history  hitherto  so  little  understood.  The  results 
of  their  labours  they  have  given  to  the  world  in 
a  series  of  elaborate  works,  which,  however 
varying  in  details,  all  exhibit  Charles's  character 
and  conduct  in  his  retirement  in  a  very  different 
point  of  view  from  that  in  which  it  has  been 
usual  to  regard  them.  It  was  the  knowledge  of 
this  fact  which  led  the  Publishers  of  the  present 
edition  of  Robertson's  "  Charles  the  Fifth "  to 
request  me  to  prepare  such  an  account  of  his 
monastic  life  as  might  place  before  the  reader  the 
results  of  the  recent  researches  in  Simancas,  and 
that  in  a  more  concise  form — as  better  suited  to 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  designed — than  had 
been  adopted  by  preceding  writers.  I  was  the 
more  willing  to  undertake  the  task,  that  my 
previous  studies  had  made  me  familiar  with  the 
subject,  and  that  I  was  possessed  of  a  large  body 


ADVERTISEMENT.  v 

of  authentic  documents  relating-  to  it,  copied  from 
the  ori2:inals  in  Simancas.  These  documents, 
indeed,  form  the  basis  of  a  chapter  on  the  monastic 
hfe  of  Charles  at  the  close  of  the  first  Book  of  the 
History  of  Philip  the  Second, — written,  I  may 
add,  in  the  summer  of  1851,  more  than  a  year 
previous  to  the  publication  of  Mr.  Stirling's  ad- 
mirable work,  which  led  the  way,  in  the  series 
of  brilliant  productions  relating  to  the  cloister 
life  of  Charles. 

In  complying  with  the  request  of  the  Publishers, 
I  have  made  the  authentic  records  Avhich  I  had 
received  from  Simancas  the  foundation  of  my 
narrative, — freely  availing  myself,  at  the  same 
time,  of  the  labours  of  my  predecessors,  especially 
of  those  of  Mr.  Stirling  and  M.  Mignet,  wherever 
they  have  thrown  light  on  the  path  from  sources 
not  within  my  reach. 

In  the  performance  of  the  task  I  have  been 
insensibly  led  into  a  much  greater  length  than 
I  had  originally  intended,  or  than,  I  fear,  will  be 
altogether  palatable  to  those  who  have  become 
already  familiar  with  the  narrative  in  the  writings 
of  those  who  have  preceded  me.  To  such  readers 
I  cannot,  indeed,  flatter  myself  that  I  have  given 
any  information  of  importance  beyond  what  they 
may  have  acquired  from  these  more  extended  and 
elaborate  works.     But  by  far  the  larger  part  of 


vi  ADVEUTISEMENT. 

readers  in  our  community  have  probably  had  no 
access  to  these  works ;  and  I  may  express  the 
hope  that  I  have  executed  the  task  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  satisfy  any  curiosity  vs^hich,  after 
perusing  the  narrative  of  the  illustrious  Scottish 
historian,  they  may  naturally  feel  respecting  the 
closing  scenes  in  the  life  of  the  great  Emperor. 

WILLIAM  H.  PRESCOTT. 


Boston, 

November  10, 1856. 


PREFACE. 


No  period  in  the  history  of  one's  own  conntry  can  be 
considered  as  altogether  uninteresting.  Such  transactions 
as  tend  to  illustrate  the  progress  of  its  constitution,  laws, 
or  manners,  merit  the  utmost  attention.  Even  remote  and 
minute  events  are  objects  of  a  curiosity,  which,  being 
natural  to  the  human  mind,  the  gratification  of  it  is  attended 
with  pleasure. 

But,  with  respect  to  the  history  of  foreign  states,  we 
must  set  other  bounds  to  our  desire  of  information.  The 
universal  progress  of  science,  during  the  last  two  centuries, 
the  art  of  printing,  and  other  obvious  causes,  have  filled 
Europe  with  such  a  multiplicity  of  histories,  and  with  such 
vast  collections  of  historical  materials,  that  the  term  of 
human  life  is  too  short  for  the  study  or  even  the  perusal  of 
them.  It  is  necessary,  then,  not  only  for  those  who  are 
called  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  nations,  but  for  such  as 
inquire  and  reason  concerning  them,  to  remain  satisfied 
with  a  general  knowledge  of  distant  events,  and  to  confine 
their  study  of  history  in  detail  chiefly  to  that  period  in 
which  the  several  states  of  Em-ope  having  become  inti- 
mately connected,  the  operations  of  one  power  are  so  felt 
by  all  as  to  influence  their  councils,  and  to  regulate  their 
measures. 


viii  PREFACE. 

Some  boundary,  then,  ouglit  to  be  fixed  in  order  to 
separate  these  periods.  An  era  should  be  pointed  out, 
prior  to  which  each  country,  httle  connected  with  those 
around  it,  may  trace  its  own  history  apart ;  after  which, 
the  transactions  of  every  considerable  nation  in  Europe 
become  interesting  and  instructive  to  all.  With  this  inten- 
tion I  undertook  to  write  the  history  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  It  was  during  his  administration  that  the 
powers  of  Eiurope  were  formed  into  one  great  political 
system,  in  which  each  took  a  station,  wherein  it  has  since 
remained  with  less  variation  than  could  have  been  expected 
after  the  shocks  occasioned  by  so  many  internal  revolu- 
tions, and  so  many  foreign  wars.  The  great  events  which 
happened  then  have  not  hitherto  spent  their  force.  The 
political  principles  and  maxims  then  established  still  con- 
tinue to  operate.  The  ideas  concerning  the  balance  of 
power  then  introduced,  or  rendered  general,  still  influence 
the  councils  of  nations. 

The  age  of  Charles  V.  may  therefore  be  considered  as  the 
period  at  which  the  political  state  of  Europe  began  to 
assume  a  new  form.  I  have  endeavoured  to  render  my 
account  of  it  an  introduction  to  the  history  of  Europe  sub- 
sequent to  his  reign.  While  his  numerous  biographers 
describe  his  personal  qualities  and  actions  ;  while  the  histo- 
rians of  difterent  countries  relate  occurrences,  the  conse- 
quences of  which  were  local  or  transient,  it  hath  been  my 
purpose  to  record  only  those  great  transactions  in  his 
reign,  the  eflects  of  which  were  universal,  or  continue  to  be 
permanent. 

As  my  readers  could  derive  little  instruction  from  such 
a  history  of  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  without  some  informa- 
tion concerning  the  state  of  Europe  previous  to  the  sixteenth 
century,  my  desire  of  supplying  this  has  produced  a  pre- 
liminary volume,  in  which  I  have  attempted  to  point  out 
and  to  explain  the  great  causes  and  events  to  whose  opera- 
tion all  the  improvements  in  the  political  state  of  Europe, 


PREFACE.  ix 

from  the  subversion  of  tlie  Konian  empire  to  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  must  be  ascribed.  I  have  exhibited 
a  view  of  tlic  progress  of  society  in  Europe,  not  only  with 
respect  to  interior  government,  laws,  and  manners,  but  with 
respect  to  the  command  of  the  national  force  requisite  in 
foreign  operations ;  and  I  have  described  the  political  con- 
stitution of  the  principal  states  in  Em'ope  at  the  time  when 
Charles  V.  began  his  reign. 

In  this  part  of  my  work  I  have  been  led  into  several 
critical  disquisitions,  which  belong  more  properly  to  the 
jDrovince  of  the  lawyer  or  antiquary  than  to  that  of  the 
historian.  These  I  have  placed  at  the  end  of  the  first 
volume,  under  the  title  of  Proofs  and  Illustrations.  Many 
of  my  readers  will,  prolDably,  give  little  attention  to  such 
researches.  To  some  they  may,  perhaps,  appear  the  most 
curious  and  interesting  part  of  the  work.  I  have  carefully 
pointed  out  the  sources  from  which  I  have  derived  informa- 
tion, and  have  cited  the  writers  on  whose  authority  I  rely 
vrith  a  minute  exactness,  which  might  appear  to  border 
upon  ostentation,  if  it  were  possible  to  be  vain  of  having 
read  books,  many  of  which  nothing  but  the  duty  of  examin- 
ing with  accuracy  whatever  I  laid  before  the  public,  could 
have  induced  me  to  open.  As  my  inquiries  conducted  me 
often  into  paths  which  were  obscure  or  little  frequented, 
such  constant  references  to  the  authors  who  have  been  my 
guides,  were  not  only  necessary  for  authenticating  the  facts 
which  are  the  foundations  of  my  reasonings,  but  may  be 
useful  in  pointing  out  the  way  to  such  as  shall  hereafter 
hold  the  same  course,  and  in  enabling  them  to  carry  on 
their  researches  with  greater  facility  and  success. 

Every  intelligent  reader  will  observe  one  omission  in  my 
work,  the  reason  of  which  it  is  necessary  to  explain.  I  have 
given  no  account  of  the  conquests  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  or 
of  the  establishment  of  the  Spanish  colonies  in  the  continent 
and  islands  of  America.  The  history  of  these  events  I 
originally  intended  to  have  related  at  considerable  length. 


X  PREFACE. 

But,  upon  a  nearer  and  more  attentive  consideration  of  this 
part  of  my  plan,  I  found  that  the  discovery  of  the  New- 
World  ;  the  state  of  society  among  its  ancient  inhabitants ; 
their  character,  manners,  and  arts ;  the  genius  of  the  Euro- 
pean settlements  in  its  various  provinces,  together  with  the 
influence  of  these  upon  the  systems  of  policy  or  commerce 
in  Em'ope,  were  subjects  so  splendid  and  important,  that  a 
superficial  view  of  them  could  afford  little  satisfaction;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  to  treat  of  them  as  extensively  as  they 
merited,  must  produce  an  episode,  disproportionate  to  the 
principal  work.     I  have  therefore  reserved  these  for  a  sepa- 
rate history  ;  which,  if  the  performance  now  offered  to  the 
public  shall  receive  its  approbation,  I  purpose  to  undertake. 
Though,  by  omitting    such  considerable  but  detached 
articles  in  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  I  have  cu'cumscribed  my 
narration  within  more  narrow  limits,  I  am  yet  persuaded, 
from  this  view  of  the  intention  and  nature  of  the  work 
which  I  thought  it  necessary  to  lay  before  my  readers,  that 
the  plan  must  still  appear  to  them  too  extensive,  and  the 
undertaking  too  arduous.     I  have  often  felt  them  to  be  so. 
But  my  conviction  of  the  utility  of  such  a  history  prompted 
me  to  persevere.  With  what  success  I  have  executed  it,  the 
public  must  now  judge.     I  wait,  not  without  solicitude,  for 
its  decision,   to  which  I  shall  submit  with  a  respectful 
silence. 


A   VIEW 


PEOGRESS  OE  SOCIETY  IN  EUEOPE, 


SUBVERSION  OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 
TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


A    VIEW 

OF   THE 

PEOGRESS  OP  SOCIETY  IN  EUEOPE, 


SUBVERSION   OF  THE  IIOMAN  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BEGINNING 
OE  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


SECTION    I. 

VIEW  OF  THE  rilOGKESS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  EUKOPE  WITH  RESPECT  TO  INTEKIOU 
GOVEllNMENT,  LAWS,  AND  MANNERS. 

Tlie  Effects  of  the  Roman  Power  on  llie  State  of  Europe — The  Irruption  of 
the  Barbarous  Nations — ThcLi'  Setllcmeuts  iu  the  Countries  they  had  con- 
quered— Decay  of  tlie  Roman  Empire — Desolation  occasioned  by  the  Bar- 
barians— Origin  of  the  present  Political  System  of  Europe — The  Feudal 
System — Its  Effects  upon  the  Arts,  Literature,  and  Religion — The  Crusades, 
and  their  Effects  upon  Society — Growth  of  Municipal  Institutions — Emanci- 
jiation  of  the  Peasantry — Begiuuiug  of  a  regular  Administration  of  Justice — 
Trial  by  Combat — Appeals — Ecclesiastical  Courts — Discovery  of  the  Code  of 
Justinian — Chivalry — Revival  of  Learning — Influence  of  Commerce — Italians 
the  first  Merchants  and  Bankers — Rise  of  Trade  and  Manufactures  among 
the  Cities  of  the  Hanseatic  League, — in  the  Netherlands, — in  England. 

Two  great  revolutions  have  happened  in  the  poHtical 
state,  and  in  the  manners  of  the  European  nations.  Tlie 
first  Avas  occasioned  by  the  progress  of  the  lloman  power ; 
the  second  by  the  subversion  of  it.  When  the  spirit  of 
conquest  led  the  armies  of  Rome  beyond  the  Alps,  they 
found  all  the  countries  which  they  invaded  inhabited  by 
people  whom  they  denominated  barbarians,  but  who  were 
nevertheless  brave  and  independent.  These  defended  their 
ancient  possessions  with  obstinate  valour.     It  was  by  the 

VOT,.  I.  B 


2  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EOMAN  POWER.  [sect.  i. 

superiority  of  their  discipline,  rather  than  that  of  their 
courage,  that  the  Romans  gained  any  advantage  over  them. 
A  single  battle  did  not,  as  among  the  effeminate  inhabit- 
ants of  Asia,  decide  the  fate  of  a  state.  The  vanquished 
people  resumed  their  arms  with  fresh  spirit,  and  their 
undisciplined  valour,  animated  by  the  love  of  liberty,  sup- 
plied the  want  of  conduct  as  well  as  of  union.  Dming 
those  long  and  fierce  struggles  for  dominion  or  independ- 
ence, the  countries  of  Europe  were  successively  laid  waste, 
a  great  part  of  their  inhabitants  perished  in  the  field,  many 
were  carried  into  slavery,  and  a  feeble  remnant,  incapable 
of  farther  resistance,  submitted  to  the  Roman  power. 

The  Romans  having  thus  desolated  Europe,  set  them- 
selves to  civilize  it.  The  form  of  government  which  they 
established  in  the  conquered  provinces,  though  severe,  was 
regular,  and  preserved  public  tranquillity.  As  a  consola- 
tion for  the  loss  of  liberty,  they  communicated  their  arts, 
sciences,  language,  and  manners  to  their  new  subjects. 
Europe  began  to  breathe,  and  to  recover  strength  after  the 
calamities  which  it  had  undergone ;  agriculture  was  encou- 
raged ;  population  increased ;  the  ruined  cities  were  rebuilt ; 
new  towns  were  founded ;  an  appearance  of  prosperity  suc- 
ceeded, and  repaired,  in  some  degree,  the  havoc  of  war. 

This  state,  however,  was  far  from  being  happy  or  favour- 
able to  the  improvement  of  the  human  unnd.  The  vanquished 
nations  w^ere  disarmed  by  their  conquerors,  and  overawed 
by  soldiers  kept  in  pay  to  restrain  them.  They  were  given 
up  as  a  prey  to  rapacious  governors,  who  plundered  them 
with  impunity ;  and  were  drained  of  their  wealth  by  exor- 
bitant taxes,  levied  with  so  little  attention  to  the  situation 
of  the  provinces,  that  the  impositions  were  often  increased 
in  proportion  to  their  inability  to  support  them.  They 
were  deprived  of  their  most  enterprising  citizens,  who 
resorted  to  a  distant  capital  in  quest  of  preferment,  or  of 
riches ;  and  were  accustomed  in  all  their  actions  to  look 
up  to  a  superior,  and  tamely  to  receive  his  commands. 


SECT.  I.]  mUTIPTION  OE  BARBAHOUS  NATIONS.  3 

Under  so  many  depressing  circumstances,  it  was  hardly 
possible  that  they  could  retain  vigour  or  generosity  of 
mind.  The  martial  and  independent  spirit  which  had  dis- 
tinguished their  ancestors,  became,  in  a  great  measure, 
extinct  among  all  the  people  subjected  to  the  Romtm  yoke  ; 
they  lost  not  only  the  habit,  but  even  the  capacity  of 
deciding  for  themselves,  or  of  acting  from  the  impidse  of 
their  own  minds ;  and  the  dominion  of  the  Romans,  like 
that  of  all  great  empires,  degraded  and  debased  the  human 
species. ^'^ 

A  society  in  such  a  state  could  not  subsist  long.  There 
were  defects  in  the  Roman  government,  even  in  its  most 
perfect  form,  which  threatened  its  dissolution.  Time  ripened 
these  original  seeds  of  corruption,  and  gave  birth  to  many 
new  disorders.  A  constitution  unsound,  and  worn  out, 
must  have  fallen  into  pieces  of  itself,  without  any  external 
shock.  The  violent  irruption  of  the  Goths,  Vandals,  Huns, 
and  other  barbarians,  hastened  this  event,  and  precipitated 
the  downfal  of  the  empire.  New  nations  seemed  to  arise, 
and  to  rush  from  unknown  regions,  in  order  to  take  ven- 
geance on  the  Romans  for  the  calamities  which  they  had 
inflicted  on  mankind.  These  fierce  tribes  either  inhabited 
the  various  provinces  in  Germany  which  had  never  been 
subdued  by  the  Romans,  or  were  scattered  over  those  vast 
coimtries  in  the  north  of  Europe,  and  north-west  of  Asia, 
which  are  now  occupied  by  the  Danes,  the  Swedes,  the 
Poles,  the  subjects  of  the  Russian  empire,  and  the  Tartars. 
Their  condition  and  transactions,  previous  to  their  invasion 
of  the  empire,  are  but  little  known.  Almost  all  our  in- 
formation with  respect  to  these  is  derived  from  the  Romans ; 
and  as  they  did  not  penetrate  far  into  countries  which  were 
at  that  time  uncultivated  and  uninviting,  the  accounts  of 
their  orighial  state  given  by  the  Roman  historians  are  ex- 
tremely imperfect.  The  rude  inhabitants  themselves,  des- 
titute of  science  as  well  as  of  records,  and  without  leisure 
[']  See  Proofs  and  Illustrations  at  the  eud  of  this  volume. 


4  IRRUPTION  OF  BARBARIANS.  [sect.  i. 

or  curiosity  to  inquire  into  remote  events,  retained,  perhaps, 
some  indistinct  memory  of  recent  occurrences,  but  beyond 
these,  all  was  buried  in  oblivion,  or  involved  in  darkness 
and  in  fable. ^^^ 

The  prodigious  swarms  which  poured  in  upon  the  empire 
from  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  to  the  final  ex- 
tinction of  the  Roman  power,  have  given  rise  to  an  opinion 
that  the  comitries  whence  they  issued  were  crowded  with 
inhabitants ;  and  various  theories  have  been  formed  to 
account  for  such  an  extraordinary  degree  of  population  as 
hath  procured  these  countries  the  appellation  of  "  the  store- 
house of  nations."  But  if  we  consider  that  the  countries 
possessed  by  the  people  who  invaded  the  empire  were  of 
vast  extent ;  that  a  great  part  of  these  was  covered  with 
woods  and  marshes ;  that  some  of  the  most  considerable 
of  the  barbarous  nations  subsisted  entirely  by  hunting  or 
pasturage,  in  both  which  states  of  society  large  tracts  of 
land  are  required  for  maintaining  a  few  inhabitants ;  and 
that  all  of  them  were  strangers  to  the  arts  and  industry, 
without  which  population  cannot  increase  to  any  great 
degree,  we  must  conclude,  that  these  countries  could  not 
be  so  populous  in  ancient  times  as  they  are  in  the  present, 
when  they  still  continue  to  be  less  peopled  than  any  other 
part  of  Europe  or  of  Asia. 

But  the  same  circumstances  that  prevented  the  barbarous 
nations  from  becoming  populous,  contributed  to  inspire,  or 
to  strengthen,  the  martial  spirit  by  which  they  were  dis- 
tinguished. Inured  by  the  rigour  of  their  climate,  or  the 
poverty  of  their  soil,  to  hardships  which  rendered  their 
bodies  firm  and  their  minds  vigorous ;  accustomed  to  a 
course  of  life  which  was  a  continual  preparation  for  action ; 
and  disdaining  every  occupation  but  that  of  war  or  of 
hunting,  they  undertook  and  prosecuted  their  military  en- 
terprises with  an  ardour  and  impetuosity,  of  which  men 
softened  by  the  refinements  of  more  polished  times  can 
scarcely  form  any  idea.^'^ 


SECT.  I.]  THEIR  SETTIiEI^IENTS.  5 

Their  first  inroads  into  the  empire  proceeded  rather  from  1 
the  love  of  plunder  than  from  the  desire  of  new  settlements. 
Roused  to  arms  by  some  enterprising  or  popular  leader, 
they  sallied  out  of  their  forests,  broke  in  upon  the  frontier 
provinces  with  irresistible  violence,  put  all  avIio  opposed 
them  to  the  sword,  carried  off  the  most  valuable  effects  of 
the  inhabitants,  dragged  along  multitudes  of  ca})tives  in 
chains,  wasted  all  before  them  with  fire  or  SAvord,  and  re- 
turned in  triumph  to  their  wilds  and  fastnesses.  Their 
success,  together  with  the  accounts  which  they  gave  of  the 
unknown  conveniences  and  luxuries  that  abounded  in 
countries  better  cultivated,  or  blessed  with  a  milder  climate 
than  their  own,  excited  new  adventurers,  and  exposed  the 
frontier  to  new  devastations. 

When  nothing  was  left  to  plunder  in  the  adjacent  pro- 
vinces, ravaged  by  frequent  excursions,  they  marched 
farther  from  home,  and  finding  it  difficult  or  dangerous  to 
return,  they  began  to  settle  in  the  countries  which  they 
had  subdued.  The  sudden  and  short  excursions  in  quest 
of  booty,  which  had  alarmed  and  disquieted  the  empire, 
ceased ;  a  more  dreadful  calamity  impended.  Great  bodies 
of  armed  men,  with  their  wives  and  children,  and  slaves 
and  flocks,  issued  forth,  like  regular  colonies,  in  quest  of 
new  settlements.  People  who  had  no  cities,  and  seldom 
any  fixed  habitation,  were  so  little  attached  to  their  native 
soil,  that  they  migrated  without  reluctance  from  one  place 
to  another.  New  adventurers  followed  them.  The  lands 
which  they  deserted  were  occupied  by  more  remote  tribes 
of  barbarians.  These,  in  their  tiu'n,  pushed  forward  into 
more  fertile  countries,  and,  like  a  torrent  continually  in- 
creasing, rolled  on,  and  swept  everything  before  them.  In 
less  than  two  centuries  from  their  first  iri'uption,  barba- 
rians of  various  names  and  lineage  plundered  and  took 
possession  of  Thrace,  Pannonia,  Gaul,  Spain,  Africa,  and 
at  last  of  Italy  and  Pome  itself.  The  vast  fabric  of  the 
Poman  power,  Avhich  it  had  been  the  work  of  ages  to 


6  DECAY  OE  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.  [sect.  i. 

perfect,  was  in  that    short    period  overtui'iicd  from   the 
foundation. 

Many  concurring  causes  prepared  the  way  for  this  great 
revohition,  and  ensured  success  to  the  nations  Avhich 
invaded  the  empire.  The  Roman  coramonweaKh  had 
conquered  the  world  by  the  wisdom  of  its  civil  maxims, 
and  the  rigour  of  its  military  discipline.  But,  under  the 
emperors,  the  former  were  forgotten  or  despised,  and  the 
latter  was  gradually  relaxed.  The  armies  of  the  empire  in 
the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  bore  scarcely  any  resemblance 
to  those  invincible  legions  which  had  been  victorious  wher- 
ever they  marched.  Instead  of  freemen,  who  voluntarily 
took  arms  from  the  love  of  glory,  or  of  their  country,  pro- 
vincials and  barbarians  were  bribed  or  forced  into  service. 
These  were  too  feeble  or  too  proud,  to  submit  to  the  fatigue 
of  military  duty.  They  even  complained  of  the  weight  of 
their  defensive  armour  as  intolerable,  and  laid  it  aside.  In- 
fantry, from  which  the  armies  of  ancient  Rome  derived  their 
vigour  and  stability,  fell  into  contempt ;  the  cfFemiuate  and 
undisciplined  soldiers  of  later  times  could  hardly  be  brought 
to  venture  into  the  field  but  on  horseback.  These  wretched 
troops,  however,  were  the  only  guardians  of  the  empire. 
The  jealousy  of  despotism  had  deprived  the  people  of  the 
use  of  arms  ;  and  subjects,  oppressed  and  rendered  incapable 
of  defending  themselves,  had  neither  spirit  nor  inclination 
to  resist  their  invaders,  from  whom  they  had  little  to  fear, 
because  their  condition  could  hardly  be  rendered  more  un- 
happy. At  the  same  time  that  the  martial  spirit  became 
extinct,  the  revenues  of  the  empire  gradually  diminished. 
The  taste  for  the  luxuries  of  the  East  increased  to  such  a 
pitch  in  the  imperial  court,  that  great  sums  were  carried  into 
India,  from  which,  in  the  channel  of  commerce,  money  never 
returns.  By  the  large  subsidies  paid  to  the  barbarous  na- 
tions, a  still  greater  quantity  of  specie  was  withdrawn  from 
circulation:  The  frontier  provinces,  wasted  by  frequent 
incursions,  became  unable  to  pay  the  customary  tribute  ; 


SECT.  1.]  DECAY  OF  THE  ROMAN  EiEPlRE.  7 

and  the  wealth  of  the  world,  Avliich  had  long  centred  in  the 
capital  of  the  empire,  ceased  to  flow  thither  in  the  same 
abundance,  or  was  diverted  into  other  channels.  The  limits 
of  the  emphe  continued  to  he  as  extensive  as  ever,  while  the 
spirit  requisite  for  its  defence  declined,  and  its  resources  were 
exhausted.  A  vast  body,  languid  and  almost  unanimated, 
became  incapable  of  any  effort  to  save  itself,  and  was  easily 
overpowered.  The  emperors,  who  had  the  absolute  direc- 
tion of  this  disordered  system,  sunk  in  the  softness  of  eastern 
luxmy,  shut  up  within  the  walls  of  a  palace,  ignorant  of  war, 
unacquainted  with  affairs,  and  governed  entirely  by  women 
and  eunuchs,  or  by  ministers  equally  effeminate,  trembled 
at  the  approach  of  danger,  and,  under  circumstances  which 
called  for  the  utmost  vigour  in  council  as  well  as  in  action, 
discovered  all  the  impotent  irresolution  of  fear  and  of  folly. 

In  every  respect,  the  condition  of  the  barbarous  nations 
was  the  reverse  of  that  of  the  Romans.  Among  the  former, 
the  martial  spirit  was  in  full  vigour ;  their  leaders  were 
hardy  and  enterprising ;  the  arts  which  had  enervated  the 
Romans  were  unknown  ;  and  such  was  the  nature  of  their 
military  institutions,  that  they  brought  forces  into  the  field 
without  any  trouble,  and  supported  them  at  little  expense. 
The  mercenary  and  effeminate  troops  stationed  on  the  fron- 
tier, astonished  at  their  fierceness,  either  fled  at  their 
approach,  or  were  routed  on  the  first  onset.  The  feeble 
expedient  to  which  the  emperors  had  recourse,  of  taking 
large  bodies  of  the  barbarians  into  pay,  and  of  employing 
them  to  repel  new  invaders,  instead  of  retarding,  hastened 
the  destruction  of  the  empire.  These  mercenaries  soon 
turned  their  arms  against  their  masters,  and  with  greater 
advantage  than  ever ;  for,  by  serving  in  the  Roman  armies, 
they  had  acquired  all  the  discipline  or  skill  in  war  which 
the  Romans  still  retained ;  and,  upon  adding  these  to  their 
native  ferocity,  they  became  altogether  irresistible. 

But  though,  from  these  and  many  other  causes,  the 
progress  and  conquests  of  the  nations  which  overran  the 


8  DESOLATION  OCCASIONED  [sect.  i. 

empire  became  so  extremely  rapid,  they  were  accompanied 
with  horrible  devastations,  and  an  incredible  destruction  of 
the  human  species.  Civilized  nations  which  take  arms 
upon  cool  reflection,  from  motives  of  policy  or  prudence, 
with  a  view  to  guard  against  some  distant  danger,  or  to 
prevent  some  remote  contingency,  carry  on  their  hostilities 
with  so  little  rancour  or  animosity,  that  war  among  them 
is  disarmed  of  half  its  terrors.  Barbarians  are  strangers 
to  such  refinements.  They  rush  into  war  with  impetuosity, 
and  prosecute  it  Avith  violence.  Their  sole  object  is  to 
make  their  enemies  feel  the  weight  of  their  vengeance ;  nor 
does  their  rage  subside  until  it  be  satiated  with  inflicting 
on  them  every  possible  calamity.  It  is  with  such  a  spirit 
that  the  savage  tribes  in  America  carry  on  their  petty  wars. 
It  was  with  the  same  spirit  that  the  more  powerful  and  no 
less  fierce  barbarians  in  the  north  of  Europe,  and  of  Asia, 
fell  upon  the  Roman  empire. 

Wiierever  they  marched,  their  route  was  marked  with 
blood.  They  ravaged  or  destroyed  all  around  them.  They 
made  no  distinction  between  what  was  sacred  and  what 
was  profane.  They  respected  no  age,  or  sex,  or  rank.  AVliat 
escaped  the  fury  of  the  first  inundation,  perished  in  those 
which  followed  it.  The  most  fertile  and  populous  pro- 
vinces were  converted  into  deserts,  in  which  were  scattered 
the  ruins  of  villages  and  cities  that  afforded  shelter  to  a  few 
miserable  inhabitants  whom  chance  had  preserved,  oi'  the 
sword  of  the  enemy,  wearied  with  destroying,  had  spared. 
The  conquerors  who  first  settled  in  the  countries  which 
they  had  wasted,  were  expelled  or  exterminated  by  new 
invaders,  who,  coming  from  regions  farther  removed  from 
the  civilized  parts  of  the  world,  were  still  more  fierce  and 
rapacious.  This  brought  fresh  calamities  upon  mankind, 
which  did  not  cease  until  the  north,  by  pouring  forth  suc- 
cessive swarms,  was  drained  of  people,  and  could  no  longer 
furnish  instriunents  of  destruction.  Famine  and  pestilence, 
which  always  march  in  the  train  of  war,  when  it  ravages 


SECT.  I.]  BY  THE  BARBAKIANS.  9 

with  such  inconsiderate  cruelty,  raged  in  every  part  of 
Europe,  and  completed  its  sufferings.  If  a  man  were  called 
to  fix  upon  the  period  in  the  history  of  the  world,  during 
which  the  condition  of  the  human  race  was  most  calamitous 
and  afflicted,  he  would,  without  hesitation,  name  that  which 
elapsed  from  the  death  of  Theodosius  the  Great  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Lombards  in  Italy.'  The  contem- 
porary authors  who  beheld  that  scene  of  desolation,  labour 
and  are  at  a  loss  for  expressions  to  describe  the  horror  of 
it.  The  scourge  of  God,  The  destroyer  of  nations,  are  the 
dreadful  epithets  by  which  they  distinguished  the  most 
noted  of  the  barbarous  leaders ;  and  they  compare  the  ruin 
which  they  had  brought  on  the  world  to  the  havoc  occa- 
sioned by  earthquakes,  conflagrations,  or  deluges,  the  most 
formidable  and  fatal  calamities  which  the  imagination  of 
man  can  conceive. 

But  no  expressions  can  convey  so  perfect  an  idea  of  the 
destructive  progress  of  the  barbarians  as  that  which  must 
strike  an  attentive  observer  when  he  contemplates  the  total 
change  which  he  will  discover  in  the  state  of  Europe,  after 
it  began  to  recover  some  degree  of  tranquiUity,  toAvards 
the  close  of  the  sixth  century.  The  Saxons  were  by  that 
time  masters  of  the  southern  and  more  fertile  provinces  of 
Britain  ;  the  Franks  of  Gaul ;  the  Huns  of  Pannonia ;  the 
Goths  of  Spain  ;  the  Goths  and  Lombards  of  Italy  and  the 
adjacent  provinces.  Very  faint  vestiges  of  the  Roman 
policy,  jurisprudence,  arts,  or  literature  remained.  New 
forms  of  government,  new  laws,  new  manners,  ucav  dresses, 
new  languages,  and  new  names  of  men  and  countries,  were 
everywhere  introduced.  To  make  a  great  or  sudden  alte- 
ration with  respect  to  any  of  these,  unless  where  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  a  country  have  been  almost  totally  exter- 
minated, has  proved  an  imdertaking  beyond  the  power  of 
the  greatest  conquerors. "^^^     The  great  change  which  the 

^  Tlicoclosiiis    died    a.d.    395;    tlic      a.d.  571;  so  that  lliis  period  was  17^ 
reign  of  Alboinus  in  Lombardy  began      years. 


10  ORIGIN  OF  PRESENT  POLITICAL  SYSTEM.  [sect.  i. 

settlement  of  the  barbarous  nations  occasioned  in  tlie  state 
of  Europe,  may,  therefore,  be  considered  as  a  more  decisive 
proof  than  even  the  testimony  of  contemporary  historians, 
of  the  destructive  violence  with  which  these  invaders  carried 
on  their  conquests,  and  of  the  havoc  which  they  had  made 
from  one  extremity  of  this  quarter  of  the  globe  to  the  other.  ^^^ 

In  the  obscurity  of  the  chaos  occasioned  by  this  general 
wreck  of  nations,  we  mast  search  for  the  seeds  of  order, 
and  endeavour  to  discover  the  first  rudiments  of  the  policy 
and  laws  now  estabhshed  in  Europe.  To  this  source  the 
historians  of  its  different  kingdoms  have  attempted,  though 
with  less  attention  and  industry  than  the  importance  of  the 
inquiry  merits,  to  trace  back  the  institutions  and  customs 
peculiar  to  their  countrymen.  It  is  not  my  province  to 
give  a  minute  detail  of  the  progress  of  government  and 
manners  in  each  particular  nation,  whose  transactions  arc 
the  object  of  the  following  history.  But,  in  order  to  exhibit 
a  just  view  of  the  state  of  Europe  at  the  opening  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  it  is  necessary  to  look  back,  and  to  con- 
template the  condition  of  the  northern  nations  upon  their 
first  settlement  in  those  countries  which  they  occupied. 
It  is  necessary  to  mark  the  great  steps  by  which  they 
advanced  from  barbarism  to  refinement,  and  to  point  out 
those  general  principles  and  events  which,  by  their  uniform 
as  well  as  extensive  operation,  conducted  all  of  them  to 
that  degree  of  improvement  in  policy  and  in  manners 
which  they  had  attained  at  the  period  when  Charles  V. 
began  his  reign. 

When  nations  subject  to  despotic  government  make 
conquests,  these  serve  only  to  extend  the  dominion  and 
the  power  of  their  master.  But  armies  composed  of  free- 
men conquer  for  themselves,  not  for  their  leaders.  The 
people  who  overturned  the  Roman  empire,  and  settled  in 
its  various  provinces,  were  of  the  latter  class.  Not  only 
the  diff'ererit  nations  that  issued  from  the  north  of  Europe, 
which  has  always  been  considered  as  the  seat  of  liberty, 


SECT.  I.]  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.'  11 

but  the  Huns  and  Alans,  who  inhabited  part  of  those 
countries  whicli  have  been  marked  out  as  the  pccuhar 
region  of  servitude,-  enjoyed  freedom  and  independence  in 
such  a  high  degree  as  seems  to  be  scarcely  compatible 
with  a  state  of  social  union,  or  with  the  subordination 
necessary  to  maintain  it.  They  followed  the  chieftain  who 
led  them  forth  in  quest  of  new  settlements,  not  by  con- 
straint, but  from  choice ;  not  as  soldiers  whom  he  could 
order  to  march,  but  as  volunteers  who  offered  to  accom- 
pany liimJ''^  They  considered  their  conquests  as  a  common 
property,  in  which  all  had  a  title  to  share,  as  all  had  con- 
tributed to  acquire  them.^^^  In  what  manner,  or  by  what 
principles,  they  divided  among  them  the  lands  whicli  they 
seized,  we  cannot  now  determine  with  any  certainty. 
There  is  no  nation  in  Europe  whose  records  reach  back  to 
this  remote  period ;  and  there  is  little  information  to  be 
got  from  the  uninstructive  and  meagre  chronicles,  com- 
piled by  writers  ignorant  of  the  true  end,  and  unacquainted 
with  the  proper  objects,  of  history.  i 

This  new  division  of  property,  however,  together  with  \ 
the  maxims  and  manners  to  which  it  gave  rise,  gradually 
introduced  a   species   of   government  formerly  unknown. 
This  singular  institution  is  now  distinguished  by  the  name 
of  the  feudal  system ;  and  though  the  barbarous  nations 
whicli  framed  it,  settled  in  their  new  territories  at  different 
times,  came  from  different  countries,  spoke  various  lan- 
guages, and  were  under  the  command  of  separate  leaders, 
the  feudal  policy   and  laAvs  were  established,  with  little 
variation,  in  every  kingdom   of  Europe.     This    amazing  1 
uniformity  hath  induced  some  authors  ^  to  believe  that  all  I 
these  nations,  notwithstanding  so  many  apparent  circum- 
stances of  distinction,  were  originally  the    same    people. 
But  it  may  be  ascribed,  with  greater  probability,  to  the 
similar  state  of  society  and  of  manners  to  which  they  were 

^  De   I'Esprit   clcs  Loix,  liv.  xvii.  ^  Procop.     de    Bcllo    Vandal,   ap. 

cli.  3.  Script.  B}'z.  edit.  Yen,  vol.  i.  p.  315. 


V 


12  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  [skct.  i. 

accustomed  in  their  native  countries,  and  to  the  similar 
situation  in  which  they  found  themselves  on  taking  pos- 
session of  their  new  domains. 

As  the  conquerors  of  Europe  had  their  acquisitions  to 
maintain,  not  only  against  such  of  the  ancient  inhabitants 
I  as  they  had  spared,  but  against  the  more  formidable  inroads 
/  of  new  invaders,  self-defence  was  their  chief  care,  and  seems 
I  to  have  been  the  chief  object  of  their  first  institutions  and 
Lpolicy.     Instead  of  those  loose  associations,  which,  though 
they  scarcely  diminished  their  personal  independence,  had 
been  sufficient  for  their  security  while  they  remained  in 
their  original  countries,  they  saw  the  necessity  of  uniting 
in  more  close  confederacy,  and  of  relinquishing  some  of 
their  private  rights  in  order  to  attain  public  safety.    Every 
freeman,  upon  receiving  a  portion  of  the  lands  which  were 
divided,  bound  himself  to  appear  in  arms  against  the  ene- 
mies  of  the  community.     This   military  service  was   the 
condition  upon  which  he  received  and  held  his  lands ;  and 
as   they  were  exempted  from    every  other   burden,  that 
tenure,  among  a  warlike  people,  was  deemed  both  easy 
and  honourable.     The  king  or  general,  who  led  them  to 
conquest,  continuing  still  to  be  the  head  of  the  colony, 
had,  of  com'se,  the  largest  portion  allotted  to  him.    Having 
thus  acquired  the  means  of  rewarding  past  services,  as  Avell 
as  of  gaining  new  adherents,  he  parcelled  out  his  lands 
Vv'ith  this  vic^v,  binding  those  on  whom  they  were  bestoAved 
to  resort  to  his  standard  with  a  number  of  men  in  propor- 
tion to  the  extent  of  the  territory  which  they  received,  and 
to  bear  arms  in  his  defence.     His  chief  officers  imitated 
the  example  of  the  sovereign,  and,  in  distributing  portions 
of  their  lands  among  their  dependants,  annexed  the  same 
condition  to  the  grant.     Thus  a  feudal  kingdom  resem- 
bled a  military  establishment,  rather  than  a  civil  institu- 
tion.    The  victorious  army,  cantoned  out  in  the  country 
which  it  had  seized,  continued  ranged  under  its  proper 
officers,  and  subordinate  to  militarv  command.  The  names 


SECT.  I.]  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  13 

of  a  soldier  and  of  a  freeman  were  synonynioiis."^  Every 
proprietor  of  land,  girt  with  a  sword,  was  ready  to  march 
at  the  summons  of  his  superior,  and  to  take  the  field  against 
the  common  enemy. 

But  though  the  feudal  policy  seems  to  be  so  admirably 
calculated  for  defence  against  the  assaults  of  any  foreign  \ 
power,  its  provisions  for  the  interior  order  and  tranquillity 
of  society  were  extremely  defective.  The  principles  of  dis- 
order and  corruption  are  discernible  in  that  constitution 
under  its  best  and  most  perfect  form.  They  soon  unfolded 
themselves,  and,  spreading  with  rapidity  through  every 
part  of  the  system,  produced  the  most  fatal  effects.  The'^ 
bond  of  political  union  was  extremely  feeble ;  the  sources  ' 
of  anarchy  were  innumerable.  The  monarchical  and  aris- 
tocratical  parts  of  the  constitution,  having  no  intermediate 
poAver  to  balance  them,  weva  perpetually  at  variance,  and 
justling  with  each  other.  The  powerful  vassals  of  the 
crown  soon  extorted  a  confirmation  for  life  of  those  grants 
of  land,  which,  being  at  first  purely  gratuitous,  had  been 
bestowed  only  during  pleasure.  Not  satisfied  with  this, 
they  prevailed  to  have  them  converted  into  hereditary  pos- 
sessions. One  step  more  completed  their  usurpations, 
and  rendered  them  unalienable. '^'^^  With  an  ambition  no 
less  enterprising,  and  more  preposterous,  they  appropriated 
to  themselves  titles  of  honour,  as  well  as  offices  of  power 
or  trust.  These  personal  marks  of  distinction,  which  the 
public  admiration  bestows  on  illustrious  merit,  or  which 
the  public  confidence  confers  on  extraordinary  abilities, 
were  annexed  to  certain  families,  and  transmiltjd  like  fiefs, 
from  father  to  son,  by  hereditary  right.  The  crown  vassals 
having  thus  secured  the  possession  of  their  lands  and 
dignities,  the  nature  of  the  feudal  institutions,  which, 
though  founded  on  subordination,  verged  to  independence, 
led  them  to  new  and  still  more  dangerous  encroachments 
on  the  prerogatives  of  the  sovereign.     They  obtained  the 

■^  Dii  Caugf!,  Glossar.  voc.  Miles. 


14  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  [sect.  i. 

power  of  supreme  jurisdiction,  both  civil  and  criminal, 
within  their  own  territories ;  the  riglit  of  coining  money ; 
together  with  the  privilege  of  carrying  on  war  against  their 
private  enemies,  in  their  own  name,  and  by  their  own 
authority.  The  ideas  of  political  subjection  were  almost 
entirely  lost,  and  frequently  scarce  any  appearance  of  feudal 
subordination  remained.  Nobles,  who  had  acquired  sucl^^ 
enormous  power,  scorned  to  consider  themselves  as  sub- 
jects. They  aspired  openly  at  being  independent;  the 
bonds  which  connected  the  principal  members  of  the  con- 
stitution with  the  crown  were  dissolved.  A  kingdom, 
considerable  in  name  and  in  extent,  w^as  broken  into  as 
many  separate  principalities  as  it  contained  powerful 
barons,  A  thousand  causes  of  jealousy  and  discord  sub- 
sisted among  them,  and  gave  rise  to  as  many  wars.  Every 
country  in  Em'ope,  wasted  or  kept  in  continual  alarm 
during  these  endless  contests,  was  filled  with  castles  and 
places  of  strength  erected  for  the  security  of  the  inhabit- 
ants ;  not  against  foreign  force,  but  against  internal  hos- 
tilities. An  universal  anarchy,  destructive,  in  a  great 
measure,  of  all  the  advantages  which  men  expect  to  derive 
from  society,  prevailed.  The  people,  the  most  numerous 
as  well  as  the  most  useful  part  of  the  community,  were 
either  reduced  to  a  state  of  actual  servitude,  or  treated 
with  the  same  insolence  and  rigour  as  if  they  had  been 
degraded  into  that  wretched  condition.'^^l'  The  king,  stripped 
of  almost  every  prerogative,  and  without  authority  to  enact 
or  to  execute  salutary  laws,  could  neither  protect  the  inno- 
cent nor  punish  the  guilty.  The  nobles,  superior  to  all 
restraint,  harassed  each  other  with  perpetual  wars,  oppressed 
their  fellow-subjects,  and  humbled  or  insulted  their  sove- 
reign. To  crown  all,  time  gradually  fixed,  and  rendered 
venerable  this  pernicious  system,  which  violence  had  esta- 
blished? 

Such  was  the  state  of  Europe  with  respect  to  the  interior 
administration  of  government  from  the   seventh  to   the 


SECT.  I.]  THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  15 

eleventh  century.  All  the  external  operations  of  its  various 
states,  during  this  period,  were,  of  course,  extremely  feeble. 
A  kingdom  dismembered,  and  torn  with  dissension,  without 
any  connnon  interest  to  rouse,  or  any  common  head  to  con- 
duct its  force,  was  incapable  of  acting  with  vigour.  Almost 
all  the  wars  in  Europe,  during  the  ages  which  I  have  men- 
Jtioned,  were  trifling,  indecisive,  and  productive  of  no  con- 
siderable event.  They  resembled  the  short  incursions  of 
pirates  or  banditti,  rather  than  the  steady  operations  of  a 
regular  army.  Every  baron,  at  the  head  of  his  vassals, 
carried  on  some  petty  enterprise,  to  which  he  was  prompted 
by  his  own  ambition  or  revenge.  The  state  itself,  destitute 
of  union,  either  remained  altogether  inactive,  or,  if  it  at- 
tempted to  make  any  effort,  that  served  only  to  discover  its 
impotence.  The  superior  genius  of  Charlemagne,  it  is  true, 
united  all  these  disjointed  and  discordant  members,  and 
formed  them  again  into  one  body,  restored  to  government 
that  degree  of  activity  which  distinguishes  his  reign,  and 
renders  the  transactions  of  it  ol)jects  not  only  of  attention 
but  of  admiration  to  more  enlightened  times.  But  tlijs 
state  of  union  and  vigour,  not  being  natural  to  the  feudal 
government,  was  of  short  duration.  Immediately  upon  his 
death,  the  spirit  which  animated  and  sustained  the  vast 
system  which  he  had  established,  being  withdrawn,  it  broke 
into  pieces.  All  the  calamities  which  flow  from  anarchy  and 
discord,  returning  with  additional  force,  afflicted  the  different 
kingdoms  into  which  his  empire  was  split.  Erom  that  time 
to  the  eleventh  century,  a  succession  of  uninteresting  events, 
a  series  of  wars,  the  motives  as  well  as  the  consequences  of 
which  were  unimportant,  fill  and  deform  the  annals  of  all 
the  nations  in  Europe. 

To  these  pernicious  effects  of  the  feudal  anarchy  may  be 
added  its  fatal  influence  on  the  character  and  improvement 
of  the  human  mind.  If  men  do  not  enjoy  the  protection  of 
regular  government,  together  with  the  expectation  of  per- 
sonal security,  which  naturally  flows  from  it,  they  never 


16  ITS  EFFECTS  UPON  [sect.  i. 

attempt  to  make  progress  in  science,  nor  aim  at  attaining 
refinement  in  taste,  or  in  manners.  That  period  of  turbu- 
lence, oppression,  and  rapine,  wliicli  I  liave  described,  was 
ill-suited  to  favour  improvement  in  any  of  tliese.  In  less 
than  a  century  after  the  barbarous  nations  settled  in  their 
new  conquests,  almost  all  the  effects  of  the  knowledge  and 
civility,  which  the  Romans  had  spread  through  Europe,  dis- 
appeared. Not  only  the  arts  of  elegance,  which  minister  to 
luxury,  and  are  supported  by  it,  but  many  of  the  useful  arts, 
without  which  life  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  comfortable, 
were  neglected  or  lost.  Literature,  science,  taste,  were  words 
little  in  use  during  the  ages  which  we  are  contemplating; 
or,  if  they  occur  at  any  time,  eminence  in  them  is  ascribed 
to  persons  and  productions  so  contemptible,  that  it  appears 
their  true  import  was  little  understood.  Persons  of  the 
liighest  rank,  and  in  the  most  eminent  stations,  could  not 
read  or  write.  Many  of  the  clergy  did  not  understand  the 
breviary  which  they  were  obliged  daily  to  recite ;  some  of 
them  could  scarcely  read  it.^'"^  The  memory  of  past  trans- 
actions was,  in  a  great  degree,  lost,  or  preserved  in  annals 
filled  with  trifling  events,  or  legendary  tales.  Even  the 
codes  of  laws,  published  by  the  several  nations  which  esta- 
blished themselves  in  the  different  countries  of  Europe,  fell 
into  disuse,  while,  in  their  place,  customs,  vague  and  capri- 
cious, were  substituted.  The  human  mind,  neglected,  un- 
cultivated, and  depressed,  continued  in  the  most  profound 
ignorance.  Europe,  during  four  centuries,  produced  few 
authors  Avho  merit  to  be  read,  either  on  account  of  the  ele- 
gance of  their  composition,  or  the  justness  and  novelty  of 
their  sentiments.  There  are  few  inventions  useful  or  orna- 
mental to  society,  of  which  that  long  period  can  boast. 

Even  the  Christian  religion,  though  its  precepts  are 
delivered,  and  its  institutions  are  fixed  in  Scripture,  with  a 
precision  which  should  have  exempted  them  from  being 
misinterpreted  or  corrupted,  degenerated,  during  those  ages 
of  darkness,  into  an  illiberal  superstition.     The  barbarous 


SECT.  I.]  AUTS,  LITERATURE,  AND  RELIGION.  17 

nations,  when  converted  to  Christianity,  changed  the  object, 
not  the  spirit,  of  their  rehgious  Avorship.  They  endeavoured 
to  conciHate  the  favour  of  the  true  God  by  means  not  un- 
Hke  to  those  which  tliey  had  employed  in  order  to  appease 
their  false  deities.  Instead  of  aspiring  to  sanctity  and  virtue, 
which  alone  can  render  men  acceptable  to  the  great  Author 
of  order  and  of  excellence,  they  imagined  that  they  satis- 
fied every  obligation  of  duty  by  a  scrupulous  observance 
of  external  ceremonies. ^"^  Religion,  according  to  their 
conceptions  of  it,  comprehended  nothing  else ;  and  the  rites, 
by  which  they  persuaded  themselves  that  they  could  gain 
the  favour  of  Heaven,  were  of  such  a  nature  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  the  rude  ideas  of  the  ages  which 
devised  and  introduced  them.  They  were  either  so  un- 
meaning as  to  be  altogether  unworthy  of  the  Being  to 
whose  honoiu'  they  were  consecrated  ;  or  so  absurd  as  to 
be  a  disgrace  to  reason  and  humanity. '^'■^  Charlemagne  in 
France,  and  Alfred  the  Great  in  England,  endeavoured  to 
dispel  this  darkness,  and  gave  their  subjects  a  short  glimpse 
of  light  and  knowledge.  But  the  ignorance  of  the  age  was 
too  powerful  for  their  efforts  and  institutions.  The  dark- 
ness returned,  and  settled  over  Europe  more  thick  and 
heavy  than  before. 

As  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  during  these  centuries 
were  strangers  to  the  arts  which  embellish  a  polished  age, 
they  were  destitute  of  the  virtues  which  abound  among 
people  who  continue  in  a  simple  state.  Eorce  of  mind,  a 
sense  of  personal  dignity,  gallantry  in  enterprise,  invincible 
perseverance  in  execution,  contempt  of  danger  and  of 
death,  are  the  characteristic  virtues  of  uncivilized  nations. 
But  these  are  all  the  offspring  of  equality  and  independence, 
both  which  the  feudal  institutions  had  destroyed.  The 
spirit  of  domination  corrupted  the  nobles,  the  yoke  of 
servitude  depressed  the  people,  the  generous  sentiments 
inspired  by  a  sense  of  equality  were  extinguished,  and 
hardly  anything  remained  to  be  a  check  on  ferocity  and 

VOL.  I.  c 


r 


18  IMPROVEMENT  OF  GOVERNMENT.  [sect.  i. 

violence.  Human  society  is  in  its  most  corrupted  state, 
at  that  period  when  men  have  lost  their  original  indepen- 
dence and  simplicity  of  manners,  but  have  not  attained 
that  degree  of  refinement  which  introduces  a  sense  of 
decorum  and  of  propriety  in  conduct,  as  a  restraint  on 
those  passions  which  lead  to  heinous  crimes.  Accordingly, 
a  greater  number  of  those  atrocious  actions,  which  fill  the 
mind  of  man  with  astonishment  and  horror,  occur  in  the 
history  of  the  centuries  under  review,  than  in  that  of  any 
period  of  the  same  extent  in  the  annals  of  Europe.  If  we 
open  the  history  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  or  of  any  contem- 
porary author,  we  meet  with  a  series  of  deeds  of  cruelty, 
perfidy,  and  revenge,  so  wild  and  enormous,  as  almost  to 
exceed  belief. 

But,  according  to  the  observation  of  an  elegant  and  pro- 
found historian,^  there  is  an  ultimate  point  of  depression, 
as  well  as  of  exaltation,  from  which  human  affairs  naturally 
return  in  a  contrary  progress,  and  beyond  which  they 
never  pass  either  in  their  advancement  or  decline.  When 
defects,  either  in  the  form  or  in  the  administration  of 
government,  occasion  such  disorders  in  society  as  are  ex- 
cessive and  intolerable,  it  becomes  the  common  interest  to 
discover  and  to  apply  such  remedies  as  will  most  effectually 
remove  them.  Slight  inconveniences  may  be  long  over- 
looked or  endured ;  but  when  abuses  grow  to  a  certain 
pitch,  the  society  must  go  to  ruin,  or  must  attempt  to 
reform  them.  The  disorders  in  the  feudal  system,  toge- 
ther with  the  corruption  of  taste  and  manners  consequent 
upon  these,  which  had  gone  on  increasing  during  a  long 
course  of  years,  seemed  to  have  attained  their  utmost  point 
of  excess  towards  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century,  From 
that  era,  we  may  date  the  return  of  government  and  man- 
ners in  a  contrary  direction,  and  can  trace  a  succession  of 
causes  and  events  which  contributed,  some  with  a  nearer 
and  more  conspicuous,  others  with  a  more  remote  and  less 

*  Hume's  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  441. 


SECT.  1.]  THE  CllUSADES.  19 

perceptible  influence,  to  abolish  confusion  and  barbarism, 
and  to  introduce  order,  regularity,  and  refinement.  / 

In  pointing  out  and  explaining  these  causes  and  events,  i 
it  is  not  necessary  to  observe  the  order  of  time  with  a  j 
chronological  accuracy ;  it  is  of  more  importance  to  keep 
in  view  their  nuituai  connexion  and  dependence,  and  to 
show  how  the  operation  of  one  event,  or  one  cause,  pre- 1 
pared  the  way  for  another,  and  augmented  its  influence.  - 
We  have  hitherto  been  contemplating  the  progress  of  that 
darkness  which  spread  over  Europe,  from  its  first  approach 
to  the  period  of  greatest  obscuration ;   a  more  pleasant 
exercise  begins  here ;    to  observe  the  first   daAvnings  of 
returning  light,  to  mark  the  various  accessions  by  which  it 
gradually  increased  and  advanced  towards  the  full  splen- 
dour of  day. 

I.  The  crusades,  or  expeditions  in  order  to  rescue  the 
Holy  Land  out  of  the  hands  of  infidels,  seemed  to  be  the 
first  event  that  roused  Europe  from  the  lethargy  in  which 
it  had  been  long  sunk,  and  that  tended  to  introduce  any 
considerable  change  in  government  or  in  manners.  It  is 
natural  to  the  human  mind  to  view  those  places  which 
have  been  distinguished  by  being  the  residence  of  any 
illustrious  personage,  or  the  scene  of  any  great  transaction, 
with  some  degree  of  delight  and  veneration.  To  this  prin- 
ciple must  be  ascribed  the  superstitious  devotion  with 
which  Christians,  from  the  earliest  ages  of  the  church, 
were  accustomed  to  visit  that  country  which  the  Almighty 
had  selected  as  the  inheritance  of  his  favourite  people,  and 
in  which  the  Son  of  God  had  accomplished  the  redemption 
of  mankind.  As  this  distant  pilgrimage  could  not  be  per- 
formed without  considerable  expense,  fatigue,  and  danger, 
it  appeared  the  more  meritorious,  and  came  to  be  con- 
sidered as  an  expiation  for  almost  every  crime.  An  opinion 
which  spread  with  rapidity  over  Europe  about  the  close  of 
the  tenth,  and  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  and 
which  gained  universal  credit,  wonderfully  augmented  the 


20  THE  CRUSADES.  [sect.  i. 

number  of  credulous  pilgrims,  and  increased  the  ardour 
with  which  they  undertook  this  useless  voyage.  The 
thousand  years,  mentioned  by  St.  John,"  were  supposed  to 
be  accomplished,  and  the  end  of  the  world  to  be  at  hand. 
A  general  consternation  seized  mankind ;  many  relin- 
quished their  possessions,  and,  abandoning  their  friends 
and  families,  hurried  with  precipitation  to  the  Holy  Land, 
where  they  imagined  that  Christ  would  quickly  appear  to 
judge  the  world. ^  While  Palestine  continued  subject  to 
the  caliphs,  they  had  encouraged  the  resort  of  ])ilgrims  to 
Jerusalem,  and  considered  this  as  a  beneficial  species  of 
commerce,  which  brought  into  their  dominions  gold  and 
silver,  and  carried  nothing  out  of  them  but  relics  and  con- 
secrated trinkets.  But  the  Turks  having  conquered  Syria 
about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  pilgrims  were 
exposed  to  outragas  of  every  kind  from  these  fierce  barba- 
rians.^ This  change  happening  precisely  at  the  juncture 
when  the  panic  terror  which  I  have  mentioned  rendered 
])ilgrimages  most  frequent,  filled  Europe  with  alarin  and 
indignation.  Every  person  who  returned  from  Palestine 
related  the  dan^'ers  Avhicli  he  had  encountered  in  visitins: 
the  holy  city,  and  described  with  exaggeration  the  cruelty 
and  vexations  of  the  Turks. 

When  the  minds  of  men  were  thus  prepared,  the  zeal  of 
a  fanatical  monk,  who  conceived  the  idea  of  lending  all  the 
forces  of  Christendom  against  the  infidels,  and  of  driving 
tlicm  out  of  the  Holy  Land  by  violence,  was  sufiicient  to 
give  a  Ijcginning  to  that  wild  enterprise,  Peter  the  Hermit, 
for  that  was  the  name  of  this  maiiial  apostle,  ran  from 
province  to  province  with  a  crucifix  in  his  hand,  exciting 
princes  and  people  to  this  holy  war,  and  wherever  he  came 
kindled  the  same  enthusiastic  ardour  for  it  with  which  he 


«  Kcvf].  XX  2,  3,  1.  Corp.  Scrip.  Medii  Mvi,  vol.  i.  p.  90Q. 

7  Chronic.  Will.  Godelli  ap. Bouquet,  Aniialista  Saxo,  ibid.  570. 
llecucil  des  Historiens  de  France,  torn.  ^  Jo.  Dan.  Scliocpflini  de  sacris  Gal- 

X.  p.  2G2.     Vita  Aljonis,  ibid.  p.  ;332.  loruin  in  Oricntcni  Espcditionibus,  p. 

Chronic.    S.    Pantalcoiiis  ap.  Eccard.  4,  Argent.  172G,  4to. 


SECT.  I.]  THE  CRUSADES.  21 

himself  was  animated.  The  council  of  Placentia,  uhcrc 
upwards  of  thirty  thousand  persons  were  assembled,  pro- 
nounced the  scheme  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  imme- 
diate inspiration  of  Heaven.  In  the  council  of  Clermont, 
still  more  numerous,  as  soon  as  the  measure  was  proposed, 
all  cried  out  with  one  voice,  "  It  is  the  will  of  God." 
Persons  of  all  ranks  caught  the  contagion ;  not  only  the 
gallant  nobles  of  that  age,  with  their  martial  followers, 
whom  we  may  suppose  apt  to  be  allured  by  the  boldness 
of  a  romantic  enterprise,  but  men  in  the  more  humble  and 
pacific  stations  of  hfe  ;  ecclesiastics  of  every  order,  and  even 
women  and  children,  engaged  with  emulation  in  an  under- 
taking which  w^as  deemed  sacred  and  meritorious.  If  we 
may  believe  the  concurring  testimony  of  contemporary 
authors,  six  millions  of  persons  assumed  the  cross,"  which 
was  the  badge  that  distinguished  such  as  devoted  themselves 
to  this  holy  warfare.  All  Europe,  says  the  princess  Anna 
Comnena,  torn  up  from  the  foundation,  seemed  ready  to 
precipitate  itself  in  one  united  body  upon  Asia.'"  Nor  did 
the  fumes  of  this  enthusiastic  zeal  evaporate  at  once :  the 
frenzy  was  as  lasting  as  it  was  extravagant.  During  two 
centuries,  Europe  seems  to  have  had  no  object  but  to 
recover,  or  keep  possession  of,  the  Holy  Land ;  and  through 
that  period  vast  armies  continued  to  march  thither.'^'*-' 

The  first  efforts  of  valour,  animated  by  enthusiasm,  were 
irresistible ;  part  of  the  lesser  Asia,  all  Syria,  and  Palestine, 
wTre  wrested  from  the  infidels ;  the  banner  of  the  cross  w\as 
displayed  on  Mount  Sion ;  Constantinople,  the  capital  of 
the  Christian  empire  in  the  East,  was  afterwards  seized  by 
a  body  of  those  adventurers,  who  had  taken  arms  against  the 
Mahometans  ;  and  an  earl  of  Elanders,  and  his  descendants, 
kept  possession  of  the  imperial  throne  during  half  a  century. 
But  though  the  first  impression  of  the  crusaders  w-as  so 
unexpected  that  they  made  their  concpiests  w^ith  great  case, 

'  Fulcherius  Carnoteiisis   ap.  Bon-         '"  Alexias,  lib.  x.    ap.   Byz.  Scripl. 
^'aTsi'i  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  vol.  i.       vol.  xi.  p.  221. 
387,  edif.  Han.  ICI]. 


22  THE  CRUSADES.  [sect.  i. 

they  found  infinite  difficulty  in  preserving  them.  EstabUsh- 
ments  so  distant  from  Europe,  suiTounded  by  warlike 
nations,  animated  with  fanatical  zeal  scarcely  inferior  to  that 
of  the  crusaders  themselves,  were  perpetually  in  danger  of 
being  overturned.  Before  the  expiration  of  the  thirteenth 
century  [1291],  the  Christians  were  driven  out  of  all  their 
Asiatic  possessions, in  acquiring  of  which  incredible  numbers 
of  men  had  perished,  and  immense  sums  of  money  had 
been  wasted.  The  only  common  enterprise  in  which  the 
European  nations  ever  engaged,  and  which  they  all  under- 
took with  equal  ardour,  remains  a  singular  monument  of 
human  folly. 

But  from  these  expeditions,  extravagant  as  they  were, 
beneficial  consequences  followed,  wdiich  had  neither  been 
foreseen  nor  expected.  In  their  progress  towards  the  Holy 
Land,  the  folloAvers  of  the  cross  marched  through  countries 
better  cultivated  and  more  civiHzed  than  their  own.  Their 
first  rendezvous  was  commonly  in  Italy,  in  which  Venice, 
Genoa,  Pisa,  and  other  cities,  had  begun  to  apply  them- 
selves to  commerce,  and  had  made  considerable  advances 
towards  wealth  as  well  as  refinement.  They  embarked  there, 
and,  landing  in  Dalmatia,  pursued  their  route  by  land  to 
Constantinople.  Though  the  military  spirit  had  been  long 
extinct  in  the  eastern  empire,  and  a  despotism  of  the  worst 
species  had  annihilated  almost  every  public  virtue,  yet 
Constantinople,  having  never  felt  the  destructive  rage  of 
the  barbarous  nations,  was  the  greatest,  as  well  as  the  most 
beautiful  city  in  Europe,  and  the  only  one  in  which  there 
remained  any  image  of  the  ancient  elegance  in  manners  and 
arts.  The  naval  power  of  the  eastern  empire  was  consi- 
derable. Manufactures  of  the  most  curious  fabric  were 
carried  on  in  its  dominions.  Constantinople  was  the  chief 
mart  in  Europe  for  the  commodities  of  the  East  Indies. 
Although  the  Saracens  and  Turks  had  torn  from  the  empire 
many  of  its  richest  provinces,  and  had  reduced  it  within 
very  narrow  bounds,  yet  great  wealth  flowed  into  the  capital 


SECT.  1.]  BENEFICIAL  EFFECTS.  23 

from  these  various  sources,  which  not  only  cherished  such 
a  taste  for  magnificence,  hut  kept  aUve  such  a  rehsh  for  the 
sciences,  as  appears  considerable,  Avhen  compared  with 
what  was  known  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  Even  in  Asia, 
the  Europeans,  who  had  assumed  the  cross,  found  the 
remains  of  the  knowledge  and  arts  which  the  example  and 
encouragement  of  the  caliphs  had  diffused  through  their 
empire.  Although  the  attention  of  the  historians  of  the 
crusades  was  fixed  on  other  objects  than  the  state  of  society 
and  manners  among  the  nations  Avhich  they  invaded; 
although  most  of  them  had  neither  taste  nor  discernment 
enough  to  describe  these,  they  relate,  hoAvever,  such  signal 
acts  of  humanity  and  generosity  in  the  conduct  of  Saladin, 
as  well  as  some  other  leaders  of  the  Mahometans,  as  give 
us  a  very  high  idea  of  their  manners.  It  was  not  possible 
for  the  crusaders  to  travel  through  so  many  countries,  and 
to  behold  their  various  customs  and  institutions,  without 
acquiring  information  and  improvement.  Their  views  \ 
enlarged ;  their  prejudices  wore  off ;  new  ideas  crowded 
into  their  minds ;  and  they  must  have  been  sensible,  on 
many  occasions,  of  the  rusticity  of  their  own  manners  Avhen 
compared  Avitli  those  of  a  more  polished  people.  These 
impressions  were  not  so  slight  as  to  be  effaced  upon  their 
return  to  their  native  countries.  A  close  intercourse  sub- 
sisted between  the  East  and  West  during  two  centuries ; 
new  armies  were  continually  marching  from  Europe  to  Asia, 
while  former  adventurers  returned  home,  and  imported 
many  of  the  customs  to  which  they  had  been  familiarized 
by  a  long  residence  abroad.  Accordingly  we  discover,  sooiPl 
after  the  commencement  of  the  crusades,  greater  splendour 
in  the  courts  of  princes,  greater  pomp  in  public  ceremonies, 
a  more  refined  taste  in  pleasure  and  amusements,  together 
v.'ith  a  more  romantic  spirit  of  enterprise,  spreading  gra- 
dually over  Europe ;  and  to  these  wild  expeditions,  the  eftect 
of  superstition  or  folly,  we  owe  the  first  gleams  of  liglit 
which  tended  to  dispel  barbarism  and  ignorance. 


24  THEIR  INFLUENCE  ON  PROPERTY.  [sect.  i. 

But  these  iDeneficial  consequences  of  the  crusades  took 
place  slowly ;  their  influence  upon  the  state  of  property, 
and  consequently  of  power,  in  the  different  kingdoms  of 
Europe,  was  more  immediate,  as  well  as  discernible.  The 
nobles  who  assumed  the  cross,  and  bound  themselves  to 
march  to  the  Holy  Land,  soon  perceived  that  great  sums 
Avere  necessary  towards  defraying  the  expense  of  such  a  dis- 
tant expedition,  and  enabling  them  to  appear  with  suitable 
dignity  at  the  head  of  their  vassals.  But  the  genius  of  the 
feudal  system  was  averse  to  the  imposition  of  extraordinary 
taxes ;  and  subjects  in  that  age  were  unaccustomed  to  pay 
them.  No  expedient  remained  for  levying  the  sums  requi- 
site, but  the  sale  of  their  possessions.  As  men  were  in- 
flamed with  romantic  expectations  of  the  splendid  conquests 
which  they  hoped  to  make  in  Asia,  and  possessed  with  such 
zeal  for  recovering  the  Holy  Land  as  swallowed  up  every 
other  passion,  they  relinquished  their  ancient  inheritances 
without  any  reluctance,  and  for  prices  far  below  their  value, 
that  they  might  sally  forth  as  adventurers  in  quest  of  new 
settlements  in  unknown  coiuitries.  The  monarchs  of  the 
great  kingdoms  in  the  West,  none  of  whom  had  engaged 
in  the  first  crusade,  eagerly  seized  this  opportunity  of 
annexing  considerable  territories  to  their  crowns  at  small 
expense."  Besides  this,  several  great  barons,  who  perished 
in  the  holy  war,  having  left  no  heirs,  their  fiefs  reverted  of 
course  to  their  respective  sovereigns ;  and  by  these  acces- 
sions of  })roperty,  as  Avell  as  power  taken  from  the  one  scale 
and  thrown  into  the  other,  the  regal  authority  rose  in  pro- 
portion as  that  of  the  aristocracy  declined.  The  absence, 
too,  of  many  potent  vassals,  accustomed  to  control  and 
give  law  to  their  sovereigns,  afforded  them  an  opportunity 
of  extending  their  prerogative,  and  of  acquiring  a  degree 
of  weight  in  the  constitution  which  they  did  not  formerly 
possess.  To  these  circumstances  we  may  add,  that  as  all 
who  assumed  the  cross  were  taken  under  the  immediate 

^^Willicliii.  Mnlmsljur.  Guibcrt.  Abbas  ap.  Boiignrs.  vol.  i.  4S1. 


SECT.  I.J  THEIR  COmiEllCLlL  EFFECT.  25 

protection  of  llic  cliurcli,  and  its  heaviest  anathemas  were 
denounced  against  such  as  should  disquiet  or  annoy  those 
who  had  devoted  themselves  to  this  service,  the  private 
quarrels  and  hostilities  which  banished  tranquillity  from 
a  feudal  kingdom,  w^ere  suspended  or  extinguished ;  a  more 
general  and  steady  administration  of  justice  began  to  be 
hitroduced,  and  some  advances  Avere  made  towards  the 
establishment  of  regular  government  in  the  several  king- 
doms of  Europe.'"  ^'^^ 

The  commercial  effects  of  the  crusades  were  not  less  con- 
siderable than  those  which  I  have  already  mentioned.  The 
first  armies  under  the  standard  of  the  cross,  which  Peter 
the  Hermit  and  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  led  through  Germany 
and  Hungary  to  Constantinople,  suflered  so  much  by  the 
leiigth  of  the  march,  as  wtII  as  by  the  hcrceness  of  the 
barbarous  people  who  inhabited  those  countries,  that  it 
deterred  others  from  taking  the  same  route  ;  and,  rather  thau 
encounter  so  many  dangers,  they  chose  to  go  by  sea. 
Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa  furnished  the  transports  on  which 
they  embarked.  The  sum  which  these  cities  received  merely 
for  freight  from  such  numerous  armies  was  immense.''* 
This,  however,  was  but  a  small  part  of  what  they  gained 
by  the  expeditions  to  the  Holy  Land ;  the  crusaders  con- 
tracted with  them  for  military  stores  and  provisions ;  their 
fleets  kept  on  the  coast  as  the  armies  advanced  by  land ; 
and,  supplying  them  with  whatever  was  wanting,  engrossed 
all  the  profits  of  a  branch  of  commerce  which,  in  every  age, 
has  been  extremely  lucrative.  The  success  which  attended 
the  arms  of  the  crusaders  was  productive  of  advantages 
still  more  permanent.  There  are  charters  yet  extant,  con- 
taining grants  to  the  Venetians,  Pisans,  and  Genoese,  of 
the  most  extensive  immunities  in  the  several  settlements 
which  the  Christians  made  in  Asia.  All  the  commodities 
which  they  imported  or  exported  are  thereby  exemi)te(l 

"  Du   Caiigo,  Glossar.  voc.    Cruce  "  Muratori,  Antiquit.  Italic.  Mcdii 

s'ujnatux.     Guil.  Abbas  an.  Bongars.      iEvi,  vol.  ii.  905. 
vol.  i.  480,  482. 


26  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  COMMUNITIES.  [sect.  i. 

from  every  imposition ;  the  property  of  entire  subm'bs  in 
some  of  the  maritime  towns,  and  of  large  streets  in  others, 
is  vested  in  them ;  and  all  questions  arising  among  persons 
settled  within  their  precincts,  or  who  traded  under  their 
protection,  are  appointed  to  be  tried  by  their  own  laws,  and 
by  judges  of  their  own  appointment.^^  When  the  crusaders 
seized  Constantinople,  and  placed  one  of  their  own  leaders 
on  the  imperial  throne,  the  Italian  states  were  likewise 
gainers  by  that  event.  The  Venetians,  who  had  planned 
the  enterprise,  and  took  a  considerable  part  in  carrying  it 
into  execution,  did  not  neglect  to  secure  to  themselves  the 
chief  advantages  redounding  from  its  success.  They  made 
themselves  masters  of  part  of  the  ancient  Peloponnesus  in 
Greece,  together  with  some  of  the  most  fertile  islands  in  the 
Archipelago.  Many  valuable  branches  of  the  commerce, 
which  formerly  centred  in  Constantinople,  were  transferred 
to  Venice,  Genoa,  or  Pisa.  Thus  a  succession  of  events, 
occasioned  by  the  holy  war,  opened  various  sources  from 
which  wealth  flowed  in  such  abundance  into  these  cities,'^ 
as  enabled  them,  in  concurrence  with  another  institution, 
whicli  shall  be  innnediately  mentioned,  to  secure  their  own 
liberty  and  independence. 

II.  The  institution  to  which  I  alluded  was  the  forming 
of  cities  into  communities,  corporations,  or  bodies  politic, 
and  granting  them  the  privilege  of  municipal  jurisdiction, 
which  contributed  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  cause,  to 
introduce  regular  government,  police,  and  arts,  and  to 
diftuse  them  over  Europe.  The  feudal  government  had 
degenerated  into  a  system  of  oppression.  The  usurpations 
of  the  nobles  were  become  unbounded  and  intolerable; 
they  had  reduced  the  great  body  of  the  people  into  a  state 
of  actual  servitude  :  the  condition  of  those  dignified  with 
the  name  of  freemen  was  often  little  preferable  to  that  of 
the  other.     Nor  was  such  oppression  the  portion  of  those 

1^  Muratori,  Anticiuit.  Italic.  Medii  ^^  Villchardoin,  Hist,  dc  Constant 

iEvi,  vol.  ii.  906,  &c.  sous  I'Empereurs  Franfois,  105,  &c. 


SECT.  I.]  THE  ANCIENT  STATE  OF  CITIES.  27 

alone  who  dwelt  in  the  country,  and  were  employed  in 
cultivating  the  estate  of  their  master.  Cities  and  villages 
found  it  necessary  to  hold  of  some  great  lord,  on  whom  they 
might  depend  for  protection,  and  become  no  less  subject 
to  his  arbitrary  jurisdiction.  The  inhabitants  were  deprived 
of  those  rights  wdiieh,  in  social  life,  are  deemed  most 
natural  and  inalienable.  They  could  not  dispose  of  the 
effects  which  their  own  industry  had  acquired,  either  by  a 
latter  will  or  by  any  deed  executed  during  their  hfe."^  They 
had  no  right  to  appoint  guardians  for  their  children  during 
their  minority.  They  were  not  permitted  to  marry  without 
purchasing  the  consent  of  the  lord  on  whom  they  de- 
pended.^^  If  once  they  had  commenced  a  lawsuit,  they 
durst  not  terminate  it  by  an  accommodation,  because  that 
would  have  deprived  the  lord,  in  whose  court  they  pleaded, 
of  the  perquisites  due  to  him  on  passing  sentence. ^^  Ser- 
vices of  various  kinds,  no  less  disgraceful  than  oppressive, 
were  exacted  from  them  without  mercy  or  moderation. 
The  spirit  of  industry  was  checked  in  some  cities  by  absurd 
regulations,  and  in  others  by  unreasonable  exactions ;  nor 
would  the  narrow  and  oppressive  maxims  of  a  military 
aristocracy  have  permitted  it  ever  to  rise  to  any  degree  of 
height  or  vigour.^" 

But  as  soon  as  the  cities  of  Italy  began  to  turn  their 
attention  towards  commerce,  and  to  conceive  some  idea  of 
the  advantages  which  they  might  derive  from  it,  they 
became  impatient  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  their  insolent 
lords,  and  to  establish  among  themselves  such  a  free  and 
equal  government  as  would  render  property  secure,  and 
industry  flourishing.  The  German  emperors,  especially 
those  of  the  Franconian  and  Suabian  lines,  as  the  seat  of 
their  government  Avas  far  distant  from  Italy,  possessed  a 

'^  Daclierii  Spiccles;.   torn.  xi.  374,  rat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  iv.  p.  20.  Daclier. 

375,  edit,  iu  ito.     Ordonnances    dcs  Spicel.  vol.  ix.  325,  oil. 
lloisde  France,  torn.  iii.  20-1..  No.  2,  G.  i»  Daclior.  Spicel.  vol.  ix.  182. 

'^  Ordonnances  des  Roisde  Prance,  ''  M.  I'Abbc  Mably,  01)scrvat.  sur 

torn.  i.  p.  22,  torn.  iii.  203.   No.  1,  ]Mu-  I'Hist.  de  France,  torn.  ii.  pp.  2,  9G. 


28  GEOWTII  0¥  MUNICIPAL  INSTITUTIONS.        [sect.  i. 

feeble  and  imperfect  jurisdiction  in  that  country.  Their 
perpetual  quarrels,  either  with  the  popes  or  with  their  own 
turbulent  vassals,  diverted  their  attention  from  the  interior 
police  of  Italy,  and  gave  constant  employment  to  their 
arms.  These  circumstances  encouraged  the  inhabitants  of 
some  of  the  Italian  cities,  towards  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century,  to  assume  new  privileges,  to  unite  toge- 
ther more  closely,  and  to  form  themselves  into  bodies 
politic  under  the  government  of  laAvs  established  by 
common  consent.-'*  The  rights  which  many  cities  acquired 
by  bold  or  fortunate  usurpations,  others  purchased  from 
the  emperors,  who  deemed  themselves  gainers  when  they 
received  large  sums  for  immunities  which  they  were  uo 
longer  able  to  withhold;  and  some  cities  obtained  them 
gratuitously,  from  the  generosity  or  facility  of  the  princes 
on  whom  they  depended.  The  great  increase  of  w^ealth 
which  the  crusades  brouo-ht  into  Italv  occasioned  a  new 
kind  of  fermentation  and  activity  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  and  excited  such  a  general  passion  for  liberty  and 
hidependence,  that  before  the  conclusion  of  the  last 
crusade,  all  the  considerable  cities  in  that  country  had 
either  purchased  or  had  extorted  large  immunities  from  the 
emperors.  ^'^^ 

This  innovation  was  not  long  known  in  Italy  before  it 
made  its  way  into  France.  Louis  le  Gros,  in  order  to  create 
some  power  that  might  counterbalance  those  potent  vassals 
wdio  controlled,  or  gave  law  to  t,he  crow^n,  first  adopted  the 
plan  of  conferring  new  privileges  on  the  towns  situated 
Avithin  its  own  domain.  [1108 — 1137.]  These  privileges 
were  called  charters  of  community,  by  which  he  enfranchised 
the  inhabitants,  abolished  all  marks  of  servitude,  and  formed 
them  into  corporations  of  bodies  politic,  to  be  governed  by 
a  council  and  magistrates  of  their  own  nomination.  These 
magistrates  had  the  right  of  administering  justice  wdthin 
their  own  "precincts,  of  levying  taxes,  of  end^odying  and 

^°  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  iv.  p.  5, 


SECT.  1.]         GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  INSTITUTIONS.;  29 

training  to  arms  tlic  militia  of  the  toAvn,  wliicli  took  the 
field  when  required  by  the  sovereign,  under  the  command 
of  officers  appointed  by  the  community.  The  great  barons 
imitated  the  example  of  their  monarch,  and  granted  like 
immunities  to  the  towns  within  their  territories.  They 
had  wasted  such  great  sums  in  their  expc^ditions  to  the 
Holy  Land,  that  they  were  eager  to  lay  hold  on  this  new 
expedient  for  raising  money,  by  the  sale  of  those  charters 
of  liberty.  Though  the  institution  of  communities  was  as 
repugnant  to  their  maxims  of  policy,  as  it  was  adverse  to 
their  power,  they  disregarded  remote  consequences,  in  order 
to  obtain  present  relief.  In  less  than  two  centuries,  servi- 
tude was  abolished  in  most  of  the  towns  in  France,  and 
they  became  free  corporations,  instead  of  dependent  vil- 
lages, without  jurisdiction  or  privileges. '^^'^^  Much  about 
the  same  period  the  great  cities  in  Germany  began  to 
acquire  like  immunities,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  their 
present  liberty  and  independence.'^''^  The  practice  spread 
quickly  over  Europe,  and  was  adopted  in  Spain,  England, 
Scotland,  and  all  the  other  feudal  kingdoms. ^'**^ 

The  good  effects  of  this  new  institution  were  immediately  , 
felt,  and  its  influence  on  government  as  well  as  manners 
was  no  less  extensive  than  salutary.  A  great  body  of  the 
people  was  released  from  servitude,  and  from  all  the  arbi- 
trary and  grievous  impositions  to  which  that  wretched  con- 
dition had  subjected  them.  Towns,  upon  acquiring  the 
right  of  community,  became  so  many  little  republics, 
governed  by  known  and  equal  laws.  Liberty  \vas  deemed 
such  an  essential  and  characteristic  part  in  their  constitu- 
tion, that  if  any  slave  took  refuge  in  one  of  them,  and 
resided  there  during  a  year  Avithout  being  claimed,  he  Avas 
instantly  declared  a  freeman,  and  admitted  as  a  member  of 
the  community."' 

As  one  part  of  the  people  owed  their  lil)erty  to  the 

^  -'Sbtiii.lTnmljcrli  Bcllojoci.Daclicr.  Spied,  vol.  ix.  182, 185.  ChartaComil. 
Fovcns.  ibid.  193. 


30  GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  INSTITUTIONS.         [sect.  i. 

erection  of  communities,  another  was  indebted  to  them  for 
their  security.  Such  had  been  the  state  of  Europe  during 
several  centuries,  that  self-preservation  obliged  every  man  to 
court  the  patronage  of  some  powerful  baron,  and  in  times 
of  danger  his  castle  was  the  place  to  which  all  resorted  for 
safety.  But  towns  suiTounded  with  walls,  whose  inhabitants 
were  regularly  trained  to  arms,  and  bound  by  interest,  as  well 
as  by  the  most  solemn  engagements,  reciprocally  to  defend 
each  other,  afforded  a  more  commodious  and  secure  retreat. 
The  nobles  began  to  be  considered  as  of  less  importance 
when  they  ceased  to  be  the  sole  guardians  to  whom  the 
people  could  look  up  for  protection  against  violence. 

If  the  nobility  suffered  some  diminution  of  their  credit 
and  power  by  the  privileges  granted  to  the  cities,  the  crown 
acquired  an  increase  of  both.  As  there  were  no  regular 
troops  kept  on  foot  in  any  of  the  feudal  kingdoms,  the 
monarch  could  bring  no  army  into  the  field,  but  what  was 
composed  of  soldiers  furnished  by  the  crown  vassals,  always 
jealous  of  the  regal  authority ;  nor  had  he  any  funds  for 
carrying  on  the  public  service  but  such  as  they  granted 
him  with  a  very  sparing  hand.  But  when  the  members  of 
communities  were  permitted  to  bear  arms,  and  were  trained 
to  the  use  of  them,  this  in  some  degree  supplied  the  first 
defect,  and  gave  the  crown  the  command  of  a  body  of  men, 
independent  of  its  great  vassals.  The  attachment  of  the 
cities  to  their  sovereigns,  whom  they  respected  as  the  first 
authors  of  their  liberties,  and  whom  they  were  obliged  to 
court  as  the  protectors  of  their  immunities  against  the  domi- 
neering spirit  of  the  nobles,  contributed  somewhat  towards 
removing  the  second  evil,  as,  on  many  occasions,  it  pro- 
cured the  crown  supplies  of  money,  which  added  new  force 
to  government. ^^ 

The  acquisition  of  liberty  made  such  a  happy  change  in 
the  condition  of  all  the  members  of  communities,  as  roused 
them  from  that  inaction  into  which  they  had  been  sunk  by 

2-  Ordon.  des  Rois  de  Prauce,  torn.  i.  G02,  785  ;  torn.  ii.  318,  422. 


SECT.  1.]         GllOWTH  or  MUNICIPAL  INSTITUTIONS.  31 

the  wretchedness  of  then-  former  state.  Tlie  sphit  of 
industry  revived.  Commerce  became  an  object  of  at- 
tention, and  began  to  flourisli.  Population  increased. 
Independence  was  estabhshed;  and  wealth  flowed  into 
cities  which  had  long  been  the  seat  of  poverty  and 
oppression.  Wealth  was  accompanied  by  its  usual  atten- 
dants, ostentation  and  luxury ;  and  though  the  former  was 
formal  and  cumbersome,  and  the  latter  inelegant,  they 
led  gradually  to  greater  refinement  in  manners,  and  in  the 
habits  of  life.  Together  with  this  improvement  in  manners, 
a  more  regular  species  of  government  and  police  "was  in- 
troduced. As  cities  grew  to  be  more  popidous,  and  the 
occasions  of  intercourse  among  men  increased,  statutes  and 
regulations  multiplied  of  course,  and  all  became  sensible 
that  their  common  safety  depended  on  observing  them 
with  exactness,  and  on  punishing  such  as  violated  them 
with  promptitude  and  rigour.  Laws  and  subordination,  as 
well  as  polished  manners,  taking  their  rise  on  cities,  diffused 
themselves  insensibly  through  the  rest  of  the  society. 

in.  The  inhabitants  of  cities,  having  obtained  personal 
freedom  and  municipal  jurisdiction,  soon  acquired  civil 
liberty  and  political  power.  It  was  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple in  the  feudal  system  of  policy,  that  no  freeman  could 
be  subjected  to  new  laws  or  taxes  unless  by  his  own  con- 
sent. In  consequence  of  this,  the  vassals  of  every  baron 
were  called  to  his  court,  in  which  they  established,  by 
mutual  consent,  such  regulations  as  they  deemed  most 
beneficial  to  their  small  society,  and  granted  their  superior 
such  supplies  of  money  as  were  proportioned  to  their 
abilities,  or  to  his  wants.  The  barons  themselves,  con- 
formably to  the  same  maxim,  were  admitted  into  the 
supreme  assembly  of  the  nation,  and  concurred  with  the 
sovereign  in  enacting  laws,  or  in  imposing  taxes.  As  the 
superior  lord,  according  to  the  original  plan  of  feudal 
policy,  retained  the  direct  property  of  those  lands  which 
he  granted  in  temporary  possession  to  his  vassals ;  the  law, 
even  after  fiefs  became  hereditary,  still  supposed  this  original 


32  GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  INSTITUTIONS.         [sect.  i. 

])ractice  to  subsist.  The  great  council  of  eacli  nation, 
v/hether  distinguished  by  the  name  of  a  parliament,  a  diet, 
the  cortes,  or  the  states-general,  was  composed  entirely  of 
such  barons  and  dignified  ecclesiastics,  as  held  immediately 
of  the  crown.  Towns,  whether  situated  within  the  royal 
domain  or  on  the  lands  of  a  subject,  depended  originally 
for  protection  on  the  lord  of  whom  tliey  held.  They  had 
no  legal  name,  no  political  existence,  which  could  entitle 
them  to  be  admitted  into  the  legislative  assembly,  or  could 
give  them  any  authority  there.  But  as  soon  as  they  were 
enfranchised,  and  formed  into  bodies  corporate,  they  became 
legal  and  independent  members  of  the  constitution,  and 
acquired  all  the  rights  essential  to  freemen.  Amongst 
these,  the  most  valuable  was,  the  privilege  of  a  decisive  voice 
in  enacting  public  laws,  and  granting  national  subsidies. 
It  was  natural  for  cities,  accustomed  to  a  form  of  municipal 
government,  according  to  which  no  regulation  could  be 
established  within  the  community,  and  no  money  could  be 
raised,  but  by  their  own  consent,  to  claim  this  privilege. 
The  wealth,  the  power,  and  consideration,  which  they 
acquired  on  recovering  their  liberty,  added  weight  to  their 
claim ;  and  favourable  events  happened,  or  fortunate  con- 
junctures occurred,  in  the  different  kingdoms  of  Europe, 
^\  Inch  facilitated  their  obtaining  possession  of  this  impor- 
tant right.  In  England,  one  of  the  first  countries  in  v.  liich 
the  representatives  of  boroughs  were  admitted  into  the 
great  council  of  the  nation,  the  barons  who  took  arms 
against  Henry  III.  [12G5]  sunmioned  them  to  attend  par- 
liament, in  order  to  add  greater  popularity  to  their  party, 
and  to  strengthen  the  barrier  against  the  encroachment  of 
regal  power.  In  Prance,  Philip  the  Pair,  a  monarch  no  less 
sagacious  than  enterprising,  considered  them  as  instru- 
ments which  might  be  employed  with  equal  advantage  to 
extend  the  royal  prerogative,  to  counterbalance  the  exorbi- 
tnnt  power  of  the  nobles,  and  to  facilitate  the  imposition  of 
new  taxes.  With  these  views,  he  introduced  th.e  deputies 
of  such  towns  as  were  formed  into  communities  into  the 


SECT.  I.]         GROWTH  OF  MUNICIPAL  INSTITUTIONS.  33 

states-general  of  the  nation.'^  In  the  empire,  the  wealtli 
and  immnnities  of  the  imperial  cities  placed  them  on  a 
level  with  the  most  considerable  members  of  the  Germanic 
body.  Conscions  of  their  own  power  and  dignity,  they 
pretended  to  the  privilege  of  forming  a  separate  bench  in 
the  diet ;  and  made  good  their  pretensions.^* 

[1293.]  Bnt  in  what  way  soever  the  representatives  of 
cities  first  gained  a  place  in  the  legislature,  that  event  had 
great  influence  on  the  form  and  genius  of  government. 
It  tempered  the  rigour  of  aristocratical  oppression  with 
a  proper  mixture  of  popular  liberty ;  it  secured  to  the  great 
body  of  the  people,  who  had  formerly  no  representatives, 
active  and  powerful  guardians  of  their  rights  and  privileges  ; 
it  established  an  intermediate  power  between  the  king  and 
the  nobles,  to  which  each  had  recourse  alternately,  and 
which  at  some  times  opposed  the  usurpations  of  the  former, 
on  other  occasions  checked  the  encroachments  of  the  latter. 
As  soon  as  the  representatives  of  communities  gained  any 
degree  of  credit  and  influence  in  the  legislature,  the  spirit 
of  laws  became  different  from  what  it  had  formerly  been ; 
it  flowed  from  new  principles ;  it  was  directed  towards  new 
objects ;  equality,  order,  the  public  good,  and  the  redress 
of  grievances,  were  phrases  and  ideas  brought  into  use,  and 
which  grew^  to  be  familiar  in  the  statutes  and  jurisprudence 
of  the  European  nations.  Almost  all  the  efforts  in  favour 
of  liberty  in  every  country  of  Europe  have  been  made  by 
this  new  power  in  the  legislature.  In  proportion  as  it  rose 
to  consideration  and  inffuence,  the  severity  of  the  aristo- 
cratical spirit  decreased ;  and  the  privileges  of  the  people 
became  gradually  more  extensive,  as  the  ancient  and  exor- 
bitant jurisdiction  of  the  nobles  was  abridged.^^'^^ 

IV.  The  inhabitants  of  towns  having  been  declared  free 
by  the  charters  of  communities,  that  part  of  the  people 
which  resided  in  the  country,  and  was  employed  in  agri- 

^  Pasquier,  UecliercLes  de  Ui  Trance,  -'  PfefTcl,  Abrcgc   dc  I'llistoirc  ct 

ap.  81,  edit.  Par.  1633.    ,  Droit  d'Alleniagiie,  pp.  40S,  451. 

VOL.  T.  J) 


34  ENEIIANCHISE:MENT  op  the  people  [s£ct.  I. 

jculture,  began  to  recover  liberty  by  enfranchisement. 
During  the  rigour  of  feudal  government,  as  hath  been 
already  observed,  the  great  body  of  the  lower  people  was 
reduced  to  servitude.  They  were  slaves  fixed  to  the  soil 
which  they  cultivated,  and  together  with  it  were  transferred 
from  one  proprietor  to  another,  by  sale  or  by  conveyance. 
The  spirit  of  feudal  policy  did  not  favour  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  that  order  of  men.  It  was  an  established  maxim, 
that  no  vassal  could  legally  diminish  the  value  of  a  fief,  to 
the  detriment  of  the  lord  from  whom  he  had  received  it. 
In  consequence  of  this,  manumission  by  the  authority  of 
the  immediate  master  was  not  valid;  and  unless  it  was 
confirmed  by  the  superior  lord  of  whom  he  held,  slaves 
belonging  to  the  fief  did  not  acquire  a  complete  right  to 
their  liberty.  Thus  it  became  necessary  to  ascend  through 
all  the  gradations  of  feudal  holding  to  the  king,  the  lord 
paramount.''^  A  form  of  procedure  so  tedious  and  trouble- 
some, discouraged  the  practice  of  manumission.  Domestic 
or  personal  slaves  often  obtained  liberty  from  the  humanity 
or  beneficence  of  their  masters,  to  whom  they  belonged  in 
absolute  property.  The  condition  of  slaves  fixed  to  the 
soil  was  much  more  unalterable. 

But  the  freedom  and  independence  which  one  part  of 
the  people  had  obtained  by  the  institution  of  comnumities, 
inspired  the  other  with  the  most  ardent  desire  of  acquiring 
the  same  privileges;  and  their  superiors,  sensible  of  the 
various  advantages  which  they  had  derived  from  their 
former  concessions  to  their  dependants,  were  less  unwilling 
to  gratify  them  by  the  grant  of  new  immunities.  The  en- 
franchisement of  slaves  became  more  frequent ;  and  the 
nionarchs  of  France,  prompted  by  necessity  no  less  than  by 
their  inclination  to  reduce  the  power  of  the  nobles,  endea- 
voured to  render  it  general,  1315 — 18.  Louis  X.  and 
Philip  the  Long  issued  ordinances,  declaring,  "  that  as  all 
men  were  by  nature  free  born,  and  as  their  kingdom  was 

^*  Establissemeuts  de  St.  Louis,  liv.  ii.  cli.  34.     Ordoii.  torn.  i.  283,  note  (a). 


SECT.  I.]  FROM  FEUDAL  SERVITUDE.  35 

caEed  the  kingdom  of  Franks,  they  determined  that  it 
should  be  so  in  reality  as  well  as  in  name  ;  therefore  they 
appointed  that  enfranchisements  should  be  granted  through- 
out the  whole  kingdom,  upon  just  and  reasonable  condi- 
tions." ^"  These  edicts  were  carried  into  immediate  exe- 
cution within  the  royal  domain.  The  example  of  their 
sovereigns,  together  with  the  expectation  of  considerable 
sums  which  they  might  raise  by  this  expedient,  led  many 
of  the  nobles  to  set  their  dependents  at  liberty  ;  and  servi- 
tude was  gradually  abolished  in  almost  every  province  of 
the  kingdom.  ^^°^  In  Italy,  the  establishment  of  republican 
government  in  their  great  cities,  the  genius  and  maxims 
of  which  were  extremely  different  from  those  of  the  feudal 
policy,  together  with  the  ideas  of  equality,  which  the  pro- 
gress of  commerce  had  rendered  familiar,  gradually  intro- 
duced the  practice  of  enfranchising  the  ancient  jjredUd 
slaves.  In  some  provinces  of  Germany,  the  persons  Avho 
had  been  subject  to  this  species  of  bondage  were  released ; 
in  others,  the  rigour  of  their  state  Avas  mitigated.  In 
England,  as  the  spirit  of  liberty  gained  ground,  the  very 
name  and  idea  of  personal  servitude,  without  any  formal 
interposition  of  the  legislature  to  prohibit  it,  was  totally 
banished. 

The  effects  of  such  a  remarkable  change  in  the  condition 
of  so  great  a  part  of  the  people,  could  not  fail  of  being 
considerable  and  extensive.  The  husbandman,  master  of 
his  own  industry,  and  secure  of  reaping  for  himself  the 
fruits  of  his  labour,  became  the  farmer  of  the  same  fields 
where  he  had  formerly  been  compelled  to  toil  for  the 
benefit  of  another.  The  odious  names  of  master  and  of 
slave,  the  most  mortifying  and  depressing  of  all  distinctions 
to  human  nature,  were  abolished.  New  prospects  opened, 
and  new  incitements  to  ingenuity  and  enterprise  presented 
themselves  to  those  who  were  emancipated.  The  expecta- 
tion of  bettering  their  fortune,  as  well  as  that  of  raising 

2^'  Ordon.  torn.  i.  pp.  583,  653.        -, 
D  2 


36  BEGINNING  OF  A  EEGULAE  [sect.  i. 

themselves  to  a  more  lionom'able  condition,  concurred  in 
calling  forth  their  activity  and  genius ;  and  a  numerous 
class  of  men,  who  formerly  had  no  political  existence,  and 
weve  employed  merely  as  instruments  of  labour,  became 
useful  citizens,  and  contributed  towards  augmenting  the 
force  or  riches  of  the  society  which  adopted  them  as 
members. 

V.  The  various  expedients  which  were  employed  in  order 
to  introduce  a  more  regular,  equal,  and  vigorous  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  contributed  greatly  towards  the  improve- 
ment of  society.  What  were  the  particular  modes  of 
dispensing  justice,  in  their  several  countries,  among  the 
various  barbarous  nations  which  overran  the  Roman  empire, 
and  took  possession  of  its  different  provinces,  cannot  now 
be  determined  with  certainty.  We  may  conclude,  from  the 
form  of  government  established  among  them,  as  well  as 
from  their  ideas  concerning  the  nature  of  society,  that  the 
authority  of  the  magistrate  was  extremely  limited,  and  the 
independence  of  individuals  proportionally  great.  History 
and  records,  as  far  as  these  reach  back,  justify  this  conclu- 
sion, and  represent  the  ideas  and  exercise  of  justice  in  all 
the  countries  of  Europe  as  little  different  from  those  which 
must  take  place  in  the  most  simple  state  of  civil  life.  To 
maintain  the  order  and  tranquillity  of  society  by  the  regular 
execution  of  known  laws ;  to  inflict  vengeance  on  crimes 
destructive  of  the  peace  and  safety  of  individuals,  by  a 
prosecution  carried  on  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority 
of  the  community ;  to  consider  the  punishment  of  criminals 
as  a  public  example  to  deter  others  from  violating  the  laws ; 
were  objects  of  government  little  understood  in  theory,  and 
less  regarded  in  practice.  The  magistrate  could  hardly  be 
said  to  hold  the  sword  of  justice ;  it  was  left  in  the  hands 
of  private  persons.  Resentment  was  almost  the  sole  motive 
for  prosecuting  crimes ;  and  to  gratify  that  passion  was 
considered  as  the  chief  end  in  punishing  them.  He  who 
suffered  the  wrong,  was  the  only  person  who  had  a  right 


SECT.  I.]  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE.  37 

to  pursue  the  aggressor,  and  to  exact  or  to  remit  the 
punishment.  From  a  system  of  judicial  procedure  so  crude 
and  defective,  that  it  seems  to  be  scarcely  compatible  with 
the  subsistence  of  civil  society,  disorder  and  anarchy  flowed. 
Superstition  concurred  with  this  ignorance  concerning  the 
nature  of  government,  in  obstructing  the  administration  of 
justice,  or  in  rendering  it  capricious  and  unequal.  To 
provide  remedies  for  these  evils,  so  as  to  give  a  more 
regular  course  to  justice,  was,  during  several  centuries,  one 
great  object  of  political  wisdom.  The  regulations  for  this 
purpose  may  be  reduced  to  three  general  heads :  to  explain 
these,  and  to  point  out  the  manner  in  wdiich  they  operated, 
is  an  important  article  in  the  history  of  society  among  the 
nations  of  Europe. 

I.  The  first  considerable  step  towards  establishing  an 
equal  administration  of  justice,  was  the  abolishment  of  the 
right  which  individuals  claimed  of  waging  war  with  each 
other,  in  their  own  name,  and  by  their  own  authority.  To 
repel  injuries,  and  to  revenge  Avrongs,  is  no  less  natm'al  to 
man  than  to  cultivate  friendship  ;  and  Avhile  society  remains 
in  its  most  simple  state,  the  former  is  considered  as  a 
personal  right,  no  less  unalienable  than  the  latter.  Nor  do 
men  in  this  situation  deem  that  they  have  a  title  to  redress 
their  own  wrongs  alone  ;  they  are  touched  with  the  injuries 
done  to  those  with  whom  they  are  connected,  or  in  whose 
honour  they  are  interested,  and  are  no  less  prompt  to 
avenge  them.  The  savage,  how  imperfectly  soever  he  may 
comprehend  the  principles  of  political  union,  feels  w-armly 
the  sentiments  of  social  affection,  and  the  obligations 
arising  from  the  ties  of  blood.  On  the  ai)pearance  of  an 
injury  or  affront  offered  to  his  family  or  tribe,  he  kindles 
into  rage,  and  pursues  the  authors  of  it  with  the  keenest 
resentment.  lie  considers  it  as  cowardly  to  expect  redress 
from  any  arm  but  his  own,  and  as  infamous  to  give  up  to 
another  the  right  of  determining  what  reparation  he  should 
accept,  or  v>ith  what  vengeance  he  should  rest  satisfied. 


38  EEDRESS  OF  INJURIES.  [sect.  i. 

The  maxims  and  practice  of  all  uncivilized  nations,  with 
respect  to  the  prosecution  and  punishment  of  offenders,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  ancient  Germans,  and  other  barbarians 
who  invaded  the  Roman  empire,  are  perfectly  conformable 
to  these  ideas.  ^^   While  they  retained  their  native  simplicity 
of  manners,  and  continued  to  be  divided  into  small  tribes 
or  societies,  the  defects  in  this  imperfect  system  of  criminal 
jurisprudence  (if  it  merits  that  name)  were  less  sensibly  felt. 
When  they  came  to  settle  in  the  extensive  provinces  which 
they  had  conquered,  and  to  form  themselves  into  great 
monarchies;  when  new  objects  of  ambition  presenting  them- 
selves, increased  both  the  number  and  the  violence  of  their 
dissensions,  they  ought  to  have  adopted  new  maxims  con- 
cerning the  redress  of  injuries,  and  to  have  regulated,  by 
general  and  equal  laws,  that  which  they  formerly  left  to  be 
directed  by  the  caprice  of  private  passion.     But  fierce  and 
haughty  chieftains,  accustomed  to  avenge  themselves  on  such 
as  had  injured  them,  did  not  think  of  relinquishing  a  right 
which  they  considered  as  a  privilege  of  their  order,  and  a 
mark  of  their  independence.     Laws  enforced  by  the  autho- 
rity of  princes  and  magistrates,  who  possessed  little  power, 
connnanded  no  great  degree  of  reverence.    The  administra- 
tion of  justice  among  rude  illiterate  people  was  not  so  accu- 
rate, or  decisive,  or  uniform,  as  to  induce  men  to  submit 
implicitly  to   its    determinations.     Every  offended   baron 
buckled  on  his  armom-,  and  sought  redress  at  the  head  of 
his  vassals.     His  adversary  met  him  in  like  hostile  array. 
Neither  of  them  appealed  to  impotent  laws,  which  could 
afford  them  no  protection ;  neither  of  them  would  submit 
points,  in  which  their  honour  and  their  passions  were  warmly 
interested,  to  the  slow  determination  of  a  judicial  inquiry. 
Both  trusted  to  their  swords  for  the  decision  of  the  contest. 
The  kindred  and  dependants  of  the  aggressor,  as  well  as  of  the 
defender,. were  involved  in  the  quarrel.    They  had  not  even 
the  liberty  of  remaining  neutral.    Such  as  refused  to  act  in 

^'  Tacit,  de  Mor.  German,  cap.  21.     Veil.  Paterc.  lib.  ii.  c.  118, 


SECT.  I.]  PERNICIOUS  EFFECTS  OF  PRIVATE  WARS.  39 

concert  with  the  party  to  which  they  belonged,  were  not  only 
exposed  to  infamy,  but  subjected  to  legal  penalties. 

The  different  kingdoms  of  Europe  were  torn  and  afflicted, 
during  several  centuries,  by  intestine  wars,  excited  by  pri- 
vate animosities,  and  carried  on  with  all  the  rage  natural  to 
men  of  fierce  manners  and  of  violent  passions.  The  estate 
of  every  baron  was  a  kind  of  independent  territory,  disjoined 
from  those  around  it,  and  the  hostilities  between  them  seldom 
ceased.  The  evil  became  so  inveterate  and  deep-rooted,  that 
the  form  and  laws  of  private  war  were  ascertained,  and  regu- 
lations concerning  it  made  a  part  in  the  system  of  jurispru- 
dence,^^ in  the  same  manner  as  if  this  practice  had  been 
founded  in  some  natural  right  of  humanity,  or  in  the  original 
constitution  of  civil  society. 

So  great  was  the  disorder,  and  such  the  calamities,  which 
these  perpetual  hostilities  occasioned,  that  various  efforts 
were  made  to  wrest  from  the  nobles  this  pernicious  privilege. 
It  was  the  interest  of  every  sovereign  to  abolish  a  practice 
w^hich  almost  annihilated  his  authority.  Charlemagne  pro- 
hibited it  by  an  express  law,  as  an  invention  of  the  devil  to 
destroy  the  order  and  happiness  of  society  ;^^  but  the  reign 
of  one  monarch,  however  vigorous  and  active,  was  too  short 
to  extirpate  a  custom  so  firmly  established.  Instead  of 
enforcing  this  prohibition,  his  feeble  successors  durst  venture 
on  nothing  more  than  to  apply  palliatives.  They  declared 
it  unlawful  for  any  person  to  commence  war,  until  he  had 
sent  a  formal  defiance  to  the  kindred  and  dependants  of  his 
adversary ;  they  ordained  that,  after  the  commission  of  the 
trespass  or  crime  which  gave  rise  to  a  private  war,  forty  days 
must  elapse  before  the  person  injured  should  attack  the 
vassals  of  his  adversary ;  they  enjoined  all  persons  to  suspend 
their  private  animosities,  and  to  cease  from  hostilities,  when 
the  king  was  engaged  in  any  war  against  the  enemies  of  the 
nation.     The  church  cooperated  with  the  civil  magistrate, 

2^  Beaumanoir,  Coustumes  de  Beau-  -^  Capitul.   a.d.  80],    edit.   Baluz. 

voisis,  oh.  59,  et  Ics  notes  de  Thau-      vol.  i.  p.  371. 
massiere,  p.  447. 


40  TRIAL  BY  COMBAT :  [sect.  i. 

and  interposed  its  autliority,  in  order  to  extirpate  a  practice 
so  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Various  councils 
issued  decrees,  prohibiting  all  private  wars  ;  and  denounced 
the  heaviest  anathemas  against  such  as  should  disturb  the 
tranquillity  of  society,  by  claiming  or  exercising  that  bar- 
barous right.  The  aid  of  religion  was  called  in  to  combat 
and  subdue  the  ferocity  of  the  times.  The  Almighty  was 
said  to  have  manifested,  by  visions  and  revelations  to  dif- 
ferent persons,  his  disapprobation  of  that  spirit  of  revenge, 
which  armed  one  part  of  his  creatures  against  the  other. 
Men  were  required,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  sheathe  their 
swords,  and  to  remember  the  sacred  ties  which  united  them 
as  Christians,  and  as  members  of  the  same  society.  But 
this  junction  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority,  though 
strengthened  by  everything  most  apt  to  alarm  and  to  over- 
awe the  credulous  spirit  of  those  ages,  produced  no  other 
effect  than  some  temporary  suspensions  of  hostilities,  and  a 
cessation  from  war  on  certain  days  and  seasons  consecrated 
to  the  more  solemn  acts  of  devotion.  The  nobles  continued 
to  assert  this  dangerous  privilege  ;  they  refused  to  obey  some 
of  the  laws  calculated  to  annul  or  circumscribe  it;  they 
eluded  others  ;  they  petitioned,  they  remonstrated,  they 
strnggled  for  the  right  of  private  war,  as  the  highest  and 
most  honourable  distinction  of  their  order.  Even  so  late  as 
the  fourteenth  century,  we  find  the  nobles,  in  several  pro- 
vinces of  France,  contending  for  their  ancient  method  of 
terminating  their  differences  by  the  sword,  in  preference  to 
that  of  submitting  them  to  the  decision  of  any  judge.  The 
final  abolition  of  this  practice  in  that  kingdom,  and  the  other 
countries  in  which  it  prevailed,  is  not  to  be  ascribed  so  much 
to  the  force  of  statutes  and  decrees,  as  to  the  gradual  increase 
of  the  royal  authority,  and  to  the  imperceptible  progress  of 
juster  sentiments  concerning  government,  order,  and  public 
security. ^-'^ 

2.  The  prohibition  of  the  form  of  trial  by  judicial  com- 
bat, was  another  considerable  step  towards  the  introduction 


SECT.  1.]  CONSEQUENCES  OF  ITS  PROHIBITION.  41 

of  such  regular  government  as  secured  public  order  and 
private  tranquillity.  As  the  right  of  private  war  left  many 
of  the  quarrels  among  individuals  to  be  decided,  like  those 
between  nations,  by  arms ;  the  form  of  trial  by  judicial 
combat,  which  Avas  established  in  every  country  of  Europe, 
banished  equity  from  courts  of  justice,  and  rendered  chance 
or  force  the  arbiter  of  their  determinations.  In  civilized 
nations,  all  transactions  of  any  importance  are  concluded  in 
writing.  The  exhibition  of  the  deed  or  instrument  is  full 
evidence  of  the  fact,  and  ascertains  with  precision  what 
each  party  has  stipulated  to  perform.  But  among  a  rude 
people,  when  the  arts  of  reading  and  writing  were  such 
uncommon  attainments,  that  to  be  master  of  either,  entitled 
a  person  to  the  appellation  of  a  clerk  or  learned  man,  scarcely 
anything  was  committed  to  writing  but  treaties  between 
princes,  their  grants  and  charters  to  their  subjects,  or  such 
transactions  between  private  parties  as  were  of  extraordinary 
consequence,  or  had  an  extensive  effect.  The  greater  part 
of  affairs  in  common  life  and  business  was  carried  on  by 
verbal  contracts  or  promises.  This,  in  many  civil  questions, 
not  only  made  it  difficult  to  bring  proof  sufficient  to 
establish  any  claim,  but  encouraged  falsehood  and  fraud, 
by  rendering  them  extremely  easy.  Even  in  criminal  cases, 
where  a  particular  fact  must  be  ascertained,  or  an  accusa- 
tion must  be  disproved,  the  nature  and  effect  of  legal 
evidence  were  little  understood  by  barbarous  nations.  To 
define  with  accuracy  that  species  of  evidence  which  a  court 
had  reason  to  expect ;  to  determine  when  it  ought  to  insist 
on  positive  proof,  and  when  it  should  be  satisfied  with  a 
proof  from  circumstances ;  to  compare  the  testimony  of 
discordant  witnesses ;  and  to  fix  the  degree  of  credit  due 
to  each ;  were  discussions  too  intricate  and  subtile  for  the 
jurisprudence  of  ignorant  ages.  In  order  to  avoid  encum- 
bering themselves  with  these,  a  more  simple  form  of  pro- 
cedure was  introduced  into  courts  as  well  civil  as  criminal. 
In  all  cases,  where  the  notoriety  of  the  fact  did  not  furnish 


42  JUDICIAL  TESTS.  [sect.  t. 

the  clearest  and  most  direct  evidence,  the  person  accused, 
or  he  against  whom  an  action  was  brought,  was  called  legally, 
or  offered  volimtarily,  to  purge  himself  by  oath ;  and  upon 
his  declaring  his  innocence,  he  was  instantly  accpiitted.^" 
This  absurd  practice  effectually  screened  guilt  and  fraud 
from  detection  and  punishment,  by  rendering  the  tempta- 
tion to  perjury  so  powerful,  that  it  Avas  not  easy  to  resist 
it.  The  pernicious  effects  of  it  were  sensibly  felt ;  and  in 
order  to  guard  against  them,  the  laws  ordained  that  oaths 
should  be  administered  with  great  solemnity,  and  accom- 
panied wdth  every  circumstance  which  could  inspire  reli- 
gious reverence,  or  superstitious  terror.^^  This,  however, 
proved  a  feeble  remedy  :  these  ceremonious  rites  became 
familiar,  and  their  impression  on  the  imagination  gradually 
diminished ;  men  who  could  venture  to  disregard  truth, 
were  not  apt  to  startle  at  the  solemnities  of  an  oath.  Their 
observation  of  this  put  legislators  upon  devising  a  new  ex- 
pedient for  rendering  the  purgation  by  oath  more  certain 
and  satisfactory.  They  required  the  person  accused  to  appear 
with  a  certain  number  of  freemen,  his  neighbours  or  relations, 
who  corroborated  the  oath  which  he  took,  by  swearing  that 
they  believed  all  that  he  had  uttered  to  be  true.  These 
were  called  compurgators,  and  their  number  varied  according 
to  the  importance  of  the  subject  in  dispute,  or  the  nature 
of  the  crime  with  which  a  person  was  charged. ^^  In  some 
cases,  the  concurrence  of  no  less  than  three  hundred  of 
these  auxiliary  Avitnesses  was  requisite  to  acquit  the  person 
accused. ^^  But  even  this  device  was  found  to  be  ineffectual. 
It  was  a  point  of  honour  with  every  man  in  Europe,  during 
several  ages,  not  to  desert  the  chief  on  whom  he  depended, 
and  to  stand  by  those  with  whom  the  ties  of  blood  con- 
nected him.  Whoever  then  was  bold  enough  to  violate  the 
laws,  was  sure  of  devoted  adherents,  willing  to  abet  and 

'°  Leg.  Burgund.  tit.  8,  ct  45.  Leg.  »ze«if«w,  vol.  iii.  p.lGOZ,  edit.Benedict. 
Aleman.  tit.  89.    Leg.  Baiwar.  tit.  8,  ^^  Du  Cange,  ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  1599. 

§§2,  5,  &c.  ^^  Spelmau,    Glossar.  voc.    Assath. 

^^  Du  Cange,   Glossar.  voc.    Jnra-  Gregor.  Turou.  Hist.  lib.  viii.  c.  9. 


SECT.  I.]  THE  ORDEAL  BY  EIRE.  43 

eager  to  serve  liiiii  in  whatever  manner  he  required.  The 
formahty  of  caUing  compurgators  proved  an  apparent,  not 
a  real  security  against  falsehood  and  perjury  ;  and  the  sen- 
tences of  courts,  while  they  continued  to  refer  every  point  in 
question  to  the  oath  of  the  defendant,  became  so  flagrantly 
iniquitous,  as  to  excite  universal  indignation  against  this 
method  of  procedure.^* 

Sensible  of  these  defects,  but  strangers  to  the  manner  of 
correcting  them,  or  of  introdiiciug  a  more  proper  form,  our 
ancestors,  as  an  infallible  method  of  discovering  truth,  and 
of  guarding  against  deception,  appealed  to  heaven,  and 
referred  every  point  in  dispute  to  be  determined,  as  they 
imagined,  by  the  decisions  of  unerring  wisdom  and  im- 
partial justice.  The  person  accused,  in  order  to  prove  his 
innocence,  submitted  to  trial,  in  certain  cases,  either  by 
plunging  his  arm  in  boiling-water,  or  by  lifting  a  red-hot 
iron  with  his  naked  hand ;  or  by  walking  barefoot  over 
burning  ploughshares  ;  or  by  other  experiments  equally 
perilous  and  formidable.  On  other  occasions,  he  chaUenged 
his  accuser  to  fight  him  in  single  combat.  All  these  various 
forms  of  trial  were  conducted  Avith  many  devout  ceremonies  ; 
the  ministers  of  religion  were  employed,  the  Almighty  was 
called  upon  to  interpose  for  the  manifestation  of  guilt,  and 
for  the  protection  of  innoccnee  ;  and  Avhoever  escaped  un- 
hurt, or  came  off  victorious,  was  pronounced  to  be  acquitted 
by  \\\QJud(^ment  of  God?^ 

Among  all  the  Avhimsical  and  absurd  institutions  which 
owe  their  existence  to  the  weakness  of  human  reason,  this, 
which  submitted  questions  that  affected  the  property,  the 
reputation,  and  the  lives  of  men,  to  the  determination  of 
chance,  or  of  bodily  strength  and  address,  appears  to  be  the 
most  extravagant  and  preposterous.  There  were  circum- 
stances, however,  which  led  the  nations  of  Europe  to  consider 
this  equivocal  mode  of  deciding  any  point  in  contest,  as 

^^  Leg.  Langobard.  lib.  ii.  tit.  55,         '^  Murat.  Disseriatio  dc  .Tudiciis  Dei, 
§  34.  Antiquit.  Ital.  vol.  iii.  p.  612. 


44  THE  MARTIAL  SPIRIT,  [sect.  i. 

a  direct  appeal  to  heaven,  and  a  certain  method  of  discover- 
ing its  will.  As  men  are  unable  to  comprehend  the  manner 
in  which  the  Almighty  carries  on  the  government  of  the 
miiverse,  by  equal,  fixed,  and  general  laws,  they  are  apt  to 
imagine,  that  in  every  case  Avliich  their  passions  or  interest 
render  important  in  their  own  eyes,  the  Supreme  Ruler  of 
all  ought  visibly  to  display  his  power  in  vindicating  inno- 
cence and  punishing  guilt.  It  requires  no  inconsiderable 
degree  of  science  and  philosophy  to  correct  this  popular 
error.  But  the  sentiments  prevalent  in  Em^ope  during  the 
dark  ages,  instead  of  correcting,  strengthened  it.  Religion, 
for  several  centuries,  consisted  chiefly  in  believing  the  legen- 
dary history  of  those  saints  whose  names  crowd  and  disgrace 
the  Romish  calendar.  The  fabulous  tales  concerning  their 
miracles  had  been  declared  authentic  by  the  bulls  of  popes 
and  the  decrees  of  councils ;  they  made  the  great  subjects 
of  the  instructions  which  the  clergy  offered  to  the  people, 
and  were  received  by  them  with  implicit  credulity  and 
admiration.  By  attending  to  these,  men  were  accustomed 
to  believe  that  the  established  laws  of  nature  might  be 
violated  on  the  most  frivolous  occasions,  and  were  taught 
to  look  rather  for  particular  and  extraordinary  acts  of  power 
under  the  divine  administration,  than  to  contemplate  the 
regular  progress  and  execution  of  a  general  plan.  One 
superstition  prepared  the  way  for  another;  and  whoever 
believed  that  the  Supreme  Being  had  interposed  miracu- 
lously on  those  trivial  occasions  mentioned  in  legends,  could 
not  but  expect  his  intervention  in  matters  of  greater  im- 
portance, when  solemnly  referred  to  his  decision. 

With  this  superstitious  opinion,  the  martial  spirit  of 
Europe,  during  the  middle  ages,  concurred  in  establishing 
the  mode  of  trial  by  judicial  combat.  To  be  ready  to 
maintain  with  his  sword  whatever  his  lips  had  uttered,  was 
the  first  maxim  of  honour  with  every  gentleman.  To  assert 
their  own  rights  by  force  of  arms,  to  inflict  vengeance  on 
those  who  had  injured  or  affi'onted  them,  were  the  distinc- 


SECT.  I.]  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  45 

tion  and  pride  of  high-spirited  nobles.  The  form  of  trial 
by  combat  coinciding  with  this  maxim,  flattered  and  gratified 
these  passions.  Every  man  was  the  guardian  of  his  own 
honour  and  of  his  own  life  ;  the  justice  of  his  cause,  as  well 
as  his  future  reputation,  depended  on  his  own  courage  and 
prowess.  This  mode  of  deeision  was  considered,  accordingly, 
as  one  of  the  happiest  efforts  of  wise  policy  ;  and  as  soon  as 
it  was  introduced,  all  the  forms  of  trial,  by  fire  or  water, 
and  other  superstitious  experiments,  fell  into  disuse,  or  were 
employed  only  in  controversies  between  persons  of  inferior 
rank.  As  it  was  the  privilege  of  a  gentleman  to  claim  the 
trial  by  combat,  it  was  quickly  authorized  over  all  Europe, 
and  received  in  every  country  with  equal  satisfaction.  Not 
only  questions  concerning  uncertain  or  contested  facts,  but 
general  and  abstract  points  in  law,  were  determined 
by  the  issue  of  a  combat ;  and  the  latter  was  deemed  a 
method  of  discovering  truth  more  liberal,  as  well  as  more 
satisfactory,  than  that  by  investigation  and  argument.  Not 
only  might  parties,  whose  minds  were  exasperated  by  the 
eagerness  and  the  hostility  of  opposition,  defy  their  anta- 
gonist, and  require  him  to  make  good  his  charge,  or  to 
prove  his  innocence,  with  his  sword ;  but  witnesses,  who 
had  no  interest  in  the  issue  of  the  question,  though  called 
to  declare  the  truth  by  laws  which  ought  to  have  afforded 
them  protection,  were  equally  exposed  to  the  danger  of  a 
challenge,  and  equally  bound  to  assert  the  veracity  of  their 
evidence  by  dint  of  arms.  To  complete  the  absurdities  of 
this  military  jurisprudence,  even  the  character  of  a  judge 
was  not  sacred  from  its  violence.  Any  one  of  the  parties 
might  interrupt  a  judge  when  about  to  deliver  his  opinion ; 
might  accuse  him  of  iniquity  and  corruption  in  the  most 
reproachful  terms,  and,  throwing  down  his  gauntlet,  might 
challenge  him  to  defend  his  integrity  in  the  field  ;  nor  could 
he,  without  infamy,  refuse  to  accept  the  defiance,  or  decline 
to  enter  the  lists  against  such  an  adversary. 

Thus  the  form  of  trial  by  combat,  like  other  abuses, 


46  JUDICIAL  COMBAT :  [sect.  i. 

spread  gradually,  and  extended  to  all  persons,  and  almost 
to  all  cases.  Ecclesiastics,  women,  minors,  superannuated 
and  infirm  persons,  who  could  not  with  decency  or  justice 
be  compelled  to  take  arms,  or  to  maintain  their  own  cause, 
were  obliged  to  produce  champions,  who  offered  from 
affection,  or  were  engaged  by  rewards,  to  fight  their  battles. 
The  solemnities  of  a  judicial  combat  were  such  as  were 
natural  in  an  action,  which  was  considered  both  as  a  formal 
appeal  to  God,  and  as  the  final  decision  of  questions  of  the 
highest  moment.  Every  circumstance  relating  to  them 
was  regulated  by  the  edicts  of  princes,  and  explained  in  the 
comments  of  lawyers,  with  a  minute  and  even  superstitious 
accuracy.  Skill  in  these  laws  and  rites  was  frequently 
the  only  science  of  which  warlike  nobles  boasted,  or  which 
they  were  ambitious  to  attain.^" 

By  this  barbarous  custom,  the  natural  course  of  pro- 
ceeding both  in  civil  and  criminal  questions,  was  entirely 
perverted.  Eorce  usurped  the  place  of  equity  in  courts  of 
judicature,  and  justice  was  banished  from  her  proper  man- 
sion. Discernment,  learning,  integrity,  were  qualities  less 
necessary  to  a  judge  than  bodily  strength  and  dexterity  in 
the  use  of  arms.  Daring  courage,  and  superior  vigour  or 
address,  were  of  more  moment  towards  securing  the  favour- 
able issue  of  a  suit,  than  the  equity  of  a  cause,  or  the  clear- 
ness of  the  evidence.  Men,  of  course,  applied  themselves 
to  cultivate  the  talents  which  they  found  to  be  of  greatest 
utility.  As  strength  of  body  and  address  in  arms  were  no 
less  requisite  in  those  lists  which  they  were  obhged  to 
enter  in  defence  of  their  private  rights  than  in  the  field  of 
battle  where  they  met  the  enemies  of  their  country,  it 
became  the  great  object  of  education,  as  well  as  the  chief 
employment  of  life,  to  acquire  these  martial  accomplish- 
ments. The  administration  of  justice,  instead  of  accustom- 
ing men  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  equity,  or  to  reverence  the 

^^  See  a  curious  discourse  concerniug      uncle   to  Eichard   II.,  in   Spelman's 
the  laws  of  judicial  combat,  by  Thomas      Glossar.  voc.  Camims. 
of  Woodstock,    duke   of  Gloucester, 


SECT.  I.]  EXPEDIENTS  EOR  ITS  ABOLITION.  47 

decisions  of  law,  added  to  the  ferocity  of  their  manners, 
and  taught  them  to  consider  force  as  the  great  arbiter  of 
right  and  wrong. 

These  pernicious  effects  of  the  trial  l)y  combat  were  so 
obvious,  that  they  did  not  altogether  escape  the  view  of 
the  unobserving  age  in  which  it  was  introduced.  The 
clergy  from  the  beginning  remonstrated  against  it  as  repug- 
nant to  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  subversive  of  justice 
and  order."  But  the  maxims  and  passions  which  favoured 
it  had  taken  such  hold  of  the  minds  of  men,  that  they  dis- 
regarded admonitions  and  censures,  Avhich,  on  other  occa- 
sions, would  have  struck  them  with  terror.  The  evil  was 
too  great  and  inveterate  to  yield  to  that  remedy,  and  con- 
tinuing to  increase,  the  civil  power  at  length  found  it 
necessary  to  interpose.  Conscious,  however,  of  their  own 
limited  authority,  monarchs  proceeded  with  caution,  and 
their  first  attempts  to  restrain  or  to  set  any  bounds  to  this 
practice  were  extremely  feeble.  One  of  the  earliest  restric- 
tions of  this  practice  which  occurs  in  the  history  of  Europe, 
is  that  of  Henry  I.  of  England.  It  extended  no  farther 
than  to  prohibit  the  trial  by  combat  in  questions  concerning 
property  of  small  value.'^  Louis  VII.  of  Erance  imitated 
his  example,  and  issued  an  edict  to  the  same  effect. ^^  St. 
Louis,  whose  ideas  as  a  legislator  were  far  superior  to  those 
of  his  age,  endeavoured  to  introduce  a  more  perfect  juris- 
prudence, and  to  substitute  the  trial  by  evidence  in  place 
of  that  by  combat ;  but  his  regulations  with  respect  to  this 
were  confined  to  his  own  domains,  for  the  great  vassals  of 
the  crown  possessed  such  independent  authority,  and  were 
so  fondly  attached  to  the  ancient  practice,  that  he  had  not 
power  to  venture  to  extend  it  to  the  whole  kingdom.  Some 
barons  voluntarily  adopted  his  regulations.  The  spirit  of 
courts  of  justice  became  averse  to  the  mode  of  decision  by 
combat,  and  discouraged  it  on  every  occasion.    The  nobles, 

^7  Du  Cange,  Glossar.    voc  Duel-      p  962. 
Iwm,  vol.  ii.  p."l(575.  "'■'  Ordou.  torn.  i.  p.  16. 

*^  Brussel,  Usage  des  Fiefs,  vol.  ii. 


48  SOCLy;.  AND  INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS.  [sect.  i. 

nevertheless,  thought  it  so  honourable  to  depend  for  the 
security  of  their  lives  and  fortunes  on  their  own  courage 
alone,  and  contended  with  so  much  vehemence  for  the 
preservation  of  this  favourite  privilege  of  their  order,  that 
the  successors  of  St.  Louis,  unable  to  oppose,  and  afraid  of 
offending  such  powerful  subjects,  were  obliged  not  only 
to  tolerate,  but  to  authorize  the  practice  which  he  had 
attempted  to  abolish.'"*  In  other  countries  of  Europe  efforts 
equally  zealous  were  employed  to  maintain  the  established 
custom,  and  similar  concessions  "were  extorted  from  their 
respective  sovereigns.  It  continued,  however,  to  be  an 
object  of  policy  with  every  monarch  of  abilities  or  vigour 
to  explode  the  trial  by  combat,  and  various  edicts  were 
issued  for  this  purpose.  But  the  observation  which  was 
made  concerning  the  right  of  private  war,  is  equally  appli- 
cable to  the  mode  of  trial  under  review.  No  custom,  hoAV 
absurd  soever  it  may  be,  if  it  has  subsisted  long,  or  derived 
its  source  from  the  manners  and  prejudices  of  the  age  in 
wdiich  it  prevails,  was  ever  abolished  by  the  bare  promul- 
gation of  laws  and  statutes.  The  sentiments  of  the  people 
must  change,  or  some  new  power  sufficient  to  counteract 
the  prevalent  custom  must  be  introduced.  Such  a  change 
accordingly  took  place  in  Europe,  as  science  gradually 
increased,  and  society  advanced  towards  more  perfect  order. 
In  proportion  as  the  prerogative  of  princes  extended  and 
came  to  acquire  new  force,  a  power  interested  in  suppress- 
ing every  practice  favourable  to  the  independence  of  the 
nobles  Avas  introduced.  The  struggle,  nevertheless,  sub- 
sisted for  several  centuries  ;  sometimes  the  new  regulations 
and  ideas  seemed  to  gain  ground  ;  sometimes  ancient  habits 
recurred :  and  though,  upon  the  whole,  the  trial  by  combat 
went  more  and  more  into  disuse,  yet  instances  of  it  occur 
as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century,  in  the  history  both  of 
France  and  of  England.  In  proportion  as  it  declined,  the 
regular  administration  of  justice  was  restored,  the  pro- 
^^  Ordou.  torn.  i.  pp.  328,  390,  435. 


SECT.  I.J  PRIVILEGE  OF  APPEAL.  49 

ceedings  of  courts  were  directed  by  known  laws,  tlic  study 
of  these  became  an  object  of  attention  to  judges,  and  tlie 
people  of  Europe  advanced  fast  towards  civility,  when  this 
great  cause  of  the  ferocity  of  their  manners  was  removed. ^--^ 
3.  By  authorizing  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  courts  of 
the  barons  to  those  of  the  king,  and  subjecting  the  decisions 
of  the  former  to  the  review  of  the  latter,  a  new  step,  not  less 
considerable  than  those  which  I  have  ah-eady  mentioned, 
was  taken  towards  establishing  the  regular,  consistent,  and 
vigorous  administration  of  justice.  Among  all  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  feudal  nobles  on  the  prerogative  of  their 
monarchs,  their  usurping  the  administration  of  justice  Avith 
supreme  authority,  both  in  civil  and  criminal  causes,  within 
the  precincts  of  theii*  own  estates,  was  the  most  singular. 
In  other  nations  subjects  have  contended  with  their  sove- 
reigns, and  have  endeavoured  to  extend  their  own  power 
and  privileges,  but  in  the  history  of  their  struggles  and 
pretensions  we  discover  nothing  similar  to  this  right  which 
the  feudal  barons  claimed  and  obtained.  It  must  have 
been  something  peculiar  in  their  genius  and  manners  that 
suggested  this  idea,  and  prompted  them  to  insist  on  such 
a  claim.  Among  the  rude  people  who  conquered  the 
various  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  established 
new  kingdoms  there,  the  passion  of  resentment,  too  impe- 
tuous to  bear  control,  was  permitted  to  remain  almost 
imrestrained  by  the  authority  of  laws.  The  person  offended, 
as  has  been  observed,  retained  not  only  the  right  of  pro- 
secuting, but  of  punishing  his  adversary.  To  him  it 
belonged  to  inflict  such  vengeance  as  satiated  his  rage,  or 
to  accept  of  such  satisfaction  as  appeased  it.  But  while 
fierce  barbarians  continued  to  be  the  sole  judges  in  their 
own  cause,  their  enmities  were  implacable  and  immortal ; 
they  set  no  bounds  either  to  the  degree  of  their  vengeance, 
or  to  the  duration  of  their  resentment.  The  excesses  which 
this  occasioned  proved  so  destructive  of  peace  and  order 
in  society,  as  to  render  it  necessary  to  devise  some  remedy. 

VOL.  I.  E 


50  OEIGIN  OF  SUPREME  JURISDICTION  [sect.  i. 

At  first,  recourse  was  had  to  arbitrators,  who,  by  persua- 
sion or  entreaty,  prevailed  on  the  party  offended  to  accept 
of  a  fine  or  composition  from  the  aggressor,  and  to  drop 
all  farther  prosecution.  But  as  submission  to  persons  who 
had  no  legal  or  magisterial  authority  was  altogether  volun- 
tary, it  became  necessary  to  establish  judges,  with  power 
sufficient  to  enforce  their  own  decisions.  The  leader,  whom 
they  were  accustomed  to  follow  and  to  obey,  whose  cou- 
rage they  respected,  and  in  whose  integrity  they  placed 
confidence,  was  the  person  to  whom  a  martial  people 
naturally  committed  this  important  prerogative.  Every 
chieftain  was  the  commander  of  his  tribe  in  war,  and  their 
judge  in  peace.  Every  baron  led  his  vassals  to  the  field, 
and  administered  justice  to  them  in  his  hall.  The  high- 
spirited  dependants  would  not  have  recognised  any  other 
authority,  or  have  submitted  to  any  other  jurisdiction.  But 
in  times  of  turbulence  and  violence,  the  exercise  of  this 
new  function  was  attended  not  only  with  trouble,  but  with 
danger.  No  person  could  assume  the  character  of  a  judge, 
if  he  did  not  possess  power  sufficient  to  protect  the  one 
party  from  the  violence  of  private  revenge,  and  to  compel 
the  other  to  accept  of  such  reparation  as  he  enjoined.  In 
consideration  of  the  extraordinary  efforts  which  this  office 
required,  judges,  besides  the  fine  which  they  appointed  to 
be  paid  as  a  compensation  to  the  person  or  family  who  had 
been  injured,  levied  an  additional  sum  as  a  recompense  for 
their  own  labour ;  and  in  all  the  feudal  kingdoms  the  latter 
was  not  only  as  precisely  ascertained,  but  as  regularly 
exacted  as  the  former. 

Thus,  by  the  natural  operation  of  circumstances  peculiar 
to  the  manners  or  political  state  of  the  feudal  nations, 
separate  and  territorial  jurisdictions  came  not  only  to  be 
established  in  every  kingdom,  but  were  established  in  such 
a  way,  that  the  interest  of  the  barons  concurred  with  their 
ambition  in  maintaining  and  extending  them.  It  was  not 
merely  a  point  of  honour  with  the  feudal  nobles  to  dispense 


SECT.  I.]  OF  THE  NOBILITY.  51 

justice  to  their  vassals ;  but  from  the  exercise  of  that  power 
arose  one  capital  branch  of  their  revenue  ;  and  the  emolu- 
ments of  their  courts  were  frequently  the  main  support  of 
their  dignity.  It  was  with  infinite  zeal  that  they  asserted 
and  defended  this  high  privilege  of  their  order.  By  this 
institution,  however,  every  kingdom  in  Europe  was  split 
into  as  many  separate  principahties  as  it  contained  powerful 
barons.  Their  vassals,  whether  in  peace  or  in  war,  were 
hardly  sensible  of  any  authority  but  that  of  their  immediate 
superior  lord.  They  felt  themselves  subject  to  no  other 
command.  They  were  amenable  to  no  other  jurisdiction. 
The  ties  which  linked  together  these  smaller  confederacies 
became  close  and  firm ;  the  bonds  of  public  union  relaxed, 
or  were  dissolved.  The  nobles  strained  their  invention  in 
devising  regulations  which  tended  to  ascertain  and  perpe- 
tuate this  distinction.  In  order  to  guard  against  any  ap- 
pearance of  subordination  in  their  courts  to  those  of  the 
crown,  they  frequently  constrained  their  monarchs  to  pro- 
hibit the  royal  judges  from  entering  their  territories,  or 
from  claiming  any  jurisdiction  there;  and  if,  either  through 
mistake,  or  from  the  spirit  of  encroachment,  any  royal  judge 
ventured  to  extend  his  authority  to  the  vassals  of  a  baron, 
they  might  plead  their  right  of  exemption,  and  the  lord  of 
whom  they  held  could  not  only  rescue  them  out  of  his 
hands,  but  was  entitled  to  legal  reparation  for  the  injury 
and  affront  offered  to  him.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  royal 
judges  scarcely  reached  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  the 
king's  demesnes.  Instead  of  a  regular  gradation  of  courts, 
all  acknowledging  the  authority  of  the  same  general  laws, 
and  looking  up  to  these  as  the  guides  of  their  decisions, 
there  were  in  every  feudal  kingdom  a  number  of  independent 
tribunals,  the  proceedings  of  which  were  directed  by  local 
customs  and  contradictory  forms.  The  collision  of  juris- 
diction among  these  different  courts  often  retarded  the 
execution  of  justice :  the  variety  and  caprice  of  their 
modes  of  procedure  must  have  for  ever  kept  the  admiiiistra- 


52  JURISDICTION  OF  THE  NOBILITY.  [sect.  i. 

tion  of  it  from  attaining  any  degree  of  uniformity  or  per- 
fection. 

All  the  monarclis  of  Europe  perceived  these  encroachments 
on  tlieu'  jurisdiction,  and  bore  them  with  impatience.  But 
the  usurpations  of  the  nobles  were  so  firmly  established, 
and  the  danger  of  endeavouring  to  overturn  them  by  open 
force  was  so  manifest,  that  kings  were  obliged  to  remain 
satisfied  with  attempts  to  undermine  them.  Various  expe- 
dients were  employed  for  this  purpose,  each  of  which 
merits  attention,  as  they  mark  the  progress  of  law  and 
equity  in  the  several  kingdoms  of  Em-ope.  At  first,  princes 
endeavom'ed  to  circumscribe  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bai'ons, 
by  contending  that  they  ought  to  take  cognisance  only  of 
smaller  off'ences  ;  reserving  those  of  greater  moment,  under 
the  appellation  of  pleas  of  the  croivn,  and  ro^al  causes,  to 
be  tried  in  the  king's  courts.  This,  however,  afi'ected  only 
the  barons  of  inferior  note ;  the  more  powerful  nobles 
scorned  such  a  distinction,  and  not  only  claimed  unlimited 
jurisdiction,  but  obliged  their  sovereigns  to  grant  them 
charters,  conveying  or  recognising  this  privilege  in  the 
most  ample  form.  The  attempt,  nevertheless,  was  pro- 
ductive of  some  good  consequences,  and  paved  the  way  for 
more.  It  turned  the  attention  of  men  towards  a  jurisdiction 
distinct  from  that  of  the  baron  Avhose  vassals  they  were ; 
it  accustomed  them  to  the  pretensions  of  superiority  which 
the  crown  claimed  over  territorial  judges ;  and  taught  them, 
when  oppressed  by  their  own  superior  lord,  to  look  up  to 
their  sovereign  as  their  protector.  This  facilitated  the  in- 
troduction of  appeals,  by  which  princes  brought  the  decisions 
of  the  barons'  courts  under  the  review  of  the  royal  judges. 
While  trial  by  combat  subsisted  in  full  vigour,  no  point 
decided  according  to  that  mode  could  be  brought  under 
the  review  of  another  court.  It  had  been  referred  to  the 
judgment  of  God;  the  issue  of  battle  had  declared  his  will; 
and  it  would  have  been  impious  to  have  called  in  cjuestion 
the  equity  of  the  divine  decision.     But  as  soon  as  that 


SECT.  I.]  ATTEMPTS  TO  LIMIT  IT.  53 

barbarous  custom  began  to  fall  into  disuse,  princes  encou- 
raged the  vassals  of  the  barons  to  sue  for  redress,  by  ap- 
pealing to  the  royal  courts.  The  progress  of  this  practice, 
however,  was  slow  and  gradual.  The  first  instances  of 
appeals  were  on  account  of  the  delay  or  the  refusal  of  justice 
in  the  barons'  court ;  and  as  these  were  countenanced  by 
the  ideas  of  subordination  in  the  feudal  constitution,  the 
nobles  allowed  them  to  be  introduced  without  much  oppo- 
sition. But  when  these  were  followed  by  appeals  on  account 
of  the  injustice  or  iniqidty  of  the  sentence^  the  nobles  then 
began  to  be  sensible,  that,  if  this  innovation  became  general, 
the  shadow  of  power  alone  would  remain  in  their  hands, 
and  all  real  authority  and  jurisdiction  would  centre  in  those 
courts  which  possessed  the  right  of  review.  They  instantly 
took  the  alarm,  remonstrated  against  the  encroachment,  and 
contended  boldly  for  their  ancient  privileges.  But  the 
monarchs  in  the  different  kingdoms  of  Europe  pm-sued 
their  plan  with  steadiness  and  prudence.  Though  forced 
to  suspend  their  operations  on  some  occasions,  and  seem- 
ingly to  yield  when  any  formidable  confederacy  of  their 
vassals  united  against  them,  they  resumed  their  measures 
as  soon  as  they  observed  the  nobles  to  be  remiss  or  feeble, 
and  pushed  them  with  vigour.  They  appointed  the  royal 
courts,  Avhich  originally  were  ambulatory,  and  irregular 
with  respect  to  their  times  of  meeting,  to  be  held  in  a  fixed 
place  and  at  stated  seasons.  They  were  solicitous  to  name 
judges  of  more  distinguished  abilities  than  such  as  usually 
presided  in  the  comis  of  the  barons.  They  added  dignity 
to  their  character,  and  splendour  to  their  assemblies.  They 
laboured  to  render  their  forms  regidar  and  their  decrees 
consistent.  Such  judicatories  became,  of  course,  the  objects 
of  public  confidence  as  well  as  veneration.  The  people 
relinquishing  the  tribunals  of  their  lords,  were  eager  to 
bring  every  subject  of  contest  under  the  more  equal  and 
discerning  eye  of  those  whom  their  sovereign  had  chosen 
to  give  judgment  in  his  name.     Thus  kings  became  once 


54  ECCLESIASTICAL  COURTS :  [sect.  i. 

more  the  heads  of  the  community,  and  the  dispensers  of 
justice  to  their  subjects.  The  barons,  in  some  kingdoms, 
ceased  to  exercise  their  right  of  jurisdiction,  because  it  sunk 
into  contempt ;  in  others,  it  was  circumscribed  by  such 
regulations  as  rendered  it  innocent,  or  it  was  entirely 
abolished  by  express  statutes.  Thus  the  administration  of 
justice,  taking  its  rise  from  one  source,  and  following  one 
direction,  held  its  course  in  every  state  with  more  uniformity, 
and  with  greater  force.  ^^^^ 

VI.  The  forms  and  maxims  of  the  canon  law,  which  were 
become  universally  respectable,  from  their  authority  in  the 
spiritual  courts,  contributed  not  a  little  towards  those  im- 
provements in  jurisprudence  which  I  have  enumerated.  If 
we  consider  the  canon  law  politically,  and  view  it  either  as 
a  system  framed  on  purpose  to  assist  the  clergy  in  usurping 
powers  and  jurisdiction  no  less  repugnant  to  the  nature 
of  their  function,  than  inconsistent  with  the  order  of  go- 
vernment ;  or  as  the  chief  instrument  in  establishing  the 
dominion  of  the  popes,  w^hich  shook  the  throne,  and  en- 
dangered the  liberties  of  every  kingdom  in  Europe,  we 
must  pronounce  it  one  of  the  most  formidable  engines  ever 
formed  against  the  happiness  of  civil  society,- '  But  if  we 
contemplate  it  merely  as  a  code  of  laws  respecting  the  rights 
and  property  of  individuals,  and  attend  only  to  the  civil 
effects  of  its  decisions  concerning  these,  it  will  appear  in  a 
different,  and  a  much  more  favourable  light.  In  ages  of 
ignorance  and  credulity,  the  ministers  of  religion  are  the 
objects  of  superstitious  veneration.  When  the  barbarians 
who  overran  the  Roman  empii'e  first  embraced  the  Christian 
faith,  they  found  the  clergy  in  possession  of  considerable 
power ;  and  they  naturally  transferred  to  those  new  guides 
the  profound  submission  and  reverence  which  they  were 
accustomed  to  yield  to  the  priests  of  that  religion  which 
they  had  forsaken.  They  deemed  their  persons  to  be 
equally  sacred  with  their  function ;  and  Avould  have  con- 
sidered it  as  impious  to  sul)ject  them  to  the  profane  juris- 


SECT.  1.]  THEIU  CONSTITUTION.  65 

diction  of  the  laity.  The  clergy  were  not  blind  to  these 
advantages  which  the  weakness  of  mankind  afforded  them. 
They  established  courts,  in  which  every  question  relating  to 
their  own  character,  their  function,  or  their  property,  was 
tried.  They  pleaded  and  obtained  an  almost  total  exemption 
from  the  authority  of  civil  judges.  Upon  different  pretexts, 
and  by  a  multiplicity  of  artifices,  they  communicated  this 
privilege  to  so  many  persons,  and  extended  their  jurisdiction 
to  such  a  variety  of  cases,  that  the  greater  part  of  those 
affairs  which  give  rise  to  contest  and  Htigation,  was  draAvn 
under  the  cognizance  of  the  spiritual  courts. 

But,  in  order  to  dispose  the  laity  to  suffer  these  usurpa- 
tions without  murmur  or  opposition,  it  was  necessary  to 
convince  them,  that  the  administration  of  justice  would  be 
rendered  more  perfect  by  the  establishment  of  this  new 
jurisdiction.  This  was  not  a  difficult  undertaking  at  that 
period,  when  ecclesiastics  carried  on  their  encroachments 
with  the  greatest  success.  That  scanty  portion  of  science 
which  served  to  guide  men  in  the  ages  of  darkness,  was 
almost  entirely  engrossed  by  the  clergy.  They  alone  were 
accustomed  to  read,  to  inquire,  and  to  reason.  Whatever 
knowledge  of  ancient  jurisprudence  had  been  preserved, 
either  by  tradition,  or  in  such  books  as  had  escaped  the 
destructive  rage  of  barbarians,  was  possessed  by  them. 
Upon  the  maxims  of  that  excellent  system,  they  founded  a 
code  of  laws  consonant  to  the  great  principles  of  equity. 
Being  directed  by  fixed  and  known  rules,  the  forms  of  their 
courts  were  ascertained,  and  their  decisions  became  uniform 
and  consistent.  Nor  did  they  want  authority  sufficient  to 
enforce  their  sentences.  Excommunication  and  other  eccle- 
siastical censures  were  punishments  more  formidable  than 
any  that  civil  judges  could  inflict  in  support  of  their  decrees. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  ecclesiastical  jurispru- 
dence should  become  such  an  object  of  admiration  and 
respect,  that  exemption  from  civil  jurisdiction  was  courted 
as  a  privilege,  and  conferred  as  a  reward.     It  is  not  sur- 


56  STATE  OE  EUEOPE  AT  THE  [sect.  i. 

prising  that,  even  to  a  rnde  people,  the  maxims  of  the 
canon  law  should  appear  more  equal  and  just  than  those  of 
the  ill-digested  jurisprudence  which  directed  all  proceedings 
in  civil  courts.  According  to  the  latter,  the  differences 
between  contending  barons  were  terminated,  as  in  a  state 
of  nature,  by  the  sword;  according  to  the  former,  every 
matter  was  subjected  to  the  decision  of  laws.  The  one,  by 
permitting  judicial  combats,  left  chance  and  force  to  be 
arbiters  of  right  or  wrong,  of  truth  or  falsehood ;  the  other 
passed  judgment  with  respect  to  these  by  the  maxims  of 
equity,  and  the  testimony  of  witnesses.  Any  error  or  ini- 
quity in  a  sentence  pronounced  by  a  baron  to  Avhom  feudal 
jurisdiction  belonged,  was  irremediable,  because  originally 
it  was  subject  to  the  review  of  no  superior  tribunal ;  the 
ecclesiastical  law  established  a  regular  gradation  of  courts, 
through  all  which  a  cause  might  be  carried  by  appeal,  until 
it  was  determined  by  that  authority  which  was  held  to  be 
supreme  in  the  church.  Thus  the  genius  and  principles  of 
the  canon  law  prepared  men  for  approving  those  three  great 
alterations  in  the  feudal  jurisprudence  which  I  have  men- 
tioned. But  it  was  not  with  respect  to  these  points  alone 
that  the  canon  law  suggested  improvements  beneficial  to 
society.  Many  of  the  regulations,  now  deemed  the  barriers 
of  personal  security,  or  the  safeguards  of  private  property, 
are  contrary  to  the  spirit,  and  repugnant  to  the  maxims,  of 
the  civil  jurisprudence  known  in  Europe  during  several 
centuries,  and  were  borrowed  from  the  rules  and  practice 
of  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  By  observing  the  wisdom  and 
equity  of  the  decisions  in  these  courts,  men  began  to  per- 
ceive the  necessity  either  of  deserting  the  martial  tribunals 
of  the  barons,  or  of  attempting  to  reform  them.'^^*^ 

VII.  The  revival  of  the  knowledge  and  study  of  the 
Roman  law  cooperated  with  the  causes  which  I  have  men- 
tioned, in  introducing  more  just  and  liberal  ideas  concern- 
ing the  nature  of  government,  and  the  administration  of 
justice.     Among  the  calamities  which  the  devastations  of 


SECT.  I.]         DISCOVERY  OF  THE  CODE  OF  JUSTINIAN.  57 

the  barbarians  who  broke  in  upon  the  empire  brought  upon 
mankind,  one  of  the  greatest  was  their  overturning  the 
system  of  Roman  jurisprudence,  the  noblest  monument  of 
the  wisdom  of  that  great  people,  formed  to  subdue  Jind  to 
govern  the  world.  The  laws  and  regulations  of  a  civilized 
community  were  repugnant  to  the  manners  and  ideas  of 
these  fierce  invaders.  They  had  respect  to  objects  of  which 
a  rude  people  had  no  conception ;  and  were  adapted  to 
a  state  of  society  with  which  they  were  entirely  unac- 
quainted. For  this  reason,  wherever  they  settled,  the  Roman 
jurisprudence  soon  sunk  into  oblivion,  and  lay  buried 
for  some  centuries  under  the  load  of  those  institutions 
which  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  dignified  with  the  name 
of  laws.  But  towards  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century, 
a  copy  of  Justinian's  Pandects  was  accidentally  discovered 
in  Italy.  By  that  time,  the  state  of  society  was  so  far 
advanced,  and  the  ideas  of  men  so  much  enlarged  and 
improved  by  the  occmTcnces  of  several  centuries,  during 
which  they  had  continued  in  political  union,  that  they  were 
struck  with  admiration  of  a  system  which  their  ancestors 
could  not  comprehend.  Though  they  had  not  hitherto 
attained  such  a  degree  of  refinement,  as  to  acquire  from  the 
ancients  a  relish  for  true  philosophy  or  speculative  science ; 
though  they  were  still  insensible,  in  a  great  degree,  to  the 
beauty  and  elegance  of  classical  composition ;  they  Avere 
sufficiently  qualified  to  judge  with  respect  to  the  merit  of 
their  system  of  laws,  in  which  all  the  points  most  interest- 
ing to  mankind  were  settled  with  discernment,  precision, 
and  equity.  All  men  of  letters  studied  this  new  science 
with  eagerness ;  and  within  a  few  years  after  the  discovery 
of  the  Pandects,  professors  of  civil  law  were  appointed,  who 
taught  it  publicly  in  most  countries  of  Europe. 

The  effects  of  having  such  an  excellent  model  to  study 
and  to  imitate  were  immediately  perceived.  Men,  as  soon 
as  they  were  acquainted  with  fixed  and  general  laws,  per- 
ceived the  advantage  of  them,  and  became  impatient  to 


58  IMPROVED  SOCIAL  RELATIONS.  [sect.  i. 

ascertain  the  principles  and  forms  by  which  judges  shoukl 
regulate  their  decisions.  Such  was  the  ardour  with  which 
they  carried  on  an  undertaking"  of  so  great  importance  to 
society,  that,  before  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  the 
feudal  law  was  reduced  into  a  regular  system ;  the  code  of 
canon  law  was  enlarged  and  methodized ;  and  the  loose 
uncertain  customs  of  different  provinces  or  kingdoms  were 
collected  and  arranged  with  an  order  and  accuracy  acquired 
from  the  knowledge  of  Roman  jurisprudence.  In  some 
countries  of  Europe  the  Roman  law  was  adopted  as  subsi- 
diary to  their  own  municipal  law ;  and  all  cases  to  which 
the  latter  did  not  extend,  were  decided  according  to  the 
principles  of  the  former.  In  others,  the  maxims  as  well  as 
forms  of  Roman  jurisprudence,  mingled  imperceptibly  with 
the  laws  of  the  country,  and  had  a  powerful  though  less 
sensible  influence  in  improving  and  perfecting  them."^^^^ 

These  various  improvements  in  the  system  of  jurispru- 
dence, and  administration  of  justice,  occasioned  a  change 
in  manners,  of  great  importance  and  of  extensive  effect. 
They  gave  rise  to  a  distinction  of  professions ;  they  obliged 
men  to  cultivate  different  talents,  and  to  aim  at  different 
accomplishments,  in  order  to  qualify  themselves  for  the 
various  departments  and  functions  which  became  necessary 
in  society .^^  Among  uncivihzed  nations,  there  is  but  one 
profession  honourable,  that  of  arms.  All  the  ingenuity 
and  vigour  of  the  human  mind  are  exerted  in  acquiring 
military  skill  or  address.  The  functions  of  peace  are  few 
and  simple,  and  require  no  particular  course  of  education 
or  of  study  as  a  preparation  for  discharging  them.  This 
was  the  state  of  Europe  during  several  centuries.  Every 
gentleman,  born  a  soldier,  scorned  any  other  occupation ; 
he  was  taught  no  science  but  that  of  war ;  even  his  exer- 
cises and  pastimes  were  feats  of  martial  prowess.  Nor  did 
the  judicial  character,  which  persons  of  noble  birth  were 
alone  entitled  to  assume,  demand  any  degree  of  knowledge 

^'  Dr.  Fergussou's  Essay  on  the  History  of  Civil  Society,  pari.  iv.  sect.  i. 


SECT.  I.]  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE.  69 

beyond  that  wliicli  such  untutored  soldiers  possessed.  To 
recollect  a  few  traditionary  customs  which  time  had  con- 
firmed, and  rendered  respectable ;  to  mark  out  the  lists  of 
battle  with  due  formality;  to  observe  the  issue  of  the 
combat ;  and  to  pronounce  whether  it  had  been  conducted 
according  to  the  laws  of  arms,  included  everything  that  a 
baron,  who  acted  as  a  judge,  found  it  necessary  to  under- 
stand. 

But  when  the  forms  of  legal  proceedings  were  fixed, 
when  the  rules  of  decision  were  committed  to  writing,  and 
collected  into  a  body,  law  became  a  science,  the  knowledge 
of  which  required  a  regular  course  of  study,  together  with 
long  attention  to  the  practice  of  courts."  Martial  and  illi- 
terate nobles  had  neither  leisure  nor  inclination  to  under- 
take a  task  so  laborious,  as  well  as  so  foreign  from  all  the 
occupations  which  they  deemed  entertaining,  or  suitable 
to  their  rank.  They  gradually  relinquished  their  places  in 
courts  of  justice,  where  their  ignorance  exposed  them  to 
contempt.  They  became  weary  of  attending  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  cases,  which  grew  too  intricate  for  them  to 
comprehend.  Not  only  the  judicial  determination  of 
points  which  were  the  subject  of  controversy,  but  the 
conduct  of  all  legal  business  and  transactions,  was  com- 
mitted to  persons  trained  by  previous  study  and  applica- 
tion to  the  knowledge  of  law.  An  order  of  men,  to  whom 
their  fellow-citizens  had  daily  recourse  for  advice,  and 
to  whom  they  looked  up  for  decision  in  their  most  impor- 
tant concerns,  naturally  acquired  consideration  and  influ- 
ence in  society.  They  were  advanced  to  honours  which 
had  been  considered  hitherto  as  the  peculiar  rewards  of 
military  virtue.  They  were  intrusted  with  offices  of  the 
highest  dignity  and  most  extensive  power.  Thus,  another 
profession  than  that  of  arms  came  to  be  introduced  among 
the  laity,  and  was  reputed  honourable.  The  functions  of 
civil  life  were  attended  to.  The  talents  requisite  for 
discharging  them  were  cultivated.  A  new  road  was  opened 


60  INSTITUTION  OF  CHIVALRY.  [sect.  i. 

to  '\Ycaltli  and  eminence.  The  arts  and  virtues  of  peace 
were  placed  in  their  proper  rank,  and  received  their  due 
recompense. '^"''^ 

VIII.  While  improvements,  so  important  with  respect 
to  the  state  of  society  and  the  administration  of  justice, 
gradually  made  progress  in  Europe,  sentiments  more  liberal 
and  generous  had  begun  to  animate  the  nobles.  These 
were  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  which,  though 
considered,  commonly,  as  a  wild  institution,  the  effect  of 
caprice,  and  the  source  of  extravagance,  arose  naturally 
from  the  state  of  society  at  ^hat  period,  and  had  a  very 
serious  influence  in  refining  the  manners  of  the  European 
nations.  The  feudal  state  was  a  state  of  almost  perpetual 
war,  rapine,  and  anarchy,  during  which  the  weak  and 
unarmed  were  exposed  to  insults  or  injuries.  The  power 
of  the  sovereign  was  too  limited  to  prevent  these  wrongs ; 
and  the  administration  of  justice  too  feeble  to  redress 
them.  The  most  effectual  protection  against  violence  and 
oppression  was  often  found  to  be  that  which  the  valour 
and  generosity  of  private  persons  afforded.  The  same 
spirit  of  enterprise  which  had  prompted  so  many  gentle- 
men to  take  arms  in  defence  of  the  oppressed  pilgrims  in 
Palestine,  incited  others  to  declare  themselves  the  patrons 
and  avengers  of  injured  innocence  at  home.  When  the 
final  reduction  of  the  Holy  Land  under  the  dominion  of 
infidels  put  an  end  to  these  foreign  expeditions,  the  latter 
was  the  only  employment  left  for  the  activity  and  com'age 
of  adventurers.  To  check  the  insolence  of  overgrown 
oppressors ;  to  rescue  the  helpless  from  captivity ;  to  pro- 
tect or  to  avenge  women,  orphans,  and  ecclesiastics,  who 
could  not  bear  arms  in  their  own  defence ;  to  redress 
wrongs,  and  to  remove  grievances,  were  deemed  acts  of 
the  highest  prowess  and  merit.  Valour,  humanity,  cour- 
tesy, justice,  honour,  were  the  characteristic  qualities  of 
chivalry.  To  these  was  added  religion,  which  mingled 
itself  with  every  passion  and  institution  during  the  middle 


SECT.  I.]  ITS  BENEFICIAL  EFFECTS.  61 

ages,  and,  by  infusing  a  large  proportion  of  enthusiastic 
zeal,  gave  them  such  force  as  carried  them  to  romantic 
excess.  Men  Avere  trained  to  knighthood  by  a  long  pre- 
vious discipline ;  they  were  admitted  into  the  order  by 
solemnities  no  less  devout  than  pompous ;  every  person  of 
noble  birth  courted  that  honour ;  it  was  deemed  a  distinc- 
tion superior  to  royalty ;  and  monarchs  were  proud  to 
receive  it  from  the  hands  of  private  gentlemen. 

This  singular  institution,  in  which  valour,  gallantry,  and 
religion,  were  so  strangely  blended,  was  wonderfully  adapted 
to  the  taste  and  genius  of  martial  nobles ;  and  its  effects 
were  soon  visible  in  their  manners.  AVar  was  carried  on 
with  less  ferocity,  when  humanity  came  to  be  deemed  the 
ornament  of  knightliood  no  less  than  courage.  More 
gentle  and  polished  manners  were  introduced,  when  cour- 
tesy was  recommended  as  the  most  amiable  of  knightly 
virtues.  Violence  and  oppression  decreased,  when  it  was 
reckoned  meritorious  to  check  and  to  punish  them.  A 
scrupulous  adherence  to  truth,  with  the  most  religious 
attention  to  fulfil  every  engagement,  became  the  distin- 
guishing characteristic  of  a  gentleman,  because  chivalry 
was  regarded  as  the  school  of  honour,  and  inculcated  the 
most  delicate  sensibility  with  respect  to  those  points.  The 
admiration  of  these  qualities,  together  with  the  high  dis- 
tinctions and  prerogatives  conferred  on  knighthood  in 
every  part  of  Em^ope,  inspii-ed  persons  of  noble  birth  on 
some  occasions  with  a  species  of  military  fanaticism,  and 
led  them  to  extravagant  enterprises.  But  they  deeply 
imprinted  on  their  minds  the  principles  of  generosity  and 
honom\  These  were  strengthened  by  everything  that  can 
affect  the  senses  or  touch  the  heart.  The  wild  exploits  of 
those  romantic  knights  who  sallied  forth  in  quest  of  adven- 
tm-es  are  well  known,  and  have  been  treated  with  proper 
ridicule.  The  political  and  permanent  effects  of  the  spnit 
of  chivalry  have  been  less  observed.  Perhaps  the  humanity 
which  accompanies  all  the  operations  of  war,  the  refine- 


62  EEVIVAL  OF  LEARNING.  [sect.  i. 

ments  of  gallantry,  and  the  point  of  honour,  the  three  chief 
circumstances  which  distinguish  modern  from  ancient  man- 
ners, may  be  ascribed  in  a  great  measure  to  this  institution, 
which  has  appeared  whimsical  to  superficial  observers,  but 
by  its  effects  has  proved  of  great  benefit  to  mankind.  The 
sentiments  which  chivalry  inspired,  had  a  Avonderful  influ- 
ence on  manners  and  conduct  during  the  twelfth,  thirteenth, 
fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  centmies.  They  were  so  deeply 
rooted,  that  they  continued  to  operate  after  the  vigour  and 
reputation  of  the  institution  itself  began  to  decline.  Some 
considerable  transactions  recorded  in  the  following  history 
resemble  the  adventurous  exploits  of  chivalry,  rather  than 
the  well-regulated  operations  of  sound  policy.  Some  of 
the  most  eminent  personages,  whose  characters  will  be 
delineated,  were  strongly  tinctured  with  this  romantic 
spirit.  Francis  I.  was  ambitious  to  distinguish  himself 
by  all  the  qualities  of  an  accomplished  knight,  and  endea- 
voured to  imitate  the  enterprising  genius  of  chivalry  in 
war,  as  well  as  its  pomp  and  courtesy  during  peace.  The 
fame  which  the  French  monarch  acquired  by  these  splendid 
actions,  so  far  dazzled  his  more  temperate  rival,  that  he 
departed  on  some  occasions  from  his  usual  prudence  and 
moderation,  and  emidated  Francis  in  deeds  of  prowess  or 
of  gallantry. '^■'^^ 

IX.  The  progress  of  science,  and  the  cultivation  of 
literature,  had  considerable  effect  in  changing  the  manners 
of  the  European  nations,  and  introducing  that  civility  and 
refinement  by  which  they  are  now  distinguished.  At  the 
time  when  their  empire  was  overturned,  the  Romans, 
though  they  had  lost  that  correct  taste  which  has  rendered 
the  productions  of  their  ancestors  standards  of  excellence, 
and  models  of  imitation  for  succeeding  ages,  still  preserved 
their  love  of  letters,  and  cultivated  the  arts  with  great 
ardour.  But  rude  barbarians  were  so  far  from  being  struck 
with  any  admiration  of  these  unknown  accomplishments, 
that  they  despised  them.     They  were  not  arrived  at  that 


SECT.  I.]  IGNORANCE  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  63 

state  of  society,  when  those  faculties  of  the  human  mind 
which  have  beauty  and  elegance  for  their  objects  begin  to 
unfold  themselves.  They  were  strangers  to  most  of  those 
wants  and  desires  which  are  the  parents  of  ingenious  in- 
vention ;  and  as  they  did  not  comprehend  either  the  merit 
or  utility  of  the  Roman  arts,  they  destroyed  the  monuments 
of  them,  with  an  industry  not  inferior  to  that  with  Avhicli 
their  posterity  have  since  studied  to  preserve  or  to  recover 
them.  The  convulsions  occasioned  by  the  settlement  of  so 
many  unpolished  tribes  in  the  empire  ;  the  frequent  as  well 
as  violent  revolutions  in  every  kingdom  which  they  estab- 
lished ;  together  with  the  interior  defects  in  the  form  of 
government  which  they  introduced,  banished  security  and 
leisure,  prevented  the  growth  of  taste,  or  the  culture  of 
science,  and  kept  Europe,  during  several  centuries,  in  that 
state  of  ignorance  which  has  been  already  described.  But 
the  events  and  institutions  which  I  have  enumerated  pro- 
duced great  alterations  in  society.  As  soon  as  their 
operation,  in  restoring  liberty  and  independence  to  one 
part  of  the  community,  began  to  be  felt ;  as  soon  as  they 
began  to  communicate  to  all  the  members  of  society  some 
taste  of  the  advantages  arising  from  commerce,  from  public 
order,  and  from  personal  security,  the  human  mind  became 
conscious  of  powers  which  it  did  not  formerly  perceive,  and 
fond  of  occupations  or  pursuits  of  wdiich  it  was  formerly 
incapable.  Towards  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century, 
we  discern  the  first  symptoms  of  its  awakening  from  that 
lethargy  in  which  it  had  been  long  sunk,  and  observe  it 
turning  with  curiosity  and  attention  towards  new  objects. 

The  first  literary  efforts,  however,  of  the  European 
nations  in  the  middle  ages  were  extremely  ill-directed. 
Among  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  the  powers  of  ima- 
gination attain  some  degree  of  vigour  before  the  intellectual 
faculties  are  much  exercised  in  speculative  or  abstract  dis- 
quisition. Men  are  poets  before  they  are  philosophers ; 
they  feel  with  sensibility,  and  describe  with  force,  when 


64  SCHOLASTIC  THEOLOGY.  [sect,  i 

they  have  made  but  httle  progress  in  investigation  or 
reasoning.  The  age  of  Homer  and  of  Hesiod  long  preceded 
that  of  Thales  or  of  Socrates.  But,  unhappily  for  literature, 
our  ancestors,  deviating  from  this  coui"se  which  nature 
points  out,  plunged  at  once  into  the  depths  of  abstruse  and 
metaphysical  inquiry.  They  had  been  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith  soon  after  they  settled  in  their  new  con- 
quests. But  they  did  not  receive  it  pure :  the  presumption 
of  men  had  added  to  the  simple  and  instructive  doctrines 
of  Christianity  the  theories  of  a  vain  philosophy,  that 
attempted  to  penetrate  into  mysteries,  and  to  decide 
questions  which  the  limited  faculties  of  the  human  mind 
are  unable  to  comprehend  or  to  resolve.  These  over-curious 
speculations  were  incorporated  with  the  system  of  rehgion, 
and  came  to  be  considered  as  the  most  essential  part  of  it. 
As  soon,  then,  as  curiosity  prompted  men  to  inquire  and  to 
reason,  these  were  the  subjects  which  first  presented  them- 
selves, and  engaged  their  attention.  The  scholastic  theology, 
with  its  infinite  train  of  bold  disquisitions,  and  subtile  dis- 
tinctions concerning  points  which  are  not  the  object  of 
human  reason,  was  the  first  production  of  the  spirit  of 
inquiry,  after  it  began  to  resume  some  degree  of  activity 
and  vigom'  in  Europe.  It  was  not,  however,  this  circum- 
stance alone  that  gave  such  a  wrong  turn  to  the  minds  of 
men,  when  they  began  again  to  exercise  talents  which  they 
had  so  long  neglected.  Most  of  the  persons  who  attempted 
to  revive  literature  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
had  received  instruction,  or  derived  their  principles  of 
science  from  the  Greeks  in  the  eastern  empire,  or  from  the 
Arabians  in  Spain  and  Africa.  Both  these  people,  acute 
and  inquisitive  to  excess,  had  corrupted  those  sciences 
which  they  cultivated.  The  former  rendered  theology  a 
system  of  speculative  refinement,  or  of  endless  controversy ; 
the  latter  communicated  to  philosophy  a  spirit  of  meta- 
physical and  frivolous  subtlety.  Misled  by  these  guides, 
the  persons  who  first  applied  to  science  were  involved  in  a 


SECT.  I.J  PROGRESS  OF  LEARNING.  65 

maze  of  intricate  inquiries.  Instead  of  allowing  tlieir  fancy 
to  take  its  natural  range,  and  to  produce  such  works  of 
invention  as  might  have  improved  their  taste  and  refined 
their  sentiments ;  instead  of  cultivating  those  arts  which 
embellish  human  life,  and  render  it  comfortable  ;  they  were 
fettered  by  authority,  they  were  led  astray  by  example,  and 
wasted  the  wliole  force  of  their  genius  in  speculations  as 
unavailing  as  they  were  difficult. 

But,  fruitless  and  ill-directed  as  these  speculations  were, 
their  novelty  roused,  and  their  boldness  interested,  the 
human  mind.  The  ardour  with  which  men  pursued  these 
uninviting  studies  was  astonishing.  Genuine  philosophy 
was  never  cultivated,  in  any  enlightened  age,  with  more 
zeal.  Schools,  upon  the  model  of  those  instituted  by 
Charlemagne,  were  opened  in  every  cathedral,  and  almost 
in  every  monastery  of  note.  Colleges  and  universities  were 
erected  and  formed  into  communities  or  corporations, 
governed  by  their  own  laws,  and  invested  with  separate 
and  extensive  jurisdiction  over  their  own  members.  A 
regular  course  of  studies  was  planned ;  privileges  of  great 
value  were  conferred  on  masters  and  scholars ;  academical 
titles  and  honours  of  various  kinds  were  invented  as  a 
recompense  for  both.  Nor  was  it  in  the  schools  alone  that 
superiority  in  science  led  to  reputation  and  authority ;  it 
became  an  object  of  respect  in  life,  and  advanced  such 
as  acquired  it  to  a  rank  of  no  inconsiderable  eminence. 
Allured  by  all  these  advantages,  an  incredible  number  of 
students  resorted  to  those  new"  seats  of  learning,  and 
crowded  with  eagerness  into  that  new  path  which  was 
open  to  fame  and  distinction. 

But  how  considerable  soever  these  first  efforts  may 
appear,  there  was  one  circumstance  which  prevented  the 
effects  of  them  from  being  as  extensive  as  they  naturally 
ought  to  have  been.  All  the  languages  in  Europe,  during 
the  period  under  review,  were  barbarous ;  they  were  desti- 
tute of  elegance,  of  force,  and  even  of  perspicuity.     No 

VOL.  I.  F 


m  COMJklERCIAL  INTERCOURSE  [sect.  i. 

attempt  had  been  hitherto  made  to  improve  or  to  poHsh 
them.  The  Latin  tongue  was  consecrated  by  the  church  to 
rehgion ;  custom,  with  authority  scarcely  less  sacred,  had 
appropriated  it  to  literature.  All  the  sciences  cultivated  in 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  were  taught  in  Latin ; 
all  books  with  respect  to  them  were  written  in  that  language. 
It  would  have  been  deemed  a  degradation  of  any  important 
subject  to  have  treated  of  it  in  a  modern  language.  This 
confined  science  within  a  very  narrow  circle ;  the  learned 
alone  were  admitted  into  the  temple  of  knowledge ;  the  gate 
was  shut  against  all  others,  who  were  suffered  to  remain 
involved  in  their  former  darkness  and  ignorance. 

But  though  science  was  thus  prevented,  during  several 
ages,  from  diffusing  itself  through  society,  and  its  influence 
was  much  circumscribed ;  the  progress  which  it  made  may 
be  mentioned,  nevertheless,  among  the  great  causes  which 
contributed  to  introduce  a  change  of  manners  into  Europe. 
The  ardent  though  ill-judged  spirit  of  inquiry  which  I  have 
described,  occasioned  a  fermentation  of  mind  that  put 
ingenuity  and  invention  in  motion,  and  gave  them  vigour. 
It  led  men  to  a  new  employment  of  their  faculties,  which 
they  found  to  be  agreeable  as  well  as  interesting.  It  accus- 
tomed them  to  exercises  and  occupations  which  tended  to 
soften  their  manners,  and  to  give  them  some  relish  for  the 
gentle  virtues,  peculiar  to  people  among  whom  science  has 
been  cultivated  with  success.  ^^**^ 

X.  The  progress  of  commerce  had  considerable  influence 
in  pohshing  the  manners  of  the  European  nations,  and  in 
estabhshing  among  them  order,  equal  laws,  and  humanity. 
The  wants  of  men,  in  the  original  and  most  simple  state  of 
society,  are  so  few,  and  their  desires  so  limited,  that  they 
rest  contented  with  the  natural  productions  of  their  climate 
and  soil,  or  with  what  they  can  add  to  these  by  their 
own  rude  industry.  They  have  no  superfluities  to  dispose 
of,  and  few  necessities  that  demand  a  supply.  Every  little 
community  subsisting  on  its  own  domestic  stock,  and  satis- 


SECT.  I.]  BETWEEN  THE  NATIONS  OF  EUROPE.  67 

fied  with  it,  is  either  Httle  acquainted  with  the  states  around 
it,  or  at  variance  with  them.  Society  and  manners  must 
be  considerably  improved,  and  many  provisions  must  be 
made  for  pubhc  order  and  personal  security,  before  a  liberal 
intercoui'se  can  take  place  between  different  nations.  We 
find,  accordingly,  that  the  first  effect  of  the  settlement  of 
the  barbarians  in  the  empire,  was  to  divide  those  nations 
which  the  Roman  power  had  united.  Europe  was  broken 
into  many  separate  communities.  The  intercourse  between 
these  divided  states  ceased  almost  entirely  dm'ing  several 
centmies.  Navigation  was  dangerous  in  seas  infested  by 
pirates ;  nor  could  strangers  trust  to  a  friendly  reception  in 
the  ports  of  uncivilized  nations.  Even  between  distant 
parts  of  the  same  kingdom,  the  communication  was  rare 
and  difficult.  The  lawless  rapine  of  banditti,  together  with 
the  avowed  exactions  of  the  nobles,  scarcely  less  formidable 
and  oppressive,  rendered  a  journey  of  any  length  a  perilous 
enterprise.  Eixed  to  the  spot  in  which  they  resided,  the 
greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  lost,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  knowledge  of  remote  regions,  and  were  un- 
acquainted with  their  names,  their  situations,  their  climates, 
and  their  commodities. ^"^^ 

Various  causes,  however,  contributed  to  revive  the  spirit 
of  commerce,  and  to  renew,  in  some  degree,  the  intercourse 
between  different  nations.  The  Italians,  by  their  connexion 
with  Constantinople,  and  other  cities  of  the  Greek  empire, 
had  preserved  in  their  own  country  considerable  relish  for 
the  precious  commodities  and  curious  manufactures  of  the 
East.  They  communicated  some  knowledge  of  these  to 
the  countries  contiguous  to  Italy.  But  this  commerce 
being  extremely  limited,  the  intercourse  which  it  occa- 
sioned between  different  nations  was  not  considerable. 
The  crusades,  by  leading  multitudes  from  every  corner  of 
Europe  into  Asia,  opened  a  more  extensive  communication 
between  the  East  and  West,  which  subsisted  for  two  cen- 
turies; and  though  the  object  of  these  expeditions  was 


68  INFLUENCE  OF  COMMERCE.  [sect.  i. 

conquest  and  not  commerce ;  though  the  issue  of  them 
proved  as  unfortunate  as  the  motives  for  imdertaking  them 
v^'ere  wikl  and  enthusiastic,  their  commercial  effects,  as  hath 
been  shown,  vrere  both  beneficial  and  permanent.  During 
the  continuance  of  the  crusades,  the  great  cities  in  Italy, 
and  in  other  countries  of  Europe,  acquired  liberty,  and 
together  with  it  such  privileges  as  rendered  them  respectable 
and  independent  commimities.  Thus  in  every  state  there 
was  formed  a  new  order  of  citizens,  to  whom  commerce 
presented  itself  as  their  proper  object,  and  opened  to  them 
a  certain  path  to  wealth  and  consideration.  Soon  after  the 
close  of  the  holy  war,  the  mariner's  compass  was  invented, 
which,  by  rendering  navigation  more  secure,  encouraged  it 
to  become  more  adventurous,  facihtated  the  communica- 
tion between  remote  nations,  and  brought  them  nearer  to 
each  other. 

The  Italian  states,  during  the  same  period,  estabhshed 
a  regular  commerce  with  the  East  in  the  ports  of  Egypt, 
and  drew  from  thence  all  the  rich  products  of  the  Indies. 
They  introduced  into  their  own  territories  manufactures  of 
various  kinds,  and  carried  them  on  with  great  ingenuity 
and  vigour.  They  attempted  new  arts  ;  and  transplanted 
from  warmer  climates,  to  which  they  had  been  hitherto 
deemed  peculiar,  several  natural  productions  which  now 
furnish  the  materials  of  a  lucrative  and  extended  commerce. 
All  these  commodities,  whether  imported  from  Asia,  or 
produced  by  their  own  skill,  they  disposed  of  to  great 
advantage  among  the  other  people  of  Europe,  who  began 
to  acquire  some  taste  for  an  elegance  in  living  unknown  to 
their  ancestors,  or  despised  by  them.  During  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries,  the  commerce  of  Europe  was 
almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Italians,  more  commonly 
known  in  those  ages  by  the  name  of  Lombards.  Companies 
or  societies  of  Lombard  merchants  settled  in  every  different 
kingdom.  .  They  were  taken  under  the  immediate  pro- 
tection of  the  several  governments.  They  enjoyed  extensive 


SECT.  I.]  THE  HANSEATIC  LEAGUE.  09 

privileges  and  immunities.  The  operation  of  tlic  ancient 
barbarous  laws  concerning  strangers,  was  suspciuled  with 
respect  to  them.  They  became  the  carriers,  the  manufac- 
tiu-ers,  and  the  bankers  of  all  Europe. 

While  the  Italians,  in  the  south  of  Europe,  were  culti- 
vating trade  with  such  industry  and  success,  the  commercial 
spmt  awakened  in  the  north  towards  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  centmy.  As  the  nations  around  the  Baltic  were, 
at  that  time,  extremely  barbarous,  and  infested  that  sea 
with  their  piracies,  the  cities  of  Lubec  and  Hamburgh,  soon 
after  they  began  to  open  some  trade  with  these  people, 
found  it  necessary  to  enter  into  a  league  of  mutual  defence. 
They  derived  such  advantages  from  this  union,  that  other 
towns  acceded  to  their  confederacy,  and,  in  a  short  time, 
eighty  of  the  most  considerable  cities  scattered  through 
those  extensive  countries,  which  stretch  from  the  bottom 
of  the  Baltic  to  Cologne  on  the  Rhine,  joined  in  the  famous 
Hanseatic  league,  which  became  so  formidable,  that  its 
alliance  w^as  courted  and  its  enmity  was  dreaded  by  the 
greatest  monarchs.  The  members  of  this  powerful  asso- 
ciation formed  the  first  systematic  plan  of  commerce  known 
in  the  middle  ages,  and  conducted  it  by  common  laws 
enacted  in  theii*  general  assemblies.  They  supplied  the 
rest  of  Em'ope  with  naval  stores,  and  pitched  on  different 
towns,  the  most  eminent  of  which  w^as  at  Bruges  in  Flan- 
ders, where  they  established  staples  in  which  their  commerce 
was  regidarly  carried  on.  Thither  the  Lombards  brought 
the  productions  of  India,  together  with  the  manufactures  of 
Italy,  and  exchanged  them  for  the  more  bulky  but  not 
less  useful  commodities  of  the  north.  The  Hanseatic  mer- 
chants disposed  of  the  cargoes  which  they  received  from 
the  Lombards,  in  the  ports  of  the  Baltic,  or  carried  them 
up  the  great  rivers  into  the  interior  parts  of  Germany. 

This  regular  intercourse  opened  between  the  nations  in 
the  north  and  south  of  Europe,  made  them  sensible  of  their 
mutual  wants,  and  created  such  new  and  increasing  de- 


70  TRADE  AND  MANUFACTURES  IN  [sect.  i. 

mands  for  commodities  of  every  kind,  that  it  excited  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  a  more  vigorous  spirit 
in  carrying  on  the  two  great  manufactures  of  wool  and  flax, 
which  seem  to  have  been  considerable  in  that  country  as 
early  as  the  age  of  Charlemagne.  As  Bruges  became  the 
centre  of  communication  between  the  Lombard  and  Han- 
seatic  merchants,  the  Flemings  traded  with  both  in  that 
city  to  such  extent  as  well  as  advantage,  as  spread  among 
them  a  general  habit  of  industry,  which  long  rendered 
Flanders  and  the  adjacent  provinces  the  most  opulent,  the 
most  populous,  and  best  cultivated  countries  in  Europe. 

Struck  with  the  flom-ishing  state  of  these  provinces,  of 
which  he  discerned  the  true  cause,  Edward  III.  of  England 
endeavoured  to  excite  a  spirit  of  industry  among  his  own 
subjects,  who,  blind  to  the  advantages  of  their  situation, 
and  ignorant  of  the  source  from  which  opulence  was  des- 
tined to  flow  into  their  country,  were  so  little  attentive  to 
their  commercial  interests,  as  hardly  to  attempt  those 
manufactures,  the  materials  of  which  they  furnished  to 
foreigners.  By  alhmng  Flemish  artisans  to  settle  in  his 
dominions,  as  well  as  by  many  wise  laws  for  the  encou- 
ragement and  regulation  of  trade,  Edward  gave  a  beginning 
to  the  woollen  manufactures  of  England,  and  first  turned 
the  active  and  enterprising  genius  of  his  people  tow^ards 
those  arts  which  have  raised  the  English  to  the  highest 
rank  among  commercial  nations. 

This  increase  of  commerce,  and  of  intercourse  between 
nations,  how  inconsiderable  soever  it  may  appear  in  respect 
of  their  rapid  and  extensive  progress  during  the  last  and 
present  age,  seems  wonderfully  great,  when  we  compare  it 
with  the  state  of  both  in  Europe  previous  to  the  twelfth 
century.  It  did  not  fail  of  producing  great  efiects.  Com- 
merce tends  to  wear  off"  those  prejudices  which  maintain 
distinction  and  animosity  between  nations.  It  softens  and 
polishes  the  manners  of  men.  It  unites  them  by  one  of 
the  strongest  of  aU  ties,  the  desire  of  supplying  their  mutual 


SECT.  I.]  THE  NETHERLANDS  AND  ENGLAND.  71 

wants.  It  disposes  tliem  to  peace,  by  establishing  in  every 
state  an  order  of  citizens  bonnd  by  their  interest  to  be  the 
guardians  of  pubhc  tranquillity.  As  soon  as  the  commercial 
spirit  acquires  vigour,  and  begins  to  gain  an  ascendant  in 
any  society,  we  discover  a  new  genius  in  its  policy,  its 
alhances,  its  wars,  and  its  negotiations.  Conspicuous  proofs 
of  this  occur  in  the  history  of  the  Italian  states,  of  the 
Hanseatic  league,  and  the  cities  of  the  Netherlands  diu-ing 
the  period  under  review.  In  proportion  as  commerce  made 
its  way  into  the  different  countries  of  Europe,  they  suc- 
cessively turned  their  attention  to  those  objects,  and  adopted 
those  manners  which  occupy  and  distinguish  polished 
nations.  ^^''^ 


A    VIEW 

OP   THE 

PEOGRESS  OP  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE, 


SUBVERSION    OF  THE  ROMAN   EMPIRE  TO  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


SECTION  II. 

VIEW   OF    THE   PROGRESS   OF   SOCIETY   IN  EUROPE   WITH  RESPECT  TO  THE  COM- 
MAND OF  THE  NATIONAL  FORCE  REQUISITE  IN  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS. 

Improved  State  of  Society  at  tlie  Beginning  of  tlie  Fifteenth  Century — The 
Concentration  of  Resources  in  European  States — The  Power  of  Monarchs  ; 
their  Revenues  and  Armies — Affairs  of  different  States  at  first  entirely  Dis- 
tinct— Progress  of  Combination — Loss  of  Continental  Territory  by  the 
English — Effects  upon  the  French  Monarchy — Growth  of  Standing  Armies, 
and  of  the  Royal  Prerogative  under  Louis  XI. — His  Example  imitated  in 
England  and  in  Spain — The  Heiress  of  Burgundy — Perfidious  Conduct  of 
Louis  XI.  towards  her — Her  Marriage  with  Maximilian,  Archduke  of  Austria 
— IiLvasion  of  Italy  by  Charles  VIII. — The  Balance  of  Power — Use  of  In- 
fantry in  Armies — League  of  Cambray  against  Venice. 

Such  are  the  events  and  institutions  which,  by  their  pow- 
erful operation,  contributed  gradually  to  introduce  regular 
government  and  polished  manners  in  the  various  nations 
of  Europe.  When  we  survey  the  state  of  society,  or  the 
character  of  individuals,  at  the  opening  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  then  turn  back  to  view  the  condition  of  both 
at  the  time  when  the  barbarous  tribes,  which  overturned 
the  Roman  power,  completed  their  settlement  in  their  new 
conquests,  the  progress  which  mankind  had  made  towards 
order  and  refinement  will  appear  immense. 


SECT.  II.]         SOCIETY  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY.  73 

Government,  however,  was  still  far  from  having  attained 
that  state,  in  which  extensive  monarchies  act  with  the 
united  vigom*  of  the  whole  community,  or  carry  on  great 
undertakings  with  perseverance  and  success.  Small  tribes 
or  communities  even  in  their  rudest  state,  may  operate  in 
concert,  and  exert  their  utmost  force.  They  are  excited  to 
act,  not  by  the  distant  objects  or  the  refined  speculations 
which  interest  or  affect  men  in  polished  societies,  but  by 
their  present  feelings.  The  insults  of  an  enemy  kindle 
resentment ;  the  success  of  a  rival  tribe  awakens  emulation: 
these  passions  communicate  from  breast  to  breast,  and  all 
the  members  of  the  community,  with  united  ardour,  rush 
into  the  field  in  order  to  gratify  their  revenge,  or  to  acquire 
distinction.  But  in  widely-extended  states,  such  as  the 
great  kingdoms  of  Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  where  there  is  little  intercourse  between  the  distant 
members  of  the  community,  and  where  every  great  enter- 
prise requires  previous  concert  and  long  preparation,  nothing 
can  rouse  and  call  forth  their  united  strength,  but  the  ab- 
solute command  of  a  despot,  or  the  powerful  influence  of 
regular  policy.  Of  the  former,  the  vast  empires  in  the 
East  are  an  example ;  the  irresistible  mandate  of  the  sove- 
reign reaches  the  most  remote  provinces  of  his  dominions, 
and  compels  whatever  number  of  his  subjects  he  is  pleased 
to  summon  to  follow  his  standard.  The  kingdoms  of 
Europe,  in  the  present  age,  are  an  instance  of  the  latter ; 
the  prince,  by  the  less  violent  but  no  less  eftectual  operation 
of  laws  and  a  well-regulated  government,  is  enabled  to 
avail  himself  of  the  whole  force  of  his  state,  and  to  employ 
it  in  enterprises  which  require  strenuous  and  persevering 
efforts. 

But,  at  the  opening  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  political 
constitution  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe  was  very  different 
from  either  of  these  states  of  government.  The  several 
monarchs,  though  they  had  somewhat  enlarged  the  boun- 
daries of 'prerogative  by  successful  encroachments  on  the 


74  RESOURCES  OE  EUROPEAN  STATES.  [sect.  u. 

immunities  and  privileges  of  tlie  nobility,  were  possessed  of 
an  authority  extremely  limited.  The  laws  and  interior 
police  of  kingdoms,  though  much  improved  by  the  various 
events  and  regulations  which  I  have  enumerated,  were 
still  feeble  and  imperfect.  In  every  country,  a  numerous 
body  of  nobles,  Avho  continued  to  be  formidable  notwith- 
standing the  various  expedients  employed  to  dej)ress  them, 
watched  all  the  motions  of  their  sovereign  with  a  jealous 
attention,  which  set  bounds  to  his  ambition,  and  either 
prevented  his  forming  schemes  of  extensive  enterprise,  or 
obstructed  the  execution  of  them. 

The  ordinary  revenues  of  every  prince  were  so  extremely 
small  as  to  be  inadequate  to  any  great  undertaking.  He 
depended  for  extraordinary  supplies  on  the  good-will  of  his 
subjects,  who  granted  them  often  with  a  reluctant,  and 
always  with  a  sparing  hand. 

As  the  revenues  of  princes  w^ere  inconsiderable,  the  armies 
which  they  could  bring  into  the  field  were  unfit  for  long 
and  effectual  service.  Instead  of  being  able  to  employ 
troops  trained  to  skill  in  arms,  and  to  military  subordi- 
nation, by  regidar  discipline,  monarchs  were  obliged  to 
depend  on  such  forces  as  their  vassals  conducted  to  their 
standard  in  consequence  of  their  military  tenures.  These, 
as  they  were  bound  to  remain  under  arras  only  for  a  short 
time,  could  not  march  far  from  their  usual  place  of  resi- 
dence, and  being  more  attached  to  the  lord  of  whom  they 
held,  than  to  the  sovereign  whom  they  served,  were  often 
as  much  disposed  to  counteract  as  to  forward  his  schemes. 
Nor  were  they,  even  if  they  had  been  more  subject  to  the 
command  of  the  monarch,  proper  instruments  to  carry 
into  execution  any  great  and  arduous  enterprise.  The 
strength  of  an  army,  formed  either  for  conquest  or  defence, 
lies  in  infantry.  To  the  stability  and  discipline  of  their 
legions,  consisting  chiefly  of  infantry,  the  Romans,  during 
the  times  of  the  republic,  were  indebted  for  their  victories  ; 
and  when  their  descendants, forgetting  the  institutions  which 


SECT.  II.]  POWER  OF  THE  MONARCHS.  75 

had  led  them  to  universal  dominion,  so  far  altered  their 
military  system  as  to  place  their  principal  confidence  in  a 
numerous  cavalry,  the  undisciplined  impetuosity  of  the  bar- 
barous nations,  who  fought  mostly  on  foot,  was  sufficient,  as 
I  have  already  observed,  to  overcome  them.  These  nations, 
soon  after  they  settled  in  their  new  conquests,  uninstructed 
by  the  fatal  error  of  the  Romans,  relinquished  the  customs 
of  their  ancestors,  and  converted  the  chief  force  of  their  armies 
into  cavalry.  Among  the  Romans  this  change  was  occasioned 
by  the  effeminacy  of  their  troops,  who  could  not  endure 
the  fatigues  of  service,  which  then'  more  virtuous  and  hardy 
ancestors  had  sustained  with  ease.  Among  the  people  who 
established  the  new  monarchies  into  which  Europe  was 
divided,  this  innovation  in  military  discipline  seems  to  have 
flowed  from  the  pride  of  the  nobles,  who,  scorning  to  mingle 
with  persons  of  inferior  rank,  aimed  at  being  distinguished 
from  them  in  the  field,  as  well  as  during  peace.  The 
institution  of  chivalry,  and  the  frequency  of  tournaments, 
in  which  knights  in  complete  armour  entered  the  lists  on 
horseback  with  extraordinary  splendour,  displaying  amazing 
address,  force,  and  valour,  brought  cavalry  into  still  greater 
esteem.  The  fondness  for  that  service  increased  to  such 
a  degree,  that,  during  the  thirteenth  'and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies, the  armies  of  Europe  were  composed  almost  entirely 
of  cavalry.  No  gentleman  would  appear  in  the  field  but 
on  horseback.  To  serve  in  any  other  manner  he  would 
have  deemed  derogatory  to  his  rank.  The  cavalry,  by  way 
of  distinction,  was  called  the  battle,  and  on  it  alone  depended 
the  fate  of  every  action.  The  infantry,  collected  from  the 
dregs  and  refuse  of  the  people,  ill  armed  and  worse  disci- 
plined, was  almost  of  no  account. 

As  these  circumstances  rendered  the  operations  of  par- 
ticular kingdoms  less  considerable  and  less  vigorous,  so 
they  long  kept  the  princes  of  Europe  from  giving  such 
attention  to  the  schemes  and  transactions  of  their  neigh- 
bours as  might  lead  them  to  form  any  regular  system  of 


76  AFFAIRS  OF  DIFFERENT  STATES,  [sect.  ii. 

public  security.  They  were,  of  consequence,  prevented 
from  uniting  in  confederacy,  or  from  acting  with  concert, 
in  order  to  establish  such  a  distribution  and  balance  of 
power  as  should  hinder  any  state  from  rising  to  a  supe- 
riority which  might  endanger  the  general  liberty  and 
independence.  During  several  centuries,  the  nations  of 
Europe  appear  to  have  considered  themselves  as  separate 
societies,  scarcely  connected  together  by  any  common  inte- 
rest, and  little  concerned  in  each  other's  affairs  or  operations. 
An  extensive  commerce  did  not  afford  them  an  opportunity 
of  observing  and  penetrating  into  the  schemes  of  every 
different  state.  They  had  not  ambassadors  residing  con- 
stantly in  every  court,  to  watch  and  give  early  intelligence 
of  all  its  motions.  The  expectation  of  remote  advantages, 
or  the  prospect  of  distant  and  contingent  evils,  was  not 
sufficient  to  excite  nations  to  take  arms.  Such  only  as 
were  within  the  sphere  of  immediate  danger,  and  unavoid- 
ably exposed  to  injury  or  insult,  thought  themselves 
interested  in  any  contest,  or  bound  to  take  precautions 
for  their  own  safety. 

Whoever  records  the  transactions  of  any  of  the  more 
considerable  European  states  during  the  two  last  centm^ies, 
must  write  the  history  of  Europe.  Its  various  kingdoms 
throughout  that  period  have  been  formed  into  one  great 
system,  so  closely  united,  that  each  holding  a  determinate 
station,  the  operations  of  one  are  so  felt  by  aU,  as  to  influ- 
ence their  counsels  and  regulate  their  measures.  But 
previous  to  the  fifteenth  century,  unless  when  vicinity  of 
territory  rendered  the  occasions  of  discord  frequent  and 
unavoidable,  or  when  national  emulation  fomented  or  embit- 
tered the  spirit  of  hostility,  the  affairs  of  different  countries 
are  seldom  interwoven  with  each  other.  In  each  kingdom 
of  Europe  great  events  and  revolutions  happened,  which 
the  other  powers  Ijeheld  with  almost  the  same  indifference 
as  if  they  had  been  uninterested  spectators,  to  whom  the 
effect  of  these  transactions  could  never  extend. 


SECT.  Ti.]  AT  rmST  ENTIRELY  DISTINCT.  ']'] 

During  the  violent  struggles  between  France  and  England, 
and  notwithstanding  the  alarming  progress  which  was  made 
towards  rendering  one  prince  the  master  of  both  these 
kingdoms,  hardly  one  measure,  which  can  be  considered  as 
the  result  of  a  sagacious  and  prudent  policy,  was  fornicd 
in  order  to  guard  against  an  event  so  fatal  to  Europe.  The 
dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Bretagne,  whom  their  situation 
would  not  permit  to  remain  neutral,  engaged,  it  is  true,  in 
the  contest ;  but  in  taking  their  part,  they  seem  rather  to 
have  folloAved  the  impulse  of  their  passions  than  to  have 
been  guided  by  any  just  discernment  of  the  danger  which 
threatened  themselves  and  the  tranquillity  of  Europe.  The 
other  princes,  seemingly  unaffected  by  the  alternate  suc- 
cesses of  the  contending  parties,  left  them  to  decide  the 
quarrel  by  themselves,  or  interposed  only  by  feeble  and 
ineffectual  negotiations. 

Notwithstanding  the  perpetual  hostilities  in  which  the 
various  kingdoms  of  Spain  were  engaged  during  several 
centuries,  and  the  successive  occurrences  which  visibly 
tended  to  unite  that  part  of  the  continent  into  one  great 
monarchy,  the  princes  of  Europe  hardly  took  any  step  from 
which  we  may  conclude  that  they  gave  a  proper  attention 
to  that  important  event.  They  permitted  a  power  to  arise 
imperceptibly,  and  to  acquire  strength  there,  which  soon 
became  formidable  to  all  its  neighbours. 

Amidst  the  violent  convulsions  with  which  the  spirit  of 
domination  in  the  see  of  Rome,  and  the  turbulent  ambition 
of  the  German  nobles,  agitated  the  empire,  neither  the 
authority  of  the  popes,  seconded  by  all  their  artifices  and 
intrigues,  nor  the  solicitations  of  the  emperors,  could  induce 
any  of  the  powerful  monarchs  in  Europe  to  engage  in  their 
quarrel,  or  to  avail  themselves  of  many  favourable  oppor- 
tunities of  interposing  with  effect  and  advantage. 

This  amazing  inactivity,  during  transactions  so  interesting, 
is  not  to  be  imputed  to  any  incapacity  of  discerning  their 
political  consequences.  The  power  of  judging  with  sagacity, 


78  PROGRESS  OP  COMBINATION.  [sect.  ii. 

and  of  acting  with  vigour,  is  the  portion  of  men  of  every 
age.  The  monarclis  who  reigned  in  the  different  kingdoms 
of  Europe  during  several  centuries,  were  not  bhnd  to 
their  particular  interest,  negligent  of  the  public  safety,  or 
strangers  to  the  method  of  securing  both.  If  they  did  not 
adopt  that  salutary  system  which  teaches  modern  politicians 
to  take  the  alarm  at  the  prospect  of  distant  dangers,  which 
prompts  them  to  check  the  first  encroachments  of  any 
formidable  power,  and  which  renders  each  state  the  guar- 
dian, in  some  degree,  of  the  rights  and  independence  of  all 
its  neighbours,  this  was  owing  entirely  to  such  imperfec- 
tions and  disorders  in  the  civil  government  of  each  country, 
as  made  it  impossible  for  sovereigns  to  act  suitably  to  those 
ideas  which  the  posture  of  affairs  and  their  own  obser- 
vation must  have  suggested. 

But  during  the  course  of  the  fifteenth  century,  various 
events  happened  which,  by  giving  princes  more  entire  com- 
mand of  the  force  in  their  respective  dominions,  rendered 
their  operations  more  vigorous  and  extensive.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  the  affairs  of  different  kingdoms  becoming 
more  frequently  as  well  as  more  intimately  connected,  they 
were  gradually  accustomed  to  act  in  concert  and  con- 
federacy, and  Avere  insensibly  prepared  for  forming  a  system 
of  policy,  in  order  to  establish  or  to  preserve  such  a  balance 
of  power  as  was  most  consistent  with  the  general  security. 
It  was  during  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Eifth  that  the  ideas 
on  which  this  system  is  founded  first  came  to  be  fully 
understood.  It  was  then  that  the  maxims  by  which  it  has 
been  uniformly  maintained  since  that  era  were  universally 
adopted.  On  this  account  a  view  of  the  causes  and  events 
which  contributed  to  establish  a  plan  of  policy  more  salutary 
and  extensive  than  any  that  has  taken  place  in  the  conduct 
of  human  affairs,  is  not  only  a  necessary  introduction  to 
the  following  work,  but  is  a  capital  object  in  the  history  of 
Europe. 

The  first  event  that  occasioned  anv  considerable  alteration 


SECT.  II.]        ITS  EFFECT  ON  THE  FRENCH  MONAHCHY.  79 

in  the  arrangement  of  affairs  in  Europe,  was  the  annexation 
of  the  extensive  territories  which  England  possessed  on 
the  continent  to  the  crown  of  France.  While  the  English 
were  masters  of  several  of  the  most  fertile  and  opulent 
provinces  in  France,  and  a  great  part  of  its  most  martial 
inhabitants  was  bound  to  follow  their  standard,  an  English 
monarch  considered  himself  rather  as  the  rival,  than  as  the 
vassal  of  the  sovereign  of  whom  he  held.  The  kings  of 
France,  circumscribed  and  thwarted  in  their  schemes  and 
operations  by  an  adversary  no  less  jealous  than  formidable, 
durst  not  enter  upon  any  enterprise  of  importance  or  of 
difficulty.  The  English  were  always  at  hand,  ready  to 
oppose  them.  They  disputed  even  their  right  to  their 
crown,  and  being  able  to  penetrate,  with  ease,  into  the 
heart  of  the  kingdom,  could  arm  against  them  those  very 
hands  which  ought  to  have  been  employed  in  their  defence. 
Timid  counsels  and  feeble  efforts  were  natural  to  monarchs 
in  such  a  situation.  France,  dismembered  and  overawed, 
could  not  attain  its  proper  station  in  the  system  of 
Europe.  But  the  death  of  Henry  V.  of  England,  happily 
for  France,  and  not  unfortunately  for  his  own  country, 
delivered  the  French  from  the  calamity  of  having  a  foreign 
master  seated  on  their  throne.  The  weakness  of  a  long 
minority,  the  dissensions  in  the  English  court,  together 
with  the  unsteady  and  languid  conduct  which  these  occa- 
sioned, afforded  the  French  a  favourable  opportunity  of 
recovering  the  territories  Avhich  they  had  lost.  The  native 
valour  of  the  French  nobility  heightened  to  an  enthusiastic 
confidence  by  a  supposed  interposition  of  heaven  in  their 
behalf,  conducted  in  the  field  by  skilful  leaders,  and  directed 
in  the  cabinet  by  a  prudent  monarch,  was  exerted  with 
such  vigour  and  success,  during  this  favourable  juncture, 
as  not  only  wrested  from  the  English  their  new  conquests, 
but  stripped  them  of  their  ancient  possessions  in  France, 
and  reduced  them  within  the  narrow  precincts  of  Calais  and 
its  petty  territory. 


80  MLITARY  POWER  OF  FRANCE.  [sect.  ii. 

As  soon  as  so  many  considerable  provinces  were  reunited 
to  their  dominions,  the  kings  of  France,  conscious  of  this 
acquisition  of  strength,  began  to  form  bolder  schemes  of 
interior  policy,  as  well  as  of  foreign  operations.  They 
immediately  became  formidable  to  their  neighbours,  who 
began  to  fix  their  attention  on  their  measiu'es  and  motions, 
the  importance  of  which  they  fully  perceived.  From  this 
era,  France,  possessed  of  the  advantages  which  it  derives 
from  the  situation  and  contiguity  of  its  territories,  as  well 
as  from  the  number  and  valour  of  its  people,  rose  to  new 
influence  in  Europe,  and  was  the  first  powder  in  a  condition 
to  give  alarm  to  the  jealousy  or  fears  of  the  states  around  it. 

Nor  was  France  indebted  for  this  increase  of  importance 
merely  to  the  reunion  of  the  provinces  w  hich  had  been  torn 
from  it.  A  circumstance  attended  the  recovery  of  these, 
which,  though  less  considerable,  and  less  observed,  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  give  additional  vigom*  and  decision 
to  all  the  efforts  of  that  monarchy.  Duiing  the  obstinate 
struggles  between  France  and  England,  all  the  defects  of 
the  military  system  under  the  feudal  government  were 
sensibly  felt.  A  war  of  long  continuance  languished  when 
carried  on  by  troops  bound  and  accustomed  to  keep  the  field 
only  for  a  short  time.  Armies  composed  chiefly  of  heavy- 
armed  cavalry  were  unfit  either  for  the  defence  or  the 
attack  of  the  many  towns  and  castles  which  it  became 
necessary  to  guard  or  to  reduce.  In  order  to  obtain  such 
permanent  and  eff'ective  force  as  became  requisite  during 
these  lengthened  contests,  the  kings  of  France  took  into 
their  pay  considerable  bands  of  mercenary  soldiers,  levied 
sometimes  among  their  own  subjects,  and  sometimes  in 
foreign  countries.  But  as  the  feudal  policy  provided  no 
sufficient  fund  for  such  extraordinary  service,  these  adven- 
turers were  dismissed  at  the  close  of  every  campaign,  or 
upon  any  prospect  of  accommodation ;  and  having  been 
little  accustomed  to  the  restraints  of  discipline,  they  fre- 
cpently  turned  then*  arms  against  the  country  which  they 


SECT.  II.]  GROWTH  OF  STANDING  ARMIES.  81 

had  been  hired  to  defend,  and  desolated  it  with  cruelty  not 
inferior  to  that  of  its  foreign  enemies. 

A  body  of  troops  kept  constantly  on  foot,  and  regularly 
trained  to  military  subordination,  would  have  supplied  what 
was  wantinsr  in  the  feudal  constitution,  and  have  furnished 
princes  with  the  means  of  executing  enterprises  to  which 
they  were  then  unequal.  Such  an  establishment,  however, 
was  so  repugnant  to  the  genius  of  feudal  policy,  and  so 
hicompatible  with  the  privileges  and  pretensions  of  the 
nobility,  that  during  several  centuries  no  monarch  was 
either  so  bold  or  so  powerful  as  to  venture  on  any  step 
towards  introducing  it.  At  last  Charles  VII.,  avaihng 
himself  of  the  reputation  which  he  had  acquired  by  his 
successes  against  tlie  English,  and  taking  advantage  of  the 
impressions  of  terror  which  such  a  formidable  enemy  had 
left  upon  the  minds  of  his  subjects,  executed  that  which  his 
predecessors  durst  not  attempt.  [1445.]  Under  pretence  of 
having  always  ready  a  force  sufficient  to  defend  the  king- 
dom against  any  sudden  invasion  of  the  English,  he,  at  the 
time  when  he  disbanded  his  other  troops,  retained  under 
arms  a  body  of  nine  thousand  cavahy,  and  of  sixteen  thou- 
sand infantry.  He  appropriated  funds  for  the  regular 
payment  of  these ;  he  stationed  them  in  different  places  of 
the  kingdom,  according  to  his  pleasure,  and  appointed  the 
officers  who  commanded  and  disciplined  them.  The  prime 
nobihty  courted  this  service,  in  which  they  were  taught  to 
depend  on  their  sovereign,  to  execute  his  orders,  and  to 
look  up  to  him  as  the  judge  and  rewarder  of  their  merit. 
The  feudal  militia,  composed  of  the  vassals  whom  the 
nobles  could  call  out  to  follow  their  standard,  as  it  was  in 
no  degree  comparable  to  a  body  of  soldiers  regularly  trained 
to  war,  sunk  gradually  in  reputation.  The  strength  of 
an  army  was  no  longer  estimated  solely  by  the  number  of 
cavalry  which  served  in  it.  From  the  time  that  gunpowder 
was  invented,  and  the  use  of  cannon  in  the  field  became 
general,  horsemen  cased  in  complete  armour  lost  all  the 

VOL.  I.  G 


82  GROWTH  OF  STANDING  ARMIES,  [sect.  ii. 

advantages  Avhicli  gave  tliem  tlie  pre-eminence  over  other 
soldiers.  The  hehnet,  the  shield,  and  the  breast-plate, 
which  resisted  the  arrow  or  the  spear,  no  longer  afforded 
them  secmity  against  these  new  instruments  of  destruction. 
The  service  of  infantry  rose  again  into  esteem,  and  victories 
were  gained,  and  conquests  made,  chiefly  by  their  efi'orts. 
The  nobles  and  their  military  tenants,  though  sometimes 
summoned  to  the  field,  according  to  ancient  form,  were 
considered  as  an  encumbrance  upon  the  troops  with  which 
they  acted,  and  were  viewed  with  contempt  by  soldiers 
accustomed  to  the  vigorous  and  steady  operations  of  regular 
service. 

Thus  the  regulations  of  Charles  the  Seventh,  by  establish- 
ing the  first  standing  army  known  in  Eiu"ope,  occasioned 
an  important  revolution  in  its  aff'airs  and  policy.  By  taking 
from  the  nobles  the  sole  direction  of  the  national  military 
force,  which  had  raised  them  to  such  high  authority  and 
importance,  a  deep  wound  was  given  to  the  feudal  aristo- 
cracy, in  that  part  where  its  power  seemed  to  be  most 
complete. 

France,  by  forming  this  body  of  regular  troops,  at  a 
time  when  there  was  hardly  a  squadron  or  company  kept 
in  constant  pay  in  any  other  part  of  Europe,  acquired 
such  advantages  over  its  neighbours,  either  in  attack  or 
defence,  that  self-preservation  made  it  necessary  for  them 
to  imitate  its  example.  Mercenary  troops  were  introduced 
into  all  the  considerable  kingdoms  on  the  continent.  They 
gradually  became  the  only  military  force  that  was  employed 
or  trusted.  It  has  long  been  the  chief  object  of  policy 
to  increase  and  to  support  them.  It  has  long  been  the 
great  aim  of  princes  and  ministers  to  discredit  and  to 
annihilate  all  other  means  of  national  activity  or  defence. 

As  the  kings  of  France  got  the  start  of  other  powers 
in  establishing  a  military  force  in  their  dominions,  which 
enabled  them  to  carry  on  foreign  operations  with  more 
vigour,  and  to  greater  extent,  so  they  were  the  first  who 


SECT.  ii.J  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  83 

efiPectually  broke  the  feudal  aristocracy,  and  humbled  the 
great  vassals  of  the  crown,  avIio,  by  their  exorbitant  power, 
had  long  circumscribed  the  royal  prerogative  within  very 
narrow  limits,  and  had  rendered  all  the  efforts  of  the 
monarchs  of  Europe  inconsiderable.  Many  things  con- 
cmTed  to  undermine,  gradually,  the  power  of  the  feudal 
aristocracy  in  France.  The  wealth  and  property  of  the 
nobility  were  greatly  impaired  during  the  long  wars  which 
the  kingdom  was  obliged  to  maintain  with  the  English. 
The  extraordinary  zeal  with  which  they  exerted  themselves 
in  defence  of  their  country  against  its  ancient  enemies, 
exhausted  entirely  the  fortunes  of  some  great  families.  As 
almost  every  province  in  the  kingdom  was,  in  its  turn,  the 
seat  of  war,  the  lands  of  others  were  exposed  to  the 
depredations  of  the  enemy,  were  ravaged  by  the  mercenary 
troops  which  their  sovereigns  hired  occasionally,  but  could 
not  pay,  or  were  desolated  with  rage  still  more  destructive 
by  the  peasants,  in  different  insm'rections.  At  the  same 
time,  the  necessities  of  government  having  forced  their 
kings  upon  the  desperate  expedient  of  making  great  and 
sudden  alterations  in  the  current  coin  of  the  kingdom,  the 
fines,  quit-rents,  and  other  payments  fixed  by  ancient  cus- 
tom, sunk  much  in  value,  and  the  revenues  of  a  fief  were 
reduced  far  below  the  sum  which  it  had  once  yielded. 
During  their  contests  with  the  English,  in  which  a  gene- 
rous nobility  courted  every  station  where  danger  appeared, 
or  honour  could  be  gained,  many  families  of  note  became 
extinct,  and  their  fiefs  were  reunited  to  the  crown.  Other 
fiefs,  in  a  long  course  of  years,  fell  to  female  heirs,  and 
were  divided  among  them,  were  diminished  by  profuse 
donations  to  the  church,  or  were  broken  and  split  by  the 
succession  of  remote  collateral  heirs. ^ 

Encouraged  by  these  manifest  symptoms  of  decline  in 
that  body  which  he  wished  to  depress,  Charles  VIL,  during 
the  first  interval  of  peace  with  England,  made  several  efibrts 

'  Boulainvllliers,  Histoire  de  Gouvernemeiit  de  Franre,  Let f re  xii. 

g2 


84  THE  ROYAL  PREROGATIVE :  [sect.  it. 

towards  establisliing  tlie  regal  prerogative  on  tlie  ruins  of 
the  aristocracy.     But  his  obUgations  to  the  nobles  were  so 
many,  as   well  as  recent,  and  their  services  in  recovering 
the  kingdom  so  splendid,  as  rendered  it  necessary  for  him 
to  proceed  with  moderation  and  caution.     Such,  however, 
was  the   authority  which  the  cro^vn  had  acquired  by  the 
progress  of  its  arms  against  the  English,  and  so  much  was 
the  power  of  the  nobihty  diminished,  that,  without  any 
opposition,  he  soon  made  innovations  of  great  consequence 
in  the  constitution.     He  not  only  established  that  formid- 
able body  of  regular  troops,  which  has  been  mentioned, 
but  he  was  the  first  monarch  of  France  who,  by  his  royal 
edict,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  states-general  of  the 
kingdom,  levied  an  extraordinary  subsidy  on  his  people. 
He  prevailed  likewise  with  his  subjects  to  render  several 
taxes  perpetual,  which  had  formerly  been  imposed  occa- 
sionally, and  exacted   during  a  short  time.     By  means  of 
all   these   innovations,  he   acquired    such   an  increase  of 
power,  and  extended   his   prerogative   so  far  beyond  its 
ancient  limits,  that,  from  being  the  most  dependent  prince 
who  had  ever  sat  upon  the  throne  of  France,  he  came  to 
possess,  during  the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  a  degree  of 
authority  Avhich  none  of  his  predecessors  had  enjoyed  for 
several  ages.^ 

That  plan  of  humbling  the  nobility  which  Charles  began 
to  execute,  his  son  Louis  XL  carried  on  with  a  bolder 
spirit  and  with  greater  success.  Louis  w^as  formed  by 
nature  to  be  a  tyrant ;  and  at  whatever  period  he  had  been 
called  to  ascend  the  throne,  his  reign  must  have  abounded 
with  schemes  to  oppress  his  people,  and  to  render  his  own 
power  absolute.  Subtle,  unfeeling,  cruel ;  a  stranger  to 
every  principle  of  integrity,  and  regardless  of  decency,  he 
scorned  all  the  restraints  which  a  sense  of  honour,  or 
the   desire  of  fame,  imposes  even  upon    ambitious    men. 

^  Histoire  "de  France  par  Velly  et      xvi.  Zzi.    Variations  de  la  Monarchie 
Villaret,  torn  xv.  331,  &c.  3S9,  torn,      Eranjoise,  torn.  iii.  162. 


SECT.  II.]  ITS  EXTENSION  IN  PRANCE.  85 

Sagacious,  at  tlie  same  time,  to  discern  what  he  deemed 
his  true  interest,  and  influenced  by  that  alone,  he  was 
capable  of  pursuing  it  with  a  persevering  industry,  and  of 
adhering  to  it  with  a  systematic  spirit,  from  which  no 
object  could  divert,  and  no  danger  could  deter  him. 

The  maxims  of  his  administration  were  as  profouiul  as 
they  were  fatal  to  the  privileges  of  the  nobility.  He  filled 
all  the  departments  of  government  Avith  new  men,  and 
often  with  persons  whom  he  called  from  the  lowest  as  well 
as  the  most  despised  functions  in  life,  and  raised  at  plea- 
sure to  stations  of  great  power  or  trust.  These  were  his 
only  confidants,  whom  he  consulted  in  forming  his  plans, 
and  to  whom  he  committed  the  execution  of  them ;  while 
the  nobles,  accustomed  to  be  the  companions,  the  favourites, 
and  the  ministers  of  theu*  sovereigns,  were  treated  with 
such  studied  and  mortifying  neglect,  that  if  they  woidd 
not  submit  to  follow  a  court  in  which  they  appeared  with- 
out any  shadow  of  their  ancient  power,  they  were  obliged 
to  retire  to  their  castles,  where  they  remained  unemployed 
and  forgotten.  Not  satisfied  with  having  rendered  the 
nobles  of  less  consideration,  by  taking  out  of  their  hands 
the  sole  direction  of  affau's,  Louis  added  insult  to  neglect ; 
and  by  violating  their  most  valuable  privileges,  endeavoui'ed 
to  degrade  the  order,  and  to  reduce  the  members  of  it  to 
the  same  level  with  other  subjects.  Persons  of  the  highest 
rank  -among  them,  if  so  bold  as  to  oppose  his  schemes,  or 
so  unfortunate  as  to  awaken  the  jealousy  of  his  capricious 
temper,  were  persecuted  with  rigour,  from  which  all  who 
belonged  to  the  order  of  nobility  had  hitherto  been  exempt ; 
they  were  tried  by  judges  who  had  no  right  to  take  cog- 
nisance of  their  actions,  and  were  subjected  to  torture,  or 
condemned  to  an  ignominious  death,  without  regard  to 
their  birth  or  condition.  The  people,  accustomed  to  see 
the  blood  of  the  most  illustrious  personages  shed  by  the 
hands  of  the  common  executioner,  to  behold  them  shut  up 
in  dungeons,  and  carried  about  in  cages  of  iron,  began  to 


86  THE  POLICY  OF  [sect,  ii 

view  the  nobility  with  less  reverence  than  formerly,  and 
looked  lip  with  terror  to  the  royal  authority,  which  seemed 
to  have  humbled  or  annihilated  every  other  power  in  the 
kingdom. 

At  the  same  time,  Louis,  being  afraid  that  oppression 
might  rouse  the  nobles,  whom  the  rigour  of  his  government 
had  intimidated,  or  that  self-preservation  might  at  last  teach 
them  to  unite,  dexterously  scattered  among  them  the  seeds 
of  discord,  and  industriously  fomented  those  ancient  animo- 
sities between  the  great  families,  which  the  spirit  of  jea- 
lousy and  emulation,  natural  to  the  feudal  government,  had 
originally  kindled,  and  still  kept  alive.  To  accomplish  this, 
all  the  arts  of  intrigue,  all  the  mysteries  and  refinements 
of  his  fraudulent  policy,  were  employed,  and  Avith  such 
success,  that  at  a  juncture  which  required  the  most  stren- 
uous efforts,  as  well  as  the  most  perfect  union,  the  nobles 
never  acted,  except  during  one  short  sally  of  resentment 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  either  with  vigour  or  in 
concert. 

As  he  stripped  the  nobility  of  their  privileges,  he  added 
to  the  power  and  prerogative  of  the  crown.  In  order  to 
have  at  command  such  a  body  of  soldiers  as  might  be 
sufficient  to  crush  any  force  that  his  disaffected  subjects 
could  draw  together,  he  not  only  kept  on  foot  the  regular 
troops  which  his  father  had  raised,  but,  besides  augmenting 
their  number  considerably,  he  took  into  his  pay  six  •thou- 
sand Swiss,  at  that  time  the  best-disciplined  and  most 
formidable  infantry  in  Europe.^  From  the  jealousy  natural 
to  tyrants,  he  confided  in  these  foreign  mercenaries,  as 
the  most  devoted  instruments  of  oppression,  and  the  most 
faithful  guardians  of  the  power  which  he  had  usurped. 
That  they  might  be  ready  to  act  on  the  shortest  warn- 
ing, he,  during  the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  kept  a  consi- 
derable body  of  them  encamped  in  one  place.* 

^  Mem.  de  'Comines,    torn.  i.  367.      torn.  i.  1S2. 
Dan.  Hist,   de  la  Milice  Pranpoise,  *  Mem.  de  Com.  torn.  i.  381. 


SECT.  11.]  LOUIS  THE  ELEVENTH  OF  FRANCE.  87 

Great  funds  were  requisite,  not  only  to  defray  the  ex- 
pense of  this  additional  establishment,  but  to  supply  the 
sums  employed  in  the  various  enterprises  which  the  rest- 
less activity  of  his  genius  prompted  him  to  undertake. 
But  the  prerogative  that  his  father  had  assumed  of  levying 
taxes  without  the  concurrence  of  the  states-general,  which 
he  was  careful  not  only  to  retain,  but  to  extend,  enabled 
him  to  provide,  in  some  measure,  for  the  increasing  charges 
of  government. 

What  his  prerogative,  enlarged  as  it  was,  could  not  fur- 
nish, his  address  procured.  He  Avas  the  first  monarch 
in  Europe  who  discovered  the  method  of  managing  those 
great  assemblies,  in  which  the  feudal  policy  had  vested  the 
power  of  granting  subsidies  and  of  imposing  taxes.  He 
first  taught  other  princes  the  fatal  art  of  beginning  their 
attack  on  public  liberty,  by  corrupting  the  source  from 
which  it  should  flow.  By  exerting  all  his  power  and 
address  in  influencing  the  election  of  representatives,  by 
bribing  or  overawing  the  members,  and  by  various  changes 
which  he  artfully  made  in  the  form  of  their  deliberations, 
Louis  acquired  such  entire  direction  of  these  assemblies, 
that,  from  being  the  vigilant  guardians  of  the  privileges 
and  property  of  the  people,  he  rendered  them  tamely  sub- 
servient towards  promoting  the  most  odious  measures  of 
his  reign.^  As  no  power  remained  to  set  bounds  to  his 
exactions,  he  not  only  continued  all  the  taxes  imposed  by 
his  father,  but  he  made  great  additions  to  them,  which 
amounted  to  a  sum  that  appeared  astonishing  to  his  con- 
temporaries.^ 

Nor  was  it  the  power  alone  or  wealth  of  the  crown  that 
Louis  increased  ;  he  extended  its  territories  by  acquisitions 
of  various  kinds.      He  got   possession  of  Rousillon  by 

5  Mem.    de   Comin.   torn.  i.    13G.  4,700,000.     Tlic  former    had   in  pay 

Chron.  Scandal,  ibid.  torn.  ii.  p.  71.  9,000   cavalry    and  16,000  infantry; 

^  Mem.  do  Com.  torn.  i.  334.  Charles  the  latter  augmented  the  cavalry  to 

YII.  levied  taxes  to  the  amount  of  15,000,  and  tlie  infantry  to  25,000. 

1,800,000  francs  ;   Louis  XI.   raised  Ibid.  torn.  i.  384. 


8a  ROYAIi  PREROGATIVE  UNDER  [sect.  n. 

purchase ;  Provence  Avas  conveyed  to  liim  by  the  will  of 
Charles  de  Anjoii ;  and  upon  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold, 
he  seized  with  a  strong  hand  Burgundy  and  Artois,  which 
had  belonged  to  that  prince.  Thus,  during  the  course  of 
a  single  reign,  France  was  formed  into  one  compact  king- 
dom, and  the  steady  unrelenting  polic}^  of  Louis  XL  not 
only  subdued  the  haughty  spirit  of  the  feudal  nobles,  but 
established  a  species  of  government,  scarcely  less  absolute 
or  less  terrible  than  eastern  despotism. 

But,  fatal  as  his  administration  was  to  the  liberties  of  his 
subjects,  the  authority  which  he  acquired,  the  resources  of 
which  he  became  master,  and  his  freedom  from  restraint  in 
concerting  his  plans  as  Avell  as  in  executing  them,  rendered 
his  reign  active  and  enterprising.  Louis  negotiated  in  all 
the  courts  in  Europe ;  he  observed  the  motions  of  all  his 
neighbours;  he  engaged,  either  as  principal  or  as  an 
auxiliary,  in  every  great  transaction ;  his  resolutions  were 
prompt,  his  operations  vigorous  ;  and  upon  every  emergence 
he  could  call  forth  into  action  the  whole  force  of  his  king- 
dom. From  the  era  of  his  reign  the  kings  of  France,  no 
longer  fettered  and  circumscribed  at  home  by  a  jealous 
nobility,  have  exerted  themselves  more  abroad,  have  formed 
more  extensive  schemes  of  foreign  conquests,  and  have 
carried  on  war  with  a  spirit  and  vigour  long  unknown  in 
Europe. 

The  example  which  Louis  set  was  too  inviting  not  to  be 
imitated  by  other  princes.  Henry  VIL,  as  soon  as  he  was 
seated  on  the  throne  of  England,  formed  the  plan  of  en- 
larging his  own  prerogative  by  breaking  the  power  of  the 
nobility.  The  circumstances  under  which  he  undertook  to 
execute  it  were  less  favourable  than  those  which  induced 
Charles  VIL  to  make  the  same  attempt ;  and  the  spirit  with 
which  he  conducted  it  was  very  different  from  that  of 
Louis  XL  Charles,  by  the  success  of  his  arms  against  the 
English,  by  the  merit  of  having  expelled  them  out  of  so 
many  provinces,  had  established  himself  so  firmly  in  the 


SECT.  11.]  HENRY  THE  SE^T^NTH  OF  ENGLAND.  89 

confidence  of  his  people,  as  encouraged  hini  to  make  bold 
encroachments  on  the  ancient  constitution.  The  daring 
genius  of  Louis  broke  through  every  barrier,  and  endea- 
voured to  surmount  or  to  remove  every  obstacle  that  stood 
in  his  way.  But  Henry  held  the  sceptre  by  a  disputed  title ; 
a  popular  faction  was  ready  every  moment  to  take  arms 
against  him ;  and  after  long  civil  wars,  during  which  tlie 
nobility  had  often  displayed  their  power  in  creating  and 
deposing  kings,  he  felt  that  the  regal  authority  had  been 
so  much  relaxed,  and  that  he  entered  into  possession  of  a 
prerogative  so  much  abridged,  as  rendered  it  necessary  to 
carry  on  his  measures  deliberately,  and  without  any  violent 
exertion.  He  endeavoured  to  undermine  that  formidable 
structure,  which  he  durst  not  attack  by  open  force.  His 
schemes,  though  cautious  and  slow  in  their  operation,  were 
well  concerted,  and  productive  in  the  end  of  great  effects. 
By  his  laws,  permitting  the  barons  to  break  the  entails  of 
their  estates,  and  expose  them  to  sale ;  by  his  regulations 
to  prevent  the  nobility  from  keeping  in  their  service  those 
numerous  bands  of  retainers,  which  rendered  them  for- 
midable and  turbulent ;  by  favouring  the  rising  power  of 
the  commons ;  by  encouraging  population,  agriculture,  and 
commerce ;  by  securing  to  his  subjects,  during  a  long  reign, 
the  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  which  flow  from  the  arts  of 
peace ;  by  accustoming  them  to  an  administration  of  govern- 
ment, under  which  the  laws  were  executed  with  steadiness 
and  vigour ;  he  made  imperceptibly  considerable  alterations 
in  the  English  constitution,  and  transmitted  to  his  suc- 
cessor authority  so  extensive,  as  rendered  him  one  of  the 
most  absolute  monarchs  in  Europe,  and  capable  of  the 
greatest  and  most  vigorous  efforts. 

In  Spain,  the  union  of  all  its  crowns  by  the  marriage  of 
Eerdinand  and  Isabella ;  the  glory  that  they  acquired  by 
the  conquest  of  Granada,  which  brought  the  odious  do- 
minion of  the  Moors  to  a  period ;  the  command  of  the  great 
armies  which  it  had  been  necessary  to  keep  long  on  foot. 


90  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA  OE  SPAIN.        [sect.  u. 

in  order  to  accomplisli  this ;  tlie  wisdom  and  steadiness  of 
their  administration ;  and  the  address  mth  which  they 
availed  themselves  of  every  incident  that  occurred  to  humble 
the  nobility,  and  to  extend  their  own  prerogative,  conspired 
in  raising  these  monarchs  to  such  eminence  and  authority, 
as  none  of  their  predecessors  had  ever  enjoyed.  Though 
several  causes,  which  shall  be  explained  in  another  place, 
prevented  their  attaining  the  same  powers  with  the  kings 
of  France  and  England,  and  preserved  the  feudal  constitu- 
tion longer  entire  in  Spain,  their  great  abilities  supplied 
the  defects  of  their  prerogative,  and  improved  with  such 
dexterity  all  the  advantages  Avhich  they  possessed,  that 
Ferdinand  carried  on  his  foreign  operations,  which  were 
very  extensive,  with  extraordinary  vigour  and  effect. 

AVhile  these  princes  were  thus  enlarging  the  boundaries 
of  prerogative,  and  taking  such  steps  towards  rendering 
their  kingdoms  capable  of  acting  with  union  and  force, 
events  occmi'ed  which  called  them  forth  to  exert  the  new 
powers  which  they  had  acquired.  These  engaged  them  in 
such  a  series  of  enterprises  and  negotiations,  that  the  affairs 
of  all  the  considerable  nations  in  Europe  came  to  be  insen- 
sibly interwoven  with  each  other;  and  a  great  political 
system  was  gradually  formed,  which  grcAV  to  be  an  object 
of  universal  attention. 

The  first  event  which  merits  notice,  on  account  of  its 
influence  in  producing  this  change  in  the  state  of  Europe, 
was  the  marriage  of  the  daughter  of  Charles  the  Bold,  the 
sole  heiress  of  the  House  of  Burgundy.  For  some  years 
before  her  father's  death,  she  had  been  considered  as  the 
apparent  successor  to  his  territories,  and  Charles  had  made 
proposals  of  marrying  her  to  several  different  princes,  with 
a  view  of  alluring  them,  by  that  offer,  to  favour  the  schemes 
which  his  restless  ambition  was  continually  forming. 

This  rendered  the  alliance  with  her  an  object  of  general 
attention ;  and  all  the  advantages  of  acquiring  possession 
of  her  territories,  the  most  opulent  at  that  time,  and  the 


SECT,  ii]  MARY  or  BUHGUNDY.  91 

best  cultivated  of  any  on  this  side  of  the  Alps,  were  per- 
fectly understood.  As  soon,  then,  as  the  untimely  death 
of  Charles  opened  the  succession,  the  eyes  of  all  the  princes 
in  Europe  were  turned  towards  Mary,  and  they  felt  them- 
selves deeply  interested  in  the  choice  which  she  was  about 
to  make  of  the  person  on  whom  she  Avould  bestow  that  rich 
inheritance. 

Louis  XL,  from  whose  kingdom  several  of  the  provinces 
which  she  possessed  had  been  dismembered,  and  whose 
dominions  stretched  along  the  frontier  of  her  territories, 
had  every  inducement  to  court  her  alliance.  He  had,  like- 
wise, a  good  title  to  expect  the  favourable  reception  of  any 
reasonable  proposition  he  should  make,  with  respect  to  the 
disposal  of  a  princess  who  was  the  vassal  of  his  crown,  and 
descended  from  the  royal  blood  of  IVance.  There  were 
only  two  propositions,  however,  which  he  could  make  with 
propriety.  The  one  was  the  marriage  of  the  dauphin,  the 
other  that  of  the  count  of  Angoideme,  a  prince  of  the  blood, 
with  the  heiress  of  Burgundy.  By  the  former  he  would 
have  annexed  all  her  territories  to  his  crown,  and  have  ren- 
dered France  at  once  the  most  respectable  monarchy  in 
Europe.  But  the  great  disparity  of  age  between  the  two 
parties,  Mary  being  twenty  and  the  dauphin  only  eight 
years  old ;  the  avowed  resolution  of  the  Flemings,  not  to 
choose  a  master  possessed  of  such  power  as  might  enable 
him  to  form  schemes  dangerous  to  their  liberties ;  together 
with  their  dread  of  falling  under  the  odious  and  oppressive 
government  of  Louis,  were  obstacles  in  the  way  of  executing 
this  plan,  which  it  was  in  vain  to  think  of  surmounting. 
By  the  latter,  the  accomplishment  of  which  might  have 
been  attained  with  ease,  Mary  having  discovered  some  incli- 
nation to  a  match  with  the  count  of  Angouleme,''  Louis 
would  have  prevented  the  dominions  of  the  house  of  Bur- 
gundy from  being  conveyed  to  a  rival  power,  and  in  return 
for  such  a  splendid  establishment  for  the  count  of  Angou- 

^  Mem.  de  Comiiies,  i.  35S. 


92  PERFIDY  OF  LOUIS  THE  ELEVENTH  [sect.  ii. 

leme,  he  must  have  obtamed,  or  would  have  extorted  from 
him,  concessions  highly  beneficial  to  the  crown  of  France. 
But  Louis  had  been  accustomed  so  long  to  the  intricacies 
of  a  crooked  and  insidious  policy,  that  he  could  not  be  satis- 
fied with  Avhat  Avas  obvious  and  simple ;  and  was  so  fond 
of  artifice  and  refinement,  that  he  came  to  consider  these 
rather  as  an  ultimate  object,  than  merely  as  the  means  of 
conducting  affairs.  From  this  principle,  no  less  than  from 
his  unwillingness  to  aggrandize  any  of  his  own  subjects,  or 
from  his  desire  of  oppressing  the  House  of  Bm'gundy,  which 
he  hated,  he  neglected  the  course  Avhich  a  prince  less  able 
and  artful  would  have  taken,  and  followed  one  more  suited 
to  his  own  genius. 

He  proposed  to  render  himself,  by  force  of  arms,  master 
of  those  provinces  Avhich  Mary  held  of  the  crown  of  France, 
and  even  to  push  his  conquests  into  her  other  territories, 
Avhile  he  amused  her  with  insisting  continually  on  the 
impracticable  match  Avith  the  dauphin.  In  prosecuting 
this  plan  he  displayed  Avonderful  talents  and  industry,  and 
exhibited  such  scenes  of  treachery,  falsehood,  and  cruelty, 
as  are  amazing  even  in  the  history  of  Louis  XL  Immedi- 
ately upon  the  death  of  Charles,  he  put  his  troops  in  motion, 
and  advanced  toAvards  the  Netherlands.  He  corrupted  the 
leading  men  in  the  provinces  of  Burgundy  and  Artois,  and 
seduced  them  to  desert  their  sovereign.  He  got  admission 
into  some  of  the  frontier  towns  by  bribing  the  governors ; 
the  gates  of  others  Avere  opened  to  him  in  consequence  of 
his  intrigues  Avitli  the  inhabitants.  He  negotiated  Avith 
Mary ;  and,  in  order  to  render  her  odious  to  her  subjects, 
he  betrayed  to  them  her  most  important  secrets.  He  car- 
ried on  a  private  correspondence  Avitli  the  two  ministers 
Avliom  she  chiefly  trusted,  and  then  communicated  the 
letters  Avliich  he  had  received  from  them  to  the  states  of 
Flanders,  Avho,  enraged  at  their  perfidy,  brought  them 
immediately  to  trial,  tortured  them  Avith  extreme  cruelty, 
and,  unmoved  by  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  their  sovereign, 


SECT.  II.]  .     TOWARDS  MARY  OF  BURGUNDY.  93 

who  knew  and  approved  of  all  that  the  ministers  had  done, 
they  beheaded  them  in  her  presence.'* 

While  Louis,  by  his  conduct,  unworthy  of  a  great  monarch, 
was  securing  the  possession  of  Burgundy,  Artois,  and  the 
towns  on  the  Sonime,  the  states  of  Elanders  carried  on  a 
negotiation  with  the  emperor  Frederic  III.,  and  concluded 
a  treaty  of  marriage  between  their  sovereign  and  his  son 
Maximilian,  archduke  of  Austria.  The  illustrious  birth  of 
that  prince,  as  well  as  the  high  dignity  of  which  he  had  the 
prospect,  rendered  the  alliance  honourable  for  Mary,  while, 
from  the  distance  of  his  hereditary  territories,  and  the  scan- 
tiness of  his  revenues,  his  power  was  so  inconsiderable,  as 
did  not  excite  the  jealousy  or  fear  of  the  Flemings. 

Thus  Louis,  by  the  caprice  of  his  temper,  and  the  excess 
of  his  refinements,  put  the  House  of  Austria  in  possession 
of  this  noble  inheritance.  By  this  acquisition,  the  founda- 
tion of  the  future  grandeur  of  Charles  V.  was  laid  ;  and  he 
became  master  of  those  territories,  which  enabled  him  to 
carry  on  his  most  formidable  and  decisive  operations  against 
France.  Thus,  too,  the  same  monarch  who  first  united  the 
interior  force  of  France,  and  established  it  on  such  a  footing 
as  to  render  it  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  contributed, 
far  contrary  to  his  intention,  to  raise  up  a  rival  power,  which, 
during  two  centuries,  has  thwarted  the  measures,  opposed 
the  arms,  and  checked  the  progress  of  his  successors. 

The  next  event  of  consequence  in  the  fifteenth  century 
was  the  expedition  of  Charles  VIIL  into  Italy.  This  oc- 
casioned revolutions  no  less  memorable  ;  produced  altera- 
tions, both  in  the  military  and  political  system,  which  were 
more  immediately  perceived ;  roused  the  states  of  Europe 
to  bolder  efforts ;  and  blended  their  affairs  and  interests 
more  closely  together.  The  mild  admhiistration  of  Charles, 
a  weak  but  generous  prince,  seems  to  have  revived  the  spirit 
and  genius  of  the  French  nation,  which  the  rigid  despotism 
of  Louis  XI.  his  father,  had  depressed,  and  almost  extin- 
^  Mem.  de  Comines,  liv.  v.  chap.  15,  p.  309,  &c. 


94  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH  OE  FRANCE :  [sect.  ii. 

guislied.  The  ardour  for  military  service,  natural  to  the 
French  nobility,  returned,  and  their  young  monarch  was 
impatient  to  distinguish  his  reign  by  some  splendid  enter- 
prise. While  he  Avas  uncertain  towards  what  quarter  he 
should  turn  his  arms,  the  solicitations  and  intrigues  of  an 
Italian  politician,  no  less  infamous  on  account  of  his  crimes 
than  eminent  for  his  abilities,  determined  his  choice.  Lu- 
dovico  Sforza,  having  formed  the  design  of  deposing  his 
nephew,  the  duke  of  Milan,  and  of  placing  himself  on  the 
ducal  throne,  was  so  much  afraid  of  a  combination  of  the 
Italian  powers  to  oppose  this  measure,  and  to  support  the 
injured  prince,  with  whom  most  of  them  were  connected 
by  blood  or  alliance,  that  he  saw  the  necessity  of  securing 
the  aid  of  some  able  protector.  The  king  of  France  was 
the  person  to  whom  he  applied ;  and  without  disclosing  his 
own  intentions,  he  laboured  to  prevail  with  him  to  march 
into  Italy,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  in  order  to  seize 
the  crown  of  Naples,  to  which  Charles  had  pretensions  as 
heir  of  the  house  of  Anjou.  The  right  to  that  kingdom, 
claimed  by  the  Angevin  family,  had  been  conveyed  to 
Louis  XL  by  Charles  of  Anjou,  count  of  Mayne  and  Pro- 
vence. But  that  sagacious  monarch,  though  he  took  im- 
mediate possession  of  those  territories  of  which  Charles 
was  really  master,  totally  disregarded  his  ideal  title  to  a  king- 
dom, over  which  another  prince  reigned  in  tranquillity,  and 
uniformly  declined  involving  himself  in  the  labyrinth  of 
Italian  politics.  His  son,  more  adventurous,  or  more  in- 
considerate, embarked  eagerly  in  this  enterprise ;  and, 
contemning  all  the  remonstrances  of  his  most  experienced 
counsellors,  prepared  to  carry  it  on  with  the  utmost  vigour. 
The  power  which  Charles  possessed  was  so  great,  that 
he  reckoned  himself  equal  to  this  arduous  undertaking. 
His  father  had  transmitted  to  him  such  an  ample  prero- 
gative, as  gave  him  the  entire  command  of  his  kingdom. 
He  himself  had  added  considerably  to  the  extent  of  his 
dominions,  by  his  prudent  marriage  with  the  heiress  of 


SECT.  11.]  Ills  INVASION  OF  ITALY.  95 

Bretagiie,  wliicli  rendered  him  master  of  that  province,  the 
last  of  the  great  fiefs  that  remained  to  be  annexed  to  the 
croAvn.  He  soon  assembled  forces  ^vhicli  he  thought  suffi- 
cient ;  and  so  impatient  was  he  to  enter  on  his  career  as  a 
conqueror,  that,  sacrificing  what  was  real  for  what  was 
chimerical,  he  restored  Rousillon  to  Ferdinand,  and  gave  up 
part  of  his  father's  acquisitions  in  Artois  to  Maximilian, 
with  a  view  of  inducing  these  princes  not  to  molest  France 
while  he  was  carrying  on  his  operations  in  Italy. 

But  so  different  were  the  efforts  of  the  states  of  Europe 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  from  those  which  we  shall  behold 
in  the  course  of  this  history,  that  the  army  with  which 
Charles  undertook  this  great  enterprise  did  not  exceed 
twenty  thousand  men.  The  train  of  artillery,  however,  the 
ammunition,  and  warlike  stores  of  every  kind  provided  for 
its  use,  were  so  considerable,  as  to  bear  some  resemblance 
to  the  immense  apparatus  of  modern  war.^ 

When  the  French  entered  Italy,  they  met  with  nothing 
able  to  resist  them.  The  Italian  powers  having  remained, 
dming  a  long  period,  undisturbed  by  the  invasion  of  any 
foreign  enemy,  had  formed  a  system  with  respect  to  their 
affairs,  both  in  peace  and  war,  peculiar  to  themselves.  In 
order  to  adjust  the  interests,  and  balance  the  power,  of  the 
different  states  into  which  Italy  was  divided,  they  were  en- 
gaged in  ])erpetual  and  endless  negotiations  with  each  other, 
which  they  conducted  with  all  the  subtlety  of  a  refining  and 
deceitful  policy.  Their  contests  in  the  field,  when  they  had 
recourse  to  arms,  were  decided  in  mock  battles,  by  innocent 
and  bloodless  victories.  Upon  the  first  appearance  of  the 
danger  which  now  impended,  they  had  recourse  to  the  arts 
which  they  had  studied,  and  employed  their  utmost  skill  in 
intrigue  in  order  to  avert  it.  But  this  proving  ineffectual, 
their  bands  of  effeminate  mercenaries,  the  only  military 
force  that  remained  in  the  country,  being  fit  only  for  the 
parade  of  service,  were  terrified  at  the  aspect  of  real  war, 
'  Mezcray,  Hist.  torn.  ii.  177. 


96  SUCCESSES  OF  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH.         [sect.  ii. 

and  slirimk  at  its  approach.  The  impetuosity  of  the  French 
valour  appeared  to  them  irresistible.  Florence,  Pisa,  and 
Rome,  opened  their  gates  as  the  French  army  advanced. 
The  prospect  of  this  dreadful  invasion  struck  one  king  of 
Naples  with  such  panic  terror,  that  he  died  (if  we  may 
believe  historians)  of  the  fright.  Another  abdicated  his 
throne  from  the  same  pusillanimous  spirit.  A  third  fled 
out  of  his  dominions,  as  soon  as  the  enemy  appeared  on  the 
Neapolitan  frontiers.  Charles,  after  marching  thither  from 
the  bottom  of  the  Alps,  with  as  much  rapidity,  and  almost 
as  little  opposition,  as  if  he  had  been  on  a  progress  through 
his  own  dominions,  took  quiet  possession  of  the  throne  of 
Naples,  and  intimidated  or  gave  law  to  every  power  in 
Italy. 

Such  was  the  conclusion  of  an  expedition,  that  must  be 
considered  as  the  first  great  exertion  of  those  new  powers 
which  the  princes  of  Europe  had  acquired  and  now  began 
to  exercise.  Its  effects  were  no  less  considerable,  than  its 
success  had  been  astonishing.  The  Italians,  unable  to  resist 
the  impression  of  the  enemy  who  broke  in  upon  them, 
permitted  him  to  hold  on  his  course  undisturbed.  They 
quickly  perceived  that  no  single  power,  which  they  could 
rouse  to  action,  was  an  equal  match  for  a  monarch,  who 
ruled  over  such  extensive  territories,  and  was  at  the  head  of 
such  a  martial  people ;  but  that  a  confederacy  might 
accomplish  what  the  separate  members  of  it  durst  not 
attempt.  To  this  expedient,  the  only  one  that  remained  to 
deliver  or  to  preserve  them  from  the  yoke,  they  had  recourse. 
While  Charles  inconsiderately  wasted  his  time  at  Naples  in 
festivals  and  triumphs  on  account  of  his  past  successes,  or 
was  fondly  dreaming  of  future  conquests  in  the  East,  to  the 
empire  of  which  he  now  aspired,  they  formed  against  him 
a  powerful  combination  of  almost  all  the  Italian  states, 
supported  by  the  emperor  Maximilian,  and  Ferdinand,  king 
of  Aragon.  .  The  union  of  so  many  powers,  who  suspended 
or  forgot  all  their  particular  animosities,  that  they  might 


SECT.  II.]  THE  BALANCE  OF  POWER  97 

act  in  concert  against  an  enemy  who  had  become  formidable 
to  them  all,  awakened  Charles  from  his  thoughtless  security. 
He  saw  now  no  prospect  of  safety  but  in  returning  to  France. 
An  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  assembled  by  the  allies, 
was  ready  to  obstruct  his  march ;  and  though  the  French, 
with  a  daring  coiu'age,  Avhich  more  than  countervailed  their 
inferiority  in  number,  broke  through  that  great  body,  and 
gained  a  victory,  which  opened  to  their  monarch  a  safe 
passage  into  his  own  territories,  he  was  stripped  of  all  his 
conquests  in  Italy  in  as  short  a  time  as  it  had  taken  to 
acquu'e  them ;  and  the  political  system  in  that  country 
resumed  the  same  appearance  as  before  his  invasion. 

The  sudden  and  decisive  eflPect  of  this  confederacy  seems 
to  have  instructed  the  princes  and  statesmen  of  Italy  as 
much  as  the  irruption  of  the  French  had  disconcerted  and 
alarmed  them.  They  had  extended,  on  this  occasion,  to 
the  affairs  of  Europe,  the  maxims  of  that  pohtical  science 
which  had  hitherto  been  applied  only  to  regulate  the 
operations  of  the  petty  states  in  their  own  country.  They 
had  discovered  the  method  of  preventing  any  monarch  from 
rising  to  such  a  degree  of  power,  as  was  inconsistent  with 
the  general  liberty  ;  and  had  manifested  the  importance  of 
attending  to  that  great  secret  in  modern  policy,  the  preser- 
vation of  a  proper  distribution  of  power  among  all  the 
members  of  the  system  into  which  the  states  of  Europe  are 
formed.  During  all  the  wars  of  which  Italy  from  that  time 
was  the  theatre,  and  amidst  the  hostile  operations  which 
the  imprudence  of  Louis  XII.  and  the  ambition  of  Ferdinand 
of  Aragon  carried  on  in  that  country,  with  little  interruption, 
from  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  to  that  period  at 
which  the  subsequent  history  commences,  the  maintaining 
a  proper  balance  of  power  between  the  contending  parties 
became  the  great  object  of  attention  to  the  statesmen  of 
Italy.  Nor  was  the  idea  confined  to  them.  Self-preserva- 
tion taught  other  powers  to  adopt  it.  It  grew  to  be 
fashionable  and  universal.     From  this  era  we  can  trace  the 

VOL.  I.  H 


98  MILITAUY  INNOVATIONS.  [sect.  ir. 

progress  of  tliat  intercourse  between  nations,  wliicli  has 
linked  the  powers  of  Europe  so  closely  together ;  and  can 
discern  the  operations  of  that  provident  policy  which,  during 
peace,  guards  against  remote  and  contingent  dangers ;  and, 
in  war,  has  prevented  rapid  and  destructive  conquests. 

This  was  not  the  only  effect  of  the  operations  which  the 
great  powers  of  Europe  carried  on  in  Italy.  They  contri- 
buted to  render  general  such  a  change,  as  the  Erench  had 
begun  to  make  in  the  state  of  their  troops  ;  and  obliged  all 
the  princes,  who  appeared  on  this  new  theatre  of  action, 
to  put  the  military  force  of  their  kingdoms  on  an  establish- 
ment similar  to  that  of  Erance.  When  the  seat  of  war 
came  to  be  remote  from  the  countries  which  maintained  the 
contest,  the  service  of  the  feudal  vassals  ceased  to  be  of  any 
use ;  and  the  necessity  of  employing  soldiers  regularly 
trained  to  arms,  and  kept  in  constant  pay,  came  at  once  to 
be  evident.  When  Charles  VIII.  marched  into  Italy,  his 
cavalry  was  entirely  composed  of  those  companies  of  gen- 
darmes, embodied  by  Charles  VII.,  and  continued  by  Louis 
XL  ;  his  infantry  consisted  partly  of  Swiss,  hired  of  the 
Cantons,  and  partly  of  Gascons,  armed  and  disciplined 
after  the  Swiss  model.  To  these  Louis  XII.  added  a  body 
of  Germans,  well  known  in  the  wars  of  Italy  by  the  name 
of  the  black  bands.  But  neither  of  these  monarchs  made  any 
account  of  the  feudal  militia,  or  ever  had  recourse  to  that 
military  force  which  they  might  have  commanded,  in  virtue 
of  the  ancient  institutions  in  their  kingdom.  Maximilian 
and  Eerdinand,  as  soon  as  they  began  to  act  in  Italy, 
employed  similar  instruments,  and  trusted  the  execution  of 
their  plans  entirely  to  mercenary  troops. 

This  innovation  in  the  military  system  was  quickly  fol- 
lowed by  another,  which  the  custom  of  employing  Swiss 
in  the  Italian  wars  was  the  occasion  of  introducing.  The 
arms  and  discipline  of  the  Swiss  were  different  from  those 
of  other  European  nations.  During  their  long  and  violent 
struggles  in  defence  of  their  liberties  against  the  house  of 


SECT.  II.]  SWISS  MEECENAEIES.  99 

Austria,  whose  armies,  like  those  of  other  considerable 
princes,  consisted  chiefly  of  heavy-armed  cavahy,  the  Swiss 
found  that  their  poverty,  and  the  small  mindjer  of  gentle- 
men residing  in  their  country,  at  that  time  barren  and  ill 
cultivated,  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  bring  into  the  field 
any  body  of  horse  capable  of  facing  the  enemy.  Necessity 
compelled  them  to  place  all  their  confidence  in  infantry ; 
and  in  order  to  render  it  capable  of  withstanding  the  shock 
of  cavalry,  they  gave  the  soldiers  breast-plates  and  helmets 
as  defensive  armour,  together  with  long  spears,  halberts, 
and  heavy  swords,  as  weapons  of  offence.  They  formed 
them  into  large  battalions,  ranged  in  deep  and  close  array, 
so  that  they  could  present  on  every  side  a  formidable  front 
to  the  enemy.'"  The  men-at-arms  could  make  no  impression 
on  the  solid  strength  of  such  a  body.  It  repulsed  the 
Austrians  in  all  their  attempts  to  conquer  Swisserland. 
It  broke  the  Burgundian  gendarmerie,  which  was  scarcely 
inferior  to  that  of  France,  either  in  number  or  reputation ; 
and  when  first  called  to  act  in  Italy,  it  bore  doAvn,  by  its 
irresistible  force,  every  enemy  that  attempted  to  oppose  it. 
These  repeated  proofs  of  the  decisive  effect  of  infantry, 
exhibited  on  such  conspicuous  occasions,  restored  that  service 
to  reputation,  and  gradually  re-established  the  opinion, 
"svhich  had  been  long  exploded,  of  its  superior  importance 
in  the  operations  of  war.  But  the  glory  which  the  Swiss 
had  acquired,  having  inspired  them  with  such  high  ideas  of 
their  own  prowess  and  consequence,  as  frequently  rendered 
them  mutinous  and  insolent,  the  princes  who  employed 
them  became  weary  of  depending  on  the  caprice  of  foreign 
mercenaries,  and  began  to  turn  their  attention  towards  the 
improvement  of  their  national  infantry. 

The  German  powers  having  the  command  of  men, 
wdiom  nature  has  endowed  with  that  steady  courage  and 
persevering  strength  which  form  them  to  be  soldiers,  soon 

^°  Machiavel's  Art  of  War,  b.  ii.  chap.  ii.  p.  451. 
H  2 


100  INFANTRY  OF  EUROPE.  [sect.  ii. 

modelled  their  troops  in  such  a  manner,  that  they  vied 
with  the  Swiss  both  in  discipline  and  valour. 

The  French  monarchs,  though  more  slowly,  and  with 
greater  difficulty,  accustomed  the  impetuous  spirit  of  their 
people  to  subordination  and  discipline ;  and  were  at  such 
pains  to  render  their  national  infantry  respectable,  that  as 
early  as  the  reign  of  Louis  XII.  several  gentlemen  of  high 
rank  had  so  far  abandoned  their  ancient  ideas,  as  to  con- 
descend to  enter  into  that  service." 

The  Spaniards,  whose  situation  made  it  difficult  to  em- 
ploy any  other  than  their  national  troops  in  the  southern 
parts  of  Italy,  which  was  the  chief  scene  of  their  operations 
in  that  coimtry,  not  only  adopted  the  Swiss  discipline,  but 
improved  upon  it,  by  mingling  a  proper  number  of  soldiers, 
armed  with  heavy  muskets,  in  their  battalions ;  and  thus 
formed  that  famous  body  of  infantry,  which,  during  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half,  was  the  admiration  and  terror  of  all  Europe. 
The  Italian  states  gradually  diminished  the  number  of  their 
cavalry,  and,  in  imitation  of  their  more  powerful  neigh- 
bours, brought  the  strength  of  their  armies  to  consist  in 
foot- soldiers.  From  this  period  the  nations  of  Europe  have 
carried  on  war  with  forces  more  adapted  to  every  species  of 
service,  more  capable  of  acting  in  every  country,  and  better 
fitted  both  for  making  conquests,  and  for  preserving  them. 

As  their  efforts  in  Italy  led  the  people  of  Europe  to 
these  improvements  in  the  art  of  w^ar,  they  gave  them  like- 
wise the  first  idea  of  the  expense  Avith  which  it  is  accom- 
panied when  extensive  or  of  long  continuance,  and  accus- 
tomed every  nation  to  the  burden  of  such  impositions  as 
are  necessary  for  supporting  it.  While  the  feudal  policy 
subsisted  in  full  vigour,  while  armies  were  composed  of 
military  vassals  called  forth  to  attack  some  neighbouring 
power,  and  to  perforin,  in  a  short  campaign,  the  services 
which  they  owed  to  their  sovereign,  the  expense  of  war  was 
extremely  moderate.     A  small  subsidy  enabled  a  prince  to 

"  Brantome,  torn.  x.  p.  18.     Mem.  de  Fleuranges,  143. 


SECT.  II.]  MILITARY  SUBSIDIES.  101 

begin  and  to  finish  his  greatest  military  operations.  But 
when  Italy  became  the  theatre  on  whieh  the  powers  of 
Em*ope  contended  for  superiority,  the  preparations  requisite 
for  such  a  distant  expedition,  the  pay  of  armies  kept  con- 
stantly on  foot,  their  subsistence  in  a  foreign  country,  the 
sieges  to  be  undertaken,  and  the  towns  to  be  defended, 
swelled  the  charges  of  war  immensely,  and,  by  creating 
demands  unknown  in  less  active  times,  multiplied  taxes  in 
every  kingdom.  The  progress  of  ambition,  however,  was 
so  rapid,  and  princes  extended  their  operations  so  fast,  that 
it  was  impossible  at  first  to  establish  funds  proportional  to 
the  increase  of  expense  which  these  occasioned.  When 
Charles  VIII.  invaded  Naples,  the  sums  requisite  for  carry- 
ing on  that  enterprise  so  far  exceeded  those  which  Prance 
had  been  accustomed  to  contribute  for  the  support  of 
government,  that  before  he  reached  the  frontiers  of  Italy, 
his  treasury  was  exhausted,  and  the  domestic  resources,  of 
which  his  extensive  prerogative  gave  him  the  command, 
were  at  an  end.  As  he  durst  not  venture  to  lay  any  new 
imposition  on  his  people,  oppressed  already  with  the  weight 
of  unusual  burdens,  the  only  expedient  that  remained  was 
to  borrow  of  the  Genoese  as  much  money  as  might  enable 
him  to  continue  his  march.  But  he  could  not  obtain  a 
sufficient  sum,  without  consenting  to  pay  annually  the  exor- 
bitant interest  of  forty-two  livres  for  every  hundred  that  he 
reeeived.^^  We  may  observe  the  same  disproportion  between 
the  efforts  and  revenues  of  other  princes,  his  contempo- 
raries. From  this  period  taxes  went  on  increasing;  and 
during  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  such  sums  were  levied  in 
every  state,  as  would  have  appeared  enormous  at  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  gradually  prepared  the  way 
for  the  still  more  exorbitant  exactions  of  modern  times. 

The  last  transaction,  previous  to  the  reign  of  Charles  V., 
that  merits  attention  on  account  of  its  influence  upon  the 
state  of  Europe,  is  the  league  of  Cambray.    To  humble  the 

^^  Mem.  de  Comines,  lib.  vii.  c.  5,  p.  440. 


102  THE  LEAGUE  OF  CAMBHAY  [sect.  ir. 

republic  of  Venice,  and  to  divide  its  territories,  was  the 
object  of  all  the  powers  who  united  in  this  confederacy. 
The  civil  constitution  of  Venice,  established  on  a  firm  basis, 
had  suffered  no  considerable  alteration  for  several  centuries  ; 
during  which  the  senate  conducted  its  affairs  by  maxims  of 
policy  no  less  prudent  than  vigorous,  and  adhered  to  these 
with  an  uniform  consistent  spirit,  which  gave  that  common- 
wealth great  advantage  over  other  states,  whose  views  and 
measures  changed  as  often  as  the  form  of  their  government, 
or  the  persons  who  administered  it.  By  these  uninter- 
mitted  exertions  of  wisdom  and  valour,  the  Venetians 
enlarged  the  dominions  of  their  commonwealth,  until  it 
became  the  most  considerable  power  in  Italy ;  while  their 
extensive  commerce,  the  useful  and  curious  manufactures 
which  they  carried  on,  together  with  the  large  share  which 
they  had  acquired  of  the  lucrative  commerce  with  the  East, 
rendered  Venice  the  most  opulent  state  in  Europe. 

The  power  of  the  Venetians  was  the  object  of  terror  to 
their  Italian  neio-hbours.  Their  wealth  was  viewed  with 
envy  by  the  greatest  monarchs,  who  could  not  vie  with 
many  of  their  private  citizens  in  the  magnificence  of  their 
buildings,  in  the  richness  of  their  dress  and  furniture,  or 
in  splendour  and  elegance  of  living.''^  Julias  II.,  whose 
ambition  was  superior,  and  his  abilities  equal,  to  those  of 
any  pontiff  who  ever  sat  on  the  papal  throne,  conceived  the 
idea  of  this  league  against  the  Venetians,  and  endeavoured, 
by  applying  to  those  passions  which  I  have  mentioned,  to 
persuade  other  princes  to  join  in  it.  By  working  upon  the 
fears  of  the  Italian  powers,  and  upon  the  avarice  of  several 
monarchs  beyond  the  Alps,  he  induced  them,  in  concurrence 
with  other  causes,  which  it  is  not  my  province  to  explain, 
to  form  one  of  the  most  powerful  confederacies  that  Europe 
had  ever  beheld,  against  those  haughty  republicans. 

The  emperor,  the  king  of  France,  the  king  of  Aragon, 
and  the  pope,  were  principals  in  the  league  of  Cambray,  to 

'*  Heliani  Oratio  apud  Goldastura  in  Polit.  Imperial,  p.  9S0. 


SECT.  IT.]  AGAINST  VENICE.  103 

which  ahuost  all  the  princes  of  Italy  acceded,  the  least  con- 
siderable of  them  hoping  for  some  share  in  the  spoils  of  a 
state,  which  they  deemed  to  be  now  devoted  to  destruction. 
The  Venetians  might  have  diverted  this  storm,  or  have 
broken  its  force;  but  with  a  presumptuous  rashness,  to 
which  there  is  nothing  similar  in  the  course  of  their  history, 
they  waited  its  approach.  The  impetuous  valour  of  the 
French  rendered  ineffectual  all  their  precautions  for  the 
safety  of  the  republic ;  and  the  fatal  battle  of  Ghiarraddada 
entirely  ruined  the  army  on  which  they  relied  for  defence. 
Julius  seized  all  the  towns  which  they  held  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical territories.  Ferdinand  re-annexed  the  towns  of  which 
they  had  got  possession  on  the  coast  of  Calabria,  to  his 
Neapolitan  dominions.  Maximilian,  at  the  head  of  a  power- 
ful army,  advanced  towards  Venice  on  the  one  side.  The 
French  pushed  their  conquests  on  the  other.  The  Venetians 
surrounded  by  so  many  enemies,  and  left  without  one  ally, 
sunk  from  the  height  of  presumption  to  the  depths  of 
despair ;  abandoned  all  their  territories  on  the  continent ; 
and  shut  themselves  up  in  their  capital,  as  their  last  refuge, 
and  the  only  place  which  they  hoped  to  preserve. 

This  rapid  success,  however,  proved  fatal  to  the  con- 
federacy. The  members  of  it,  whose  union  continued  while 
they  were  engaged  in  seizing  their  prey,  began  to  feel  their 
ancient  jealousies  and  animosities  revive,  as  soon  as  they 
had  a  prospect  of  dividing  it.  When  the  Venetians  observed 
these  symptoms  of  distrust  and  alienation,  a  ray  of  hope 
broke  in  upon  them ;  the  spirit  natural  to  their  councils 
returned;  they  resumed  such  wisdom  and  firmness,  as 
made  some  atonement  for  their  former  imprudence  and 
dejection ;  they  recovered  part  of  the  territory  which  they 
had  lost ;  they  appeased  the  pope  and  Ferdinand  by  well- 
timed  concessions  in  their  favour ;  and  at  length  dissolved 
the  confederacy,  which  had  brought  their  commonwealth  to 
the  brink  of  ruin, 

Julius,  elated  with  beholding  the  effects  of  a  league  which 


104  THE  POLICY  OF  POPE  JULIUS,  [sect.  ir. 

he  himself  had  planned,  and  imagming  that  nothmg  was 
too  arduous  for  him  to  undertake,  conceived  the  idea  of 
expelling  every  foreign  power  out  of  Italy,  and  bent  all  the 
force  of  his  mind  towards  executing  a  scheme  so  well  suited 
to  his  enterprising  genius.  He  directed  his  first  attack 
against  the  French,  who,  on  many  accounts,  were  more 
odious  to  the  Italians  than  any  of  the  foreigners  who  had 
acquired  dominion  in  their  country.  By  his  activity  and 
address,  he  prevailed  on  most  of  the  powers,  who  had  joined 
in  the  league  of  Cambray,  to  turn  their  arms  against  the 
king  of  France,  their  former  ally,  and  engaged  Henry  VIII., 
who  had  lately  ascended  the  throne  of  England,  to  favour 
their  operations  by  invading  France.  Louis  XII.  resisted 
all  the  efforts  of  this  formidable  and  unexpected  confederacy 
with  undaunted  fortitude.  Hostilities  were  carried  on, 
during  several  campaigns,  in  Italy,  on  the  frontiers  of  Spain, 
and  in  Picardy,  with  alternate  success.  Exhausted,  at 
length,  by  the  variety  as  w^ell  as  extent  of  his  operations ; 
unable  to  withstand  a  confederacy  which  brought  against 
him  superior  force,  conducted  with  wisdom  and  acting  with 
perseverance ;  Louis  found  it  necessary  to  conclude  separate 
treaties  of  peace  with  his  enemies ;  and  the  war  terminated 
with  the  loss  of  everything  which  the  French  had  acquired 
in  Italy,  except  the  castle  of  Milan,  and  a  few  inconsider- 
able towns  in  that  duchy. 

The  various  negotiations  carried  on  during  this  busy 
period,  and  the  different  combinations  formed  among 
powers  hitherto  little  connected  with  each  other,  greatly 
increased  that  intercourse  among  the  nations  of  Europe, 
which  I  have  mentioned  as  one  effect  of  the  events  in  the 
fifteenth  century;  while  the  greatness  of  the  objects  at 
which  different  nations  aimed,  the  distant  expeditions 
which  they  undertook,  as  well  as  the  length  and  obstinacy 
of  the  contest  in  which  they  engaged,  obliged  them  to 
exert  themselves  with  a  vigom*  and  perseverance  unknown 
in  the  preceding  ages. 


SECT.  II.]  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  105 

Those  active  scenes  which  the  following  history  will 
exhibit,  as  well  as  the  variety  and  importance  of  those 
transactions  which  disthiguish  the  period  to  which  it 
extends,  are  not  to  be  ascribed  solely  to  the  ambition,  to 
the  abilities,  or  to  the  rivalship  of  Charles  V.  and  of 
Francis  I.  The  kingdoms  of  Europe  had  arrived  at  such 
a  degree  of  improvement  in  the  internal  administration  of 
government,  and  princes  had  acquired  such  command  of 
the  national  force  which  was  to  be  exerted  in  foreign  wars, 
that  they  were  in  a  condition  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  their 
operations,  to  multiply  their  claims  and  pretensions,  and  to 
increase  the  vigour  of  their  efforts.  Accordingly  the  six- 
teenth century  opened  with  the  certain  prospect  of  its 
abounding  in  great  and  interesting  events. 


A    VIEW 

OF   THE 

PEOGRESS  OP  SOCIETY  IN  EUROPE, 


FROM   THE 


SUBVERSION   OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BEGINNING 
OE  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


SECTION  III. 


VIEW  OF  THE   POLITICAL  CONSTITDTION   OF  THE  PEINCIPAL  STATES  IN  EUROPE, 
AT   THE   COMMENCEMENT   OP   THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 

Italy  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Sixteenth  Century — The  Papal  Power — Alexander 
VI.  and  Julius  II. — Defects  in  Ecclesiastical  Governments — Venice ;  its 
Rise  and  Progress ;  its  Naval  Power  and  its  Commerce — Florence — Naples 
and  Sicily — Contest  for  its  Crown — Duchy  of  Milan — Ludovico  Sforza — 
Spain,  conquered  by  the  Vandals  and  by  the  Moors;  gradually  re-conquered 
by  the  Christians — Marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella — The  Royal  Prero- 
gative— Constitution  of  Aragon  and  of  Castile — Internal  Disorders — "  The 
Holy  Brotherhood  " — France  ;  its  Constitution  and  Government — The 
Power  of  its  Early  Kings — Government  becomes  purely  Monarchical,  though 
restrained  by  the  Nobles  and  the  Parliament — The  German  Empire — Power 
of  ihe  Nobles  and  of  the  Clergy — Contests  between  the  Popes  and  the 
Emperors — Decline  of  Imperial  Authority — Total  Change  of  Government — 
Maximilian — The  real  Power  and  Revenues  of  the  Emperors,  contrasted 
with  their  Pretensions — Complication  of  Difficulties — Origin  of  the  Turkish 
Empire ;  its  Character — The  Janizaries — Solyman. 

Having  thus  enumerated  the  prmcipal  causes  and  events, 
the  influence  of  which  was  felt  in  every  part  of  Europe, 
and  contributed  either  to  improve  internal  order  and  pohce 
in  its  various  states,  or  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  their 
activity,  by  giving  them  more  entire  command  of  the  force 
with  which  foreign  operations  are  carried  on ;  nothing 
farther  seems  requisite  for  preparing  my  readers  to  enter, 


SECT.  in.J  PRELIMINARY  OBSERVATIONS.  107 

with  full  information,  upon  perusing  the  history  of 
Charles  V,,  but  to  give  a  view  of  the  political  constitution 
and  form  of  civil  government  in  each  of  the  nations  which 
acted  any  considerable  part  during  that  period.  For  as 
the  institutions  and  events  which  I  have  endeavovn*ed  to 
illustrate,  formed  the  people  of  Europe  to  resemble  each 
other,  and  conducted  them  from  barbarism  to  refinement, 
in  the  same  path,  and  by  nearly  equal  steps ;  there  w^re 
other  circumstances  Avliich  occasioned  a  difference  in  their 
political  establishments,  and  gave  rise  to  those  peculiar 
modes  of  government,  which  have  produced  such  variety  in 
the  character  and  genius  of  nations. 

It  is  no  less  necessary  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
latter,  than  to  have  contemplated  the  former.  Without 
a  distinct  knowledge  of  the  peculiar  form  and  genius  of 
civil  government  in  each  state,  a  great  part  of  its  trans- 
actions must  appear  altogether  mysterious  and  inexplicable. 
The  historians  of  particular  countries,  as  they  seldom  ex- 
tended their  views  farther  than  to  the  amusement  or 
instruction  of  their  fellow-citizens,  by  whom  they  might 
presume  that  all  their  domestic  customs  and  institutions 
were  perfectly  understood,  have  often  neglected  to  descend 
into  such  details  with  respect  to  these,  as  are  sufficient  to 
convey  to  foreigners  full  light  and  information  concerning 
the  occurrences  which  they  relate.  But  a  history,  which 
comprehends  the  transactions  of  so  many  different  coun- 
tries, would  be  extremely  imperfect,  without  a  previous 
survey  of  the  constitution  and  political  state  of  each.  It  is 
from  his  knowledge  of  these,  that  the  reader  must  draw 
those  principles,  which  will  enable  him  to  judge  with  dis- 
cernment, and  to  decide  with  certainty,  concerning  the 
conduct  of  nations. 

A  minute  detail,  however,  of  the  peculiar  forms  and 
regulations  in  every  country,  would  lead  to  deductions  of 
immeasurable  length.  To  sketch  out  the  great  lines  which 
distinguish  and  characterise  each  government,  is  all  that 


108  ITALY  IN  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.         [sect.  hi. 

tlie  nature  of  my  present  work  "vvill  admit  of,  and  all  that 
is  necessary  to  illustrate  the  events  which  it  records. 

At  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  political 
aspect  of  Italy  was  extremely  different  from  that  of  any 
other  part  of  Europe.  Instead  of  those  extensive  mon- 
archies, which  occupied  the  rest  of  the  continent,  that 
delightful  country  was  parcelled  out  among  many  small 
states,  each  of  which  possessed  sovereign  and  independent 
jurisdiction.  The  only  monarchy  in  Italy  was  that  of 
Naples.  The  dominion  of  the  popes  was  of  a  pecuhar 
species,  to  which  there  is  nothing  similar  either  in  ancient 
or  modern  times.  In  Venice,  Florence,  and  Genoa,  a 
republican  form  of  government  was  established.  Milan 
was  subject  to  sovereigns,  who  had  assumed  no  higher 
title  than  that  of  dukes. 

The  pope  was  the  first  of  these  powers  in  dignity,  and 
not  the  least  considerable  by  the  extent  of  his  territories. 
In  the  primitive  church,  the  jurisdiction  of  bishops  was 
equal  and  co-ordinate.  They  derived,  perhaps,  some  de- 
gree of  consideration  from  the  dignity  of  the  see  in  which 
they  presided.  They  possessed,  however,  no  real  authority 
or  pre-eminence,  but  what  they  acquired  by  superior 
abilities,  or  superior  sanctity.  As  Rome  had  so  long  been 
the  seat  of  empire,  and  the  capital  of  the  world,  its  bishops 
were  on  that  account  entitled  to  respect ;  they  received  it ; 
but  during  several  ages  they  received  and  even  claimed 
nothing  more.  From  these  humble  beginnings,  they 
advanced  with  such  adventurous  and  well-directed  ambi- 
tion, that  they  established  a  spiritual  dominion  over  the 
minds  and  sentiments  of  men,  to  which  all  Euro})e  sub- 
mitted with  implicit  obedience.  Their  claim  of  universal 
jurisdiction,  as  heads  of  the  church,  and  their  pretensions 
to  infalhbility  in  their  decisions,  as  successors  of  St.  Peter, 
are  as  chimerical  as  they  are  repugnant  to  the  genius  of 
the  Christian  religion.  But  on  these  foundations  the 
superstition  and  credulity  of  mankind  enabled  them  to 


SECT.  III.]  THE  PAPAL  POWER.  109 

erect  an  amazing  superstructure.  In  all  ecclesiastical  con- 
troversies, their  decisions  were  received  as  the  infallible 
oracles  of  truth.  Nor  was  the  plenitude  of  their  power 
confined  solely  to  what  was  spiritual ;  they  dethroned 
monarchs  ;  disposed  of  crowns ;  absolved  subjects  from  the 
obedience  due  to  their  sovereigns ;  and  laid  kingdoms  under 
interdicts.  There  was  uot  a  state  in  Europe  which  had  not 
been  disquieted  by  their  ambition ;  there  was  not  a  throne 
which  they  had  not  shaken ;  nor  a  prince  who  did  not 
tremble  at  their  power. 

Nothing  was  wanting  to  render  this  empire  absolute, 
and  to  establish  it  on  the  ruins  of  all  civil  authority,  but 
that  the  popes  should  have  possessed  such  a  degree  of 
temporal  power,  as  was  sufficient  to  second  and  enforce 
their  spiritual  decrees.  Happily  for  mankind,  at  the  time 
when  their  spiritual  jurisdiction  was  most  extensive  and 
most  revered,  their  secular  dominion  was  extremely  limited. 
They  were  powerful  pontiff's,  formidable  at  a  distance ;  but 
they  were  petty  princes,  without  any  considerable  domestic 
force.  They  had  early  endeavoured,  indeed,  to  acquire 
territory  by  arts  similar  to  those  which  they  had  employed 
in  extending  their  spiritual  jurisdiction.  Under  pretence 
of  a  donation  from  Constantine,  and  of  another  from 
Charlemagne  or  his  father  Pepin,  they  attempted  to  take 
possession  of  some  towns  adjacent  to  Rome.  But  these 
donations  were  fictitious,  and  availed  them  little.  The 
benefactions,  for  which  they  were  indebted  to  the  credulity 
of  the  Norman  adventurers,  who  conquered  Naples,  and  to 
the  superstition  of  the  Countess  Matilda,  were  real,  and 
added  ample  domains  to  the  holy  see. 

But  the  power  of  the  popes  did  not  increase  in  propor- 
tion to  the  extent  of  territory  which  they  had  acquired.  In 
the  dominions  annexed  to  the  holy  see,  as  well  as  in  those 
subject  to  other  princes  in  Italy,  the  sovereign  of  a  state 
was  far  from  having  the  command  of  a  force  which  it  con- 
tained.  During  the  turbulence  and  confusion  of  the  middle 


110  POPULAR  ENCEOACHMENTS  [sect.  m. 

ages,  the  powerful  nobility,  or  leaders  of  popular  factions  in 
Italy,  liad  seized  the  government  of  different  towns ;  and, 
after  strengthening  their  fortifications,  and  taking  a  body 
of  mercenaries  into  pay,  they  aspired  at  independence. 
The  territory  which  the  church  had  gained  was  filled  with 
petty  lords  of  this  kind,  who  left  the  pope  hardly  the 
shadow  of  dominion. 

As  these  usurpations  almost  annihilated  the  papal  povver 
in  the  greater  part  of  the  towns  subject  to  the  church,  the 
Roman  barons  frequently  disputed  the  authority  of  the 
popes,  even  in  Home  itself.  In  the  twelfth  century,  an 
opinion  began  to  be  propagated,  "  That  as  the  function 
of  ecclesiastics  was  purely  spiritual,  they  ought  to  possess 
no  property,  and  to  claim  no  temporal  jurisdiction ;  but, 
according  to  the  laudable  example  of  their  predecessors  in 
the  primitive  church,  should  subsist  wholly  upon  their 
tithes,  or  upon  the  voluntary  oblations  of  the  people."  ^ 
This  doctrine  being  addressed  to  men  who  had  beheld  the 
scandalous  manner  in  which  the  avarice  and  ambition  of 
the  clergy  had  prompted  them  to  contend  for  wealth,  and 
to  exercise  power,  they  listened  to  it  with  fond  attention. 
The  Roman  barons,  who  had  felt  most  sensibly  the  rigour 
of  ecclesiastical  oppression,  adopted  these  sentiments  with 
such  ardour,  that  they  set  themselves  instantly  to  shake 
off'  the  yoke  [1143].  They  endeavoured  to  restore  some 
image  of  their  ancient  liberty,  by  reviving  the  institution 
of  the  Roman  senate,  in  which  they  vested  supreme  autho- 
rity ;  committing  the  executive  power  sometimes  to  one 
chief  senator,  sometimes  to  two,  and  sometimes  to  a  magis- 
trate dignified  with  the  name  of  The  Patrician.  The  popes 
exerted  them  with  vigour,  in  order  to  check  this  dangerous 
encroachment  on  their  jurisdiction.  One  of  them,  finding 
all  his  endeavours  ineff'ectual,  was  so  much  mortified,  that 
extreme  grief  cut  short  his  days.  Another,  having  ven- 
tured to  attack  the  senators  at  the  head  of  some  armed 

1  Otto  Frisiiigensis  de  Gestis  Frider.  Imp.  lib.  ii.  cap.  10. 


SECT.  III.]  ON  THE  PAPAL  SOVEREIGNTY.  HI 

men,  was  mortally  woimded  in  the  fray.^  During  a  con- 
siderable period,  the  power  of  the  popes,  before  wliich  tlie 
greatest  monarchs  in  Europe  trembled,  was  circumscribed 
within  such  narrow  limits  in  their  own  capital,  that  they 
durst  hardly  exert  any  act  of  authority  without  the  permis- 
sion and  concurrence  of  the  senate. 

Encroachments  w^ere  made  upon  the  papal  sovereignty, 
not  only  by  the  usurpations  of  the  Roman  nobility,  but 
by  the  mutinous  spirit  of  the  people.  During  seventy 
years  of  the  fourteenth  century  [1308 — 1377],  the  popes 
fixed  their  residence  in  Avignon.  The  inhabitants  of 
Rome,  accustomed  to  consider  themselves  as  the  descend- 
ants of  the  people  who  had  conquered  the  world,  and  had 
given  laws  to  it,  were  too  high-spirited  to  submit  with 
patience  to  the  delegated  authority  of  those  persons  to 
whom  the  popes  committed  the  government  of  the  city. 
On  many  occasions  they  opposed  the  execution  of  the 
papal  mandates,  and  on  the  slightest  appearance  of  inno- 
vation or  oppression,  they  were  ready  to  take  arms  in 
defence  of  their  own  immunities.  Towards  the  middle 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  being  instigated  by  Nicholas 
Rienzo,  a  man  of  low  birth  and  a  seditious  spirit,  but  of 
popular  eloquence  and  an  enterprising  ambition,  they  drove 
all  the  nobility  out  of  the  city,  established  a  democratical 
form  of  government,  elected  Rienzo  tribune  of  the  people, 
and  invested  him  with  extensive  authority.  But  though 
the  frantic  proceedings  of  the  tribune  soon  overturned  this 
new  system ;  though  the  government  of  Rome  was  rein- 
stated in  its  ancient  form ;  yet  every  fresh  attack  contri- 
buted to  weaken  the  papal  jurisdiction  :  and  the  turbulence 
of  the  people  concurred  with  the  spirit  of  independence 
among  the  nobihty,  in  circumscribing  it  more  and  more.' 

2  Otto  Erising.  Chroii.  lib.  vii.  cap.  lani,  liv.  xii.  c.  89,   104,  ap.  Murat. 

27,  31.     Id.  de  Gest.  Frid.  lib.  i.  c.  27.  Script.  Renim  Ital.  vol.  xiii.    Vita  di 

Muratori,  Annali  d'ltalia,  vol.  ix.  398.  Cola   di    Rienzo,  ap.  Murat.    Aiitiq. 

404.  _  Ital.  vol.  iii.  p.  399,  &c.  Hist,  do  Nic. 

^  Histoire  Florentine  de  Giov.  Vil-  Rienzy,par  M.d.  Boispreaux,  p.  91,  &c. 


112  GENIUS  or  THE  PAPAL  GOVERNMENT.        [sect.  iii. 

Gregory  VII.  and  other  doraineering  pontiifs  accomplished 
those  great  things  which  rendered  them  so  formidable  to 
the  emperors  with  whom  they  contended,  not  by  the  force 
of  their  arms,  or  by  the  extent  of  their  power,  but  by  the 
dread  of  their  spiritual  censures,  and  by  the  effect  of  their 
intrigues,  which  excited  rivals,  and  called  forth  enemies 
against  every  prince  whom  they  wished  to  depress  or  to 
destroy. 

Many  attempts  were  made  by  the  popes,  not  only  to 
humble  those  usurpers  who  lorded  it  over  the  cities  in  the 
ecclesiastical  state,  but  to  break  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the 
Roman  people.  These  were  long  unsuccessful.  But  at 
last  Alexander  VI.,  with  a  policy  no  less  artful  than  flagi- 
tious, subdued  or  extirpated  most  of  the  great  Roman 
barons,  and  rendered  the  popes  masters  of  their  own 
dominions.  The  enterprising  ambition  of  Julius  II.  added 
conquests  of  no  inconsiderable  value  to  the  patrimony  of 
St.  Peter.  Thus  the  popes,  by  degrees,  became  powerful 
temporal  princes.  Their  territories,  in  the  age  of  Charles  V., 
were  of  greater  extent  than  at  present ;  their  country  seems 
to  have  been  better  cultivated  as  well  as  more  populous ; 
and,  as  they  drew  large  contributions  from  every  part  of 
Europe,  their  revenues  far  exceeded  those  of  the  neigh- 
bouring powers,  and  rendered  them  capable  of  more  sudden 
and  vigorous  efforts. 

The  genius  of  the  papal  government,  hoAvever,  was  better 
adapted  to  the  exercise  of  spiritual  dominion  than  of  tem- 
poral power.  With  respect  to  the  former,  all  its  maxims 
were  steady  and  invariable  ;  every  new  pontiff  adopted  the 
plan  of  his  predecessor.  By  education  and  habit,  eccle- 
siastics were  so  formed,  that  the  character  of  the  individual 
was  sunk  in  that  of  the  profession ;  and  the  passions  of  the 
man  were  sacrificed  to  the  interest  and  honour  of  the  order. 
The  hands  which  held  the  reins  of  administration  might 
change,  but  the  spirit  wdiich  conducted  them  was  always 
the   same.     While   the   measures    of  other   governments 


SECT,  m.]  ITS  DEFECTS.  113 

fluctuated,  and  tlic  objects  at  wliicli  they  aimed  varied,  the 
church  kept  one  end  in  view ;  and  to  this  nnrelaxing  con- 
stancy of  pursuit  it  was  indebted  for  its  success  in  the 
boldest  attempts  ever  made  by  human  ambition. 

But  in  their  civil  administration,  the  popes  followed  no 
such  uniform  or  consistent  plan.  There,  as  in  other  govern- 
ments, the  character,  the  passions,  and  the  interest  of  the 
person  who  had  the  supreme  dnection  of  affairs,  occasioned 
a  variation  both  in  objects  and  measures.  As  few  prelates 
reached  the  summit  of  ecclesiastical  dignity  until  they  were 
far  advanced  in  life,  a  change  of  masters  was  more  frequent 
in  the  papal  dominions  than  in  other  states,  and  the  political 
system  was,  of  course,  less  stable  and  permanent.  Every 
pope  was  eager  to  make  the  most  of  the  short  period  during 
which  he  had  the  prospect  of  enjoying  power,  in  order  to 
aggrandize  his  own  family,  and  to  attain  his  private  ends ; 
and  it  was  often  the  first  business  of  his  successor  to  undo 
all  that  he  had  done,  and  to  overturn  what  he  had 
established. 

As  ecclesiastics  were  trained  to  pacific  arts,  and  early 
initiated  in  the  mysteries  of  tliat  policy  by  which  the  court 
of  Rome  extended  or  supported  its  spiritual  dominion,  the 
popes,  in  the  conduct  of  their  temporal  affairs,  Avere  apt  to 
follow  the  same  maxims,  and  in  all  their  measures  were 
more  ready  to  employ  the  refinements  of  intrigue  than  the 
force  of  arms.  It  was  in  the  papal  court  that  address  and 
subtlety  in  negotiation  became  a  science ;  and  during  the 
sixteenth  century,  Rome  Avas  considered  as  the  school  in 
which  it  might  be  best  acquired. 

As  the  decorum  of  their  ecclesiastical  character  prevented 
the  popes  from  placing  themselves  at  the  head  of  their 
armies,  or  from  taking  the  command  in  person  of  the  mili- 
tary force  in  their  dominions,  they  were  afraid  to  arm  their 
subjects ;  and  in  all  their  operations,  whether  offensive  or 
defensive,  they  trusted  entirely  to  mercenary  troops. 

As  their  power  and  dominions  could  not  descend  to  their 

VOL.  I.  I 


114  DEFECTS  OE  THE  PAPAL  GOVERNMENT.        [sect.  iii. 

posterity,  the  popes  were  less  solicitous  than  other  princes 
to  form  or  to  encourage  schemes  of  public  utility  and  im- 
provement. Their  tenure  was  only  for  a  short  life ;  present 
advantage  was  what  they  chiefly  studied  ;  to  squeeze  and 
to  amass,  rather  than  to  meliorate,  was  their  object.  They 
erected,  perhaps,  some  work  of  ostentation,  to  remain  as  a 
monument  of  their  pontificate  ;  they  found  it  necessary,  at 
some  times,  to  establish  useful  institutions,  in  order  to 
soothe  and  silence  the  turbulent  populace  of  Rome ;  but 
plans  of  general  benefit  of  their  subjects,  framed  with  a  view 
to  futurity,  were  rarely  objects  of  attention  in  the  papal 
policy.  The  patrimony  of  St.  Peter  was  worse  governed 
than  any  part  of  Europe ;  and  though  a  generous  pontiff 
might  suspend  for  a  little,  or  counteract  the  effects  of  those 
vices  which  are  peculiar  to  the  administration  of  ecclesias- 
tics, the  disease  not  only  remained  without  remedy,  but  has 
gone  on  increasing  from  age  to  age ;  and  the  decline  of  the 
state  has  kept  pace  with  its  progress. 

One  circumstance  farther,  concerning  the  papal  govern- 
ment, is  so  singular  as  to  merit  attention.  As  the  spiritual 
supremacy  and  temporal  power  were  united  in  one  person, 
and  uniformly  aided  each  other  in  their  operations,  they 
became  so  blended  together  that  it  was  difficult  to  separate 
them,  even  in  imagination.  The  potentates  who  found  it 
necessary  to  oppose  the  measures  which  the  popes  pursued 
as  temporal  princes,  could  not  easily  divest  themselves  of 
the  reverence  which  they  imagined  to  be  due  to  them  as 
heads  of  the  church  and  vicars  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  was 
with  reluctance  that  they  could  be  brought  to  a  rupture 
with  the  head  of  the  chm'ch ;  they  were  unwilling  to  push 
their  operations  against  him  to  extremity  ;  they  listened 
eagerly  to  the  first  overtures  of  acconunodation,  and  were 
anxious  to  procure  it  almost  upon  any  terms.  Their  con- 
sciousness of  this  encouraged  the  enterprising  pontiffs,  who 
fihed  the  papal  throne  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  to  engage  in  schemes  seemingly  the  most  extra- 


SECT,  m.]  VENICE.  115 

vagant.  They  trusted  that  if  their  temporal  power  was  not 
sufficient  to  carry  them  through  with  success,  the  respect 
paid  to  their  spiritual  dignity  would  enable  them  to  extri- 
cate themselves  with  facility  and  with  honour.'^  But  when 
popes  came  to  take  part  more  frequently  in  the  contests 
among  princes,  and  to  engage  as  principals  or  auxiliaries 
in  every  war  kindled  in  Europe,  this  veneration  for  their 
sacred  character  hegan  to  abate ;  and  striking  instances 
will  occur  in  the  following  history  of  its  being  almost 
totally  extinct. 

Of  all  the  Italian  powers,  the  republic  of  Venice,  next  to 
the  papal  see,  was  most  connected  with  the  rest  of  Europe. 
The  rise  of  that  commonwealth,  during  the  inroads  of  the 
Huns  in  the  fifth  century ;  the  singular  situation  of  its 
capital  in  the  small  isles  of  the  Adriatic  Gulf;  and  the  more 
singular  form  of  its  civil  constitution,  are  generally  known. 
If  we  view  the  Venetian  government  as  calculated  for  the 
order  of  nobles  alone,  its  institutions  may  be  pronounced 
excellent ;  the  deliberative,  legislative,  and  executive  powers, 
are  so  admirably  distributed  and  adjusted,  that  it  must  be 
regarded  as  a  perfect  model  of  political  wisdom.  But  if 
we  consider  it  as  formed  for  a  numerous  body  of  people 
subject  to  its  jurisdiction,  it  will  appear  a  rigid  and  partial 
aristocracy,  which  lodges  all  power  in  the  hands  of  a  few 

■*  The  manner  in  wLicli  Louis  XII.  kind,  carried  it  on  faintlj ;    and,  upon 

of  France  undertook  and  carried  on  every   fresh    advantage,   renewed    his 

war    against    Julius    II.   remarkably  propositions  of  peace.    Mczcntjj,  Hist. 

illustrates    this    observation.      Louis  de  France,  fol.  edit.  1685,  torn.  i.  852. 

solemnly  consulted  the  clergy  of  France,  I  shall  produce  another  proof  of  this 

whetlier  it  was  lawful  to  take  arms  reverence  for  the  papal  cliaractei',  still 

'against  a  pope  who  had  wantonly  kin-  more  striking.   Guicciardini,  the  most 

.died  war  in  Europe,  and  whom  neither  sagacious,  perhaps,  of  ail  modern  his- 

the  faith  of  treaties,  nor  gratitude  for  torians,   and  the  boldest  in  ])ainting 

favours  received,  nor  the  decorum  of  the  vices  and  ambition  of  the  popes, 

his  character,  could  restrain  from  the  represents  the  death    of   Migiiau,    a 

most  violent  actions  to  which  the  lust  Si)anish   officer,  who  was  killed  dur- 

of  power  prompts  ambitious  princes.  ing  the  siege  of  Naples,  as  a  punisli- 

Though  his  clergy  authorized  the  war,  ment  inllictcd  on  him  by  Heaven,  ou 

yet  Anne  of  Bretagne,  his  queen,  en-  account  of  his  having  opposed  the  sct- 

tertained  scrujjles  with  regard  to  the  ting  of  Clement  Vil.  at  liberty,  G^uic. 

lawfulness  of  it.     The  king  himself,  hlur'm  d' Italia.    Genev.  1G15,  vol.  ii, 

from  some  superstition  of  the  same  lib.  18,  p.  467. 

I  2 


116  RISE  AND  PUOGRESS  OP  [sect.  iii. 

members  of  the  community,  while  it  degrades  and  oppresses 
the  rest. 

The  spirit  of  government,  in  a  commonwealth  of  this 
species,  was,  of  course,  timid  and  jealous.  The  Venetian 
nobles  distrusted  their  own  subjects,  and  were  afraid  of 
allowing  them  the  use  of  arms.  They  encouraged  among 
them  arts  of  industry  and  commerce ;  they  employed  them 
in  manufactures  and  in  navigation ;  but  never  admitted 
them  into  the  troops  which  the  state  kept  in  its  pay.  The 
military  force  of  the  republic  consisted  entirely  of  foreign 
mercenaries.  The  command  of  these  was  never  trusted 
to  noble  Venetians,  lest  they  should  acquire  such  influence 
over  the  army  as  might  endanger  the  public  liberty ;  or 
become  accustomed  to  the  exercise  of  such  power,  as  would 
make  them  unwilling  to  return  to  the  condition  of  private 
citizens.  A  soldier  of  fortune  Avas  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  armies  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and  to  obtain  that  honour 
was  the  great  object  of  the  Italian  condottieri,  or  leaders 
of  bands,  who,  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries, 
made  a  trade  of  war,  and  raised  and  hired  out  soldiers  to 
different  states.  But  tlie  same  suspicious  policy,  which 
induced  the  Venetians  to  employ  these  adventurers,  pre- 
vented their  placing  entire  confidence  in  them.  Two 
noblemen,  appointed  by  the  senate,  accompanied  their 
army  when  it  took  the  field,  with  the  appellation  of  prove- 
difori,  and,  like  the  held  deputies  of  the  Dutch  republic  in 
later  times,  observed  all  the  motions  of  the  general,  and 
checked  and  controlled  him  in  all  his  operations. 

A  commonwealth,  with  such  civil  and  military  institu- 
tions, was  not  formed  to  make  conquests.  While  its  sub- 
jects were  disarmed,  and  its  nobles  excluded  from  military 
command,  it  carried  on  its  warlike  enteqirises  with  great 
disadvantage.  This  ought  to  have  taught  the  Venetians  to 
rest  satisfied  with  making  self-preservation,  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  domestic  security,  the  objects  of  their  policy.  But 
republics  arc  apt  to  be  seduced  by  the  spirit  of  ambition, 


SECT.  III.]  THE  VENETIAN  COMMONWE.VLTH.  117 

as  well  as  kings.  When  the  Venetians  so  far  forgot  the 
interior  defects  in  their  government,  as  to  aim  at  extensive 
conquests,  the  fatal  blow  which  they  received  in  the  war, 
excited  by  the  league  of  Cambray,  convinced  them  of  the 
imprudence  and  danger  of  making  violent  efibrts  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  genius  and  tendency  of  their  constitution. 

It  is  not,  however,  by  its  military,  but  by  its  naval  and 
commercial  power,  that  the  importance  of  the  Venetian 
commonwealth  must  be  estimated.  The  latter  constituted 
the  real  force  and  nerves  of  the  state.  The  jealousy  of 
government  did  not  extend  to  this  department.  Nothhig 
was  apprehended  from  this  quarter  that  could  prove  for- 
midable to  liberty.  The  senate  encouraged  the  nobles  to 
trade,  and  to  serve  on  board  the  fleet.  They  became  mer- 
chants and  admu'als.  They  increased  the  wealth  of  their 
country  by  their  industry.  They  added  to  its  dominions, 
by  the  valour  with  which  they  conducted  its  naval  arma- 
ments. 

Commerce  was  an  inexhaustible  source  of  opulence  to 
the  Venetians.  All  the  nations  in  Europe  depended  upon 
them,  not  only  for  the  commodities  of  the  East,  but  for 
various  manufactures  fabricated  by  them  alone,  or  finished 
with  a  dexterity  and  elegance  unknown  in  other  countries. 
Erom  this  extensive  commerce,  the  state  derived  such  im- 
mense supplies,  as  concealed  those  vices  in  its  constitution 
which  I  have  mentioned ;  and  enabled  it  to  keep  on  foot 
such  armies,  as  Avere  not  only  an  over-match  for  the  force 
which  any  of  its  neighbours  could  brhig  into  the  field,  but 
were  sufficient  to  contend,  for  some  time,  with  the  powerful 
monarchs  beyond  the  Alps.  During  its  struggles  with  the 
princes  united  against  it  by  the  league  at  Cambray,  the 
republic  levied  sums  which,  even  in  the  present  age,  Avould 
be  deemed  considerable  ;  and  while  the  king  of  Erance  paid 
the  exorbitant  interest  which  I  have  mentioned  for  the 
money  advanced  to  him,  and  the  emperor,  eager  to  borrow, 
but  destitute  of  credit,  was  known  by  the  name  of  Macci- 


118  FLORENCE.  [sect.  iii. 

milian  the  moneyless,  the  Venetians  raised  whatever  sums 
they  pleased,  at  the  moderate  premimn  of  five  in  the 
hmidred.^ 

The  constitution  of  Florence  was  perfectly  the  reverse  of 
the  Venetian.  It  partook  as  much  of  democratical  turbu- 
lence and  licentiousness,  as  the  other  of  aristocratical  rigour. 
Florence,  however,  was  a  commercial,  not  a  military  demo- 
cracy. The  nature  of  its  institutions  was  favourable  to  com- 
merce, and  the  genius  of  the  people  was  turned  towards  it. 
The  vast  wealth  Avhich  the  family  of  Medici  had  acquired 
by  trade,  together  with  the  magnificence,  the  generosity, 
and  the  virtue  of  the  first  Cosmo,  gave  him  such  an  ascen- 
dant over  the  affections  as  well  as  the  councils  of  his 
countrymen,  that  though  the  forms  of  popular  government 
were  preserved,  though  the  various  departments  of  admini- 
stration were  filled  by  magistrates  distinguished  by  the 
ancient  names,  and  elected  in  the  usual  manner,  he  was 
in  reality  the  head  of  the  commonwealth;  and  in  the 
station  of  a  private  citizen,  he  possessed  supreme  authority. 
Cosmo  transmitted  a  considerable  degree  of  this  power  to 
his  descendants ;  and  during  the  greater  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century  the  political  state  of  Florence  was  extremely  sin- 
gular. The  appearance  of  republican  government  subsisted, 
the  people  were  passionately  attached  to  it,  and  on  some 
occasions  contended  warmly  for  their  privileges ;  and  yet 
they  permitted  a  single  family  to  assume  the  direction  of 
their  aff'airs,  almost  as  absolutely  as  if  it  had  been  formally 
invested  with  sovereign  power.  The  jealousy  of  the  Medici 
concurred  with  the  commercial  spirit  of  the  Florentines,  in 
putting  the  military  force  of  the  republic  upon  the  same  foot- 
ing with  that  of  the  otlier  Italian  states.  The  troops  which 
the  Florentines  employed  in  their  wars  consisted  almost 
entirely  of  mercenary  soldiers,  furnished  by  the  condottieri, 
or  leaders  of  bands,  whom  they  took  into  their  pay. 

^  Hist,  de  laLigue  faite  a  Cambrav,       Storia Civile  Veneziana,  liv.  viii.  c.  16, 
par  M.  I'Abbc  du  Bos,  liv.  v.  Sandi,      p.  891,  &c. 


SECT.  III.]  NAPLES  AND  SICILY.  119 

In  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  to  wliicli  the  sovereignty  of 
the  island  of  Sicily  was  annexed,  the  feudal  government 
was  established  in  the  same  form,  and  with  the  same 
defects,  as  in  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  The  frequent 
and  violent  revolutions  which  happened  in  that  monarchy 
had  considerably  increased  these  defects,  and  rendered 
them  more  intolerable.  The  succession  to  the  crown  of 
Naples  had  been  so  often  interrupted  or  altered,  and  so 
many  princes  of  foreign  blood  had,  at  different  periods, 
obtained  possession  of  the  throne,  that  the  Neapolitan 
nobility  had  lost,  in  a  great  measure,  that  attachment  to 
the  family  of  their  sovereigns,  as  well  as  that  reverence  for 
their  persons,  which,  in  other  feudal  kingdoms,  contributed 
to  set  some  bounds  to  the  encroachments  of  the  barons 
upon  the  royal  prerogative  and  power.  At  the  same  time, 
the  different  pretenders  to  the  crown,  being  obliged  to 
court  the  barons  who  adhered  to  them,  and  on  whose 
support  they  depended  for  the  success  of  their  claims,  they 
augmented  their  privileges  by  liberal  concessions,  and  con- 
nived at  their  boldest  usurpations.  Even  when  seated  on 
the  throne,  it  was  dangerous  for  a  prince,  who  held  his 
sceptre  by  a  disputed  title,  to  venture  on  any  step  towards 
extending  his  own  power,  or  circumscribing  that  of  the 
nobles. 

From  all  these  causes,  the  kingdom  of  Naples  was  the 
most  turbulent  of  any  in  Europe,  and  the  authority  of  its 
monarchs  the  least  extensive.  Though  Ferdinand  I.,  who 
began  his  reign  in  the  year  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
sixty-eight,  attempted  to  break  the  power  of  the  aristocracy ; 
though  his  son  Alphonso,  that  he  might  crush  it  at  once 
by  cutting  off  the  leaders  of  greatest  repuiation  and  in- 
fluence among  the  Neapolitan  barons,  ventured  to  commit 
one  of  the  most  perfidious  and  cruel  actions  recorded  in 
history  [1487] ;  the  order  of  nobles  was  nevertheless 
more  exasperated  than  humbled  by  their  measures.'^     The 

"  Giannone,  book  xxviii.  cb.  2,  vol.  ii.  p.  410,  &c. 


120  NAPLES  AND  SICILY.  [sect.  hi. 

resentment  wliicli  these  outrages  excited  was  so  violent, 
and  the  power  of  the  malecontent  nobles  was  still  so  for- 
midable, that  to  these  may  be  ascribed,  in  a  great  degree, 
the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  Charles  VIII.  conquered 
tlie  kingdom  of  Naples.^ 

The  event  that  gave  rise  to  the  violent  contests  concern- 
ing the  succession  to  the  crown  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  which 
brought  so  many  calamities  upon  these  kingdoms,  happened 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  Upon  the  death  of  the  emperor 
Frederic  II.,  Manfred,  his  natural  son,  aspiring  to  the 
Neapolitan  throne,  murdered  his  brother,  the  emperor 
Conrad  [1254]  (if  Ave  may  believe  contemporary  his- 
torians), and  by  that  crime  obtained  possession  of  it.^ 
The  popes,  from  tlieir  implacable  enmity  to  tlie  house  of 
Swabia,  not  only  refused  to  recognise  Manfred's  title,  but 
endeavoured  to  excite  against  him  some  rival  capable  of 
wresting  the  sceptre  out  of  his  hand.  Charles,  count  of 
Anjou,  the  brother  of  St.  Louis,  king  of  France,  undertook 
this ;  and  he  received  from  the  popes  the  investiture  of  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  and  Sicily  as  a  fief  held  of  the  holy 
see.  The  count  of  Anjou's  efforts  were  crowned  with 
success  ;  Manfred  fell  in  battle ;  and  he  took  possession  of 
the  vacant  throne.  But  soon  after,  Charles  sullied  the 
glory  which  he  had  acquired,  by  the  injustice  and  cruelty 
with  which  he  put  to  death,  by  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
tioner, Conradin,  the  last  prince  of  the  house  of  Swabia, 
and  the  rightful  heir  of  the  Neapolitan  crown.  That 
gallant  young  prince  asserted  his  title,  to  the  last,  with 
a  courage  worthy  of  a  Ijetter  fate.  On  the  scaffold,  he 
declared  Peter,  at  that  time  prince,  and  soon  after  king  of 
Aragon,  who  had  married  Manfred's  only  daughter,  his 
heir;  and  throwing  his  glove  among  the  people,  he  en- 
treated that  it  might  be  carried  to  Peter,  as  the  symbol  by 
which  he  conveyed  all  his  rights  to  him.^     The  desire  of 

'  Giannone,  book  xxviii.   chap.  2,      Giannonc,  book  xviii.  cli.  5. 
vol.  ii.  p.  414.   '  »  Ibid,  book  xix.  cli.  4,  §  9. 

3  Struv.  Corp.  Hist.  Germ.  i.  4S1. 


SECT,  in.]  CONTEST  FOU  ITS  CROWN.  121 

avenging  the  insult  offered  to  royalty,  l^y  tlic  death  of 
Conradin,  concurred  with  his  own  ambition,  in  prompting 
Peter  to  take  arms  in  support  of  the  title  which  he  had 
acquired.  From  that  period,  during  almost  two  centuries, 
the  houses  of  Aragon  and  Anjou  contended  for  the  crown 
of  Naples.  Amidst  a  succession  of  revolutions  more  rapid, 
as  well  as  of  crimes  more  atrocious,  than  what  occur  in  the 
history  of  almost  any  other  kingdom,  monarchs,  sometimes 
of  the  Aragonese  line,  and  sometimes  of  the  Angevin,  were 
seated  on  the  throne.  At  length  the  princes  of  the  house 
of  Aragon  obtained  [1434]  such  firm  possession  of  this 
long-disputed  inheritance,  that  they  transmitted  it  quietly 
to  a  bastard  branch  of  their  family.'" 

The  race  of  the  Angevin  kings,  however,  was  not  ex- 
tinct ;  nor  had  they  relinquished  their  title  to  the  Neapolitan 
crown.  The  count  of  Maine  and  Provence,  the  heir  of  this 
family,  conveyed  all  his  rights  and  pretensions  to  Louis  XI. 
and  to  his  successors.  Charles  A^III.,  as  I  have  already 
related,  crossed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army 
[1494],  in  order  to  prosecute  his  claim  with  a  degree 
of  vigour  far  superior  to  that  which  the  princes  from  whom 
he  derived  it  had  been  capable  of  exerting.  The  rapid 
progress  of  his  arms  in  Italy,  as  Avell  as  the  short  time 
during  which  he  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  his  success,  have 
already  been  mentioned,  and  are  Avell  known.  Frederic, 
the  heir  of  the  illegitimate  branch  of  the  Aragonese  family, 
soon  recovered  the  throne  of  which  Charles  had  dispos- 
sessed him.  Louis  XII.  and  Ferdinand  of  Ara2;on  united 
against  this  prince,  whom  both,  though  for  different  reasons, 
considered  as  an  usurper,  and  agreed  to  divide  his  dominions 
betAveen  them  [1501].  Frederic,  unable  to  resist  the 
combined  monarchs,  each  of  whom  was  far  his  superior  in 
power,  resigned  his  sceptre.  Louis  and  Ferdinand,  though 
they  had  concurred  in  making  the  conquest,  differed  about 
the  division  of  it ;  and  from  allies  became  enemies.  But 
^°  Giiuiuone,  book  xxvi.  cli.  2. 


122  DUCHY  OF  MILAN.  [sect.  hi. 

Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  partly  by  the  exertion  of  such  mihtary 
talents  as  gave  him  a  just  title  to  the  appellation  of  the 
Great  Captain,  which  the  Spanish  historians  have  bestowed 
upon  him;  and  partly  by  such  shameless  and  frequent 
violations  of  the  most  solemn  engagements,  as  leave  an 
indelible  stain  on  his  memory ;  stripped  the  Prench  of  all 
that  they  possessed  in  the  Neapolitan  dominions,  and 
secured  the  peaceable  possession  of  them  to  his  master. 
These,  together  with  his  other  kingdoms,  Ferdinand  trans- 
mitted to  his  grandson  Charles  V.,  w4iose  right  to  possess 
them,  if  not  altogether  incontrovertible,  seems,  at  least,  to 
be  as  well  founded  as  that  which  the  kings  of  Prance  set 
up  in  opposition  to  it.^' 

There  is  nothing  in  the  political  constitution,  or  interior 
government  of  the  duchy  of  Milan,  so  remarkable  as  to 
require  a  particular  explanation.  But  as  the  right  of  succes- 
sion to  that  fertile  province  w^as  the  cause  or  the  pretext  of 
almost  all  the  wars  carried  on  in  Italy  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  V.,  it  is  necessary  to  trace  these  disputes  to  their 
source,  and  to  inquire  into  the  pretensions  of  the  various 
competitors. 

During  the  long  and  fierce  contests  excited  in  Italy  by 
the  violence  of  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  factions,  the  family 
of  Visconti  rose  to  great  eminence  among  their  fellow-citizens 
of  Milan.  As  the  Visconti  had  adhered  uniformly  to  the 
Ghibelline  or  imperial  interest,  they,  by  way  of  recompense, 
received  from  one  emperor  the  dignity  of  perpetual  vicars 
of  the  empire  in  Italy  [1354]  ;  '^  they  were  created  by 
another  duke  of  Milan  [1395];  and,  together  w4th  that 
title,  the  possession  of  the  city  and  its  territories  w^as 
bestowed  upon  them  as  an  hereditary  fief.'''  John,  king  of 
France,  among  other  expedients  for  raising  money,  which 
the  calamities  of  his  reign  obliged  him  to   employ,  con- 

"  Droits  des  Rois  de  Prance  au  Eoy-  i.  p.  G25. 

aume  de  Sicile.  Mem.  de  Comin.  edit.  ^^  Leibnit.  Cod.  Jur.  Gent.  Diplom. 

de  Eresnoy,  toin.  iv.  part  ii.  p.  5.  vol.  i.  p.  257. 

"  Petrarch.  Epist.  ap.  Struv.  Corp. 


SECT.  III.]     DISPUTES  CONCERNING  THE  SUCCESSION.  123 

descended  to  give  one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage  to  John 
Galeazzo  Visconti,  the  first  duke  of  Mikin,  from  whom  lie 
had  received  considerable  sums.  Valentine  Visconti,  one 
of  the  children  of  this  marriage,  married  her  cousin,  Louis, 
duke  of  Orleans,  the  only  brother  of  Charles  VI.  In  their 
marriage-contract,  which  the  pope  confirmed,  it  was  stipu- 
lated that, upon  faihu'e  of  heirs  male  in  the  family  of  Visconti, 
the  duchy  of  Milan  should  descend  to  the  posterity  of 
Valentine  and  the  duke  of  Orleans.  That  event  took  place. 
In  the  year  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-seven, 
Philip  Maria,  the  last  prince  of  the  ducal  family  of  Visconti, 
died.  Various  competitors  claimed  the  succession.  Charles, 
duke  of  Orleans,  pleaded  his  right  to  it,  founded  on  the 
marriage-contract  of  his  mother,  Valentine  Visconti.  Alfonso, 
king  of  Naples,  claimed  it  in  consequence  of  a  will  made 
by  Philip  Maria  in  his  favour.  The  emperor  contended 
that,  upon  the  extinction  of  male  issue  in  the  family  of 
Visconti,  the  fief  returned  to  the  superior  lord,  and  ought 
to  be  re-annexed  to  the  empire.  The  people  of  Milan, 
smitten  with  the  love  of  liberty  which  in  that  age  prevailed 
among  the  Italian  states,  declared  against  the  dominion  of  any 
master,  and  established  a  republican  form  of  government. 

But  during  the  struggle  among  so  many  competitors, 
the  prize  for  which  they  contended  was  seized  by  one  from 
whom  none  of  them  apprehended  any  danger.  Prancis 
Sforza,  the  natural  son  of  Jacomuzzo  Sforza,  whom  his 
com'age  and  abilities  had  elevated  from  the  rank  of  a 
peasant  to  be  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  powerful  of  the 
Italian  condottieri,  having  succeeded  his  father  in  the  com- 
mand of  the  adventurers  who  followed  his  standard,  had 
married  a  natural  daughter  of  the  last  duke  of  JMilan.  Upon 
this  shadow  of  a  title  Prancis  founded  his  pretensions  to  the 
duchy,  which  he  supported  with  such  talents  and  valour  as 
placed  him  at  last  on  the  ducal  throne.  The  virtues,  as  well 
as  abilities,  with  which  he  governed,  inducing  his  subjects 
to   forget   the   defects    in    his    title,  he   transmitted    his 


124  LUDOVICO  SFORZA.  [sect.  hi. 

dominions  quietly  to  his  son,  from  whom  they  descended  to 
his  grandson.  He  was  mm-dered  by  his  grand-uncle,  Ludo- 
vico,  surnamed  the  Moor,  who  took  possession  of  the  duchy ; 
and  his  right  to  it  was  confirmed  by  the  investiture  of  the 
emperor  Maximilian,  in  the  year  one  thousand  four  hundi-ed 
and  ninety-four.'^ 

Louis  XL,  who  took  pleasure  in  depressing  the  princes 
of  the  blood,  and  who  admired  the  political  abilities  of 
Francis  Sforza,  would  not  permit  the  duke  of  Orleans  to 
take  any  step  in  prosecution  of  his  right  to  the  duchy  of 
Milan.  Ludovico  the  Moor  kept  up  such  a  close  connexion 
with  Charles  VIIL,  that,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  reign, 
the  claim  of  the  family  of  Orleans  continued  to  lie  dormant. 
But  when  the  crown  of  Lrance  devolved  on  Louis  XIL, 
duke  of  Orleans,  he  instantly  asserted  the  rights  of  his 
family  with  the  ardour  which  it  was  natural  to  expect,  and 
marched  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army  to  support  them. 
Ludovico  Sforza,  incapable  of  contending  with  such  a  rival, 
Avas  stripped  of  all  his  dominions  in  the  space  of  a  few  days. 
The  king,  clad  in  the  ducal  robes,  entered  Milan  in  triumph ; 
and  soon  after,  Ludovico,  having  been  betrayed  by  the  Swiss 
in  his  pay,  was  sent  a  prisoner  into  France,  and  shut  up  in 
the  castle  of  Loches,  where  he  lay  unpitied  during  the 
remainder  of  his  days.  Li  consequence  of  one  of  the  sin- 
gular revolutions  which  occur  so  frequently  in  the  history 
of  the  Milanese,  his  son,  Maximilian  Sforza,  was  placed  on 
the  ducal  throne,  of  which  he  kept  possession  dmung  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIL  [1512.]  But  his  successor,  Francis 
I.,  was  too  high-spirited  and  enterprising  tamely  to  relin- 
quish his  title.  As  soon  as  he  w^as  seated  upon  the  throne, 
he  prepared  to  invade  the  Milanese  ;  and  his  right  of  suc- 
cession to  it  appears,  from  this  detail,  to  have  been  more 
natural  and  more  just  than  that  of  any  other  competitor. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  detail  with  respect  to 

"  Ripalm.  Hist.  Mediol.  lib.  mI  G54,  tip.  Struv.  Corp.  i.  930.  DuMont,  Corps 
Diplom.  torn.  iii.  p.  ii.  333,  ibid. 


SECT,  in.]  THE  SPANISH  MONARCHY.  125 

the  form  of  government  in  Genoa,  Parma,  Moclena,  and  the 
other  inferior  states  of  Italy.  Their  names,  indeed,  will 
often  occur  in  the  following  history.  But  the  power  of  these 
states  themselves  was  so  inconsiderable,  that  their  fate 
depended  little  upon  their  own  efforts ;  and  the  frequent 
revolutions  which  they  underwent  were  brought  about 
rather  by  the  operations  of  the  princes  who  attacked  or 
defended  them,  than  by  anything  peculiar  in  their  internal 
constitution. 

Of  the  great  kingdoms  on  this  side  of  the  Alps,  Spain  is 
one  of  the  most  considerable  ;  and  as  it  was  the  hereditary 
domain  of  Charles  V.,  as  well  as  the  chief  source  of  his 
power  and  wealth,  a  distinct  knowdedge  of  its  political  con- 
stitution is  of  capital  importance  towards  understanding 
the  transactions  of  his  reign. 

The  Vandals  and  Goths,  who  overturned  the  Roman 
power  in  Spain,  established  a  form  of  government  in  that 
country,  and  introduced  customs  and  laws,  perfectly  similar 
to  those  which  were  established  in  the  rest  of  Europe  by 
the  other  victorious  tribes  which  acquired  settlements  there. 
For  some  time  society  advanced,  among  the  new  inhabi- 
tants of  Spain,  by  the  same  steps,  and  seemed  to  hold  the 
same  course,  as  in  other  European  nations  [712].  To 
this  progress,  a  sudden  stop  was  put  by  the  invasion  of  the 
Saracens  or  Moors  from  Africa.  The  Goths  could  not  with- 
stand the  efforts  of  their  enthusiastic  valour,  which  subdued 
the  greatest  part  of  Spain,  wdth  the  same  impetuous  rapidity 
that  distinguishes  all  the  operations  of  their  arms.  The 
conquerors  introduced  into  the  country  in  which  they  settled, 
the  Mahometan  religion,  the  Arabic  language,  the  manners 
of  the  East,  together  with  that  taste  for  the  arts,  and  that 
love  of  elegance  and  splendour,  which  the  caliphs  had  begun 
to  cultivate  among  their  subjects. 

Such  Gothic  nobles  as  disdained  to  submit  to  the  Moorish 
yoke,  fled  for  refuge  to  the  inaccessible  mountains  of  Asturias. 
There  they  comforted  themselves,  with  enjoying" the  exercise 


126  THE  MOORS  IN  SPAIN.  [sect.  hi. 

of  the  Christian  religion,  and  with  maintaining  the  authority 
of  their  ancient  laws.  Being  joined  by  many  of  the  boldest 
and  most  warlike  among  their  countrymen,  they  sallied  out 
upon  the  adjacent  settlements  of  the  Moors  in  small  parties  ; 
but  venturing  only  upon  short  excursions  at  first,  they  were 
satisfied  with  plunder  and  revenge,  without  thinking  of 
conquest.  By  degrees  their  strength  increased,  their  views 
enlarged,  a  regular  government  was  established  among 
them,  and  they  began  to  aim  at  extending  their  territories. 
While  they  pushed  on  their  attacks  with  the  unremitting 
ardour  excited  by  zeal  for  religion,  by  the  desu'e  of  ven- 
geance, and  by  the  hope  of  rescuing  their  country  from 
oppression  ;  while  they  conducted  their  operations  with  the 
courage  natural  to  men  who  had  no  other  occupation  but 
war,  and  wlio  were  strangers  to  all  the  arts  which  corrupt 
or  enfeeble  the  mind,  the  Moors  gradually  lost  many  of  the 
advantages  to  which  they  had  been  indebted  for  their  first 
success.  They  threw  off  all  dependence  on  the  caliphs  ;  ^^ 
they  neglected  to  preserve  a  close  connexion  with  their 
countrymen  in  Africa  ;  their  empire  in  Spain  was  split  into 
many  small  kingdoms ;  the  arts  which  they  cultivated, 
together  with  the  luxury  to  which  these  gave  rise,  relaxed, 
in  some  measure,  the  force  of  their  military  institutions, 
and  abated  the  vigour  of  their  warlike  spirit.  The  Moors, 
however,  continued  still  to  be  a  gallant  people,  and  pos- 
sessed great  resources.  According  to  the  magnificent  style 
of  the  S[)anish  historians,  eight  centuries  of  almost  unin- 
terrupted war  elapsed,  and  three  thousand  seven  hundred 
battles  were  fought,  before  the  last  of  the  Moorish  kingdoms 
in  Spain  submitted  to  the  Christian  arms  [1492]. 

As  the  Christians  made  their  conquests  upon  the  Maho- 
metans at  various  periods,  and  under  different  leaders, 
each  formed  the  territory  which  he  had  wrested  from  the 
common  enemy  into  an  independent  state.  Spain  was 
divided  into  almost  as  many  separate  kingdoms  as  it  con- 

^'  Jos.  Sim.  Assemani  Histor.  Ital.  Scriptores,  vol.  iii.  p.  135. 


SECT.  III.]  UNION  OF  THE  CROWNS.  127 

tained  provinces;  in  each  city  of  note  a  petty  monarch 
estabhshed  his  throne,  and  assumed  all  the  ensigns  of 
royahy.  In  a  series  of  years,  however,  by  the  usual  events 
of  intermarriages,  or  succession,  or  conquest,  all  these 
inferior  principalities  were  annexed  to  the  more  powerful 
kingdoms  of  Castile  and  of  Aragon.  At  length,  by  the 
fortunate  marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  [1481], 
the  former  the  hereditary  monarch  of  Aragon,  and  the 
latter  raised  to  the  throne  of  Castile  by  the  affection  of  her 
subjects,  all  the  Spanish  crowns  were  united,  and  descended 
in  the  same  line. 

From  this  period,  the  political  constitution  of  Spain 
began  to  assume  a  regular  and  uniform  appearance ;  the 
genius  of  its  government  may  be  delineated,  and  the 
progress  of  its  laws  and  manners  may  be  traced,  with 
certainty.  Notwithstanding  the  singular  revolution  which 
the  invasion  of  the  Moors  occasioned  in  Spain,  and  the 
peculiarity  of  its  fate,  in  being  so  long  subject  to  the 
Mahometan  yoke,  the  customs  introduced  by  the  Vandals 
and  Goths  had  taken  such  deep  root,  and  were  so 
thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  frame  of  its  government, 
that  in  every  province  which  the  Christians  recovered  from 
the  Moors,  we  find  the  condition  of  individuals,  as  well  as 
the  political  constitution,  nearly  the  same  as  in  other 
nations  of  Europe.  Lands  were  held  by  the  same  tenure ; 
justice  was  dispensed  in  the  same  form  ;  the  same  privileges 
were  claimed  by  the  nobility,  and  the  same  power  exercised 
by  the  cortes,  or  general  assembly  of  the  kingdom.  Several 
circumstances  contributed  to  secure  this  permanence  of  the 
feudal  institutions  in  Spain,  notwithstanding  the  conquest 
of  the  Moors,  which  seemed  to  have  overturned  them. 
Such  of  the  Spaniards  as  preserved  their  independence 
adhered  to  their  ancient  customs,  not  only  from  attachment 
to  them,  but  out  of  antipathy  to  the  Moors,  to  whose  ideas 
concerning  property  and  government  these  customs  were 
totally  repugnant.     Even  among  the  Christians,  who  sub- 


128  '   POLITICAIj  constitution  of  SPAIN.       [sect.  hi. 

mittecl  to  the  ^loorisli  conquerors,  and  consented  to  become 
their  subjects,  ancient  customs  were  not  entirely  aboHshed. 
They  were  permitted  to  retain  their  reUgion,  their  laws  con- 
cerning  private   property,    their   forms    of   administering 
justice,  and  their  mode  of  levying  taxes.     The  followers  of 
Mahomet  are  the  only  enthusiasts  who  have  united  the 
spirit  of  toleration  with  zeal  for  making  proselytes,  and 
who,  at  the  same  time  that  they  took  arms  to  propagate 
the  doctrine  of  their  prophet,  permitted  such  as  would  not 
embrace  it  to  adhere  to  their  own  tenets,  and  to  practise 
their  own  rites.     To  this  peculiarity  in  the  genius  of  the 
Mahometan  religion,  as  well  as  to  the  desire  which  the 
Moors  had  of  reconciling  the  Christians  to  their  yoke,  it 
was  owing  that  the  ancient  manners  and  laws  in  Spain 
survived  the  violent  shock  of  a  conquest,  and  were  per- 
mitted to  subsist,  notwithstanding  the  introduction  of  a 
new  rehgion  and  a  new  form  of  government   into   that 
country.     It  is  obvious,  from  all  these  particulars,  that  the 
Christians  must  have  found  it  extremely  easy  to  re-establish 
manners  and  government  on  their  ancient  foundations,  in 
those  provinces  of  Spain  which  they  wrested  successively 
from  the  Moors.  A  considerable  part  of  the  people  retained 
such  a  fondness  for  the  customs,  and  such  a  reverence  for 
the  laws  of  their  ancestors,  that,  wishing  to  see  them  com- 
pletely restored,  they  were  not  only  willing  but  eager  to 
resume  the  former,  and  to  recognise  the  authority  of  the  latter. 
But  though  the  feudal  form  of  government,  with  all  the 
institutions  which  characterise  it,  was  thus  preserved  entire 
in  Castile  and  Aragon,  as  well  as  in  all  the  kingdoms  which 
depended  on  these  crowns,  there  were  certain  peculiarities 
in  their  political  constitutions  which  distinguish  them  from 
those  of  any  other  country  in  Europe.  The  royal  prerogative, 
extremely  limited  in   every  feudal  kingdom,  was  circum- 
scribed in  Spain  within  such  narrow  bounds  as  reduced 
the  power  of  the  sovereign  almost  to  nothhig.  The  privileges 
of  the  nobility  were  great  in  proportion,  and  extended  so 


SECT.  III.]  ARAGON  AND  CASTILE.  129 

far,  as  to  border  on  absolute  indepeiiclence.  The  immunities 
of  the  cities  were  likewise  greater  than  in  other  feudal 
kingdoms  ;  they  possessed  considerable  influence  in  the 
cortes,  and  they  aspired  at  obtaining  more.  Such  a  state 
of  society,  in  which  the  political  machine  was  so  ill  adjusted, 
and  the  several  members  of  the  legislature  so  improperly 
balanced,  produced  internal  disorders  in  the  kingdoms  of 
Spain,  which  rose  beyond  the  pitch  of  turbulence  and 
anarchy  usual  under  the  feudal  government.  The  whole 
tenor  of  the  Spanish  history  confirms  the  truth  of  this 
observation ;  and  when  the  mutinous  spirit,  to  which  the 
genius  of  their  policy  gave  birth  and  vigour,  was  no  longer 
restrained  and  overawed  by  the  immediate  dread  of  the 
Moorish  arms,  it  broke  out  into  more  frequent  insurrections 
against  the  government  of  their  princes,  as  well  as  more 
outrageous  insults  on  their  dignity,  than  occur  in  the 
annals  of  any  other  country.  These  were  accompanied  at 
some  times  with  more  liberal  sentiments  concerning  the 
rights  of  the  people,  at  other  times  with  more  elevated 
notions  concerning  the  privileges  of  the  nobles,  than  were 
common  in  other  nations. 

In  the  principality  of  Catalonia,  which  was  annexed  to 
the  kingdom  of  Aragon,  the  impatience  of  the  people  to 
obtain  a  redress  of  their  grievances  having  prompted  them 
to  take  arms  against  their  sovereign,  John  II.  [1462], 
they,  by  a  solemn  deed,  recalled  the  oath  of  allegiance 
which  they  had  sworn  to  him,  declared  him  and  his  pos- 
terity to  be  unworthy  of  the  throne, "''  and  endeavoured  to 
establish  a  republican  form  of  government,  in  order  to 
secure  the  perpetual  enjoyment  of  that  liberty  after  which 
they  aspired."  Nearly  about  the  same  period,  the  indig- 
nation of  the  Castilian  nobility  against  the  weak  and 
flagitious  administration  of  Henry  IV.  having  led  them  to 

^^  Zurita,  Annales  de  Arag.  toni.  iv.  torn  iii.  p.  155.  L.  Marinseus  Siculus, 

113,  115,  &c.  de  Reb.  Hispan.  apud  Scliotti  Script. 

'' Tenera,  Hi&t.  d'Espague,  toni.  vii.  Hisp.  I'ol.  429. 
p.  92.  P.  Orleans,  Eevol.  d'Espague, 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  THE  POLITICAL  CONSTITUTION  [sect.  iir. 

combine  against  him,  they  arrogated,  as  one  of  the  privileges 
belonging  to  their  order,  the  right  of  trying  and  of  passing 
sentence  on  their  sovereign.  That  the  exercise  of  this  power 
might  be  as  public  and  solemn  as  the  pretension  to  it  was 
bold,  they  summoned  all  the  nobility  of  their  party  to  meet 
at  Avila  [1465] ;  a  spacious  theatre  was  erected  in  a  plain 
without  the  walls  of  the  town ;  an  image  representing 
the  king  was  seated  on  a  throne,  clad  in  royal  robes,  with 
a  crown  on  its  head,  a  sceptre  in  its  hand,  and  the  sword 
of  justice  by  its  side.  The  accusation  against  the  king  was 
read,  and  the  sentence  of  deposition  was  pronounced  in 
presence  of  a  numerous  assembly.  At  the  close  of  the  first 
article  of  the  charge,  the  archbishop  of  Toledo  advanced 
and  tore  the  crown  from  the  head  of  the  image  ;  at  the 
close  of  the  second,  the  Conde  de  Placentia  snatched  the 
sword  of  justice  from  its  side  ;  at  the  close  of  the  third, 
the  Conde  de  Benevente  wrested  the  sceptre  from  its  hand ; 
at  the  close  of  the  last,  Don  Diego  Lopes  de  Stuniga  tumbled 
it  headlong  from  the  throne.  At  the  same  instant  Don 
Alfonzo,  Henry's  brother,  was  proclaimed  king  of  Castile 
and  Leon  in  his  stead. ^^ 

The  most  daring  leaders  of  faction  would  not  have 
ventured  on  these  measures,  nor  have  conducted  them 
with  such  public  ceremony,  if  the  sentiments  of  the  people 
concerning  the  royal  dignity  had  not  been  so  formed  by 
the  laws  and  policy  to  which  they  were  accustomed  both 
in  Castile  and  Catalonia,  as  prepared  them  to  approve  of 
such  extraordinary  proceedings,  or  to  acquiesce  in  them. 

In  Aragon  the  form  of  government  was  monarchical, 
but  the  genius  and  maxims  of  it  were  purely  republican. 
The  kings,  who  were  long  elective,  retained  only  the 
shadow  of  power ;  the  real  exercise  of  it  was  in  the  cortes, 
or  parliament  of  the  kingdom.  This  supreme  assembly 
was  composed  of  four  different  arms  or  members :  the 
nobility  of  the  first  rank;  the  equestrian  order,  or  nobility 

'^  Marian.  Hist.  lib.  xxxiii.  ch.  9. 


SECT.  III.]  OF  ARAGON.  131 

of  the  second  class ;  the  representatives  of  the  cities  and 
towns,  whose  right  to  a  place  in  the  cortes,  if  we  may  give 
credit  to  the  historians  of  Aragon,  was  coeval  with  the 
constitution;  the  ecclesiastical  order,  composed  of  the 
dignitaries  of  the  church,  together  with  the  representatives 
of  the  inferior  clergy.'^  No  law  could  pass  in  this  assembly 
without  the  assent  of  every  single  member  who  had  a  right 
to  vote.^''  Without  the  permission  of  the  cortes  no  tax 
could  be  imposed ;  no  war  could  be  declared ;  no  peace 
could  be  concluded ;  no  money  could  be  coined ;  nor  could 
any  alteration  be  made  in  the  current  specie.^'  The  power 
of  reviewing  the  proceedings  of  all  inferior  courts,  the 
privilege  of  inspecting  every  department  of  administration, 
and  the  right  of  redressing  all  grievances,  belonged  to  the 
cortes.  Nor  did  those  who  conceived  themselves  to  be 
aggrieved  address  the  cortes  in  the  humble  tone  of  sup- 
plicants, and  petition  for  redress ;  they  demanded  it  as  the 
birthright  of  freemen,  and  required  the  guardians  of  their 
liberty  to  decide  with  respect  to  the  points  which  they 
laid  before  them.^^  This  sovereign  court  was  held  during 
several  centuries  every  year;  but,  in  consequence  of  a 
regulation  introduced  about  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  it  was  convoked  from  that  period  only  once  hi 
two  years.  After  it  was  assembled,  the  king  had  no  right 
to  prorogue  or  dissolve  it  without  its  own  consent ;  and 
the  session  continued  forty  days." 

Not  satisfied  with  having  erected  such  formidable  bar- 
riers against  the  encroachments  of  the  royal  prerogative, 
nor  willing  to  commit  the  sole  guardianship  of  their  liber- 
ties entirely  to  the  vigilance  and  authority  of  an  assembly 
similar  to  the  diets,  states-general,  and  parliaments,  in 
which  the  other  feudal  nations  have  placed  so  much  con- 
fidence,   the  Aragonese   had    recourse    to   an    institution 

"Forma  de    celebrar    Cortes   en  Aragon.  ap.  Schot.  Script.  Ilispan.  vol. 

Aragon,  por  Geron.  Martel.  iii.  p.  750. 

=»  Martel.  ibid.  p.  2.  ^^  ]\lartel.  Forma  dc  Celebr.  p.  2. 

'^^  Ilicr.    Blauca,    Comment.   Rcr.  "'  Hier.  Blauca,  Comment.  703.    . 


K 


2 


132  THE  POLITICAL  CONSTITUTION  [sect.  m. 

peculiar  to  themselves,  and  elected  a  justiza,  or  supreme 
judge.  This  magistrate,  whose  office  bore  some  resem- 
blance to  that  of  the  ephori  in  ancient  Sparta,  acted  as  the 
protector  of  the  people  and  the  comptroller  of  the  prince. 
The  person  of  the  justiza  was  sacred,  his  power  and  juris- 
diction almost  unbounded.  He  was  the  supreme  inter- 
preter of  the  laws.  Not  only  inferior  judges,  but  the 
kings  themselves,  were  bound  to  consult  him  in  every 
doubtful  case,  and  to  receive  his  responses  with  implicit 
deference.^"*  An  appeal  lay  to  him  from  the  royal  judges, 
as  well  as  from  those  appointed  by  the  barons  within  their 
respective  territories.  Even  when  no  appeal  was  made  to 
him,  he  could  interpose  by  his  own  authority,  prohibit  the 
ordinary  judge  to  proceed,  take  immediate  cognisance  of 
the  cause  himself,  and  remove  the  party  accused  to  the 
manifestation,  or  prison  of  the  state,  to  which  no  person 
had  access  but  by  his  permission.  His  power  was  exerted 
with  no  less  vigour  and  effect  in  superintending  the  ad- 
ministration of  government,  than  in  regulating  the  course 
of  justice.  It  was  the  prerogative  of  the  justiza  to  inspect 
the  conduct  of  the  king.  He  had  a  title  to  review  all  the 
royal  proclamations  and  patents,  and  to  declare  whether  or 
not  they  were  agreeable  to  law,  and  ought  to  be  carried 
into  execution.  He,  by  his  sole  authority,  could  exclude 
any  of  the  king's  ministers  from  the  conduct  of  affairs,  and 
call  them  to  answer  for  their  mal-administration.  He 
himself  was  accountable  to  the  cortes  only  for  the  manner 
in  which  he  discharged  the  duties  of  this  high  office,  and 
performed  functions  of  the  greatest  importance  that  could 
be  committed  to  a  subject. ^^  "^^'^ 

It  is  evident,  from  a  bare  enumeration  of  the  privi- 
leges of  the  Aragonese  cortes,  as  well  as  of  the  rights 
belonging  to  the  justiza,  that  a  very  small  portion  of  power 

^^  Blanca   has    preserved  two    re-      thirteenth  century.    Blanca,  748. 
sponses  of  the' justiza  to  James  II.,  ^^  Hier.  Blauca,  Comment,  pp.  74:7, 

who  reigned  towards  the  close  of  tlie      755. 


SECT.  III.]  OF  ARAGON.  133 

remained  in  the  hands  of  the  king.  The  Aragonese  seem 
to  have  been  solicitous  that  their  monarchs  should  know 
and  feel  this  state  of  impotence  to  which  they  were  reduced. 
Even  in  swearing  allegiance  to  their  sovereign,  an  act  which 
ought  naturally  to  be  accompanied  with  professions  of  sub- 
mission and  respect,  they  devised  an  oath  in  such  a  form 
as  to  remind  him  of  his  dependence  on  his  subjects. 
"We,"  said  the  justiza  to  the  king  in  the  name  of  his 
high-spirited  barons,  "  who  are  each  of  us  as  good,  and 
who  are  altogether  more  powerful  than  you,  promise  obe- 
dience to  your  government,  if  you  maintain  our  rights  and 
liberties  ;  but  if  not,  not."  Conformably  to  this  oath  they 
established  it  as  a  fundamental  article  in  their  constitution, 
that  if  the  king  should  violate  their  rights  and  privileges, 
it  was  lawful  for  the  people  to  disclaim  him  as  their  sove- 
reign, and  to  elect  another,  even  though  a  heathen,  in  his 
place.^^  The  attachment  of  the  Aragonese  to  this  singular 
constitution  of  government  was  extreme,  and  their  respect 
for  it  approached  to  superstitious  veneration. i^^^^  In  the 
preamble  to  one  of  their  laws  they  declare,  that  such  was 
the  barrenness  of  their  country,  and  the  poverty  of  the 
inhabitants,  that,  if  it  were  not  on  account  of  the  liberties 
by  which  they  were  distinguished  from  other  nations,  the 
people  would  abandon  it,  and  go  in  quest  of  a  settlement 
to  some  more  fruitful  region.^'' 

In  Castile  there  were  not  such  peculiarities  in  the  form 
of  government  as  to  establish  any  remarkable  distinction 
between  it  and  that  of  the  other  European  nations.  The 
executive  part  of  government  was  committed  to  the  king, 
but  with  a  prerogative  extremely  limited.  The  legislative 
authority  resided  in  the  cortes,  which  was  composed  of  the 
nobility,  the  dignified  ecclesiastics,  and  the  representatives 
of  the  cities.  The  assembly  of  the  cortes  in  Castile  was 
very  ancient,  and  seems  to  have  been  almost  coeval  with 
the   constitution.     The    members    of  the    three    diiBferent 

2^  Hier.  Blanca,  Comment,  p.  720.        ^7  jjigj.  Blauca,  Comment,  p.  751. 


134  CONSTITUTION  AND  GOVERNMENT  [sect.  hi. 

orders,  who  had  a  right  of  suffrage,  met  in  one  place,  and 
dehberated  as  one  collective  body,  the  decisions  of  which 
were  regulated  by  the  sentiments  of  the  majority.  The 
right  of  imposing  taxes,  of  enacting  laws,  and  of  redressing 
grievances,  belonged  to  this  assembly ;  and,  in  order  to 
secure  the  assent  of  the  king  to  such  statutes  and  regula- 
tions as  were  deemed  salutary  or  beneficial  to  the  kingdom, 
it  was  usual  in  the  cortes  to  take  no  step  towards  granting 
money,  until  all  business  relative  to  the  public  welfare  was 
concluded.  The  representatives  of  cities  seem  to  have 
obtained  a  seat  very  early  in  the  cortes  of  Castile,  and  soon 
acquired  such  influence  and  credit  as  were  very  uncommon, 
at  a  period  wdien  the  splendour  and  pre-eminence  of  the 
nobility  had  eclipsed  or  depressed  all  other  orders  of  men. 
The  number  of  members  from  cities  bore  such  a  pro- 
portion to  that  of  the  whole  collective  body,  as  rendered 
them  extremely  respectable  in  the  cortes. ^^^^  The  degree 
of  consideration  which  they  possessed  in  the  state  may 
be  estimated  by  one  event.  Upon  the  death  of  John  T. 
[1390]  a  council  of  regency  was  appointed  to  govern  the 
kingdom  during  the  minority  of  his  son.  It  was  com- 
posed of  an  equal  number  of  noblemen  and  of  deputies 
chosen  by  the  cities ;  the  latter  were  admitted  to  the  same 
rank,  and  invested  with  the  same  powers,  as  prelates  and 
grandees  of  the  first  order. ^^  But  though  the  members  of 
communities  in  Castile  were  elevated  above  the  condition 
wherein  they  were  placed  in  other  kingdoms  of  Europe, 
though  they  had  attained  to  such  political  importance,  that 
even  the  proud  and  jealous  spirit  of  the  feudal  aristocracy 
could  not  exclude  them  from  a  considerable  share  in 
government ;  yet  the  nobles,  notwithstanding  these  acqui- 
sitions of  the  commons,  continued  to  assert  the  privileges 
of  their  order,  in  opposition  to  the  crown,  in  a  tone 
extremely  high.  There  was  not  any  body  of  nobility  in 
Europe  more    distinguished   for    independence   of   spirit, 

"^^  Marian.  Hist.  lib.  xviii.  c.  15. 


SECT.  III.]  OF  CASTILE.  135 

haughtiness  of  deportment,  and  bold  pretensions,  than  that 
of  Castile.  The  history  of  that  monarchy  affords  the  most 
striking  examples  of  the  vigilance  with  which  they  observed, 
and  of  the  vigour  with  which  they  opposed,  every  measure 
of  their  kings,  that  tended  to  encroach  on  their  jurisdiction, 
to  diminish  their  dignity,  or  to  abridge  their  power.  Even 
in  their  ordinary  intercourse  with  their  monarchs  they 
preserved  such  a  consciousness  of  their  rank,  that  the 
nobles  of  the  first  order  claimed  it  as  a  privilege  to  be 
covered  in  the  royal  presence,  and  approached  their  sove- 
reigns rather  as  equals  than  as  subjects. 

The  constitutions  of  the  subordinate  monarchies  which 
depended  on  the  crowns  of  Castile  and  Aragon,  nearly 
resembled  those  of  the  kingdoms  to  which  they  w-ere  an- 
nexed. In  all  of  them  the  dignity  and  independence  of 
the  nobles  were  great ;  the  immunities  and  power  of  the 
cities  WTre  considerable. 

An  attentive  observation  of  the  singular  situation  of 
Spain,  as  well  as  the  various  events  which  occurred  there, 
from  the  invasion  of  the  Moors  to  the  union  of  its  kingdom 
under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  will  discover  the  causes  to 
wdiich  all  the  peculiarities  in  its  political  constitution  I  have 
pointed  out,  ought  to  be  ascribed. 

As  the  provinces  of  Spain  were  wrested  from  the  Maho- 
metans gradually  and  with  difficulty,  the  nobles  wdio  fol- 
lowed the  standard  of  any  eminent  leader  in  these  w-ars, 
conquered  not  for  him  alone,  but  for  themselves.  They 
claimed  a  share  in  the  lands  which  their  valour  had  w^on 
from  the  enemy,  and  their  prosperity  and  power  increased, 
in  proportion  as  the  territory  of  the  prince  extended. 

During  their  perpetual  wars  with  the  Moors,  the  monarchs 
of  the  several  kingdoms  in  Spain  depended  so  much  on  their 
nobles,  that  it  became  necessary  to  conciliate  their  good- 
will by  successive  grants  of  new  honoiQ's  and  privileges. 
By  the  time  that  any  prince  could  establish  his  dominion 
in  a  conquered  province,  the  greater  part  of  the  territory 


136  CAUSES  OP  THE  LIMITED  AUTHOEITY        [sect.  hi. 

was  parcelled  out  by  him  among  his  barons,  with  such 
jurisdiction  and  immunities  as  raised  them  almost  to  sove- 
reign power. 

At  the  same  time,  the  kingdoms  erected  in  so  many 
different  corners  of  Spain  were  of  inconsiderable  extent. 
The  petty  monarch  was  but  little  elevated  above  his  nobles. 
They,  feeling  themselves  to  be  almost  his  equals,  acted  as 
such ;  and  could  not  look  up  to  the  kings  of  such  limited 
domains  with  the  same  reverence  that  the  sovereigns  of  the 
great  monarchies  in  Europe  were  viewed  by  their  subjects. ^^^^ 

While  these  circumstances  concurred  in  exalting  the 
nobility,  and  in  depressing  the  royal  authority,  there  were 
other  causes  which  raised  the  cities  in  Spain  to  considera- 
tion and  power. 

As  the  open  country,  during  the  wars  with  the  Moors, 
was  perpetually  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  enemy, 
with  whom  no  peace  or  truce  was  so  permanent  as  to  prove 
any  lasting  security,  self-preservation  obliged  persons  of  all 
ranks  to  fix  their  residence  in  places  of  strength.  The 
castles  of  the  barons,  which,  in  other  countries,  afforded 
a  commodious  retreat  from  the  depredations  of  banditti,  or 
from  the  transient  violence  of  any  interior  commotion,  were 
unable  to  resist  an  enemy  whose  operations  were  conducted 
with  regular  and  persevering  vigour.  Cities,  in  which 
great  numbers  united  for  their  mutual  defence,  were  the 
only  places  in  which  people  could  reside  with  any  prospect 
of  safety.  To  this  was  owing  the  rapid  growth  of  those 
cities  in  Spain  of  which  the  Christians  recovered  posses- 
sion. All  who  fled  from  the  Moorish  yoke  resorted  to 
them,  as  to  an  asylum ;  and  in  them,  the  greater  part  of 
those  who  took  the  field  against  the  Mahometans,  esta- 
blished their  families. 

Several  of  these  cities,  during  a  longer  or  shorter  course 
of  years,  were  the  capitals  of  little  states,  and  enjoyed  all 
the  advantages  which  accelerate  the  increase  of  inhabitants 
in  every  place  that  is  the  seat  of  government. 


SECT.  III.]  OF  THE  SPANISH  MONARCHS.  137 

From  these  concurring  causes,  tli€  number  of  cities  in 
Spain,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  had  become 
considerable,  and  they  were  peopled  far  beyond  the  propor- 
tion which  was  common  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  except 
in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries.  The  Moors  had  introduced 
manufactures  into  those  cities,  while  under  their  dominion. 
The  Christians,  who,  by  intermixtm^e  with  them,  had  learned 
their  arts,  continued  to  cultivate  these.  Trade,  in  several 
of  the  Spanish  towns,  appears  to  have  been  carried  on  with 
vigour;  and  the  spirit  of  commerce  continued  to  preserve 
the  number  of  their  inhabitants,  as  the  sense  of  danger  had 
first  induced  them  to  crowd  together. 

As  the  Spanish  cities  were  populous,  many  of  the  inha- 
bitants were  of  a  rank  superior  to  those  who  resided  in 
towns  in  other  countries  of  Europe.  That  cause,  which  con- 
tributed chiefly  to  their  population,  affected  equally  persons 
of  every  condition,  who  flocked  thither  promiscuously,  in 
order  to  find  shelter  there,  or  in  hopes  of  making  a  stand 
against  the  enemy,  with  greater  advantage  than  in  any  other 
station.  The  persons  elected  as  their  representatives  in  the 
cortes  by  the  cities,  or  promoted  to  offices  of  trust  and 
dignity  in  the  government  of  the  community,  were  often,  as 
will  appear  from  transactions  which  I  shall  hereafter  relate, 
of  such  considerable  rank  in  the  kingdom,  as  reflected  lustre 
on  their  constituents,  and  on  the  stations  wherein  they  were 
placed. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  carry  on  a  continual  war  against 
the  Moors,  without  some  other  military  force  than  that  which 
the  barons  were  obliged  to  bring  into  the  field,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  feudal  tenures,  it  became  necessary  to  have 
some  troops,  particularly  a  body  of  light  cavalry,  in  constant 
pay.  It  was  one  of  the  privileges  of  the  nobles,  that  their 
lands  were  exempt  from  the  burden  of  taxes.  The  charge 
of  supporting  the  troops  requisite  for  the  public  safety  fcU 
wholly  upon  the  cities ;  and  their  kings,  being  obliged  fre- 
quently to  apply  to  them  for  aid,  found  it  necessary  to  gain 


138  MEASURES  TO  EXTEND  [sect.  hi. 

their  favour  by  concessions,  wliicli  not  only  extended  their 
immunities,  but  added  to  their  wealth  and  power. 

When  the  influence  of  all  these  circumstances,  peculiar 
to  Spain,  is  added  to  the  general  and  common  causes,  which 
contributed  to  aggrandize  cities  in  other  countries  of  Eiu'ope, 
this  will  fully  account  for  the  extensive  privileges  which  they 
acquired,  as  well  as  for  the  extraordinary  consideration  to 
which  they  attained,  in  all  the  Spanish  kingdoms. ^^^^ 

By  these  exorbitant  privileges  of  the  nobility,  and  this 
unusual  power  of  the  cities  in  Spain,  the  royal  prerogative 
was  hemmed  in  on  every  side,  and  reduced  within  very 
narrow  bounds.  Sensible  of  this,  and  impatient  of  such 
restraint,  several  monarchs  endeavoured,  at  various  junctui'es 
and  by  different  means,  to  enlarge  their  own  jurisdiction. 
Theu"  power,  however,  or  their  abilities,  were  so  unequal  to 
the  undertaking,  that  their  efforts  were  attended  with  little 
success.  But  when  I'erdinand  and  Isabella  found  them- 
selves at  the  head  of  the  united  kingdoms  of  Spain,  and 
delivered  from  the  danger  and  interruption  of  domestic 
Avars,  they  were  not  only  in  a  condition  to  resume,  but 
were  able  to  prosecute  with  advantage,  the  schemes  for  ex- 
tending the  prerogative,  which  their  ancestors  had  attempted 
in  vain.  Ferdinand's  profound  sagacity  in  concerting  his 
measures,  his  persevering  industry  in  conducting  them,  and 
his  uncommon  address  in  carrying  them  into  execution, 
fitted  him  admirably  for  an  undertaking  which  required  all 
these  talents. 

As  the  overgrown  power  and  high  pretensions  of  the 
nobility  were  what  the  monarchs  of  Spaui  felt  most  sensibly, 
and  bore  with  the  greatest  impatience,  the  great  object  of 
Ferdinand's  policy  was  to  reduce  these  Avithin  more  mode- 
rate bounds.  Under  various  pretexts,  sometimes  by  violence, 
more  frequently  in  consequence  of  decrees  obtained  in  the 
courts  of  law,  he  Avrested  from  the  barons  a  great  part  of 
the  lands  which  had  been  granted  to  them  by  the  incon- 
siderate bounty  of  former  monarchs,  particularly  during  the 


SECT.  III.]  THE  ROYAL  PREROGATIVE.  139 

feeble  and  profuse  reign  of  his  predecessor,  Henry  IV.  He 
did  not  give  the  entire  conduct  of  affairs  to  persons  of  noble 
birth,  who  were  accustomed  to  occupy  every  department  of 
importance  in  peace  or  in  war,  as  if  it  had  been  a  privilege 
peculiar  to  their  order  to  be  employed  as  the  sole  counsellors 
and  ministers  of  the  crown,  lie  often  transacted  business 
of  great  consequence,  without  their  intervention,  and  be- 
stowed many  offices  of  power  and  trust  on  new  men,  devoted 
to  his  interest.^''  He  introduced  a  degree  of  state  and  dig- 
nity into  his  court,  which,  being  little  known  in  Spain  while 
it  remained  split  into  many  small  kingdoms,  taught  the 
nobles  to  approach  their  sovereign  wdth  more  ceremony, 
and  gradually  rendered  him  the  object  of  greater  deference 
and  respect. 

The  annexing  the  masterships  of  the  three  military  orders 
of  St.  Jago,  Calatrava,  and  Alcantara,  to  the  crown,  was 
another  expedient  by  which  Ferdinand  greatly  augmented 
the  revenue  and  power  of  the  kings  of  Spain.  These  orders 
were  instituted,  in  imitation  of  those  of  the  Knights  Temp- 
lars and  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  on  purpose  to  wage  per- 
petual war  with  the  Mahometans,  and  to  protect  the  pilgrims 
who  visited  Compostella,  or  other  places  of  eminent  sanctity 
in  Spain.  The  zeal  and  superstition  of  the  ages  in  which 
they  were  founded,  prompted  persons  of  every  rank  to 
bestow  such  liberal  donations  on  those  holy  warriors,  that, 
in  a  short  time,  they  engrossed  a  considerable  share  in  the 
property  and  wealth  of  the  kingdom.  The  masterships  of 
these  orders  came  to  be  stations  of  the  greatest  power  and 
opulence  to  which  a  Spanish  nobleman  could  be  advanced. 
These  high  dignities  Averc  in  the  disposal  of  the  knights  of 
the  order,  and  placed  the  persons  on  whom  they  conferred 
them  almost  on  a  level  with  their  sovereign. ^^'^^  Ferdinand, 
unwilling  that  the  nobility,  whom  he  considered  as  already 
too  formidable,  should  derive  such  additional  credit  and  in- 
fluence from  possessing  the  government  of  these  wealthy 

-'■'  Zurita,  Aiinales  de  Arag.  torn.  vi.  p.  22. 


140  INTERNAL  DISORDERS.  [sect.  iir. 

fraternities,  was  solicitous  to  wrest  it  out  of  their  hands, 
and  to  vest  it  in  the  crown.  His  measures  for  accompKsh- 
ing  this  were  wisely  planned,  and  executed  with  vigour  ^° 
[1476  and  1493].  By  address,  by  promises,  and  by  threats, 
he  prevailed  on  the  knights  of  each  order  to  place  Isabella 
and  him  at  the  head  of  it.  Innocent  VIII,  and  Alexander 
VI.  gave  this  election  the  sanction  of  papal  authority  ;^^  and 
subsequent  pontiffs  rendered  the  annexation  of  these  master- 
ships to  the  crown  perpetual. 

While  Ferdinand,  by  this  measure,  diminished  the  power 
and  influence  of  the  nobility,  and  added  new  lustre  or 
authority  to  the  crown,  he  was  taking  other  important  steps 
with  a  view  to  the  same  object.  The  sovereign  jurisdiction, 
which  the  feudal  barons  exercised  within  their  own  terri- 
tories, was  the  pride  and  distinction  of  their  order.  To 
have  invaded  openly  a  privilege  whicli  they  prized  so  highly, 
and  in  defence  of  which  they  would  have  run  so  eagerly  to 
arms,  was  a  measure  too  daring  for  a  prince  of  Ferdinand's 
cautious  temper.  He  took  advantage,  however,  of  an  op- 
portunity which  the  state  of  his  kingdoms  and  the  spirit  of 
his  people  presented  him,  in  order  to  undermine  what  he 
durst  not  assault.  Tbe  incessant  depredations  of  the  Moors, 
the  want  of  discipline  among  the  troops  which  were  employed 
to  oppose  them,  the  frequent  civil  wars  between  the  crown 
and  the  nobility,  as  well  as  the  undiscerning  rage  with 
which  the  barons  carried  on  their  private  wars  with  each 
other,  filled  all  the  provinces  of  Spain  with  disorder.  Rapine, 
outrage,  and  murder,  became  so  common,  as  not  only  to 
interrupt  commerce,  but  in  a  great  measure  to  suspend  all 
intercourse  between  one  place  and  another.  That  security 
and  protection,  which  men  expect  from  entering  into  civil 
society,  ceased  in  a  great  degree.  Internal  order  and  police, 
while  the  feudal  institutions  remained  in  vigour,  were  so 

^"  Marian.  Hist.  lib.  xxv.  c.  5.  dinand.  et  Elizab.  gestarum  decades  ii. 

^1  Zurita,    Amiales,  torn.  v.   p.  22.       apud  Schot.  Script.  Hispan.  i.  860. 
Mlii  Anton.  Nebrissensis  rerum  a  Fer- 


SECT.  III.]  THE  HOLY  BROTHERHOOD.  141 

little  objects  of  attention,  and  tlie  administration  of  justice 
was  so  extremely  feeble,  that  it  would  have  been  vain  to 
have  expected  relief  from  the  established  laws  or  the  ordinary 
judges.  But  the  evil  became  so  intolerable,  and  the  inha- 
bitants of  cities,  who  were  the  chief  sufferers,  grew  so  im- 
patient of  this  anarchy,  that  self-preservation  forced  them  to 
have  recourse  to  an  extraordinary  remedy.  About  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  [1260],  the  cities  in  the 
kingdom  of  Aragon,  and,  after  their  example,  those  in 
Castile,  formed  themselves  into  an  association,  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  the  Holy  BroiherJwod.  They  exacted  a  certain 
contribution  from  each  of  the  associated  towns ;  they  levied 
a  considerable  body  of  troops,  in  order  to  protect  travellers, 
and  to  pursue  criminals;  they  appointed  judges,  who  opened 
their  courts  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom.  Whoever  was 
guilty  of  murder,  robbery,  or  of  any  act  that  violated  the 
public  peace,  and  was  seized  by  the  troops  of  the  brotherhood, 
was  carried  before  judges  of  their  nomination,  who,  without 
paying  any  regard  to  the  exclusive  and  sovereign  jurisdiction 
which  the  lord  of  the  place  might  claim,  tried  and  condemned 
the  criminals.  By  the  establishment  of  this  fraternity,  the 
prompt  and  impartial  administration  of  justice  was  restored; 
and,  together  with  it,  internal  tranquillity  and  order  began 
to  return.  The  nobles  alone  murmured  at  this  salutary 
institution.  They  complained  of  it  as  an  encroachment  on 
one  of  their  most  valuable  privileges.  They  remonstrated 
against  it  in  a  high  tone ;  and,  on  some  occasions,  refused 
to  grant  any  aid  to  the  crown,  unless  it  were  abolished. 
Ferdinand,  however,  was  sensible  not  only  of  the  good  effects 
of  the  Holy  Brotherhood  with  respect  to  the  police  of  his 
kingdoms,  but  perceived  its  tendency  to  abridge,  and  at 
length  to  annihilate,  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  nobility. 
He  countenanced  it  on  every  occasion.  He  supported  it 
w4th  the  whole  force  of  royal  authority ;  and,  besides  the 
expedients  employed  by  him  in  common  with  the  other 
monarchs  of  Europe,  he  availed  himself  of  this  institution. 


142  FflANCE:  [sect.  III. 

which  was  peculiar  to  his  kingdom,  in  order  to  limit  and 
abolish  that  independent  jurisdiction  of  the  nobihty,  which 
was  no  less  inconsistent  with  the  authority  of  the  prince, 
than  with  the  order  of  society. "^^'^ 

But  though  Ferdinand  by  these  measures  considerably 
enlarged  the  boundaries  of  his  prerogative,  and  acquired  a 
degree  of  influence  and  power  far  beyond  what  any  of  his 
predecessors  had  enjoyed,  yet  the  limitations  of  the  royal 
authority,  as  well  as  the  barriers  against  its  encroachments, 
continued  to  be  many  and  strong.  The  spirit  of  liberty  was 
vigorous  among  the  people  of  Spain  ;  the  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence was  liigh  among  the  nobility ;  and  though  the  love 
of  glory,  peculiar  to  the  Spaniards  in  every  period  of  their 
history,  prompted  them  to  support  Ferdinand  with  zeal  in 
his  foreign  operations,  and  to  afford  him  such  aid  as  enabled 
him  not  only  to  undertake  but  to  execute  great  enterprises, 
he  reigned  over  his  subjects  with  a  jurisdiction  less  extensive 
than  that  of  any  of  the  great  monarchs  in  Europe.  It  will 
appear  from  many  passages  in  the  following  history,  that, 
during  a  considerable  part  of  the  reign  of  his  successor 
Charles  V.,  the  prerogative  of  the  Spanish  crown  was  equally 
circvunscribed. 

The  ancient  government  and  laws  in  France  so  nearly 
resembled  those  of  the  other  feudal  kingdoms,  that  such  a 
detail  with  respect  to  them  as  was  necessary,  in  order  to 
convey  some  idea  of  the  nature  and  effects  of  the  peculiar 
institutions  which  took  place  in  Spain,  Avould  be  super- 
fluous. In  the  view  which  I  have  exhibited  of  the  means 
by  which  the  French  monarchs  acquired  such  a  full  com- 
mand of  the  national  force  of  their  kingdom,  as  enabled 
them  to  engage  in  extensive  schemes  of  foreign  operation, 
I  have  already  pointed  out  the  great  steps  by  which  they 
advanced  towards  a  more  ample  possession  of  political 
power,  and  a  more  uncontrolled  exercise  of  their  royal 
prerogative.  All  that  noAv  remains  is  to  take  notice  of 
such   particulars  in    the  constitution  of  France  as   serve 


SECT.  III.]       ITS  CONSTITUTION  AND  GOVERNMENT.  143 

either  to  distinguish  it  from  that  of  other  countries,  or 
tend  to  throw  any  hght  on  the  transactions  of  that  period, 
to  which  the  following  History  extends. 

Under  the  French  monarchs  of  the  first  race,  the  royal 
prerogative  was  very  inconsiderable.  The  general  assem- 
blies of  the  nation  Avhich  met  annually  at  stated  seasons, 
extended  their  authority  to  every  department  of  govern- 
ment. The  power  of  electing  kings,  of  enacting  laws,  of 
redressing  grievances,  of  conferring  donations  on  the  prince, 
of  passing  judgment  in  the  last  resort,  with  respect  to 
every  person,  and  to  every  cause,  resided  in  this  great 
convention  of  the  nation.  Under  the  second  race  of  kings, 
notwithstanding  the  power  and  splendour  which  the  con- 
quests of  Charlemagne  added  to  the  crown,  the  general 
assemblies  of  the  nation  continued  to  possess  extensive 
authority.  The  right  of  determining  which  of  the  royal 
family  should  be  placed  on  the  throne,  Avas  vested  in  them. 
The  princes,  elevated  to  that  dignity  by  their  suffrage,  were 
accustomed  regularly  to  call  and  to  consult  them  with 
respect  to  every  affair  of  importance  to  the  state,  and 
without  their  consent  no  law  was  passed,  and  no  new  tax 
was  levied. 

But  by  the  time  that  Hugh  Capet,  the  father  of  the 
third  race  of  kings,  took  possession  of  the  throne  of  Trance, 
such  changes  had  happened  in  the  political  state  of  the 
kingdom,  as  considerably  affected  the  power  and  jnrisdic- 
tion  of  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation.  The  royal 
authority,  in  the  hands  of  the  degenerate  posterity  of 
Charlemagne,  had  dwindled  into  insignificance  and  con- 
tempt. Every  considerable  proprietor  of  land  had  formed 
his  territory  into  a  barony,  almost  independent  of  the 
sovereign.  The  dukes  or  governors  of  provinces,  the  counts 
or  governors  of  towns  and  small  districts,  and  the  great 
officers  of  the  crown,  had  rendered  these  dignities,  which 
originally  were  granted  only  during  pleasure  or  for  life, 
hereditary  in  their  families.     Each  of  these  had  usurped 


144  POWER  OF  THE  STATES- GENERAL.  [sect.  hi. 

all  the  rights  which  hitherto  had  been  deemed  the  distinc- 
tions of  royalty,  particularly  the  privileges  of  dispensing 
justice  within  their  own  domains,  of  coining  money,  and 
of  waging  war.  Every  district  was  governed  by  local 
customs,  acknowledged  a  distinct  lord,  and  pursued  a 
separate  interest.  The  forraahty  of  doing  homage  to  their 
sovereign,  was  almost  the  only  act  of  subjection  which  those 
haughty  barons  would  perform,  and  that  bound  them  no 
farther  than  they  were  willing  to  acknowledge  its  obli- 
gation.^^^^ 

In  a  kingdom  broken  into  so  many  independent  ba- 
ronies, hardly  any  common  principle  of  union  remained ; 
and  the  general  assembly,  in  its  deliberations,  could  scarcely 
consider  the  nation  as  forming  one  body,  or  establish  com- 
mon regulations  to  be  of  equal  force  in  every  part.  Within 
the  immediate  domains  of  the  crown,  the  king  might  pub- 
lish laws,  and  they  were  obeyed,  because  there  he  was 
acknowleged  as  the  only  lord.  But  if  he  had  aimed  at 
rendering  these  laws  general,  that  would  have  alarmed  the 
barons  as  an  encroachment  upon  the  independence  of  their 
jurisdiction.  The  barons,  wdien  met  in  the  great  national 
convention,  avoided,  with  no  less  care,  the  enacting  of 
general  laws  to  be  observed  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom, 
because  the  execution  of  them  must  have  been  vested  in 
the  king,  and  Avould  have  enlarged  that  paramount  power 
which  was  the  object  of  their  jealousy.  Thus,  under  the 
descendants  of  Hugh  Capet,  the  states-general  (for  that 
was  the  name  by  which  the  supreme  assembly  of  the 
French  nation  came  then  to  be  distinguished)  lost  their 
legislative  authority,  or  at  least  entirely  relinquished  the 
exercise  of  it.  From  that  period,  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
states-general  extended  no  farther  than  to  the  imposition 
of  new  taxes,  the  determination  of  questions  with  respect 
to  the  right  of  succession  to  the  crown,  the  settling  of  the 
regency  when  the  preceding  monarch  had  not  fixed  it  by 
his  will,  and   the  presenting  remonstrances  enumerating 


SECT.  III.]        GROWTH  OF  MONARCHICAL  GOATERNMENT.        145 

the   grievances   of   which   the    nation   wished   to   obtain 
redress. 

As,  during  several  centuries,  the  monarchs  of  Europe 
seldom  demanded  extraordinary  subsidies  of  their  subjects, 
and  the  other  events  which  required  the  interposition  of 
the  states  rarely  occurred,  their  meetings  in  France  were 
not  frequent.  They  w^ere  summoned  occasionally  by  their 
kings,  when  compelled  by  their  wants  or  by  their  fears  to 
have  recourse  to  the  great  convention  of  their  people ;  but 
they  did  not,  like  the  diet  in  Germany,  the  cortes  in  Spain, 
or  the  parliament  in  England,  form  an  essential  member  of 
the  constitution,  the  regular  exertion  of  whose  powders  was 
requisite  to  give  vigour  and  order  to  government. 

When  the  states  of  Erance  ceased  to  exercise  legislative 
authority,  the  kings  began  to  assume  it.  They  ventured 
at  first  on  acts  of  legislation  with  great  reserve,  and  after 
taking  every  precaution  that  could  prevent  their  subjects 
from  being  alarmed  at  the  exercise  of  a  new  power.  They 
did  not  at  once  issue  their  ordinances  in  a  tone  of  authority 
and  command.  They  treated  with  their  subjects ;  they 
pointed  out  what  was  best ;  and  allured  them  to  comply 
with  it.  By  degrees,  however,  as  the  prerogative  of  the 
crown  extended,  and  as  the  supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  royal 
courts  came  to  be  established,  the  kings  of  Erance  assumed 
more  openly  the  style  and  authority  of  lawgivers ;  and, 
before  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  complete 
legislative  power  was  vested  in  the  crown. ^^''^ 

Having  secured  this  important  acquisition,  the  steps  which 
led  to  the  right  of  imposing  taxes  were  rendered  few  and 
easy.  The  people,  accustomed  to  see  their  sovereigns  issue 
ordinances,  by  their  sole  authority,  which  regulated  pomts  of 
the  greatest  consequence  with  respect  to  the  property  of  their 
subjects,  were  not  alarmed  w^hen  they  were  requu^ed,  by  the 
royal  edicts,  to  contribute  certain  sums  towards  supplying  the 
exigencies  of  government,  and  carrying  forward  the  measures 
of  the  nation.     When  Charles  VII.  and  Louis  XL  first 

VOL.  I.  L 


146  RESTRICTIONS  ON  THE  [sect.  hi. 

ventured  to  exercise  this  new  power,  in  the  manner  in  which 
I  have  ah'eady  described,  the  gradual  increase  of  the  royal 
authority  had  so  imperceptibly  prepared  the  minds  of  the 
people  of  Trance  for  this  innovation,  that  it  excited  no 
commotion  in  the  kingdom,  and  seems  scarcely  to  have 
given  rise  to  any  murmur  or  complaint. 

When  the  kings  of  France  had  thus  engrossed  every 
power  which  can  be  exerted  in  government;  when  the 
right  of  making  laws,  of  levying  money,  of  keeping  an  army 
of  mercenaries  in  constant  pay,  of  declaring  war,  and  of 
concluding  peace,  centred  in  the  crown,  the  constitution  of 
the  kingdom,  which,  under  the  first  race  of  kings,  was 
nearly  democratical ;  which,  under  the  second  race,  became 
an  aristocracy;  terminated,  under  the  third  race,  in  a 
pm*e  monarchy.  Everything  that  tended  to  preserve  tlie 
appearance,  or  revive  the  memory,  of  the  ancient  mixed 
government,  seems  from  that  period  to  have  been  indus- 
triously avoided.  During  the  long  and  active  reign  of 
Francis  I.,  the  variety  as  weU  as  extent  of  whose  operations 
obliged  him  to  lay  many  heavy  impositions  on  his  subjects, 
the  states-general  of  France  were  not  once  assembled,  nor 
were  the  people  once  allowed  to  exert  the  power  of  taxing 
themselves,  which,  according  to  the  original  ideas  of  feudal 
government,  was  a  right  essential  to  every  freeman. 

Two  things,  however,  remained,  which  moderated  the 
exercise  of  the  regal  prerogative,  and  restrained  it  within 
such  bounds  as  preserved  the  constitution  of  France  from 
degenerating  into  mere  despotism.  The  rights  and  privi- 
leges claimed  by  the  nobility,  must  be  considered  as  one 
barrier  against  the  absolute  dominion  of  the  crown.  Though 
the  nobles  of  France  had  lost  that  political  poAver  which 
was  vested  in  their  order  as  a  body,  they  still  retained  tlie 
personal  rights  and  pre-eminence  which  they  derived  from 
their  rank.  They  preserved  a  consciousness  of  elevation 
above  other  classes  of  citizens  ;  an  exemption  from  bm*dens 
to  which  persons  of  inferior  condition  were    subject ;  a 


SECT.  III.]  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CROWN.  UJ 

contempt  of  the  occupations  in  wliicli  tliey  were  engaged  ; 
the  privilege  of  assuming  ensigns  that  indicated  their  own 
dignity ;  a  right  to  be  treated  witli  a  certain  degree  of 
deference  dming  peace ;  and  a  claim  to  various  distinctions 
when  in  the  field.  ]\Iany  of  these  pretensions  were  not 
founded  on  the  words  of  statutes,  or  derived  from  positive 
laws;  they  were  defined  and  ascertained  by  the  maxims 
of  honour,  a  title  more  delicate,  but  no  less  sacred.  These 
rights,  established  and  protected  by  a  principle  equally 
vigilant  in  guarding,  and  intrepid  in  defending  them,  are 
to  the  sovereign  himself  objects  of  respect  and  veneration. 
Wherever  they  stand  in  its  way,  the  royal  prerogative  is 
bounded.  The  violence  of  a  despot  may  exterminate  such 
an  order  of  men ;  but  as  long  as  it  subsists,  and  its  ideas  of 
personal  distinction  remain  entire,  the  power  of  the  prince 
has  limits. ^^ 

As  in  Prance  the  body  of  nobility  was  very  numerous, 
and  the  individuals  of  which  it  Avas  composed  retained  a 
high  sense  of  their  own  pre-eminence,  to  this  Ave  may 
ascribe,  in  a  great  measure,  the  mode  of  exercising  the 
royal  prerogative  which  peculiarly  distinguishes  the  govern- 
ment of  that  kingdom.  An  intermediate  order  was  placed 
between  the  monarch  and  his  other  subjects,  and  in  every 
act  of  authority  it  became  necessary  to  attend  to  its  privi- 
leges, and  not  only  to  guard  against  any  real  violation  of 
them,  but  to  avoid  any  suspicion  of  supposing  it  to  be 
possible  that  they  might  be  violated.  Thus  a  species  of 
government  was  established  in  France,  unknown  in  the 
ancient  M^orld,  that  of  a  monarchy,  in  which  the  power  of 
the  sovereign,  though  unconfined  by  any  legal  or  constitu- 
tional restraint,  has  certain  bounds  set  to  it  by  the  ideas 
Avhich  one  class  of  his  subjects  entertain  concerning  their 
own  dignity. 

The  jm'isdiction  of  the  parliaments  in  France,  particu- 

^-  De  I'Espiit  des  Loix,  liv.  ii.  c.  4.  Dr.  Fergussou's  Essay  ou  the  Hist,  of 
Civil  Society,  part.  i.  sect.  10. 

L  2 


148  THE  PAELIA:MENT  of  PARIS.  [sect.  iir. 

larly  that  of  Paris,  was  the  other  barrier  which  served  to 
confine  the  exercise  of  the  royal  prerogative  within  certain 
hniits.  The  parliament  of  Paris  was  originally  the  coui't 
of  the  kings  of  France,  to  which  they  committed  the 
supreme  administration  of  justice  within  their  own  domains, 
as  well  as  the  power  of  deciding  with  respect  to  all  cases 
brought  before  it  by  appeals  from  the  courts  of  the  barons. 
When,  in  consequence  of  events  and  regulations  which 
have  been  mentioned  formerly,  the  time  and  place  of  its 
meeting  w^ere  fixed  ;  when  not  only  the  form  of  its  proce- 
dure, but  the  principles  on  which  it  decided,  were  rendered 
regular  and  consistent ;  when  every  clause  of  importance 
was  finally  determined  there ;  and  when  the  people  became 
accustomed  to  resort  thither  as  to  the  supreme  temple  of 
justice ;  the  parliament  of  Paris  rose  to  high  estimation  in 
the  kingdom,  its  members  acquired  dignity,  and  its  decrees 
Avere  submitted  to  with  deference.  Nor  was  this  the  only 
source  of  the  power  and  influence  which  the  parliament 
obtained.  The  kings  of  Prance,  when  they  first  began  to 
assume  the  legislative  power,  in  order  to  reconcile  the 
minds  of  their  people  to  this  new  exertion  of  prerogative, 
produced  their  edicts  and  ordinances  in  the  parliament  of 
Paris,  that  they  might  be  approved  of  and  registered  there, 
before  they  were  published  and  declared  to  be  of  authority 
in  the  kingdom.  During  the  intervals  between  the  meet- 
ings of  the  states-general  of  the  kingdom,  or  during  those 
reigns  in  which  the  states-general  were  not  assembled,  the 
monarchs  of  Prance  were  accustomed  to  consult  the  parlia- 
ment of  Paris  with  respect  to  the  most  arduous  affairs  of 
government,  and  frequently  regulated  their  conduct  by  its 
advice,  in  declaring  war,  in  concluding  peace,  and  in  other 
transactions  of  pubhc  concern.  Thus  there  was  erected  in 
the  kingdom  a  tribunal  which  became  the  great  depository 
of  the  laws,  and,  by  the  uniform  tenor  of  its  decrees, 
established  principles  of  justice  and  forms  of  proceeding 
which  were  considered  as  so  sacred,  that  even  the  sovereign 


SECT,  in.]  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE.  140 

power  of  the  monarch  durst  not  venture  to  disregard  or  to 
violate  them.  Tlie  members  of  this  ilUistrious  body,  thou<rli 
they  neither  possess  legislative  authority,  nor  can  be  consi- 
dered as  the  representatives  of  the  people,  have  availed 
themselves  of  the  reputation  and  influence  which  they  had 
acquired  among  their  countrymen  in  order  to  make  a  stand, 
to  the  utmost  of  their  ability,  against  every  unprecedented 
and  exorbitant  exertion  of  the  prerogative.  In  every  period 
of  the  Trench  history,  they  have  merited  the  praise  of  being 
the  virtuous  but  feeble  guardians  of  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  the  nation.  ^'^"^ 

After  taking  this  view  of  the  political  state  of  France, 
I  proceed  to  consider  that  of  the  German  empire,  from 
which  Charles  V.  derived  his  title  of  highest  dignity.  In 
explaining  the  constitution  of  this  great  and  complex  body 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  I  shall  avoid 
entering  into  such  a  detail  as  would  involve  my  readers  in 
that  inextricable  labyrinth,  which  is  formed  by  the  multi- 
plicity of  its  tribunals,  the  number  of  its  members,  their 
interfering  rights,  and  by  the  endless  discussions  or  refine- 
ments of  the  public  lawyers  of  Germany,  with  respect  to 
all  these. 

The  empire  of  Charlemagne  was  a  structure  erected  in 
so  short  a  time  that  it  could  not  be  permanent.  Under  his 
immediate  successor  it  began  to  totter,  and  soon  after  fell 
to  pieces.  The  crown  of  Germany  was  separated  from  that 
of  France,  and  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne  established 
two  great  monarchies,  so  situated  as  to  give  rise  to  a  per- 
petual rivalship  and  enmity  between  them.  But  the  princes 
of  the  race  of  Charlemagne  who  were  placed  on  the  imperial 
throne,  were  not  altogether  so  degenerate  as  those  of  the 
same  family  who  reigned  in  France.  In  the  hands  of  the 
former,  the  royal  authority  retained  some  vigour,  and  the 
nobles  of  Germany,  though  possessed  of  extensive  privileges 
as  well  as  ample  territories,  did  not  so  early  attain  inde- 
pendence.    The  great  offices  of  the  crown  continued  to  be 


150  EARLY  HISTORY  OP  [sect.  hi. 

at  the  disposal  of  the  sovereign,  and  during  a  long  period, 
fiefs  remained  in  their  original  state,  without  becoming 
hereditary  and  perpetual  in  the  families  of  the  persons  to 
whom  they  had  been  granted. 

At  length  the  German  branch  of  the  family  of  Charle- 
magne became  extinct,  and  his  feeble  descendants  who 
reigned  in  France  had  sunk  into  such  contempt  that  the 
Germans,  without  looking  towards  them,  exercised  the  right 
inherent  in  a  free  people ;  and  in  the  general  assembly  of  the 
nation  elected  Conrad,  count  of  Franconia,  emperor  (911). 
After  him  Henry  of  Saxony,  and  his  descendants,  the  three 
Othos,  were  placed,  in  succession,  on  the  imperial  throne, 
by  the  suffrages  of  their  countrymen.  The  extensive  terri- 
tories of  the  Saxon  emperors,  their  eminent  abilities  and 
enterprising  genius,  not  only  added  new  vigour  to  the 
imperial  dignity,  but  raised  it  to  higher  power  and  pre- 
eminence [952].  Otho  the  Great  marched  at  the  head  of 
a  mmierous  army  into  Italy,  and,  after  the  example  of 
Charlemagne,  gave  law  to  that  country.  Every  power 
there  recognised  his  authority.  He  created  popes,  and 
deposed  them,  by  his  sovereign  mandate.  He  annexed  the 
kingdom  of  Italy  to  the  German  empire.  Elated  with  his 
success,  he  assumed  the  title  of  Caesar  Augustus. ^^  A  prince 
born  in  the  heart  of  Germany  pretended  to  be  the  successor 
of  the  emperors  of  ancient  Rome,  and  claimed  a  right  to 
the  same  power  and  prerogative. 

But  while  the  emperors,  by  means  of  these  new  titles 
and  new  dominions,  gradually  acquired  additional  authority 
and  splendour,  the  nobility  of  Germany  had  gone  on  at  the 
same  time  extending  their  privileges  and  jurisdiction.  The 
situation  of  afiairs  was  favourable  to  their  attempts.  The 
vigour  which  Charlemagne  had  given  to  government  quickly 
relaxed.  The  incapacity  of  some  of  his  successors  was  such 
as  would  have  encouraged  vassals  less  enterprising  than  the 
nobles  of  that  age,  to  have  claimed  new  rights,  and  to  have 

^^  Aunalista  Saxo,  &c.  ap.  Struv.  Corp.  vol.  i.  p.  246. 


SECT.  III.]  THE  GERMAN  EMnilE.  151 

assumed  new  powers.  Tlic  civil  wars  in  wliicli  other 
emperors  were  engaged,  obliged  tliem  to  pay  perpetual 
court  to  their  subjects,  on  whose  support  they  depended, 
and  not  only  to  connive  at  their  usurpations,  but  to  permit, 
and  even  to  authorize  them.  Fiefs  gradually  became  here- 
ditary. They  were  transmitted  not  only  in  the  direct, 
but  also  into  the  collateral  line.  The  investiture  of  them 
was  demanded  not  only  by  male  but  by  female  heirs. 
Every  baron  began  to  exercise  sovereign  jurisdiction  within 
his  own  domains ;  and  the  dukes  and  counts  of  Germany 
took  Avide  steps  towards  rendering  their  territories  distinct 
and  independent  states. ^^  The  Saxon  emperors  observed 
their  progress,  and  were  aware  of  its  tendency.  But  as 
they  could  not  hope  to  humble  vassals  already  grown  too 
potent,  unless  they  had  turned  their  whole  force  as  well  as 
attention  to  that  enterprise,  and  as  they  were  extremely 
intent  on  their  expeditions  into  Italy,  Avhich  they  could  not 
undertake  without  the  concurrence  of  their  nobles,  they 
were  solicitous  not  to  alarm  them  by  any  direct  attack  on 
their  privileges  and  jurisdictions.  They  aimed,  however, 
at  undermining  their  power.  With  this  view,  they  incon- 
siderately bestowed  additional  territories,  and  accumulated 
ncAV  honours  on  the  clergy,  in  hopes  that  this  order  might 
serve  as  a  counterpoise  to  that  of  the  nobility  in  any  future 
struggle. ^^ 

The  unhappy  effects  of  this  fatal  error  in  policy  were 
quickly  felt.  Under  the  emperors  of  the  Franconian  and 
Swabian  lines,  whom  the  Germans,  by  their  voluntary 
election,  placed  on  the  imperial  throne,  a  new  face  of  things 
appeared,  and  a  scene  was  exhibited  in  Germany,  which 
astonished  all  Christendom  at  that  time,  and  in  the  present 
age  appears  almost  incredible.  The  popes,  hitherto  depen- 
dent on  the  emperors,  and  indebted  for  power  as  well  as 
dignity  to  their  beneficence  and  protection,  began  to  claim 
a  superior  jurisdiction  ;  and,  in  virtue  of  authority  which 

^  Pfeffel,  Abrege,  pp.  120,  152.  Lib.  Fcudor.  lit.  i.     ^3  rfcffcl,  Abiegc,  p.  15i. 


]52  THE  POPE  AND  THE  EMPEROR.  [sect.  m. 

tliey  pretended  to  derive  from  lieaven,  tried,  condemned, 
excommunicated,  and  deposed,  their  former  masters.  Nor 
is  this  to  be  considered  merely  as  a  frantic  sally  of  passion 
in  a  pontiff  intoxicated  Avith  high  ideas  concerning  the 
extent  of  priestly  domination,  and  the  plenitude  of  papal 
authority.  Gregory  VII.  was  able  as  well  as  daring.  His 
presumption  and  violence  were  accompanied  with  political 
discernment  and  sagacity.  He  had  observed  that  the  princes 
and  nobles  of  Germany  had  acquired  such  considerable 
territories  and  such  extensive  jurisdiction,  as  rendered  them 
not  only  formidable  to  the  emperors,  but  disposed  them  to 
favour  any  attempt  to  circumscribe  their  power.  He  fore- 
saw that  the  ecclesiastics  of  Germany,  raised  almost  to  a 
level  with  its  princes,  were  ready  to  support  any  person 
who  would  stand  forth  as  the  protector  of  their  privileges 
and  independence.  With  both  of  these  Gregory  negotiated, 
and  had  secured  many  devoted  adherents  among  them 
before  he  ventured  to  enter  the  lists  against  the  head  of 
the  empire. 

He  began  his  rupture  with  Henry  IV.  upon  a  pretext 
that  was  popular  and  plausible.  He  complained  of  the 
venality  and  corruption  with  which  the  emperor  had  granted 
the  investiture  of  benefices  to  ecclesiastics.  He  contended 
that  this  right  belonged  to  him  as  the  head  of  the  church ; 
he  required  Henry  to  confine  himself  within  the  bounds  of 
his  civil  jurisdiction,  and  to  abstain  for  the  future  from  such 
sacrilegious  encroachments  on  the  spiritual  dominion.  All 
the  censures  of  the  church  were  denounced  against  Henry, 
because  he  refused  to  relinquish  those  powers  which  his 
predecessors  had  uniformly  exercised.  The  most  consider- 
able of  the  German  princes  and  ecclesiastics  were  excited 
to  take  arms  against  him.  His  mother,  his  wife,  his  sons, 
were  wrought  upon  to  disregard  all  the  ties  of  blood  as 
well  as  of  duty,  and  to  join  the  party  of  his  enemies. ^°  Such 
were  the  successful  arts  with  which  the  court  of  Rome 

^"^  Annal.  German,  ap.  Slruv.  i.  p.  325. 


SECT.  Ill,]  DECLINE  OF  IMPERIAL  AUTHORITY.  153 

inflamed  the  superstitious  zeal,  and  conducted  the  factious 
spirit  of  the  Germans  and  Itahans,  that  an  emperor,  distin- 
guished not  only  for  many  virtues,  but  possessed  of  con- 
siderable talents,  was  at  length  obliged  to  appear  as  a  sup- 
plicant at  the  gate  of  the  castle  in  which  the  pope  resided, 
and  to  stand  there  three  days,  barefooted,  in  the  depth 
of  winter,  imploring  a  pardon,  which  at  length  he 
obtained  with  difficulty  [1077].^'^^ 

This  act  of  humiliation  degraded  the  imperial  dignity. 
Nor  was  the  depression  momentary  only.  The  contest 
between  Gregory  and  Henry  gave  rise  to  the  two  great 
factions  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  ;  the  former  of  which 
supporting  the  pretensions  of  the  popes,  and  the  latter 
defending  the  rights  of  the  emperor,  kept  Germany  and 
Italy  in  perpetual  agitation  during  three  centuries.  A 
regular  system  for  humbling  the  emperors  and  circumscrib- 
ing their  power  was  formed,  and  adhered  to  uniformly 
throughout  that  period.  The  popes,  the  free  states  in  Italy, 
the  nobility,  and  ecclesiastics  of  Germany,  were  all  inter- 
ested in  its  success ;  and  notwithstanding  the  return  of 
some  short  intervals  of  vigour,  under  the  administration  of 
a  few  able  emperors,  the  imperial  authority  continued  to 
decline.  During  the  anarchy  of  the  long  interregnum 
subsequent  to  the  death  of  William  of  Holland  [1256],  it 
dwindled  down  almost  to  nothing.  Rodulph  of  Hapsburg, 
the  founder  of  the  house  of  Austria,  and  who  first  opened 
the  way  to  its  future  grandeur,  was  at  length  elected 
emperor  [1278],  not  that  he  might  re-establish  and  extend 
the  imperial  authority,  but  because  his  territories  and 
influence  were  so  inconsiderable  as  to  excite  no  jealousy  in 
the  German  princes,  who  were  willing  to  preserve  the  forms 
of  a  constitution,  the  power  and  vigour  of  which  they  had 
destroyed.  Several  of  his  successors  were  placed  on  the 
imperial  throne  from  the  same  motive ;  and  almost  every 
remaining  prerogative  was  wrested  out  of  the  hands  of 
feeble  princes  unable  to  exercise  or  to  defend  them. 


154  CHANGE  IN  THE  CONSTITUTION  [sect.  iit. 

During  this  period  of  turbulence  and  confusion,  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Germanic  body  underwent  a  total  change. 
The  ancient  names  of  courts  and  magistrates,  together  with 
the  original  forms  and  appearance  of  policy,  were  preserved ; 
but  such  new  privileges  and  jurisdiction  were  assumed, 
and  so  many  various  rights  established,  that  the  same 
species  of  government  no  longer  subsisted.  The  princes, 
the  great  nobility,  the  dignified  ecclesiastics,  the  free  cities, 
had  taken  advantage  of  the  interregnum  which  I  have 
mentioned,  to  establish  or  to  extend  their  usurpations. 
They  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  governing  their 
respective  territories  with  full  sovereignty.  They  acknow- 
ledged no  superior  with  respect  to  any  point  relative  to  the 
interior  administration  and  police  of  their  domains.  They 
enacted  laws,  imposed  taxes,  coined  money,  declared  war, 
concluded  peace,  and  exerted  every  prerogative  peculiar  to 
independent  states.  The  ideas  of  order  and  political  union, 
which  had  originally  formed  the  various  provinces  of  Ger- 
many into  one  body,  were  almost  entirely  lost ;  and  the 
society  must  have  dissolved,  if  the  forms  of  feudal  subor- 
dination had  not  preserved  such  an  appearance  of  connexion 
or  dependence  among  the  various  members  of  the  com- 
munity, as  preserved  it  from  falling  to  pieces. 

This  bond  of  union,  however,  was  extremely  feeble  ;  and 
hardly  any  principle  remained  in  the  German  constitution 
of  sufficient  force  to  maintain  public  order,  or  even  to 
ascertain  personal  security.  From  the  accession  of  Rodulph 
of  Hapsburg  to  the  reign  of  Maximilian,  the  immediate 
predecessor  of  Charles  V.,  the  empire  felt  every  calamity 
which  a  state  must  endure  when  the  authority  of  govern- 
ment is  so  much  relaxed  as  to  have  lost  its  proper  degree 
of  vigour.  The  causes  of  dissension  among  that  vast 
number  of  members  which  composed  the  Germanic  body, 
were  infinite  and  unavoidable.  These  gave  rise  to  perpe- 
tual private  wars,  which  were  carried  on  with  all  the  violence 
that  usually  accompanies  resentment,  when  unrestrained  by 


SECT.  III.]  or  THE  EMPIRE.  155 

superior  authority.  Rapine,  outrage,  exactions,  became 
universal.  Commerce  was  interrupted ;  industry  suspended; 
and  every  part  of  Germany  resembled  a  country  which  an 
enemy  had  plundered  and  left  desolate."  The  variety  of 
expedients  employed  with  a  view  to  restore  order  and  tran- 
quillity, prove  that  the  grievances  occasioned  by  this  state 
of  anarchy  had  grown  intolerable.  Arbiters  were  appohited 
to  terminate  the  differences  among  the  several  states.  The 
cities  united  in  a  league,  the  object  of  which  was  to  check 
the  rapine  and  extortions  of  the  nobility.  The  nobility 
formed  confederacies,  on  purpose  to  maintain  tranquillity 
among  their  own  order.  Germany  was  divided  into  several 
circles,  in  each  of  which  a  provincial  and  partial  jurisdiction 
was  established,  to  supply  the  place  of  a  public  and 
common  tribunal. ^^ 

But  all  these  remedies  w^ere  so  ineffectual,  that  they 
served  only  to  demonstrate  the  violence  of  that  anarchy 
w"hich  prevailed,  and  the  insufficiency  of  the  means  employed 
to  correct  it.  At  length  Maximilian  re-established  public 
order  in  the  empire,  by  instituting  the  Imperial  Chamber 
[1495],  a  tribunal  composed  of  judges  named  partly 
by  the  emperor,  partly  by  the  several  states,  and  vested 
with  authority  to  decide  finally  concerning  all  differences 
among  the  members  of  the  Germanic  body.  A  few  years 
after  [1512],  by  giving  a  new  form  to  the  Aulic  Council, 
Avhich  takes  cognisance  of  all  feudal  causes,  and  such  as 
belong  to  the  emperor's  immediate  jurisdiction,  he  restored 
some  degree  of  vigour  to  the  imperial  authority. 

But  notwithstanding  the  salutary  effects  of  these  regu- 
lations and  improvements,  the  political  constitution  of  the 
German  empire,  at  the  commencement  of  the  period  of 
which  I  propose  to  write  the  history,  was  of  a  species  so 
peculiar,  as  not  to  resemble  perfectly  any  form  of  govern- 

37  See  above,  p.  40,  and  Note  [^i]       p.  28,  No.  26,  p.  35,  No.  11. 
at  the  end  of  the  Volume.     Datt.   de  ""^  Dalt.  passim.  Struv.  Corp.  Ilist. 

Pace  Publica  Impcr.  p.  25,  No.  53,  p.      i.  p.  510,  &c. 


156  THE  GERMANIC  CONFEDERATION.  [sect.  hi. 

ment  known  either  in  the  ancient  or  modern  world.  It 
was  a  complex  body,  formed  by  the  association  of  several 
states,  each  of  which  possessed  sovereign  and  independent 
jurisdiction  within  its  own  territories.  Of  all  the  members 
which  composed  this  united  body,  the  emperor  was  the 
head.  In  his  name  all  decrees  and  regulations  with  respect 
to  points  of  common  concern  were  issued,  and  to  him  the 
power  of  carrying  them  into  execution  was  committed. 
But  this  appearance  of  monarchical  power  in  the  emperor 
was  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  influence  of  the 
princes  and  states  of  the  empire  in  every  act  of  adminis- 
tration. No  law  extending  to  the  whole  body  could  pass, 
no  resolution  that  affected  the  general  interest  could  be 
taken,  without  the  approbation  of  the  diet  of  the  empire. 
In  this  assembly  every  sovereign  prince  and  state  of  the 
Germanic  body  had  a  right  to  be  present,  to  deliberate, 
and  to  vote.  The  decrees  or  recesses  of  the  diet  were  the 
laws  of  the  empire,  which  the  emperor  was  bound  to  ratify 
and  enforce. 

Under  this  aspect  the  constitution  of  the  empire  appears 
a  regular  confederacy,  similar  to  the  Achaean  league  in 
ancient  Greece,  or  to  that  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  of 
the  Swiss  Cantons,  in  modern  times.  But  if  viewed  in 
another  light,  striking  peculiarities  in  its  political  state 
present  themselves.  The  Germanic  body  was  not  formed 
by  the  union  of  members  altogether  distinct  and  indepen- 
dent. All  the  princes  and  states  joined  hi  this  association 
were  originally  subject  to  the  emperors,  and  acknowledged 
them  as  sovereigns.  Besides  this,  they  originally  held  their 
lands  as  imperial  fiefs,  and  in  consequence  of  this  tenure 
owed  the  emperor  all  those  services  which  feudal  vassals 
are  bound  to  perform  to  their  liege  lord.  But  though  this 
political  subjection  was  entirely  at  an  end,  and  the  influence 
of  the  feudal  relation  much  diminished,  the  ancient  forms 
and  institutions,  introduced  while  the  emperors  governed 
Germany  with  authority  not  inferior  to  that  which  the 


SECT.  III.]  DEFECTS  IN  THE  CONSTITUTION.  157 

other  monarclis  of  Europe  possessed,  still  remained.  Thus 
au  opposition  was  established  between  the  genius  of  the 
government  and  the  forms  of  administration  in  the  German 
empire.  The  former  considered  the  emperor  only  as  the 
head  of  a  confederacy,  the  members  of  which,  by  their 
voluntary  choice,  have  raised  him  to  that  dignity  ;  the  latter 
seemed  to  imply  that  he  is  really  invested  with  sovereign 
power.  By  this  circumstance,  such  principles  of  hostility 
and  discord  were  interwoven  into  the  frame  of  the  Germanic 
body  as  affected  each  of  its  members,  rendering  their  inte- 
rior union  incomplete,  and  their  external  efforts  feeble  and. 
irregular.  The  pernicious  influence  of  this  defect  inherent 
in  the  constitution  of  the  empire  is  so  considerable,  that, 
without  attending  to  it,  we  cannot  fully  comprehend  many 
transactions  in  the  reign  of  Charles  V.,  or  form  just  ideas 
concerning  the  genius  of  the  German  government. 

The  emperors  of  Germany,  at  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth centmy,  were  distinguished  by  the  most  pompous 
titles,  and.  by  such  ensigns  of  dignity,  as  intimated  their 
authority  to  be  superior  to  that  of  all  other  monarchs.  The 
greatest  princes  of  the  empire  attended  and  served  them, 
on  some  occasions,  as  the  officers  of  their  household.  They 
exercised  prerogatives  which  no  other  sovereign  ever 
claimed.  They  retained  pretensions  to  all  the  extensive 
powers  which  their  predecessors  had  enjoyed  in  any  former 
age.  But,  at  the  same  time,  instead  of  possessing  that 
ample  domain  which  had  belonged  to  the  ancient  emperors 
of  Germany,  and  which  stretched  from  Basil  to  Cologne, 
along  both  banks  of  the  Rhine,^''  they  were  stripped  of  all 
territorial  property,  and  had  not  a  single  city,  a  single 
castle,  a  single  foot  of  land,  that  belonged  to  them  as  heads 
of  the  empire.  As  their  domain  was  alienated,  their  stated 
revenues  were  reduced  almost  to  nothing ;  and  the  extra- 
ordinary aids  which  on  a  few  occasions  they  obtained,  were 
granted  sparingly  and  paid  with  reluctance.     The  princes 

39  Pfeffel,  Abiege,  &c.  p.  241. 


158  LIMITED  POWER  OP  THE  EMPERORS.        [sect.  hi. 

and  states  of  the  empire,  thougli  they  seemed  to  recognise 
the  imperial  authority,  were  subjects  only  in  name,  each  of 
them  possessing  a  complete  municipal  jurisdiction  within 
the  precincts  of  his  own  territories. 

From  this  ill-compacted  frame  of  government,  effects  that 
were  unavoidable  resulted.  The  emperors,  dazzled  with 
the  splendour  of  their  titles  and  the  external  signs  of  vast 
authority,  were  apt  to  imagine  themselves  to  be  the  real 
sovereigns  of  Germany,  and  were  led  to  aim  continually  at 
recovering  the  exercise  of  those  powers  which  the  forms  of 
constitution  seemed  to  vest  in  them,  and  which  their  pre- 
decessors, Charlemagne  and  the  Othos,  had  actually  enjoyed. 
The  princes  and  states,  aware  of  the  nature  as  well  as  the 
extent  of  these  pretensions,  were  perpetually  on  their  guard, 
in  order  to  watch  all  the  motions  of  the  imperial  com-t,  and 
to  circumscribe  its  power  within  limits  still  more  narrow. 
The  emperors,  in  support  of  their  claims,  appealed  to 
ancient  forms  and  institutions,  which  the  states  held  to  be 
obsolete.  The  states  founded  their  rights  on  recent  practice 
and  modern  privileges,  which  the  emperors  considered  as 
usurpations. 

This  jealousy  of  the  imperial  authority,  together  with  the 
opposition  between  it  and  the  rights  of  the  states,  increased 
considerably  from  the  time  that  the  emperors  were  elected, 
not  by  the  collective  body  of  German  nobles,  but  by  a  few 
princes  of  chief  dignity.  During  a  long  period,  all  the 
members  of  the  Germanic  body  had  a  right  to  assemble, 
and  to  make  choice  of  the  person  whom  they  appointed  to 
be  their  head.  But  amidst  the  violence  and  anarchy  which 
prevailed  for  several  centuries  in  the  empire,  seven  princes 
who  possessed  the  most  extensive  territories,  and  who  had 
obtained  an  hereditary  title  to  the  great  offices  of  the  state, 
acquired  the  exclusive  privilege  of  nominating  the  emperor. 
This  right  was  confirmed  to  them  by  the  Golden  Bull ;  the 
mode  of  exercising  it  was  ascertained,  and  they  were  digni- 
fied with  the  appellation  of  electors.    The  nobility  and  free 


SECT.  III.]  TEE  ELECTORATE.  159 

cities  being  thus  stripped  of  a  privilege  whicli  they  had 
once  enjoyed,  were  less  connected  with  a  prince,  towards 
whose  elevation  they  had  not  contributed  by  their  suffrages, 
and  came  to  be  more  apprehensive  of  his  authority.  The 
electors,  by  their  extensive  power,  and  the  distinguishing 
privileges  which  they  possessed,  became  formidable  to  the 
emperors,  with  whom  they  were  placed  almost  on  a  level 
in  several  acts  of  jurisdiction.  Thus  the  introduction  of 
the  electoral  college  into  the  empire,  and  the  authority 
which  it  acquired,  instead  of  diminishing,  contributed  to 
strengthen,  the  principles  of  hostility  and  discord  in  the 
Germanic  constitution. 

These  were  farther  augmented  by  the  various  and  re- 
pugnant forms  of  civil  policy  in  the  several  states  wdiich 
composed  the  Germanic  body.  It  is  no  easy  matter  to 
render  the  union  of  independent  states  perfect  and  entire, 
even  when  the  genius  and  forms  of  their  respective  govern- 
ments happen  to  be  altogether  similar.  But  in  the  German 
empire,  which  was  a  confederacy  of  princes,  of  ecclesiastics, 
and  of  free  cities,  it  was  impossible  that  they  could  in- 
corporate thoroughly.  The  free  cities  were  small  republics, 
in  which  the  maxims  and  spirit  peculiar  to  that  species  of 
government  prevailed.  The  princes  and  nobles,  to  whom 
supreme  jurisdiction  belonged,  possessed  a  sort  of  mon- 
archical power  within  their  own  territories,  and  the  forms 
of  their  interior  administration  nearly  resembled  those  of 
the  great  feudal  kingdoms.  The  interests,  the  ideas,  the 
objects  of  states  so  differently  constituted,  cannot  be  the 
same.  Nor  could  their  common  deliberations  be  carried 
on  with  the  same  spirit,  while  the  love  of  liberty,  and  atten- 
tion to  commerce,  were  the  reigning  principles  in  the 
cities,  while  the  desire  of  power,  and  ardour  for  military 
glory,  were  the  governing  passions  of  the  princes  and 
nobility. 

The  secular  and  ecclesiastical  members  of  the  empire 
were  as  little  fitted  for  union  as  the  free  cities  and  the 


160  CAUSES  OF  DISSENSION,  [sect.  hi. 

nobility.  Considerable  territories  had  been  granted  to 
several  of  the  German  bishoprics  and  abbeys,  and  some  of 
the  highest  offices  in  the  empire  having  been  annexed  to 
them  inalienably,  were  held  by  the  ecclesiastics  raised  to 
these  dignities.  The  younger  sons  of  noblemen  of  the 
second  order,  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  church, 
were  commonly  promoted  to  these  stations  of  eminence 
and  power ;  and  it  was  no  small  mortification  to  the  princes 
and  great  nobility,  to  see  persons  raised  from  an  inferior 
rank  to  the  same  level  with  themselves,  or  even  exalted  to 
superior  diginity.  The  education  of  these  churchmen,  the 
genius  of  their  profession,  and  their  connexion  with  the 
court  of  Rome,  rendered  their  character  as  well  as  their 
interest  different  from  those  of  the  other  members  of  the 
Germanic  body,  with  whom  they  were  called  to  act  in 
concert.  Thus  another  source  of  jealousy  and  variance  was 
opened,  which  ought  not  to  be  overlooked  when  we  are 
searching  into  the  nature  of  the  German  constitution. 

To  all  these  causes  of  dissension  may  be  added  one  more, 
arising  from  the  unequal  distribution  of  power  and  wealth 
among  the  states  of  the  empire.  The  electors,  and  other 
nobles  of  the  highest  rank,  not  only  possessed  sovereign 
jurisdiction,  but  governed  such  extensive,  populous,  and 
rich  countries,  as  rendered  them  great  princes.  Many  of 
the  other  members,  though  they  enjoyed  all  the  rights  of 
sovereignty,  ruled  over  such  petty  domains,  that  their  real 
power  bore  no  proportion  to  this  high  prerogative.  A  well- 
compacted  and  vigorous  confederacy  could  not  be  formed 
of  such  dissimilar  states.  The  weaker  were  jealous,  timid, 
and  unable  either  to  assert  or  to  defend  their  just  privileges. 
The  more  powerful  were  apt  to  assume  and  to  become 
oppressive.  The  electors  and  emperors,  by  turns,  en- 
deavoured to  extend  their  own  authority,  by  encroaching 
on  those  feeble  members  of  the  Germanic  body,  who  some- 
times defended  their  rights  with  much  spirit,  but  more 
frequently,   being    overawed    or    corrupted,    they   tamely 


SECT.  III.]  THE  TURKISH  EMPIRE.  1(51 

surrendered  their  privileges,  or  meanly  favoured  the  designs 
formed  against  them.'^''-^ 

After  contemplating  all  these  principles  of  disunion  and 
opposition  in  the  constitution  of  the  German  empire,  it  will 
be  easy  to  account  for  the  want  of  concord  and  uniformity, 
conspicuous  in  its  councils  and  proceedings.  That  slow, 
dilatory,  distrustful,  and  irresolute  spirit,  which  cha- 
racterises all  its  deliberations,  will  appear  natural  in  a 
body,  the  junction  of  whose  members  was  so  incomplete, 
the  different  parts  of  which  were  held  together  by  such 
feeble  ties,  and  set  at  variance  by  such  powerful  motives. 
But  the  empire  of  Germany,  nevertheless,  comprehended 
countries  of  such  great  extent,  and  was  inhabited  by  such 
a  martial  and  hardy  race  of  men,  that  when  the  abilities  of 
an  emperor,  or  zeal  of  any  common  cause,  could  rouse  this 
unwieldy  body  to  put  forth  its  strength,  it  acted  with 
almost  irresistible  force.  In  the  following  history  we  shall 
find,  that  as  the  measures  on  which  Charles  V.  was  most 
intent  were  often  thwarted  or  rendered  abortive  by  the 
spirit  of  jealousy  and  division  peculiar  to  the  Germanic 
constitution ;  so  it  was  by  the  influence  which  he  acquired 
over  the  princes  of  the  empire,  and  by  engaging  them  to 
cooperate  with  him,  that  he  was  enabled  to  make  some  of 
the  greatest  efforts  which  distinguish  his  reign. 

The  Turkish  history  is  so  blended,  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  V.,  with  that  of  the  great  nations  in  Europe,  and 
the  Ottoman  Porte  interposed  so  often,  and  Avith  such 
decisive  influence,  in  the  wars  and  negotiations  of  the 
Christian  princes,  that  some  previous  account  of  the  state 
of  government  in  that  great  empire,  is  no  less  necessary  for 
the  information  of  my  readers  than  those  views  of  the  con- 
stitution of  other  kingdoms  which  I  have  already  exhibited 
to  them. 

It  has  been  the  fate  of  the  southern  and  more  fertile 
parts  of  Asia,  at  different  periods,  to  be  conquered  by  that 
warlike  and  hardy  race  of  men  who  inhabit  the  vast  country 

VOL.  I.  M 


162  CONSTITUTION  AND  GOVEENMENT  OE        [sect.  hi. 

known  to  the  ancients  by  the  name  of  Scythia,  and  among 
the  moderns  by  that  of  Tartary.  One  tribe  of  these  people, 
called  Turks  or  Turcomans,  extended  its  conquests,  under 
various  leaders,  and  during  several  centuries,  from  the 
shore  of  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the  Straits  of  the  Dardanelles. 
Towards  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  these  for- 
midable conquerors  took  Constantinople  by  storm,  and 
estabhshed  the  seat  of  their  government  in  that  imperial 
city.  Greece,  Moldavia,  Wallachia,  and  the  other  provinces 
of  the  ancient  kingdoms  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia,  together 
with  part  of  Hungary,  were  subjected  to  their  power. 

But  though  the  seat  of  the  Turkish  government  was 
fixed  in  Europe,  and  the  sultans  obtained  possession  of 
such  extensive  dominions  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  the 
genius  of  their  policy  continued  to  be  purely  Asiatic,  and 
may  be  properly  termed  a  despotism,  in  contradistinction 
to  those  monarchical  and  republican  forms  of  government 
which  we  have  been  hitherto  contemplating.  The  supreme 
power  was  vested  in  sultans  of  the  Ottoman  race,  that 
blood  being  deemed  so  sacred,  that  no  other  was  thought 
worthy  of  the  throne.  From  this  elevation,  these  sovereigns 
could  look  down  and  behold  all  their  subjects  reduced  to 
the  same  level  before  them.  The  maxims  of  Turkish  policy 
do  not  authorize  any  of  those  institutions  which,  in  other 
countries,  limit  the  exercise  or  moderate  the  rigour  of 
monarchical  power :  they  admit  neither  of  any  great  court 
with  constitutional  and  permanent  jurisdiction  to  interpose, 
both  in  enacting  laws,  and  in  superintending  the  execution 
of  them ;  nor  of  a  body  of  hereditary  nobles,  whose  sense 
of  their  own  pre-eminence,  whose  consciousness  of  what  is 
due  to  their  rank  and  character,  whose  jealousy  of  their 
privileges,  circumscribe  the  authority  of  the  prince,  and 
serve  not  only  as  a  barrier  against  the  excesses  of  his 
caprice,  but  stand  as  an  intermediate  order  between  him 
and  the  people.  Under  the  Turkish  government,  the 
political   condition    of   every    subject    is    equal.      To   be 


SECT.  III.]  TIIE  TUEKISII  EMPIKE.  1G3 

employed  in  the  service  of  the  sultan  is  the  only  circiniistance 
that  confers  distinction.  Even  this  distinction  is  rather 
official  than  personal,  and  so  closely  annexed  to  the  station 
in  which  any  individual  serves,  that  it  is  scarcely  com- 
municated to  the  persons  of  those  Avho  arc  placed  in  them. 
The  highest  dignity  in  the  empire  does  not  give  any  rank 
or  pre-eminence  to  the  family  of  him  who  enjoys  it.  As 
every  man,  before  he  is  raised  to  any  station  of  authority, 
must  go  through  the  preparatory  discipline  of  a  long  and 
servile  obedience,"*"  the  moment  he  is  deprived  of  power, 
he  and  his  posterity  return  to  the  same  condition  with 
other  subjects,  and  sink  back  into  obscurity.  It  is  tlie  dis- 
tinguishing and  odious  characteristic  of  eastern  despotism, 
that  it  annihilates  all  other  ranks  of  men,  in  order  to  exalt 
the  monarch ;  that  it  leaves  nothing  to  the  former,  while  it 
gives  everything  to  the  latter ;  that  it  endeavours  to  fix  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  are  subject  to  it,  the  idea  of  no 
relation  between  men  but  that  of  a  master  and  of  a  slave ; 
the  former  destined  to  command  and  to  punish,  the  latter 
formed  to  tremble  and  obey.  '^^^^ 

But  as  there  are  circumstances  which  frequently  obstruct 
or  defeat  the  salutary  effects  of  the  best-regulated  govern- 
ments, there  are  others  which  contribute  to  mitigate  the 
evils  of  the  most  defective  forms  of  policy.  There  can, 
indeed,  be  no  constitutional  restraints  upon  the  will  of  a 
prince  in  a  despotic  government ;  but  there  may  be  such 
as  are  accidental.  Absolute  as  the  Turkish  sidtans  are, 
they  feel  themselves  circumscribed  both  by  religion,  the 
principle  on  which  their  authority  is  founded,"*^  and  Ijy  the 
army,  the  instrument  which  they  nuist  employ  in  order  to 
maintain  it.  Wherever  religion  interposes,  the  will  of  the 
sovereign  must  submit  to  its  decrees.  When  the  Koran 
hath  prescribed  any  religious  rite,  hath  enjoined  any  moral 
duty,  or  hath  confirmed,  by  its  sanction,  any  political 
maxim,  the  command  of  the  sidtan  cannot  overturn  that 

^«  State  of  the  Tuikish  Empire  by  Rycaut,  p.  25.  ^>  Ibid  p.  8. 

M  2 


164  THE  JANIZARIES.  [sect.  m. 

which  a  higher  authority  hath  estabhshed.  The  chief 
restrictions,  however,  on  the  will  of  the  sultans  is  imposed 
by  the  military  power.  An  armed  force  must  surround 
the  throne  of  every  despot,  to  maintain  his  authority,  and 
to  execute  his  commands.  As  the  Turks  extended  their 
empire  over  nations  which  they  did  not  exterminate  but 
reduce  to  subjection,  they  found  it  necessary  to  render  their 
military  establishment  numerous  and  formidable.  Amruth, 
their  third  sultan,  in  order  to  form  a  body  of  troops  devoted 
to  his  will,  that  might  serve  as  the  immediate  guards  of 
his  person  and  dignity,  commanded  his  officers  to  seize 
annually,  as  the  imperial  property,  the  fifth  part  of  the 
youth  taken  in  war.  These,  after  being  instructed  in  the 
Mahometan  religion,  inm-ed  to  obedience  by  severe  disci- 
pline, and  trained  to  warlike  exercises,  were  formed  into  a 
body,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  janizaries,  or  new 
soldiers.  Every  sentiment  which  enthusiasm  can  inspire, 
every  mark  of  distinction  that  the  favour  of  the  prince  could 
confer,  were  employed  in  order  to  animate  this  body  with 
martial  ardour,  and  with  a  consciousness  of  its  own  pre- 
eminence.*" The  janizaries  soon  became  the  chief  strength 
and  pride  of  the  Ottoman  armies ;  and,  by  their  number 
as  well  as  reputation,  were  distinguished  above  all  the 
troops,  whose  duty  it  was  to  attend  on  the  person  of  the 
sultans. '^''^^ 

Thus,  as  the  supreme  power  in  every  society  is  possessed 
by  those  who  have  arms  in  their  hands,  this  formidable 
body  of  soldiers,  destined  to  be  the  instruments  of  enlarging 
the  sultan's  authority,  acquired,  at  the  same  time,  the  means 
of  controlhng  it.  The  janizaries  in  Constantinople,  like  the 
praetorian  bands  in  ancient  Rome,  quickly  perceived  all  the 
advantages  which  they  derived  from  being  stationed  in  the 
capital,  from  their  union  under  one  standard,  and  from 
being  masters  of  the  person  of  the  prince.  The  sultans 
became  no  less  sensible  of  their  influence  and  importance. 

'''^  Prince  Cantemir's  History  of  the  Otliraan  Empire,  p.  87. 


SECT.  III.]  SOLYMAN.  165 

The  capicidy,  or  soldiery  of  the  Porte,  was  the  only  power 
in  the  empire  that  a  sultan  or  his  visicr  had  reason  to  dread. 
To  preserve  the  fidelity  and  attachment  of  the  janizaries, 
was  the  great  art  of  government,  and  the  principal  object 
of  attention  in  the  policy  of  the  Ottoman  court.  Under  a 
monarch,  whose  abilities  and  vigour  of  mind  fit  him  for 
command,  they  are  obsequious  instruments,  execute  wliat- 
ever  he  enjoins,  and  render  his  power  irresistible.  Under 
feeble  princes,  or  such  as  are  unfortunate,  they  become 
turbulent  and  mutinous ;  assume  the  tone  of  masters  ; 
degrade  and  exalt  sultans  at  pleasure ;  and  teach  those  to 
tremble,  on  whose  nod,  at  other  times,  life  and  death 
depend. 

From  Mahomet  II.,  who  took  Constantinople,  to  Solyman 
the  Magnificent,  who  began  his  reign  a  few  months  after 
Charles  V.  was  placed  on  the  imperial  throne  of  Germany, 
a  succession  of  illustrious  princes  ruled  over  the  Turkish 
empire.  By  their  great  abilities,  they  kept  their  subjects 
of  every  order,  military  as  well  as  civil,  submissive  to 
government,  and  had  the  absolute  command  of  whatever 
force  their  vast  empire  was  able  to  exert.  Solyman,  in 
particular,  who  is  known  to  the  Christians  chiefly  as  a 
conqueror,  but  is  celebrated  in  the  Turkish  annals  as  the 
great  lawgiver  who  established  order  and  police  in  their 
empire,  governed,  during  his  long  reign,  with  no  less 
authority  than  wisdom.  He  divided  his  dominions  into 
several  districts  ;  he  appointed  the  number  of  soldiers  which 
each  should  furnish  ;  he  appropriated  a  certain  proportion 
of  the  land  in  every  province  for  their  maintenance  ;  he 
regulated,  with  a  minute  accuracy,  everything  relative  to 
their  discipline,  their  arms,  and  the  nature  of  their  service. 
He  put  the  finances  of  the  empire  into  an  orderly  train  of 
administration ;  and,  though  the  taxes  in  the  Turkish 
dominions,  as  well  as  in  the  other  despotic  monarchies  of 
the  East,  are  far  from  being  considerable,  he  supplied  that 
defect  by  an  attentive  and  severe  economy. 


166  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE,     [sect.  hi. 

Nor  was  it  only  under  such  sultans  as  Solyman,  whose 
talents  were  no  less  adapted  to  preserve  internal  order  than 
to  conduct  the  operations  of  war,  that  the  Turkish  empire 
engaged  with  advantage  in  its  contests  with  the  Christian 
states.  The*  long  succession  of  able  princes,  which  I  have 
mentioned,  had  given  such  vigour  and  firmness  to  the 
Ottoman  government,  that  it  seems  to  have  attained,  during 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  of 
which  its  constitution  Avas  capable ;  whereas  the  great 
monarchies  in  Christendom  were  stih  far  from  that  state 
which  could  enable  them  to  act  with  a  full  exertion  of  their 
force.  Besides  this,  the  Turkish  troops  in  that  age  possessed 
every  advantage  which  arises  from  superiority  in  military 
discipline.  At  the  time  when  Solyman  began  his  reign,  the 
janizaries  had  been  embodied  nearly  a  century  and  a  half ; 
and,  during  that  long  period,  the  severity  of  their  military 
discipline  had  in  no  degree  relaxed.  The  other  soldiers, 
drawn  from  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  had  been  kept 
almost  continually  under  arms,  in  the  various  wars  which 
the  sultans  had  carried  on,  with  hardly  an  interval  of  peace. 
Against  troops  thus  trained  and  accustomed  to  service,  the 
forces  of  the  Christian  powers  took  the  field  with  great 
disadvantage.  The  most  inteUigent,  as  well  as  impartial 
authors  of  the  sixteenth  century,  acknowledge  and  lament 
the  superior  attainments  of  the  Turks  in  the  military  art.^^^^ 
The  success  which  almost  uniformly  attended  their  arms, 
in  all  their  wars,  demonstrates  the  justness  of  this  observa- 
tion. The  Christian  armies  did  not  acquire  that  superiority 
over  the  Turks  which  they  now  possess,  until  the  long 
establishment  of  standing  forces  had  improved  military 
discipline  among  the  former ;  and  until  various  causes  and 
events,  which  it  is  not  in  my  province  to  explain,  had 
corrupted  or  abolished  their  ancient  warlike  institutions 
among  the  latter. 


THK 


HISTORY   OF  THE  REIGN 


EMPEROR   CHARLES   THE  FIFTH 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN 


EMPEEOE    CHAELES    V. 


BOOK    I. 

Birlh  of  Charles  Y. — His  Hereditary  Dominions — Philip  and  Joanna,  liis 
Parents — Birth  of  Ferdinand,  his  Brother — Death  of  Isabella— Philip's 
Attempts  to  obtain  the  Government  of  Castile — The  Regent  Ferdinand 
marries  a  Niece  of  the  French  King  to  exchide  Philip  and  his  Daughter — 
The  Castilian  Nobility  declare  for  Philip — Philip  and  Joanna  proclaimed — 
Death  of  Philip — Incapacity  of  Joanna — Ferdinand  made  Regent — His 
Acquisition  of  Territory — His  Death — Education  of  Charles  V. — Cardinals 
Ximeues  and  Adrian — Charles  acknowledged  King— Ximenes  strengthens  the 
Royal  Power;  is  opposed  by  the  Nobles — War  in  Navarre  and  in  Africa — 
Peace  with  France — Charles  visits  Spain — His  Ingratitude  towards  Ximencs 
— Death  of  the  Latter — Discontent  of  the  Castilians — Corruption  of  the  King's 
Flemish  Favourites — Reception  of  Charles  in  Aragon — Death  of  the  Em- 
peror Maximilian — Charles  and  Francis  I.  Competitors  for  the  Empire — 
Views  of  the  other  Reigning  Potentates — Assembly  of  the  Electors — The 
Crown  otfered  to  Frederic  of  Saxony — He  declines  in  favour  of  Charles, 
who  is  chosen — Discontent  of  the  Spaniards — Insurrection  in  Valencia — 
The  Cortes  of  Castile  summoned  to  meet  in  Galicia — Charles  appoints 
Regents,  and  embarks  for  the  Low  Countries. 

Charles  V.  was  born  at  Ghent  on  the  twenty-foitrtli  day 
of  February,  in  the  year  one  thousand  live  hundred.  His 
father,  Phihp  the  Handsome,  archduke  of  Austria,  was  the 
son  of  the  emperor  MaximiHan,  and  of  Mary,  the  only  child 
of  Charles  the  Bold,  the  last  prince  of  the  house  of  Bur- 
gundy. His  mother,  Joanna,  Avas  the  second  daughter  of 
F'erdinand,  king  of  Aragon,  and  of  Isabella,  queen  of 
Castile. 


170  HEREDITAUY  DOMINIONS.  [book  i. 

A  long  train  of  fortunate  events  had  opened  tlie  way  for 
tliis  young  prince  to  the  inheritance  of  more  extensive 
dominions  than  any  European  monarch  since  Charlemagne 
had  possessed.  Each  of  his  ancestors  had  acquired  king- 
doms or  provinces,  towards  which  their  prospect  of  succes- 
sion was  extremely  remote.  The  rich  possessions  of  Mary 
of  Burgundy  had  been  destined  for  another  family,  she 
having  been  contracted  by  her  father  to  the  only  son  of 
Louis  XI.  of  Erance;  but  that  capricious  monarch,  in- 
dulging his  hatred  to  her  family,  chose  rather  to  strip  her 
of  part  of  her  territories  by  force,  than  to  secure  the  whole 
by  marriage ;  and  by  this  misconduct,  fatal  to  his  posterity, 
he  threw  all  the  Netherlands  and  Eranche  Comte  into  the 
hands  of  a  rival.  Isabella,  the  daughter  of  John  II.  of 
Castile,  far  from  having  any  prospect  of  that  noble  inheri- 
tance which  she  transmitted  to  her  grandson,  passed  the 
early  part  of  her  life  in  obscurity  and  indigence.  But  the 
Castilians,  exasperated  against  her  brother,  Henry  IV.,  an 
ill-advised  and  vicious  prince,  publicly  charged  him  with 
impotence,  and  his  queen  with  adultery.  Upon  his  demise, 
rejecting  Joanna,  whom  Henry  had  uniformly,  and  even  on 
his  death-bed,  owned  to  be  his  lawful  daughter,  and  whom 
an  assembly  of  the  states  had  acknowledged  to  be  the  heir 
of  his  kingdom,  they  obliged  her  to  retire  into  Portugal, 
and  placed  Isabella  on  the  throne  of  Castile.  Eerdinand 
ow^ed  the  crown  of  Aragon  to  the  unexpected  death  of  his 
elder  brother,  and  acquired  the  kingdoms  of  Naples  and 
Sicily  by  violating  the  faith  of  treaties,  and  disregarding 
the  ties  of  blood.  To  all  these  kingdoms  Christopher 
Columbus,  by  an  effort  of  genius  and  of  intrepidity,  the 
boldest  and  most  successful  that  is  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  mankind,  added  a  new  world,  the  wealth  of  which  be- 
came one  considerable  source  of  the  power  and  grandeur 
of  the  Spanish  monarchs. 

Don  John,  the  only  son  of  Eerdinand  and  Isabella,  and 
their  eldest'  daughter,  the  queen  of  Portugal,  being  cut  off. 


BOOK  I.]  PHILIP  AND  JOANNA.  I7I 

without  issue,  in  t.lie  flower  of  youth,  all  their  hopes  centred 
in  Joanna  and  her  posterity.  But  as  her  husband,  tlic 
archduke,  was  a  stranger  to  the  Spaniards,  it  was  thought 
expedient  to  invite  him  into  Spain,  that,  by  residing  among 
them,  he  might  accustom  himself  to  their  laws  and 
manners ;  and  it  was  expected  that  the  cortcs,  or  assembly 
of  states,  whose  authority  was  then  so  great  in  Spain,  that 
no  title  to  the  crown  was  reckoned  vahd  unless  it  received 
their  sanction,  would  acknowledge  his  right  of  succession, 
together  with  that  of  the  infanta,  his  wife.  Philip  and 
Joanna,  passing  through  Prance  in  their  way  to  Spain, 
were  entertained  in  that  kingdom  with  the  utmost  magni- 
ficence. The  archduke  did  homage  to  Louis  XII.  for  the 
earldom  of  Planders,  and  took  his  seat  as  a  peer  of  tlie 
realm  in  the  parliament  of  Paris.  They  were  received  in 
Spain  with  every  mark  of  honour  that  the  parental  affection 
of  Perdinand  and  Isabella,  or  the  respect  of  their  subjects, 
could  devise ;  and  their  title  to  the  crown  was  soon  after 
acknowledged  by  the  cortes  of  both  kingdoms. 

But  amidst  these  outward  appearances  of  satisfaction  and 
joy,  some  secret  uneasiness  preyed  upon  the  mind  of  each 
of  these  princes.  The  stately  and  reserved  ceremonial  of 
the  Spanish  court  was  so  burdensome  to  Philip,  a  prince, 
young,  gay,  affable,  fond  of  society  and  of  pleasure,  that 
he  soon  began  to  express  a  desire  of  retmming  to  his  native 
country,  the  manners  of  which  were  more  suited  to  his 
temper.  Perdinand,  observing  the  declining  health  of  his 
queen,  with  whose  life  he  knew  that  his  right  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Castile  must  cease,  easily  foresaw  that  a  prince  of 
Philip's  disposition,  and  who  already  discovered  an  extreme 
impatience  to  reign,  would  never  consent  to  his  retaining 
any  degree  of  authority  in  that  kingdom  ;  and  the  prospect 
of  this  diminution  of  his  power  awakened  the  jealousy  of 
that  ambitious  monarch. 

Isabella  beheld,  with  the  sentiments  natural  to  a  mother, 
the  indifference  and  neglect  with  which  the  archduke  treated 


172  BIRTH  OF  FERDINAND.  [book  i. 

her  daughter,  who  was  destitute  of  those  beauties  of  person, 
as  well  as  those  accomplishments  of  mind,  which  fix  the 
affections  of  a  husband.  Her  understanding,  always  weak, 
was  oftened  disordered.  She  doated  on  Philip  with  such 
an  excess  of  childish  and  indiscreet  fondness,  as  excited 
disgust  rather  than  affection.  Her  jealousy,  for  which  her 
husband's  behaviour  gave  her  too  much  cause,  was  propor- 
tioned to  her  love,  and  often  broke  out  in  the  most  extra- 
vagant actions.  Isabella,  though  sensible  of  her  defects, 
could  not  help  pitying  her  condition,  which  was  soon 
rendered  altogether  deplorable  by  the  archduke's  abrupt 
resolution  of  setting  out  in  the  middle  of  winter  for 
Flanders,  and  of  leaving  her  in  Spain,  Isabella  entreated 
him  not  to  abandon  his  wife  to  grief  and  melancholy,  which 
might  prove  fatal  to  her,  as  she  was  near  the  time  of  her 
delivery.  Joanna  conjured  him  to  put  off  his  journey  for 
three  days  only,  that  she  might  have  the  pleasure  of  cele- 
brating the  festival  of  Christmas  in  his  company.  Ferdi- 
nand, after  representing  the  imprudence  of  his  leaving 
Spain,  before  he  had  time  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
genius,  or  to  gain  the  affections  of  the  people  who  were 
one  day  to  be  his  subjects,  besought  him,  at  least,  not  to 
pass  through  France,  with  which  kingdom  he  was  then  at 
open  war.  Philip,  without  regarding  either  the  dictates  of 
humanity,  or  the  maxims  of  prudence,  persisted  in  his 
purpose ;  and  on  the  twenty-second  of  December  set  out 
for  the  Low  Countries,  by  the  way  of  France.^ 

From  the  moment  of  his  departure,  Joanna  sunk  into 
a  deep  and  sullen  melancholy,^  and  while  she  was  in  that 
situation  bore  Ferdinand,  her  second  son,  for  whom  the 
power  of  his  brother  Charles  afterwards  procured  the 
kingdoms  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  and  to  Avhom  he  at 
last  transmitted  the  imperial  sceptre.  Joanna  was  the  only 
person  in  Spain  who  discovered  no  joy  at  the  birth  of  this 
prince.     Insensible  to  that,  as  well  as  to  every  other  plea- 

1  Petri  Martyris  Anglerii  Epistola;,  250,  253.  -  Id.  Ep.  255. 


BOOK  I.]  DEATH  OF  ISABELLA  OF  SPAIN.  I73 

sure,  she  was  wholly  occupied  with  the  thoughts  of  I'eturu- 
ing  to  her  husband ;  nor  did  she,  in  any  degree,  recover 
tranquillity  of  mhid,  until  she  arrived  at  Brussels  next 
year.^ 

Philip,  in  passing  through  France,  had  an  interview  with 
Louis  XII.,  and  signed  a  treaty  with  him,  by  which  he 
hoped  that  all  the  differences  between  Prance  and  Spain 
would  have  been  finally  terminated.  But  Ferdinand,  whose 
affairs,  at  that  time,  were  extremely  prosperous  in  Italy, 
where  the  superior  genius  of  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  the 
great  captain,  triumphed  on  every  occasion  over  the  arms 
of  France,  did  not  pay  the  least  regard  to  what  his  son-in- 
law  had  concluded,  and  carried  on  hostilities  with  greater 
ardour  than  ever. 

From  this  time  Philip  seems  not  to  have  taken  any  part 
in  the  affairs  of  Spain,  waiting  in  quiet  till  the  death  either 
of  Ferdinand  or  of  Isabella  should  open  the  way  to  one  of 
their  thrones.  The  latter  of  these  events  was  not  far  dis- 
tant. The  untimely  death  of  her  son  and  eldest  daughter 
had  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  mind  of  Isabella;  and 
as  she  could  derive  but  little  consolation  for  the  losses 
which  she  had  sustained  either  from  her  daughter  Joanna, 
whose  infirmities  daily  increased,  or  from  her  son-in-law, 
who  no  longer  preserved  even  the  appearance  of  a  decent 
respect  towards  that  unhappy  princess,  her  spirits  and 
health  began  gradually  to  decline,  and  after  languishing 
some  months,  she  died  at  Medina  del  Campo,  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  November,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
four.  She  was  no  less  eminent  for  virtue  than  for  wisdom ; 
and  whether  we  consider  her  behaviour  as  a  queen,  as 
a  wife,  or  as  a  mother,  she  is  justly  entitled  to  the  high 
encomiums  bestowed  upon  her  by  the  Spanish  historians."^ 

A  few  Weeks  before  her  death,  she  made  her  last  will, 
and,  being  convinced  of  Joanna's  incapacity  to  assume  the 

3  Mariana,    lib.    27,    ch.   11,   14.  "  P.  Mart.  Ep.  279. 

Flecbier,  Vie  de  Xim6i.  i.  p.  191. 


174  FERDINAND  REGENT  OF  CASTILE.  [book  i. 

reins  of  government  into  her  own  hands,  and  having  no 
indination  to  commit  them  to  Philip,  with  whose  conduct 
she  was  extremely  dissatisfied,  she  appointed  Ferdinand 
regent  or  administrator  of  the  affairs  of  Castile,  until  her 
grandson  Charles  should  attain  the  age  of  twenty.  She 
bequeathed  to  Ferdinand  likewise  one-half  of  the  revenues 
which  should  arise  from  the  Indies,  together  with  the 
grand-masterships  of  the  three  military  orders ;  dignities 
which  rendered  the  person  who  possessed  them  almost  in- 
dependent, and  which  Isabella  had,  for  that  reason,  annexed 
to  the  crown. ^  But,  before  she  signed  a  deed  so  favourable 
to  Ferdinand,  she  obliged  him  to  swear  that  he  would  not, 
by  a  second  marriage,  or  by  any  other  means,  endeavour 
to  deprive  Joanna  or  her  posterity  of  their  right  of  succes- 
sion to  any  of  his  kingdoms.'' 

Immediately  upon  the  queen's  death,  Ferdinand  resigned 
the  title  of  king  of  Castile,  and  issued  orders  to  proclaim 
Joanna  and  Philip  the  sovereigns  of  that  kingdom.  But, 
at  the  same  time,  he  assumed  the  character  of  regent,  in 
consequence  of  Isabella's  testament :  and  not  long  after,  he 
prevailed  on  the  cortes  of  Castile  to  acknowledge  his  right 
to  that  office.  This,  however,  he  did  not  procure  without 
difficulty,  nor  without  discovering  such  symptoms  of  aliena- 
tion and  disgust  among  the  Castilians  as  filled  him  with 
great  uneasiness.  The  union  of  Castile  and  Aragon  for 
almost  thirty  years,  had  not  so  entirely  extirpated  the 
ancient  and  hereditary  enmity  which  subsisted  between  the 
natives  of  these  kingdoms,  that  the  Castilian  pride  could 
submit,  without  murmuring,  to  the  government  of  a  king 
of  Aragon.  Ferdinand's  own  character,  with  which  the 
Castilians  were  well  acquainted,  was  far  from  rendering  his 
authority  desirable.  Suspicious,  discerning,  severe,  and 
parsimonious,  he  was  accustomed  to  observe  the  most 
minute  actions  of  his  subjects  with  a  jealous  attention,  and 

^  P.  Martyr.  Ep.  277.     Mar.  Hist.      d'Espncciic,  tom.  viii.  263. 
liv.  28,  ch.  11.  Ferreras,  Hist.  Geiier.  «  Mar.  Hist.  lib.  2S,  ch.  U. 


BOOK  I.]  DISAPPOINTMENT  OF  PHILIP.  175 

to  reward  their  highest  services  with  httle  hberahty ;  and 
they  were  iiow^  deprived  of  IsabeHa,  whose  gentle  quaUties, 
and  partiahty  to  her  Castihan  subjects,  often  tempered  his 
austerity,  or  rendered  it  tolerable.  The  maxims  of  his 
government  were  especially  odious  to  the  grandees ;  for 
that  artful  prince,  sensible  of  the  dangerous  privileges  con- 
ferred upon  them  by  the  feudal  institutions,  had  endea- 
voured to  curb  their  exorbitant  power,''  by  extending  the 
royal  jurisdiction,  by  protecting  their  injured  vassals,  by 
increasing  the  immunities  of  cities,  and  by  other  measures 
equally  prudent.  From  all  these  causes  a  formidable  party 
among  the  Castilians  united  against  Ferdinand ;  and 
though  the  persons  who  composed  it  had  not  hitherto  taken 
any  public  step  in  opposition  to  him,  he  plainly  saw  that, 
upon  the  least  encouragement  from  their  new  king,  they 
would  proceed  to  the  most  violent  extremities. 

There  was  no  less  agitation  in  the  Netherlands  iq)on 
receiving  the  accounts  of  Isabella's  death,  and  of  Ferdi- 
nand's having  assumed  the  government  of  Castile,  Philip 
was  not  of  a  temper  tamely  to  suffer  himself  to  be  sup- 
planted by  the  ambition  of  his  father-in-law.  If  Joanna's 
infirmities,  and  the  non-age  of  Charles,  rendered  them 
incapable  of  government,  he,  as  a  husband,  was  the  proper 
guardian  of  his  Avife,  and,  as  a  father,  the  natural  tutor  of 
his  son.  Nor  was  it  sufficient  to  oppose  to  these  just 
rights,  and  to  the  inclination  of  the  people  of  Castile,  the 
authority  of  a  testament,  the  genuineness  of  which  was 
perhaps  doubtful,  and  its  contents  to  him  appeared  cer- 
tainly to  be  iniquitous,  A  keener  edge  was  added  to 
Phihp's  resentment,  and  new  vigour  infused  into  his  coun- 
cils, by  the  arrival  of  Don  John  Manuel.  He  was  Ferdi- 
nand's ambassador  at  the  imperial  court,  but,  upon  the 
first  notice  of  Isabella's  death,  repaired  to  Brussels,  flatter- 
ing himself  that,  under  a  young  and  liberal  prince,  he 
might  attain  to  power  and  honours,  which  he  could  never 

'  Marian,  lib.  2S,  ch.  12. 


176  FERDINAND'S  POLICY.  [book  r. 

have  expected  in  the  service  of  an  old  and  frugal  master. 
He  had  early  paid  court  to  Philip,  during  his  residence  in 
Spain,  with  such  assiduity  as  entirely  gained  his  confidence  ; 
and,  having  been  trained  to  business  under  Ferdinand, 
could  oppose  his  schemes  with  equal  abilities,  and  with 
arts  not  inferior  to  those  for  which  that  monarch  was 
distinguished.^ 

By  the  advice  of  Manuel,  ambassadors  were  despatched 
to  require  Ferdinand  to  retire  into  Aragon,  and  to  resign 
the  government  of  Castile  to  those  persons  whom  Philip 
should  entrust  with  it,  until  his  own  arrival  in  that  king- 
dom. Such  of  the  Castilian  nobles  as  had  discovered 
any  dissatisfaction  with  Ferdinand's  administration,  w^ere 
encouraged  by  every  method  to  oppose  it.  At  the  same 
time  a  treaty  was  concluded  with  Louis  XIL,  by  which 
Philip  flattered  himself  that  he  had  secured  the  friendship 
and  assistance  of  that  monarch. 

Meanwhile,  Ferdinand  employed  all  the  arts  of  address 
and  policy,  in  order  to  retain  the  powder  of  which  he  had 
got  possession.  By  means  of  Conchillos,  an  Aragonian 
gentleman,  he  entered  into  a  private  negotiation  with 
Joanna,  and  prevailed  on  that  weak  princess  to  confirm,  by 
her  authority,  his  right  to  the  regency.  But  this  intrigue 
did  not  escape  the  penetrating  eye  of  Don  John  Manuel. 
Joanna's  letter  of  consent  was  intercepted ;  Conchillos  Avas 
thrown  into  a  dungeon  ;  she  herself  confined  to  an  apart- 
ment in  the  palace,  and  all  her  Spanish  domestics  secluded 
from  her  presence.^ 

The  mortification  which  the  discovery  of  this  intrigue 
occasioned  to  Ferdinand,  was  much  increased  by  his  observ- 
ing the  progress  which  Philip's  emissaries  made  in  Castile. 
Some  of  the  nobles  retired  to  their  castles ;  others  to  the 
towns  in  which  they  had  influence ;  they  formed  themselves 
into  confederacies,  and  began  to  assemble  their  vassals. 

^  Znrita,   Anales  de  Aragon,  torn.  ^  P.  Mart.  Ep.  287.  Zurita,  Anales, 

vi.  p.  12.  vi.  p.  14. 


BOOK  I.]  DEFEAT  OP  HIS  IMEASURES.  177 

Ferdinand's  court  was  almost  totally  deserted ;  not  a  person 
of  distinction,  but  Xinicncs,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  the  duke 
of  Alva,  and  the  marquis  of  Denia,  remaining  there ;  Avhile 
the  houses  of  Philip's  ambassadors  were  daily  crowded 
with  noblemen  of  the  highest  rank. 

Exasperated  at  this  universal  defection,  and  mortified, 
perhaps,  with  seeing  all  his  schemes  defeated  by  a  younger 
politician,  Ferdmand  resolved,  in  defiance  of  the  law  of 
nature  and  of  decency,  to  deprive  his  daughter  and  her 
posterity  of  the  crown  of  Castile,  rather  than  renounce  the 
regency  of  that  kingdom.  His  plan  for  accomplishing  this 
was  no  less  bold  than  the  intention  itself  was  wicked.  He 
demanded  in  marriage  Joanna,  the  supposed  daughter  of 
Henry  IV.,  on  the  belief  of  whose  illegitimacy  Isabella's 
right  to  the  crown  of  Castile  was  founded  ;  and  by  reviving 
the  claim  of  this  princess,  in  opposition  to  which  he  himself 
had  formerly  led  armies  and  fought  battles,  he  hoped  once 
more  to  get  possession  of  the  throne  of  that  kingdom. 
But  Emanuel,  king  of  Portugal,  in  whose  domhiions  Joanna 
resided  at  that  time,  having  married  one  of  Ferdinand's 
daughters  by  Isabella,  refused  his  consent  to  that  unnatural 
match;  and  the  unhappy  princess  herself,  having  lost  all 
relish  for  the  objects  of  ambition  by  being  long  immured 
in  a  convent,  discovered  no  less  aversion  to  it.^° 

The  resources,  however,  of  Ferdinand's  ambition  were 
not  exhausted.  Upon  meeting  with  a  repulse  in  Portugal, 
he  turned  towards  France,  and  sought  in  marriage  Ger- 
maine  do  Foix,  a  daughter  of  the  viscount  of  Narbonne, 
and  of  Mary,  the  sister  of  Louis  XII.  The  war  which  that 
monarch  had  carried  on  against  Ferdinand  in  Naples  had 
been  so  unfortunate,  that  he  listened  with  joy  to  a  pro- 
posal which  furnished  him  with  an  honourable  pretence  for 
concluding  peace ;  and  though  no  prince  Avas  ever  more 
remarkable  than  Ferdinand  for  making  all  his  passions  bend 

'"  Sandov.  Hist,  of  Civil  Wars  in      Auales  dc  Aragon,  torn.  vi.  p.  213. 
Castile.     Loud.  1G55,  p.  5.     Zurita, 

VOL.  I.  N 


178  FERDINAND'S  MARRIAGE.  [book  i. 

to  the  maxims  of  interest,  or  become  subservient  to  the 
purposes  of  ambition,  yet  so  vehement  was  his  resentment 
against  his  son-in-law,  that  the  desire  of  gratifying  it  ren- 
dered him  regardless  of  every  other  consideration.  In  order 
to  be  revenged  of  Philip,  by  detaching  Louis  from  his 
interest,  and  in  order  to  gain  a  chance  of  excluding  him 
from  his  hereditary  throne  of  Aragon,  and  the  dominions 
annexed  to  it,  he  was  ready  once  more  to  divide  Spain  into 
separate  kingdoms,  though  the  union  of  these  was  the  great 
glory  of  his  reign,  and  had  been  the  chief  object  of  his 
ambition ;  he  consented  to  restore  the  Neapolitan  nobles  of 
the  French  faction  to  their  possessions  and  honours ;  and 
submitted  to  the  ridicule  of  marrying,  in  an  advanced  age, 
a  princess  of  eighteen.^' 

The  conclusion  of  this  match,  which  deprived  Philip  of 
his  only  ally,  and  threatened  him  with  the  loss  of  so  many 
kingdoms,  gave  him  a  dreadful  alarm,  and  convinced  Don 
John  Manuel  that  there  was  now  a  necessity  of  taking 
other  measures  with  regard  to  the  affairs  of  Spain. ^^  He 
accordingly  instructed  the  Flemish  ambassadors  at  the  court 
of  Spain  to  testify  the  strong  desire  which  their  master  had 
of  terminating  all  differences  between  him  and  Ferdinand 
in  an  amicable  manner,  and  his  willingness  to  consent  to 
any  conditions  that  would  re-establish  the  friendship  which 
ought  to  subsist  between  a  father  and  a  son-in-law.  Fer- 
dinand, though  he  had  made  and  broken  more  treaties  than 
any  prince  of  any  age,  Avas  apt  to  confide  so  far  in  the  sin- 
cerity of  other  men,  or  to  depend  so  much  upon  his  own 
address  and  their  weakness,  as  to  be  always  extremely  fond 
of  a  negotiation.  He  listened  with  eagerness  to  the  decla- 
rations, and  soon  concluded  a  treaty  at  Salamanca,  in 
which  it  was  stipulated  that  the  government  of  Castile 
should  be  carried  on  in  the  joint  names  of  Joanna,  of  Fer- 
dinand, and  of  Philip ;  and  that  the  revenues  of  the  crown, 

"  P.  Mart.  Ep.  290,  292.   Mariana,  '-  P.  Mart.  Ep.  293. 

lib.  28,  ch.  16, 17. 


BOOK  I.]     CASTILIAN  NOBLES  DECLARE  FOR  PHILIP.  179 

as  well  as  the  right  of  coiiferriiig  offices,  should  be  shared 
between  Ferdmaiid  and  Philip,  by  an  equal  division.'^ 

[1506.]  Nothing,  however,  was  farther  from  Phihp's 
thoughts  than  to  observe  this  treaty.  His  sole  intention  in 
proposing  it  was  to  amuse  Ferdinand,  and  to  prevent  him 
from  taking  any  measures  for  obstructing  his  voyage  into 
Spain.  It  had  that  effect.  Ferdinand,  sagacious  as  he  w^as, 
did  not  for  some  time  suspect  his  design ;  and  though, 
when  he  perceived  it,  he  prevailed  on  the  king  of  France 
not  only  to  remonstrate  against  the  archduke's  journey,  but 
to  threaten  hostilities  if  he  should  undertake  it ;  though  he 
solicited  the  duke  of  Gueldres  to  attack  his  son-in-law's 
dominions  in  the  Low^  Countries ;  Philip  and  his  consort 
nevertheless  set  sail  with  a  numerous  fleet  and  a  good  body 
of  land  forces.  They  w^erc  obliged  by  a  violent  tempest  to 
take  shelter  in  England,  where  Henry  VII.,  in  compliance 
with  Ferdinand's  solicitations,  detained  them  upwards  of 
three  months  i'"*  at  last  they  were  permitted  to  depart,  and, 
after  a  more  prosperous  voyage,  they  arrived  in  safety  at 
Corunna  in  Galicia ;  nor  durst  Ferdinand  attempt,  as  he 
once  intended,  to  oppose  their  landing  by  force  of  arms. 

The  Castilian  nobles,  who  had  been  obliged  hitherto  to 
conceal  or  to  dissemble  their  sentiments,  now  declared 
openly  in  favour  of  Philip.  FVom  every  corner  of  the 
kingdom,  persons  of  the  highest  rank,  with  numerous  reti- 
nues of  their  vassals,  repaired  to  their  new  sovereign.  The 
treaty  of  Salamanca  was  universally  condemned,  and  all 
agreed  to  exclude  from  the  government  of  Castile  a  prince 
who,  by  consenting  to  disjoin  Aragon  and  Naples  from 
that  crown,  discovered  so  little  concern  for  its  true  interests. 
Ferdinand,  meanwhile,  abandoned  by  almost  all  the  Cas- 
tilians,  disconcerted  by  their  revolt,  and  uncertain  whether 
he  should  peaceably  relinquish  his  power,  or  take  arms  in 
order  to  maintain  it,  earnestly  solicited  an  interview  with 

1^  Zurita,  Anales  cle  Aragon,  vi,  p.  "  Ferrer,  llist.  viii.  p.  2S5. 

19.    P.  Mart.  Ep.  293,  294. 

N  2 


180  PHILIP  AND  JOANNA  PROCLAIMED.  [book  i. 

his  son-in-law,  who,  by  the  advice  of  Manuel,  studiously 
avoided  it.  Convinced  at  last,  by  seeing  the  number  and 
zeal  of  Philip's  adherents  daily  increase,  that  it  was  vain  to 
think  of  resisting  such  a  torrent,  Perdinand  consented,  by 
treaty,  to  resign  the  regency  of  Castile  into  the  hands  of 
Philip,  to  retire  into  his  hereditary  dominions  of  Aragon, 
and  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  masterships  of  the  military 
orders,  and  that  share  of  the  revenue  of  the  Indies  which 
Isabella  had  bequeathed  to  him.  Though  an  interview 
between  the  princes  was  no  longer  necessary,  it  was  agreed 
to  on  both  sides  from  motives  of  decency.  Philip  repaired 
to  the  place  appointed  with  a  splendid  retinue  of  Castilian 
nobles,  and  a  considerable  body  of  armed  men.  Ferdinand 
appeared  without  any  pomp,  attended  by  a  few  followers 
mounted  on  mules,  and  unarmed.  On  that  occasion,  Don 
John  Manuel  had  the  pleasure  of  displaying  before  the 
monarch  whom  he  had  deserted  the  extensive  influence 
which  he  had  acquired  over  his  new  master ;  while  Ferdi- 
nand sufl'ered,  in  presence  of  his  former  subjects,  the  two 
most  cruel  mortifications  which  an  artful  and  ambitious 
prince  can  feel,  being  at  once  over-reached  in  conduct,  and 
stripped  of  power. ^^ 

Not  long  after,  he  retired  into  Aragon ;  and  hoping  that 
some  favourable  accident  would  soon  open  the  way  to  his 
return  into  Castile,  he  took  care  to  protest,  though  with 
great  secrecy,  that  the  treaty  concluded  with  his  son-in-law, 
being  extorted  by  force,  ought  to  be  deemed  void  of  all 
obligation.'" 

Philip  took  possession  of  his  new  authority  with  a  youth- 
ful joy.  The  unhappy  Joanna,  from  whom  he  derived  it, 
remained,  during  all  these  contests,  under  the  dominion  of 
a  deep  melancholy ;  she  was  seldom  allowed  to  appear  in 
public;  her  father,  though  he  had  often  desired  it,  was 
refused  access  to  her;  and    Pliilip's  chief  object  was  to 

^'  Zurila,  Anales  de  Arag.  vi.  p.  Gl.  ^'^  Ibid.  vi.  p.  GS.  Ferrer.  Hist,  viii. 

Mar.  lib.  28,  cli."  19,  20.  P.  Mart.  Ep.       p.  290. 
304,  305,  &c. 


BOOK  I.]  DEATH  OF  PHILIP.  181 

prevail  on  the  cortes  to  declare  her  incapable  of  government, 
that  an  undivided  power  might  be  lodged  in  his  hands, 
until  his  son  should  attain  to  full  age ;  but  such  was  the 
partial  attachment  of  the  Castilians  to  their  native  princess, 
that  though  IManuel  had  the  address  to  gain  some  mem- 
bers of  the  cortes  assembled  at  Valladolid,  and  others  were 
willing  to  gratify  their  new  sovereign  in  his  first  request, 
the  great  body  of  the  representatives  refused  their  consent 
to  a  declaration  which  they  thought  so  injurious  to  the 
blood  of  their  monarchs.'^  They  were  unanimous,  how- 
ever, in  acknowledging  Joanna  and  PhiUp  queen  and  king 
of  Castile,  and  their  son  Charles,  prince  of  Asturias. 

[150G.]  This  was  almost  the  only  memorable  event 
diu'ing  Philip's  administration.  A  fever  put  an  end  to 
his  life  in  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  \vhen  he  had 
not  enjoyed  the  regal  dignity,  which  he  had  been  so  eager 
to  obtain,  full  three  months.'^ 

The  whole  royal  authority  in  Castile  ought,  of  course,  to 
have  devolved  upon  Joanna.  But  the  shock  occasioned  by 
a  disaster  so  unexpected  as  the  death  of  her  husband,  com- 
pleted the  disorder  of  her  understanding  and  her  incapacity 
for  government.  During  all  the  time  of  Philip's  sickness, 
no  entreaty  could  prevail  on  her,  though  in  the  sixth  month 
of  her  pregnancy,  to  leave  him  for  a  moment.  When  he 
expired,  however,  she  did  not  shed  one  tear,  or  utter  a 
single  groan.  Her  grief  was  silent  and  settled.  She  con- 
tinued to  watch  the  dead  body  with  the  same  tenderness 
and  attention  as  if  it  had  been  alive  ;'^  and  though  at  last 
she  permitted  it  to  be  buried,  she  soon  removed  it  from  the 
tomb  to  her  own  apartment.  There  it  was  laid  upon  a  bed 
of  state  in  a  splendid  dress ;  and  having  heard  from  some 
monk  a  legendary  tale  of  a  king  who  revived  after  he  had 
been  dead  fourteen  years,  she  kept  her  eyes  almost  con- 
stantly fixed  on  the  body,  waiting  for  the  happy  moment  of 

>'  Zurita,  An.  dc  Arag.  vi.  p.  75.  '»  P.  Mart.  Ep.  31G. 

18  Mai-ian.  lib.  28,  ch.  23. 


182  INCAPACITY  OP  JOANNA.  [book  i. 

its  return  to  life.  Nor  was  this  capricious  affection  for  her 
dead  husband  less  tinctured  with  jealousy,  than  that  which 
she  had  borne  to  him  when  alive.  She  did  not  permit 
any  of  her  female  attendants  to  approach  the  bed  on  which 
his  corpse  was  laid ;  she  would  not  suffer  any  woman  who 
did  not  belong  to  her  family  to  enter  the  apartment ;  and 
rather  than  grant  that  privilege  to  a  midwife,  though  a  very 
aged  one  had  been  chosen  on  purpose,  she  bore  the  princess 
Catharine  without  any  other  assistance  than  that  of  her  own 
domestics."" 

A  woman  in  such  a  state  of  mind  was  little  capable  of 
governing  a  great  kingdom ;  and  Joanna,  who  made  it  her 
sole  employment  to  bewail  the  loss,  and  to  pray  for  the 
soul  of  her  husband,  would  have  thought  her  attention  to 
public  affairs  an  impious  neglect  of  those  duties  which  she 
owed  to  him.  But  though  she  declined  assuming  the 
administration  herself,  yet,  by  a  strange  caprice  of  jealousy, 
she  refused  to  commit  it  to  any  other  person ;  and  no 
entreaty  of  her  subjects  could  persuade  her  to  name  a 
regent,  or  even  to  sign  such  papers  as  were  necessary  for 
the  execution  of  justice,  and  the  security  of  the  kingdom. 

The  death  of  Philip  threw  the  Castilians  into  the  greatest 
perplexity.  It  was  necessary  to  appoint  a  regent,  both  on 
account  of  Joanna's  frenzy  and  the  infancy  of  her  son ;  and 
as  there  was  not  among  the  nobles  any  person  so  eminently 
distinguished,  either  by  superiority  in  rank  or  abilities,  as 
to  be  called  by  the  public  voice  to  that  high  office,  all 
naturally  turned  their  eyes  either  towards  Ferdinand,  or 
towards  the  emperor  Maximilian.  The  former  claimed 
that  dignity  as  administrator  for  his  daughter,  and  by  virtue 
of  the  testament  of  Isabeha ;  the  latter  thought  himself  the 
legal  guardian  of  his  grandson,  whom,  on  account  of  his 
mother's  infirmities,  he  already  considered  as  king  of  Cas- 
tile. Such  of  the  nobility  as  had  lately  been  most  active 
in  compelling  Ferdinand  to  resign  the  government  of  the 

2»  Mar.  Hist.  lib.  29,  cli.  3,  et  5.    P.  Mart.  Ep.  318,  324,  328,  332. 


BOOK  I.]  MAXIMILIAN  AND  FERDINAND.  183 

kingdom,  trembled  at  the  tlionglits  of  his  being  restored  so 
soon  to  his  former  dignity.  Tliey  dreaded  the  return  of  a 
monarch  not  apt  to  forgive,  and  Avho,  to  those  defects  with 
which  they  were  ah'eady  acquainted,  added  that  resentment 
wdiich  the  remendjrance  of  their  behaviour  and  reflection 
upon  his  own  disgrace  must  naturally  have  excited.  Though 
none  of  these  objections  lay  against  Maximilian,  he  was  a 
stranger  to  the  laws  and  manners  of  Castile ;  he  had  not 
either  troops  or  money  to  support  his  pretensions,  nor  could 
his  claim  be  admitted  without  a  public  declaration  of 
Joanna's  incapacity  for  government,  an  indignity  to  wdiich, 
notwithstanding  the  notoriety  of  her  distemper,  the  delicacy 
of  the  Castilians  could  not  bear  the  thoughts  of  subjecting 
her. 

Don  John  Manuel,  however,  and  a  few  of  the  nobles  mIio 
considered  themselves  as  most  obnoxious  to  Eerdinaud's 
displeasure,  declared  for  ]\Iaximilian,  and  offered  to  support 
his  claim  with  all  their  interest.  Maximilian,  always  enter- 
prising and  decisive  in  council,  though  feeble  and  dilatory 
in  execution,  eagerly  embraced  the  offer.  But  a  series  of 
ineffectual  negotiations  was  the  only  consequence  of  this 
transaction.  The  emperor,  as  usual,  asserted  his  right  in  a 
high  strain,  promised  a  great  deal,  and  performed  nothing.^' 

A  few  days  before  the  death  of  Philip,  Ferdinand  had 
set  out  for  Naples,  that,  by  his  own  presence,  he  might  put 
an  end,  w  itli  greater  decency,  to  the  vice-royalty  of  the 
Great  Captain,  wdiose  important  services  and  cautious  con- 
duct did  not  screen  him  from  the  suspicions  of  his  jealous 
master.  Though  an  account  of  his  son-in-law's  death 
reached  him  at  Porto-fino,  in  the  territories  of  Genoa,  he 
was  so  solicitous  to  discover  the  secret  intrigues  wdiich  he 
supposed  the  Great  Captain  to  have  been  carrying  on,  and 
to  establish  his  own  authority  on  a  firm  foundation  in  the 
Neapolitan  dominions,  by  removing  him  from  the  supreme 
command  there,  that,  rather  than  discontinue  his  voyage, 

^^  Mariana,  lib.  29,  cli.  7.     Zurita,  Aualcs  de  Arag.  vi.  p.  93. 


184  •     FEUDINAND  MADE  HEGENT.  [book  t. 

he  chose  to  leave  Castile  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  and  even 
to  risk,  by  this  delay,  his  obtaining  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment of  that  kingdom. ^^ 

Nothing  but  the  great  abilities  and  prudent  conduct  of 
his  adherents  could  have  prevented  the  bad  effects  of  this 
absence.  At  the  head  of  these  was  Ximenes,  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  who,  though  he  had  been  raised  to  that  dignity 
by  Isabella,  contrary  to  the  inclination  of  Perdinand,  and 
though  he  could  have  no  expectation  of  enjoying  much 
power  under  the  administration  of  a  master  little  disposed 
to  distinguish  him  by  extraordinary  marks  of  attention,  was 
nevertheless  so  disinterested,  as  to  prefer  the  welfare  of  his 
country  before  his  own  grandeur,  and  to  declare  that  Cas- 
tile could  never  be  so  happily  governed  as  by  a  prince  whom 
long  experience  had  rendered  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
itstrue  interest.  The  zeal  of  Ximenes  to  bring  over  his 
countrymen  to  this  opinion,  induced  him  to  lay  aside 
somewhat  of  his  usual  austerity  and  haughtiness.  [1507.] 
He  condescended  on  this  occasion  to  court  the  disaffected 
nobles,  and  employed  address,  as  well  as  arguments,  to 
persuade  them.  Ferdinand  seconded  his  endeavours  with 
great  art ;  and  by  concessions  to  some  of  the  grandees,  by 
promises  to  others,  and  by  letters  full  of  complaisance  to  all, 
he  gained  many  of  his  most  violent  opponents. ^^  Though 
many  cabals  were  formed,  and  some  commotions  were 
excited,  yet  when  Ferdinand,  after  having  settled  the  affairs 
of  Naples,  arrived  in  Castile,  he  entered  upon  the  admini- 
stration without  opposition.  The  prudence  with  which  he 
exercised  his  authority  in  that  kingdom,  equalled  the  good 
fortune  by  which  he  had  recovered  it.  By  a  moderate  but 
steady  administration,  free  from  partiality  and  from  resent- 
ment, he  entirely  reconciled  the  Castilians  to  his  person, 
and  secured  to  them,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  as 
much  domestic   tranquillity  as  was   consistent   with   the 

^  Zurita,  AnaTes  de  Arag.  vi.  p.  85,        ^  Ibid.  vi.  pp.  87,  9i,  109, 


BOOK  I.]  HIS  ACQUISITION  OF  TERHITORY.  185 

genius  of  the  feudal  government,  which  still  subsisted 
among  them  in  full  vigour.^^ 

Nor  was  the  preservation  of  tranquillity  in  his  hereditary 
kingdoms  the  only  obligation  which  the  archduke  Charles 
owed  to  the  wise  regency  of  his  grandfather.  It  was  his 
good  fortune,  during  that  ])eriod,  to  have  very  important 
additions  made  to  the  dominions  over  which  he  Avas  to  reign. 
On  the  coast  of  Barbary,  Oran,  and  other  conquests  of  no 
small  value,  were  annexed  to  the  crown  of  Castile  by  Car- 
dinal Ximenes,  who,  with  a  spirit  very  uncommon  in  a  monk, 
led  in  person  a  numerous  army  against  the  Moors  of  that 
country  [1509] ;  and  with  a  generosity  and  magnificence  still 
more  singular,  defrayed  the  whole  expense  of  the  expedition 
out  of  his  own  revenues.-^  In  Europe,  Ferdinand,  under 
pretences  no  less  frivolous  than  unjust,  as  well  as  by  arti- 
fices the  most  shameful  and  treacherous,  expelled  John 
d'Albret,  the  lawful  sovereign,  from  the  throne  of  Navarre ; 
and,  seizing  that  kingdom,  extended  the  limits  of  the 
Spanish  monarchy  from  the  Pyrenees  on  the  one  hand,  to 
the  frontiers  of  Portugal  on  the  other.-" 

It  was  not,  however,  the  desire  of  aggrandizing  the  arch- 
duke, which  influenced  Ferdinand  in  this  or  in  any  other 
of  his  actions.  He  was  more  apt  to  consider  that  young 
prince  as  a  rival,  who  might  one  day  wrest  out  of  his 
hands  the  government  of  Castile,  than  as  a  grandson,  for 
whose  interest  he  was  entrusted  with  the  administration. 
This  jealousy  soon  begot  aversion,  and  even  hatred,  the 
symptoms  of  which  he  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal.  Hence 
proceeded  his  immoderate  joy  when  his  young  queen  was 
delivered  of  a  son,  whose  life  would  have  deprived  Charles 
of  the  crowns  of  Aragon,  Naples,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia  ;  and 
upon  the  untimely  death  of  that  prince  he  discovered,  for 
the  same  reason,  an  excessive  solicitude  to  have  other 
children.     This  impatience  hastened,  in  all  probability,  the 

"^  Mariana,  lib.  29,  cli.  10.  »"  Ibid.  lib.  30,  cli.  1],  13,  IS,  U. 

'5  Ibid.  lib.  29,  ch.  IS. 


186  PERDINAND'S  JEALOUSY  OF  CHARLES.  [book  i. 

accession  of  Charles  to  tlie  crown  of  Spain,  rerclinantl,  in 
order  to  procure  a  blessing,  of  wliicli,  from  his  advanced 
age,  and  the  intemperance  of  his  youth,  he  could  have  little 
prospect,  had  recourse  to  his  physicians,  and  by  their  pre- 
scription took  one  of  those  potions  which  are  supposed  to 
add  vigour  to  the  constitution,  though  they  more  frequently 
prove  fatal  to  it.  This  was  its  effect  on  a  frame  so  feeble 
and  exhausted  as  that  of  Ferdinand ;  for  though  he  sur- 
vived a  violent  disorder  Avhich  it  at  jEirst  occasioned,  it 
brought  on  such  an  habitual  languor  and  dejection  of 
mind,  as  rendered  him  averse  from  any  serious  attention  to 
public  affairs,  and  fond  of  frivolous  amusements,  on  which 
he  had  not  hitherto  bestowed  much  time.^^  Though  he  now 
despaired  of  having  any  son  of  his  own,  his  jealousy  of  the 
archduke  did  not  abate,  nor  could  he  help  viewing  him  with 
that  aversion  which  princes  often  bear  to  their  successors. 
[1515.]  In  order  to  gratify  this  unnatural  passion,  he  made 
a  will,  appointing  prince  Ferdinand,  who,  having  been  born 
and  educated  in  Spain,  was  much  beloved  by  the  Spaniards, 
to  be  regent  of  all  his  kingdoms,  until  the  arrival  of  the 
archduke  his  brother ;  and  by  the  same  deed  he  settled 
upon  him  the  grand-mastership  of  the  three  military  orders. 
The  former  of  these  grants  might  have  put  it  in  the  power 
of  the  young  prince  to  have  disputed  the  throne  with  his 
brother ;  the  latter  would,  in  any  event,  have  rendered  him 
almost  independent  of  him. 

Ferdinand  retained  to  the  last  that  jealous  love  of  power 
which  was  so  remarkable  through  his  whole  life.  Un- 
willing, even  at  the  approach  of  death,  to  admit  a  thought 
of  relinquishing  any  portion  of  his  authority,  he  removed 
continually  from  place  to  place^  in  order  to  fly  from  his 
distemper,  or  to  forget  it.  Though  his  strength  declined 
every  day,  none  of  his  attendants  durst  mention  his  con- 
dition ;    nor  would   he    admit   his   father-confessor,  who 

"^  Zurita,  Angles  de  Arag.  vi.  p.  347.  P.  Mart.  Ep.  531.  Argensola,  Auales 
de  Aragon,  lib.  i.  p.  4. 


BOOK  I.]  DEATH  OF  EERDINAND.  18/ 

thought  such  siknicc  criminal  and  unchristian,  into  his 
presence.  At  last  the  danger  became  so  imminent,  that  it 
could  be  no  longer  concealed.  Terdinand  received  the 
intimation  with  a  decent  fortitude ;  and  touched,  perhaps, 
with  compunction  at  the  injustice  which  he  had  done  his 
grandson,  or  influenced  by  the  honest  remonstrances  of 
Carvajal,  Zapara,  and  Vargas,  his  most  ancient  and  faithful 
councillors,  who  represented  to  him  that,  by  investing 
Prince  Ferdinand  with  the  regency,  he  w^ould  infallibly 
entail  a  civil  war  on  the  two  brothers,  and  by  bestowing  on 
him  the  grand-mastership  of  the  military  orders,  would 
strip  the  crown  of  its  noblest  ornament  and  chief  strength, 
he  consented  to  alter  his  Avill  with  respect  to  both  these 
particulars.  By  a  new  deed  he  left  Charles  the  sole  heir 
of  all  his  dominions,  and  allotted  to  Prince  Ferdinand, 
instead  of  that  throne  of  which  he  thought  himself  almost 
secure,  an  inconsiderable  establishment  of  fifty  thousand 
ducats  a-year.^^  He  died  a  few  hours  after  signing  this 
will,  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  January,  one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  sixteen. 

[1516.]  Charles,  to  whom  such  a  noble  inheritance  de- 
scended by  his  death,  was  near  the  full  age  of  sixteen.  lie  had 
hitherto  resided  in  the  Low  Countries, his  paternal  dominions. 
Margaret  of  Austria,  his  aunt,  and  Margaret  of  York,  the 
sister  of  Edward  IV.  of  England,  and  widow  of  Charles  the 
Bold,  two  princesses  of  great  virtue  and  abilities,  had  the 
care  of  forming  his  early  youth.  Upon  the  death  of  his 
father,  the  Elemings  committed  the  government  of  the  Low 
Countries  to  his  grandfather,  the  emperor  Maximilian,  with 
the  name  rather  than  the  authority  of  regent."^  Maximilian 
made  choice  of  William  de  Croy,  lord  of  Chievres,  to  super- 
intend the  education  of  the  young  prince  his  grandson.^" 

-  28  Mar.  Hist.  lib.  30,  ch.  iilt.  Zurita,  canim,  lib.  \v.  Lov.  lGi-9,  lib.  vii.  ch. 

Anales  de  Arag.  vi.  p.  401.      P.  Mart.  2,  p.  155. 

Ep.  565,  506.      Argcnsola,  Anales  de  •■"'  Tlic  French  historians,  upon  the 

Arag.  lib.  i.  p.  11.  authority  of  M.  de  Bellay,  Mem.  p.  1 1 , 

■'^  Pontius  Heutcrus,  llcrum  Austria-  have  uuauiniously  asserted  that  Philip, 


188 


EDUCATION  OE  CHARLES. 


[book  I. 


That  nobleman  possessed,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  talents 
whieli  fitted  liini  for  such  an  important  office,  and  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  it  with  great  tidehty.  Under  Chievres, 
Adrian  of  Utrecht  acted  as  preceptor.  This  preferment, 
which  opened  his  way  to  the  higliest  dignities  an  ecclesi- 
astic can  attain,  he  owed  not  to  his  birth,  for  that  wrs 
extremely  mean  ;  nor  to  his  interest,  for  he  was  a  stranger 
to  the  arts  of  a  court ;  but  to  the  opinion  which  his  coun- 
trymen entertained  of  his  learning.  He  was  indeed  no 
inconsiderable'  proficient  in  those  frivolous  sciences  which, 
during  several  centuries,  assumed  the  name  of  philosophy, 
and  had  published  a  commentary,  which  was  highly 
esteemed,  upon  T/te  Booh  of  Sentences,  a  famous  treatise  of 


by  his  last  will,  having  appointed  the 
king  of  Erance  to  have  the  direction  of 
his  son's  education,  Louis  XII.,  with 
a  disinterestedness  suitable  to  the  con- 
fidence reposed  in  him,  named  Chievres 
for  that  office.  Even  the  president 
Henault  has  adopted  this  opinion. 
Abregc  Chron.  1507.  Yarillas,  in 
his  usual  manner,  pretends  to  have 
seen  Philip's  testament.  Pract.  de 
I'Education  des  Princes,  p.  16.  But 
the  Spanish,  German,  and  Elemi^h 
historians  concur  in  contradicting  this 
assertion  of  tiie  Erench  authors.  It 
appears  from  Heuterus,  a  contempo- 
rary Elemish  historian  of  great  autho- 
rity, that  Louis  XII.,  by  consenting 
to  the  marriage  of  Germaine  de  Foi.x 
with  Ferdinand,  had  lost  much  of  that 
confidence  which  Piiilip  once  placed  in 
him  ;  that  his  disgust  was  increased 
by  the  Erench  king's  giving  in  mar- 
riage to  the  count  of  Angouleme  his 
eldest  daughter,  wdiom  he  had  formerly 
betrothed  to  Charles  (Heutcr.  Per. 
Austr.  lib.  v.  p.  151) ;  that  the  French, 
a  short  time  before  Philip's  deatii,  had 
violated  the  peace  which  subsisted 
between  them  and  the  Flemings,  and 
Philip  had  complained  of  this  injury, 
and  was  ready  to  resent  it.  Ileuter. 
ibid.  All  these  circmnstances  render 
it  improbable  that  Philip,  who  nude 
his  will  a  few  .days  before  he  died, 
(Heuter.  p.  152,)  should  commit  the 


education  of  his  son  to  Louis  XII.  In 
confirmation  of  these  plausible  con- 
jectures, positive  testimony  can  be 
produced.  It  appears  from  Heuterus, 
that  Philip,  when  he  set  out  for  Spain, 
had  entrusted  Chievres  both  with  the 
care  of  his  son's  education,  and  with 
the  government  of  his  dominions  in  the 
Low  Countries  (Heuter.  lib.  vii.  p. 
151) ;  that  an  attempt  was  made,  soon 
after  Philip's  death,  to  have  the  em- 
peror Maximilian  appointed  regent 
during  the  minority  of  his  grandson, 
but  this  being  opposed,  Chievres  seems 
to  have  continued  to  discharge  both  the 
officrs  which  Philip  had  committed  to 
him  (Heuter.  ibid.  pp.  153, 155) ;  that 
in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1508, 
the  Flemings  invited  Maximilian  to 
accept  of  the  regency,  to  which  he 
consented,  aiui  appointed  his  daughter 
]\Iargaret,  together  with  a  council  of 
Flemings,  to  exercise  the  supreme 
authority,  when  he  himself  should  at 
any  time  be  absent.  He  likewise 
named  Chievres  as  governor,  and 
Adrian  of  Utrecht  as  preceptor  to  his 
son.  Ilcut.  ibid.  pp.  155,  157.  What 
Heuterus  relates  with  respect  to  this 
matter  is  confirmed  by  Moringus,  in 
Vita  Adriani  apud  Analecta  Casp.  Bur- 
mauni  de  Adriano,  ch.  10 ;  by  Bar- 
landus,  Chronic.  Brabant,  ibid.  p.  25, 
and  by  Harseus,  Annal.  Brab.  vol.  ii. 
p.  520,  &c. 


BOOK  I.]  EARLY.  DEVELOPMENTS.  189 

Petrus  Lombardus,  considered  at  that  time  as  the  standard 
system  of  metapliysical  theology.  But  whatever  admiration 
these  procured  him  in  an  ilUterate  age,  it  was  soon  found 
that  a  man  accustomed  to  the  retirement  of  a  college, 
unacquainted  with  the  world,  and  without  any  tincture  of 
taste  or  elegance,  was  by  no  means  qualified  for  rendering 
science  agreeable  to  a  young  prince.  Charles,  accordingly, 
discovered  an  early  aversion  to  learning,  and  an  excessive 
fondness  for  those  violent  and  martial  exercises,  to  excel  in 
Avhich  was  the  chief  pride,  and  almost  the  only  study,  of 
persons  of  rank  in  that  age.  Chievres  encouraged  this 
taste,  either  from  a  desire  of  gaining  his  pupil  by  indul- 
gence, or  from  too  slight  an  opinion  of  the  advantages  of 
literary  accomplishments.^^  He  instructed  him,  however, 
with  great  care  in  the  arts  of  government ;  he  made  him 
study  the  history,  not  only  of  his  own  kingdoms,  but  of 
those  with  which  they  were  connected ;  he  accustomed 
him,  from  the  time  of  his  assuming  the  government  of 
Planders,  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifteen,  to  attend  to  business ;  he  persuaded  him  to  peruse 
all  papers  relating  to  public  affairs ;  to  be  present  at  the 
deliberations  of  his  privy-councillors,  and  to  propose  to 
them  himself  those  matters  concerning  which  he  required 
their  opinion.^^  From  such  an  education,  Charles  contracted 
habits  of  gravity  and  recollection  which  scarcely  suited  his 
time  of  life.  The  first  openings  of  his  genius  did  not  indi- 
cate that  superiority  which  its  maturer  age  displayed. ^^  He 
did  not  discover  in  his  youth  the  impetuosity  of  spirit 
which  commonly  ushers  in  an  active  and  enterprising  man- 
hood. Nor  did  his  early  obsequiousness  to  Chievres,  and 
his  other  favourites,  promise  that  capacious  and  decisive 
judgment  which  afterwards  directed  the  affairs  of  one-half 
of  Europe.     But  his  subjects,  dazzled  with  the  external 

3'  Jovii  Vita  Adrlaiii,  p.  91.  Struvii  1573,  p.  11.  V.  Ilcutcr.  lib.  viii.  cli.  1, 

Corpus  Hist.  Germ.  ii.  ()()7.  P.  Heutcr.  p.  184. 
Rer.  Austr.  lib.  vii.  ch.  3,  p.  157.  "  P.  Martjr,  Ep.  5G9,  055, 

'^  Meuioires  de  Eellay,  8vo.  Par. 


190  STATE  OF  SPAIN.  [book  i. 

accoinplishnients  of  a  graceful  figure  and  manly  address,  and 
viewing  his  character  with  that  partiality  which  is  always 
shown  to  princes  during  their  youth,  entertained  sanguine 
hopes  of  his  adding  lustre  to  those  crowns  which  descended 
to  him  by  the  death  of  Ferdinand. 

The  kingdoms  of  Spain,  as  is  evident  from  the  view  which 
I  have  given  of  their  political  constitution,  were  at  that  time 
in  a  situation  which  required  an  administration  no  less 
vigorous  than  prudent.  The  feudal  institutions,  which  had 
been  introduced  into  all  its  different  provinces  by  the  Goths, 
the  Suevi,  and  the  Vandals,  subsisted  in  great  force.  The 
nobles,  who  were  powerful  and  warlike,  had  long  possessed 
all  the  exorbitant  privileges  which  these  institutions  vested 
in  their  order.  The  cities  in  Spain  were  more  numerous 
and  more  considerable  than  the  genius  of  feudal  government, 
naturally  unfavourable  to  commerce  and  to  regular  police, 
seemed  to  admit.  The  personal  rights  and  political  influ- 
ence which  the  inhabitants  of  these  cities  had  acquired, 
were  extensive.  The  royal  prerogative,  circumscribed  by 
the  privileges  of  the  nobility,  and  by  the  pretensions  of  the 
people,  was  confined  within  very  narrow  limits.  Under 
such  a  form  of  government,  the  principles  of  discord  were 
many ;  the  bond  of  union  was  extremely  feeble  ;  and  Spain 
felt  not  only  all  the  inconveniences  occasioned  by  the  defects 
in  the  feudal  system,  but  was  exposed  to  disorders  arising 
from  the  peculiarities  in  its  OAvn  constitution. 

During  the  long  administration  of  Ferdinand,  no  internal 
commotion,  it  is  true,  had  arisen  in  Spain.  His  superior 
abilities  had  enabled  him  to  restrain  the  turbulence  of  the 
nobles,  and  to  moderate  the  jealousy  of  the  commons.  By 
the  wisdom  of  his  domestic  government,  by  the  sagacity 
with  which  he  conducted  his  foreign  operations,  and  by  the 
high  opinion  that  his  subjects  entertained  of  both,  he  had 
preserved  among  them  a  degree  of  tranquillity,  greater  than 
was  natural  to  a  constitution  in  which  the  seeds  of  discord 
and  disorder  were  so  copiously  mingled.    But,  by  the  death 


BOOK  I.]  CARDINAL  XIMENES.  191 

of  Ferdinand,  tlicsc  restraints  were  at  once  withdrawn,  and 
faction  and  discontent,  from  being  long  repressed,  were  ready 
to  break  out  Avitli  fiercer  animosity. 

In  order  to  prevent  these  evils,  Ferdinand  had  in  his  last 
will  taken  a  most  prudent  precaution,  by  appointing  Car- 
dinal Ximenes,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  to  be  sole  regent  of 
Castile,  until  the  arrival  of  his  grandson  in  Spain.  The 
singular  character  of  this  man,  and  the  extraordinary  quali- 
ties which  marked  him  out  for  that  office  at  such  a  juncture, 
merit  a  particular  description.  He  was  descended  of  an 
honourable,  not  of  a  wealthy  family;  and  the  circumstances 
of  his  parents,  as  well  as  his  own  inchnations,  having  deter- 
mined him  to  enter  into  the  church,  he  early  obtained 
benefices  of  great  value,  and  which  placed  him  in  the  way 
of  the  highest  preferment.  All  these,  however,  he  renounced 
at  once ;  and,  after  undergoing  a  very  severe  noviciate, 
assumed  the  habit  of  St.  Francis  in  a  monastery  of  Obser- 
vantine  friars,  one  of  the  most  rigid  orders  in  the  Romish 
church.  There  he  soon  became  eminent  for  his  uncommon 
austerity  of  manners,  and  for  those  excesses  of  superstitious 
devotion,  which  are  the  proper  characteristics  of  the  monastic 
life.  But,  notwithstanding  these  extravagances,  to  which 
weak  and  enthusiastic  minds  alone  are  usually  prone,  his 
understanding,  naturally  penetrating  and  decisive,  retained 
its  full  vigour,  and  acquired  him  such  great  authority  in  his 
own  order,  as  raised  him  to  be  their  provincial.  His  repu- 
tation for  sanctity  soon  procured  him  the  office  of  father- 
confessor  to  queen  Isabella,  which  he  accepted  with  the 
utmost  reluctance.  He  preserved  in  a  court  the  same 
austerity  of  manners  which  had  distinguished  him  in  the 
cloister.  He  continued  to  make  all  his  journeys  on  foot ; 
he  subsisted  only  upon  alms ;  his  acts  of  mortification  were 
as  severe  as  ever,  and  his  penances  as  rigorous.  Isabella, 
pleased  with  her  choice,  conferred  on  him,  not  long  after, 
the  archbishopric  of  Toledo,  which,  next  to  the  papacy,  is 
the  richest  dignity  in  the  church  of  Rome.     This  honour 


192  CxiUDINAL  XIMENES.  book  i.] 

lie  declined  with  the  firmness  which  nothing  but  the  autho- 
ritative injunction  of  the  pope  was  able  to  overcome.  Nor 
did  this  height  of  promotion  change  his  manners.  Though 
obliged  to  display  in  public  that  magnificence  which  became 
his  station,  he  himself  retained  his  monastic  severity.  Under 
his  pontifical  robes  he  constantly  wore  the  coarse  frock  of 
St.  Francis,  the  rents  in  wdiich  he  used  to  patch  with  his 
own  hands.  He  at  no  time  used  linen,  but  was  commonly 
clad  in  hair-cloth.  He  slept  always  in  his  habit,  most  fre- 
quently on  the  ground,  or  on  boards ;  rarely  in  a  bed.  He 
did  not  taste  any  of  the  delicacies  which  appeared  at  his 
table,  but  satisfied  himself  with  that  simple  diet  which  the 
rule  of  his  order  prescribed. ^^  Notwithstanding  these  pecu- 
liarities, so  opposite  to  the  manners  of  the  w^orld,  he  possessed 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  its  affairs  ;  and  no  sooner  was  he 
called  by  his  station,  and  by  the  high  opinion  which  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  entertained  of  him,  to  take  a  principal 
share  in  the  administration,  than  he  displayed  talents  for 
business,  which  rendered  the  fame  of  his  wisdom  equal  to 
that  of  his  sanctity.  His  political  conduct,  remarkable  for 
the  boldness  and  originality  of  all  his  plans,  flowed  from  his 
real  character,  and  partook  both  of  its  virtues  and  its  defects. 
His  extensive  genius  suggested  to  him  schemes  vast  and 
magnificent.  Conscious  of  the  integrity  of  his  intentions, 
he  pursued  these  with  unremitting  and  undaunted  firmness. 
Accustomed  from  his  early  youth  to  mortify  his  own  passions, 
he  showed  little  indulgence  toward  those  of  other  men. 
Taught  by  his  system  of  religion  to  check  even  his  most 
innocent  desires,  he  w^as  the  enemy  of  everything  to  which 
he  could  affix  the  name  of  elegance  or  pleasure.  Though 
free  from  any  suspicion  of  cruelty,  he  discovered  in  all  his 
commerce  with  the  world  a  severe  inflexibility  of  mind, 
and  austerity  of  character,  peculiar  to  the  monastic  pro- 
fession, and  W'hich  can  hardly  be  conceived  in  a  country 
where  that  is  unknown. 

^*  Hist,  de  rAdmiiiistratiou  du  Card.  XimLni.  par  M.  Baudier,  4to.  1635,  p.  13. 


BOOK  l]  ADRIAN  OF  UTRECHT.  193 

Such  was  the  man  to  wliom  Ferdinand  committed  the 
regency  of  Castile ;  and  though  Ximenes  was  tlicn  near 
fourscore,  and  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  labour  and 
difficulty  of  the  ofUce,  his  natural  intrepidity  of  mind,  and 
zeal  for  the  public  good,  prompted  him  to  accept  of  it  with- 
out hesitation.  Adrian  of  Utrecht,  who  had  been  sent  into 
Spain  a  few  months  before  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  produced 
full  powers  from  the  archduke  to  assume  the  name  and 
authority  of  regent,  upon  the  demise  of  his  grandfather ; 
but  such  was  the  aversion  of  the  Spaniards  to  the  govern- 
ment of  a  stranger,  and  so  unequal  the  abilities  of  the  two 
competitors,  that  Adrian's  claim  would  at  once  have  been 
rejected,  if  Ximenes  himself,  from  complaisance  to  his  new 
master,  had  not  consented  to  acknowledge  him  as  regent, 
and  to  carry  on  the  government  in  conjunction  with  him. 
By  this,  however,  Adrian  acquired  a  dignity  merely  nominal. 
Ximenes,  though  he  treated  him  with  great  decency,  and 
even  respect,  retained  the  whole  power  in  his  own  hands. ^^ 

The  cardinal's  first  care  was  to  observe  the  motions  of  the 
infant  Don  Ferdinand,  who,  having  been  flattered  with  so 
near  a  prospect  of  supreme  power,  bore  the  disappohitment 
of  his  hopes  with  greater  impatience  than  a  prince  at  a  period 
of  life  so  early  could  have  been  supposed  to  feel.  Ximenes, 
under  pretence  of  providing  more  effectually  for  his  safety, 
removed  him  from  Guadalupe,  the  place  in  which  he  had 
been  educated,  to  jNIadrid,  where  he  fixed  the  residence  of 
the  court.  There  he  was  under  the  cardinal's  own  eye,  and 
his  conduct,  with  that  of  his  domestics,  was  watched  with 
the  utmost  attention  .^'^ 

The  first  intelligence  he  received  from  the  Low  Countries 
gave  greater  disquiet  to  the  cardinal,  and  convinced  him  how 
difficult  a  task  it  would  be  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  an 
inexperienced  prince,  under  the  influence  of  councillors 

^^  Gometius  dc  Rcb.  Gcst.  Ximenii,  c!i.  2.  Baudicr,  llibt.  dc  Xinieucs,  p. 
p.150,  fol.  Compl.  15G9.  118. 

^*  Miniana)  Coutin.  Marianse,  lib.  i. 

VOL.  I.  O 


194  CHARLES  ACKNOWLEDGED  AS  KING.  [book  i. 

unacquainted  with  the  laws  and  manners  of  Spain,  No 
sooner  did  the  account  of  Ferdinand's  death  reach  Brussels, 
than  Charles,  by  the  advice  of  his  Flemish  ministers,  resolved 
to  assume  the  title  of  king.  By  the  laws  of  Spain,  the  sole 
right  of  the  crowns,  both  of  Castile  and  of  Aragon,  belonged 
to  Joanna ;  and,  though  her  infirmities  disqualified  her  from 
governing,  this  incapacity  had  not  been  declared  by  any 
pubHc  act  of  the  cortes  in  either  kingdom ;  so  that  the 
Spaniards  considered  this  resolution  not  only  as  a  direct 
violation  of  their  privileges,  but  as  an  unnatural  usurpation 
in  a  son  on  the  prerogatives  of  a  mother,  towards  whom,  in 
her  present  unhappy  situation,  he  manifested  a  less  delicate 
regard  than  her  subjects  had  always  expressed.^^  The 
Flemish  court,  however,  having  prevailed  both  on  the  pope 
and  on  the  emperor  to  address  letters  to  Charles  as  king  of 
Castile,  the  former  of  whom,  it  was  pretended,  had  a  right, 
as  head  of  the  church,  and  the  latter,  as  head  of  the  empire, 
to  confer  this  title,  instructions  were  sent  to  Ximenes  to 
prevail  on  the  Spaniards  to  acknowledge  it.  Ximenes, 
though  he  had  earnestly  remonstrated  against  the  measure, 
as  no  less  unpopular  than  unnecessary,  resolved  to  exert  all 
his  authority  and  credit  in  carrying  it  into  execution,  and 
immediately  assembled  such  of  the  nobles  as  were  then  at 
court.  What  Charles  required  was  laid  before  them ;  and 
when,  instead  of  complying  with  his  demands,  they  began 
to  murmur  against  such  an  unprecedented  encroachment 
on  their  privileges,  and  to  talk  high  of  the  rights  of  Joanna, 
and  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  her,  Ximenes  hastily  inter- 
posed, and,  with  that  firm  and  decisive  tone  which  was 
natural  to  him,  told  them  that  they  were  not  called  now 
to  deliberate,  but  to  obey ;  that  their  sovereign  did  not 
apply  to  them  for  advice,  but  expected  submission ;  and 
"  this  day,"  added  he,  "  Charles  shall  be  proclaimed  king 
of  Castile  in  Madrid  ;  and  the  rest  of  the  cities,  I  doubt  not, 
will  follow  its  example."  On  the  spot  he  gave  orders  for 
3?  P.  Mart.  Ep.  568. 


BOOK  1.]     XBIENES  STRENGTHENS  THE  ROYAL  TOWER.        195 

that  purpose  ;^^  and,  notwithstanding  the  novelty  of  the 
practice,  and  the  secret  discontents  of  many  persons  of 
distinction,  Charles's  title  was  universally  recognised.  In 
Aragon,  where  the  privileges  of  the  subject  were  more 
extensive,  and  the  abilities  as  well  as  authority  of  the 
archbishop  of  Saragossa,  whom  Ferdinand  had  appointed 
regent,  were  far  inferior  to  those  of  Ximenes,  the  same 
obsequiousness  to  the  wdll  of  Charles  did  not  appear,  nor 
was  he  acknowledged  there  under  any  other  character  but 
that  of  prince,  until  his  arrival  in  Spain. ^^ 

Ximenes,  though  possessed  only  of  delegated  power, 
which,  from  his  advanced  age,  he  could  not  expect  to 
enjoy  long,  assumed,  together  with  the  character  of  regent, 
all  the  ideas  natiu'al  to  a  monarch,  and  adopted  schemes 
for  extending  the  regal  authority  which  he  pursued  with 
as  much  intrepidity  and  ardour,  as  if  he  himself  had  been 
to  reap  the  advantages  resulting  from  their  success.  The 
exorbitant  privileges  of  the  Castilian  nobles  circumscribed 
the  prerogative  of  the  prince  within  very  narrow  limits. 
The  privileges  the  cardinal  considered  as  so  many  unjust 
extortions  from  the  crown,  and  determined  to  abridge 
them.  Dangerous  as  the  attempt  was,  there  were  circum- 
stances in  his  situation  which  promised  him  greater  suc- 
cess than  any  king  of  Castile  could  have  expected.  His 
strict  and  prudent  economy  of  his  archiepiscopal  revenues, 
furnished  him  wdth  more  ready  money  than  the  crown 
could  at  any  time  command ;  the  sanctity  of  his  manners, 
his  charity  and  munificence,  rendered  him  the  idol  of  the 
people ;  and  the  nobles  themselves,  not  suspecting  any 
danger  from  him,  did  not  observe  his  motions  with  the 
same  jealous  attention,  as  they  would  have  watched  those 
of  one  of  their  monarchs. 

Immediately  upon  his  accession  to  the  regency,  several 
of  the    nobles,   fancying    that   the   reins   of  government 

^*  Gometius,  p.  152,  &c.     Baudicr,  Hisl.  de  Ximcn.  p.  121. 
39  p.Mart.  Ep.  572. 

o  2 


196  ADMINISTRATION  OF  XIMENES  [boozi. 

would,  of  consequence,  be  somewhat  relaxed,  began  to 
assemble  their  vassals,  and  to  prosecute,  by  force  of  arms, 
l)rivate  quarrels  and  pretensions,  wliich  the  authority  of 
Perdinand  had  obliged  thera  to  dissemble,  or  to  relinquish. 
But  Ximenes,  who  had  taken  into  pay  a  good  body  of 
troops,  opposed  and  defeated  all  their  designs  with  unex- 
pected vigour  and  facility ;  and  though  he  did  not  treat 
the  authors  of  these  disorders  with  any  cruelty,  he  forced 
them  to  acts  of  submission,  extremely  mortifying  to  the 
haughty  spirit  of  Castilian  grandees. 

But  while  the  cardinal's  attacks  were  confined  to  indi- 
viduals, and  every  act  of  rigour  was  justified  by  the 
appearance  of  necessity,  founded  on  the  forms  of  justice, 
and  tempered  with  a  mixture  of  lenity,  there  was  scarcely 
room  for  jealousy  or  complaint.  It  was  not  so  with  his 
next  measure,  which,  by  striking  at  a  privilege  essential 
to  the  nobility,  gave  a  general  alarm  to  the  whole  order.  By 
the  feudal  constitution,  the  military  power  was  lodged  in 
the  hands  of  the  nobles,  and  men  of  an  inferior  condition 
were  called  into  the  field  only  as  their  vassals,  and  to 
follow  their  banners,  A  king,  with  scanty  revenues  and  a 
limited  prerogative,  depended  on  these  potent  barons  in 
all  his  operations.  It  was  with  their  forces  he  attacked 
his  enemies,  and  with  them  he  defended  his  kingdom. 
While  at  the  head  of  troops  attached  warmly  to  their  own 
immediate  lords,  and  accustomed  to  obey  no  other  com- 
mands, his  authority  was  precarious,  and  his  efforts  feeble. 
From  this  state  Ximenes  resolved  to  deliver  the  crown ; 
and  as  mercenary  standing  armies  were  unknown  under 
the  feudal  government,  and  would  have  been  odious  to  a 
martial  and  generous  people,  he  issued  a  proclamation, 
commanding  every  city  in  Castile  to  enrol  a  certain  number 
of  its  burgesses,  in  order  that  they  might  be  trained  to  the 
use  of  arms  on  Sundays  and  holidays ;  he  engaged  to 
provide  officers  to  command  them  at  the  public  expenss ; 
and,  as  an  encom*agement  to  the  private  men,  promised 


BOOK  I.]  CITAEACTEmSED  BY  ITS  VIGOUR.  I97 

them  an  exemption  from  all  taxes  and  impositions.  The 
frequent  incursions  of  the  Moors  from  Africa,  and  the 
necessity  of  having  some  force  always  ready  to  oppose 
them,  furnished  a  plausible  pretence  for  this  innovation. 
The  object  really  in  view  was  to  secure  the  king  a  body  of 
troops  independent  of  his  barons,  and  which  might  serve 
to  counterbalance  their  power. ^"^  The  nobles  were  not  slow 
in  perceiving  what  was  his  intention,  and  saw  how  effec- 
tually the  scheme  which  he  had  adopted  would  accomplish 
his  end ;  but  as  a  measure  which  liad  the  pious  appearance 
of  resisting  the  progress  of  the  infidels  was  extremely 
popular,  and  as  any  opposition  to  it,  arising  from  their 
order  alone,  would  have  been  imputed  wholly  to  inter- 
ested motives,  they  endeavoured  to  excite  the  cities  them- 
selves to  refuse  obedience,  and  to  inveigh  against  the 
proclamation  as  inconsistent  with  their  charters  and 
privileges.  In  consequence  of  their  instigations,  Burgos, 
A'^alladolid,  and  several  other  cities,  rose  in  open  nuitiny. 
Some  of  the  grandees  declared  themselves  their  protectors. 
Violent  remonstrances  were  presented  to  the  king.  His 
Plemish  councillors  were  alarmed.  Ximenes  alone  con- 
tinued firm  and  undaunted  ;  and  partly  by  terror,  partly  by 
entreaty,  by  force  in  some  instances,  and  by  forbearance 
in  others,  he  prevailed  on  all  the  refractory  cities  to 
comply.^^  During  his  administration,  he  continued  to 
execute  his  plan  with  vigour ;  but  soon  after  his  death  it 
was  entirely  dropped. 

His  success  in  this  scheme  for  reducing  the  exorbitant 
power  of  the  nobility,  encouraged  him  to  attempt  a 
diminution  of  their  possessions,  which  were  no  less  exor- 
bitant. During  the  contests  and  disorders  inseparable 
from  the  feudal  government,  the  nobles,  ever  attentive  to 
their  own  interest,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  weakness 
or  distress  of  their  monarchs,  had  seized  some  parts  of  the 

■">  Miuianse   Coutinuatio   Mariante,  *^  P.  Marf.  Ep.  550,  &-c.  Gonictius, 

fol.  Hag.  1733,  p.  3.  p.  100,  &c. 


198  ■  OPPOSITION  OF  THE  NOBILITY  [book  i.- 

royal  demesnes,  obtained  grants  of  others,  and,  having 
gradually  wrested  almost  the  whole  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  prince,  had  annexed  them  to  their  own  estates.  The 
titles,  by  which  most  of  the  grandees  held  these  lands, 
were  extremely  defective ;  it  was  from  some  successful 
usurpation  which  the  crown  had  been  too  feeble  to  dispute, 
that  many  derived  their  only  claim  to  possession.  An  in- 
quiry carried  back  to  the  origin  of  these  encroachments, 
which  were  almost  coeval  with  the  feudal  system,  was  im- 
practicable ;  and,  as  it  would  have  stripped  every  nobleman 
in  Spain  of  great  part  of  his  lands,  it  must  have  excited  a 
general  revolt.  Such  a  step  was  too  bold,  even  for  the 
enterprising  spirit  of  Xiraenes.  He  confined  hiaiself  to 
the  reign  of  Ferdinand  ;  and,  beginning  with  the  pensions 
granted  during  that  time,  refused  to  make  any  farther 
payment,  because  all  right  to  them  expired  with  his  life. 
He  then  called  to  account  such  has  had  acquired  crown 
lands  under  the  administration  of  that  monarch,  and  at 
once  resumed  whatever  he  had  alienated.  The  effects  of 
these  revocations  extended  to  many  persons  of  high  rank ; 
for  though  Ferdinand  was  a  prince  of  little  generosity,  yet 
he  and  Isabella  having  been  raised  to  the  throne  of  Castile 
by  a  poAverful  faction  of  the  nobles,  they  were  obliged  to 
reward  the  zeal  of  their  adherents  with  great  liberality,  and 
the  royal  demesnes  were  their  only  fund  for  that  purpose. 
The  addition  made  to  the  revenue  of  the  crown  by  these 
revocations,  together  with  his  own  frugal  economy,  enabled 
Ximenes  not  only  to  discharge  all  the  debts  which  Ferdinand 
had  left,  and  to  remit  considerable  sums  to  Flanders,  but 
to  pay  the  officers  of  his  new  militia,  and  to  establish 
magazines  not  only  more  numerous,  but  better  furnished 
with  artillery,  arms,  and  warlike  stores,  than  Spain  had 
ever  possessed  in  any  former  age.'*^  The  prudent  and  dis- 
interested application  of  these  sums  was  a  full  apology  to 
the  people  for  the  rigour  with  which  they  were  exacted. 

''^  Flecliier,  Vie  de  Ximen.  ii.  p.  600. 


BOOK  I.]  TO  CARDINAL  XIMENES.  199 

The  nobles,  alarmed  at  these  repeated  attacks,  began  to 
thmk  of  precautions  for  the  safety  of  their  order.  Many 
cabals  were  formed,  loud  complaints  were  uttered,  and  des- 
perate resolutions  taken ;  but,  before  they  proceeded  to 
extremities,  they  appointed  some  of  their  number  to  exa- 
mine the  powers,  in  consequence  of  which  the  cardinal 
exercised  acts  of  such  high  authority.  The  admiral  of  Cas- 
tile, the  duke  de  Infantado,  and  the  conde  de  Benevento, 
grandees  of  the  first  rank,  were  entrusted  with  this  commis- 
sion. Ximenes  received  them  with  cold  civility,  and,  in 
answer  to  their  demand,  produced  the  testament  of  Ferdi- 
nand, by  which  he  was  appointed  regent,  together  with  the 
ratification  of  that  deed  by  Charles.  To  both  these  they 
objected ;  and  he  endeavoured  to  establish  their  validity. 
As  the  conversation  grew  Avarm,  he  led  them  insensiljly 
towards  a  balcony,  from  which  they  had  a  view  of  a  large 
body  of  troops  under  arms,  and  of  a  formidable  train  of 
artillery.  "  Behold,"  says  he,  pointing  to  these,  and  raising 
his  voice,  "  the  powers  which  1  have  received  from  his 
catholic  majesty.  With  these  I  govern  Castile ;  and  with 
these  I  will  govern  it,  until  the  king,  your  master  and  mine, 
takes  possession  of  his  kingdom,"  ^^  A  declaration  so  bold 
and  haughty  silenced  them,  and  astonished  their  associates. 
To  take  arms  against  a  man  aware  of  his  danger,  and  pre- 
pared for  his  defence,  was  what  despair  alone  would 
dictate.  All  thoughts  of  a  general  confederacy  against  the 
cardinal's  administration  were  laid  aside ;  and,  except  from 
some  slight  commotions,  excited  by  the  private  resentment 
of  particular  noblemen,  the  tranquihity  of  Castile  suffered 
no  interruption. 

It  was  not  only  from  the  opposition  of  the  Spanish 
nobility  that  obstacles  arose  to  the  execution  of  the  cardi- 
nal's schemes ;  he  had  a  constant  struggle  to  maintain  with 
the  Flemish  ministers,  who,  presuming  upon  their  favour 
with  the  young  king,  aimed  at  directing  the  aftairs  of  Spain, 
•'^  Flech,  ii.  p.  551.    Ferrcras,  Hist.  viii.  p.  433. 


200  LA  CHAU  AND  AilEESTOllP.  [book  l 

as  well  as  those  of  tlieir  own  country.  Jealous  of  the 
great  abilities  and  independent  spirit  of  Ximenes,  they 
considered  him  rather  as  a  rival  who  might  circumscribe 
their  power,  than  as  a  minister,  Avho,  by  his  prudence  and 
vigour,  was  adding  to  the  grandeur  and  authority  of  their 
master.  Every  complaint  against  his  administration  was 
listened  to  with  pleasure  by  the  courtiers  in  the  Low 
Countries.  Unnecessary  obstructions  were  thrown  by  their 
means  in  the  Avay  of  all  his  measures ;  and  though  they 
could  not,  either  with  decency  or  safety,  deprive  him  of 
the  office  of  regent,  they  endeavoured  to  lessen  his  authority 
by  dividing  it.  They  soon  discovered  that  Adrian  of 
Utrecht,  already  joined  with  him  in  office,  had  neither 
genius  nor  spirit  sufficient  to  give  the  least  check  to  his 
proceedings  ;  and  therefore  Charles,  by  their  advice,  added 
to  the  commission  of  regency  La  Chau,  a  Flemish  gentle- 
man, and  afterwards  Amerstorf,  a  nobleman  of  Holland, 
the  former  distinguished  for  his  address,  the  latter  for  his 
firmness.  Ximenes,  though  no  stranger  to  the  malevolent 
intention  of  the  Flemish  courtiers,  received  these  new  asso- 
ciates with  all  the  external  marks  of  distinction  due  to  the 
office  Avith  which  they  Avere  invested ;  but  when  they  came 
to  enter  upon  business,  he  abated  nothing  of  that  air  of 
superiority  with  which  he  had  treated  Adrian,  and  still 
retained  the  sole  direction  of  affairs.  The  Spaniards,  more 
averse,  perhaps,  than  any  other  people  to  the  government 
of  strangers,  approved  of  all  his  efforts  to  preserve  his  own 
authority.  Even  the  nobles,  influenced  by  this  national 
passion,  and  forgetting  their  jealousies  and  discontents, 
chose  rather  to  see  the  supreme  power  in  the  hands  of  one 
of  their  countrymen,  whom  they  feared,  than  in  those  of 
foreigners,  whom  they  hated. 

Ximenes,  though  engaged  in  such  great  schemes  of 
domestic  policy,  and  embarrassed  by  the  artifices  and 
intrigues  of  the  Flemish  ministers,  had  the  burden  of  two 
foreign  wars  to  support.     The  one  was  in  Navarre,  which 


uooK  I.]  WAR  IN  NAVARRE.  201 

was  invaded  by  its  unfortunate  monarch,  John  d'Albrct. 
The  death  of  Terdinand,  the  absence  of  Charles,  the  dis- 
cord and  disaffection  Avhich  reigned  among  the  Spanish 
nobles,  seemed  to  present  him  with  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity of  recovering  his  dominions.  The  cardinal's  vigilance, 
however,  defeated  a  measure  so  well  concerted.  As  he 
foresaw  the  danger  to  which  that  kingdom  might  be 
exposed,  one  of  his  first  acts  of  administration  was  to  order 
thither  a  considerable  body  of  troops.  While  the  king  was 
employed  with  one  part  of  his  army  in  the  siege  of  St.  Jean 
Pied  en  Port,  A^illalva,  an  ofhcer  of  great  experience  and 
courage,  attacked  the  other  by  surprise,  and  cut  it  to  pieces. 
The  king  instantly  retreated  with  precipitation,  and  an  end 
Avas  put  to  the  war.^*  But  as  Navarre  was  tilled  at  that 
time  with  towns  and  castles  slightly  fortified  and  weakly 
garrisoned,  which,  being  unable  to  resist  an  enemy,  served 
only  to  furnish  him  with  places  of  retreat,  Ximenes,  always 
bold  and  decisive  in  his  measures,  ordered  every  one  of 
these  to  be  dismantled,  except  Pampeluna,  the  fortifications 
of  which  he  proposed  to  render  very  strong.  To  this 
uncommon  precaution  Spain  owes  the  possession  of  Navarre. 
The  Prench,  since  that  period,  have  often  entered  and  have 
as  often  overrun  the  open  country.  While  they  wxre 
exposed  to  all  the  inconveniences  attending  an  invading 
army,  the  Spaniards  have  easily  drawn  troops  from  the 
neighbouring  provinces  to  oppose  them ;  and  the  Prench, 
having  no  place  of  any  strength  to  wdiich  they  could  retire, 
have  been  obliged  repeatedly  to  abandon  their  conquest 
with  as  much  rapidity  as  they  gained  it. 

The  other  war,  Avhich  he  carried  on  in  Africa,  against  the 
famous  adventurer  Iloruc  Barbarossa,  who,  from  a  private 
corsair,  raised  himself,  by  his  singular  valour  and  address, 
to  be  king  of  Algiers  and  Tunis,  was  far  from  being  equally 
successful.  The  ill  conduct  of  the  Spanish  general,  and  the 
rash  valour  of  his  troops,  presented  Barbarossa  with  an  easy 
''  P.  Mart.  Ep.  570. 


202  WA.R  IN  AmiCA.  [book  i. 

victory.  Many  perished  in  the  battle,  more  in  the  retreat, 
and  the  remainder  returned  into  Spain  covered  with  infamy. 
The  magnanimity,  however,  with  which  the  cardinal  bore  this 
disgrace,  the  only  one  he  experienced  during  his  administra- 
tion, added  new  lustre  to  his  character.^^  Great  composure 
of  temper  under  a  disappointment  was  not  expected  from 
a  man  so  remarkable  for  the  eagerness  and  impatience  with 
which  he  urged  on  the  execution  of  all  his  schemes. 

This  disaster  was  soon  forgotten ;  while  the  conduct  of 
the  Flemish  court  proved  the  cause  of  constant  uneasiness, 
not  only  to  the  cardinal,  but  to  the  whole  Spanish  nation. 
All  the  great  qualities  of  Chievres,  the  prime  minister  and 
favourite  of  the  young  king,  were  sullied  with  an  ignoble 
and  sordid  avarice.  The  accession  of  his  master  to  the 
croAvn  of  Spain  opened  a  new  and  copious  source  for  the 
gratification  of  this  passion.  During  the  time  of  Charles's 
residence  in  Flanders,  the  Avhole  tribe  of  pretenders  to 
offices  or  to  favour  resorted  thither.  They  soon  discovered 
that,  without  the  patronage  of  Chievres,  it  was  vain  to  hope 
for  preferment ;  nor  did  they  want  sagacity  to  find  out  the 
proper  method  of  securing  his  protection.  Great  sums  of 
money  were  drawn  out  of  Spain.  Everything  was  venal, 
and  disposed  of  to  the  highest  bidder.  After  the  example 
of  Chievres,  the  inferior  Flemish  ministers  engaged  in  this 
traffic,  which  became  as  general  and  avowed,  as  it  was 
infamous.'^''  The  Spaniards  Avere  filled  witli  rage  when  they 
beheld  offices  of  great  importance  to  the  welfare  of  their 
country,  set  to  sale  by  strangers,  unconcerned  for  its  honour 
or  its  happiness.  .  Ximenes,  disinterested  in  his  whole 
administration,  and  a  stranger,  from  his  native  grandeur  of 
mind,  to  the  passion  of  avarice,  inveighed  with  the  utmost 
boldness  against  the  venality  of  the  Flemings.  He  repre- 
sented to  the  king,  in  strong  terms,  the  murmurs  and 
indignation  which  their  behaviour  excited  among  a  free  and 
high-spirited. people,  and  besought  him  to  set  out  without 
*'  Gometius,  lib.  vi.  p.  179.  -"^  Miuiana,  Coutiu.  lib.  i.  cli.  2. 


BOOK  I.]  PEACE  WITH  FRANCE.  203 

loss  of  time  for  Spain,  that,  by  liis  presence,  he  might  dissi- 
pate the  clouds  which  were  gathering  all  over  the  kingdom/'' 
Charles  was  fuU^^  sensible  that  he  had  delayed  too  long 
to  take  possession  of  his  dominions  in   Spain.     Powerful 
obstacles,  however,  stood  in  his  way,  and  detained  him  in 
the  Low  Countries.    The  war  which  the  league  of  Cambray 
had  kindled  in  Italy,  still  subsisted ;  though,   during  its 
course,  the  armies  of  all  the  parties  engaged  in   it  had 
changed  their  destination  and  their  objects.     Prance  was 
now  in  alliance  with  Venice,  which  it  had  at  first  combined 
to  destroy.     Maximilian  and  Ferdinand  had  for  some  years 
carried  on  hostilities  against  France,  their  original  ally, 
to  the  valour  of  whose  troops  the  confederacy  had  been 
indebted  in   a  great  measiu-e  for  its   success.     Together 
with  his  kingdoms,  Ferdinand  transmitted  this  war  to  his 
grandson ;  and  there  was  reason  to  expect  that  Maximilian, 
always  fond  of  new  enterprises,  would  persuade  the  young 
monarch  to  enter  into  it  with  ardour.     But  the  Flemings, 
who  had  long  possessed  an  extensive  commerce,   which, 
during  the  league  of  Cambray,  had  grown  to  a  great  height 
upon  the  ruins  of  the  Venetian  trade,  dreaded  a  rupture 
with  France ;  and  Chievres,  sagacious  to  discern  the  true 
interest  of  his  country,  and  not  warped  on  this  occasion  by 
his  love  of  wealth,  Avarmly  declared  for  maintaining  peace 
with  the  French  nation.     Francis  I.  destitute  of  allies,  and 
solicitous  to  secure  his  late  conquests  in  Italy  by  a  treaty, 
hstened  with  joy  to  the  first  overtures  of  accommodation. 
Chievres  himself  conducted  the  negotiation  in  the  name  of 
Charles.     Gouffier  appeared  as  plenipotentiary  for  Francis. 
Each  of  them  had  presided  over  the  education  of  the  prince 
whom  he  represented.     They  had  both  adopted  the  same 
pacific  system ;  and  were  equally  persuaded  that  the  union 
of  the  two  monarchs  was  the  happiest  event  for  themselves, 
as  well  as  for  their  kingdoms.     In  such  hands  the  nego- 
tiation did  not  languish.     A  few  days  after  opening  their 

^'  P.  Mart.  Ep.  570. 


204  TREATY  OF  NOYON.  [book  i. 

conferences  at  Noyon,  they  concluded  a  treaty  of  con- 
federacy and  mutual  defence  between  the  two  monarchs  ; 
the  chief  articles  in  which  were,  that  Francis  should  give  in 
marriage  to  Charles  his  eldest  daughter,  the  princess  Louise, 
an  infant  of  a  year  old,  and,  as  her  dowry,  should  make 
over  to  him  all  his  claims  and  pretensions  upon  the  king- 
dom of  Naples ;  that,  in  consideration  of  Charles's  being 
already  in  possession  of  Naples,  he  should,  until  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  marriage,  pay  a  hundred  thousand  crowns 
a-year  to  the  French  king ;  and  the  half  of  that  sum 
annually,  as  long  as  the  princess  had  no  children ;  that 
when  Charles  shall  arrive  in  Spain,  the  heirs  of  the  king 
of  Navarre  may  represent  to  him  their  right  to  that  king- 
dom ;  and  if,  after  examining  their  claim,  he  does  not  give 
them  satisfaction,  Francis  shall  be  at  liberty  to  assist  them 
with  all  his  forces/^  This  alliance  not  only  united  Charles 
and  Francis,  but  obliged  Maximilian,  who  was  unable  alone 
to  cope  with  the  French  and  Venetians,  to  enter  into 
a  treaty  with  those  powers,  which  put  a  final  period  to  the 
bloody  and  tedious  war  that  the  league  of  Cambray  had 
occasioned.  Europe  enjoyed  a  few  years  of  universal  tran- 
quillity, and  was  indebted  for  that  blessing  to  two  princes, 
W'hose  rivalship  and  ambition  kept  it  in  perpetual  discord 
and  agitation  during  the  remainder  of  their  reigns. 

By  the  treaty  of  Noyon,  Charles  secured  a  safe  passage 
into  Spain.  It  was  not,  however,  the  interest  of  his  Flemish 
ministers,  that  he  should  visit  that  kingdom  soon.  AVhile 
he  resided  in  Flanders  the  revenues  of  the  Spanish  crown 
were  spent  there,  and  they  engrossed,  without  any  compe- 
titors, all  the  effects  of  their  monarch's  generosity;  their 
country  became  the  seat  of  government,  and  all  favours  were 
dispensed  by  them.  Of  all  these  advantages  they  ran  the 
risk  of  seeing  themselves  deprived,  from  the  moment  that 
their  sovereign  entered  Spain.  The  Spaniards  would 
naturally  assume  the  direction  of  their  own  affairs  ;  the  Low 
"  Leonard,  Ilecueil  des  Traltes,  torn.  ii.  p.  69. 


BOOK  I.]  CHAULES  VISITS  SPAIN.  205 

Countries  would  be  considered  only  as  a  province  of  that 
miglity   monarchy;    and   they   who  now    distributed   the 
favours  of  the  prince  to  others,  must  then  be  content  to 
receive   them  from  the  hands   of  strangers.      But   what 
Chievres  chiefly  wished  to  avoid  was,  an  interview  between 
the  king  and  Ximenes.     On  the  one  hand,  the  wisdom,  the 
integrity,  and  the  magnanimity  of  that  prelate,  gave  him  a 
wonderful  ascendant  over  the  minds  of  men ;  and  it  was 
extremely  probable  that  these  great  qualities,  added  to  the 
reverence  due  to  his  age  and  office,  would  command  the 
respect  of   a   young  prince,  who,    capable  of  noble  and 
generous  sentiments  himself,  would,  in  proportion   to  his 
admiration  of  the  cardinal's  virtues,  lessen  his  deference 
towards  persons  of  another  character.     Or,  on  the  other 
hand,  if  Charles  should  allow  his  Flemish  favourites  to  retain 
all  the  influence  over  his  councils  which  they  at  present 
possessed,  it  was  easy  to  foresee  that  the  cardinal  would 
remonstrate  loudly  against  such  an  indignity  to  the  Spanish 
nation,  and  vindicate  the  rights  of  his  country  with  the  same 
intrepidity  and  success  with  which  he  had  asserted  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  crown.     For  these  reasons,  all  his  Flemish 
councillors  combined  to  retard  his  departure ;  and  Cliarles, 
unsuspicious  from  want  of  experience,  and  fond  of  his  native 
country,  sufi'ered  himself  to  be  unnecessarily  detained  in  the 
Netherlands  a  whole  year  after  signing  the  treaty  of  Noyon. 
The  repeated  entreaties  of  Ximenes,  the  advice  of  his 
grandfather  Maximilian,  and  the  impatient  murmurs  of  his 
Spanish  subjects,  prevailed  on  him  at  last  to  embark.  [1517.] 
He  was  attended  not  only  by  Chievres,  his  prime  minister, 
but  by  a  numerous  and  splendid  train  of  the  Flemish  nobles, 
fond  of  beholding  the  grandeur,  or  of  sharing  in  the  bounty  of 
their  prince.    After  a  dangerous  voyage,  he  landed  at  Villa 
Viciosa,  in  the  province  of  Asturias,  and  was  received  with 
such  loud  acclamations  of  joy  as  a  new  monarch,  whose 
arrival  was  so  ardently  desired,  had  reason  to  expect.     The 
Spanish  nobility  resorted  to  their  sovereign  from  all  parts 


206  ,     ILLNESS  OF  XIMENES,  [book  i. 

of  the  kingdom,  and  displayed  a  magnificence  which  the 
Flemings  were  unable  to  emulate/'"* 

Ximenes,  who  considered  the  presence  of  the  king  as  the 
greatest  blessing  to  his  dominions,  was  advancing  towards 
the  coast,  as  fast  as  the  infirm  state  of  his  health  would 
permit,  in  order  to  receive  him.     During  his  regency,  and 
notwithstanding  his    extreme  old  age,  he  had  abated,  in 
no  degree,  the  rigour  or  frequency  of  his  mortifications ; 
and  to  these  he  added  such  laborious  assiduity  in  busi- 
ness, as  would   have  worn    out   the    most   youthful   and 
vigorous   constitution.      Every   day    he    employed   several 
hours  in  devotion ;  he  celebrated  mass  in  person  ;  he  even 
allotted  some  space  for  study.   Notwithstanding  these  occu- 
pations, he  regularly  attended  the  council ;  he  received  and 
read  all  papers  presented  to  him ;  he  dictated  letters  and 
instructions ;   and  took  under  his  inspection  all  business, 
civil,  ecclesiastical,  or  military.     Every  moment  of  his  time 
was  filled  up  with  some  serious  employment.     The  only 
amusement  in  which  he  indulged  himself,  by  way  of  relaxa- 
tion after  business,  was  to  canvass,  Avith  a  few  friars  and 
other  divines,  some  intricate  article  in  scholastic  theology. 
Wasted  by  such  a  course  of  life,  the  infirmities  of  age  daily 
grew  upon  him.     On  his  journey,  a  violent  disorder  seized 
him  at  Bos  Equillos,  attended  with  uncommon  symptoms, 
which  his  followers  considered  as  the  eff'ect  of  poison,^"  but 
could  not  agree  whether  the  crime  ought  to  be  imputed  to 
the  hatred  of  the  Spanish  nobles,  or  to  the  malice  of  the 
Flemish  courtiers.    This  accident  obliging  him  to  stop  short, 
he  wrote  to  Charles,  and  with  his  usual  boldness  advised  him 
to  dismiss  all  the  strangers  in  his  train,  whose  numbers  and 
credit  gave  ofience  already  to  the  Spaniards,  and  would  ere 
long  alienate  the  affections  of  the  whole  people.     At  the 
same  time,  he  earnestly  desired  to  have  an  interview  with 
the  king,  that  he  might  inform  him  of  the  state  of  the  nation, 
and  the  temper  of  his  subjects.     To  prevent  this,  not  only 
«  P.  Mart.  Ep.  599,  601.  ^o  Miuiaua,  Coutiu.  lib.  i.  eb.  3. 


BOOK  I.]  AND  HIS  DEATH.  207 

the  riemings,  but  the  Spanish  grandees,  employed  all  tlieir 
address,  and  industriously  kept  Charles  at  a  distance  from 
Aranda,  the  place  to  which  the  cardinal  had  removed. 
Through  their  suggestions,  every  measure  that  he  recom- 
mended was  rejected,  the  utmost  care  was  taken  to  make 
him  feel,  and  to  point  out  to  the  whole  nation,  that  his 
power  was  on  the  decline ;  even  in  things  purely  trivial, 
such  a  choice  was  always  made  as  was  deemed  most  dis- 
agreeable to  him.  Ximenes  did  not  hear  this  treatment 
with  his  usual  fortitude  of  spirit.  Conscious  of  his  own  in- 
tegrity and  merit,  he  expected  a  more  grateful  return  from 
a  prince  to  whom  he  delivered  a  kingdom  more  flourishing 
than  it  had  been  in  any  former  age,  together  with  authority 
more  extensive  and  better  established  than  the  most  illus- 
trious of  his  ancestors  had  ever  possessed.  He  could  not, 
therefore,  on  many  occasions,  refrain  from  giving  vent  to 
his  indignation  and  complaints.  He  lamented,  the  fate  of 
his  country,  and  foretold  the  calamities  which  it  would 
suffer  from  the  insolence,  the  rapaciousness,  and  ignorance 
of  strangers.  While  his  mind  was  agitated  by  these 
passions,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  king,  in  which,  after 
a  few  cold  and  formal  expressions  of  regard,  he  was  allowed 
to  retire  to  his  diocese,  that,  after  a  life  of  such  continued 
labour,  he  might  end  his  days  in  tranquillity.  This  message 
proved  fatal  to  Ximenes.  His  haughty  mind,  it  is  probable, 
could  not  survive  disgrace;  perhaps  his  generous  heart  could 
not  bear  the  prospect  of  the  misfortunes  ready  to  fall  on  his 
country.  Whichsoever  of  these  opinions  we  embrace,  certain 
it  is  that  he  expired  a  few  hours  after  reading  the  letter.*^ 
The  variety,  the  grandeur,  and  the  success  of  his  schemes, 
during  a  regency  of  only  twenty  months,  leave  it  doubtful 
whether  his  sagacity  in  counsel,  his  prudence  in  conduct,  or 
his  boldness  in  execution,  deserve  the  greatest  praise.  His 
reputation  is  still  high  in  Spain,  not  only  for  wisdom,  but 

*'  Marsollier,    Vie  de  Ximenes,  p.       Baudier,  Hist,  de  Xiraeii.  ii.  p.  208. 
447.     Goniolius,  lib.  vii.  p.  20G,  &c. 


208  CIIAELES  ENTERS  VALLADOLID.  [book  i. 

for  sanctity ;  and  lie  is  tlio  only  prime  minister  mentioned 
in  history  whom  his  contemporaries  reverenced  as  a  saint," 
and  to  whom  the  people  under  his  government  ascribed  the 
power  of  working  miracles. 

[1518.]  Soon  after  the  death  of  Ximenes,  Charles  made  his 
public  entry,  with  great  pomp,  into  Valladolid,  whither  he  had 
summoned  the  cortes  of  Castile.  Though  he  assumed  on  all 
occasions  the  name  of  king,  that  title  had  never  been  acknow^- 
ledged  in  the  cortes.  The  Spaniards,  considering  Joanna  as 
possessed  of  the  sole  right  to  the  crown,  and  no  example  of 
a  son's  having  enjoyed  the  title  of  king  during  the  life  of 
his  parents  occurring  in  their  history,  the  cortes  discovered 
all  that  scrupulous  respect  for  ancient  forms,  and  that 
aversion  to  innovation,  wdiich  are  conspicuous  in  popular 
assemblies.  The  presence,  however,  of  their  prince,  the 
address,  the  artifices,  and  the  threats  of  his  ministers,  pre- 
vailed on  them  at  last  to  proclaim  him  king,  in  conjunction 
with  his  mother,  whose  name  they  appointed  to  be  placed 
before  that  of  her  son  in  all  pubhc  acts.  But  when  they  made 
this  concession,  they  declared  that  if,  at  any  future  period, 
Joanna  should  recover  the  exercise  of  reason,  the  whole 
authority  should  return  into  her  hands.  At  the  same  time, 
they  voted  a  free  gift  of  six  hundred  thousand  ducats  to  be 
paid  in  three  years,  a  sum  more  considerable  than  had  ever 
been  granted  to  any  former  monarch/^ 

Notwithstanding  this  obsequiousness  of  the  cortes  to  the 
will  of  the  king,  the  most  violent  symptoms  of  dissatisfaction 
with  his  government  began  to  break  out  in  the  kingdom. 
Chievres  had  acquired  over  the  mind  of  the  young  monarch 
the  ascendant  not  only  of  a  tutor,  but  of  a  parent.  Charles 
seemed  to  have  no  sentiments  but  those  which  his  minister 
inspired,  and  scarcely  uttered  a  word  but  what  he  put  into 
his  mouth.  He  was  constantly  surrounded  by  Flemings ; 
no  person  got  access  to  him  without  their  permission ;  nor 

"  Flechier,  Yie  de  Ximcu.  ii.  p.  740.         Mart.  Ep.  60S.     Sandov.  p.  12. 
^^  Miuiann,  Coutiii.  lib.  i.  cb.  3.     P. 


BOOK  I.]  DISCONTENT  OP  THE  CASTILIANS.  209 

Avas  any  admitted  to  audience  but  in  their  presence.  As 
lie  spoke  the  Spanish  language  very  imperfectly,  his  answers 
were  always  extremely  short,  and  often  delivered  with  hesi- 
tation. From  all  these  circumstances,  many  of  the  Spa- 
niards were  led  to  believe  that  he  was  a  prince  of  a  slow 
and  narrow  genius.  Some  pretended  to  discover  a  strong 
resemblance  between  him  and  his  mother,  and  began  to 
whisper  that  his  capacity  for  government  would  never  be 
far  superior  to  hers ;  and  though  they  who  had  the  best 
opportunity  of  judging  concerning  his  character  maintained 
that,  notwithstanding  such  unpromising  appearances,  he 
possessed  a  large  fund  of  knowledge  as  well  as  of  sagacity/* 
yet  all  agreed  in  condemning  his  partiality  towards  the 
Elemings,  and  his  attachment  to  his  favourites,  as  unreason- 
able and  immoderate.  Unfortunately  for  Charles,  these 
favourites  were  unworthy  of  his  confidence.  To  amass 
wealth  seems  to  have  been  their  only  aim  ;  and  as  they  had 
reason  to  fear  that  either  their  master's  good  sense,  or  the 
indignation  of  the  Spaniards,  might  soon  abridge  their  power, 
they  hastened  to  improve  the  present  opportunity,  and 
their  avarice  was  the  more  rapacious,  because  they  expected 
their  authority  to  be  of  no  long  duration.  All  honours, 
offices,  and  benefices,  were  either  engrossed  by  the  Flem- 
ings, or  pubhcly  sold  by  them.  Chievres,  his  wife,  and 
Sauvage,  whom  Charles,  on  the  death  of  Ximenes,  had 
imprudently  raised  to  be  chancellor  of  Castile,  vied  with 
each  other  in  all  the  refinements  of  extortion  and  venality. 
Not  only  the  Spanish  historians,  who,  from  resentment, 
may  be  suspected  of  exaggeration,  but  Peter  Martyr  Ang- 
leria,  an  Italian,  who  resided  at  that  time  in  the  court  of 
Spain,  and  who  was  under  no  temptation  to  deceive  the 
persons  to  whom  his  letters  are  addressed,  give  a  de- 
scription which  is  almost  incredible,  of  the  insatiable  and 
shameless  covetousness  of  the  Flemings.  According  to 
Angleria's  calculation,  which  he  asserts  to  be  extremely 

=^  Sandoval,  p.  31.    P.  Mart.  Ep.  655. 
VOL.  I.  P 


210  CHARLES  AND  THE  COKTES.  [book  i 

moderate,  tliey  remitted  into  the  Low  Countries,  in  the 
space  of  ten  months,  no  less  a  smn  than  a  milhon  and  one 
hundred  thousand  ducats.  The  nomination  of  William  de 
Croy,  Chievres'  nephew,  a  young  man  not  of  canonical  age, 
to  the  archbishopric  of  Toledo,  exasperated  the  Spaniards 
more  than  all  these  exactions.  They  considered  the  eleva- 
tion of  a  stranger  to  the  head  of  their  church,  and  to  the 
richest  benefice  in  the  kingdom,  not  only  as  an  injury,  but 
as  an  insult  to  the  whole  nation ;  both  clergy  and  laity,  the 
former  from  interest,  the  latter  from  indignation,  joined  in 
exclaiming  against  it.^^ 

Charles,  leaving  Castile  thus  disgusted  with  his  adminis- 
tration, set  out  for  Saragossa,  the  capital  of  Aragon,  that 
he  might  be  present  in  the  cortes  of  that  kingdom.  On 
his  way  thither,  he  took  leave  of  his  brother  Ferdinand, 
whom  he  sent  into  Germany  on  the  pretence  of  visiting 
their  grandfather,  Maximilian,  in  his  old  age.  To  this 
prudent  precaution  Charles  owed  the  preservation  of  his 
Spanish  dominions.  During  the  violent  commotions  which 
arose  there  soon  after  this  period,  the  Spaniards  would 
infallibly  have  offered  the  crown  to  a  prince  who  was  the 
darling  of  the  whole  nation  ;  nor  did  Ferdinand  want  am- 
bition, or  councillors,  that  might  have  prompted  him  to 
accept  of  the  offer/*^ 

The  Aragonese  had  not  hitherto  acknowledged  Charles 
as  king,  nor  would  they  allow  the  cortes  to  be  assembled 
in  his  name,  but  in  that  of  the  justiza,  to  whom,  during 
an  interregnum,  this  privilege  belonged.^^  The  opposition 
Charles  had  to  struggle  with  in  the  cortes  of  Aragon,  was 
more  violent  and  obstinate  than  that  which  he  had  over- 
come in  Castile :  after  long  delays,  however,  and  with  much 
difficulty,  he  persuaded  the  members  to  confer  on  him  the 
title  of  king,  in  conjunction  with  his  mother.     At  the  same 

"  Sandoval,  pp.  28—31.     P.  Mart.  ^«  P.  Marlyr,  Ep.  619.     Eerreras, 

Ep.  608,  611, -613,  614,  622,  G23,  639.      viii.  p.  160. 
Miuiaua,  Coutiu.  lib.  i.  cli.  3,  p.  8.  ^''  P.  Martyr,  Ep.  605. 


BOOK  I.]  TflE  ARAGONESE.  211 

time,  he  bound  himself  by  that  solemn  oath,  Avhich  the 
Aragonese  exacted  of  their  kings,  never  to  violate  any  of 
their  rights  or  liberties.  When  a  donative  was  demanded, 
the  members  were  still  more  intractable ;  many  months 
elapsed  before  they  would  agree  to  grant  Charles  two 
hundred  thousand  dacats,  and  that  sum  they  appropriated 
so  strictly  for  paying  debts  of  the  crown,  which  had  long 
been  forgotten,  that  a  very  small  part  of  it  came  into  the 
king's  hands.  What  had  happened  in  Castile  taught  them 
caution,  and  determined  them  rather  to  satisfy  the  claims 
of  their  fellow-citizens,  how  obsolete  soever,  than  to  fur- 
nish strangers  the  means  of  enriching  themselves  with  the 
spoils  of  their  country.^^ 

During  these  proceedings  of  the  cortes,  ambassadors 
arrived  at  Saragossa  from  Francis  I.  and  the  young  king 
of  Navarre,  demanding  the  restitution  of  that  kingdom  in 
terms  of  the  treaty  of  Noyon.  But  neither  Charles,  nor 
the  Castilian  nobles  whom  he  consulted  on  this  occasion, 
discovered  any  inclination  to  part  with  this  acquisition.  A 
conference  held  soon  after  at  Montpelier,  in  order  to  bring 
this  matter  to  an  amicable  issue,  was  altogether  fruitless ; 
while  the  French  urged  the  injustice  of  the  usurpation,  the 
Spaniards  were  attentive  only  to  its  importance. '^^ 

[1519,]  From  Aragon,  Charles  proceeded  to  Catalonia, 
where  he  wasted  much  time,  encountered  more  difficulties, 
and  gained  less  money.  The  Flemings  were  now^  become  so 
odious  in  every  province  in  Spain  by  their  exactions,  that 
the  desire  of  mortifying  them,  and  of  disappointing  their 
avarice,  augmented  the  jealousy  with  which  a  free  people 
usually  conduct  their  deliberations. 

The  Castilians,  who  had  felt  most  sensibly  the  weight 
and  rigour  of  the  oppressive  schemes  carried  on  by  the 
Flemings,  resolved  no  longer  to  submit  with  a  tameness 
fatal  to  themselves,  and  which  rendered  them  the  objects 
of  scoru  to  their  fellow-subjects  in  the  other  kingdoms,  of 

58  P.  Martjr,  Ep.  615—634.  "^  Ibid.  605,  633,  640. 

p  2 


212  DEATH  OF  THE  [book  i. 

whicli  the  Spanish  monarchy  was  composed,  Segovia, 
Toledo,  Seville,  and  several  other  cities  of  the  first  rank, 
entered  into  a  confederacy  for  the  defence  of  their  rights 
and  privileges ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  silence  of  the 
nobihty,  who,  on  this  occasion,  discovered  neither  the 
pnblic  spirit  nor  the  resolution  which  became  their  order, 
the  confederates  laid  before  the  king  a  full  view  of  the 
state  of  the  kingdom,  and  of  the  mal-administration  of 
his  favourites.  The  preferment  of  strangers,  the  expor- 
tation of  the  current  coin,  the  increase  of  taxes,  were  the 
grievances  of  which  they  chiefly  complained ;  and  of  these 
they  demanded  redress  with  that  boldness  which  is  natural 
to  a  free  people.  These  remonstrances,  presented  at  first 
at  Saragossa,  and  renewed  afterwards  at  Barcelona,  Charles 
treated  with  great  neglect.  The  confederacy,  however,  of 
these  cities,  at  this  juncture,  was  the  beginning  of  that 
famous  union  among  the  commons  of  Castile,  which  not 
long  after  threw  the  kingdom  into  such  violent  convulsions 
as  shook  the  throne,  and  almost  overturned  the  consti- 
tution.'^*' 

Soon  after  Charles's  arrival  at  Barcelona,  he  received  the 
account  of  an  event  which  interested  him  much  more  than 
the  murmurs  of  the  Castilians,  or  the  scruples  of  the  cortes 
of  Catalonia.  This  was  the  death  of  the  emperor  Maximilian ; 
an  occurrence  of  small  importance  in  itself,  for  he  was  a 
prince  conspicuous  neither  for  his  virtues,  nor  his  power, 
nor  his  abilities  ;  but  rendered  by  its  consequences  more 
memorable  than  any  that  had  happened  during  several 
ages.  It  broke  that  profound  and  universal  peace  which 
then  reigned  in  the  Christian  world ;  it  excited  a  rivalship 
between  two  princes,  which  threw  all  Europe  into  agitation, 
and  kindled  wars  more  general,  and  of  longer  duration, 
than  had  hitherto  been  known  in  modern  times. 

The  revolutions  occasioned  by  the  expedition  of  the 
French  king,  Charles  VIII.,  into  Italy,  had  inspired  the 

^°  P.  Martyr,  Ep.  630.    Ferreras,  viii.  p.  464. 


BOOK  I.]  EMPEROU  MAXIMILIAN.  213 

European  princes  with  new  ideas  concerning  the  import- 
ance of  the  imperial  dignity.  The  claims  of  the  empire 
upon  some  of  the  Italian  states  were  numerous ;  its  juris- 
diction over  others  was  extensive ;  and  though  the  former 
had  been  almost  abandoned,  and  the  latter  seldom  exer- 
cised, under  princes  of  slender  abilities  and  of  little  influ- 
ence, it  was  obvious,  that  in  the  hands  of  an  emperor  pos- 
sessed of  pow^er  or  of  genius,  they  might  be  employed  as 
engines  for  stretching  his  dominion  over  the  greater  part 
of  that  country.  Even  Maximilian,  feeble  and  unsteady 
as  his  conduct  always  was,  had  availed  himself  of  the  infi- 
nite pretensions  of  the  empire,  and  had  reaped  advantage 
from  every  Avar  and  every  negotiation  in  Italy  during  his 
reign.  These  considerations,  added  to  the  dignity  of  the 
station,  confessedly  the  first  among  Christian  princes,  and 
to  the  rights  inherent  in  the  office,  which,  if  exerted  with 
vigour,  were  far  from  being  inconsiderable,  rendered  the 
imperial  crown  more  than  ever  an  object  of  ambition. 

Not  long  before  his  death,  Maximilian  had  discovered 
great  solicitude  to  preserve  this  dignity  in  the  Austrian 
family,  and  to  procure  the  king  of  Spain  to  be  chosen  his 
successor.  But  he  himself  having  never  been  crowned  by 
the  pope,  a  ceremony  deemed  essential  in  that  age,  was 
considered  only  as  emperor  elect.  Though  historians  have 
not  attended  to  that  distinction,  neither  the  Italian  nor 
German  chancery  bestowed  any  other  title  upon  him  than 
that  of  king  of  the  Romans ;  and  no  example  occurring  in 
history  of  any  person's  being  chosen  a  successor  to  a  king 
of  the  Romans,  the  Germans,  always  tenacious  of  their 
forms,  and  unwilling  to  confer  upon  Charles  an  office  for 
which  their  constitution  knew  no  name,  obstinately  refused 
to  gratify  Maximilian  in  that  point. '^' 

By  his  death,  this  difficulty  was  at  once  removed,  and 

"  Guicciardini,  lib.  xiii.  p.  15.  Hist.      Austr.  lib.  vii.  ch.  17, 179,  lib.  viii.  cli. 
Gener.  d'Allemagne,  par  P.  Barre,  torn.      2,  p.  183. 
viii.  part.  1,  p.  1087.    P.  Heuter.  Her. 


214  CHARLES  AND  FRANCIS  I.  [book  i. 

Charles  openly  aspired  to  that  dignity  which  his  grandfather 
attempted,  without  success,  to  secure  for  him.  At  the  same 
time  Prancis  I.,  a  powerful  rival,  entered  the  lists  against 
him ;  and  the  attention  of  all  Europe  was  fixed  upon  this 
competition,  no  less  illustrious  from  the  high  rank  of  the 
candidates,  than  from  the  importance  of  the  prize  for  which 
they  contended.  Each  of  them  urged  his  pretensions  with 
san'guine  expectations,  and  with  no  unpromising  prospect 
of  success.  Charles  considered  the  imperial  crown  as 
belonging  to  him  of  right,  from  its  long  continuance  in 
the  Austrian  line;  he  knew  that  none  of  the  German 
princes  possessed  power  or  influence  enough  to  appear  as 
his  antagonist ;  he  flattered  himself  that  no  consideration 
would  induce  the  natives  of  Germany  to  exalt  any  foreign 
prince  to  a  dignity,  which  during  so  many  ages  had  been 
deemed  peculiar  to  their  own  nation  ;  and,  least  of  all,  that 
they  would  confer  this  honour  upon  Erancis  L,  the  sovereign 
of  a  people  whose  genius,  and  laws,  and  manners,  differed 
so  widely  from  those  of  the  Germans,  that  it  was  hardly 
possible  to  establish  any  cordial  union  between  them;  he 
trusted  not  a  little  to  the  effect  of  Maximihan's  negotiations, 
which,  though  they  did  not  attain  their  ends,  had  prepared 
the  minds  of  the  Germans  for  his  elevation  to  the  imperial 
throne;  but  what  he  relied  on  as  a  chief  recommendation, 
was  the  fortunate  situation  of  his  hereditary  dominions  in 
Germany,  which  served  as  a  natural  barrier  to  the  empire 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  Turkish  power.  The  con- 
quests, the  abilities,  and  the  ambition  of  Sultan  Selim  II. 
had  spread  over  Europe,  at  that  time,  a  general  and  well- 
founded  alarm.  By  his  victories  over  the  Mamelukes,  and 
the  extirpation  of  that  gallant  body  of  men,  he  had  not  only 
added  Egypt  and  Syria  to  his  empire,  but  had  secured  to 
it  such  a  degree  of  internal  tranquillity,  that  he  was  ready 
to  turn  against  Christendom  the  whole  force  of  his  arms, 
which  nothing  hitherto  had  been  able  to  resist.  The  most 
effectual  expedient  for  stopping  the  progress  of  this  torrent, 


BOOKi.]  COMPETITORS  FOR  THE  EMPIRE.  215 

seemed  to  be  the  election  of  an  emperor,  possessed  of  exten- 
sive territories  in  that  country,  where  its  first  impression 
would  be  felt,  and  who,  besides,  could  combat  this  formi- 
dable enemy  with  all  the  forces  of  a  powerful  monarchy, 
and  with  all  the  wealth  furnished  by  the  mines  of  the  new 
world,  or  the  commerce  of  the  Low  Countries.  These  were 
the  arguments  by  which  Charles  publicly  supported  his 
claim ;  and  to  men  of  integrity  and  reflection,  they  appeared 
to  be  not  only  plausible  but  convincing.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, trust  the  success  of  his  cause  to  these  alone.  Great 
sums  of  money  were  remitted  from  Spain ;  all  the  refine- 
ments and  artifices  of  negotiation  w^ere  employed;  and  a 
considerable  body  of  troops,  kept  on  foot  at  that  time  by 
the  states  of  the  circle  of  Suabia,  was  secretly  taken  into 
his  pay.  The  venal  were  gained  by  presents ;  the  objec- 
tions of  the  more  scrupulous  were  answered  or  eluded  j 
some  feeble  princes  were  threatened  or  overawed.''^ 

On  the  other  hand,  Francis  supported  his  claim  with 
equal  eagerness,  and  no  less  confidence  of  its  being  well 
founded.  His  emissaries  contended  that  it  was  now  high 
time  to  convince  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Austria  that 
the  imperial  crown  was  elective,  and  not  hereditary ;  that 
other  persons  might  aspire  to  an  honour  which  their  arro- 
gance had  accustomed  them  to  regard  as  the  property  of 
their  family ;  that  it  required  a  sovereign  of  mature  judg- 
ment, and  of  approved  abilities,  to  hold  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment in  a  country  where  such  unknown  opinions  concerning 
religion  had  been  published,  as  had  thrown  the  minds  of 
men  into  an  imcommon  agitation,  which  threatened  the 
most  violent  efiects;  that  a  young  prince,  without  expe- 
rience, and  who  had  hitherto  given  no  specimens  of  his 
genius  for  command,  was  no  fit  match  for  Selim,  a  monarch 
grown  old  in  the  art  of  war  and  the  course  of  victory  ; 
whereas  a  king,  who  in  his  early  youth  had  triumphed 

"^  Guicc.  lib.  xiii.  p.  159.     Sleidau,  Hist,  of   the  Reformat.  1-i.      Struvii 
Corp.  Hist.  German,  ii.  p.  971.  Not.  20. 


2 16  VIEWS  AND  INTEREST  [book  i. 

over  the  valour  and  discipline  of  the  Swiss,  tiU  then  reck- 
oned invincible,  would  be  an  antagonist  not  unworthy  the 
conqueror  of  the  East ;  that  the  fire  and  impetuosity  of  the 
French  cavalry,  added  to  the  discipline  and  stability  of  the 
German  infantry,  would  form  an  army  so  irresistible,  that, 
instead  of  waiting  the  approach  of  the  Ottoman  forces,  it 
might  carry  hostilities  into  the  heart  of  their  dominions ; 
that  the  election  of  Charles  would  be  inconsistent  with  a 
fundamental  constitution,  by  which  the  person  who  holds 
the  crown  of  Naples  is  excluded  from  aspiring  to  the  impe- 
rial dignity ;  that  his  elevation  to  that  honour  would  soon 
kindle  a  war  in  Italy,  on  account  of  his  pretensions  to  the 
duchy  of  Milan,  the  effects  of  which  could  not  fail  of  reach- 
ing the  empire,  and  might  prove  fatal  to  it.*^^  But  while 
the  French  ambassadors  enlarged  upon  these  and  other 
topics  of  the  same  kind,  in  all  the  courts  of  Germany, 
Francis,  sensible  of  the  prejudices  entertained  against  him 
as  a  foreigner,  unacquainted  Avith  the  German  language  or 
manners,  endeavoured  to  overcome  these,  and  to  gain  the 
favour  of  the  princes,  by  immense  gifts  and  by  infinite  pro- 
mises. As  the  expeditious  method  of  transmitting  money, 
and  the  decent  mode  of  conveying  a  bribe,  by  bills  of 
exchange,  were  then  little  known,  the  French  ambassadors 
travelled  with  a  train  of  horses  loaded  with  treasure,  an 
equipage  not  very  honourable  for  that  prince  by  whom 
they  were  employed,  and  infamous  for  those  to  whom  they 
were  sent."* 

The  other  European  princes  could  not  remain  indifferent 
spectators  of  a  contest,  the  decision  of  which  so  nearly 
affected  every  one  of  them.  Their  common  interest  ouglit 
naturally  to  have  formed  a  general  combination,  in  order 
to  disappoint  both  competitors,  and  to  prevent  either  of 
them  from  obtaining  such  a  pre-eminence  in  power  and 

*^  Guicc.  lib.  xiii.  p.  160.  Sleid.  p.  16.      man,  vol  ii.  p.  4. 
Geor.  Sabiai  dc  Elect.  Car.  V.    His-  '^'*  Memoires  du  Marech.  de  Fleu- 

toria  apud  Scardii  Script.  Her.  Ger-      ranges,  p.  296. 


BOOK  I.]  OF  OTHER  REIGNING  POTENTATES.  217 

dignity  as  might  prove  dangerous  to  the  Hberties  of  Europe. 
But  the  ideas  with  respect  to  a  proper  distribution  and 
balance  of  power  were  so  lately  introduced  into  the  system 
of  European  policy,  that  they  were  not  hitherto  objects  of 
sufficient  attention.  The  passions  of  some  princes,  the  want 
of  foresight  in  others,  and  the  fear  of  giving  offence  to  the 
candidates,  hindered  such  a  salutary  union  of  the  powers 
of  Europe,  and  rendered  them  either  totally  negligent  of 
the  public  safety,  or  kept  them  from  exerting  themselves 
with  vio;our  in  its  behalf. 

The  Swiss  cantons,  though  they  dreaded  the  elevation  of 
either  of  the  contending  monarchs,  and  though  they  wished 
to  have  seen  some  prince  whose  dominions  were  less  exten- 
sive, and  whose  power  was  more  moderate,  seated  on  the 
imperial  throne,  were  prompted,  however,  by  their  hatred 
of  the  French  nation,  to  give  an  open  preference  to  the 
pretensions  of  Charles,  while  they  used  their  utmost  in- 
fluence to  frustrate  those  of  Erancis.*^^ 

The  Venetians  easily  discerned  that  it  was  the  interest  of 
their  republic  to  have  both  the  rivals  set  aside ;  but  their 
jealousy  of  the  house  of  Austria,  whose  ambition  and  neigh- 
bourhood had  been  fatal  to  their  grandeur,  would  not 
permit  them  to  act  up  to  their  own  ideas,  and  led  them 
hastily  to  give  the  sanction  of  their  approbation  to  the 
claim  of  the  Erench  king. 

It  was  equally  the  interest,  and  more  in  the  power,  of 
Henry  VIII.  of  England,  to  prevent  either  Erancis  or 
Charles  from  acquiring  a  dignity  which  Avould  raise  them 
so  far  above  other  monarchs.  But  though  Henry  often 
boasted  that  he  held  the  balance  of  Em'ope  in  his  hands, 
he  had  neither  the  steady  attention,  the  accurate  discern- 
ment, nor  the  dispassionate  temper,  which  that  delicate 
function  required.  On  this  occasion,  it  mortified  his  vanity 
so  much  to  think  that  he  had  not  entered  early  into  that 
noble  competition  which  reflected  such  honour  upon  the 

''^  Sabiiius,  p.  G. 


218  LEO  X.  [book  i. 

two  antagonists,  that  lie  took  a  resolution  of  sending  an 
ambassador  into  Germany,  and  of  declaring  himself  a  can- 
didate for  the  imperial  throne.  The  ambassador,  though 
loaded  with  caresses  by  the  German  princes  and  the  pope's 
nuncio,  informed  his  master  that  he  could  hope  for  no 
success  in  a  claim  which  he  had  been  so  late  in  preferring, 
Henry,  imputing  his  disappointment  to  that  circumstance 
alone,  and  soothed  with  this  ostentatious  display  of  his  own 
importance,  seems  to  have  taken  no  further  part  in  the 
matter,  either  by  contributing  to  thwart  both  his  rivals,  or 
to  promote  one  of  them.'''' 

Leo  X.,  a  pontiff  no  less  renowned  for  his  political  abilities 
than  for  his  love  of  the  arts,  was  the  only  prince  of  the  age 
who  observed  the  motions  of  the  two  contending  monarchs 
with  a  prudent  attention,  or  who  discovered  a  proper  solici- 
tude for  the  public  safety.  The  imperial  and  papal  juris- 
diction interfered  in  so  many  instances,  the  complaints  o> 
usurpation  were  so  numerous  on  both  sides,  and  the  terri- 
tories of  the  church  owed  their  security  so  little  to  their 
own  force,  and  so  much  to  the  weakness  of  the  powers 
around  them,  that  nothing  was  so  formidable  to  the  court 
of  Rome  as  an  emperor  with  extensive  dominions,  or  of  en- 
terprising genius.  Leo  trembled  at  the  prospect  of  behold- 
ing the  imperial  crown  placed  on  the  head  of  the  king  of 
Spain  and  of  Naples,  and  the  master  of  the  new  world ;  nor 
was  he  less  afraid  of  seeing  a  king  of  France,  who  was  duke 
of  Milan  and  lord  of  Genoa,  exalted  to  that  dignity.  He 
foretold  that  the  election  of  either  of  them  would  be  fatal 
to  the  independence  of  the  holy  see,  to  the  peace  of  Italy, 
and  perhaps  to  the  liberties  of  Europe.  But  to  oppose  them 
with  any  prospect  of  success,  required  address  and  caution 
in  proportion  to  the  greatness  of  their  power,  and  their 
opportunities  of  taking  revenge.  Leo  was  defective  in 
neither.  He  secretly  exhorted  the  German  princes  to  place 
one  of  their  own  number  on  the  imperial  throne,  which 

^'  Memoires  de  Fleuranges,  p.  314.    Herbert,  Hist,  of  Henry  VIII- 


BOOK  I.]  HIS  APPREHENSIONS  AND  POLICY.  219 

many  of  tliem  were  capable  of  filling  with  lioiiour.  He  put 
them  in  mind  of  the  constitution  by  "which  the  kings  of 
Naples  were  for  ever  excluded  from  that  dignity."^  lie 
warmly  exhorted  the  French  king  to  persist  in  his  claim, 
not  from  any  desire  that  he  should  gain  his  end  ;  but  as  he 
foresaw  that  the  Germans  would  be  more  disposed  to  favour 
the  king  of  Spain,  he  hoped  that  Francis  himself,  when  he 
discovered  his  own  chance  of  success  to  be  desperate,  would 
be  stimulated  by  resentment  and  the  spirit  of  rivalship  to 
concur  with  all  his  interest  in  raising  some  third  person  to 
the  head  of  the  empire :  or,  on  the  other  hand,  if  Francis 
should  make  an  unexpected  progress,  he  did  not  doubt  but 
that  Charles  would  be  induced,  by  similar  motives,  to  act 
the  same  part ;  and  thus,  by  a  prudent  attention,  the 
mutual  jealousy  of  the  two  rivals  might  be  so  dexterously 
managed  as  to  disappoint  both.  But  this  scheme,  the  only 
one  which  a  prince  in  Leo's  situation  could  adopt,  though 
concerted  Avith  great  wisdom,  was  executed  with  little  dis- 
cretion. The  French  ambassadors  in  Germany  fed  their 
master  with  vain  hopes  ;  the  pope's  nuncio,  being  gained 
by  them,  altogether  forgot  the  instructions  which  he  had 
received ;  and  Francis  persevered  so  long,  and  with  such 
obstinacy,  in  urging  his  own  pretensions,  as  rendered  all 
Leo's  measures  abortive. ^^ 

Such  were  the  hopes  of  the  candidates,  and  the  views  of 
the  different  princes,  when  the  diet  was  opened  according 
to  form  at  Frankfort.  The  right  of  choosing  an  emperor 
had  long  been  vested  in  seven  great  princes,  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  electors,  the  origin  of  whose  office,  as  well 
as  the  nature  and  extent  of  their  powers  have  already  been 
explained.  These  were,  at  that  time,  Albert  of  Branden- 
bm'gh,  archbishop  of  Mentz ;  Flerman  count  de  Wied,  arch- 
bishop of  Cologne;  Richard  de  GreifFenklau,  archbishop  of 
Triers;  Lewis,  king  of  Bohemia;  Lewis,  count  palatine  of  tlie 

^^  Goldasti,  Const iiutiones  Imperiales.     Francof.  17G3,  vol.  i.  p.  439. 
^^  Guicciar.  lib.  xiii.  p.  161. 


220  ASSEMBLY  OP  THE  ELECTOKS.  [book  i. 

Rhine ;  Frederic,  duke  of  Saxony ;  and  Joachim  I.,  marquis 
of  Brandenburgh.  Notwithstanding  the  artful  arguments 
produced  by  the  ambassadors  of  the  two  kings  in  favour  of 
their  respective  masters,  and  in  spite  of  all  their  solicitations, 
intrigues,  and  presents,  the  electors  did  not  forget  that 
maxim  on  which  the  liberty  of  the  German  constitution  was 
thought  to  be  founded.  Among  the  members  of  the  Ger- 
manic body,  which  is  a  great  republic,  composed  of  states 
almost  independent,  the  first  principles  of  patriotism  is  to 
depress  and  limit  the  power  of  the  emperor ;  and  of  this 
idea,  so  natural  under  such  a  form  of  government,  a  German 
politician  seldom  loses  sight.  No  prince  of  considerable 
power  or  extensive  dominions  had  for  some  ages  been 
raised  to  the  imperial  throne.  To  this  prudent  precaution 
many  of  the  great  families  in  Germany  owed  the  splendour 
and  independence  which  they  had  acquired  during  that 
period.  To  elect  either  of  the  contending  monarchs  woidd 
have  been  a  gross  violation  of  that  salutary  maxim ;  would 
have  given  to  the  empire  a  master  instead  of  a  head  ;  and 
would  have  reduced  themselves  from  the  rank  of  being 
almost  his  equals  to  the  condition  of  his  subjects. 

Full  of  these  ideas,  all  the  electors  turned  their  eyes 
towards  Frederic,  duke  of  Saxony,  a  prince  of  such  eminent 
virtue  and  abilities,  as  to  be  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
the  sage,  and  with  one  voice  they  offered  him  the  imperial 
crown.  He  was  not  dazzled  with  that  object  which 
monarchs  so  far  superior  to  him  in  power  courted  w^ith 
such  eagerness ;  and  after  deliberating  upon  the  matter  a 
short  time,  he  rejected  it  with  a  magnanimity  and  disin- 
terestedness no  less  singular  than  admirable.  "  Nothing," 
he  observed,  "  coukl  be  more  impolitic  than  an  obstinate 
adherence  to  a  maxim  which,  though  sound  and  just  in 
many  cases,  was  not  applicable  to  all.  In  times  of  tran- 
quillity," said  he,  "  we  wish  for  an  emperor  who  has  not 
power  to  invade  our  liberties  ;  times  of  danger  demand  one 
who  is  able  to  secure  our  safety.     The  Turkish  armies,  led 


BOOK  I.]  IREDERIC  OF  SAXONY.  221 

by  a  gallant  and  victorious  monarch,  are  now  assembling. 
They  are  ready  to  pour  in  upon  Germany  with  a  violence 
unknown  in  foriuer  ages.  New  conjunctures  call  for  new 
expedients.  The  imperial  sceptre  must  be  committed  to 
some  hand  more  powerful  than  mine,  or  that  of  any  other 
German  prince.  We  possess  neither  dominions,  nor  reve- 
nues, nor  authority,  which  enable  us  to  encounter  such  a 
formidable  enemy.  Recoui'se  must  be  had,  in  this  exigency, 
to  one  of  the  rival  monarchs.  Each  of  them  can  bring  into 
the  field  forces  sufficient  for  our  defence.  But  as  the  king  of 
Spain  is  of  German  extraction ;  as  he  is  a  member  and 
prince  of  the  empire  by  the  territories  which  descend  to 
him  from  his  grandfather ;  as  his  dominions  stretch  along 
that  frontier  which  lies  most  exposed  to  the  enemy ;  his 
claim  is  preferable,  in  my  opinion,  to  that  of  a  stranger  to 
our  language,  to  our  blood,  and  to  our  country ;  and  there- 
fore I  give  my  vote  to  confer  on  him  the  imperial  crown." 
This  opinion,  dictated  by  such  uncommon  generosity, 
and  supported  by  arguments  so  plausible,  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  electors.  The  king  of  Spain's  ambas- 
sadors, sensible  of  the  important  service  which  Frederic 
had  done  their  master,  sent  him  a  considerable  sum  of 
money,  as  the  first  token  of  that  prince's  gratitude.  But 
he  who  had  greatness  of  mind  to  refuse  a  crown,  disdained 
to  receive  a  bribe ;  and,  upon  their  entreating  that  at  least 
he  would  permit  them  to  distribute  part  of  that  sum 
among  his  attendants,  he  replied  that  he  could  not  prevent 
them  from  accepting  what  should  be  offered,  but  whoever 
took  a  single  florin  should  be  dismissed  next  morning  from 
his  service.'^'' 

''^  P.  Daniel,  an  Listorian  of  consi-  superficial     autlior,    whose    treatise, 

derable  name,  seems  to  call  ill  question  though  dignified   with   the  name   of 

the  truth  of  this  account  of  Frederic's  History,   contaii:s  only  such  an    ac- 

behaviour,    in   rcl'usiug   the   imperial  count  of  the  ceremonial  of  Charles's 

crown,  because  it  is  not  mentioned  by  election,  as    is    lisually  published  in 

Georgius  Sabinus  in  his  History  of  the  Germany  on  like   occasions.     Scard. 

Election  and  Coronation  of  Charles  A'".  Ker.  Germ.   Script,  vol.  ii.  p.  1.     The 

torn.  iii.  p.  63.     But  no  great  stress  testimony  of  Erasmus,  lii).  xiii.  cpist. 

ought  to  be  laid  on  an  omission  in  a  4,  and  that  of  Sleidan,   p.    18,   arc 


222  FREDERIC  HAVING  DECLINED  THE  CROWN,     [book  i. 

No  prince  in  Germany  could  now  aspire  to  a  dignity 
which  Frederic   had    declined,   for  reasons    applicable   to 
them  all.     It  remained  to  make  a  choice  between  the  two 
great  competitors.     But  besides  the  prejudice  in  Charles's 
favour  arising  from  his  birth,  as  well  as  the  situation  of  his 
German  dominions,  he  owed  not  a  Httle  to  the  abilities  of 
the  cardinal  de  Gurk,  and  the  zeal  of  Erard  de  la  ]\Iark, 
bishop  of  Liege,  two  of  his  ambassadors,  who  had  con- 
ducted their  negotiations  with  more  prudence  and  address 
than  those  entrusted  by  the  French  king.    The  former,  who 
had  lono-  been  the  minister  and  favourite  of  Maximilian, 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  art  of  managing  the  Germans ; 
and  the  latter,  having  been  disappointed  of  a  cardinal's  hat 
by  Francis,  employed  all   the   malicious    ingenuity   with 
which  the  desire  of  revenge  inspires  an  ambitious  mind,  in 
thwarting  the  measures  of  that  monarch.     The  Spanish 
party  among  the  electors  daily  gained  ground ;  and  even 
the  pope's   nuncio,  being  convinced  that  it  was  vain  to 
make  any  further  opposition,  endeavoured  to  acquire  some 
merit  with  the  future  emperor,  by  offering  voluntarily,  in 
the  name  of  his  master,  a  dispensation  to  hold  the  imperial 
crown  in  conjunction  with  that  of  Naples.^" 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  June,  five  months  and  ten  days 
after  the  death  of  Maximihan,  this  important  contest,  which 
had  held  all  Europe  in  suspense,  was  decided.  Six  of  the 
electors  had  already  declared  for  the  king  of  Spain ;  and 
the  archbishop  of  Triers,  the  only  firm  adherent  to  the 
French  interest,  having  at  last  joined  his  brethren,  Charles 
was,  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  electoral  college,  raised 
to  the  imperial  throne.''^ 

express.    Seckendorf,  in  liis  Commen-  in  bis  letter,  July  5tli,  1519.  Epistres 

tarius  Historicus  et  Apologeticus  de  des  Princes,  &c.  recueillies  par  Rus- 

Lutlieranismo,  p.  121,  bas  examined  celli,  traduictes  par  Belforest.     Par. 

tbis  fact  witb  l]is  usual  industry,  and  1572,  p.  60. 

has  establisbed  its  trutb  by  tbe  most  ™  Preberi  Rer.   Germ.  Scriptores, 

undoubted  evidence.     To  tbese  testi-  vol.  iii.  172,  cur.  Struvii  Argent.  1717. 

monies  wbicb  be  bas  collected,  I  may  Giannone,  Hist,  of  Naples,  ii.  p.  498. 
add  tbe  decisive  one  of  Cardinal  Ca-  '^  Jac.  Aug.  Tbuan.  Hist,  sui  Tem- 

jetan,  tbe  pope's  legate  at  Praukfort,  poris,  edit.  Bulkley,  lib.  i.  cb.  9. 


BOOK  I.]  CIIARLESJS  CHOSEN  EMPEROR.  223 

But  though  the  electors  consented,  from  various  motives, 
to  promote  Charles  to  that  high  station,  they  discovered  at 
the  same  time  great  jealousy  of  his  extraordinary  power, 
and  endeavoured,  with  the  utmost  solicitude,  to  provide 
against  his  encroaching  on  the  privileges  of  the  Germanic 
body.  It  had  long  been  the  custom  to  demand  of  every 
new  emperor  a  confirmation  of  these  privileges,  and  to 
require  a  promise  that  he  never  would  violate  them  in  any 
instance.  While  princes,  who  were  formidable  neither 
from  extent  of  territory,  nor  of  genius,  possessed  the 
imperial  throne,  a  general  and  verbal  engagement  to  this 
purpose  was  deemed  sufficient  security.  But,  under  an 
emperor  so  powerful  as  Charles,  other  precautions  seemed 
necessary.  A  capitulation,  or  claim  of  right,  w^as  formed, 
in  which  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  the  electors,  of 
the  princes  of  the  empire,  of  the  cities,  and  of  every  other 
member  of  the  Germanic  body,  are  enumerated.  This 
capitulation  w^as  immediately  signed  by  Charles's  ambas- 
sadors in  the  name  of  their  master,  and  he  himself,  at  his 
coronation,  confirmed  it  in  the  most  solemn  manner.  Since 
that  period,  the  electors  have  continued  to  prescribe  the 
same  conditions  to  all  his  successors ;  and  the  capitulation, 
or  mutual  contract  between  the  emperor  and  his  subjects, 
is  considered  in  Germany  as  a  strong  barrier  against  the 
progress  of  the  imperial  power,  and  as  the  great  charter  of 
their  liberties,  to  which  they  often  appeal/^ 

The  important  intelligence  of  his  election  was  conveyed 
in  nine  days  from  Frankfort  to  Barcelona,  where  Charles 
was  still  detained  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  Catalonian  cortes, 
which  had  not  hitherto  brought  to  an  issue  any  of  the 
affairs  which  came  before  it.  He  received  the  account  with 
the  joy  natural  to  a  young  and  aspiring  mind,  on  an  acces- 
sion of  power  and  dignity  which  raised  hiin  so  far  above 
the  other  princes  of  Europe.     Then  it  was  that  those  vast 

''- ^  PfefFel,    Abresrc   de    I'llist.    du       Limnci  Capitulaf.  Imper.  Epistres  des 
Droit  Publique  d'AUemague,   i).  590.       Princes  par  RusccUi,  p.  GO. 


224  DISCONTENT  OP  THE  SPANIARDS.  [book  i. 

prospects,  which  allured  him  during  his  whole  administra- 
tion, began  to  open ;  and  from  this  era  we  may  date  the 
formation,  and  are  able  to  trace  the  gradual  progress,  of  a 
grand  system  of  enterprising  ambition,  which  renders  the 
history  of  his  reign  so  worthy  of  attention. 

A  trivial  circumstance  first  discovered  the  effects  of  this 
great  elevation  upon  the  mind  of  Charles.  In  all  the  public 
writs  which  he  now  issued  as  king  of  Spain,  he  assumed 
the  title  of  majesty,  and  required  it  from  his  subjects  as 
a  mark  of  their  respect.  Before  that  time,  all  the  monarchs 
of  Europe  were  satisfied  with  the  appellation  of  hiyhiess  or 
grace ;  but  the  vanity  of  other  courts  soon  led  them  to 
imitate  the  example  of  the  Spanish.  The  epithet  of  majesty 
is  no  longer  a  mark  of  pre-eminence.  The  most  incon- 
siderable monarchs  in  Europe  enjoy  it,  and  the  arrogance 
of  the  greater  potentates  has  invented  no  higher  denomi- 
nations.^^ 

The  Spaniards  were  far  from  viewing  the  promotion  of 
their  king  to  the  imperial  throne  with  the  same  satisfaction 
which  he  himself  felt.  To  be  deprived  of  the  presence  of 
their  sovereign,  and  to  be  subjected  to  the  government  of 
a  viceroy  and  his  council,  a  species  of  administration  often 
oppressive  and  always  disagreeable,  were  the  immediate 
and  necessary  consequences  of  this  new  dignity.  To  see 
the  blood  of  their  countrymen  shed  in  quarrels  wherein  the 
nation  had  no  concern ;  to  behold  its  treasures  wasted  in 
supporting  the  splendour  of  a  foreign  title ;  to  be  plunged 
in  the  chaos  of  Italian  and  German  politics,  were  effects  of 
this  event  almost  as  unavoidable.  From  all  these  con- 
siderations they  concluded,  that  nothing  could  have  hap- 
pened more  pernicious  to  the  Spanish  nation ;  and  the 
fortitude  and  public  spirit  of  their  ancestors,  who,  in  the 
cortes  of  Castile,  prohibited  Alphonso  the  Wise  from 
leaving    the   kingdom,  in  order   to   receive   the   imperial 

^^  Miuianae-Contin.  Mar.  p.  13.  Eerreras,  viii.  475.  Memoires,  Hist,  de  la 
Houssaie,  torn.  i.  p.  53,  &c. 


BOOK  I.]  OPPOSITION  OF  THE  CLERGY.  225 

crown,  were  often  mentioned  with  the  higliest  praise,  and 
pronounced  to  be  extremely  worthy  of  imitation  at  this 
juncture/^ 

But  Charles,  without  re2;ardins  tlie  sentiments  or  mur- 
murs  of  his  Spanish  subjects,  accepted  of  the  imperial 
dignity  which  the  count  palatine,  at  the  head  of  a  solemn 
embassy,  offered  him  in  the  name  of  the  electors ;  and 
declared  his  intention  of  setting  out  soon  for  Germany,  in 
order  to  take  possession  of  it.  This  was  the  more  neces- 
sary, because,  according  to  the  forms  of  the  German 
constitution,  he  could  not,  before  the  ceremony  of  a  public 
coronation,  exercise  any  act  of  jurisdiction  or  authority." 

Their  certain  knowledge  of  this  resolution  augmented  so 
much  the  disgust  of  the  Spaniards,  that  a  sullen  and  re- 
fractory spirit  prevailed  among  persons  of  all  ranks.  The 
pope  having  granted  the  king  the  tenths  of  all  ecclesiastical 
benefices  in  Castile,  to  assist  him  in  carrying  on  war  witli 
greater  vigour  against  the  Turks,  a  convocation  of  the 
clergy  unanimously  refused  to  levy  that  sum,  upon  pretence 
that  it  ought  never  to  be  exacted  but  at.  those  times  when 
Chiistendom  was  actually  invaded  by  the  infidels ;  and 
though  Leo,  in  order  to  support  his  authority,  laid  the 
kingdom  under  an  interdict,  so  little  regard  was  paid  to  a 
censure  which  was  universally  deemed  unjust,  that  Charles 
himself  apphed  to  have  it  taken  off.  Thus  the  Spanish 
clergy,  besides  their  merit  in  opposing  the  usurpations  of 
the  pope,  and  disregarding  the  influence  of  the  crown, 
gained  the  exemption  which  they  had  claimed. '^^ 

The  commotions  which  arose  in  the  kingdom  of  Valencia, 
annexed  to  the  crown  of  Aragon,  were  more  formi(Ud)le, 
and  produced  more  dangerous  and  lasting  effects.  A  sedi- 
tious monk,  having  by  his  sermons  excited  the  citizens  of 
Valencia,  the  capital  city,  to  take  arms,   and  to  punish 

^■'  Sandoval,   i.    p.   32 ;     Minianse  "°  P.  Martyr,  Ep.  102.      Ferreras, 

Contin.  p.  IL  viii.  p.  4'73. 

'^  Sabinus,  P.  Barrc,  viii.  p.  10S5. 

A'OL.   I.  Q 


226  INSURRECTION  IN  VALENCIA.  [book  i. 

certain  criminals  in  a  turanltnary  manner,  the  people, 
pleased  with  this  exercise  of  power,  and  with  such  a 
discovery  of  their  own  importance,  not  only  refused  to  lay 
down  their  arms,  but  formed  themselves  into  troops  and 
companies,  that  they  might  be  regularly  trained  to  martial 
exercises.  To  obtain  some  security  against  the  oppression 
of  the  grandees  was  the  motive  of  this  association,  and 
proved  a  powerful  bond  of  union ;  for  as  the  aristocratical 
privileges  and  independence  were  more  complete  in  Valencia 
than  in  any  other  of  the  Spanish  kingdoms,  the  nobles, 
being  scarcely  accountable  for  their  conduct  to  any  superior, 
treated  the  people  not  only  as  vassals  but  as  slaves.  They 
were  alarmed,  however,  at  the  progress  of  this  unexpected 
insurrection,  as  it  might  encourage  the  people  to  attempt 
shaking  off  the  yoke  altogether;  but,  as  they  could  not 
repress  them  without  taking  arms,  it  became  necessary  to 
have  recourse  to  the  emperor,  and  to  desire  his  permission 
to  attack  them.  [1520].  At  the  same  time  the  people  made 
choice  of  deputies  to  represent  their  grievances,  and  to  im- 
plore the  protection  of  their  sovereign.  Happily  for  the  latter, 
they  arrived  at  court  when  Charles  was  exasperated  to  a 
high  degree  against  the  nobility.  As  he  was  eager  to  visit 
Germany,  where  his  presence  became  every  day  more 
necessary,  and  his  Flemish  courtiers  were  still  more  impa- 
tient to  return  into  their  native  country,  that  they  might 
carry  thither  the  spoils  which  they  had  amassed  in  castile, 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  hold  the  cortes  of  Valencia  in 
person.  He  had  for  that  reason  empowered  the  cardinal 
Adrian  to  represent  him  in  that  assembly,  and  in  his  name 
to  receive  their  oath  of  allegiance,  to  confirm  their  privileges 
with  the  usual  solemnities,  and  to  demand  of  them  a  free 
gift.  But  the  Valencian  nobles,  who  considered  this 
measure  as  an  indignity  to  their  country,  which  was  no 
less  entitled  than  his  other  kingdoms  to  the  honour  of 
their  sovereign's  presence,  declared  that,  by  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  the  constitution,  they  could  neither  acknow- 


BOOK  I.]  CORTES  OF  CASTILE  SUMMONED.       .  227 

ledge  as  king  a  person  who  was  absent,  nor  grant  him 
any  subsidy ;  and  to  this  dcch^ration  they  adhered  with  a 
haughty  and  inflexible  obstinacy.  Charles,  piqued  by  their 
behaviour,  decided  in  favour  of  the  people,  and  rashly 
authorized  them  to  continue  in  arms.  Their  deputies 
returned  in  triumph,  and  were  received  by  their  fellow- 
citizens  as  the  deliverers  of  their  country.  The  insolence 
of  the  multitude  increasing  with  their  success,  they  expelled 
all  the  nobles  out  of  the  city,  committed  the  government 
to  magistrates  of  their  own  election,  and  entered  into  an 
association,  distinguished  by  the  name  of  (jermanada  or 
brotherhood,  which  proved  the  source  not  only  of  the 
wildest  disorders,  but  of  the  most  fatal  calamities  in  that 
kingdom." 

Meanwhile,  the  kingdom  of  Castile  was  agitated  with  no 
less  violence.  No  sooner  was  the  emperor's  intention  to 
leave  Spain  made  known,  than  several  cities  of  the  first 
rank  resolved  to  remonstrate  against  it,  and  to  crave  redress 
once  more  of  those  grievances  which  they  had  formerly 
laid  before  him.  Charles  artfully  avoided  admitting  their 
deputies  to  audience;  and  as  he  saw  from  this  circum- 
stance how  difficult  it  would  be,  at  this  juncture,  to  restrain 
the  mutinous  spirit  of  the  greater  cities,  he  summoned  the 
cortes  of  Castile  to  meet  at  Compostella,  a  town  in  Galicia. 
His  only  reason  for  calling  that  assembly,  was  the  hope  of 
obtaining  another  donative ;  for,  as  his  treasury  had  been 
exhausted  in  the  same  proportion  that  the  riches  of  his 
ministers  increased,  he  could  not,  without  some  additional 
aid,  appear  in  Germany  with  splendour  suited  to  the 
imperial  dignity.  To  appoint  a  meeting  of  the  cortes  in 
so  remote  a  province,  and  to  demand  a  new  subsidy  before 
the  time  for  paying  the  former  was  expired,  were  innova- 
tions of  a  most  dangerous  tendency ;  and  among  a  people 
not  only  jealous  of  their  liberties,  but  accustomed  to  supply 
the  wants   of  their   sovereigns   with   a  very  frugal  hand, 

11  P.  Martyr,  Ep.  651.     Ferreras,  viii.  pp.  476,  485. 

q2 


228  PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  CORTES.  [book  i. 

excited  a  universal  alarm.  The  magistrates  of  Toledo 
remonstrated  against  both  these  measures  in  a  very  high 
tone :  the  inhabitants  of  Valladolid,  who  expected  that  the 
cortes  should  have  been  held  in  that  city,  were  so  enraged, 
that  they  took  arms  in  a  tumultuary  manner ;  and  if  Charles, 
with  his  foreign  councillors,  had  not  fortunately  made  their 
escape  during  a  violent  tempest,  they  would  have  mas- 
sacred all  the  Flemings,  and  have  prevented  him  from 
continuing  his  journey  towards  Compostella. 

Every  city  through  which  he  passed  petitioned  against 
holding  a  cortes  in  Galicia,  a  point  with  regard  to  which 
Charles  was  inflexible.  But  though  the  utmost  influence 
had  been  exerted  by  the  ministers,  in  order  to  procure  a 
choice  of  representatives  favourable  to  their  designs,  such 
was  the  temper  of  the  nation,  that,  at  the  opening  of  the 
assembly,  there  appeared  among  many  of  the  members 
unusual  symptoms  of  ill-humour,  which  threatened  a  fierce 
opposition  to  all  the  measures  of  the  court.  No  represen- 
tatives were  sent  by  Toledo  ;  for  the  lot,  according  to 
which,  by  ancient  custom,  the  election  w^as  determined  in 
that  city,  having  fallen  upon  two  persons  devoted  to  the 
Elemish  ministers,  their  fellow-citizens  refused  to  grant 
them  a  commission  in  the  usual  form,  and  in  their  stead 
made  choice  of  two  deputies,  whom  they  empowered  to 
repair  to  Compostella,  and  to  protest  against  the  lawfulness 
of  the  cortes  assembled  there.  The  representatives  of 
Salamanca  refused  to  take  the  usual  oath  of  fidelity,  unless 
Charles  consented  to  change  the  place  of  meeting.  Those 
of  Toro,  Madrid,  Cordova,  and  several  other  places,  declared 
the  demand  of  another  donative  to  be  unprecedented,  un- 
constitutional, and  unnecessary.  All  the  arts,  however,  which 
influence  popular  assemblies,  bribes,  promises,  threats,  and 
even  force,  were  employed,  in  order  to  gain  members. 
The  nobles,  soothed  by  the  respectful  assiduity  with  which 
Chievres  and  the  other  Flemings  paid  court  to  them,  or 
instigated  by  a  mean  jealousy  of  that  spirit  of  independence 


BOOK  1.]  CHARLES  LEAVES  SPAIN.  229 

which  they  saw  rising  among  the  commons,  openly  favoured 
the  pretensions  of  the  court,  or  at  tlie  utmost  did  not 
oppose  them ;  and  at  last,  in  contempt  not  only  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  nation,  but  of  the  ancient  forms  of  the 
constitution,  a  majority  voted  to  grant  the  donative  for 
which  the  emperor  had  applied."^  Together  with  this  grant, 
the  cortes  laid  before  Charles  a  representation  of  those 
grievances  whereof  his  people  complained,  and  in  their 
name  craved  redress ;  but  he,  having  obtained  from  them 
all  that  he  could  expect,  paid  no  attention  to  this  ill-timed 
petition,  which  it  was  no  longer  dangerous  to  disregard/'* 
As  nothing  now  retarded  his  embarkation,  he  disclosed 
his  intention  with  regard  to  the  regency  of  Castile  during 
his  absence,  Avhich  he  had  hitherto  kept  secret,  and  nomi- 
nated cardinal  Adrian  to  that  office.  The  viceroyalty  of 
Aragon  he  conferred  on  Don  John  de  Lanuza ;  that  of 
Valencia  on  Don  Diego  de  Mendoza,  conde  de  Melito.  The 
choice  of  the  two  latter  was  universally  acceptable  ;  but  the 
advancement  of  Adrian,  though  the  only  Fleming  who  had 
preserved  any  reputation  among  the  Spaniards,  animated 
the  Castihans  with  new  hatred  against  foreigners;  and 
even  the  nobles,  who  had  so  tamely  suffered  other  inroads 
upon  the  constitution,  felt  the  incHgnity  offered  to  their  o\mi 
order  by  his  promotion,  and  remonstrated  against  it  as 
illegal.  But  Charles's  desire  of  visiting  Germany,  as  well 
as  the  impatience  of  his  ministers  to  leave  Spain,  were  now 
so  much  increased,  that,  without  attending  to  the  murmurs 
of  the  Castilians,  or  even  taking  time  to  provide  any  remedy 
against  an  insurrection  in  Toledo,  which  at  that  time  threat- 
ened, and  afterwards  produced  most  formidable  effects,  he 
sailed  from  Corunna  on  the  twenty-second  of  May  ;  and, 
by  setting  out  so  abruptly  in  quest  of  a  new  crown,  he 
endangered  a  more  important  one  of  which  he  was  already 
in  possession.^" 

7^  P.  Martyr,  Ep.  663.     Sandoval,  pp.  32,  &c.  "  Sandoval,  p.  SI. 

«"  P.  Martyr,  Ep.  670.     Sandoval,  p.  86. 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN 


EMPEEOE    CHAELES    V. 


BOOK  11. 


Rivalry  between  Charles  and  Francis  I.  for  the  Empire — They  negotiate  with 
the  Pope,  the  Venetians,  and  Henry  VIII.  of  England — Character  of  the 
latter — Cardinal  Wolsey — Charles  visits  England — Meeting  between  Henry 
VIII.  and  Erancis  I. — Coronation  of  Charles — Solyman  the  Magnificent — 
The  Diet  convoked  at  Worms — The  Reformation — Sale  of  Indulgences  by 
Leo  X. — Tetzel — Luther — Progress  of  his  Opinions — Is  summoned  to  Rome 
— His  appearance  before  the  Legate — He  appeals  to  a  General  Council — 
Luther  questions  the  Papal  Authority — Reformation  in  Switzerland — Ex- 
communication of  Luther — Reformation  in  Germany — Causes  of  the  Progress 
of  tlie  Reformation — The  Corruption  in  the  Roman  Church — Power  and  Ill- 
Conduct  of  the  Clergy — Venality  of  the  Roman  Court — Effects  of  the  Inven- 
tion of  Printing — Erasmus — The  Diet  at  Worms — Edict  against  Luther — 
He  is  seized  and  confined  at  Wartburg — His  Doctrines  condemned  by  the 
"University  of  Paris,  and  controverted  by  Henry  VIII.  of  England — Henry 
VIII.  favours  the  Emperor  Charles  against  Francis  I. — Leo  X.  makes  a 
Treaty  with  Charles — Death  of  Chievres — Hostilities  in  Navarre  and  in  the 
Low  Countries — Siege  of  Mezieres — Congress  at  Calais — League  against 
France — Hostilities  in  Italy — Death  of  Leo  X. — Defeat  of  the  French — 
Henry  VIII.  declares  War  against  France — Charles  visits  England — Conquest 
of  Rhodes  by  Solyman. 

[1520.]  Many  concurring  circumstances  not  only  called 
Charles's  thoughts  towards  the  affairs  of  Germany,  but 
rendered  his  presence  in  that  country  necessary.  The 
electors  grew  impatient  of  so  long  an  interregnum ;  his 
hereditary  dominions  were    disturbed   by  intestine   com- 


BOOK  II.]  CHARLES  AND  FRANCIS.  231 

motions ;  and  the  new  opinions  concerning  religion  made 
such  rapid  progress  as  recjnircd  tlie  most  serious  considera- 
tion. But,  above  all,  the  motions  of  the  French  king  drew 
his  attention,  and  convinced  him  that  it  was  necessary  to 
take  measures  for  his  own  defence  with  no  less  speed  than 
vigour. 

When  Charles  and  Francis  entered  the  hsts  as  candidates 
for  the  imperial  dignity,  they  conducted  their  rivalship  with 
many  professions  of  regard  for  each  other,  and  with  repeated 
declarations  that  they  would  not  suffer  any  tincture  of 
enmity  to  mingle  itself  with  this  honourable  emulation. 
"  We  both  court  the  same  mistress,"  said  Francis,  with  his 
usual  vivacity ;  "  each  ought  to  urge  his  suit  with  all  the 
address  of  which  he  is  master;  the  most  fortunate  will 
prevail,  and  the  other  must  rest  contented."  ^  But  though 
two  young  and  high-spirited  princes,  and  each  of  them 
animated  with  the  hope  of  success,  might  be  capable  of 
forming  such  a  generous  resolution,  it  was  soon  found  that 
they  presumed  upon  a  moderation  too  refined  and  dis- 
interested for  human  nature.  The  preference  given  to 
Charles  in  the  sight  of  all  Europe  mortified  Francis  ex- 
tremely, and  inspired  him  with  all  the  passions  natural  to 
disappointed  ambition.  To  this  was  owing  the  personal 
jealousy  and  rivalship  which  subsisted  between  the  two 
monarchs  during  their  whole  reign ;  and  the  rancour  of 
these,  augmented  by  a  real  opposition  of  interest,  which 
gave  rise  to  many  unavoidable  causes  of  discord,  involved 
them  in  almost  perpetual  hostilities.  Charles  had  paid  no 
regard  to  the  principal  article  in  the  treaty  of  Noyon,  ])y 
refusing  oftener  than  once  to  do  justice  to  John  d'Albret, 
the  excluded  monarch  of  Navarre,  whom  Francis  was  bound 
in  honour,  and  prompted  by  interest,  to  restore  to  his 
throne.  The  French  king  had  pretensions  to  the  crown  of 
Naples,  of  which  Ferdinand  had  deprived  his  predecessor 
by  a  most  unjustifiable   breach  of   faith.     The   emperor 

•  Guic.  lib.  xiii.  p.  159. 


232  CHARLES  AND  ERANCIS  AS  RIVALS.  [book  ii. 

might  reclaim  the  duchy  of  Milan  as  a  fief  of  the  empire, 
which  Francis  had  seized,  and  still  kept  in  possession, 
"without  having  received  investiture  of  it  from  the  emperor. 
Charles  considered  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  as  the  patri- 
monial domain  of  his  ancestors,  wrested  from  them  by  the 
unjust  pohcy  of  Louis  XL,  and  observed  with  the  greatest 
jealousy  the  strict  connexions  which  Francis  had  formed 
with  the  duke  of  Gueldres,  the  hereditary  enemy  of  his 
family. 

When  the  sources  of  discord  were  so  many  and  various, 
peace  could  be  of  no  long  continuance,  even  between 
princes  the  most  exempt  from  ambition  or  emulation.  But 
as  the  shock  between  two  such  mighty  antagonists  could 
not  fail  of  being  extremely  violent,  they  both  discovered  no 
small  solicitude  about  its  consequences,  and  took  time  not 
only  to  collect  and  to  ponder  their  own  strength,  and  to 
compare  it  with  that  of  their  adversary,  but  to  secure  the 
friendship  or  assistance  of  the  other  European  powers. 

The  pope  had  equal  reason  to  dread  the  two  rivals,  and 
saw  that  he  who  prevailed  would  become  absolute  master 
in  Italy.  If  it  had  been  in  his  power  to  engage  them  in 
hostilities,  without  rendering  Lombardy  the  theatre  of  war, 
nothing  would  have  been  more  agreeable  to  him  than  to 
see  them  waste  each  other's  strength  in  endless  quarrels. 
But  this  was  impossible.  Leo  foresaw  that,  on  the  first 
rupture  between  the  two  monarchs,  the  armies  of  France 
and  Spain  would  take  the  field  in  the  Milanese ;  and  while 
the  scene  of  their  operations  was  so  near,  and  the  subject 
for  which  they  contended  so  interesting  to  him,  he  could 
not  long  remain  neuter.  He  was  obliged,  therefore,  to 
adapt  his  plan  of  conduct  to  his  political  situation.  He 
courted  and  soothed  the  emperor  and  king  of  France  with 
equal  industry  and  address.  Though  warmly  solicited  by 
each  of  them  to  espouse  his  cause,  he  assumed  all  the 
appearances  of  entire  impartiality,  and  attempted  to  con- 
ceal his  real' sentiments  under  that  profound  dissimulation 


BOOK  II.]  THEIR  DELIBERATIONS.  233 

which  seems  to  have  been  affected  by  most  of  the  ItnHan 
politicians  in  that  age. 

The  views  and  interest  of  the  Venetians  were  not  different 
from  those  of  the  pope ;  nor  were  they  less  solicitous  to 
prevent  Italy  from  becoming  the  seat  of  war,  and  their  own 
republic  from  being  involved  in  the  quarrel.  But  through 
all  Leo's  artifices,  and  notwithstanding  his  high  pretensions 
to  a  perfect  neutrality,  it  was  visible  that  he  leaned  towards 
the  emperor,  from  whom  he  had  both  more  to  fear  and 
more  to  hope  than  from  Francis ;  and  it  was  equally  mani- 
fest that,  if  it  became  necessary  to  take  a  side,  the  Venetians 
would,  from  motives  of  the  same  nature,  declare  for  the 
king  of  France.  No  considerable  assistance,  however,  was 
to  be  expected  from  the  Italian  states,  who  were  jealous  to 
an  extreme  degree  of  the  transalpine  powers,  and  careful 
to  preserve  the  balance  even  between  them,  unless  when 
they  were  seduced  to  violate  this  favourite  maxim  of  their 
policy,  by  the  certain  prospect  of  some  great  advantage  to 
themselves. 

But  the  chief  attention  both  of  Charles  and  of  Francis 
was  employed  in  order  to  gain  the  king  of  England,  from 
whom  each  of  them  expected  assistance  more  effectual,  and 
afforded  with  less  political  caution.  Henry  VIII.  had 
ascended  the  throne  of  that  kingdom  in  the  year  one 
thousaud  five  hundred  and  nine,  with  such  circumstances 
of  advantage  as  promised  a  reign  of  distinguished  felicity 
and  splendour,  llie  union  in  his  person  of  the  two  con- 
tending titles  of  York  and  Lancaster,  the  alacrity  and 
emulation  with  which  both  factions  obeyed  his  commands, 
not  only  enabled  him  to  exert  a  degree  of  vigour  and 
authority  in  his  domestic  government,  which  none  of  his 
predecessors  could  have  safely  assumed ;  but  permitted  him 
to  take  a  share  in  the  affairs  of  the  continent,  from  which 
the  attention  of  the  English  had  long  been  diverted  by 
their  unhappy  intestine  divisions.  The  great  sums  of 
money  which  his  father  had   amassed  rendered  him  the 


234  HENRY  THE  EIGHTH:  [cook  ii. 

most  wealthy  prince  in  Europe.  The  peace  which  had  sub- 
sisted under  the  cautious  administration  of  that  monarch, 
had  been  of  sufficient  length  to  recruit  the  population  of 
the  kingdom  after  the  desolation  of  the  civil  wars,  but  not 
so  long  as  to  enervate  its  spirit ;  and  the  English,  ashamed 
of  having  rendered  their  own  country  so  long  a  scene  of 
discord  and  bloodshed,  were  eager  to  display  their  valour 
in  some  foreign  war,  and  to  revive  the  memory  of  the 
victories  gained  on  the  continent  by  their  ancestors, 
Henry's  own  temper  perfectly  suited  the  state  of  his 
kingdom,  and  the  disposition  of  his  subjects.  Ambitious, 
active,  enterprising,  and  accomplished  in  all  the  martial 
exercises  which  in  that  age  formed  a  chief  part  of  the 
education  of  persons  of  noble  birth,  and  inspu^ed  them 
with  an  early  love  of  war,  he  longed  to  engage  in  action, 
and  to  signalize  the  beginning  of  his  reign  by  some 
remarkable  exploit.  An  opportunity  soon  presented  itself; 
and  the  victory  at  Guinegate,  together  with  the  successful 
sieges  of  Terouenne  and  Tournay,  though  of  little  utility  to 
England,  reflected  great  lustre  on  its  monarch,  and  con- 
firmed the  idea  which  foreign  princes  entertained  of  his 
power  and  consequence.  So  many  concurring  causes, 
added  to  the  happy  situation  of  his  own  dominions,  which 
secured  them  from  foreign  invasion ;  and  to  the  fortunate 
circumstance  of  his  being  in  possession  of  Calais,  which 
served  not  only  as  a  key  to  Erance,  but  opened  an  easy 
passage  into  the  Netherlands,  rendered  the  king  of  England 
the  natural  guardian  of  the  liberties  of  Europe,  and  the 
arbiter  between  the  emperor  and  French  monarch.  Henry 
himself  was  sensible  of  this  singular  advantage,  and  con- 
vinced that,  in  order  to  preserve  the  balance  even,  it  was 
his  office  to  prevent  either  of  the  rivals  from  acquiring 
such  superiority  of  power  as  might  be  fatal  to  the  other,  or 
formidable  to  the  rest  of  Christendom.  But  he  was  desti- 
tute of  the  penetration,  and  still  more  of  the  temper,  which 
such  a  delicate  function  required.     Influenced  by  caprice. 


1300K II.]  niS  CILiRACTER  AND  POLICY.  235 

by  vanity,  by  resentment,  by  afFection,  lie  was  incapable  of 
forming  any  regular  and  extensive  system  of  policy,  or  of 
adhering  to  it  with  steadiness.  His  measures  seldom 
resulted  from  attention  to  the  general  welfare,  or  from 
a  deliberate  regard  to  his  own  interest,  but  were  dictated 
by  passions  which  rendered  him  blind  to  both,  and  pre- 
vented his  gaining  that  ascendant  in  the  affairs  of  Europe, 
or  from  reaping  such  advantages  to  himself,  as  a  prince  of 
greater  art,  though  with  inferior  talents,  might  have  easily 
secured. 

All  the  impolitic  steps  in  Henry's  administration  must 
not,  however,  be  iuiputed  to  defects  in  his  own  character ; 
many  of  them  w^ere  owing  to  the  violent  passions  and 
insatiable  ambition  of  his  prime  minister  and  favourite, 
cardinal  Wolsev.  This  man,  from  one  of  the  lowest  ranks 
in  life,  had  risen  to  a  height  of  power  and  dignity,  to 
which  no  English  subject  ever  arrived ;  and  governed  the 
haughty,  presumptuous,  and  intractable  spirit  of  Henry 
with  absolute  authority.  Great  talents,  and  of  very 
different  kinds,  fitted  him  for  the  two  opposite  stations  of 
minister  and  of  favourite.  Elis  profound  judgment,  his 
unwearied  industry,  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
state  of  the  kingdom,  his  extensive  knowledge  of  the  views 
and  interest  of  foreign  courts,  qualified  him  for  that  uncon- 
trolled direction  of  affairs  with  which  he  w^as  entrusted. 
The  elegance  of  his  manners,  the  gaiety  of  his  conversation, 
his  insinuating  address,  his  love  of  magnificence,  and  his 
proficiency  in  those  parts  of  literature  of  which  Henry  was 
fond,  gained  him  the  affection  and  confidence  of  the  young 
monarch.  Wolsey  was  far  from  employing  this  vast  and 
almost  royal  power,  to  promote  either  the  true  interest  of 
the  nation,  or  the  real  grandeur  of  his  master.  Rapacious 
at  the  same  time,  and  profuse,  he  was  insatiable  in  desiring 
wealth.  Of  boundless  ambition,  he  aspired  after  new 
honours  with  an  eagerness  unabated  by  his  former  success ; 
and  being  rendered  presumptuous  by  his  uncommon  elcva- 


236  INFLUENCE  OE  WOLSEY.  [book  ii. 

tion,  as  well  as  by  the  ascendant  which  he  had  gained  over 
a  prince  who  scarcely  brooked  advice  from  any  other 
person,  he  discovered  in  his  whole  demeanour  the  most 
overbearing  haughtiness  and  pride.  To  these  passions  he 
himself  sacrificed  every  consideration  ;  and  whoever  endea- 
voured to  obtain  his  ftivour,  or  that  of  his  master,  found  it 
necessary  to  soothe  and  to  gratify  them. 

As  all  the  states  of  Europe  sought  Henry's  friendship 
at  that  time,  all  courted  his  minister  with  incredible  atten- 
tion and  obsequiousness,  and  strove  by  presents,  by  pro- 
mises, or  by  flattery,  to  work  upon  his  avarice,  his  ambition, 
or  his  pride. ^  Prancis  had,  in  the  year  one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  eighteen,  employed  Bonnivet,  admiral  of 
Prance,  one  of  his  most  accomplished  and  artful  courtiers, 
to  gain  this  haughty  prelate.  He  himself  bestowed  on  him 
every  mark  of  respect  and  confidence.  He  consulted  him 
with  regard  to  his  most  important  aifairs,  and  received  his 
responses  with  implicit  deference.  By  these  arts,  together 
with  the  grant  of  a  large  pension,  Francis  attached  the  car- 
dinal to  his  interest,  who  persuaded  his  master  to  surrender 
Tournay  to  Prance,  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  marriage  between 
his  daughter,  the  princess  Mary,  and  the  dauphin,  and  to 
consent  to  a  personal  interview  with  the  French  king.^  From 
that  time,  the  most  familiar  intercourse  subsisted  between 
the  two  courts ;  Francis,  sensible  of  the  great  value  of 
Wolsey's  friendship,  laboured  to  secure  the  continuance  of 
it  by  every  possible  expression  of  regard,  bestowing  on  him, 
in  all  his  letters,  the  honourable  appellations  of  father,  tutor, 
and  governor. 

Charles  observed  the  progress  of  this  union  with  the 
utmost  jealousy  and  concern.  His  near  affinity  to  the  king 
of  England  gave  him  some  title  to  his  friendship ;  and, 
soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Castile,  he  had 
attempted  to  ingratiate  himself  with  Wolsey,  by  settling 

-  Fiddes's  Life  of  Wolsey,  p.  16G.  '  Herbert's  ITist.  of  Henry  VIII. 

■Rymer's  Foedera,  xiii.  p.  718.  p.  30.     Rymer,  xiii.  p.  624. 


BOOK  11.]  CHARLES  YISTTS  ENGLAND.  237 

on  him  a  pension  of  three  thousand  livres.  His  chief 
solicitude  at  present  was  to  prevent  the  intended  interview 
Avith  Francis,  the  effects  of  wliich  upon  two  young  princes, 
wdiose  hearts  were  no  less  susceptible  of  friendship  than 
their  manners  w^ere  capable  of  inspiring  it,  he  extremely 
dreaded.  But,  after  many  delays,  occasioned  by  difficulties 
with  respect  to  the  ceremonial,  and  by  the  anxious  precau- 
tions of  both  courts  for  the  safety  of  their  respective  sove- 
reigns, the  time  and  place  of  meeting  w^ere  at  last  fixed. 
Messengers  had  been  sent  to  different  courts,  inviting  all 
comers,  who  were  gentlemen,  to  enter  the  lists  at  tilt  and 
tournament,  against  the  two  monarchs  and  their  knights. 
Both  Francis  and  Henry  loved  the  splendour  of  tliese  spec- 
tacles too  well,  and  were  too  much  delighted  with  the 
graceful  figure  Avhich  they  made  on  such  occasions,  to 
forego  the  pleasure  or  glory  which  they  expected  from  such 
a  singular  and  brilliant  assembly.  Nor  was  the  cardinal 
less  fond  of  displaying  his  own  magnificence  in  the  presence 
of  two  courts,  and  of  discovering  to  the  two  nations  the 
extent  of  his  influence  over  both  their  monarchs.  Charles, 
finding  it  impossible  to  prevent  the  interview,  endeavoured 
to  disappoint  its  effects,  and  to  pre-occupy  the  favour  of 
the  English  monarch  and  his  minister,  by  an  act  of  com- 
plaisance still  more  flattering  and  more  uncommon.  Hav- 
ing sailed  from  Corunna,  as  has  already  been  related,  he 
steered  his  course  directly  tow^ards  England,  and,  relying 
wholly  on  Henry's  generosity  for  his  ow^i  safety,  landed  at 
Dover.  This  unexpected  visit  surprised  the  nation.  VVolsey, 
however,  was  well  acquainted  wath  the  emperor's  intention. 
A  negotiation,  unknown  to  the  historians  of  that  age,  had 
been  carried  on  between  him  and  the  court  of  Spain ;  this 
visit  had  been  concerted ;  and  Charles  granted  the  cardinal, 
whom  he  calls  his  most  dear  friend,  an  additional  pension 
of   seven   thousand    ducats.^      Henry,  who   was   then    at 

■'  l^yuier,  xiii.  p.  714. 


238  HENRY  THE  EIGHTH  AND  CHARLES.  [book  ii. 

Canterbury,  in  his  way  to  France,  immediately  despatclied 
Wolsey  to  Dover,  in  order  to  welcome  the  emperor ;  and 
being  highly  pleased  with  an  event  so  soothing  to  his  vanity, 
hastened  to  receive,  with  suitable  respect,  a  guest  who  had 
placed  in  him  such  unbounded  confidence.  Charles,  to 
whom  time  was  precious,  stayed  only  four  days  in  England ; 
but,  during  that  short  space,  he  had  the  address  not  only 
to  give  Henry  favourable  impressions  of  his  character  and 
intentions,  but  to  detach  Wolsey  entirely  from  the  interest 
of  the  French  king.  All  the  grandeur,  the  wealth,  and  the 
power,  which  the  cardinal  possessed,  did  not  satisfy  his 
ambitious  mind,  while  there  was  one  step  higher  to  which 
an  ecclesiastic  could  ascend.  The  papal  dignity  had  for 
some  time  been  the  object  of  his  wishes ;  and  Francis,  as 
the  most  effectual  method  of  securing  his  friendship,  had 
promised  to  favour  his  pretensions,  on  the  first  vacancy, 
with  all  his  interest.  But  as  the  emperor's  influence  in 
the  college  of  cardinals  was  greatly  superior  to  that  of  the 
French  king,  Wolsey  grasped  eagerly  at  the  offer  which 
that  artful  prince  had  made  him,  of  exerting  it  vigorously 
in  his  behalf;  and,  allured  by  this  prospect,  which,  under 
the  pontificate  of  Leo,  still  in  the  prime  of  his  life,  was 
a  very  distant  one,  he  entered  with  warmth  into  all  the 
emperor's  schemes.  No  treaty,  however,  was  concluded  at 
that  time  between  the  two  monarchs ;  but  Henry,  in  return 
for  the  honour  which  Charles  had  done  him,  promised  to 
visit  him  in  some  place  of  the  Low  Countries,  immediately 
after  taking  leave  of  the  French  king. 

His  interview  with  that  prince  was  in  an  open  plain 
between  Guisnes  and  Ardres,  where  the  two  kings  and 
then-  attendants  displayed  their  magnificence  with  such 
emulation  and  profuse  expense,  as  procured  it  the  name  of 
the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold.  Feats  of  chivalry,  parties 
of  gallantry,  together  with  such  exercises  and  pastimes  as 
were  in  that  age  reckoned  manly  or  elegant,  rather  than 
serious  business,  occupied  both  courts  during  eighteen  days 


BOOK  II.]    INTERVIEW  BETWEEN  HENRY  AND  ERANCIS.  239 

that  they  continued  together.^  Whatever  impression  the 
engaging  manners  of  Trancis,  or  the  Hbcral  and  unsuspicions 
confidence  with  which  he  treated  Henry,  made  on  the  mind 
of  that  monarch,  was  soon  effaced  by  Wolsey's  artifices, 
or  by  an  interview  he  had  with  the  emperor  at  Gravchnes, 
w^hich  was  conducted  with  less  pomp  than  that  near  Guisnes, 
but  with  greater  attention  to  what  might  be  of  pohtical 
utihty. 

This  assiduity  with  which  the  two  greatest  monarchs  in 
Europe  paid  court  to  Henry,  appeared  to  him  a  plain 
acknowledgment  that  he  held  the  balance  in  his  hands, 
and  convinced  him  of  the  justness  of  the  motto  which  he 
had  chosen,  "  That  whoever  he  favoured  would  prevail." 
In  this  opinion  he  w^as  confirmed  by  an  oficr  which  Charles 
made,  of  submitting  any  difference  that  might  arise  between 
him  and  Francis  to  his  sole  arbitration.  Nothing  could 
have  the  appearance  of  greater  candour  and  moderation 
than  the  choice  of  a  judge  who  was  reckoned  the  common 
friend  of  both.  But  as  the  emperor  had  now  attached 
Wolsey  entirely  to  his  interest,  no  proposal  could  be  more 
insidious,  nor,  as  appeared  by  the  sequel,  more  fatal  to  the 
French  king.^ 

Charles,  notwithstanding  his  partial  fondness  for  the 
Netherlands,  the  place  of  his  nativity,  made  no  long  stay 
there,  and,  after  receiving  the  homage  and  congratulations 
of  his  countrymen,  hastened  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  place 

*  The  French  and  English  historians  gained  the  prize.  After  this,  the  kings 

describe  the  pomp  of  lliis  interview,  of  France  and  Enghind  retired  to  a 

and  the  various  spectacles,  with  great  tent,  where  they  drank  together,  and 

minuteness.     One  circumstance  men-  the  king  of  England,  seizing  the  king 

tioned  by  theMareschaldcFleuranges,  of  France  by    the  collar,  said,  ^  My 

who  was  present,  and  which  must  ap-  brother,  I  must  icrestle  with  i/on,'  and 

pear  singular  in  the  present  age,  is  endeavoured    once    or  twice  to  trip 

commonly  omitted.     "  After  the  tour-  up  his  heels  ;  but  the  king  of  France, 

nament,"  says  he,  "  the  French  and  who  is  a  dexterous  wrestler,  twisted 

English  wrestlers  made  their  appear-  him  round,  and  threw  him  on  tiic  earth 

ance,  and  wrestled  in  presence  of  the  with  prodigious  violence.     The  king 

kings  and  the  ladies  ;  and  as  there  were  of  England  wanted  to  renew  the  com- 

many  stout  wrestlers  there,  it  afforded  bat,  but  was  prevented."     Mcmoircs 

excellent  pastime  ;   but  as  the  king  of  de  Fleuranges,  12''.     Paris,  1753,  p+ 

France   had  neglected  to  bring  any  329. 
wrestlers  out  of  Brctagne,  the  Englisli  ^  Herbert,  p.  37. 


240  CORONATION  OF  CHARLES.  [book  ii. 

appointed  by  the  golden  bull  for  the  coronation  of  the 
emperor.  There,  in  presence  of  an  assembly  more  nume- 
rous and  splendid  than  had  appeared  on  any  former  occa- 
sion, the  crown  of  Charlemagne  was  placed  on  his  head, 
with  all  the  pompous  solemnity  which  the  Germans  affect 
in  their  public  ceremonies,  and  which  they  deem  essential 
to  the  dignity  of  their  empire.^ 

Almost  at  the  same  time,  Solyman  the  Magnificent,  one 
of  the  most  accomplished,  enterprising,  and  victorious  of 
the  Turkish  sultans,  a  constant  and  formidable  rival  to  the 
emperor,  ascended  the  Ottoman  throne.  It  was  the  pecu- 
liar glory  of  that  period  to  produce  the  most  illustrious 
monarchs  w^ho  have  at  any  one  time  appeared  in  Europe. 
Leo,  Charles,  Francis,  Henry,  and  Solyman,  were  each  of 
them  possessed  of  talents  which  might  have  rendered  any 
age  wherein  they  happened  to  flourish  conspicuous.  But 
such  a  constellation  of  great  princes  shed  uncommon  lustre 
on  the  sixteenth  century.  In  every  contest,  great  power, 
as  Avell  as  great  abilities,  were  set  in  opposition ;  the  efforts 
of  valour  and  conduct  on  one  side,  counterbalanced  by 
an  equal  exertion  of  the  same  qualities  on  the  other,  not 
only  occasioned  such  a  variety  of  events  as  renders  the 
history  of  that  period  interesting,  but  served  to  check  the 
exorbitant  progress  of  any  of  those  princes,  and  to  prevent 
their  attaining  such  pre-eminence  in  power  as  would  have 
been  fatal  to  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  mankind. 

The  first  act  of  the  emperor's  administration  w-as  to 
appoint  a  diet  of  the  empire  to  be  held  at  Worms,  on  the 
sixth  of  January,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
one.  In  his  circular  letters  to  the  different  princes,  he 
informed  them  that  he  had  called  this  assembly  in  order  to 
concert  with  them  the  most  proper  measures  for  checking 
the  progress  of  those  new  and  dangerous  opinions,  which 
threatened  to  disturb  the  peace  of  Germany,  and  to  over- 
turn the  religion  of  their  ancestors. 

''  Hartman.  Mauri  Rclatio  Corouat.  Car.  V.  ap.  Goldast.  Polif.  Imperial. 
Franc.  1G14,  fol.  p.  2G4. 


BOOK  II.]  THE  REFORMATION.  241 

Charles  had  in  vie^v  the  opinions  which  had  been  propa- 
gated by  Lnthcr  and  his  disciples  since  the  year  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  seventeen.  As  these  led  to  that 
happy  reformation  in  religion  which  rescued  one  part  of 
Europe  from  the  papal  yoke,  mitigated  its  rigour  in  the 
other,  and  produced  a  revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  man- 
kind, the  gieatest,  as  well  as  the  most  beneficial,  that  has 
happened  since  the  publication  of  Christianity,  not  only  the 
events  which  at  first  gave  birth  to  such  opinions,  but  the 
causes  which  rendered  their  progress  so  rapid  and  success- 
ful, deserve  to  be  considered  Avith  minute  attention. 

To  overturn  a  system  of  religious  belief,  founded  on 
ancient  and  deep-rooted  prejudices,  supported  by  power, 
and  defended  with  no  less  art  than  industry;  to  establish 
in  its  room  doctrines  of  the  most  contrary  genius  and  ten- 
dency ;  and  to  accomplish  all  this,  not  by  external  violence 
or  the  force  of  arms,  are  operations  which  historians,  the 
least  prone  to  credulity  and  superstition,  ascribe  to  that 
Divine  Providence  which,  with  infinite  ease,  can  bring  about 
events  which  to  human  sagacity  appear  impossible.  The 
interposition  of  Heaven  in  favour  of  the  Christian  religion 
at  its  first  publication,  was  manifested  by  miracles  and 
prophecies  wrought  and  uttered  in  confirmation  of  it. 
Though  none  of  the  reformers  possessed,  or  pretended  to 
possess,  these  supernatural  gifts,  yet  that  wonderful  prepa- 
ration of  circumstances  which  disposed  the  minds  of  men 
for  receiving  their  doctrines,  that  singular  combination  of 
causes  which  secured  their  success,  and  enabled  men  des- 
titute of  power  and  of  policy  to  triumph  over  those  who 
employed  against  them  extraordinary  efforts  of  both,  may 
be  considered  as  no  slight  proof,  that  the  same  hand  which 
planted  the  Christian  religion,  protected  the  reformed  faith, 
and  reared  it  from  beginnings  extremely  feeble,  to  an 
amazing  degree  of  vigour  and  maturity. 

It  was  from  causes  seemingly  fortuitous,  and  from  a 
source  very  inconsiderable,  that  all  the  mighty  effects  of 
the  reformation  flowed.     Leo  X.,  when  raised  to  the  papal 

VOL.  I.  u 


242  RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OE  [book  ii. 

throne,  found  the  revenues  of  the  church  exhausted  by  the 
vast  projects  of  his  two  ambitious  predecessors,  Alexander  VI. 
and  Julius  II.      His  own  temper,  naturally  liberal  and 
enterprising,  rendered  him  incapable  of  that  severe  and 
patient  economy  which  the  situation  of  his  finances  required. 
On  the  contrary,  his  schemes  for  aggrandizing  the  family 
of  Medici,  his  love  of  splendour,  his  taste  for  pleasure,  and 
his  magnificence  in  rewarding  men  of  genius,  involved  him 
daily  in  new  expenses ;  in  order  to  provide  a  fund  for  which 
he  tried  every  device  that  the  fertile  invention  of  priests  had 
fallen  upon,  to  drain  the  credidous  multitude  of  their  wealth. 
Among  others,  he  had  recourse  to  a  sale  of  indulgences. 
According  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Romish  church,  all  the 
good  works  of  the  saints,  over  and  above  those  which  were 
necessary  tow^ards  their  own  justification,   are  deposited, 
together  wdtli  the  infinite  merits  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  one 
inexhaustible  treasury.    The  keys  of  this  were  committed  to 
St.  Peter,  and  to  his  successors  the  popes,  who  may  open 
it  at  pleasure,  and,  by  transferring  a  portion  of  this  super- 
abundant merit  to  any  particular  person  for  a  sum   of 
money,  may  convey  to  him  either  the  pardon  of  his  own 
sins,  or  a  release  for  any  one  in  whose  happiness  he  is 
interested,  from  the  pains  of  purgatory.     Such  indulgences 
were  first  invented  in  the  eleventh  century  by  Urban  II.,  as 
a  recompence  for  those  who  w^ent  in  person  upon  the  meri- 
torious  enterprise  of  conquering  the   Holy  Land.     They 
were  afterw^ards  granted  to  those  wdio  hired  a  soldier  for 
that  purpose;  and  in  process  of  time  were  bestowed  on 
such  as  gave  money  for  accomplishing   any  pious   work 
enjoined  by  the  pope.^     Julius  II.  had  bestowed  indul- 
gences on  all  wdio  contributed  towards  building  the  church 
of  St.  Peter  at  Rome ;  and  as  Leo  was  carrying  on  that 
magnificent  and  expensive  fabric,  his  grant  was  founded  on 
the  same  pretence.'' 

The  right  of  promulgating  these  indulgences  in  Germany, 

*  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  by  F.  Paul,  p.  4. 
"  '  Palavic  Hist.  Cone.  Trident,  p.  4. 


BOOK  II.] 


THE  REFORMATION. 


243 


together  with  a  share  in  the  profits  arising  from  the  sale  of 
them,  was  granted  to  Albert,  elector  of  Metz  and  archljishop 
of  Magdeburg,  who,  as  his  cliief  agent  for  retailing  them  in 
Saxony,  employed  Tetzel,  a  Dominican  friar,  of  licentious 
morals,  but  of  an  active  spirit,  and  remarkable  for  his  noisy 
and  popular  eloquence.  He,  assisted  by  the  monks  of  his 
order,  executed  the  commission  with  great  zeal  and  success, 
but  with  little  discretion  or  decency;  and  though,  by 
magnifying  excessively  the  benefit  of  their  indulgences,"* 


'"  As  tlie  form  of  these  indulgences, 
and  the  beuciits  which  they  were  sup- 
posed to  convey,  are  unknown  in  pro- 
testant  countries,  and  lit  tie  understood, 
at  present,  in  several  places  where  the 
Roman  catholic  religion  is  established 
I  have,  for  the  information  of  my 
readers,  translated  the  form  of  absolu- 
tion used  by  Tetzel :  "  May  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  have  mercy  u])ou  thee, 
and  absolve  thee  by  the  merits  of  his 
most  holy  passion.  And  I,  by  his  au- 
tliority,  that  of  his  blessed  Apostles 
Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  the  most  iioly 
pope,  granted  and  committed  to  me  in 
these  parts,  do  absolve  thee,  first  from 
all  ecclesiastical  censures,  in  whatever 
manner  they  have  been  incurred,  and 
then  from  all  thy  sins,  transgressions, 
and  excesses,  how  enormous  soever 
they  may  be,  even  from  such  as  are 
reserved  for  tiie  cognisance  of  the  holy 
see  ;  and  as  far  as  the  keys  of  the  holy 
church  extend,  I  remit  to  you  all 
punishment  which  you  desei've  in  pur- 
gatory on  their  account ;  and  I  restore 
you  to  the  holy  sacraments  of  tiie 
church,  to  the  unity  of  the  faithfid, 
and  to  that  innocence  and  purity 
which  you  possessed  at  baptism  ;  so 
that,  when  you  die,  the  gates  of  [)unish- 
ment  shall  be  shut,  and  the  gates  of 
the  paradise  of  delight  shall  be  opened; 
and  if  you  shall  not  die  at  present, 
this  grace  shall  remain  in  full  force 
when  you  are  at  the  point  of  death. 
In  the  name  of  the  Fatiier,  and  of  the 
Son,and  of  tlielioly  Ghost." — Seckend. 
Comment,  lib.  i.  p.  14. 

The  terms  in  which  Tetzel  and  his 
associates  described  the  benefits  of  in- 


dulgences, and  the  necessity  of  pur- 
chasing them,  are  so  extravagant,  tiiat 
they  appear  to  be  almost  incredible. 
If  any  man  (said  they)  purchase  letters 
of  inuulgcncc,  his  soul  may  rest  secure 
with  rcs|)cct  to  its  salvation.  The 
souls  coniiiicd  in  purgatory,  for  whose 
redemption  indulgences  are  purchased, 
as  soon  as  the  money  tinkles  in  the 
chest,  instantly  escape  from  that  place 
of  torment,  and  ascend  into  heaven. 
That  the  efficacy  of  indulgences  was 
so  great,  that  the  most  heinous  sins, 
even  if  one  should  violate  (which  was 
impossible)  the  mother  of  God,  would 
be  remitted  and  expiated  by  them,  and 
the  person  be  freed  both  from  punish- 
ment and  guilt.  That  this  was  the 
unspeakable  gift  of  God,  in  order  to 
reconcile  men  to  himself.  That,  the 
cross  erected  by  the  preachers  of  in- 
dulgences was  as  efficacious  as  the 
cross  of  Christ  itself.  Lol  the  heavens 
are  open  ;  if  you  enter  not  now,  when 
will  you  enter?  For  twelve  pence 
you  may  redeem  the  soul  of  your  father 
out  of  purgatory ;  and  are  you  so  un- 
grateful, that  you  will  not  rescue  your 
parent  from  torment  ?  If  you  had  but 
one  coat,  you  ought  to  strip  yourself 
instantly  and  sell  it,  in  order  to  pur- 
cliase  such  benefits,  &c.  These,  and 
many  such  extravagant  expressions, 
are  selected  out  of  Li.ther's  works  by 
Chemnitius  in  his  Examen  Concilii 
Tridentini,  apudlierm.Vou  derllardt, 
Hist.  Liter.  Peform.  pars  iv.  p.  G. 
The  same  author  has  publibhed  several 
of  Tetzel's  discourses,  which  prove  that 
these  expressions  w^re  neither  sin- 
gular nor  exaggerated.— /iij</.  n.  14. 

2 


244  MAUTIN  LUTHER  [book  ii. 

and  by  disposing  of  tliem  at  a  very  low  price,  tliey  carried 
on  for  some  time  an  extensive  and  lucrative  traffic  among 
tlie  credulous  and  the  ignorant ;  the  extravagance  of  their 
assertions,  as  well  as  the  irregularities  in  their  conduct, 
came  at  last  to  give  general  offence.  The  princes  and 
nobles  were  irritated  at  seeing  their  vassals  drained  of  so 
much  wealth,  in  order  to  replenish  the  treasury  of  a  profuse 
pontiff.  Men  of  piety  regretted  the  delusion  of  the  people, 
who,  being  taught  to  rely  for  the  pardon  of  their  sins  on 
the  indulgences  which  they  purchased,  did  not  think  it 
incumbent  on  them  either  to  study  the  doctrines  taught  by 
genuine  Christianity,  or  to  practise  the  duties  which  it 
enjoins.  Even  the  most  unthinking  were  shocked  at  the 
scandalous  behaviour  of  Tetzel  and  his  associates,  who  often 
squandered  in  drunkenness,  gaming,  and  low  debauchery, 
those  sums  which  were  piously  bestowed  in  hopes  of  obtain- 
ing eternal  happiness ;  and  all  began  to  wish  that  some 
check  were  given  to  this  commerce,  no  less  detrimental  to 
society  than  destructive  to  religion. 

Such  was  the  favourable  juncture,  and  so  disposed  were 
the  minds  of  his  countrymen  to  listen  to  his  discourses, 
when  Martin  Luther  first  began  to  call  in  question  the 
efficacy  of  indulgences,  and  to  declaim  against  the  vicious 
lives  and  false  doctrines  of  the  persons  employed  in  pro- 
mulgating them.  Luther  was  a  native  of  Eisleben,  in 
Saxony,  and,  though  born  of  poor  parents,  had  received  a 
learned  education,  during  the  progress  of  which  he  gave 
many  indications  of  uncommon  vigour  and  acuteness  of 
genius.  His  mind  was  naturally  susceptible  of  serious 
sentiments,  and  tinctured  with  somewhat  of  that  religious 
melancholy  which  delights  in  the  solitude  and  devotion  of 
a  monastic  life.  The  death  of  a  companion  killed  by  light- 
ning at  his  side  in  a  violent  thunder-storm,  made  such  an 
impression  on  his  mind,  as  co-operated  with  his  natural 
temper  in  inducing  him  to  retire  into  a  convent  of  Augus- 
tinian  friars,  where,  without  suffering  the  entreaties  of  his 


BOOK  n.]  TETZEL.  245 

parents  to  divert  him  from  ^yllat  lie  thought  his  duty  to 
God,  he  assumed  the  habit  of  that  order.  He  soon  acquired 
great  reputation,  not  only  for  piety,  but  for  his  love  of 
knowledge,  and  his  unwearied  application  to  study.  He 
Lad  been  taught  the  scholastic  philosophy  and  theology, 
which  were  then  in  vogue,  by  very  able  masters,  and  wanted 
not  penetration  to  comprehend  all  the  niceties  and  distinc- 
tions with  which  they  abound ;  but  his  understanding, 
naturally  sound,  and  superior  to  everything  frivolous,  soon 
became  disgusted  with  those  subtile  and  uninstructive 
sciences,  and  sought  for  some  more  solid  foundation  of 
knowledge  and  of  piety  in  the  holy  Scriptures.  Having 
fonnd  a  copy  of  the  Bible,  which  lay  neglected  in  the 
library  of  his  monastery,  he  abandoned  all  other  pursuits, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  it,  with  such  eagerness 
and  assiduity,  as  astonished  the  monks,  who  were  little 
accustomed  to  derive  their  theological  notions  from  that 
source.  The  great  progress  which  he  made  in  this  imcom- 
mon  course  of  study,  augmented  so  much  the  fame  both  of 
his  sanctity  and  of  his  learning,  that  Frederic,  elector  of 
Saxony,  having  founded  a  university  at  Wittemberg  on  the 
Elbe,  the  place  of  his  residence,  Luther  was  chosen  first  to 
teach  philosophy,  and  afterwards  theology  there ;  and  dis- 
charged both  offices  in  such  a  manner,  that  he  was  deemed 
the  chief  ornament  of  that  society. 

While  Luther  was  at  the  height  of  his  reputation  and 
authoi'ity,  Tetzel  began  to  publish  indulgences  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Wittemberg,  and  to  ascribe  to  them  the 
same  imaginary  virtues  which  had,  in  other  places,  imposed 
on  the  credulity  of  the  people.  As  Saxony  was  not  more 
enlightened  than  the  other  provinces  of  Germany,  Tetzel 
met  with  prodigious  success  there.  It  was  witii  the  utmost 
concern  that  Luther  beheld  the  artifices  of  those  who  sold, 
and  the  simplicity  of  those  who  bought,  indulgences.  The 
opinions  of  Thomas  Aquinas  and  the  other  schoolmen,  on 
which  the  doctrine  of  indulgences  was  founded,  had  already 


246  LUTHEE  OPPOSES  THE  [book  ir. 

lost  much  of  their  authority  with  him ;  and  the  Scriptures, 
which  he  began  to  consider  as  the  great  standard  of 
theological  truth,  afforded  no  countenance  to  a  practice 
equally  subversive  of  faith  and  of  morals.  His  warm  and 
impetuous  temper  did  not  suffer  him  long  to  conceal  such 
important  discoveries,  or  to  continue  a  silent  spectator  of 
the  delusion  of  his  countrymen.  Prom  the  pulpit,  in  the 
great  church  of  Wittemberg,  he  inveighed  bitterly  against 
the  irregularities  and  vices  of  the  monks  who  published 
mdulgences ;  he  ventured  to  examine  the  doctrines  which 
they  taught,  and  pointed  out  to  the  people  the  danger  of 
relying  for  salvation  upon  any  other  means  than  those 
appointed  by  God  in  his  word.  The  boldness  and  novelty 
of  these  opinions  drew  great  attention,  and  being  recom- 
mended by  the  authority  of  Luther's  personal  character, 
and  delivered  with  a  popular  and  persuasive  eloquence, 
they  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  hearers.  Encouraged 
by  the  favom\ible  reception  of  his  doctrines  among  the 
people,  he  wrote  to  Albert,  elector  of  Metz  and  archbishop 
of  Magdeburg,  to  whose  jurisdiction  that  part  of  Saxony 
was  subject,  and  remonstrated  warmly  against  the  false 
opinions,  as  well  as  wicked  lives,  of  the  preachers  of 
indulgences  ;  but  he  found  that  prelate  too  deeply  inter- 
ested in  their  success  to  correct  their  abuses.  His  next 
attempt  was  to  gain  the  suffrage  of  men  of  learning.  For 
this  purpose  he  published  ninety-five  theses,  containing  his 
sentiments  with  regard  to  indulgences.  These  he  proposed 
not  as  points  fully  established,  or  of  undoubted  certainty, 
but  as  subjects  of  inquiry  and  disputation ;  he  appointed 
a  day,  on  which  the  learned  were  invited  to  impugn  them, 
either  in  person  or  by  writing ;  to  the  whole  he  subjoined 
solemn  protestations  of  his  high  respect  for  the  apostolic 
see,  and  of  his  implicit  submission  to  its  authority.  No 
opponent  appeared  at  the  time  prefixed ;  these  theses  spread 
over  Germany  with  astonishing  rapidity;  they  were  read 
with  the  greatest  eagerness ;  and  all  admired  the  boldness 


BOOK  II.]  SALE  OF  INDULGENCES.  247 

of  the  man  who  had  ventured  not  only  to  call  in  question 
the  plenitude  of  papal  power,  but  to  attack  the  Dominicans, 
armed  with  all  the  terrors  of  inquisitorial  authority." 

The  friars  of  St.  Augustine,  Luther's  own  order,  though 
addicted  with  no  less  obsequiousness  than  the  other  mo- 
nastic fraternities  to  the  papal  see,  gave  no  check  to  the 
publication  of  these  uncommon  opinions.  Luther  had,  by 
his  piety  and  learning,  acquired  extraordinary  authority 
among  his  brethren ;  he  professed  the  highest  regard  for 
the  authority  of  the  pope  ;  his  professions  were  at  that 
time  sincere ;  and  as  a  secret  enmity,  excited  by  interest 
or  emulation,  subsists  among  all  the  monastic  orders  in 
the  Romish  church,  the  Augustinians  were  highly  pleased 
with  his  invectives  against  the  Dominicans,  and  hoped  to 
see  them  exposed  to  the  hatred  and  scorn  of  the  people. 
Nor  was  his  sovereign,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the  wisest 
prince  at  that  time  in  Germany,  dissatisfied  wdth  this 
obstruction  which  Luther  threw  in  the  way  of  the  publi- 
cation of  indulgences.  He  secretly  encouraged  the  attempt, 
and  flattered  himself  that  this  dispute  among  the  eccle- 
siastics themselves,  might  give  some  check  to  the  exactions 
of  the  court  of  Rome,  which  the  secular  princes  had  long, 
though  without  success,  been  endeavouring  to  oppose. 

Many  zealous  champions  immediately  arose  to  defend 
opinions  on  which  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  church 
were  founded,  against  Luther's  attacks.  Li  opposition  to 
his  theses,  Tetzel  published  counter-theses  at  Francfort  on 
the  Oder;  Eccius,  a  celebrated  divine  of  Augsburg,  en- 
deavoured to  refute  Luther's  notions ;  and  Prierias,  a 
Dominican  friar,  master  of  the  sacred  palace,  and  inquisitor- 
general,  wrote  against  him  with  all  the  virulence  of  a 
scholastic  disputant.  But  the  manner  in  Avkich  they  con- 
ducted the  controversy  did  little  service  to  their  cause. 
Luther   attempted   to   combat  indulgences  by  arguments 

"  Lut.lieri  Opera,  Jeuae,  1612,  vol.  of  Trent,  by  E.  Paul,  p.  4.  Seckend. 
i.  prset'at.  3,  p.  2,  60.     Hist,  of  Couuc.      Com.  A.pol.  p.  16. 


248 


OPPONENTS  OF  LUTHER 


[book  II. 


founded  in  reason,  or  derived  from  Scripture ;  tliey  pro- 
duced nothing  in  support  of  them  but  the  sentiments  of 
schoohnen,  the  conchisions  of  the  canon  law,  and  the 
decrees  of  popes. '^  The  decision  of  judges  so  partial  and 
interested  did  not  satisfy  the  people,  who  began  to  call  in 
question  the  authority  even  of  these  venerable  guides,  when 
they  found  them  standing  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
dictates  of  reason,  and  the  determinations  of  the  divine 
law.^^  * 


"  F.  Paul,  "p.  6.  Seckend.  p.  40. 
Palavic.  p.  8. 

'^  Seckend.  p.  30. 

*  Guicciardini  has  asserted  two 
tilings  with  regard  to  the  first  promul- 
gation of  indulgenees  :  1.  Tiiat  Leo 
bestowed  a  gift  of  tlie  profits  arising 
from  the  sale  of  indulgences  in  Saxony, 
and  the  adjacent  provinces  of  Germany, 
upon  his  sister  Magdalen,  the  wife  of 
FrancescettoCibo.  6'«/c.lib.  p.xiii.lGS. 
2.  Tliat  Arcemboldo,  a  Genoese  eccle- 
siastic, who  had  been  bred  a  merchant, 
and  still  retained  all  the  activity  and 
address  of  that  profession,  was  ap- 
pointed by  her  to  collect  the  money 
which  should  be  raised.  F.  Paul  has 
followed  him  in  both  these  jiarticulars, 
and  adds,  that  the  Augustiniaus  in 
Saxony  had  been  immcmorially  em- 
ployed in  preaching  indulgences;  but 
that  Arcemboldo  and  his  deputies, 
hoping  to  gain  more  by  committing 
this  trust  to  tiie  Dominicans,  had 
made  their  bargain  with  Tetzel,  and 
that  Luther  was  prompted  at  first  to 
oppose  Tetzel  and  his  associates,  by  a 
desire  of  taking  revenge  for  this  in- 
jury offered  to  his  order.  F.  Fcml. 
p.  5.  Almost  aU  historians  since  their 
time,  popish  as  well  as  protestaiit, 
have,  without  examination,  admitted 
these  asserlions  to  be  true  upon  tiieir 
authority.  But,  notwithslanding  the 
concurring  testimony  of  two  autiiors, 
so  eminent  both  for  exactness  and 
veracity,  we  may  observe, 

1.  That  Felix  Contolori,  who 
searched  the  pontifical  archives  for 
the  pur|)ose,  could  not  find  tliis  pre- 
tended giant  to  Leo's  sister  in  any  of 
those  registers  where  it  must  neces- 


sarily liave  been  recorded.  Falav.  p. 
5. — 2.  That  the  profits  arising  from 
indulgences  in  Saxony  and  the  ad- 
jacent countries,  had  been  granted  not 
to  Magdalen,  but  to  Albert,  archbisliO[) 
of  Metz,  who  had  the  right  of  nomi- 
nating those  who  published  them. 
Seek.  p.  12.  Luth.  Oper.  i.  jtrcpf.  p.  i. 
Palav.  p.  6. — 3.  That  Arcemboldo 
never  liad  concern  in  the  publication 
of  indulgences  in  Saxony ;  his  district 
was  Flanders  and  the  Upper  and 
Lower  Rhine.  Seek.  p.  14.  Palav.  p.  G. 
— 4.  That  Luther  and  his  adherents 
never  mentioned  this  grant  of  Leo's 
to  his  sister,  though  a  circumstance 
of  which  they  could  iiardly  have  been 
ignorant,  and  which  they  would  have 
been  careful  not  to  suppress. — 5.  The 
publication  of  indulgences  in  Germany 
was  not  usually  committed  to  the 
Augustinians.  The  promulgation  of 
them,  at  three  different  periods  under 
Julius  XL,  was  granted  to  the  Fran- 
ciscans ;  the  Dominicans  had  been 
employed  in  the  same  office  a  short 
time  before  the  present  period.  Palav. 
p.  46. — G.  The  promulgation  of  those 
indulgences,  which  first  excited  Lu- 
ther's indignation,  was  entrusted  to 
the  archbishop  of  Metz,  iri  conjunction 
with  tlie  guardian  of  the  Franciscans; 
but  the  latter  having  declined  accept- 
ing of  that  trust,  the  sole  riglit  became 
vested  in  the  archbishop.  Palav.  p.  6. 
Seek.  pp.  16,  17. — 7.  Luther  was  not 
instigated  by  his  supeiiors  among 
the  Augustinians  to  attack  the  Domi- 
nicans their  rivals,  or  to  depreciate 
indulgences  because  they  were  pro- 
mulgated by  them  ;  his  opposition  to 
their  opinions   and   vices   proceeded 


BOOK  II.]  HE  IS  SUMMONED  TO  ROME.  249 

Meanwhile,  these  novelties  in  Luther's  doctrines  whicl 
interested  all  Germany,  excited  little  attention  and  no 
alarm  in  the  court  of  Rome.  Leo,  fond  of  elegant  and 
refined  pleasures,  intent  upon  great  schemes  of  policy,  a 
stranger  to  theological  controversies,  and  apt  to  despise 
them,  regarded  with  the  utmost  indifference  the  operations 
of  an  obscure  friar,  who,  in  the  heart  of  Germany,  carried 
on  a  scholastic  disputation  in  a  barbarous  style.  Little 
did  he  apprehend,  or  Luther  himself  dream,  that  the  effects 
of  this  quarrel  would  be  so  fatal  to  the  papal  see.  Leo 
imputed  the  whole  to  monastic  enmity  and  emulation,  and 
seemed  inclined  not  to  interpose  in  the  contest,  but  to 
allow  the  Augustinians  and  Dominicans  to  wrangle  about 
the  matter  with  their  usual  animosity. 

The  solicitations,  however,  of  Luther's  adversaries,  who 
w^ere  exasperated  to  a  high  degree  by  the  boldness  and 
severity  Avith  which  he  animadverted  on  their  writings, 
together  with  the  surprising  progress  which  his  opinions 
made  in  different  parts  of  Germany,  roused  at  last  the 
attention  of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  obliged  Leo  to  take 
measures  for  the  security  of  the  church  against  an  attack 
that  now  appeared  too  serious  to  be  despised.  For  this 
end,  he  summoned  Luther  to  appear  at  Rome,  within  sixty 
days,  before  the  auditor  of  the  chamber  and  the  inquisitor- 
general  Prierias,  who  had  written  against  hira,  whom  he 
empowered  jointly  to  examine  his  doctrines,  and  to  decide 
concerning  them.  Lie  wrote,  at  the  same  time,  to  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  beseeching  him  not  to  protect  a  man 
whose  heretical  and  profane  tenets  w^re  so  shocking  to 
pious  ears ;  and  enjoined  the  provincial  of  the  Augustinians 

from  more   laudable   motives.     Seek.  act.     The   limits   of  the  country  to 

pp.  1.5,  32.   Tjutheri  Opera,  i.  p.  Gf,  (5.  which    their    commissions   extended, 

— 8.     A   diploma  of  indulgences    is  viz.  the  diocese  of  Metz,  Magdebur<^, 

published   by  Herm.  Von  der  Hardt,  Halberstadt,  and  the  territories  of  ihe 

h'om  which  it  appears  that  the  name  marquis   of   Bnmdcnburg,    are    men- 

of  the  guardiau  of  the  Franciscans  is  tioucd  in  that  di])loma.    Hist.  Litcraria 

retained  togetlier  with  that  of  the  arch-  llefuimat.  pars  iv.  p.  14. 
bishop,  although  the  former  did  not 


250  LUTHER'S  APPEARANCE  BEFORE  [book  ii. 

to  check,  by  his  authority,  the  rashness  of  an  arrogant  monk, 
which  brought  disgrace  upon  the  order  of  St.  Augustine, 
and  gave  offence  and  disturbance  to  the  whole  church, 

From  the  strain  of  these  letters,  as  well  as  from  the 
nomination  of  a  judge  so  prejudiced  and  partial  as  Prierias, 
Luther  easily  saw  what  sentence  he  might  expect  at  Rome. 
He  discovered,  for  that  reason,  the  utmost  solicitude  to 
have  his  cause  tried  in  Germany,  and  before  a  less  sus- 
pected tribunal.  The  professors  in  the  university  of  Wit- 
temberg,  anxious  for  the  safety  of  a  man  who  did  so  much 
honour  to  their  society,  wrote  to  the  pope ;  and,  after  em- 
ploying several  pretexts  to  excuse  Luther  from  appearing 
at  Rome,  entreated  Leo  to  commit  the  examination  of  his 
doctrines  to  some  persons  of  learning  and  authority  in 
Germany.  The  elector  requested  the  same  thing  of  the 
pope's  legate  at  the  diet  of  Augsburg ;  and  as  Luther 
himself,  who,  at  that  time,  was  so  far  from  having  any 
intention  to  disclaim  the  papal  authority,  that  he  did  not 
even  entertain  the  smallest  suspicion  concerning  its  divine 
original,  had  written  to  Leo  a  most  submissive  letter, 
promising  an  unreserved  compliance  with  his  wdll;  the 
pope  gratified  them  so  far  as  to  empower  his  legate  in 
Germany,  Cardinal  Cajetan,  a  Dominican,  eminent  for 
scliolastic  learning,  and  passionately  devoted  to  the  Roman 
see,  to  hear  and  determine  the  cause. 

Luther,  though  he  had  good  reason  to  decline  a  judge 
chosen  among  his  avowed  adversaries,  did  not  hesitate 
about  appearing  before  Cajetan ;  and,  having  obtained  the 
emperor's  safe-conduct,  immediately  repaired  to  Augsburg. 
The  cardinal  received  him  with  decent  respect,  and  en- 
deavoured at  first  to  gain  upon  him  by  gentle  treatment. 
The  cardinal,  relying  on  the  superiority  of  his  own  talents 
as  a  theologian,  entered  into  a  formal  dispute  with  Luther 
concerning  the    doctrines  contained  in  his  theses.*     But 

*  In  the  former  editions  I  asserted,  that  Cajetan  thought  it  beneath  his 
upon  the  authority  of  Father  Paul,      dignity  to  enter  into  any  dispute  with 


BOOK  n.]  THE  PAPAL  LEGATE.  251 

the  weapons  which  they  employed  were  so  different,  Cajetan 
appeahng  to  papal  decrees  and  the  opinions  of  schoolmen, 
and  Luther  resting  entirely  on  the  authority  of  Scripture, 
that  the  contest  was  altogether  fruitless.  The  cardinal 
relinquished  the  character  of  a  disputant,  and,  assuming 
that  of  a  judge,  enjoined  Luther,  by  virtue  of  the  apostolic 
powers  with  which  he  was  clothed,  to  retract  the  errors 
which  he  had  uttered  wdth  regard  to  indulgences,  and  the 
nature  of  faith ;  and  to  abstain,  for  the  future,  from  the 
publication  of  new  and  dangerous  opinions.  Luther,  fully 
persuaded  of  the  truth  of  his  own  tenets,  and  confirmed  in 
the  belief  of  them  by  the  approbation  which  they  had  met 
with  among  persons  conspicuous  both  for  learing  and  piety,  -f 
was  surprised  at  this  abrupt  mention  of  a  recantation, 
before  any  endeavours  were  used  to  convince  him  that  he 
was  mistaken.  He  had  flattered  himself,  that,  in  a  con- 
ference concerning  the  points  in  dispute  with  a  prelate  of 
such  distinguished  abilities,  he  should  be  able  to  remove 
many  of  those  imputations  with  which  the  ignorance  or 
malice  of  his  antagonists  had  loaded  him  ;  but  the  high 
tone  of  authority  that  the  cardinal  assumed,  extinguished 
at  once  all  hopes  of  this  kind,  and  cut  off  every  prospect  of 
advantage  from  the  interview.  His  native  intrepidity  of 
mind,  however,  did  not  desert  him.  He  declared  with  the 
ntmost  firmness,  that  he  could  not,  with  a  safe  conscience, 
renounce  opinions  Avhich  he  believed  to  be  true  ;  nor  should 
any  consideration  ever  induce  him  to  do  what  would  be 
so  base  in  itself,  and  so  offensive  to  God.  At  the  same 
time,  he  continued  to  express  no  less  reverence  than  for- 
merly for  the  authority  of  the  apostolic  see ;  '^  he  signified 
his  willingness  to  submit  the  whole  controversy  to  certain 
universities  which  he  named,  and  promised  neither  to 
write  nor  to  preach  concerning  indulgences  for  the  future, 

Lutlier;   but  M.   Beausobre,   in  bis      mistaken.  See  also  Seckeud.  lib.  i.  pp. 

Histoire  de  la  llcformatiou,  vol.  i.  pp.       40,  &c. 

121,  &c.,  has  satisfied  me  that  I  was  ''  Luth.  Oper.  vol.  i.  p.  IGl. 


252  THE  ELECTOR  OE  SAXONY.  [book  ii. 

provided  his  adversaries  were  likewise  enjoined  to  be  silent 
with  respect  to  them.^^  All  these  offers  Cajetan  disregarded 
or  rejected,  and  still  insisted  peremptorily  on  a  simple 
recantation,  threatening  him  with  ecclesiastical  censures, 
and  forbidding  him  to  appear  again  in  his  presence,  unless 
he  resolved  instantly  to  comply  with  what  he  had  required. 
This  haughty  and  violent  manner  of  proceeding,  as  well  as 
other  circumstances,  gave  Luther's  friends  such  strong 
reasons  to  suspect,  that  even  the  imperial  safe-conduct 
would  not  be  able  to  protect  him  from  the  legate's  power 
and  resentment,  that  they  prevailed  on  him  to  withdraw 
secretly  from  Augsburg,  and  to  return  to  his  own  country. 
But  before  his  departure,  according  to  a  form  of  which 
there  had  been  some  examples,  he  prepared  a  solemn 
appeal  from  the  pope,  ill  informed  at  that  time  concerning 
his  cause,  to  the  pope  when  he  should  receive  more  full 
information  with  respect  to  it.^*^ 

Cajetan,  enraged  at  Luther's  abrupt  retreat,  and  at  the 
publication  of  his  appeal,  wrote  to  the  elector  of  Saxony, 
complaining  of  both ;  and  requiring  him,  as  he  regarded 
the  peace  of  the  cliurch,  or  the  authority  of  its  head,  either 
to  send  that  seditious  monk  a  prisoner  to  Rome,  or  to 
banish  him  out  of  his  territories.  It  was  not  from  theo- 
logical considerations  that  Frederic  had  hitherto  coun- 
tenanced Luther;  he  seems  to  have  been  much  a  stranger 
to  controversies  of  that  kind,  and  to  have  been  little 
interested  in  them.  His  protection  flowed  almost  entirely, 
as  hath  been  already  observed,  from  political  motives,  and 
was  afforded  with  great  secrecy  and  caution.  He  had 
neither  heard  any  of  Luther's  discourses,  nor  read  any  of 
his  books ;  and  though  all  Germany  resounded  with  his 
fame,  he  had  never  once  admitted  him  into  his  presence. ''' 
But  upon  this  demand  which  the  cardinal  made,  it  became 
necessary  to  throw  off  somewhat  of  his   former  reserve. 

^5  Lutli.  Oper.  vol.  i.  p.  IGO.  "  Sleid.  Hist,   of  Reform,  p.  7.  Seckend. 

p.  45.     Luth.  Oper.  i.  163.  "  Seckend.  p.  27.  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  12. 


BOOK  II.]  CAJETAN  AND  LUTHER.  253 

He  had  been  at  great  expense,  and  had  bestowed  much 
attention  on  founding  a  new  university,  an  object  of  con- 
siderable importance  to  every  German  prince;  and  fore- 
seeing how  fatal  a  blow  the  removal  of  Luther  would  be 
to  its  reputation, ^^  he,  under  various  pretexts,  and  with 
many  professions  of  esteem  for  the  cardinal,  as  well  as  of 
reverence  for  the  pope,  not  only  declined  complying  with 
either  of  his  requests,  but  openly  discovered  great  concern 
for  Luther's  safety/'^ 

The  inflexible  rigour  with  which  Cajetan  insisted  on  a 
simple  recantation,  gave  great  offence  to  Luther's  followers 
in  that  age,  and  hath  since  been  censured  as  imprudent  by 
several  popish  writers.  But  it  was  impossible  for  the 
legate  to  act  another  part.  The  judges  before  whom 
Luther  had  been  required  to  appear  at  Rome,  were  so 
eager  to  display  their  zeal  against  his  errors,  that,  without 
waiting  for  the  expiration  of  sixty  days  allowed  him  in  the 
citation,  they  had  already  condemned  him  as  a  heretic."^ 
Leo  had,  in  several  of  his  briefs  and  letters,  stigmatized 
him  as  a  child  of  iniquity,  and  a  man  given  up  to  a 
reprobate  sense.  Nothing  less,  therefore,  than  a  recanta- 
tion could  save  the  honour  of  the  church,  whose  maxim  it 
is,  never  to  abandon  the  smallest  point  that  it  has  esta- 
blished, and  which  is  even  precluded,  by  its  pretensions  to 
infallibility,  from  having  it  in  its  power  to  do  so. 

Luther's  situation,  at  this  time,  was  such  as  would  have 
filled  any  other  person  wdth  the  most  disquieting  appre- 
hensions. He  could  not  expect  that  a  prince  so  prudent 
and  cautious  as  Prederic  would,  on  his  account,  set  at 
defiance  the  thunders  of  the  church,  and  brave  the  papal 
power,  which  had  crushed  some  of  the  most  powerful  of 
the  German  emperors.  He  knew  what  veneration  was 
paid,  in  that  age,  to  ecclesiastical  decisions ;  what  terrors 
ecclesiastical  censures  carried  along  with  them,  and  how 

'8  Scckeiul.  p.  59.  "  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  10.  Luth.  Oper.  i.  p.  172. 

^"  Luther.  Oper.  i.  p.  IGJ. 


254  LUTHER'S  APPEAL  [book  ii. 

easily  these  might  intimidate  and  shake  a  prince,  who  was 
rather  his  protector  from  poHcy,  than  his  disciple  from 
conviction.  If  he  should  be  obliged  to  quit  Saxony,  he 
had  no  prospect  of  any  other  asylum,  and  must  stand 
exposed  to  whatever  punishment  the  rage  or  bigotry  of  his 
enemies  could  inflict.  Though  sensible  of  his  danger,  he 
discovered  no  symptoms  of  timidity  or  remissness,  but 
continued  to  vindicate  his  own  conduct  and  opinions,  and 
to  inveigh  against  those  of  his  adversaries  with  more 
vehemence  than  ever.^^ 

But  as  every  step  taken  by  the  court  of  Rome,  par- 
ticularly the  irregular  sentence  by  which  he  had  been  so 
precipitately  declared  a  heretic,  convinced  Luther  that  Leo 
would  soon  proceed  to  the  most  violent  measures  against 
him,  he  had  recourse  to  the  only  expedient  in  his  power,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  effect  of  the  papal  censures.  He 
appealed  to  a  general  council,  which  he  affirmed  to  be 
the  representative  of  the  catholic  church,  and  superior  in 
power  to  the  pope,  who,  being  a  fallible  man,  might  err,  as 
St.  Peter,  the  most  perfect  of  his  predecessors,  had  erred. ^■ 

It  soon  appeared,  that  Luther  had  not  formed  rash  con- 
jectures concerning  the  intentions  of  the  Romish  church. 
A  bull  of  a  date  prior  to  his  appeal  was  issued  by  the 
pope,  in  which  he  magnifies  the  virtue  and  efficacy  of  indul- 
gences, in  terms  as  extravagant  as  any  of  his  predecessors 
had  ventured  to  use  in  the  darkest  ages ;  and,  without 
applying  such  palliatives,  or  mentioning  such  concessions, 
as  a  more  enlightened  period,  and  the  disposition  in  the 
minds  of  many  men  at  that  juncture,  seemed  to  call  for,  he 
required  all  Christians  to  assent  to  what  he  delivered  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  catholic  church,  and  subjected  those  who 
should  hold  or  teach  any  contrary  opinion,  to  the  heaviest 
ecclesiastical  censures. 

Among  Luther's  followers,  this  bull,  which  they  consi- 
dered as  an  unjustifiable  effort  of  the  pope,  in  order  to 

2'  Seckend.  p.  59.  ^  Sleid.  Hist.  12.    Lutli.  O-.v  ;.  179. 


BOOK  II.]  TO  A  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  255 

preserve  that  rich  branch  of  his  revenue  which  arose  from 
indulgences,  produced  little  effect.  But  among  the  rest 
of  his  countrymen,  such  a  clear  decision  of  the  sovereign 
pontiff  against  him,  and  enforced  by  such  dreadful  penalties, 
must  have  been  attended  witli  consequences  very  fatal  to 
his  cause,  if  these  had  not  been  prevented  in  a  great 
measure  by  the  death  of  the  emperor  Maximilian  [1519], 
whom  both  his  principles  and  his  interest  prompted  to 
support  the  authority  of  the  holy  see.  In  consequence  of 
this  event,  the  vicariat  of  that  part  of  Germany  which  is 
governed  by  the  Saxon  laws,  devolved  to  the  elector  of 
Saxony  ;  and  under  the  shelter  of  his  friendly  administration, 
Luther  not  only  enjoyed  tranquillity,  but  his  opinions  w^re 
suffered,  during  the  interregnum  which  preceded  Charles's 
election,  to  take  root  in  different  places,  and  to  grow  up  to 
some  degree  of  strength  and  firmness.  At  the  same  time, 
as  the  election  of  an  emperor  was  a  point  more  interesting 
to  Leo  than  a  theological  controversy,  which  he  did  not 
understand,  and  of  which  he  could  not  foresee  the  conse- 
quences, he  was  so  extremely  solicitous  not  to  irritate  a 
prince  of  such  considerable  influence  in  the  electoral  college 
as  Frederic,  that  he  discovered  a  great  unwillingness  to 
pronounce  the  sentence  of  excommunication  against  Luther, 
which  his  adversaries  continually  demanded  with  the  most 
clamorous  importunity. 

To  these  political  views  of  the  pope,  as  well  as  to  his 
natural  aversion  from  severe  measures,  was  owing  the 
suspension  of  any  further  proceedings  against  Luther  for 
eighteen  months.  Perpetual  negotiations,  however,  in  order 
to  bring  the  matter  to  some  amicable  issue,  were  carried 
on  during  that  space.  The  manner  in  which  these  were 
conducted  having  given  Luther  many  opportunities  of 
observing  the  corruption  of  the  court  of  Rome  ;  its  obstinacy 
in  adhering  to  established  errors ;  and  its  indifference  about 
truth,  however  clearly  proposed,  or  strongly  proved,  he 
began    to  utter  some  doubts  with  regard  to  the  divine 


256  REEOJIMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  [book  ii. 

original  of  the  papal  authority.  A  public  disputation  was 
held  upon  this  important  question  at  Leipsic,  between 
Luther  and  Eccius,  one  of  his  most  learned  and  formidable 
antagonists  ;  but  it  was  as  fruitless  and  indecisive  as  such 
scholastic  combats  usually  prove.  Both  parties  boasted  of 
having  obtained  the  victory ;  both  were  confirmed  in  their 
own  opinions ;  and  no  progress  was  made  towards  deciding 
the  point  in  controversy.^^ 

Nor  did  the  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  doctrines  and 
usurpations  of  the  Romish  church  break  out  in  Saxony 
alone ;  an  attack  no  less  violent,  and  occasioned  by  the 
same  causes,  was  made  upon  them  about  this  time  in 
Switzerland.  The  Franciscans  being  entrusted  with  the 
promulgation  of  indulgences  in  that  country,  executed  their 
commission  with  the  same  indiscretion  and  rapaciousness 
which  had  rendered  the  Dominicans  so  odious  in  Germany. 
They  proceeded,  nevertheless,  with  uninterrupted  success 
till  they  arrived  at  Zurich.  There  Zuinglius,  a  man  not 
inferior  to  Luther  himself  in  zeal  and  intrepidity,  ventured 
to  oppose  them ;  and  being  animated  with  a  republican 
boldness,  and  free  from  those  restraints  which  subjection 
to  the  will  of  a  prince  imposed  on  the  German  reformer, 
he  advanced  with  more  daring  and  rapid  steps  to  overturn 
the  whole  fabric  of  the  established  religion.^*  The  appear- 
ance of  such  a  vigorous  auxiliary,  and  the  progress  which 
he  made,  was,  at  first,  matter  of  great  joy  to  Luther.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  decrees  of  the  universities  of  Cologne 
and  Louvain,  which  pronounced  his  opinions  to  be  erro- 
neous, afforded  great  cause  of  triumph  to  his  adversaries. 

But  the  undaunted  spirit  of  Luther  acquired  additional 
fortitude  from  every  instance  of  opposition ;  and,  pushing 
on  his  inquiries  and  attacks  from  one  doctrine  to  another, 
he  began  to  shake  the  firmest  foundations  on  which  the 
wealth  or  power  of  the  church  was  established.     Leo  came 


^  Luth.  Oper.  i.  p.  199.  ^'  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  22.     Seckeud.  p. 


59. 


BOOK  II.]  BULL  OF  EXCOMMUNICATION.  257 

at  last  to  be  convinced  that  all  hopes  of  reclaiming  him  by 
forbearance  were  vain  ;  several  prelates  of  great  wisdom 
exclaimed,  no  less  than  Luther's  personal  adversaries,  against 
the  pope's  unprecedented  lenity  in  permitting  an  incorrigible 
heretic,  who,  during  three  years,  had  been  endeavouring 
to  subvert  everything  sacred  and  venerable,  still  to  remain 
within  the  bosom  of  the  church ;  the  dignity  of  the  papal 
see  rendered  the  most  vigorous  proceedings  necessary ;  the 
new  emperor,  it  was  hoped,  would  support  its  authority ; 
nor  did  it  seem  probable  that  the  elector  of  Saxony  would 
so  far  forget  his  usual  caution  as  to  set  himself  in  opposition 
to  their  united  power.  The  college  of  cardinals  was  often 
assembled,  in  order  to  prepare  the  sentence  with  due  deli- 
beration, and  the  ablest  canonists  were  consulted  how  it 
might  be  expressed  with  unexceptionable  formality.  At 
last,  on  the  fifteenth  of  June,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
twenty,  the  bull,  so  fatal  to  the  church  of  Rome,  was  issued. 
Forty-one  propositions,  extracted  out  of  Luther's  works, 
are  therein  condemned  as  heretical,  scandalous,  and  offen- 
sive to  pious  ears ;  all  persons  are  forbidden  to  read  his 
writings,  upon  pain  of  excommunication ;  such  as  had  any 
of  them  in  their  custody  were  commanded  to  commit  them 
to  the  flames ;  he  himself,  if  he  did  not,  within  sixty  days, 
publicly  recant  his  errors  and  burn  his  books,  is  pronounced 
an  obstinate  heretic,  is  excommunicated,  and  delivered  unto 
Satan  for  the  destruction  of  his  flesh  ;  and  all  secular  princes 
are  required,  under  pain  of  incurring  the  same  censure,  to 
seize  his  person,  that  he  might  be  punished  as  his  crimes 
deserved. ^^ 

The  publication  of  this  bull  in  Germany  excited  various 
passions  in  different  places.  Luther's  adversaries  exulted, 
as  if  his  party  and  opinions  had  been  crushed  at  once  by 
such  a  decisive  blow.  His  followers,  whose  reverence  for 
the  papal  authority  daily  diminished,  read  Leo's  anathemas 
with  more  indignation  than  terror.     In  some  cities,  the 

^  Palavic.  p.  27.    Luth.  Opcr.  i.  p.  423. 
VOL.  I.  S 


258  PROGRESS  OY  THE  [book  ii. 

people  violently  obstructed  the  promulgation  of  the  bull ; 
in  others,  the  persons  who  attempted  to  publish  it  were 
insulted,  and  the  bull  itself  was  torn  in  pieces,  and  trodden 
under  foot.^*^ 

The  sentence,  which  he  had  for  some  time  expected,  did 
not  disconcert  or  intimidate  Luther.  After  renewing  his 
appeal  to  the  general  council,  he  pubhshed  remarks  upon 
the  bull  of  excommunication ;  and  being  now  persuaded 
that  Leo  had  been  guilty  both  of  impiety  and  injustice  in 
his  proceedings  against  him,  he  boldly  declared  the  pope 
to  be  that  man  of  sin,  or  Antichrist,  whose  appearance  is 
foretold  in  the  New  Testament ;  he  declaimed  against  his 
tyranny  and  usurpations  with  greater  violence  than  ever ; 
he  exhorted  all  Christian  princes  to  shake  off  such  an  igno- 
minious yoke,  and  boasted  of  his  own  happiness  in  being 
marked  out  as  the  object  of  ecclesiastical  indignation, 
because  he  had  ventured  to  assert  the  liberty  of  mankind. 
Nor  did  he  confine  his  expressions  of  contempt  for  the  papal 
power  to  words  alone  :  Leo  having,  in  execution  of  the  bull, 
appointed  Luther's  books  to  be  burnt  at  Rome,  he,  by  way 
of  retaliation,  assembled  all  the  professors  and  students  in 
the  university  of  Wittemberg,  and  with  great  pomp,  in  pre- 
sence of  a  vast  multitude  of  spectators,  cast  the  volumes  of 
the  canon  law,  together  with  the  bull  of  excommunication, 
into  the  flames ;  and  his  example  was  imitated  in  several 
cities  of  Germany.  The  manner  in  which  he  justified  this 
action  was  still  more  offensive  than  the  action  itself. 
Having  collected  from  the  canon  law  some  of  the  most 
extravagant  propositions  with  regard  to  the  plenitude  and 
omnipotence  of  the  papal  power,  as  well  as  the  subordi- 
nation of  all  secular  jurisdiction  to  the  authority  of  the  holy 
see,  he  pubhshed  these  with  a  commentary,  pointing  out 
the  impiety  of  such  tenets,  and  their  evident  tendency  to 
subvert  all  civil  government. ^^ 

Such  was  the  progress  which  Luther  had  made,  and  such 
2«  Seckend.  p.  116.  -'  Liitli.  Oper.  ii.  p.  310. 


BOOK  II.]  KErORMATION  IN  GERMANY.  259 

the  state  of  his  party,  when  Cliarlcs  arrived  in  Germany. 
No  secular  prince  liad  hitherto  embraced  Lutlier's  opinions ; 
110  change  in  the  estabhshed  forms  of  worship  had  been 
introduced ;  and  no  encroachments  had  been  made  upon 
the  possessions  or  jurisdiction  of  the  clergy;  neither  party 
had  yet  proceeded  to  action ;  and  the  controversy,  though 
conducted  with  great  heat  and  passion  on  both  sides,  was 
still  carried  on  with  its  proper  weapons,  with  theses,  dis- 
putations, and  replies.  A  deep  im})ression,  however,  was 
made  upon  the  minds  of  the  people ;  their  reverence  for 
ancient  institutions  and  doctrines  was  shaken ;  and  the 
materials  were  already  scattered,  which  kindled  into  the 
combustion  that  soon  spread  over  all  Germany.  Students 
crowded  from  every  province  of  the  empire  to  Witteuiberg ; 
and  under  Luther  himself,  Melancthon,  Carlostadias,  and 
other  masters  then  reckoned  eminent,  imbibed  opinions 
which,  on  their  return,  they  propagated  among  their  coun- 
trymen, who  listened  to  them  with  that  fond  attention 
which  truth,  when  accompanied  with  novelty,  naturally 
commands. ^^ 

During  the  course  of  these  transactions,  the  court  of 
Rome,  though  under  the  direction  of  one  of  its  ablest 
pontiffs,  neither  formed  its  schemes  with  that  profound 
sagacity,  nor  executed  them  with  that  steady  perseverance, 
which  had  long  rendered  it  the  most  perfect  model  of 
political  wisdom  to  the  rest  of  Europe.  When  Luther 
began  to  declaim  against  indulgences,  two  different  methods 
of  treating  him  lay  before  the  pope,  by  adopting  one  of 
which,  the  attempt,  it  is  probable,  might  have  been  crushed, 
and  by  the  other  it  might  have  been  rendered  innocent. 
If  Luther's  first  departure  from  the  doctrines  of  the  church 
had  instantly  drawn  upon  him  the  weight  of  its  censures, 
the  dread  of  these  might  have  restrained  the  elector  of 
Saxony  from  protecting  him,  might  have  deterred  the  people 
from  listening  to  his  discourses,  or  even  might  have  over- 

'^  Seckeiid.  p.  59. 
S  2 


260  LEO  X.  [book  II. 

awed  Luther  himself;  and  his  name,  Uke  that  of  many 
good  men  before  his  time,  would  now  have  been  known  to 
the  world  only  for  his  honest  but  ill-timed  effort  to  correct 
the  corruptions  of  the  Romish  church.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
the  pope  had  early  testified  some  displeasure  with  the  vices 
and  excesses  of  the  friars  who  had  been  employed  in  pub- 
lishing indulgences ;  if  he  had  forbidden  the  mentioning 
of  controverted  points  in  discourses  addressed  to  the  people ; 
if  he  had  enjoined  the  disputants  on  both  sides  to  be  silent ; 
if  he  had  been  careful  not  to  risk  the  credit  of  the  church 
by  defining  articles  which  had  hitherto  been  left  undeter- 
mined ;  Luther  would,  probably,  have  stopped  short  at  his 
first  discoveries;  he  would  not  have  been  forced,  in  self- 
defence,  to  venture  upon  new  ground,  and  the  whole  con- 
troversy might  possibly  have  died  away  insensibly;  or, 
being  confined  entirely  to  the  schools,  might  have  been 
carried  on  with  as  little  detriment  to  the  peace  and  unity  of 
the  Romish  church  as  that  which  the  Franciscans  maintained 
with  the  Dominicans  concerning  the  immaculate  conception, 
or  that  between  the  Jansenists  and  Jesuits  concerning  the 
operations  of  grace.  But  Leo,  by  fluctuating  between  these 
opposite  systems,  and  by  embracing  them  alternately, 
defeated  the  effects  of  both.  By  an  improper  exertion  of 
authority,  Luther  was  exasperated,  but  not  restrained. 
By  a  mistaken  exercise  of  lenity,  time  was  given  for  his 
opinions  to  spread,  but  no  progress  was  made  towards 
reconcihng  him  to  the  church ;  and  even  the  sentence  of 
excommunication,  which  at  another  juncture  might  have 
been  decisive,  was  delayed  so  long,  that  it  became  at  last 
scarcely  an  object  of  terror. 

Such  a  series  of  errors  in  the  measures  of  a  court  seldom 
chai'geable  with  mistaking  its  own  true  interest,  is  not 
more  astonishing  than  the  wisdom  Mdiich  appeared  in 
Luther's  conduct.  Though  a  perfect  stranger  to  the  maxims 
of  worldly  .wisdom,  and  incapable,  from  the  impetuosity  of 
his  temper,  of  observing  them,  he  was  led  natm^ally,  by  the 


BOOK  II.]  AND  TEE  EEFOUMATION.  261 

method  in  wliicli  lie  made  his  discoveries,  to  carry  on  his 
operations  in  a  manner  which  contributed  more  to  their 
success,  than  if  every  step  lie  took  had  been  prescribed  by 
the  most  artful  policy.  At  the  time  when  he  set  himself 
to  oppose  Tetzel,  he  was  far  from  intending  that  reformation 
which  he  afterwards  effected;  and  would  have  trembled 
with  horror  at  the  thoughts  of  what  at  last  he  gloried  in 
accomphshing.  The  knowledge  of  truth  was  not  poured 
into  his  mind  all  at  once  by  any  special  revelation  ;  he 
acquired  it  by  industry  and  meditation,  and  his  progress, 
of  consequence,  was  gradual.  The  doctrines  of  popery  are 
so  closely  connected,  that  the  exposing  of  one  error  con- 
ducted him  naturally  to  the  detection  of  others  ;  and.  all  the 
parts  of  that  artificial  fabric  were  so  united  together,  that 
the  pulling  down  of  one  loosened  the  foundation  of  the 
rest,  and  rendered  it  more  easy  to  overturn  them.  In 
confuting  the  extravagant  tenets  concerning  indulgences, 
he  was  obliged  to  inquire  into  the  true  cause  of  our  justi- 
fication and  acceptance  with  God.  The  knowledge  of  that 
discovered  to  him  by  degrees  the  inutility  of  pilgrimages 
and  penances  ;  the  vanity  of  relying  on  the  intercession  of 
saints ;  the  impiety  of  worshipping  them ;  the  abuses  of 
auricular  confession  ;  and  the  imaginary  existence  of  purga- 
tory. The  detection  of  so  many  errors  led  him,  of  course, 
to  consider  the  character  of  the  clergy  who  taught  them  ; 
and  their  exorbitant  wealth,  the  severe  injunction  of  celibacy, 
together  with  the  intolerable  rigour  of  monastic  vows, 
appeared  to  him  the  great  sources  of  their  corruption. 
From  thence,  it  was  but  one  step  to  call  in  question  the 
divine  original  of  the  papal  power,  which  authorized  and 
supported  such  a  system  of  errors.  As  the  unavoidable 
result  of  the  whole,  he  disclaimed  the  infallibility  of  the 
pope,  the  decisions  of  schoolmen,  or  any  other  human 
authority,  and  appealed  to  the  word  of  God  as  the  only 
standard  of  theological  truth.  To  this  gradual  progress 
Luther  owed  his  success.     His  hearers  were  not  shocked 


2(52  CAUSES  CONTKIBUTING  TO  [book  it. 

at  first  by  any  proposition  too  repugnant  to  their  ancient 
prejudices,  or  too  remote  from  established  opinions.  They 
were  conducted  insensibly  from  one  doctrine  to  another. 
Their  faith  and  conviction  were  able  to  keep  pace  with  his 
discoveries.  To  the  same  cause  was  owing  the  inattention, 
and  even  indifference,  Avith  which  Leo  viewed  Luther's  first 
proceedings.  A  direct  or  violent  attack  upon  the  authority 
of  the  church  would  at  once  have  drawn  upon  Luther  the 
whole  weight  of  its  vengeance  ;  but  as  this  was  far  from  his 
thoughts,  as  he  continued  long  to  profess  great  respect  for 
the  pope,  and  made  repeated  offers  of  submission  to  his 
decisions,  there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  for  apprehending 
that  he  would  prove  the  author  of  any  desperate  revolt; 
and  he  was  suffered  to  proceed  step  by  step  in  undermining 
the  constitvition  of  the  church,  until  the  remedy  applied  at 
last  came  too  late  to  produce  any  effect. 

But  whatever  advantages  Luther's  cause  derived  either 
from  the  mistakes  of  his  adversaries,  or  from  his  own  good 
conduct,  the  sudden  progress  and  firm  establishment  of  his 
doctrines  must  not  be  ascribed  to  these  alone.  The  same 
corruptions  in  the  church  of  Rome  which  he  condemned, 
had  been  attacked  long  before  his  time.  The  same  opinions 
which  he  now  propagated,  had  been  published  in  different, 
places,  and  were  supported  by  the  same  arguments.  Waldus 
in  the  twelfth  century,  Wickliff  in  the  fourteenth,  and  Huss 
in  the  fifteenth,  had  inveighed  against  the  errors  of  popery 
with  great  boldness,  and  confuted  them  with  more  ingenuity 
and  learning  than  could  have  been  expected  in  those  illiterate 
ages  in  which  they  flourished.  But  all  these  premature 
attempts  towards  a  reformation  proved  abortive.  Such 
feeble  lights,  incapable  of  dispelling  the  darkness  which 
then  covered  the  church,  were  soon  extinguished  ;  and 
though  the  doctrines  of  these  pious  men  produced  some 
effects,  and  left  some  traces  in  the  countries  where  they 
taught,  they  were  neither  extensive  nor  considerable.  Many 
powerful  causes  contributed  to  facilitate  Luther's  progress, 


BOOK  II.]        THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  263 

uliicli  either  did  not  exist,  or  did  not  operate  ^vitll  full  force, 
in  their  days  ;  and  at  that  critical  and  mature  juncture  when 
he  appeared,  circumstances  of  every  kind  concurred  in 
rendering  each  step  that  he  took  successful. 

The  long  and  scandalous  schism  which  divided  the  church 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  and  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  centuries,  had  a  great  effect  in  diminishing 
the  veneration  with  wliich  the  Avorld  had  been  accustomed 
to  view  the  papal  dignity.  Two  or  three  contending  pontiffs 
roaming  about  Europe  at  a  time ;  fawning  on  the  prnices 
W'hom  they  wanted  to  gain ;  extorting  large  sums  of  money 
from  the  countries  wdiicli  acknowledged  their  authority  ; 
excommunicating  their  rivals,  and  cursing  those  wdio  ad- 
hered to  them,  discredited  their  pretensions  to  infallibility, 
and  exposed  both  their  persons  and  their  office  to  contempt. 
The  laity,  to  whom  all  parties  appealed,  came  to  learn  that 
some  right  of  private  judgment  belonged  to  them,  and 
acquired  the  exercise  of  it  so  far  as  to  choose,  among  these 
infallible  guides,  whom  they  would  please  to  follow.  The 
proceedings  of  the  councils  of  Constance  and  Basil  spread 
this  disrespect  for  the  Romish  see  still  wider,  and  by  their 
bold  exertion  of  authority  in  deposing  and  electing  popes, 
taught  men  that  there  was  in  the  church  a  jurisdiction 
superior  even  to  the  papal  pow-er,  which  they  had  long 
believed  to  be  supreme. 

The  wound  given  on  that  occasion  to  the  papal  authority 
w^as  scarcely  healed  up,  when  the  pontificates  of  Alexander 
VI.  and  Julius  II.,  both  able  princes,  but  detestable  eccle- 
siastics, raised  new  scandal  in  Christendom.  The  profligate 
morals  of  the  former  in  private  life ;  the  fraud,  the  injustice, 
and  cruelty,  of  his  public  administration,  place  him  on  a  level 
with  those  tyrants  whose  deeds  are  the  greatest  reproach  to 
hmnan  nature.  The  latter,  though  a  stranger  to  the  odious 
passions  which  prompted  his  predecessor  to  commit  so  many 
unnatural  crimes,  was  under  tlie  dominion  of  a  restless  and 
ungovernable  ambition,  that  scorned  all  considerations  of 


264  GROSS  IMMORALITY  [book  ii- 

gratitude,  of  decency,  or  of  justice,  when  they  obstructed 
the  execution  of  his  schemes.  It  was  hardly  possible  to  be 
firmly  persuaded  that  the  infallible  knowledge  of  a  religion, 
whose  chief  precepts  are  purity  and  humility,  was  deposited 
in  the  breasts  of  the  profligate  Alexander  or  the  overbearing 
Julius.  The  opinion  of  those  who  exalted  the  authority  of 
a  council  above  that  of  the  pope,  spread  wonderfully  under 
their  pontificates ;  and  as  the  emperor  and  French  kings, 
who  were  alternately  engaged  in  hostilities  with  those  active 
pontiffs,  permitted,  and  even  encouraged  their  subjects  to 
expose  their  vices  with  all  the  violence  of  invective,  and  all 
the  petulance  of  ridicule,  men's  ears  being  accustomed  to 
these,  were  not  shocked  with  the  bold  or  ludicrous  dis- 
courses of  Luther  and  his  followers  concerning  the  papal 
dignity. 

Nor  were  such  excesses  confined  to  the  head  of  the  church 
alone.  Many  of  the  dignified  clergy,  secular  as  well  as 
regular,  being  the  younger  sons  of  noble  families,  who  had 
assumed  the  ecclesiastical  character,  for  no  other  reason  but 
that  they  found  in  the  church  stations  of  great  dignity  and 
affluence,  were  accustomed  totally  to  neglect  the  duties  of 
their  office,  and  indulged  themselves  without  reserve  in  all 
the  vices  to  which  great  wealth  and  idleness  naturally  give 
birth.  Though  the  inferior  clergy  were  prevented  by  their 
poverty  from  imitating  the  expensive  luxury  of  their  supe- 
riors, yet  gross  ignorance  and  low  debauchery  rendered  them 
as  contemptible  as  the  others  were  odious.^^  The  severe  and 
unnatural  law  of  celibacy,  to  which  both  were  equally  sub- 
ject, occasioned  such  irregularities,  that  in  several  parts  of 

^^  The  corrupt  state  of  the  church  ecclesiastical   judicatories,     any    dis- 

prior  to  the  reformation  is  acknow-  cipliue  with   regard    to  morals,  any 

ledged  by  an  autlior,  who  was  both  knowledge   of  sacred  literature,  any 

abundantly  able  to  judge  concerning  reverence  for  divine  things ;  there  was 

this  matter,  and  who  was  not  over-  not  almost  any  religion  remaining." 

forward   to   confess  it.     "  Por  some  Bellarminus,  Concio  xxviii.  Oper.  torn, 

years    (says    Bellarmine)   before   the  vi.  col.  296,  edit.  Colon.  1617,  apud 

Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  heresies  were  Gerdesii  Hist.  Evan.  Renovati,  vol.  i. 

published,  there  was  not  (as  contem-  p.  25. 
porary  authors  testify)  any  severity  in  . 


BOOK  II.]  OP  THE  ROmSII  CLEEGY.  265 

Europe  the  concubinage  of  priests  was  not  only  permitted, 
but  enjoined.  The  employing  of  a  remedy  so  contrary  to 
the  precepts  of  the  Christian  religion,  is  the  strongest  proof 
that  the  crimes  it  was  intended  to  prevent  were  both  mmie- 
rons  and  flagrant.  Long  before  the  sixteenth  century,  many 
authors  of  great  name  and  authority  give  such  descriptions 
of  the  dissolute  morals  of  the  clergy,  as  seem  almost  incre- 
dible in  the  present  age.^*^  The  voluptuous  lives  of  ecclesias- 
tics occasioned  great  scandal,  not  only  because  their  manners 
were  inconsistent  with  their  sacred  character ;  but  the  laity, 
being  accustomed  to  see  several  of  them  raised  from  the 
lowest  stations  to  the  greatest  affluence,  did  not  show  the 
same  indulgence  to  their  excesses,  as  to  those  of  persons 
possessed  of  hereditary  wealth  or  grandeur ;  and  viewing 
their  condition  with  more  envy,  they  censured  their  crimes 
with  greater  severity.  Nothing,  therefore,  could  be  more 
acceptable  to  Luther's  hearers,  than  the  violence  with  which 
he  exclaimed  against  the  immoralities  of  churchmen,  and 
every  person  in  his  audience  could,  from  his  own  observation, 
confirm  the  truth  of  his  invectives. 

The  scandal  of  these  crimes  was  greatly  increased  by  the 

^  Centum  Gravamina  Nation.  Ger-  from  any  author  whose  professed  pur- 
man,  in  Fasciculo  Her.  expeteud.  et  pose  it  was  to  describe  the  improper 
fugiendarum,  per  Ortuinum  Gratium,  conduct  of  the  clergy  ;  and  who,  from 
vol.  i.  3G1.  See  innumerable  passages  prejudice  or  artifice,  may  be  supposed 
to  the  same  purpose  in  the  Appendix,  to  aggravate  tlie  cliarge^agaiust  them, 
or  second  volume,  published  by  Edw.  The  emperor  Charles  IV.,  in  a  letter 
Brown.  See  also  Herm.  Von  der  to  the  archbisliopof  Meutz,  a.d.  1359, 
Hardt,  Hist.  Lit.  Reform,  pars  iii.,  and  exhorting  him  to  reform  the  dis- 
the  vast  collections  of  Walchius  in  ills  orders  of  the  clergy,  thus  expresses 
four  volumes  of  IMonumenta  Medii  himself:  "  De  Christi  patrimonio, 
^vi.  Gotting.  1757.  ludos,  hastiludia  et  torneameuta  ex- 

The  authors  I  have  quoted  enume-  ercent ;  habitum  militarem  cimi  prac- 
rate  the  vices  of  the  clergy.  When  tcxtis  aureis  et  arg^nteis  gestant, 
they  ventured  upon  actions  manifestly  et  calceos  militares  ;  comam  et  bar- 
criminal,  we  may  conclude  that  they  bam  nutriuut,  et  nihil  quod  at  vitam 
would  be  less  scrupulous  with  respect  et  ordincm  ecclesiasticum  spectat, 
to  the  decorum  of  behaviour.  Accor-  ostendunt.  Militaribus  se  duntaxat 
dingly  their  neglect  of  the  decent  con]  et  secularibus  actibus,  vita  et  moribus, 
duct  suitable  to  their  profession,  seems  in  suai  salutis  dispeudium,  ct  generalc 
to  have  given  great  offence.  In  order  populi  scandalum,  immisccnt."  Codex 
to  illustrate  this,  I  shall  transcribe  Di|)lomaticus  Anecdotorum,  per  Val. 
one  passage,  because  it  is  not  taken  Eerd.  Gudcnum,  4to.  vol.  iii.  p.  438. 


266  COMPOSITION  FOR  CRIMES.  [book  ii. 

facility  with  which  such  as  committed  them  obtained  pardon. 
In  all  the  European  kingdoms,  the  importance  of  the  civil 
magistrate,  under  forms  of  government  extremely  irregular 
and  turbulent,  made  it  necessary  to  relax  the  rigour  of  jus- 
tice, and  upon  payment  of  a  certain  line  or  composition 
prescribed  by  law,  judges  were  accustomed  to  remit  further 
punishment,  even  of  the  most  atrocious  crimes.  The  court 
of  Rome,  always  attentive  to  the  means  of  augmenting  its 
revenues,  imitated  this  practice  ;  and,  by  a  preposterous 
accommodation  of  it  to  religious  concerns,  granted  its  par- 
dons to  such  transgressors  as  gave  a  sum  of  money  in  order 
to  purchase  them.  As  the  idea  of  a  composition  for  crimes 
was  then  familiar,  this  strange  traffic  was  so  far  from  shock- 
ing mankind,  that  it  soon  became  general ;  and  in  order  to 
prevent  any  imposition  in  carrying  it  on,  the  officers  of  the 
Roman  chancery  published  a  book,  containing  the  precise 
sum  to  be  exacted  for  the  pardon  of  every  particular  sin. 
A  deacon,  guilty  of  murder,  was  absolved  for  twenty  crowns. 
A  bishop,  or  abbot,  might  assassinate  for  three  hundred  livres. 
Any  ecclesiastic  might  violate  his  vows  of  chastity,  even 
with  the  most  aggravating  circumstances,  for  the  third  part 
of  that  sum.  Even  such  shocking  crimes  as  occur  seldom  in 
human  life,  and  perhaps  exist  only  in  the  impure  imagination 
of  a  casuist,  were  taxed  at  a  very  moderate  rate.  When  a 
more  regular  and  perfect  mode  of  dispensing  justice  came 
to  be  introduced  into  civil  courts,  the  practice  of  paying  a 
composition  for  crimes  went  gradually  into  disuse ;  and 
mankind  having  acquired  more  accurate  notions  concerning 
rehgion  and  morality,  the  conditions  on  which  the  courts  of 
Rome  bestowed  its  pardons  appeared  impious,  and  were 
considered  as  one  great  source  of  ecclesiastical  corruption.^' 
This  degeneracy  of  manners  among  the  clergy  might  have 
been  tolerated,  perhaps,  with  greater  indulgence,  if  their 
exorbitant  riches  and  pow^^r  had  not  enabled  them,  at  the 

^'  Fascicul.  Eev.  expet.  efc  fug.  i.  Diction,  de  Ba\le,  Artie.  Banck  et 
p.  355.  J.  G.  Schelliornii  Amnenit.  Tuppins.  Taxa  Caiicellar.  Romanw, 
Literar.  rrancof.  1725,  vol.  ii.  p.  3G9.      edit,  rraiicof.  1G51,  passim. 


BOOK  11.]  CLERICAL  OPPRESSION.  267 

same  time,  to  encroach  on  the  rights  of  every  other  order 
of  men.  It  is  the  genius  of  superstition,  fond  of  whatever 
is  pompous  or  grand,  to  set  no  bounds  to  its  hberahty  to- 
wards persons  whom  it  esteems  sacred,  and  to  think  its 
expressions  of  regard  defective,  unless  it  hath  raised  them 
to  the  height  of  weahh  and  authority.  Hence  flowed  the 
extensive  revenues  and  jurisdiction  possessed  by  the  church 
in  every  country  in  Europe,  and  which  were  become  in- 
tolerable to  the  laity,  from  whose  un discerning  bounty  they 
were  at  first  derived. 

The  burden,  however,  of  ecclesiastical  oppression,  had 
fallen  with  such  peculiar  weight  on  the  Germans,  as  ren- 
dered them,  though  naturally  exempt  from  levity,  and 
tenacious  of  their  ancient  customs,  more  inclinable  than 
any  people  in  Europe  to  listen  to  those  who  called  on 
them  to  assert  their  liberty.  During  the  long  contests 
between  the  popes  and  emperors  concerning  the  right  of 
investiture,  and  the  wars  which  these  occasioned,  most  of 
the  considerable  German  ecclesiastics  joined  the  papal  fac- 
tion ;  and  while  engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  head  of 
the  empire,  they  seized  the  imperial  domains  and  revenues, 
and  usurped  the  imperial  jurisdiction  within  their  own  dio- 
ceses. Upon  the  re-estabhshment  of  tranquillity,  they  still 
retained  these  usurpations,  as  if  by  the  length  of  an  unjust 
possession  they  had  acquired  a  legal  right  to  them.  The 
emperors,  too  feeble  to  wrest  them  out  of  their  hands,  were 
obliged  to  grant  the  clergy  fiefs  of  those  ample  territories, 
and  they  enjoyed  all  the  immunities,  as  well  as  honours, 
which  belonged  to  feudal  barons.  By  means  of  these,  many 
bishops  and  abbots  in  Germany  were  not  only  ecclesiastics, 
but  princes,  and  their  character  and  manners  partook  more 
of  the  licence  too  frequent  among  the  latter,  than  of  the 
sanctity  which  became  the  former. ^^ 

The  unsettled  state  of  government  in  Germany,  and  the 
frequent  wars  to  which  that  country  was  exposed,  contri- 

^'^  F.  Paul,  History  of  Ecclesiasf.  Benefices,  p.  107. 


268  IMMUNITIES  OP  THE  CLERGY.  [book  ii. 

buted  in  anotlier  manner  towards  aggrandizing  ecclesiastics. 
The  only  property,  during  those  times  of  anarchy,  which 
enjoyed  security  from  the  oppression  of  the  great,  or  the 
ravages  of  war,  was  that  which  belonged  to  the  church. 
This  was  owing  not  only  to  the  great  reverence  for  the 
sacred  character  prevalent  in  those  ages,  but  to  a  supersti- 
tious dread  of  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  which  the 
clergy  were  ready  to  denounce  against  all  who  invaded  their 
possessions.  Many  observing  this,  made  a  surrender  of 
their  lands  to  ecclesiastics,  and  consenting  to  hold  them  in 
fee  of  the  church,  obtained  as  its  vassals  a  degree  of  safety, 
which  without  this  device  they  were  unable  to  procure.  By 
such  an  increase  of  the  number  of  their  vassals,  the  power 
of  ecclesiastics  received  a  real  and  permanent  augmentation; 
and  as  lands  held  in  fee,  by  the  limited  tenures  common  in 
those  ages,  often  returned  to  the  persons  on  whom  the  fief 
depended,  considerable  additions  were  made  in  this  way  to 
the  property  of  the  clergy.^^ 

The  solicitude  of  the  clergy  in  providing  for  the  safety 
of  their  own  persons,  was  still  greater  than  that  which  they 
displayed  in  seeming  their  possessions  ;  and  their  efforts  to 
attain  it  were  still  more  successful.  As  they  were  conse- 
crated to  the  priestly  office  with  much  outward  solemnity  ; 
were  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  mankind  by  a  peculiar 
garb  and  manner  of  life;  and  arrogated  to  theii'  order  many 
privileges  which  do  not  belong  to  other  Christians,  the}; 
naturally  became  the  objects  of  excessive  veneration.  As  a 
superstitious  spirit  spread,  they  were  regarded  as  beings  of 
a  superior  species  to  the  profane  laity,  whom  it  would  be 
impious  to  try  by  the  same  laws,  or  to  subject  to  the  same 
punishments.  This  exemption  from  civil  jurisdiction,  granted 
at  first  to  ecclesiastics  as  a  mark  of  respect,  they  soon  claimed 
as  a  point  of  right.  This  valuable  immunity  of  the  priest- 
hood is  asserted,  not  only  in  the  decrees  of  popes  and  coun- 

^  F.  Paul,  Hist,  of  Eccles.  Benef.  p.  66.     Boulainvillers,  Etat  de  France, 
torn.  i.  p.  169.  Lond.  1737. 


BOOK  11.]  THEIR  ENCROACHMENTS.  2(59 

cils,  but  was  confirmed  in  the  most  ample  form  by  many  of 
the  greatest  emperors.^*  As  long  as  the  clerical  character 
remained,  the  person  of  an  ecclesiastic  was  in  some  degree 
sacred ;  and  unless  he  were  degraded  from  his  ofHcc,  the 
unhallowed  hand  of  the  civil  judge  durst  not  touch  him. 
But  as  the  power  of  degradation  was  lodged  in  the  spiritual 
courts,  the  difficulty  and  expense  of  obtaining  such  a  sen- 
tence too  often  secured  absolute  impunity  to  offenders. 
Many  assumed  the  clerical  character  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  it  might  screen  them  from  the  punishment  which 
their  actions  deserved. ^^  The  German  nobles  complained 
loudly  that  these  anointed  malefactors,  as  they  called  thcm,^" 
seldom  suffered  capitally,  even  for  the  most  atrocious  crimes ; 
and  their  independence  of  the  civil  magistrate  is  often  men- 
tioned in  the  remonstrances  of  the  diets,  as  a  privilege  equally 
pernicious  to  society  and  to  the  morals  of  the  clergy. 

While  the  clergy  asserted  the  privileges  of  their  own 
order  with  so  much  zeal,  they  made  continual  encroach- 
ments upon  those  of  the  laity.  All  causes  relative  to 
matrimony,  to  testaments,  to  usury,  to  legitimacy  of  birth, 
as  well  as  those  which  concerned  ecclesiastical  revenues, 
were  thought  to  be  so  connected  with  religion,  that  they 
could  be  tried  only  in  the  spiritual  courts.  Not  satisfied 
with  this  ample  jurisdiction,  which  extended  to  one-half  of 
the  subjects  that  gave  rise  to  litigation  among  men,  the 
clergy,  with  wonderful  industry,  and  by  a  thousand  inven- 
tions, endeavoured  to  draw  all  other  causes  into  their  own 
courts. ^^  As  thev  had  cno-rossed  almost  the  whole  learninor 
known  in  the  dark  ages,  the  spiritual  judges  were  commonly 
so  far  superior  in  knowledge  and  abilities  to  tho?e  employed 
in  the  secular  courts,  that  the  people  at  first  favoured  any 
stretch  that  was  made  to  bring  their  affairs  under  the 
cognisance  of  a  judicature,  on  the  decisions  of  which  they 


^^  Goldasti      Constitufc.     Imperial.  '■^  Centum  Gravam.  §  31. 

Francof.  LC73,  vol.  ii.  pp.  92, 107.  ^^  Giaiinouc,  Ilist.  oi  [Naples,  book 

^^  Rymer's  Eccdera,  vol.  xiii.  p.  532.      xis.  §  3. 


270  SPIRITUAL  CENSURES.  [book  ii. 

could  rely  with  more  perfect  confidence  than  on  those  of 
the  civil  courts.  Thus  the  interest  of  the  church  and  the 
inclination  of  the  people  concurring  to  elude  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  lay  magistrate,  soon  reduced  it  almost  to  nothing."'^ 
By  means  of  this,  vast  power  accrued  to  ecclesiastics,  and 
no  inconsiderable  addition  was  made  to  their  revenue  by 
the  sums  paid  in  those  ages  to  the  persons  who  adminis- 
tered justice. 

The  penalty  by  which  the  spiritual  courts  enforced  their 
sentences  added  great  weight  and  terror  to  their  jurisdic- 
tion. The  censure  of  excommunication  was  instituted 
originally  for  preserving  the  purity  of  the  church ;  that 
obstinate  offenders,  whose  impious  tenets  or  profane  lives 
were  a  reproach  to  Christianity,  might  be  cut  off  from  the 
society  of  the  faithful ;  this,  ecclesiastics  did  not  scruple  to 
convert  into  an  engine  for  promoting  their  own  power,  and 
they  inflicted  it  on  the  most  frivolous  occasions.  Whoever 
despised  any  of  their  decisions,  even  concerning  civil  matters, 
immediately  incurred  this  dreadful  censure,  which  not  only 
excluded  them  from  all  the  privileges  of  a  Christian,  but 
deprived  them  of  their  rights  as  men  and  citizens  ;^^  and 
the  dread  of  this  rendered  even  the  most  fierce  and  turbulent 
spirits  obsequious  to  the  authority  of  the  church. 

Nor  did  the  clergy  neglect  the  proper  methods  of  pre- 
serving the  wealth  and  power  which  they  had  acquired 
with  such  industry  and  address.  The  possessions  of  the 
church  being  consecrated  to  God,  were  declared  to  be 
inalienable ;  so  that  the  funds  of  a  society  which  was  daily 
gaining,  and  could  never  lose,  grew  to  be  immense.  In 
Germany,  it  was  computed  that  the  ecclesiastics  had  got 
into  their  hands  more  than  one-half  of  the  national  pro- 
perty."^" In  other  countries  the  proportion  varied ;  but  the 
share  belonging  to  the  church  was  everywhere  prodigious. 
These  vast  possessions  were  not  subject  to  the  burdens 

''  Centura  Gravara.  §  9,  56,  G4.        ''  Ibid.  §  34.  "<>  Ibid.  §  28. 


BOOK  II.]  CLERICAL  RULE  IN  GERMANY.  271 

imposed  on  the  lauds  of  the  laity.  The  German  clergy 
were  exempted  by  law  from  all  taxes;""  and  if,  on  an 
extraordinary  emergence,  ecclesiastics  were  pleased  to  grant 
some  aid  towards  supplying  the  public  exigencies,  this  was 
considered  as  a  free  gift  flowing  from  their  own  generosity, 
which  the  civil  magistrate  had  no  title  to  demand,  far  less 
to  exact.  In  consequence  of  this  strange  solecism  in 
government,  the  laity  in  Germany  had  the  mortification  to 
find  themselves  loaded  with  excessive  impositions,  because 
such  as  possessed  the  greatest  property  were  freed  froQi  any 
obligation  to  support  or  defend  the  state. 

Grievous,  however,  as  the  exorbitant  wealth  and  nume- 
rous privileges  of  the  clerical  order  were  to  the  other 
members  of  the  Germanic  body,  they  would  have  reckoned 
it  some  mitigation  of  the  evil  if  these  had  been  possessed 
only  by  ecclesiastics  residing  among  themselves,  who  would 
have  been  less  apt  to  make  an  improper  use  of  their  riches, 
or  to  exercise  their  rights  with  unbecoming  rigour.  But 
the  bishops  of  Rome  having  early  put  in  a  claim,  the  boldest 
that  ever  human  ambition  suggested,  of  being  supreme  and 
infallible  heads  of  the  Christian  church,  they,  by  their 
profound  policy  and  unwearied  perseverance — by  their 
address  in  availing  themselves  of  every  circumstance  which 
occurred — by  taking  advantage  of  the  superstition  of  some 
princes,  of  the  necessities  of  others,  and  of  the  credulity  of 
the  people,  at  length  established  their  pretensions  in  oppo- 
sition both  to  the  interest  and  common  sense  of  mankind. 
Germany  was  the  country  which  these  ecclesiastical  sove- 
reigns governed  with  most  absolute  authority.  They 
excommunicated  and  deposed  some  of  its  most  illustrious 
emperors,  and  excited  their  subjects,  their  ministers,  and 
even  their  children,  to  take  arms  against  them.  Amidst 
these  contests,  the  popes  continually  extended  their  own 
immunities,  spoiling  the  secular  princes  gradually  of  their 

*^  Centum  Gravam.    Goldasti  Const.  Inipcr.  ii.  79,   108.     Pfeffcl,  Hist,  du 
Droit  Publ.  pp.  350,  374. 


2/2  ROMISH  EXPEDIENTS.  [book  ii. 

most  valuable  prerogatives,  and  the  German  churcli  felt  all 
the  rigour  of  that  oppression  which  flows  from  subjection 
to  foreign  dominion  and  foreign  exactions. 

The  right  of  conferring  benefices,  which  the  popes  usurped 
during  that  period  of  confusion,  was  an  acquisition  of  great 
importance,  and  exalted  the  ecclesiastical  power  upon  the 
ruins  of  the  temporal.  The  emperors  and  other  princes  of 
Germany  had  long  been  in  possession  of  this  right,  which 
served  to  increase  both  their  authority  and  their  revenue ; 
but,  by  wresting  it  out  of  their  hands,  the  popes  were 
enabled  to  fill  the  empire  with  their  own  creatures ;  they 
accustomed  a  great  body  of  every  prince's  subjects  to 
depend,  not  upon  him,  but  upon  the  Roman  see ;  they 
bestowed  upon  strangers  the  richest  benefices  in  every 
country,  and  drained  their  wealth  to  supply  the  luxury  of 
a  foreign  court.  Even  the  patience  of  the  most  super- 
stitious ages  could  no  longer  bear  such  oppression  ;  and  so 
loud  and  frequent  were  the  complaints  and  murmurs  of  the 
Germans,  that  the  popes,  afraid  of  irritatuig  them  too  far, 
consented,  contrary  to  their  usual  practice,  to  abate  some- 
what of  their  pretensions,  and  to  rest  satisfied  with  the 
right  of  nomination  to  such  benefices  as  happened  to  fall 
vacant  dm^ing  six  months  in  the  year,  leaving  the  disposal 
of  the  remainder  to  the  princes  and  other  legal  patrons."^' 

But  the  court  of  Rome  easily  found  expedients  for  eluding 
an  agreement  which  put  such  restraints  on  its  power.  The 
practice  of  reserving  certain  benefices  in  every  country  to 
the  pope's  immediate  nomination,  which  had  been  long 
known,  and  often  complained  of,  was  extended  far  beyond 
its  ancient  bounds.  All  the  benefices  possessed  by  car- 
dinals, or  any  of  the  numerous  officers  in  the  Roman  court ; 
those  held  by  persons  who  happened  to  die  at  Rome,  or 
within  forty  miles  of  that  city,  on  their  journey  to  or  from 
it ;  such  as  became  vacant  by  translation,  with  many  others, 
were  included  in  the  number  of  reserved  benefices.  Julius  II. 
"2  P.  Paul,  Hist,  of  Eccles.  Benef.  p.  20i.    Gold.  Constit.  Iniper.  i.  p.  408.. 


BOOK  iL]  VENALITY  OP  THE  TAPAL  COURT.  273 

and  Leo  X.  stretcliing  the  matter  to  the  utmost,  often  col- 
lated to  benefices  wliere  the  right  of  reservation  had  not 
been  declared,  on  pretence  of  having  mentally  reserved  this 
privilege  to  themselves.  The  right  of  reservation,  however, 
even  with  this  extension,  had  certain  limits,  as  it  could  be 
exercised  only  where  the  benefice  was  actually  vacant ;  and, 
therefore,  in  order  to  render  the  exertion  of  papal  power 
unbounded,  expeciative  prices,  or  mandates,  nominating 
a  person  to  succeed  to  a  benefice  upon  the  first  vacancy 
that  should  happen,  were  brought  into  use.  By  means  of 
these,  Germany  was  filled  with  persons  who  were  servilely 
dependent  on  the  court  of  Rome,  from  w^hich  they  had 
received  such  reversionary  grants ;  princes  were  defrauded, 
in  a  great  degree,  of  their  prerogatives ;  the  rights  of  lay- 
patrons  were  pre-occupied,  and  rendered  almost  entirely 
vain/^ 

The  manner  in  which  these  extraordinary  powers  were 
exercised,  rendered  them  still  more  odious  and  intolerable. 
The  avarice  and  extortion  of  the  court  of  Rome  were  become 
excessive  almost  to  a  proverb.  The  practice  of  selling 
benefices  was  so  notorious,  that  no  pains  were  taken  to 
conceal  or  to  disguise  it.  Companies  of  merchants  openly 
purchased  the  benefices  of  difierent  districts  in  Germany 
from  the  pope's  ministers,  and  retailed  them  at  an  advanced 
price.**  Pious  men  beheld  with  deep  regret  these  simoni- 
acal  transactions,  so  unworthy  the  ministers  of  a  Christian 
church  ;  wdiile  politicians  complained  of  the  loss  sustained  by 
the  exportation  of  so  much  wealth  in  that  irreligious  trafiic. 

The  sums,  indeed,  which  the  court  of  Rome  drew  by  its 
stated  and  legal  impositions  from  all  the  countries  acknow- 
ledging its  authority  were  so  considerable,  that  it  is  not 
strange  that  princes,  as  well  as  their  subjects,  murmured  at 
the  smallest  addition  made  to  them  by  unnecessary  or  illicit 

«  Centum  Gravam.  §  21.    Fascic.      Hist,  of  Eccl.  Benef.  1G7,  pp.  109. 
Rer.  expet.  &c.,  p.  331.     Gold.  Const.  ■•■♦  I'ascic.  Eer.  cxpct.  i.  p.  359. 

Imper.  i.  pp.  391,  401,  405.     E.  Paul, 

VOL.  I.  T 


274  THE  ROMISH  HIERARCHY  [book  ir, 

means.  Every  ecclesiastical  person,  upon  his  admission  to 
his  benefice,  paid  annats,  or  one  year's  produce  of  his 
living,  to  the  pope ;  and  as  that  tax  was  exacted  with  great 
rigour,  its  amount  was  very  great.  To  this  must  be  added 
the  frequent  demands  made  by  the  popes  of  free  gifts  from 
the  clergy,  together  with  the  extraordinary  levies  of  tenths 
upon  ecclesiastical  benefices,  on  pretence  of  expeditions 
against  the  Turks,  seldom  intended  or  carried  into  execu- 
tion ;  and  from  the  whole,  the  vast  proportion  of  the 
revenues  of  the  church  which  flowed  continually  to  Rome 
may  be  estimated. 

Such  were  the  dissolute  manners,  the  exorbitant  wealth, 
the  enormous  power  and  privileges  of  the  clergy  before 
the  reformation  ;  such  the  oppressive  rigour  of  that  domi- 
nion which  the  popes  had  established  over  the  Christian 
world;  and  such  tlie  sentiments  concerning  them  that 
prevailed  in  Germany  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Nor  has  this  sketch  been  copied  from  the  con- 
troversial writers  of  that  age,  who,  in  the  heat  of  disputation, 
may  be  suspected  of  having  exaggerated  the  errors,  or  of 
having  misrepresented  the  conduct,  of  that  church  which 
they  laboured  to  overturn ;  it  is  formed  upon  more  authentic 
evidence,  upon  the  memorials  and  remonstrances  of  the 
imperial  diets,  enumerating  the  grievances  under  which  the 
empire  groaned,  in  order  to  obtain  the  redress  of  them. 
Dissatisfaction  must  have  arisen  to  a  great  height  among 
the  people,  when  these  grave  assemblies  expressed  them- 
selves with  that  degree  of  acrimony  which  abounds  in  their 
remonstrances ;  and  if  they  demanded  the  abohtion  of  these 
enormities  with  so  much  vehemence,  the  people,  we  may 
be  assured,  uttered  their  sentiments  and  desires  in  bolder 
and  more  virulent  language. 

To  men  thus  prepared  for  shaking  off  the  yoke,  Luther 
addressed  himself  with  certainty  of  success.  As  they  had 
long  felt  its  weight,  and  had  borne  it  with  impatience,  they 
listened  with  joy  to  the  first  offer  of  procuring  them  deli- 


BOOK  ii.J  AND  THE  REFORMATION.  275 

verance.  Hence  proceeded  the  fond  and  eager  reception 
that  his  doctrines  met  with,  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
they  spread  over  all  the  provinces  of  Germany.  Even  the 
impetnosity  and  fierceness  of  Luther's  spirit,  his  confidence 
in  asserting  his  own  opinions,  and  the  arrogance  as  well  as 
contempt  wherewith  he  treated  all  who  differed  from  him, 
which,  in  ages  of  greater  moderation  and  refinement,  have 
been  reckoned  defects  in  the  character  of  that  reformer, 
did  not  appear  excessive  to  his  contemporaries,  whose  minds 
were  strongly  agitated  by  those  interesting  controversies 
which  he  carried  on,  and  who  had  themselves  endured  the 
rigour  of  papal  tyranny,  and  seen  the  corruptions  in  the 
church  against  which  he  exclaimed. 

Nor  were  they  offended  at  that  gross  scurrility  with 
which  his  polemical  writings  are  filled,  or  at  the  low  buf- 
foonery which  he  sometimes  introduces  into  his  gravest 
discourses.  No  dispute  was  managed  in  those  rude  times 
without  a  large  portion  of  the  former ;  and  the  latter  was 
common,  even  on  the  most  solemn  occasions,  and  in  treating 
the  most  sacred  subjects.  So  far  were  either  of  these  from 
doing  hurt  to  his  cause,  that  invective  and  ridicule  had 
some  effect  as  well  as  more  laudable  arguments,  in  exposing 
the  errors  of  popery,  and  in  determining  mankind  to 
abandon  them. 

Besides  all  those  causes  of  Luther's  rapid  progress, 
arising  from  the  nature  of  his  enterprise,  and  the  juncture 
at  which  he  undertook  it,  he  reaped  advantage  from  some 
foreign  and  adventitious  circumstances,  the  beneficial  influ- 
ence of  which  none  of  his  forerunners  in  the  same  course 
had  enjoyed.  Among  these  may  be  reckoned  the  invention 
of  the  art  of  printing,  about  half  a  century  before  his  time. 
By  this  fortunate  discovery,  the  facility  of  acquiring  and 
of  propagating  knowledge  was  wonderfully  increased,  and 
Luther's  books,  which  must  otherwise  have  made  their  way 
slowly  and  with  uncertainty  into  distant  countries,  spread 
at  once  all  over  Europe.     Nor  were  they  read  only  by  the 

T  2 


276  THE  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING.  [book  ii. 

rich  and  the  learned,  who  alone  had  access  to  books  before 
that  invention ;  they  got  into  the  hands  of  the  people,  who, 
upon  this  appeal  to  them  as  judges,  ventured  to  examine 
and  to  reject  many  doctrines  which  they  had  formerly 
been  required  to  believe,  without  being  taught  to  under- 
stand them. 

The  revival  of  learning  at  the  same  period  was  a  circum- 
stance extremely  friendly  to  the  reformation.  The  study 
of  the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  authors,  by  enlightening 
the  human  mind  with  liberal  and  sound  knowledge,  roused 
it  from  that  profound  lethargy  in  which  it  had  been  sunk 
during  several  centuries.  Mankind  seem  at  that  period  to 
have  recovered  the  powers  of  inquiring  and  of  thinking  for 
themselves,  faculties  of  which  they  had  long  lost  the  use ; 
and  fond  of  the  acquisition,  they  exercised  them  with  great 
boldness  upon  all  subjects.  They  were  not  now  afraid  of 
entering  an  uncommon  path,  or  of  embracing  a  new  opinion. 
Novelty  appears  rather  to  have  been  a  recommendation  of 
a  doctrine ;  and  instead  of  being  startled  when  the  daring 
hand  of  Luther  drew  aside  or  tore  the  veil  which  covered 
and  established  errors,  the  genius  of  the  age  applauded  and 
aided  the  attempt.  Luther,  though  a  stranger  to  elegance 
in  taste  or  composition,  zealously  promoted  the  cultivation 
of  ancient  literature  ;  and  sensible  of  its  being  necessary  to 
the  right  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  he  himself  had 
acquired  considerable  knowledge  both  in  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  tongues.  Melancthon,  and  some  other  of  his  dis- 
ciples, were  eminent  proficients  in  the  polite  arts ;  and  as 
the  same  ignorant  monks  who  opposed  the  introduction  of 
learning  into  Germany,  set  themselves  with  equal  fierceness 
against  Luther's  opinions,  and  declared  the  good  reception 
of  the  latter  to  be  the  effect  of  the  progress  which  the 
former  had  made,  the  cause  of  learning  and  of  the  refor- 
mation came  to  be  considered  as  closely  connected  with 
each  other-,  and  in  every  country  had  the  same  friends  and 
the  same  enemies.     This  enabled  the  reformers  to  carry  on 


BOOK  II.]  ITS  EFEECT  ON  TEE  REFORilATION.  277 

the  contest  at  first  with  great  superiority.  Erudition, 
industry,  accuracy  of  sentiment,  purity  of  composition,  even 
wit  and  raillery,  were  almost  wholly  on  their  side,  and 
triumphed  with  ease  over  illiterate  monks,  whose  rude 
arguments,  expressed  in  a  perplexed  and  barbarous  style, 
were  found  insufficient  for  the  defence  of  a  system, 
the  errors  of  which  all  the  art  and  ingenuity  of  its  later 
and  more  learned  advocates  have  not  been  able  to 
palliate. 

That  bold  spirit  of  inquiry,  which  the  revival  of  learning 
excited  in  Europe,  was  so  favourable  to  the  reformation, 
that  Luther  was  aided  in  his  progress,  and  mankind  Avere 
prepared  to  embrace  his  doctrines,  by  persons  who  did  not 
wish  success  to  his  undertaking.  The  greater  part  of  the 
ingenious  men  who  applied  to  tlie  study  of  ancient  literature 
towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth,  though  they  had  no  intention,  and  perhaps 
no  wish,  to  overturn  the  established  system  of  religion,  had 
discovered  the  absurdity  of  many  tenets  and  practices 
authorized  by  the  church,  and  perceived  the  futility  of  those 
arguments  by  which  illiterate  monks  endeavoured  to  defend 
them.  Their  contempt  of  these  advocates  for  the  received 
errors,  led  them  frequently  to  expose  the  opinions  which 
they  supported,  and  to  ridicule  their  ignorance  with  great 
freedom  and  severity.  ,  By  this,  men  were  prepared  for  the 
more  serious  attacks  made  upon  them  by  Luther,  and  their 
reverence  both  for  the  doctrines  and  persons  against  whom 
he  inveighed  was  considerably  abated.  This  was  particu- 
larly the  case  in  Germany.  When  the  first  attempts  were 
made  to  revive  a  taste  for  ancient  learning  in  that  country, 
the  ecclesiastics  there,  who  were  still  more  ignorant  than 
their  brethren  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps,  set  themselves 
to  oppose  its  progress  with  more  active  zeal ;  and  the  patrons 
of  the  new  studies,  in  retm-n,  attacked  them  with  greater 
violence.  In  the  writings  of  Reuchlin,  Hutten,  and  the 
other  revivers  of  learning  in  Germany,  the  corruptions  of 


278  ERASMUS.  [book  n. 

the  cliurcli  of  Rome  are  censured  with  an  acrimony  of 
style,  little  inferior  to  that  of  Luther  himself/^ 

From  the  same  cause  proceeded  the  frequent  strictures  of 
Erasmus  upon  the  errors  of  the  church,  as  well  as  upon  the 
ignorance  and  vices  of  the  clergy.  His  reputation  and 
authority  were  so  high  in  Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  his  works  were  read  with  such  universal 
admiration,  that  the  effect  of  these  deserves  to  be  mentioned 
as  one  of  the  circumstances  which  contributed  considerably 
towards  Luther's  success.  Erasmus,  having  been  destined 
for  the  church,  and  trained  up  in  the  knowledge  of  eccle- 
siastical literature,  applied  himself  more  to  theological 
inquiries  than  any  of  the  revivers  of  learning  in  that  age. 
His  acute  judgment  and  extensive  erudition  enabled  him  to 
discover  many  errors,  both  in  the  doctrine  and  worship  of 
the  Romish  church.  Some  of  these  he  confuted  with  great 
solidity  of  reasoning  and  force  of  eloquence.  Others  he  treated 
as  objects  of  ridicule,  and  turned  against  them  that  irresist- 
ible torrent  of  popular  and  satirical  wat,  of  which  he  had  the 
command.  There  was  hardly  any  opinion  or  practice  of 
the  Romish  church  which  Luther  endeavoured  to  reform, 
but  what  had  been  previously  animadverted  upon  by 
Erasmus,  and  had  afforded  him  subject  either  of  censure 
or  of  raillery.  Accordingly,  when  Luther  first  began  his 
attack  upon  the  church,  Erasmus  seemed  to  applaud  his 
conduct ;  he  courted  the  friendship  of  several  of  his  disciples 
and  patrons,  and  condemned  the  behaviour  and  spirit  of  his 
adversaries.^'^  He  concurred  openly  with  him  in  inveighing 
against  the  school  divines,  as  the  teachers  of  a  system  equally 
unedifying  and  obscure.  He  joined  him  in  endeavouring 
to  turn  the  attention  of  men  to  the  study  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  as  the  only  standard  of  religious  truth.^^ 

Various  circumstances,  however,  prevented  Erasmus  from 

*^  Gerdesius,  Hist.  Evang.  Renov.  "'^  Seckend.  lib.  i.  pp.  40,  96. 

vol.  i.  pp.  14],  157.  Seckend.  lib.  i.  p.  ^'  Von  der  Hardt.  Histor.  Literar. 

103.     Von  der  Hardt,  Hist.  Literar.  Reform,  pars  i.    Gerdes.  Hist.  Evang 

Reform,  pars  ii.  Reuov.  i.  p.  147. 


BOOK  II.]  HIS  CONKEXION  WITH  LUTHER.  2/9 

holding  the  same  course  with  Luther.  The  natural  timidity 
of  his  temper ;  his  want  of  that  strength  of  mind  which 
alone  can  prompt  a  man  to  assume  the  character  of  a 
reformer;'***  his  excessive  deference  for  persons  in  high 
stations  ;  his  dread  of  losing  the  pensions  and  other  emolu- 
ments which  their  liberality  had  conferred  upon  him ;  his 
extreme  love  of  peace,  and  hopes  of  reforming  abuses 
gradually,  and  by  gentle  methods,  all  concurred  in  deter- 
mining him  not  only  to  repress  and  to  moderate  the 
zeal  with  which  he  had  once  been  animated  against  the 
errors  of  the  church,^^  but  to  assume  the  character  of  a 
mediator  between  Luther  and  his  opponents.  But  though 
Erasmus  soon  began  to  censure  Luther  as  too  daring  and 
impetuous,  and  was  at  last  prevailed  upon  to  write  against 
him,  he  must,  nevertheless,  be  considered  as  his  forerunner 
and  auxiliary  in  this  war  upon  the  church.  He  first 
scattered  the  seeds,  which  Luther  cherished  and  brought  to 
maturity.  His  raiUery  and  oblique  censures  prepared  the 
way  for  Luther's  invectives  and  more  direct  attacks.  In 
this  light  Erasmus  appeared  to  the  zealous  defenders  of  the 
Romish  church  in  his  own  times. ^^  In  this  light  he  must 
be  considered  by  every  person  conversant  in  the  history  of 
that  period. 

In  this  long  enumeration  of  the  circumstances  which 
combined  in  favouring  the  progress  of  Luther's  opinions, 
or  in  weakening  the  resistance  of  his  adversaries,  I  have 
avoided  entering  into  any  discussion  of  the  theological 
doctrines  of  popery,  and  have  not  attempted  to  show  how 
repugnant  they  are  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  how 

■*' Erasmus  himself  is  candid  enough  qnisile  to  make  a  marlyr;  and  I  am 

to  acknowledge  this  :  "  Lutlier,"  says  afraid,  tliat  if  I  were  put  to  tlie  trial, 

he,  "  has  given  us  many  a  wholesome  I  should  imitate  St.  Peter."     Epist. 

doctrine,  and  many  a  good  counsel.  Erasmi,  in  Jortin's  Life  of  Erasm.  vol. 

I  wish  he  had  not  defeated  the  effect  i.  p.  273. 

of  them  by  intolerable  faults.     But  if  '"'  Jortin's  Life  of  Erasmus,  vol.  i. 

he  had  written  everything  in  the  most  p.  258. 

unexceptionable  manner,  I  had  no  in-  ^°  Vou  der  Hardt,  Hist.    Litcrar. 

clination  to  die  for  the  sake  of  truth.  Heform.  pars  i.  p.  2. 
Every  man  hath  not  the  courage  re- 


280  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  [book  ii. 

destitute  of  any  foundation  in  reason,  in  the  word  of  God, 
or  in  the  practice  of  the  primitive  church,  leaving  those 
topics  entirely  to  ecclesiastical  historians,  to  whose  province 
they  peculiarly  belong.  But  when  we  add  the  effect  of 
these  rehgious  considerations  to  the  influence  of  political 
causes,  it  is  obvious  that  the  united  operation  of  both  on 
the  human  mind  must  have  been  sudden  and  irresistible. 
Though,  to  Luther's  contemporaries,  who  were  too  near, 
perhaps,  to  the  scene,  or  too  deeply  interested  in  it,  to 
trace  causes  with  accuracy,  or  to  examine  them  with  coolness, 
the  rapidity  with  which  his  opinions  spread,  appeared  to 
be  so  unaccountable,  that  some  of  them  imputed  it  to  a 
certain  uncommon  and  malignant  position  of  the  stars, 
which  scattered  the  spirit  of  giddiness  and  innovation  over 
the  world  -/^^  it  is  evident,  that  the  success  of  the  reforma- 
tion was  the  natural  effect  of  many  powerful  causes  prepared 
by  peculiar  providence,  and  happily  conspiring  to  that  end. 
This  attempt  to  investigate  these  causes,  and  to  throw  light 
on  an  event,  so  singular  and  important,  will  not,  perhaps, 

be  deemed  an  unnecessary  digression. 1  return  from  it 

to  the  course  of  the  history. 

[1521.]  The  diet  at  Worms  conducted  its  deliberations 
with  that  slow  formality  peculiar  to  such  assemblies.  Much 
time  was  spent  in  establishing  some  regulations  with  regard 
to  the  internal  police  of  the  empire.  The  jurisdiction  of 
the  imperial  chamber  was  confirmed,  and  the  forms  of  its 
proceeding  rendered  more  fixed  and  regular.  A  council  of 
regency  was  appointed  to  assist  Ferdinand  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  empire  during  any  occasional  absence  of  the 
emperor,  which,  from  the  extent  of  the  emperor's  dominions, 
as  well  as  the  multiplicity  of  his  affairs,  was  an  event  that 
might  be  frequently  expected.^^  The  state  of  religion  was 
then  taken  into  consideration.     There  were  not  wanting: 

51  Jovii  Historia,  Lut.  1553,  foL  p.      viii.  cb.  11,  p.  195.     Pfeffel,  Abrege 
134.  ■  ClirouoL  p.  598. 

^'  Pont.   Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib. 


BOOK  11.]  DIET  AT  "WORMS.  '281 

some  plausible  reasons  whicli  might  have  induced  Charles 
to  have  declared  himself  the  protector  of  Luther's  cause,  or 
at  least  to  have  connived  at  its  progress.  If  he  had  possessed 
no  other  dominions  but  those  which  belonged  to  him  in 
Germany,  and  no  other  crown  besides  the  imperial,  he  might 
have  been  disposed,  perhaps,  to  favour  a  man  who  asserted 
so  boldly  the  privileges  and  immunities  for  which  the  empire 
had  struggled  so  long  with  the  popes.  But  the  vast  and 
dangerous  schemes  which  Francis  I.  was  forming  against 
Charles  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  regulate  his  conduct 
by  views  more  extensive  than  those  which  would  have 
suited  a  German  prince ;  and  it  being  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  secure  the  pope's  friendship,  this  determined 
him  to  treat  Luther  with  great  severity,  as  the  most  effectual 
method  of  soothing  Leo  into  a  concurrence  with  his  measures. 
His  eagerness  to  accomplish  this  rendered  him  not  unwilling 
to  gratify  the  papal  legates  in  Germany,  who  insisted  that 
without  any  delay  or  formal  deliberation,  the  diet  ought  to 
condemn  a  man  whom  the  pope  had  already  excommunicated 
as  an  incorrigible  heretic.  Such  an  abrupt  manner  of  pro- 
ceeding, however,  being  deemed  unprecedented  and  unjust 
by  the  members  of  the  diet,  they  made  a  point  of  Luther's 
appearing  in  person,  and  declaring  whether  he  adhered  or  not 
to  those  opinions  which  had  drawn  upon  him  the  censures 
of  the  church.^^  Not  only  the  emperor,  but  all  the  princes 
through,  whose  territories  he  had  to  pass,  granted  him  a 
safe-conduct ;  and  Charles  wrote  to  him  at  the  same  time, 
requiring  his  immediate  attendance  on  the  diet,  and  renew- 
ing his  promises  of  protection  from  any  injury  or  violence/* 
Luther  did  not  hesitate  one  moment  aboutyiel ding  obedience, 
and  set  out  for  Worms,  attended  by  the  herald  who  had 
brought  the  emperor's  letter  and  safe-conduct.  While  on 
his  journey,  many  of  his  friends,  whom  the  fate  of  Huss 
under  similar  circumstances,  and  notwithstanding  the  same 
security  of  an  imperial  safe-conduct,  filled  with  soHcitude, 
*'  P.  Mart.  Ep.  722.  '^  Luth.  Oper.  ii.  p.  411. 


282  LUTHER'S  RECEPTION  AT  WORMS.  [book  ii. 

advised  and  entreated  him  not  to  rush  wantonly  into  the 
midst  of  danger.  But  Lnther,  superior  to  such  terrors, 
silenced  them  with  this  reply  :  "  I  am  lawfully  called,"  said 
he,  "  to  appear  in  that  city,  and  thither  Avill  I  go  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  though  as  many  devils  as  there  are  tiles 
on  the  houses  were  there  combined  against  me."" 

The  reception  which  he  met  with  at  Worms  was  such  as 
he  might  have  reckoned  a  full  reward  of  all  his  labours,  if 
vanity  and  the  love  of  applause  had  been  the  principles  by 
which  he  was  influenced.  Greater  crowds  assembled  to 
behold  him  than  had  appeared  at  the  emperor's  public 
entry;  his  apartments  were  daily  filled  with  princes  and 
personages  of  the  highest  rank,^''  and  he  was  treated  with  all 
the  respect  paid  to  those  who  possess  the  power  of  directing 
the  understanding  and  sentiments  of  other  men  ;  an  homage, 
more  sincere,  as  well  as  more  flattering,  than  any  which 
pre-eminence  in  birth  or  condition  can  command.  At  his 
appearance  before  the  diet,  he  behaved  with  great  decency, 
and  with  equal  firmness.  He  readily  acknowledged  an 
excess  of  vehemence  and  acrimony  in  his  controversial 
writings,  but  refused  to  retract  his  opinions,  unless  he  were 
convinced  of  their  falsehood,  or  to  consent  to  their  being 
tried  by  any  other  rule  than  the  word  of  God.  When 
neither  threats  nor  entreaties  could  prevail  on  him  to  depart 
from  this  resolution,  some  of  the  ecclesiastics  proposed  to 
imitate  the  example  of  the  council  of  Constance,  and  by 
punishing  the  author  of  this  pestilent  heresy,  who  was  now 
in  their  power,  to  deliver  the  church  at  once  from  such  an 
evil.  Bat  the  members  of  the  diet  refusing  to  expose  the 
German  integrity  to  fresh  reproach  by  a  second  violation  of 
public  faith,  and  Charles  being  no  less  unwilling  to  bring  a 
stain  upon  the  beginning  of  his  administration  by  such  an 
ignominious  action,  Luther  was  permitted  to  depart  in 
safety."     A  few  days  after  he  left  the  city,  a  severe  edict 

55  Luth.  Oper.  ii.  p.  412.  "  -p.  Paul,  Hist,  of  Comic,  p.  13. 

5"  Seckend.  p.  1.56.    Luth.  Oper.  ii.      Seekend.  p.  J.60. 
p.  414. 


BOOK  II.]  HIS  SEIZURE  AND  CONCEALMENT.  283 

was  published  in  the  emperor's  name,  and  by  authority  of 
the  diet,  depriving  him,  as  an  obstinate  and  excommunicated 
criminal,  of  all  the  privileges  which  he  enjoyed  as  a  subject 
of  the  empire,  forbidding  any  prince  to  harbour  or  protect 
him,  and  requiring  all  to  concur  in  seizing  his  person  as 
soon  as  the  term  specified  in  his  safe-conduct  was  expired/** 

But  this  rigorous  degree  had  no  considerable  effect,  the 
execution  of  it  being  prevented,  partly  by  the  multiplicity 
of  occupations  which  the  commotions  in  Spain,  together 
with  the  wars  in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries,  created  to 
the  emperor ;  and  partly  by  a  prudent  precaution  employed 
by  the  elector  of  Saxony,  Luther's  faithful  and  discerning 
patron.  As  Luther,  on  his  return  from  Worms,  was  passing 
near  Altenstein  in  Thuringia,  a  number  of  horsemen  in  masks 
rushed  suddenly  out  of  a  wood,  where  the  elector  had 
appointed  them  to  lie  in  wait  for  him,  and,  surrounding 
his  company,  carried  him,  after  dismissing  all  his  attendants, 
to  Wartburg,  a  strong  castle  not  far  distant.  There  the 
elector  ordered  him  to  be  supplied  with  everything  necessary 
or  agreeable,  but  the  place  of  his  retreat  was  carefully 
concealed,  until  the  fury  of  the  present  storm  against  him 
began  to  abate,  upon  a  change  in  the  political  situation  of 
Europe.  In  this  solitude,  where  he  remained  nine  months, 
and  which  he  frequently  called  his  Patmos,  after  the  name 
of  that  island  to  which  the  apostle  John  was  banished,  he 
exerted  his  usual  vigour  and  industry  in  defence  of  his 
doctrines,  or  in  confutation  of  his  adversaries,  publishing 
several  treatises,  which  revived  the  spirit  of  his  followers, 
astonished  to  a  great  degree,  and  disheartened  at  the  sudden 
disappearance  of  their  leader. 

During  his  confinement  his  opinions  continued  to  gain 
ground,  acquiring  the  ascendant  in  almost  every  city  in 
Saxony.  At  this  time,  the  Augustinians  of  Wittemberg, 
with  the  approbation  of  the  university,  and  the  connivance 
of  the  elector,  ventured  upon  the  first  step  towards  an 

^»  Gold.  Const.  Imperial,  ii.  p.  401. 


284  PROGRESS  OE  LUTHER'S  OPINIONS,  [book  ii. 

alteration  in  tlie  established  forms  of  public  worship,  by 
abolishing  the  celebration  of  private  masses,  and  by  giving 
the  cup  as  well  as  the  bread  to  the  laity  in  administering 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Whatever  consolation  the  courage  and  success  of  his 
disciples,  or  the  progress  of  his  doctrines  in  his  own  country, 
afforded  Luther  in  his  retreat,  he  there  received  information 
of  two  events  which  considerably  damped  his  joy,  as  they 
seemed  to  lay  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  way  of  propagat- 
ing his  principles,  in  the  two  most  powerful  kingdoms  of 
Europe.  One  was,  a  solemn  decree,  condemning  his 
opinions,  published  by  the  university  of  Paris,  the  most 
ancient,  and,  at  that  time,  the  most  respectable  of  the 
learned  societies  in  Europe.  The  other  was  the  answer 
written  to  his  book  concerning  the  Babylonish  captivity  by 
Henry  VIIL  of  England.  That  monarch,  having  been 
educated  under  the  eye  of  a  suspicious  father,  who,  in  order 
to  prevent  his  attending  to  business,  kept  him  occupied  in 
the  study  of  literature,  still  retained  a  greater  love  of  learn- 
ing, and  stronger  habits  of  application  to  it,  than  are 
common  among  princes  of  so  active  a  disposition  and  such 
violent  passions.  Being  ambitious  of  acquiring  glory  of 
every  kind,  as  well  as  zealously  attached  to  the  Romish 
church,  and  highly  exasperated  against  Luther,  who  had 
treated  Thomas  Aquinas,  his  favourite  author,  with  great 
contempt,  Henry  did  not  think  it  enough  to  exert  his  royal 
authority  in  opposing  the  opinions  of  the  reformer,  but 
resolved  likewise  to  combat  them  with  scholastic  weapons. 
With  this  view  he  published  his  treatise  on  the  seven  sacra- 
ments, which,  though  forgotten  at  present,  as  books  of  con- 
troversy always  are,  when  the  occasion  that  produced  them  is 
past,  is  not  destitute  of  polemical  ingenuity  and  acuteness, 
and  was  represented  by  the  flattery  of  his  courtiers  to  be  a 
work  of  such  wonderful  science  and  learning  as  exalted  him 
no  less  above  other  authors  in  merit  than  he  was  distinguished 
among  them  by  his  rank.     The  pope,  to  whom  it  was  pre- 


BOOK  11.]       AND  OPPOSITION  THEY  CALLED  FORTH.  285 

sented  with  the  greatest  formality  in  full  consistory,  spoke  of 
it  in  such  terms,  as  if  it  had  been  dictated  by  immediate 
inspiration;  and,  as  a  testimony  of  the  gratitude  of  the 
church  for  his  extraordinary  zeal,  conferred  on  him  the  title 
of  Defender  of  the  Faith,  an  appellation  which  Henry  soon 
forfeited  in  the  opinion  of  those  from  whom  he  derived  it,  and 
w^hich  is  still  retained  by  his  successors,  though  the  avowed 
enemy  of  those  opinions,  by  contending  for  which  he  merited 
that  honourable  distinction.  Luther,  who  was  not  overawed, 
either  by  the  authority  of  the  university  or  the  dignity  of 
the  monarch,  soon  published  his  animadversions  on  both, 
in  a  style  no  less  vehement  and  severe  than  he  w^ould  have 
used  in  confuting  his  meanest  antagonist.  This  indecent 
boldness,  instead  of  shocking  his  contemporaries,  was  con- 
sidered by  them  as  a  new  proof  of  his  undaunted  spirit.  A 
controversy  managed  by  disputants  so  illustrious  drew 
universal  attention ;  and  such  was  the  contagion  of  the 
spirit  of  innovation,  diffused  through  Europe  in  that  age, 
and  so  powerful  the  evidence  which  accompanied  the  doc- 
trines of  the  reformers  on  their  first  publication,  that,  in 
spite  both  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  combined 
against  them,  they  daily  gained  converts  both  in  Prance 
and  in  England. 

How  desirous  soever  the  emperor  might  be  to  put  a  stop 
to  Luther's  progress,  he  was  often  obhged,  during  the  diet 
at  Worms,  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  matters  still  more  inter- 
esting, and  which  demanded  more  immediate  attention.  A 
war  was  ready  to  break  out  between  him  and  the  French 
king  in  Navarre,  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  in  Italy  -,  and 
it  required  either  great  address  to  avert  the  danger,  or 
timely  and  wise  precautions  to  resist  it.  Every  circum- 
stance, at  that  juncture,  inclined  Charles  to  prefer  the 
former  measure.  Spain  was  torn  with  intestine  commo- 
tions. Li  Italy,  he  had  not  hitherto  secured  the  assistance 
of  any  one  ally.  In  the  Low  Countries,  his  subjects 
trembled  at  the  thoughts  of  a  rupture  with  France,  the 


286  HENEY  THE  EIGHTH  EAVOUES  [book  ii. 

fatal  effects  of  which  on  their  commerce  they  had  often 
experienced.  Prom  these  considerations,  as  well  as  from 
the  solicitude  of  Chievres,  during  his  whole  administration, 
to  maintain  peace  between  the  two  monarchs,  proceeded 
the  emperor's  backwardness  to  commence  hostilities.  But 
Francis  and  his  ministers  did  not  breathe  the  same  pacific 
spirit.  He  easily  foresaw  that  concord  could  not  long 
subsist,  where  interest,  emulation,  and  ambition  conspired 
to  dissolve  it ;  and  he  possessed  several  advantages  which 
flattered  him  with  the  hopes  of  surprising  his  rival,  and  of 
overpowering  him,  before  he  could  put  himself  in  a  posture 
of  defence.  The  French  king's  dominions,  from  their  com- 
pact situation,  from  their  subjection  to  the  royal  authority, 
from  the  genius  of  the  people,  fond  of  war,  and  attached  to 
their  sovereign  by  every  tie  of  duty  and  affection,  were 
more  capable  of  a  great  or  sudden  effort,  than  the  larger 
but  disunited  territories  of  the  emperor,  in  one  part  of 
which  the  people  were  in  arms  against  his  ministers,  and 
in  all  his  prerogative  was  more  limited  than  that  of  his 
rival. 

The  only  princes,  in  whose  power  it  was  to  have  kept 
down,  or  to  have  extinguished  this  flame  on  its  first  appear- 
ance, either  neglected  to  exert  themselves,  or  were  active  in 
kindling  and  spreading  it.  Henry  VHL,  though  he  affected 
to  assume  the  name  of  mediator,  and  both  parties  made 
frequent  appeals  to  him,  had  laid  aside  the  impartiality 
which  suited  that  character.  Wolsey,  by  his  artifices,  had 
estranged  himself  so  entirely  from  the  French  king,  that  he 
secretly  fomented  the  discord  which  he  ought  to  have  com- 
posed, and  waited  only  for  some  decent  pretext  to  join  his 
arms  to  those  of  the  emperor.^^ 

Leo's  endeavours  to  excite  discord  between  the  emperor 

and  Francis  were  more  avowed,  and  had  greater  influence. 

Not  only  his  duty,  as  the  common  father  of  Christendom, 

but  his  interest  as  an  Italian  potentate,  called  upon  the 

''  Herbert.    Fiddes's  Life  of  Wolsey,  p.  258. 


BOOK  II.]  CHARLES  AGAINST  FRANCIS.  287 

pope  to  act  as  the  guardian  of  the  pubhc  tranquilhty,  and 
to  avoid  any  measure  that  might  overturn  the  system,  which, 
after  much  bloodshed,  and  many  negotiations,  Avas  now 
estabhshed  in  Italy.  Accordingly  Leo,  who  instantly 
discerned  the  propriety  of  this  conduct,  had  formed  a 
scheme,  upon  Charles's  promotion  to  the  imperial  dignity, 
of  rendering  himself  the  umpire  between  the  rivals,  by 
soothing  them  alternately,  while  he  entered  into  no  close 
confederacy  with  either ;  and  a  pontiff  less  ambitious  and 
enterprising  might  have  saved  Europe  from  many  calamities 
by  adhering  to  this  plan.  But  this  high-spirited  prelate, 
who  was  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  longed  passionately  to 
distinguish  his  pontificate  by  some  splendid  action.  He 
was  impatient  to  wash  away  the  infamy  of  having  lost 
Parma  and  Placentia,  the  acquisition  of  which  reflected  so 
much  lustre  on  the  administration  of  his  predecessor,  Julius. 
He  beheld,  with  the  indignation  natural  to  Italians  in  that 
age,  the  dominion  which  the  transalpine,  or  as  they,  in 
imitation  of  the  Roman  arrogance,  denominated  them,  the 
barbarous  nations,  had  attained  in  Italy.  He  flattered 
himself  that,  after  assisting  the  one  monarch  to  strip  the 
other  of  his  possessions  in  that  country,  he  might  find  means 
of  driving  out  the  victor  in  his  turn,  and  acquire  the  glory 
of  restoring  Italy  to  the  liberty  and  happiness  which  it  had 
enjoyed  before  the  invasion  of  Charles  VIIL,  when  every 
state  was  governed  by  its  native  princes  or  its  own  laws, 
and  unacquainted  with  a  foreign  yoke.  Extravagant  and 
chimerical  as  this  project  may  seem,  it  was  the  favourite 
object  of  almost  every  Italian,  eminent  for  genius  or  enter- 
prise, during  great  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They 
vainly  hoped  that  by  superior  skill  in  the  artifices  and 
refinements  of  negotiation,  they  should  be  able  to  baffle  the 
efforts  of  nations  less  polished  indeed  than  themselves,  but 
much  more  powerful  and  warlike.  So  alluring  was  the 
prospect  of  this  to  Leo,  that,  notwitlistanding  the  gentle- 
ness of  his  disposition,  and  his  fondness  for  the  pleasures 


288  LEO'S  TREATY  WITH  CHARLES.  [book  ii. 

of  a  refined  and  luxurious  ease,  he  hastened  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  Europe,  and  to  plunge  himself  into  a  dangerous 
war,  with  an  impetuosity  scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  the 
turbulent  and  martial  Julius.*^" 

It  was  in  Leo's  power,  however,  to  choose  which  of  the 
monarchs  he  would  take  for  his  confederate  against  the 
other.  Both  of  them  courted  his  friendship ;  he  wavered 
for  some  time  between  them,  and  at  first  concluded  an 
alliance  with  Francis.  The  object  of  this  treaty  was  the 
conquest  of  Naples,  which  the  confederates  agreed  to  divide 
between  them.  The  pope,  it  is  probable,  flattered  himself 
that  the  brisk  and  active  spirit  of  Francis,  seconded  by  the 
same  qualities  in  his  subjects,  would  get  the  start  of  the 
slow  and  wary  counsels  of  the  emperor,  and  that  they 
might  overrun  with  ease  this  detached  portion  of  his 
dominions,  ill  provided  for  defence,  and  always  the  prey  of 
every  invader.  But  whether  the  French  king,  by  disco- 
vering too  openly  his  suspicion  of  Leo's  sincerity,  disap- 
pointed these  hopes ;  whether  the  treaty  was  only  an 
artifice  of  the  pope's  to  cover  the  more  serious  negotiations 
which  he  was  carrying  on  with  Charles ;  whether  he  was 
enticed  by  the  prospect  of  reaping  greater  advantages  from 
a  union  with  that  prince ;  or  whether  he  was  soothed  by 
the  zeal  which  Charles  had  manifested  for  the  honour  of 
the  church  in  condemning  Luther;  certain  it  is  that  he 
soon  deserted  his  new  ally,  and  made  overtures  of  friendship, 
though  with  great  secrecy,  to  the  emperor.''^  Don  John 
Manuel,  the  same  man  who  had  been  the  favourite  of 
Philip,  and  whose  address  had  disconcerted  all  Ferdinand's 
schemes,  having  been  delivered,  upon  the  death  of  that 
monarch,  from  the  prison  to  which  he  had  been  confined, 
was  now  the  imperial  ambassador  at  Rome,  and  fully 
capable  of  improving  this  favourable  disposition  in  the 
pope  to  his  master's  advantage. "^^     To  him  the  conduct  of 

'">  Guic.  lib",  xiv.  p.  173.  Par.  1.573,  p.  24. 

^1  Ibid.  p.  175.     Mem,  de  Bellay,         ^^  Jovii  Vita  Leonis,  lib.  iv.  p.  89. 


BOOK  II.]  DEATH  OF  CniiiVEES.  289 

this  negotiation  Avas  entirely  committed;  and  being  carefully 
concealed  from  Chicvrcs,  whose  aversion  to  a  war  with 
France  would  have  prompted  him  to  retard  or  to  defeat  it, 
an  alliance  between  the  pope  and  emperor  Avas  (piickly 
concluded.'''  The  chief  articles  in  this  treaty,  which  proved 
the  foundation  of  Charles's  grandeur  in  Italy,  were,  that 
the  pope  and  emperor  should  join  their  forces  to  expel  the 
French  out  of  the  ]\Iilanese,  the  possession  of  which  should 
be  granted  to  Francis  Sforza,  a  son  of  Ludovico  the  Moor, 
who  had  resided  at  Trent  since  the  time  that  his  brother 
Maximilian  had  been  dispossessed  of  his  dominions  by  the 
French  king ;  that  Parma  and  Placcntia  should  be  restored 
to  the  church ;  that  the  emperor  should  assist  the  pope  in 
conquering  Ferrara;  that  the  annual  tribute  paid  by  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  to  the  holy  see  should  be  increased ; 
that  the  emperor  should  take  the  family  of  Medici  under 
his  protection ;  that  he  should  grant  to  the  cardinal  of  that 
name  a  pension  of  ten  thousand  ducats  upon  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Toledo  ;  and  should  settle  lands  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  to  the  same  value  upon  Alexander,  the  natural 
son  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici. 

The  transacting  an  affair  of  such  moment  without  his 
participation,  appeared  to  Chievres  so  decisive  a  proof  of 
his  having  lost  the  ascendant  which  he  had  hitherto  main- 
tained over  the  mind  of  his  pupil,  that  his  chagrin  on  this 
account,  added  to  the  melancholy  with  which  he  was  o\ci'- 
whelmed  on  taking  a  view  of  the  many  and  unavoidable 
calamities  attending  a  war  against  France,  is  said  to  have 
shortened  his  days.''^  But  though  this,  perhaps,  may  be 
only  the  conjecture  of  historians,  fond  of  attributing  every* 
thing  that  befalls  illustrious  personages  to  extraordinary 
causes,  and  of  ascribing  even  their  diseases  and  death  to 
the  effect  of  political   passions  Avhich    are   more   apt   to 

*^  Guic.  lib,   xiv.   181.     Mem.    de  "  Belciirii  Comment,  dellcb.  Gallic. 

Bellay,    p.    2i,      Da    Mont,    Corps      4S3. 
Diplom.  torn.  iv.  suppj.  p.  96. 

VOL.  I.  U 


290  COMMENCEMENT  OE  HOSTILITIES  [book  ir. 

disturb  the  enjoyment  than  to  abridge  the  period  of  life, 
it  is  certain  tliat  his  death,  at  this  critical  juncture,  extin- 
guished all  hopes  of  avoiding  a  rupture  with  France. '^^ 
This  event,  too,  delivered  Charles  from  a  minister,  to  whose 
authority  he  had  been  accustomed  from  his  infancy  to 
submit  with  such  implicit  deference,  as  checked  and  de- 
pressed his  genius,  and  retained  him  in  a  state  of  pupilage, 
imbecoming  his  years  as  well  as  his  rank.  But  this  restraint 
being  removed,  the  native  powers  of  his  mind  were  permitted 
to  unfold  themselves,  and  he  began  to  display  such  great 
talents  both  in  council  and  in  action,  as  exceeded  the  hopes 
of  his  contemporaries,''"  and  command  the  admiration  of 
posterity. 

While  the  pope  and  emperor  were  preparing  in  conse- 
quence of  their  secret  alliance  to  attack  Milan,  hostilities 
commenced  in  another  quarter.  The  children  of  John 
d'Albret,  king  of  Navarre,  having  often  demanded  the 
restitution  of  their  hereditary  dominions  in  terms  of  the 
treaty  of  Noyon,  and  Charles  having  as  often  eluded  their 
requests  upon  very  frivolous  pretexts,  Francis  thought 
himself  authorized  by  that  treaty  to  assist  the  exiled  family. 
The  juncture  appeared  extremely  favourable  for  such  an 
enterprise.  Charles  was  at  a  distance  from  that  part  of 
his  dominions ;  the  troops  usually  stationed  there  had  been 
called  away  to  quell  the  commotions  in  Spain ;  the  Spanish 
malecontents  warmly  solicited  him  to  invade  Navarre,''^  in 
which  a  considerable  faction  was  ready  to  declare  for  the 
descendants  of  their  ancient  monarchs.  But  in  order  to 
avoid,  as  much  as  possible,  giving  offence  to  the  emperor, 
or  king  of  England,  Francis  directed  forces  to  be  levied, 
and  the  war  to  be  carried  on,  not  in  his  own  name,  but  in 
that  of  Henry  d'Albret.  The  conduct  of  these  troops  was 
committed  to  Andrew  de  Foix,  de  I'Esparre,  a  young 
nobleman,  whom  his  near  alliance  to  the  unfortunate  king, 

«5  p.  Heufer.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  viii.  ««  P.  Mart.  Ep.  735. 

ch.  11,  p.  197-  «'  Ibid.  721. 


BOOK  11.]  IN  NAVARRE.  201 

whose  battles  he  was  to  fight,  and,  what  was  still  more 
powerful,  the  interest  of  his  sister,  Madame  de  CJiatcau- 
iDriand,  Francis's  favourite  mistress,  recommended  to  that 
important  trust,  for  which  he  had  neither  talents  nor 
experience.  But  as  there  was  no  army  in  the  field  to 
oppose  him,  he  became  master,  in  a  few  days,  of  the  whole 
kingdom  of  Navarre,  Avithout  meeting  with  any  obstruction 
but  from  the  citadel  of  Pampeluna.  The  additional  works 
to  this  fortress,  begun  by  Ximencs,  were  still  unfinished ; 
nor  would  its  slight  resistance  have  deserved  notice,  if 
Ignatio  Loyola,  a  Biscayan  gentleman,  had  not  been  dan- 
gerously wounded  in  its  defence.  During  the  progress  of 
a  lingering  cure,  Loyola  happened  to  have  no  other  amuse- 
ment than  what  he  found  in  reading  the  lives  of  the  saints : 
the  effect  of  this  on  his  mind,  naturally  enthusiastic,  but 
ambitious  and  daring,  was  to  inspire  him  with  such  a 
desire  of  emulating  the  glory  of  these  fabulous  worthies  of 
the  Roman  church,  as  led  him  into  the  wildest  and  most 
extravagant  adventures,  which  terminated  at  last  in  insti- 
tuting the  society  of  Jesuits,  the  most  political  and  best- 
regulated  of  all  the  monastic  orders,  and  from  which 
mankind  have  derived  more  advantages  and  received  greater 
injury  than  from  any  other  of  those  religious  fraternities. 

If,  upon  the  reduction  of  Pampeluna,  L'Esparre  had 
been  satisfied  with  taking  proper  precautions  for  securing 
his  conquest,  the  kingdom  of  Navarre  might  still  have 
remained  annexed  to  the  crown  of  France,  in  reality,  as 
well  as  in  title.  But,  pushed  on  by  youthful  ardour,  and 
encouraged  by  Francis,  who  was  too  apt  to  be  dazzled  with 
success,  he  ventured  to  pass  the  confines  of  Navarre,  and 
to  lay  siege  to  Logrogno  a  small  town  in  Castile.  This 
roused  the  Castilians,  who  had  hitherto  beheld  the  rapid 
progress  of  his  arms  with  great  unconcern,  and  the  dis- 
sensions in  that  kingdom  (of  which  a  full  account  shall  be 
given)  being  almost  composed,  both  parties  exerted  them- 
selves with  emulation  in  defence  of  their  country ;  the  one 

u  2 


292  HOSTILITIES  IN  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES.         [book  it. 

that  it  might  efface  the  memory  of  past  misconduct  by  its 
present  zeal ;  the  other,  that  it  might  add  to  the  merit  of 
having  subdued  the  emperor's  rebelhous  subjects,  that  of 
repulsing  his  foreign  enemies.  The  sudden  advance  of  their 
troops,  together  with  the  gallant  defence  made  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Logrogno,  obliged  the  French  general  to 
abandon  his  rash  enterprise.  The  Spanish  army,  which 
increased  every  day,  harassing  him  during  his  retreat,  he, 
instead  of  taking  shelter  under  the  cannon  of  Pampeluna, 
or  waiting  the  arrival  of  some  troops  which  were  marching 
to  join  him,  attacked  the  Spaniards,  thongh  far  superior  to 
him  in  number,  with  great  impetuosity,  but  with  so  little 
conduct,  that  his  forces  were  totally  routed,  he  himself, 
together  with  his  principal  officers,  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
Spain  recovered  possession  of  Navarre  in  still  shorter  time 
than  the  French  had  spent  in  the  conquest  of  it.^** 

While  Francis  endeavoured  to  justify  his  invasion  of 
Navarre,  by  carrying  it  on  in  the  name  of  Henry  d'Albret, 
he  had  recourse  to  an  artifice  much  of  the  same  kind,  in 
attacking  another  part  of  the  emperor's  territories.  Robert 
de  la  Mark,  lord  of  the  small  but  independent  territory  of 
Bouillon,  situated  on  the  frontiers  of  Luxembourg  and 
Champagne,  having  abandoned  Charles's  service  on  account 
of  an  encroachment  which  the  Aulic  council  had  made  on 
his  jurisdiction,  and  having  thrown  himself  upon  France 
for  protection,  was  easily  persuaded,  in  the  heat  of  his 
resentment,  to  send  a  herald  to  Worms,  and  to  declare  w^ar 
against  the  emperor  in  form.  Such  extravagant  insolence 
in  a  petty  prince  surprised  Charles,  and  appeared  to  him  a 
certain  proof  of  his  having  received  promises  of  power fu 
support  from  the  French  king.  The  justness  of  this  con- 
clusion soon  became  evident.  Robert  entered  the  duchy 
of  Luxembourg  with  troops  levied  in  France,  by  the  king's 
connivance,  though  seemingly  in  contradiction  to  his  orders, 
and,  after  ravaging  the  open  country,  laid  siege  to  Vireton. 

^  «8  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  21.     P.  Mart.  Ep.  726. 


J^ooK  II.]  SIEGE  OF  MEZIERES.  293 

Of  this  Cliarles  complained  loudly,  as  a  direct  violation  of 
the  peace  subsisting  between  the  two  crowns,  and  sum- 
moned Hemy  VII J.,  in  terms  of  the  treaty  concluded  at 
liondon  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighteen, 
to  turn  his  arms  against  Francis  as  the  first  aggressor. 
Francis  pretended  that  he  was  not  answerable  for  Robert's 
conduct,  whose  army  fought  under  his  own  standards  and 
in  his  own  quarrel;  and  attirmed  that,  contrary  to  an  express 
prohibition,  he  had  seduced  some  subjects  of  France  into 
his  service ;  but  Henry  paid  so  little  regard  to  this  evasion, 
that  the  French  king,  rather  than  irritate  a  prince  whom  he 
still  hoped  to  gain,  commanded  De  la  Mark  to  disband  his 
troops. ^^ 

The  emperor,  meanwhile,  was  assembling  an  army  to 
chastise  Robert's  insolence.  Twenty  thousand  men,  under 
the  count  of  Nassau,  invaded  his  little  territories,  and  in  a 
few  days  became  masters  of  every  place  in  them  but  Sedan. 
After  making  him  feel  so  sensibly  the  weight  of  his  master's 
indignation,  Nassau  advanced  towards  the  frontiers  of 
France ;  and  Charles,  knowing  that  he  might  presume  so 
far  on  Henry's  partiality  in  his  favour  as  not  to  be  over- 
awed by  the  same  fears  which  had  restrained  Francis, 
ordered  his  general  to  besiege  Mouson.  The  cowardice  of 
the  garrison  having  obliged  the  governor  to  surrender  almost 
without  resistance,  Nassau  invested  Mezieres,  a  place  at  that 
time  of  no  considerable  strength,  but  so  advantageously  situ- 
ated, that,  by  getting  possession  of  it,  the  imperial  army 
might  have  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Champagne,  in 
which  there  was  hardly  any  other  town  capable  of  obstruct- 
ing its  progress.  Happily  for  France,  its  monarch,  sensible 
of  the  importance  of  this  fortress,  and  of  the  danger  to 
which  it  was  exposed,  committed  the  defence  of  it  to  the 
Chevalier  Bayard,  distinguished  among  his  contemporaries 
by  the  appellation  of  The  hiiglit  without  fear  and  without 

*"  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  22,  &c.  Mem.  de  Fleuranges,  p.  335,  &c. 


204  CONGRESS  AT  CALAIS.  [book  it. 

reproach}^  This  man,  whose  prowess  in  combat,  wdiose 
piinctihons  honour  and  formal  gallantry,  bear  a  nearer 
resemblance,  than  anything  recorded  in  history,  to  the  cha- 
racter ascribed  to  the  heroes  of  chivalry,  possessed  all  the 
talents  which  form  a  great  general.  These  he  had  many 
occasions  of  exerting  in  the  defence  of  Mczieres  ;  partly  by 
his  valour,  partly  by  his  conduct,  he  protracted  the  siege  to 
a  great  length,  and  in  the  end  obliged  the  imperialists  to 
raise  it,  with  disgrace  and  loss.'^^  Francis,  at  the  head  of  a 
numerous  army,  soon  retook  Mouson,  and  entering  the  Low 
Countries,  made  several  conquests  of  small  importance.  In 
the  neighbourhood  of  Valenciennes,  through  an  excess  of 
caution,  an  error  with  wdiich  he  cannot  be  often  charged,  he 
lost  an  opportunity  of  cutting  off  the  whole  imperial  army  ;'^ 
and,  wdiat  was  still  more  unfortunate,  he  disgusted  Charles 
duke  of  Bourbon,  high  constable  of  France,  by  giving  the 
command  of  the  van  to  the  duke  d'Alen^on,  though  this 
post  of  honour  belonged  to  Bourbon,  as  a  prerogative  of  his 
office. 

During  these  operations  in  the  field,  a  congress  was  held 
at  Calais,  under  the  mediation  of  Henry  VIII. ,  in  order  to 
bring  all  differences  to  an  amicable  issue;  and  if  the  inten- 
tion of  the  mediator  had  corresponded  in  any  degree  to  his 
professions,  it  could  hardly  have  failed  of  producing  some 
good  effect.  But  Henry  committed  the  sole  management 
of  the  negotiation,  with  unlimited  powers,  to  Wolsey ;  and 
this  choice  alone  was  sufficient  to  have  rendered  it  abortive. 
That  prelate,  bent  on  attaining  the  papal  crown,  the  great 
object  of  his  ambition,  and  ready  to  sacrifice  everything  in 
order  to  gain  the  emperor's  interest,  was  so  little  able  to 
conceal  his  partiality,  that,  if  Francis  had  not  been  well 
acquainted  with  his  haughty  and  vindictive  temper,  he  would 
have  declined  his  mediation.     Much  time  was  spent  in 


'"  (Euvres  de  Brautome,  tom.vi.  p.  '"P.    Mart.    Ep.  747,    Mem.   de 

"  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  25,  &'c. 


114.  Bellay,  p.  35.  | 


BOOK  II.]  LEAGUE  AGAINST  FRANCE.  295 

inquiring  who  had  begun  hostiUties,  which  Wolsey  affected 
to  represent  as  the  principal  point ;  and  by  throwing  the 
blame  of  that  on  Francis,  he  hoped  to  justify,  by  tlie  treaty 
of  London,  any  alliance  into  which  his  master  should  enter 
with  Charles.  The  conditions  on  wdiich  hostilities  might 
be  terminated  came  next  to  be  considered;  but  with  regard 
to  these,  the  emperor's  proposals  were  such  as  discovered 
either  that  he  was  utterly  averse  to  peace,  or  that  he  knew 
Wolsey  would  approve  of  whatever  terms  should  be  offered 
in  his  name.  He  demanded  the  restitution  of  the  duchy  of 
Burgundy,  a  province  the  possession  of  which  would  have 
given  liim  access  into  the  heart  of  France,  and  required  to 
be  released  from  the  homage  due  to  the  crown  of  Prance 
for  the  counties  of  Flanders  and  Artois,  which  none  of  his 
ancestors  had  ever  refused,  and  which  he  had  bound  him- 
self by  the  treaty  of  INoyon  to  renew.  These  terms,  to 
which  a  high-spirited  prince  would  scarcely  have  listened, 
after  the  disasters  of  an  imfortunate  war,  Francis  rejected 
with  great  disdain ;  and  Charles,  showing  no  inclination  to 
comply  with  the  more  equal  and  moderate  propositions  of 
the  French  monarch,  that  he  should  restore  Navarre  to  its 
lawful  prince,  and  Avithdraw  his  troops  from  the  siege  of 
Tournay,  the  congress  broke  up  without  any  other  effect 
than  that  which  attends  unsuccessful  negotiations,  the  exas- 
perating of  the  parties  whom  it  was  intended  to  reconcile." 
During  the  continuance  of  the  congress,  Wolsey,  on  pre- 
tence that  the  emperor  himself  would  be  more  willing  to 
make  reasonable  concessions  than  his  ministers,  made 
an  excursion  to  Bruges  to  meet  that  monarch.  lie  was 
received  by  Charles,  who  knew  his  vanity,  with  as  much 
respect  and  magnificence  as  if  he  had  been  king  of  England. 
But  instead  of  advancing  the  treaty  of  peace  by  this  inter- 
view, Wolsey,  in  his  master's  name,  concluded  a  Icngue 
with  the  emperor  against  Francis ;  in  which  it  was  stipu- 
lated,  that   Charles  should  invade  France  on  the  side  of 

''  P.  Mart.  Ep.  739.     HeiLert. 


296  POLICY  OE  HENHY  VIII.  [book  ii. 

Spain,  and  Pleury  in  Picardy,  each  with  an  army  of  forty 
thousand  men ;    and   that,  in   order  to   strengthen   their 
union,  Charles  should  espouse  the  princess  Mary,  Henry's 
only  child,  and  the  apparent  heir  of  his  dominions.''*  Henry 
produced  no  better  reasons  for  this  measure,  equally  unjust 
and  impolitic,  than  the  article  in  the  treaty  of  London,  by 
^vhicll  he  pretended  that  he  was  bound  to  take  arms  against 
the  French  king  as  the  first    aggressor,  and  the  injury 
which  he  alleged  Francis  had  done  him,  in  permitting  the 
duke  of  Albany,  the  head  of  a  faction  in  Scotland  which 
opposed    the  interest    of    England,    to   return   into   that 
kingdom.     He   was   influenced,    however,   by   other   con- 
siderations.    The  advantages  which  accrued  to  his  subjects 
from  maintaining  an  exact  neutrality,  or  the  honour  that 
resulted  to  himself  from  acting  as  the  arbiter  between  the 
contending  princes,  appeared  to  his  youthful  imagination  so 
inconsiderable,  w'hen  compared  with  the  glory  which  might 
be  reaped  from  leading  armies  or  conquering  provinces, 
that  he  determined  to  remain  no  longer  in  a  state  of  in- 
activity. Having  once  taken  this  resolution,  his  inducements 
to  prefer  an  alliance  with  Charles  were  obvious.     He  had 
no  claim  upon  any  part  of  that  prince's  dominions,  most  of 
which   were  so  situated,   that  he  could  not  attack  them 
without  great  difficulty  and  disadvantage ;  wdiereas  several 
maritime  provinces  of  France  had  been  long  in  the  hands 
of  the  English  monarchs,  whose  pretensions  even  to  the 
crown  of  that   kingdom  were  not  as  yet  altogether  for- 
gotten ;  and  the  possession  of  Calais  not  only  gave  him 
easy  access  into  some  of  those  provinces,  but,  in  case  of 
any  disaster,  afforded  him  a  secure  retreat.     V^  bile  Charles 
attacked  France  on  one  frontier,  Henry  flattered  himself 
that  he  should  find  little  resistance  on  the  other,  and  that 
the  glory   of    re- annexing  to  the  crown  of  England  the 
ancient  inheritance  of  its  monarchs  on  the  continent  was 
reserved  fox  his  reign.     AYolsey  artfully  encouraged  these 

''^  Rymer,  Feeder,  xiii.     Herbert. 


BOOK  II.]  FRANCIS'  ITALIAN  ADMINISTRATION.  29/ 

vain  hopes,  which  led  his  master  into  such  measures  as 
were  most  subservient  to  his  own  secret  schemes ;  and  the 
Enghsh,  whose  hereditary  animosity  against  the  French  was 
apt  to  rekindle  on  every  occasion,  did  not  disapprove  of  the 
martial  spirit  of  their  sovereign. 

Meanwhile  the  league  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor 
produced  great  effects  in  Italy,  and  rendered  Lombardy 
the  chief  theatre  of  war.  There  was,  at  that  time,  such 
contrai'iety  between  the  character  of  the  French  and  the 
Itahans,  that  the  latter  submitted  to  the  government  of  the 
former  with  greater  impatience  than  they  expressed  under 
the  dominion  of  other  foreigners.  The  phlegm  of  the 
Germans,  and  gravity  of  the  Spaniards,  suited  their  jealous 
temper  and  ceremonious  manners  better  than  the  French 
gaiety,  too  prone  to  gallantry,  and  too  little  attentive  to 
decorum.  Louis  XII.,  however,  by  the  equity  and  gentle- 
ness of  his  administration,  and  by  granting  the  Milanese 
more  extensive  privileges  than  those  they  had  enjoyed 
under  their  native  princes,  had  overcome,  in  a  great 
measure,  their  prejudices,  and  reconciled  them  to  the 
French  government.  Francis,  on  recovering  that  duchy, 
did  not  imitate  the  example  of  his  predecessor.  Though 
too  generous  himself  to  oppress  his  people,  his  boundless 
confidence  in  his  favourites,  and  his  negligence  in  examin- 
ing into  the  conduct  of  those  whom  he  entrusted  with 
power,  emboldened  them  to  venture  upon  any  acts  of 
oppression.  The  government  of  Milan  was  conmiitted  by 
him  to  Odet  de  Foix,  mareschal  de  Lautrec,  another  brother 
of  Madame  de  Chateaubriand,  an  officer  of  great  experience 
and  reputation,  but  haughty,  imperious,  rapacious,  and 
incapable  either  of  listening  to  advice,  or  of  bearing  con- 
tradiction. His  insolence  and  exactions  totally  alienated 
the  affections  of  the  Milanese  from  France,  drove  many  of 
the  considerable  citizens  into  banishment,  and  forced  others 
to  retire  for  their  own  safety.  Among  the  last  was  Jerome 
Morone,  vice-chancellor  of  Milan,  a  man  whose  genius  for 


298  LEO  DECLARES  AGAINST  FRANCIS.  [book  ii. 

intrigue  and  enterprise  distinguished  liim  in  an  age  and 
country  where  violent  factions,  as  well  as  frequent  revolu- 
tions, affording  great  scope  for  such  talents,  produced  or 
called  them  forth  in  great  abundance.  He  repaired  to 
Francis  Sforza,  whose  brother  Maximilian  he  had  betrayed ; 
and,  suspecting  the  pope's  intention  of  attacking  the 
]\Iilanese,  although  his  treaty  with  the  emperor  was  not 
yet  made  public,  he  proposed  to  Leo,  in  the  name  of  Sforza, 
a  scheme  for  surprising  several  places  in  that  duchy  by 
means  of  the  exiles,  who,  from  hatred  to  the  French,  and 
from  attachment  to  their  former  masters,  were  ready  for 
any  desperate  enterprise.  Leo  not  only  encouraged  the 
attempt,  but  advanced  a  considerable  sura  towards  the 
execution  of  it ;  and  when,  through  unforeseen  accidents,  it 
failed  of  success  in  every  part,  he  allowed  the  exiles,  who 
had  assembled  in  a  body,  to  retire  to  lleggio,  which  be- 
longed at  that  time  to  the  church.  The  mareschal  de  Foix, 
who  commanded  at  Milan  in  the  absence  of  his  brother 
Lautrec,  who  Avas  then  in  France,  tempted  with  the  hopes 
of  catching  at  once,  as  in  a  snare,  all  the  avowed  enemies 
of  his  master's  government  in  that  country,  ventured  to 
march  into  the  ecclesiastical  territories,  and  to  invest 
lleggio.  But  the  vigilance  and  good  conduct  of  Guicciar- 
dini,  the  historian,  governor  of  that  place,  obliged  the 
French  general  to  abandon  the  enterprise  with  disgrace. ^^ 
Leo,  on  receiving  this  intelligence,  with  which  he  was 
highly  pleased,  as  it  furnished  him  a  decent  pretence  for 
a  rupture  with  France,  immediately  assembled  the  con- 
sistory of  cardinals.  After  complaining  bitterly  of  the 
hostile  intentions  of  the  French  king,  and  magnifying  the 
emperor's  zeal  for  the  church,  of  which  he  had  given  a 
recent  proof  by  his  proceedings  against  Luthei',  he  declared 
that  he  was  constrained  in  self-defence,  and  as  the  only 
expedient  for  the  secnrity  of  the  ecclesiastical  state,  to  join 
his  arms  to  those  of  that  prince.    For  this  purpose,  he  now 

"5  Guic.  lib.  xiv.  183.     Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  38,  &c. 


BOOK  II.]  WAE  IN  THE  MILANESE.  299 

pretended  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  Don  John  Manuel, 
although  it  had  really  been  signed  some  months  before  this 
time;  and  he  publicly  excommunicated  De  Foix,  as  an 
impious  invader  of  St.  Peter's  patrimony. 

Leo  had  already  begun  preparations  for  war  by  taking 
into  pay  a  considerable  body  of  Swiss ;  but  the  imperial 
troops  advanced  so  slowly  from  Naples  and  Germany,  that 
it  was  the  middle  of  autumn  before  the  army  took  the  field 
under  the  command  of  Prosper  Colonna,  the  most  eminent 
of  the  Italian  generals,  whose  extreme  caution,  the  effect  of 
long  experience  in  the  art  of  war,  was  opposed  with  great 
propriety  to  the  impetuosity  of  the  French.  In  the  mean- 
time, De  Foix  despatched  courier  after  courier  to  inform 
the  king  of  the  danger  which  was  approaching.  Francis, 
whose  forces  were  either  employed  in  the  Low  Countries, 
or  assembling  on  the  frontiers  of  Spain,  and  who  did  not 
expect  so  sudden  an  attack  in  that  quarter,  sent  ambas- 
sadors to  his  allies  the  Swiss,  to  procure  from  them  the 
immediate  levy  of  an  additional  body  of  troops ;  and  com- 
manded Lautrec  to  repair  forthwith  to  his  government. 
That  general,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  great 
neglect  of  economy  in  the  administration  of  the  king's 
finances,  and  who  knew  how  much  the  troops  in  the 
Milanese  had  already  suffered  from  the  want  of  their  pay, 
refused  to  set  out,  unless  the  sum  of  three  hundred  thou- 
sand crowns  w^as  immediately  put  into  his  hands.  But  the 
king,  Louise  of  Savo}^  his  mother,  Semblancy,  the  super- 
intendant  of  finances,  having  promised  even  with  an  oath, 
that  on  his  arrival  at  Milan  he  should  find  remittances  for 
the  sum  which  he  demanded;  upon  the  faith  of  this, 
he  departed.  Unhappily  for  France,  Louise,  a  woman, 
deceitful,  vindictive,  rapacious,  and  capable  of  sacrificing 
anything  to  the  gratification  of  her  passions,  but  who  had 
acquired  an  absolute  ascendant  over  her  son  by  her  maternal 
tenderness,  her  care  of  his  education,  and  her  great  abilities, 
was  resolved  not  to  perform  this  promise.     Lautrec  having 


300  PHOGRESS  OE  THE  WAE.  [book  rr. 

incurred  her  displeasure  by  his  haughtiness  in  neglecting 
to  pay  court  to  her,  and  by  the  freedom  with  which  he  had 
talked  concerning  some  of  her  adventures  in  gallantry,  she, 
in  order  to  deprive  him  of  the  honour  which  he  might  have 
gained  by  a  successful  defence  of  the  Milanese,  seized  the 
three  hundred  thousand  crowns  destined  for  that  service, 
and  detained  them  for  her  own  use. 

Lautrec,  notwithstanding  this  cruel  disappointment, 
found  means  to  assemble  a  considerable  army,  though  far 
inferior  in  number  to  that  of  the  confederates.  He  adopted 
the  plan  of  defence  most  suitable  to  his  situation,  avoiding 
a  pitched  battle  with  the  greatest  care,  while  he  harassed 
the  enemy  continually  with  his  light  troops,  beat  up  their 
quarters,  intercepted  their  convoys,  and  covered  or  relieved 
every  place  which  they  attempted  to  attack.  By  this 
prudent  conduct,  he  not  only  retarded  their  progress,  but 
would  have  soon  wearied  out  the  pope,  who  had  hitherto 
defrayed  almost  the  whole  expense  of  the  war,  as  the 
emperor,  whose  revenues  in  Spain  were  dissipated  dnring 
the  commotions  in  that  country,  and  who  was  obliged  to 
support  a  numerous  army  in  the  Netherlands,  could  not 
make  any  considerable  remittances  into  Italy.  But  an 
imforeseen  accident  disconcerted  all  his  measures,  and  occa- 
sioned a  fatal  reverse  in  the  French  affairs.  A  body  of 
twelve  thousand  Swiss  served  in  Lautrec's  army  under  the 
banners  of  the  republic,  with  which  France  was  in  alliance. 
In  consequence  of  a  law  no  less  political  than  humane, 
established  among  the  cantons,  their  troops  were  never 
hired  out  by  public  authority  to  both  the  contending 
parties  in  any  war.  This  law,  however,  the  love  of  gain 
had  sometimes  eluded,  and  private  persons  had  been 
allowed  to  enlist  in  what  service  they  pleased,  though  not 
under  the  public  banners,  but  under  those  of  their  par- 
ticular officers.  The  cardinal  of  Sion,  who  still  preserved 
his  interest  among  his  countrymen,  and  his  enmity  to 
France,  having  prevailed  on  them  to  connive  at  a  levy  of 


BOOK  II.]  CONQUEST  OF  MILAN.  301 

this  kind,  twelve  thousand  Swiss,  instigated  by  him,  joined 
the  army  of  the  confederates.  But  the  leaders  in  the 
cantons,  when  they  saw  so  many  of  their  countrymen 
marching  under  the  hostile  standards,  and  ready  to  turn 
theii-  arms  against  each  other,  became  so  sensible  of  the 
infamy  to  which  they  would  be  exposed,  by  permitting 
this,  as  well  as  the  loss  they  might  suffer,  that  they 
despatched  couriers,  commanding  their  people  to  leave 
both  armies,  and  to  return  forthwith  into  their  own  country. 
The  cardinal  of  Sion,  however,  had  the  address,  by  cor- 
rupting the  messengers  appointed  to  carry  this  order,  to 
prevent  it  from  being  delivered  to  the  Swiss  in  the  service 
of  the  confederates ;  but  being  intimated  in  due  form  to 
those  in  the  French  army,  they,  fatigued  with  the  length 
of  the  campaign,  and  murmuring  for  want  of  pay,  instantly 
yielded  obedience,  in  spite  of  Lautrec's  remonstrances  and 
entreaties. 

After  the  desertion  of  a  body  which  formed  the  strength 
of  his  army,  Lautrec  durst  no  longer  face  the  confederates. 
He  retired  towards  Milan,  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the 
Adda,  and  placed  his  chief  hopes  of  safety  in  preventing 
the  enemy  from  passing  that  river ;  an  expedient  for  de- 
fending a  country  so  precarious,  that  there  are  few  instances 
of  its  being  employed  with  success  against  any  general  of 
experience  or  abilities.  Accordingly  Colonna,  notwith- 
standing Lautrec's  vigilance  and  activity,  passed  the  Adda 
with  little  loss,  and  obHged  him  to  shut  himself  up  within 
the  walls  of  Milan,  which  the  confederates  were  preparing 
to  besiege,  when  an  unknown  person,  who  never  afterwards 
appeared  either  to  boast  of  this  service,  or  to  claim  a  reward 
for  it,  came  from  the  city,  and  acquainted  Morone  that  if 
the  army  would  advance  that  night,  the  Ghibelline  or  im- 
perial faction  would  put  them  in  possession  of  one  of  the 
gates.  Colonna,  though  no  friend  to  rash  enterprises, 
allowed  the  marquis  de  Pescara  to  advance  with  the  Spanish 
infantry,  and  he  himself  followed  with  the  rest  of  his  troops. 


302  DEATH  OF  LEO  THE  TENTH.  [book  it. 

About  the  beginning  of  night, Pescara,  arriving  at  the  Roman 
gate  in  the  suburbs,  surprised  the  soldiers  whom  he  found 
there ;  those  posted  in  the  fortifications  adjoining  to  it, 
immediately  fled;  the  marquis  seizing  the  works  M'liich  they 
abandoned,  and  pushing  forward  incessantly,  though  with 
no  less  caution  than  vigour,  became  master  of  the  city  with 
little  bloodshed,  and  almost  without  resistance  ;  the  victors 
being  as  much  astonished  as  the  vanquished  at  the  facility 
and  success  of  the  attempt.  Lautrec  retired  precipitately 
towards  the  Venetian  territories  with  the  remains  of  his 
shattered  army;  the  cities  of  the  Milanese,  following  the 
fate  of  the  capital,  surrendered  to  the  confederates  ;  Parma 
and  Placentia  were  united  to  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and  of 
all  their  conquests  in  Lombardy  only  the  town  of  Cremona, 
the  castle  of  Milan,  and  a  few  inconsiderable  forts,  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  Prench.^*^ 

Leo  received  the  accounts  of  this  rapid  succession  of 
prosperous  events  with  such  transports  of  joy,  as  brought 
on  (if  we  may  believe  the  Prench  historians)  a  slight  fever, 
which,  being  neglected,  occasioned  his  death  on  the  second 
of  December,  while  he  w^as  still  of  a  vigorous  age  and  at  the 
height  of  his  glory.  By  this  unexpected  accident,  the  spirit 
of  the  confederacy  was  broken,  audits  operation  suspended. 
The  cardinals  of  Sion  and  Medici  left  the  army,  that  they 
might  be  present  in  the  conclave  ;  the  Swiss  were  recalled 
by  their  superiors;  some  other  mercenaries  were  disbanded 
for  w^ant  of  pay;  and  only  the  Spaniards,  and  a  few  Germans 
in  the  emperor's  service,  remained  to  defend  the  Milanese. 
But  Lautrec,  destitute  both  of  men  and  of  money,  was  un- 
able to  improve  this  favourable  opportunity  in  the  manner 
which  he  would  have  wished.  [1522.]  The  vigilance  of 
Morone,  and  the  good  conduct  of  Colonna,  disappointed 
his  feeble  attempts  on  the  Milanese.     Guicciardini,  by  his 

''"  Guic.  lib.  xiv.  pp.  190,  &c.  Mem.      Sfortise  Comment,  ap.  Scordium,  vol.  ii. 
de  Bellay,  pp.  42,  &c.    Galeacii  Ca-      pp.  ISO,  &c. 
pella  de  Reb.  gest.  pro  rcstitut.  Frau. 


BOOK  11.]  ADRIAN  ELECTED  POPE.  303 

address  and  valour,  repulsed  a  bolder  and  more  dangerous 
attack  wliicli  he  made  on  Parma." 

Great  discord  prevailed  in  the  conclave,  which  followed 
upon  Leo's  death,  and  all  the  arts  natural  to  men  grown 
old  in  intrigue,  when  contending  for  the  highest  prize  an 
ecclesiastic  can  obtain,  were  practised.  Wolsey's  name, 
notvvithstan(hng  all  the  emperor's  magnificent  promises  to 
favour  his  pretensions,  of  which  that  prelate  did  not  fail  to 
remind  him,  was  hardly  mentioned  in  the  conclave.  Julio, 
cardinal  de  Medici,  Leo's  nephew,  who  was  more  eminent 
than  any  other  member  of  the  sacred  college  for  his  abilities, 
his  wealth,  and  his  experience  in  transacting  great  affairs, 
had  already  secured  fifteen  voices,  a  number  sufficient, 
according  to  the  forms  of  the  conclave,  to  exclude  any 
other  candidate,  though  not  to  carry  his  own  election.  As 
he  was  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  all  the  aged  cardinals  com- 
bined against  him,  without  being  united  in  favour  of  any 
other  person.  While  these  factions  were  endeavouring  to 
gain,  to  corrupt,  or  to  w-eary  out  each  other,  Medici  and  his 
adherents  voted  one  morning  at  the  scrutiny,  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  form,  was  made  every  day,  for  cardinal  Adrian 
of  Utrecht,  who  at  that  time  governed  Spain  in  the  emperor's 
name.  This  they  did  merely  to  protract  time.  But  the 
adverse  party  instantly  closing  with  them,  to  their  own 
amazement  and  that  of  all  Europe,  a  stranger  to  Italy, 
unknown  to  the  persons  who  gave  their  suffrages  in  his 
favour,  and  unacquainted  with  the  manners  of  tlie  people, 
or  the  interest  of  the  state,  the  government  of  wdiich  they 
conferred  upon  him,  was  unanimously  raised  to  the  papal 
throne,  at  a  juncture  so  delicate  and  critical,  as  would  have 
demanded  all  the  sagacity  and  experience  of  one  of  the  most 
able  prelates  in  the  sacred  college.  The  cardinals  themselves, 
unable  to  give  a  reason  for  this  strange  choice,  on  account 
of  which,  as  they  marched  in  procession  from  the  conclave, 
they  were  loaded  wdth  insults  and  curses  by  the  Roman 

'7  Guic.  lib.  xiv.  p.  214. 


304  WAR  RENEWED  IN  THE  MILANESE.  [book  ii. 

people,  ascribed  it  to  an  immediate  impulse  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  It  may  be  imputed  with  greater  certainty  to  the 
influence  of  Don  John  Manuel,  the  imperial  ambassador, 
who  by  his  address  and  intrigues  facilitated  the  election  of 
a  person  devoted  to  his  master's  service,  from  gratitude, 
from  interest,  and  from  inclination/^ 

Beside  the  inxiencfle  which  Charles  acquired  by  Adrian's 
promotion,  it  threw  great  lustre  on  his  administration.  To 
bestow  on  his  preceptor  such  a  noble  recompense,  and  to 
place  on  the  papal  throne  one  whom  he  had  raised  from 
obscurity,  were  acts  of  uncommon  magnificence  and  power. 
Francis  observed,  with  the  sensibility  of  a  rival,  the  pre- 
eminence which  the  emperor  was  gaining,  and  resolved  to 
exert  himself  with  fresh  vigour,  in  order  to  wrest  from  him 
his  late  conquests  in  Italy.  The  Swiss,  that  they  might 
make  some  reparation  to  the  French  king,  for  having  with- 
drawn their  troops  from  his  army  so  unseasonably,  as  to 
occasion  the  loss  of  the  Milanese,  permitted  him  to  levy  ten 
thousand  men  in  the  republic.  Together  with  this  rein- 
forcement, Lautrec  received  from  the  king  a  small  sum  of 
money,  which  enabled  him  once  more  to  take  the  field ; 
and  after  seizing  by  surprise,  or  force,  several  places  in  the 
Milanese,  to  advance  within  a  few  miles  of  the  capital.  The 
confederate  army  was  in  no  condition  to  obstruct  his  pro- 
gress ;  for  though  the  inhabitants  of  Milan,  by  the  artifices 
of  Morone,  and  by  the  popular  declamations  of  a  monk  whom 
he  employed,  were  inflamed  with  such  enthusiastic  zeal 
against  the  French  government,  that  they  consented  to  raise 
extraordinary  contributions,  Colonna  must  soon  have  aban- 
doned the  advantageous  camp  which  he  had  chosen  at 
Bicocca,  and  have  dismissed  his  troops  for  want  of  pay,  if 
the  Swiss  in  the  French  service  had  not  once  more  extricated 
him  out  of  his  difficulties. 

The  insolence  or  caprice  of  those  mercenaries  was  often 

78  Herin.   Moringi    Vita  Hadriaiii,      p.  52.     Conclave  Hadr.  ibid.  pp.  144, 
ap.  Casp.  Burman.  iu  Analect.  de  Hadr.      &c. 


BOOK  II.]  DEFEAT  OF  THE  FRENCH.  305 

no  less  fatal  to  their  friends,  than  their  valour  and  discipline 
were  formidable  to  their  enemies.  Having  now  served  some 
months  without  pay,  of  which  they  complained  loudly,  a  sum 
destined  for  their  use  was  sent  from  France  under  a  convoy 
of  horse ;  but  Moronc,  whose  vigilant  eye  nothing  escaped, 
posted  a  body  of  troops  in  their  way,  so  that  the  party  which 
escorted  the  money  durst  not  advance.  On  receiving  intel- 
ligence of  this,  the  Swiss  lost  all  patience,  and  officers,  as 
well  as  soldiers,  crowding  round  Lautrec,  threatened  with 
one  voice  instantly  to  retire,  if  he  did  not  either  advance  the 
pay  which  was  due,  or  promise  to  lead  them  next  morning 
to  battle.  In  vain  did  Lautrec  remonstrate  against  these 
demands,  representing  to  them  the  impossibility  of  the 
former,  and  the  rashness  of  the  latter,  which  must  be 
attended  with  certain  destruction,  as  the  enemy  occupied 
a  camp  naturally  of  great  strength,  and  which  by  art  they 
had  rendered  almost  inaccessible.  The  Swiss,  deaf  to  reason, 
and  persuaded  that  their  valour  was  capable  of  surmounting 
every  obstacle,  renewed  their  demand  with  great  fierceness, 
offering  themselves  to  form  the  vanguard,  and  to  begin  the 
attack.  Lautrec,  unable  to  overcome  their  obstinacy,  com- 
plied with  their  request,  hoping,  perhaps,  that  some  of  those 
unforeseen  accidents  which  so  often  determine  the  fate  of 
battles  might  crown  this  rash  enterprise  with  undeserved 
success ;  and  convinced  that  the  effects  of  a  defeat  could 
not  be  more  fatal  than  those  which  would  certainly  follow 
upon  the  retreat  of  a  body  which  composed  one-half  of  his 
army.  Next  morning  the  Swiss  were  early  in  the  field,  and 
marched  with  the  greatest  intrepidity  against  an  enemy 
deeply  intrenched  on  every  side,  surrounded  with  artillery, 
and  prepared  to  receive  them.  As  they  advanced,  they 
sustained  a  furious  cannonade  with  great  firmness ;  and 
without  waiting  for  their  own  artillery,  rushed  impetuously 
upon  the  intrenchments.  But  after  incredible  efforts  of 
valour,  which  were  seconded  with  great  spirit  by  the  French, 
having  lost  their  bravest  officers  and  best  soldiers,  and 

VOL.  I.  X 


306  HENRY  THE  EIGHTH  DECLARES  WAR  [book  ii. 

finding  that  tliey  could  make  no  impression  on  the  enemy's 
works,  they  sounded  a  retreat ;  leaving  the  field  of  battle, 
however,  like  men  repulsed,  but  not  vanquished,  in  close 
array,  and  without  receiving  any  molestation  from  the 
enemy. 

Next  day,  such  as  survived  set  out  for  their  own  country; 
and  Lautrec,  despairing  of  being  able  to  make  any  farther 
resistance,  retired  into  France,  after  throwing  garrisons  into 
Cremona  and  a  few  other  places ;  all  which,  except  the  citadel 
of  Cremona,  Colonna  soon  obliged  to  surrender. 

Genoa,  however,  and  its  territories,  remaining  subject  to 
France,  still  gave  Francis  considerable  footing  in  Italy,  and 
made  it  easy  for  him  to  execute  any  scheme  for  the  recovery 
of  the  Milanese.  But  Colonna,  rendered  enterprising  by 
continual  success,  and  excited  by  the  solicitations  of  the 
faction  of  the  Adorni,  the  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Fregosi, 
who,  under  the  protection  of  France,  possessed  the  chief 
authority  in  Genoa,  determined  to  attempt  the  reduction  of 
that  state ;  and  accomplished  it  with  amazing  facility.  He 
became  master  of  Genoa,  by  an  accident  as  unexpected  as 
that  which  had  given  him  possession  of  Milan ;  and,  almost 
without  opposition  or  bloodshed,  the  power  of  the  Adorni, 
and  the  authority  of  the  emperor,  were  established  in  Genoa." 

Such  a  cruel  succession  of  misfortunes  affected  Francis 
with  deep  concern,  which  was  not  a  little  augmented  by  the 
unexpected  arrival  of  an  English  herald,  who,  in  the  name 
of  his  sovereign,  declared  war  in  form  against  France.  This 
step  was  taken  in  consequence  of  the  treaty  wdiich  Wolsey 
had  concluded  with  the  emperor  at  Bruges,  and  which  had 
hitherto  been  kept  secret.  Francis,  though  he  had  reason 
to  be  surprised  with  this  denunciation,  after  having  been 
at  such  pains  to  soothe  Henry  and  to  gain  his  minister, 
received  the  herald  with  great  composure  and  dignity  •,^^ 
and,  without  abandoning  any  of  the  schemes  which  he  was 

"  JoviiVita  Ferdin.  Davali,  p.  344.  *"  Journal  de  Louise  de  Savoie,  p. 

Guic.  lib.  xiv.  p.  233.  119. 


BOOK  11.]  AGAINST  FRANCE.  307 

forming  against  the  emperor,  began  vigorous  preparations 
for  resisting  this  new  enemy.  His  treasury,  however,  being 
exhausted  by  the  efforts  which  he  had  already  made,  as  well 
as  by  the  sums  he  expended  on  his  pleasures,  he  had  recourse 
to  extraordinary  expedients  for  supplying  it.  Several  new 
offices  were  created  and  exposed  to  sale ;  the  royal  demesnes 
were  alienated;  unusual  taxes  were  imposed;  and  the  tomb 
of  St.  Martin  was  stripped  of  a  rail  of  massive  silver,  with 
which  Louis  XL,  in  one  of  his  fits  of  devotion,  had  encircled 
it.  By  means  of  these  expedients  he  was  enabled  to  levy 
a  considerable  army,  and  to  put  the  frontier  towns  in  a  good 
posture  of  defence. 

The  emperor,  meanwhile,  was  no  less  solicitous  to  draw 
as  much  advantage  as  possible  from  the  accession  of  such 
a  powerful  ally ;  and  the  prosperous  situation  of  his  affairs 
at  this  time  permitting  him  to  set  out  for  Spain,  where  his 
presence  was  extremely  necessary,  he  visited  the  court  of 
England  in  his  way  to  that  country.  He  proposed  by  this 
interview  not  only  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  friendship 
which  united  him  with  Henry,  and  to  excite  him  to  push 
the  war  against  France  Avith  vigour,  but  hoped  to  remove 
any  disgust  or  resentment  that  Wolsey  might  have  conceived 
on  account  of  the  mortifying  disappointment  which  he  had 
met  with  in  the  late  conclave.  His  success  exceeded  his 
most  sanguine  expectations ;  and,  by  his  artful  address, 
during  a  residence  of  six  weeks  in  England,  he  gained  not 
only  the  king  and  the  minister,  but  the  nation  itself.  Henry, 
whose  vanity  was  sensibly  flattered  by  such  a  visit,  as  well 
as  by  the  studied  respect  with  which  the  emperor  treated 
him  on  every  occasion,  entered  warmly  into  all  his  schemes. 
The  cardinal  foreseeing,  from  Adrian's  age  and  infirmities, 
a  sudden  vacancy  in  the  papal  see,  dissembled  or  forgot  his 
resentment ;  and  as  Charles,  besides  augmenting  the  pen- 
sions which  he  had  already  settled  on  him,  renewed  his 
promise  of  favouring  his  pretensions  to  the  papacy,  with  all 
his  interest,  he  endeavoured  to  merit  the  former,  and  to 

X  2 


308  THE  ENGLISH  INVADE  FRANCE.  [book  ii. 

secure  the  accomplishment  of  the  latter,  by  fresh  services. 
The  nation,  sharing  in  the  glory  of  its  monarch,  and  pleased 
with  the  confidence  which  the  emperor  placed  in  the  English, 
hy  creating  the  earl  of  Surrey  his  high-admiral,  discovered 
no  less  inclination  to  commence  hostilities  than  Henry 
himself. 

In  order  to  give  Charles,  before  he  left  England,  a  proof 
of  this  general  ardour,  Surrey  sailed  with  such  forces  as 
were  ready,  and  ravaged  the  coasts  of  Normandy.  He  then 
made  a  descent  on  Bretagne,  where  he  plundered  and  burnt 
Morlaix,  and  some  other  places  of  less  consequence.  After 
these  slight  excursions,  attended  with  greater  dishonour 
than  damage  to  Erance,  he  repaired  to  Calais,  and  took  the 
command  of  the  principal  army,  consisting  of  sixteen  thou- 
sand men ;  with  which,  having  joined  the  Elemish  troops 
under  the  Count  de  Buren,  he  advanced  into  Picardy.  The 
army  which  Erancis  had  assembled  was  far  inferior  in  number 
to  these  united  bodies ;  but,  during  the  long  wars  between 
the  two  nations,  the  Erench  had  discovered  the  proper 
method  of  defending  their  country  against  the  English.  They 
had  been  taught  by  their  misfortunes  to  avoid  a  pitched 
battle  with  the  utmost  care,  and  to  endeavour,  by  throwing 
garrisons  into  every  place  capable  of  resistance,  by  watching 
all  the  enemy's  motions,  by  intercepting  their  convoys, 
attacking  their  advanced  posts,  and  harassing  them  con- 
tinually with  their  numerous  cavalry,  to  ruin  them  with 
the  length  of  the  war,  or  to  beat  them  by  piecemeal.  This 
plan  the  duke  of  Vendome,  the  Erench  general  in  Picardy, 
pursued  with  no  less  prudence  than  success,  and  not  only 
prevented  Surrey  from  taking  any  town  of  importance,  but 
obliged  him  to  retire  with  his  army,  greatly  reduced  by 
fatigue,  by  want  of  provisions,  and  by  the  loss  which  it  had 
sustained  in  several  unsuccessful  skirmishes. 

Thus  ended  the  second  campaign,  in  a  war  the  most 
general  th-at  had  hitherto  been  kindled  in  Europe;  and 
though  Erancis,  by  his  mother's  ill-timed  resentment,  by 


BOOK  II.]  SOLYMAN  THE  MAGNIFICENT.  309 

the  disgusting  insolence  of  his  general,  and  the  caprice  of 
the  mercenary  troops  which  he  employed,  had  lost  his  con- 
quests in  Italy,  yet  all  the  powers  combined  against  him 
had  not  been  able  to  make  any  impression  on  his  hereditary 
dominions  ;  and  wherever  they  either  intended  or  attempted 
an  attack,  he  was  well  prepared  to  receive  them. 

While  the  Christian  princes  were  thus  wasting  each  other's 
strength,  Solyman  the  Magnificent  entered  Hungary  with 
a  numerous  army,  and  investing  Belgrade,  which  was  deemed 
the  chief  barrier  of  that  kingdom  against  the  Turkish  arms, 
soon  forced  it  to  surrender.  Encouraged  by  this  success, 
he  turned  his  victorious  arms  against  the  island  of  Rhodes, 
the  seat,  at  that  time,  of  the  knights  of  St.  John  of  Jeru- 
salem. This  small  state  he  attacked  with  such  a  numerous 
army,  as  the  lords  of  Asia  have  been  accustomed,  in  every 
age,  to  bring  into  the  field.  Two  hundred  thousand  men, 
and  a  fleet  of  four  hundred  sail,  appeared  against  a  towji 
defended  by  a  garrison  consisting  of  five  thousand  soldiers, 
and  six  hundred  knights,  under  the  command  of  Vihiers  de 
L'Isle  Adam,  the  grand-master,  whose  wisdom  and  valour 
rendered  him  worthy  of  that  station  at  such  a  dangerous 
juncture.  No  sooner  did  he  begin  to  suspect  the  destina- 
tion of  Solyman's  vast  armaments,  than  he  despatched 
messengers  to  all  the  Christian  courts,  imploring  their  aid 
against  the  common  enemy.  But  though  every  prince  in 
that  age  acknowledged  Rhodes  to  be  the  great  bulwark  of 
Christendom  in  the  East,  and  trusted  to  the  gallantry  of  its 
knights  as  the  best  security  against  the  progress  of  the 
Ottoman  arms ;  though  Adrian,  with  a  zeal  which  became 
the  head  and  father  of  the  church,  exhorted  the  contending 
powers  to  forget  their  private  quarrels,  and,  by  uniting  their 
arms,  to  prevent  the  infidels  from  destroying  a  society  which 
did  honour  to  the  Christian  name,  yet  so  violent  and  impla- 
cable was  the  animosity  of  both  parties,  that,  regardless  of 
the  danger  to  which  they  exposed  all  Europe,  and  unmoved 
by  the  entreaties  of  the  grand-master,  or  the  admonitions 


310  CONQUEST  OF  RHODES.  [book  ii. 

of  the  pope,  they  suffered  Solyman  to  carry  on  his  operations 
against  Rhodes  without  disturbance.  The  grand-master, 
after  incredible  efforts  of  courage,  of  patience,  and  of  mili- 
tary conduct,  during  a  siege  of  six  months ;  after  sustaining 
many  assaults,  and  disputing  every  post  with  amazing  obsti- 
nacy, was  obliged  at  last  to  yield  to  numbers ;  and,  having 
obtained  an  honourable  capitulation  from  the  sultan,  who 
admired  and  respected  his  virtue,  he  surrendered  the  town, 
which  was  reduced  to  a  heap  of  rubbish,  and  destitute  of 
every  resource.^'  Charles  and  Francis,  ashamed  of  having 
occasioned  such  a  loss  to  Christendom  by  their  ambitious 
contests,  endeavoured  to  throw  the  blame  of  it  on  each 
other,  while  all  Europe,  with  greater  justice,  imputed  it 
equally  to  both.  The  emperor,  by  way  of  reparation,  granted 
the  knights  of  St.  John  the  small  island  of  Malta,  in  which 
they  fixed  their  residence,  retaining,  though  with  less  power 
and  splendour,  their  ancient  spirit,  and  implacable  enmity 
to  the  infidels. 

*^  Eontanus  de  Bello  Rhodio,  ap.      88.     P.   Barre,   Hist.  d'Allem.   torn. 
Scard.  Script.  Rer.  German,  vol.  ii.  p.      viii.  p.  57. 


THE 


HISTOUY  OF  THE  REIGN 


EMPEEOE    CHAELES    Y. 


BOOK  III. 

Insurrections — Attempts  of  the  Regent,  Adrian,  to  suppress  them — Confederacy 
in  Castile  against  him — Measures  taken  by  the  Emperor — Remonstrance  of 
the  Junta — They  take  up  Arms — Their  Negotiations  with  tlie  Nobles — 
The  Junta,  under  Padilla,  defeated  in  Battle — Defence  of  Toledo  by  his 
Widow — The  War  in  Valencia  and  in  Majorca — Generosity  of  the  Emperor— 

■  Reception  of  Adrian  at  Rome — His  pacific  Policy — A  New  League  against 
Erance — Treachery  of  the  Duke  of  Bourbon— Francis  attacks  Milan — Death 
of  Adrian,  and  Election  of  Clement  VII. — Disappointment  of  Wolsey — Pro- 
gress of  the  War  with  France — Pope  Clement  unable  to  bring  about  Peace 
— Tlie  French  abandon  the  Milanese— Death  of  Bayard— The  Reformation 
in  Germany — Luther  translates  the  Bible— The  Diet  at  Nuremberg  proposes 
a  General  Council — The  Diet  presents  a  List  of  Giievances  to  the  Pope — 
Opinion  at  Rome  concerning  the  Policy  of  Adrian — Clement's  Measures 
against  Luther. 

[1522.]  Charles,  having  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  hos- 
tihties  begun  between  France  and  England,  took  leave  of 
Henry,  and  arrived  in  Spain  on  the  seventeenth  of  June. 
He  found  that  country  just  beginning  to  recover  order  and 
strength  after  the  miseries  of  a  civil  Avar,  to  which  it  had 
been  exposed  during  his  absence;  an  account  of  the  rise 
and  progress  of  \vhich,  as  it  was  but  little  connected  with 
the  other  events  which  happened  in  Europe,  hath  been 
reserved  to  this  place. 


312  INSURRECTIONS  Or  TOLEDO  AND  SEGOVIA,   [book  hi. 

No  sooner  was  it  known  that  the  cortes  assembled  in 
Gahcia  had  voted  the  emperor  2^  free  r/ift,  without  obtaining 
the  redress  of  any  one  grievance,  than  it  excited  univer- 
sal indignation.  The  citizens  of  Toledo,  who  considered 
themselves,  on  account  of  the  great  privileges  which  they 
enjoyed,  as  guardians  of  the  liberties  of  the  Castilian  com- 
mons, finding  that  no  regard  was  paid  to  the  remonstrances 
of  their  deputies  against  that  unconstitutional  grant,  took 
arms  with  tumultuary  violence,  and,  seizing  the  gates  of 
the  city,  which  were  fortified,  attacked  the  alcazar,  or  castle, 
which  they  soon  obliged  tlie  governor  to  surrender. 
Emboldened  by  this  success,  they  deprived  of  all  authority 
every  person  whom  they  suspected  of  any  attachment  to  the 
court,  established  a  popular  form  of  government,  composed 
of  deputies  from  the  several  parishes  in  the  city,  and  levied 
troops  in  their  own  defence.  The  chief  leader  of  the  people 
in  these  insurrections  was  Don  John  de  Padilla,  the  eldest 
son  of  the  commendator  of  Castile,  a  young  nobleman  of 
a  generous  temper,  of  undaunted  courage,  and  possessed  of 
the  talents,  as  well  as  of  the  ambition,  which  in  times 
of  civil  discord,  raise  men  to  power  and  eminence.^ 

The  resentment  of  the  citizens  of  Segovia  produced 
effects  still  more  fatal.  Tordesillas,  one  of  their  representa- 
tives in  the  late  cortes,  had  voted  for  the  donative,  and 
being  a  bold  and  haughty  man,  ventured,  upon  his  return, 
to  call  together  his  fellow-citizens  in  the  great  church,  that 
he  might  give  them,  according  to  custom,  an  account  of  his 
conduct  in  the  assembly.  But  the  multitude,  unable  to 
bear  his  insolence,  in  attempting  to  justify  what  they 
thought  inexcusable,  burst  open  the  gates  of  the  church 
with  the  utmost  fury,  and  seizing  the  unhappy  Tordesillas, 
dragged  him  through  the  streets,  w^ith  a  thousand  curses 
and  insults,  towards  the  place  of  public  execution.  In  vain 
did  the  dean  and  canons  come  forth  in  procession  with  the 
holy  sacrament  in  order  to  appease  their  rage.    In  vain  did 

'  Sandov.  p.  17. 


BOOK  in.]       ADRIAN  ATTEMPTS  TO  SUPPRESS  THEM.  313 

the  monks  of  those  monasteries  by  which  they  passed,  con- 
jure them  on  their  kness  to  spare  his  Ufe,  or  at  least  to 
allow  him  time  to  confess,  and  to  receive  absolution  of  his 
sins.  Without  hstening  to  the  dictates  either  of  humanity 
or  religion,  they  cried  out,  "  That  the  hangman  alone  could 
absolve  such  a  traitor  to  his  country  :"  they  then  hurried  ' 
him  along  with  great  violence ;  and  perceiving  that  he  had 
expired  under  their  hands,  they  hung  him  up  with  his 
head  downwards  on  the  common  gibbet.^  The  same  spirit 
seized  the  inhabitants  of  Burgos,  Zamora,  and  several 
other  cities  ;  and  though  their  representatives,  taking  warn- 
ing from  the  fate  of  Tordesillas,  had  been  so  wise  as  to 
save  themselves  by  a  timely  flight,  they  were  bm-nt  in 
effigy,  their  houses  razed  to  the  ground,  and  their  effects 
consumed  with  fire ;  and  such  was  the  horror  which  the 
people  had  conceived  against  them,  as  betrayers  of  the 
pubUc  hberty,  that  not  one  in  those  licentious  multitudes 
would  touch  anything,  however  valuable,  which  had  belonged 
to  theni.^ 

Adrian,  at  that  time  regent  of  Spain,  had  scarcely  fixed 
the  seat  of  his  government  at  Vahadolid,  when  he  was 
alarmed  with  an  account  of  these  insurrections.  He  imme- 
diately assembled  the  privy  council  to  deliberate  concerning 
the  proper  method  of  suppressing  them.  The  councillors 
differed  in  opinion ;  some  insisting  that  it  was  necessary  to 
check  this  audacious  spirit  in  its  infancy  by  a  severe  execu- 
tion of  justice ;  others  advising  to  treat  with  lenity  a  people 
who  had  some  reason  to  be  incensed,  and  not  to  drive  them 
beyond  all  the  bounds  of  duty  by  an  ill-timed  rigour.  The 
sentiments  of  the  former  being  warmly  supported  by  the 
archbishop  of  Granada,  president  of  the  council,  a  person 
of  great  authority,  but  choleric  and  impetuous,  were 
approved  by  Adrian,  whose  zeal  to  support  his  master's 
authority  hurried  him  into  a  measure,  to  which,  from  his 
natural  caution  and  timidity,  he  would  otherwise  have  been 
2  p.  Mart.  Ep.  671.  ^  Sandov.  103.    P.  Mart.  Ep.  674. 


314  KEPULSB  OF  THE  TROOPS,  [book  iii. 

averse.  He  commanded  Ronquillo,  one  of  the  king's  judges, 
to  repair  instantly  to  Segovia,  which  had  set  the  first 
example  of  mutiny,  and  to  proceed  against  the  delinquents 
according  to  law;  and,  lest  the  people  should  be  so  out- 
rageous as  to  resist  his  authority,  a  considerable  body  of 
'troops  was  appointed  to  attend  him.  The  Segovians,  fore- 
seeing what  they  might  expect  from  a  judge  so  well  known 
for  his  austere  and  unforgiving  temper,  took  arms  with  one 
consent,  and  having  mustered  twelve  thousand  men,  shut 
their  gates  against  him.  Ronquillo,  enraged  at  this  insult, 
denounced  them  rebels  and  outlaws,  and,  his  troops  seizing 
all  the  avenues  to  the  town,  hoped  that  it  would  soon  be 
obhged  to  surrender  for  want  of  provisions.  The  inhabit- 
ants, however,  defended  themselves  with  vigour,  and  having 
received  a  considerable  reinforcement  from  Toledo,  under 
the  command  of  Padilla,  attacked  Ronquillo,  and  forced  him 
to  retire  with  the  loss  of  his  baggage  and  military  chest. ^ 

Upon  this,  Adrian  ordered  Antonio  de  Tonseca,  whom 
the  emperor  had  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces 
in  Castile,  to  assemble  an  army,  and  to  besiege  Segovia  in 
form.  But  the  inhabitants  of  Medina  del  Campo,  where 
Cardinal  Ximenes  had  established  a  vast  magazine  of  mili- 
tary stores,  would  not  suffer  him  to  draw  from  it  a  train  of 
battering  cannon,  or  to  destroy  their  countrymen  with  those 
arms  which  had  been  prepared  against  the  enemies  of  the 
kingdom.  Eonseca,  who  could  not  execute  his  orders  with- 
out artillery,  determined  to  seize  the  magazine  by  force ; 
and  the  citizens  standing  on  their  defence,  he  assaulted  the 
town  with  great  briskness ;  but  his  troops  were  so  warmly 
received,  that,  despairing  of  carrying  the  place,  he  set  fire 
to  some  of  the  houses,  in  hopes  that  the  citizens  would 
abandon  the  walls,  in  order  to  save  their  families  and 
effects.  Instead  of  that,  the  expedient  to  which  he  had 
recourse  served  only  to  increase  their  fury,  and  he  was 
repulsed  with  great  disgrace ;  while  the  flames,  spreading 

^  Sandov.  p.  112.    P.  Mart.  Ep.  679.    ]\Iiniana,  Contiu.  p.  15. 


BOOK  III.]  AND  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  315 

from  street  to  street,  reduced  to  ashes  almost  the  whole 
town,  one  of  the  most  considerable  at  that  thne  in  Spain, 
and  the  great  mart  for  the  manufactures  of  Segovia  and 
several  other  cities.  As  the  warehouses  were  then  filled 
with  goods  for  the  approaching  fair,  the  loss  was  immense, 
and  was  felt  universally.  This,  added  to  the  impression 
which  such  a  cruel  action  made  on  a  people  long  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  enraged  the  Castihans 
almost  to  madness.  Fonseca  became  the  object  of  general 
hatred,  and  was  branded  with  the  name  of  incendiary,  and 
enemy  to  his  country.  Even  the  citizens  of  Valladolid, 
whom  the  presence  of  the  cardinal  had  hitherto  restrained, 
declared  that  they  could  no  longer  remain  inactive  spec- 
tators of  the  sufferings  of  their  countrymen.  Taking  arms 
with  no  less  fmy  than  the  other  cities,  they  burnt  Fonseca's 
house  to  the  ground,  elected  new  magistrates,  raised  soldiers, 
appointed  officers  to  command  them,  and  guarded  their 
walls  with  as  much  diligence  as  if  an  enemy  had  been 
ready  to  attack  them. 

The  cardinal,  though  virtuous  and  disinterested,  and 
capable  of  governing  the  kingdom  with  honour  in  times  of 
tranquillity,  possessed  neither  the  courage  nor  the  sagacity 
necessary  at  such  a  dangerous  juncture.  Finding  himself 
unable  to  check  these  outrages  committed  under  his  own 
eye,  he  attempted  to  appease  the  people,  by  protesting 
that  Fonseca  had  exceeded  his  orders,  and  had  by  his  rash 
conduct  offended  him,  as  much  as  he  had  injured  them. 
This  condescension,  the  effect  of  irresolution  and  timidity, 
rendered  the  malecontents  bolder  and  more  insolent; 
and  the  cardinal  having  soon  after  recalled  Fonseca,  dis- 
missed his  troops,  which  he  could  no  longer  afford  to 
pay,  as  the  treasury,  drained  by  the  rapaciousness  of  the 
Flemish  ministers,  had  received  no  supply  from  the  great 
cities,  which  were  all  in  arms,  the  people  Avere  left  at  full 
liberty  to  act  without  control,  and  scarcely  any  shadow  of 
power  remained  in  his  hands. 


316  THE  COMMONS  OF  CASTILE.  [book  hi. 

Nor  were  the  proceedings  of  the  commons  the  effect 
merely  of  popular  and  tumultuary  rage ;  they  aimed  at 
obtaining  redress  of  their  political  grievances,  and  an  esta- 
blishment of  public  liberty  on  a  secure  basis,  objects  worthy 
of  all  the  zeal  which  they  discovered  in  contending  for 
them.  The  feudal  government  in  Spain  was  at  that  time 
in  a  state  more  favourable  to  liberty  than  in  any  other  of 
the  great  European  kingdoms.  This  was  owing  chiefly 
to  the  number  of  great  cities  in  that  country,  a  circumstance 
I  have  already  taken  notice  of,  and  which  contributes  more 
than  any  other  to  mitigate  the  rigour  of  the  feudal  insti- 
tutions, and  to  introduce  a  more  liberal  and  equal  form  of 
government.  The  inhabitants  of  every  city  formed  a  great 
corporation,  with  valuable  immunities  and  privileges ;  they 
were  delivered  from  a  state  of  subjection  and  vassalage ; 
they  were  admitted  to  a  considerable  share  in  the  legis- 
lature ;  they  had  acquired  the  arts  of  industry,  without 
which  cities  cannot  subsist ;  they  had  accumulated  wealth 
by  engaging  in  commerce ;  and,  being  free  and  indepen- 
dent themselves,  were  ever  ready  to  act  as  the  guardians 
of  the  public  freedom  and  independence.  The  genius  of 
the  internal  government  established  among  the  inhabitants 
of  cities,  which,  even  in  countries  where  despotic  power 
prevails  most,  is  democratical  and  republican,  rendered  the 
idea  of  liberty  familiar  and  dear  to  them.  Their  represen- 
tatives in  the  cortes  were  accustomed  with  equal  spirit  to 
check  the  encroachments  of  the  king,  and  the  oppression 
of  the  nobles.  They  endeavoured  to  extend  the  privileges 
of  their  own  order ;  they  laboured  to  shake  off  the  remaining 
incumbrances  with  which  the  spirit  of  feudal  policy,  favour- 
able only  to  the  nobles,  had  burdened  theni;  and,  conscious 
of  being  one  of  the  most  considerable  orders  in  the  state, 
were  ambitious  of  becoming  the  most  powerful. 

The  present  juncture  appeared  favourable  for  pushing 
any  new  claim.  Their  sovereign  was  absent  from  his 
dominions ;  by  the  ill  conduct  of  his  ministers,  he  had  lost 


BOOK  III.]  TIIEIR  CONFEDERACY.  317 

the  esteem  and  affection  of  his  subjects ;  the  people,  exas- 
perated by  many  injuries,  had  taken  arms,  though  without 
concert,  almost  by  general  consent;  they  were  animated 
with  rage  capable  of  carrying  them  to  the  most  violent 
extremes ;  the  royal  treasury  was  exhausted,  the  kingdom 
destitute  of  troops,  and  the  government  committed  to  a 
stranger,  of  great  virtue,  indeed,  but  of  abihties  rmequal 
to  such  a  trust.  The  first  care  of  Padilla,  and  the  other 
popular  leaders  who  observed  and  determined  to  improve 
these  circumstances,  was  to  estabhsh  some  form  of  union 
or  association  among  the  malecontents,  that  they  might  act 
with  greater  regularity,  and  pursue  one  common  end  ;  and 
as  the  different  cities  had  been  prompted  to  take  arms  by 
the  same  motives,  and  were  accustomed  to  consider  them- 
selves as  a  distinct  body  from  the  rest  of  the  subjects,  they 
did  not  find  this  difficult.  A  general  convention  was 
appointed  to  be  held  at  Avila.  Deputies  appeared  there 
in  name  of  almost  all  the  cities  entitled  to  have  represen- 
tatives in  the  cortes.  They  all  bound  themselves  by  solemn 
oath  to  live  and  die  in  the  service  of  the  king,  and  in  defence 
of  the  privileges  of  their  order ;  and  assuming  the  name  of 
the  "  holy  junta,"  or  association,  proceeded  to  deliberate 
concerning  the  state  of  the  nation,  and  the  proper  method 
of  redressing  its  grievances.  The  first  that  naturally  pre- 
sented itself  was  the  nomination  of  a  foreigner  to  be  regent ; 
this  they  declared  with  one  voice  to  be  a  violation  of  the 
fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  resolved  to  send 
a  deputation  of  their  members  to  Adrian,  requiring  him,  in 
their  name,  to  lay  aside  all  the  ensigns  of  his  office,  and  to 
abstain  for  the  future  from  the  exercise  of  a  jurisdiction 
which  they  had  pronounced  illegal.^ 

While  they  were  preparing  to  execute  this  bold  resolu- 
tion, Padilla  accomplished  an  enterprise  of  the  greatest 
advantage  to  the  cause.  After  relieving  Segovia,  he  marched 
suddenly  to  Tordesillas,  the  place  where  the  unhappy  queen 

'  P.  Mart.  Ep.  091. 


318  QUEEN  JOANNA  AND  THE  CONFEDERACY.      [book  iii. 

Joanna  liad  resided  since  the  deatli  of  her  husband,  and, 
being  favoured  by  the  inhabitants,  was  admitted  into  the 
town,  and  became  master  of  her  person,  for  the  security  of 
which  Adrian  had  neglected  to  take  proper  precautions.'' 
Padilla  waited  immediately  upon  the  queen,  and,  accosting 
her  with  that  profound  respect  which  she  exacted  from  the 
few  persons  whom  she  deigned  to  admit  into  her  presence, 
acquainted  her  at  large  with  the  miserable  condition  of  her 
Castilian  subjects  under  the  government  of  her  son,  who, 
being  destitute  of  experience  himself,  permitted  his  foreign 
ministers  to  treat  them  with  such  rigour  as  had  obliged 
them  to  take  arms  in   defence  of  the  liberties  of  their 
country.     The  queen,  as  if  she  had  been  awakened  out  of 
a  lethargy,  expressed  great  astonishment  at  what  he  said, 
and  told   him,   that  as   she  had  never  heard  until  that 
moment  of  the  death  of  her  father,  or  known  the  sufferings 
of  her  people,  no  blame  could  be  imputed  to  her,  but  that 
now  she  would  take  care  to  provide  a  sufficient  remedy ; 
"  And,   in  the  meantime,"    added  she,  "  let  it  be  your 
concern  to  do  what  is  necessary  for  the  public  welfare." 
Padilla,  too  eager  in  forming  a  conclusion  agreeable  to  his 
wishes,  mistook  this  lucid  interval  of  reason  for  a  perfect 
return  of  that  faculty ;  and,  acquainting  the  junta  with 
what  had  happened,  advised  them  to  remove  to  Tordesillas, 
and  to  hold  their  meetings  in  that  place.  This  was  instantly 
done ;    but  though  Joanna   received   very  graciously  an 
address  of  the  junta,  beseeching  her  to  take  upon  herself 
the  government  of  the  kingdom,  and,  in  token  of  her  com- 
phance,  admitted  all  the  deputies  to  kiss  her  hand ;  though 
she  was  present  at  a  tournament  held  on  that  occasion, 
and   seemed  highly  satisfied  with  both  these  ceremonies, 
which  were  conducted  Avith  great  magnificence  in  order  to 
please  her,  she  soon  relapsed  into  her  former  melancholy 
and  sullenness,  and  could  never  be  brought  by  any  argu- 

G  Vita  deir  Imper.  Carl.  V.   dell' xUf.  Ulloa.  Yen.  1509,  p.  67.     Miniana, 
Contin.  p.  17. 


BOOK  III.]  ADRIAN  DEPRIVED  OF  PO'V^TIR.  319 

ments  or  entreaties  to  sign  any  one  paper  necessary  for  the 
dispatch  of  business/ 

The  junta,  concealing  as  much  as  possible  this  last 
circumstance,  carried  on  all  their  deliberations  in  the  name 
of  Joanna ;  and  as  the  Castilians,  who  idolized  the  memory 
of  Isabella,  retained  a  wonderful  attachment  to  her  daughter, 
no  sooner  was  it  known  that  she  had  consented  to  assume 
the  reins  of  government,  than  the  people  expressed  the 
most  universal  and  immoderate  joy;  and,  believing  her 
recovery  to  be  complete,  ascribed  it  to  a  miraculous  inter- 
position of  heaven,  in  order  to  rescue  their  country  from 
the  oppression  of  foreigners.  The  junta,  conscious  of  the 
reputation  and  power  which  they  had  acquired  by  seeming 
to  act  under  the  royal  authority,  were  no  longer  satisfied 
with  requiring  Adrian  to  resign  the  office  of  regent ;  they 
detached  Padilla  to  Valladolid  with  a  considerable  body  of 
troops,  ordering  him  to  seize  such  members  of  the  Council 
as  were  still  in  that  city,  to  conduct  them  to  Tordesillas, 
and  to  bring  away  the  seals  of  the  kingdom,  the  public 
archives,  and  treasury  books.  Padilla,  who  was  received 
by  the  citizens  as  the  deliverer  of  his  country,  executed  his 
commission  with  great  exactness  ;  permitting  Adrian,  how- 
ever, still  to  reside  in  Valladolid,  though  only  as  a  private 
person,  and  without  any  shadow  of  power.*^ 

The  emperor,  to  whom  frequent  accounts  of  these  trans- 
actions w^ere  transmitted  while  he  was  still  in  Flanders, 
was  sensible  of  his  own  imprudence  and  that  of  his 
ministers,  in  having  despised  too  long  the  murmurs  and 
remonstrances  of  the  Castilians.  He  beheld,  with  deep 
concern,  a  kingdom,  the  most  valuable  of  any  he  possessed, 
and  in  which  lay  the  strength  and  sinews  of  his  power, 
just  ready  to  disown  his  authority,  and  on  the  point  of 
being  plunged  in  all  the  miseries  of  civil  war.  But  though 
his  presence  might  have  averted  this  calamity,  he  could  not, 

1  Sandov.  161..     P.  Mart.  Ep.  GS5,  GSG.  *  Ibid.  171.     Ibid.  791. 


320  THE  EMPEEOR'S  CONCESSIONS.  [book  hi. 

at  that  time,  visit  Spain  without  endangering  the  imperial 
crown,  and  allowing  the  French  king  full  leisure  to  execute 
his  ambitious  schemes.  The  only  point  now  to  be  deli- 
berated upon  was,  whether  he  should  attempt  to  gain  the 
malecontents  by  indulgence  and  concessions,  or  prepare 
directly  to  suppress  them  by  force ;  and  he  resolved  to 
make  trial  of  the  former,  while,  at  the  same  time,  if  that 
should  fail  of  success,  he  prepared  for  the  latter.  For  this 
purpose  he  issued  circular  letters  to  all  the  cities  of  Castile, 
exhorting  them  in  most  gentle  terms,  and  with  assurances 
of  full  pardon,  to  lay  down  their  arms ;  he  promised  such 
cities  as  had  continued  faithful,  not  to  exact  from  them  the 
subsidy  granted  in  the  late  cortes,  and  offered  the  same 
favour  to  such  as  returned  to  their  duty  ;  he  engaged  that 
no  office  should  be  conferred  for  the  future  upon  any  but 
native  Castilians.  On  the  other  hand,  he  wrote  to  the 
nobles,  exciting  them  to  appear  with  vigour  in  defence  of 
their  own  rights,  and  those  of  the  crown,  against  the 
exorbitant  claims  of  the  commons ;  he  appointed  the  high 
admiral,  Don  Fadrique  Enriques,  and  the  high  constable  of 
Castile,  Don  Inigo  de  Valasco,  two  noblemen  of  great 
abilities  as  well  as  influence,  regents  of  the  kindom  in  con- 
junction with  Adrian ;  and  he  gave  them  full  power  and 
instructions,  if  the  obstinacy  of  the  malecontents  should 
render  it  necessary,  to  vindicate  the  royal  authority  by 
force  of  arms,^ 

These  concessions,  which  at  the  time  of  his  leaving  Spain, 
would  have  fully  satisfied  the  people,  came  now  too  late  to 
produce  any  effect.  The  junta,  relying  on  the  unanimity 
with  which  the  nation  submitted  to  their  authority,  elated 
with  the  success  which  hitherto  had  accompanied  all  their 
undertakings,  and  seeing  no  military  force  collected  to 
defeat  or  obstruct  their  designs,  aimed  at  a  more  thorough 
reformation  of  political  abuses.  They  had  been  employed 
for  some  time  in  preparing  a  remonstrance,  containing  a 

s  P.Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  viii.  cli.  6,  p.  188. 


BOOK  III.]  KEMONSTRANCE  OE  THE  JUNTA.  321 

large  enumeration,  not  only  of  the  grievances  of  which 
they  craved  redress,  but  of  such  new  regulations  as  they 
thought  necessary  for  the  security  of  their  liberties.  This 
remonstrance,  which  is  divided  into  many  articles,  relating 
to  all  the  different  members  of  which  the  constitution  was 
composed,  as  well  as  the  various  departments  in  the  admi- 
nistration of  government,  furnishes  us  with  more  authentic 
evidence  concerning  the  intentions  of  the  junta,  than  can 
be  drawn  from  the  testimony  of  the  later  Spanish  historians, 
who  lived  in  times  when  it  became  fashionable,  and  even 
necessary,  to  represent  the  conduct  of  the  malecontcnts  in 
the  worst  light,  and  as  flowing  from  the  worst  motives. 
After  a  long  preamble  concerning  the  various  calamities 
under  which  the  nation  groaned,  and  the  errors  and  cor- 
ruption in  government  to  which  these  were  to  be  imputed, 
they  take  notice  of  the  exemplary  patience  wherewith  the 
people  had  endured  them,  until  self-preservation,  and  the 
duty  which  they  owed  to  their  country,  had  obliged  them 
to  assemble,  in  order  to  provide  in  a  legal  manner  for  their 
own  safety,  and  that  of  the  constitution.  Tor  this  purpose 
they  demanded  that  the  king  would  be  pleased  to  return 
to  his  Spanish  dominions  and  reside  there,  as  all  their 
former  monarchs  had  done ;  that  he  would  not  marry  but 
with  consent  of  the  cortes ;  that  if  he  should  be  obliged  at 
any  time  to  leave  the  kingdom,  it  shall  not  be  lawful  to 
appoint  any  foreigner  to  be  regent ;  that  the  present  nomi- 
nation of  cardinal  Adrian  to  that  office  shall  instantly  be 
declared  void;  that  he  would  not,  at  his  return,  bring 
along  with  him  any  Flemings  or  other  strangers ;  that  no 
foreign  troops  shall,  on  any  pretence  whatever,  be  intro- 
duced into  the  kingdom ;  that  none  but  natives  shall  be 
capable  of  holding  any  office  or  benefice  either  in  church 
or  state ;  that  no  foreigner  shall  be  naturalized ;  that  free 
quarters  shall  not  be  granted  to  soldiers,  nor  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  king's  household,  for  any  longer  time  than 
six  days,  and  that  oidy  when  the  coiu't  is  in  a  progress  j 

VOL.   I.  Y 


322  TEEMS  OF  THE  REMONSTRANCE.  [book  in. 

that  all  the  taxes  shall  be  reduced  to  the  same  state  they 
were  in  at  the  death  of  queen  Isabella;  that  all  alien- 
ations of  the  royal  demesnes  or  revenues  since  the  queen's 
death  shall  be  resumed ;  that  all  new  offices  created  since 
that  period  shall  be  abolished ;  that  the  subsidy  granted  by 
the  late  cortes  in  Galicia  shall  not  be  exacted  ;  that  in  all 
future  cortes  each  city  shall  send  one  representative  of  the 
clergy,  one  of  the  gentry,  and  one  of  the  commons,  each  to 
be  elected  by  his  own  order ;  that  the  crown  shall  not  in- 
fluence or  direct  any  city  with  regard  to  the  choice  of  its 
representatives ;  that  no  member  of  the  cortes  shall  receive 
an  office  or  pension  from  the  king,  either  for  himself  or  for 
any  of  his  family,  under  pain  of  death,  and  confiscation  of 
his  goods ;  that  each  city  or  community  shall  pay  a  compe- 
tent salary  to  its  representative  for  his  maintenance  during 
his  attendance  on  the  cortes ;  that  the  cortes  shall  assemble 
once  in  three  years  at  least,  whether  summoned  by  the 
king  or  not,  and  shall  then  inquire  into  the  observation  of 
the  articles  now  agreed  upon,  and  deliberate  concerning 
public  affairs ;  that  the  rewards  which  have  been  given  or 
promised  to  any  of  the  members  of  the  cortes  held  in 
Galicia  shall  be  revoked ;  that  it  shall  be  declared  a  capital 
crime  to  send  gold,  silver,  or  jewels  out  of  the  kingdom ; 
that  judges  shall  have  fixed  salaries  assigned  them,  and 
shall  not  receive  any  share  of  the  fines  and  forfeitures  of 
persons  condemned  by  them ;  that  no  grant  of  the  goods 
of  persons  accused  shall  be  valid,  if  given  before  sentence 
Avas  pronounced  against  them ;  that  all  privileges  which 
the  nobles  have  at  any  time  obtained,  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  commons,  shall  be  revoked;  that  the  government  of 
cities  or  towns  shall  not  be  put  into  the  hands  of  noble- 
men ;  that  the  possessions  of  the  nobility  shall  be  subject 
to  all  public  taxes  in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  the 
commons ;  that  an  inquiry  be  made  into  the  conduct  of 
such  as  have  been  entrusted  with  the  management  of  the 
royal  patrimony  since  the  accession  of  Ferdinand ;  and  if 


BOOK  III.]  ITS  POLITICAL  WISDOM.  323 

the  king  do  not  within  thirty  days  appoint  persons  properly 
quahfied  for  that  service,  it  shall  be  lawfid  for  the  cortes  to 
nominate  them ;  that  indulgences  shall  not  be  preached  or 
dispersed  in  the  kingdom  until  the  cause  of  publishing 
them  be  examined  and  approved  of  by  the  cortes ;  that  all 
the  money  arising  from  the  sale  of  indulgences  shall  be 
faithfully  employed  in  carrying  on  war  against  the  infidels ; 
that  such  prelates  as  do  not  reside  in  theh  dioceses  six 
months  in  the  year,  shall  forfeit  their  revenues  during  the 
time  they  are  absent ;  that  the  ecclesiastical  judges  and 
their  officers  shall  not  exact  greater  fees  than  those  which 
are  paid  in  the  secular  courts  ;  that  the  present  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  being  a  foreigner,  be  compeUed  to  resign  that 
dignity,  which  shall  be  conferred  upon  a  Castilian ;  that 
the  king  shall  ratify  and  hold,  as  good  service  done  to  him 
and  to  the  kingdom,  all  the  proceedings  of  the  junta,  and 
pardon  any  irregularities  which  the  cities  may  have  com- 
mitted from  an  excess  of  zeal  in  a  good  cause;  that  he 
shall  promise  and  swear  in  the  most  solemn  manner  to 
observe  all  these  articles,  and  on  no  occasion  attempt  either 
to  elude  or  to  repeal  them ;  and  that  he  shall  never  solicit 
the  pope  or  any  other  prelate  to  grant  him  a  dispensation 
or  absolution  from  this  oath  and  promise. ^'^ 

Such  were  the  chief  articles  presented  by  the  junta  to 
their  sovereign.  As  the  feudal  institutions  in  the  several 
kingdoms  of  Europe  were  originally  the  same,  the  genius 
of  those  governments  which  arose  from  them  bore  a  strong 
resemblance  to  each  other,  and  the  regulations  which  the 
Castilians  attempted  to  establish  on  this  occasion,  diti'er 
little  from  those  which  other  nations  have  laboured  to 
procure  in  their  struggles  with  their  monarchs  for  liberty. 
The  grievances  complained  of,  and  the  remedies  proposed 
by  the  English  commons  in  their  contests  with  the  princes 
of  the  house  of  Stuart,  particularly  resemble  those  upon 
which  the  junta  now  insisted.    But  the  principles  of  liberty 

1°  Saudov.  206.     P.  Mart.  Ep.  6S6. 
Y  2 


324  IRRITATION  OF  THE  NOBLES.  [book  hi. 

seem  to  have  been  better  understood  at  this  period  by  the 
Castilians  than  by  any  other  people  in  Europe ;  they  had 
acquired  more  hberal  ideas  with  respect  to  their  own  rights 
and  privileges  ;  they  had  formed  more  bold  and  generous 
sentiments  concerning  government ;  and  discovered  an 
extent  of  political  knowledge  to  which  the  English  them- 
selves did  not  attain  until  more  than  a  century  afterwards. 

It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  the  spirit  of  refor- 
mation among  the  Castilians,  hitherto  unrestrained  by 
authority,  and  emboldened  by  success,  became  too  im- 
petuous, and  prompted  the  junta  to  propose  innovations 
which,  by  alarming  the  other  members  of  the  constitution, 
proved  fatal  to  their  cause.  The  nobles,  who,  instead  of 
obstructing,  had  favoured  or  connived  at  their  proceedings, 
while  they  confined  their  demands  of  redress  to  such 
grievances  as  had  been  occasioned  by  the  king's  want  of 
experience,  and  by  the  imprudence  and  rapaciousness  of 
his  foreign  ministers,  were  filled  with  indignation  when  the 
junta  began  to  touch  the  privileges  of  their  order,  and 
plainly  savv  that  the  measures  of  the  commons  tended  no 
less  to  break  the  power  of  the  aristocracy,  than  to  limit 
the  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  The  resentment  which 
they  had  conceived  on  account  of  Adrian's  promotion  to 
the  regency  abated  considerably  upon  the  emperor's  raising 
the  constable  and  admiral  to  joint  power  with  him  in  that 
office ;  and  as  their  pride  and  dignity  were  less  hm't  by 
suffering  the  prince  to  possess  an  extensive  prerogative, 
than  by  admitting  the  high  pretensions  of  the  people,  they 
determined  to  give  their  sovereign  the  assistance  which  he 
had  demanded  of  them,  and  began  to  assemble  their  vassals 
for  that  purpose. 

The  junta,  meanwhile,  expected  with  impatience  the 
emperor's  answer  to  their  remonstrance,  which  they  had 
appointed  some  of  their  number  to  present.  The  members 
entrusted  .with  this  commission  set  out  immediately  for 
Germany;  but  having  received  at  different  places  certain 


BOOK  III.]       VIOLENT  PROPOSITIONS  OF  THE  JUNTA.  325 

intelligence  from    court  tluit   they  could  not  venture  to 
appear  there  without  endangering  their  lives,  they  stopped 
short  in  their  journey,  and  acquainted  the  junta  of  the 
information  which  had  been  given  thera.^^     This  excited 
such  violent  passions  as  transported  the  whole  party  beyond 
all  bounds  of  prudence  or  of  moderation.     That  a  king  of 
Castile  should  deny  his  subjects  access  into  his  presence, 
or  refuse  to  listen  to  their  humble  petitions,  was  repre- 
sented  as  an  act  of  tyranny  so  unprecedented  and   in- 
tolerable, that  nothing  now  remained  but  with  arms  in 
their  hands  to  drive  away  that  ravenous  band  of  foreigners 
which  encompassed  the  throne,  avIio,  after  having  devoured 
the  wealth  of  the  kingdom,  found  it  necessary  to  prevent 
the  cries  of  an  injured  people  from  reaching  the  ears  of 
their  sovereign.     ]\lany  insisted  warmly  on  ai)proving  a 
motion   whicli   had   formerly   been   made,    for    depriving 
Charles,  during  the  hfe  of  his  mother,  of  the  regal  titles 
and  authority  which  had  been  too  rashly  conferred  upon 
him,  from  a  false  supposition   of   her  total  inaljility  for 
government.     Some  proposed  to  provide  a  proper  person 
to   assist  her  in  the  administration  of  public  affaus,  by 
marrying  the  queen  to  the  prince  of  Calabria,  the  heir  of 
the  Aragonese  kings  of  Naples,  who  had  been  detained  in 
prison  since  the  time  that  Ferdinand  had  dispossessed  his 
ancestors  of  their  crown.     All  agreed  that,  as  the  hopes  of 
obtaining  redress  and  security  merely  by  presenting  their 
requests  to  their  sovereign,  had  kept  them  too  long  in  a 
state  of  inaction,  and  prevented  them  from  taking  advantage 
of  the  unanimity  with  which  the  nation  declared  in  their 
favour,  it  was  now  necessary  to  collect  their  whole  force,  and 
to  exert  themselves  with  vigour,  in  opposing  this  fatal  com- 
bination of  the  king  and  the  nobility  against  their  liberties. ^^ 
They  soon  took  the  field  with  twenty  thousand  men. 
Yiolent  disputes  arose  concerning  the  command  of  this 
army.     Padilla,  the  darling  of  the  people  and  soldiers,  was 

"  Sandov.  143.  '^  P.  Mart.  Ep.  0S8. 


326  THE  JUNTA  AND  THE  UOYALISTS.  [book  hi. 

the  only  person  whom  they  thought  worthy  of  this  honour. 
But  Don  Pedro  de  Giron,  tlie  eldest  son  of  the  Conde  de 
Uruena,  a  young  nobleman  of  the  first  order,  having  lately 
joined  the  commons  out  of  private  resentment  against  the 
emperor,  the  respect  due  to  his  birth,  together  with  a 
secret  desire  of  disappointing  Padilla,  of  whose  popularity 
many  members  of  the  junta  had  become  jealous,  procured 
him  the  office  of  general;  though  he  soon  gave  them  a 
fatal  proof  that  he  possessed  neither  the  experience,  the 
abilities,  nor  the  steadiness  which  that  important  station 
required. 

The  regents,  meanwhile,  appointed  Rioseco  as  the  place 
of  rendezvous  for  their  troops,  which,  though  far  inferior 
to  those  of  the  commons  in  number,  excelled  them  greatly 
in  discipline  and  in  valour.  They  had  drawn  a  con- 
siderable body  of  regular  and  veteran  infantry  out  of 
Navarre.  Their  cavalry,  which  formed  the  chief  strength 
of  their  army,  consisted  mostly  of  gentlemen  accustomed 
to  the  military  life,  and  animated  with  the  martial  spirit 
peculiar  to  their  order  in  that  age.  The  infantry  of  the 
junta  w^as  formed  entirely  of  citizens  and  mechanics,  little 
acquainted  with  the  use  of  arms.  The  small  body  of 
cavalry  which  they  had  been  able  to  raise  was  composed  of 
persons  of  ignoble  birth,  and  perfect  strangers  to  the  service 
into  which  they  entered.  The  character  of  the  generals 
differed  no  less  than .  that  of  their  troops.  The  royalists 
were  commanded  by  the  Conde  de  Haro,  the  constable's 
eldest  son,  an  officer  of  great  experience  and  of  distin- 
guished abilities. 

Giron  marched  with  his  army  directly  to  Rioseco,  and, 
seizing  the  villages  and  passes  around  it,  hoped  that  the 
royalists  Avould  be  obliged  either  to  surrender  for  Avant  of 
provisions,  or  to  fight  with  disadvantage  before  all  their 
troops  were  assembled.  But  he  had  not  the  abilities,  nor 
his  troops -the  patience  and  discipline,  necessary  for  the 
execution  of  such  a  scheme.     The  Conde  de  Haro  found 


BOOK  III.]  DEFEAT  OF  THE  JUKTA.  327 

little  difficulty  in  conducting  a  considerable  reinforcement 
through  all  his  posts  into  the  town  ;  and  Giron,  despairing 
of  being  able  to  reduce  it,  advanced  suddenly  to  Villa- 
panda,  a  place  belonging  to  the  constable,  in  which  the 
enemy  had  their  chief  magazine  of  provisions.  By  this 
ill-judged  motion  he  left  Tordesillas  open  to  the  royalists, 
whom  the  Conde  de  Haro  led  thither  in  the  night  Avith  the 
utmost  secrecy  and  despatch ;  and  attacking  the  town  in 
which  Giron  had  left  no  other  garrison  than  a  regiment  of 
priests  raised  by  the  bishop  of  Zamora,  he,  by  break  of 
day,  forced  his  way  into  it,  after  a  desperate  resistance, 
became  master  of  the  queen's  person,  took  prisoners  many 
members  of  the  junta,  and  recovered  the  great  seal,  with 
the  other  ensigns  of  government. 

By  this  fatal  blow  the  junta  lost  all  the  reputation  and 
authority  which  they  had  derived  from  seeming  to  act  by 
the  queen's  commands  ;  such  of  the  nobles  as  had  hitherto 
been  wavering  or  undetermined  in  their  choice,  now  joined 
the  regents,  with  all  theu-  forces ;  and  a  universal  conster- 
nation seized  the  partisans  of  the  commons.  This  was 
much  increased  by  the  suspicions  they  began  to  entertain 
of  Giron,  whom  they  loudly  accused  of  having  betrayed 
Tordesillas  to  the  enemy ;  and  though  that  charge  seems 
to  have  been  destitute  of  foundation,  the  success  of  the 
royalists  being  owing  to  Giron's  ill  conduct  rather  than  to 
his  treachery,  he  so  entirely  lost  credit  with  his  party  that  he 
resigned  his  commission,  and  retired  to  one  of  his  castles. '^ 

Such  members  of  the  junta  as  had  escaped  the  enemy's 
hands  at  Tordesillas  fled  to  Valladolid ;  and  as  it  Avould 
have  required  long  time  to  supply  the  places  of  those  who 
were  prisoners  by  a  new  election,  they  made  choice  among 
themselves  of  a  small  number  of  persons,  to  whom  they 
committed  the  supreme  direction  of  affairs.  Their  army, 
which  grew  stronger  every  day  by  the  arrival  of  troops 
from  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  marched  likewise  to 

•^  Miscellaneous  Tracts  by  Dr.  Mich.  GeiUles,  vol.  i.  p.  278. 


328  PECUNIAEY  EXPEDIENTS.  [book  hi, 

Vallaclolid;  and  Padilla  being  appointed  commander-in- 
chief,  the  spirits  of  the  soldiery  revived,  and  the  whole 
party,  forgetting  the  late  misfortune,  continued  to  express 
the  same  ardent  zeal  for  the  liberties  of  their  country,  and 
the  same  implacable  animosity  against  their  oppressors. 

What  they  stood  most  in  need  of  was  money  to  pay 
their  troops.  A  great  part  of  the  current  coin  had  been 
carried  out  of  the  kingdom  by  the  Flemings ;  the  stated 
taxes  levied  in  times  of  peace  were  inconsiderable ;  com- 
merce of  every  kind  being  interrupted  by  the  war,  the  sum 
which  it  yielded  decreased  daily  ;  and  the  junta  were  afraid 
of  disgusting  the  people  by  burdening  them  with  new 
impositions,  to  which,  in  that  age,  they  were  little  accus- 
tomed. But  from  this  difficulty  they  were  extricated  by 
Donna  Maria  Pacheco,  Padilla's  wife,  a  woman  of  noble 
birth,  of  great  abilities,  of  boundless  ambition,  and  animated 
with  the  most  ardent  zeal  in  support  of  the  cause  of  the 
junta.  She,  with  a  boldness  superior  to  those  superstitious 
fears  which  often  influence  her  sex,  proposed  to  seize  all 
the  rich  and  magnificent  ornaments  in  the  cathedral  of 
Toledo  ;  but  lest  that  action,  by  its  appearance  of  impiety, 
might  offend  the  people,  she  and  her  retinue  marched  to 
the  church  in  solemn  procession,  in  mourning  habits,  with 
tears  in  their  eyes,  beating  their  breasts,  and,  falling  on 
their  knees,  implored  the  pardon  of  the  saints  whose  shrines 
she  was  about  to  violate.  By  this  artifice,  which  screened 
her  from  the  imputation  of  sacrilege,  and  persuaded  the 
people  that  necessity  and  zeal  for  a  good  cause  had  con- 
strained her,  though  with  reluctance,  to  venture  upon  this 
action,  she  stripped  the  cathedral  of  whatever  was  valuable, 
and  procured  a  considerable  sum  of  money  for  the  junta. ^* 
The  regents,  no  less  at  a  loss  how  to  maintain  their  troops, 
the  revenues  of  the  croAvn  having  either  been  dissipated 
by  the  Flemings  or  seized  by  the  commons,  were  obliged 
to  take  the  queen's  jewels,  together  with  the  plate  belonging 

"  Sandov.  308.     Diet,  de  Baylc,  art.  Padilla. 


p,ooK  III.]  NEGOTIATIONS  AND  INTRIGUES.  329 

to  the  nobility,  and  apply  tliem  to  that  purpose ;  and  when 
those  failed,  they  obtained  a  small  sum  by  way  of  loan 
from  the  king  of  Portugal. '' 

The  nobility  discovered  great  unwillingness  to  proceed 
to  extremities  with  the  junta.  They  were  animated  with 
no  less  hatred  than  the  commons  against  the  Flemings; 
they  approved  much  of  several  articles  in  the  remonstrance ; 
they  thought  the  juncture  favom"able,  not  only  for  redress- 
ing past  grievances,  but  for  rendering  the  constitution  more 
perfect  and  secure  by  new  regulations ;  they  were  afraid 
that  while  the  two  orders,  of  which  the  legislature  was 
composed,  wasted  each  other's  strength  by  nuitiial  hosti- 
lities, the  crown  would  rise  to  power  on  the  ruin  or  weak- 
ness of  both,  and  encroach  no  less  on  the  independence  of 
the  nobles  than  on  the  privileges  of  the  commons.  To  this 
disposition  were  owing  the  frequent  overtures  of  peace 
which  the  regents  made  to  the  junta,  and  the  continual 
negotiations  they  carried  on  during  the  progress  of  their 
military  operations.  Nor  were  the  terms  which  they  offered 
unreasonable ;  for,  on  condition  that  the  junta  would  pass 
from  a  few  articles  most  subversive  of  the  royal  authority, 
or  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  the  nobility,  they  engaged 
to  procure  the  emperor's  consent  to  their  other  demands, 
which,  if  he,  through  the  influence  of  evil  counsellors,  should 
refuse,  several  of  the  nobles  promised  to  join  Avith  the 
commons  in  their  endeavours  to  extort  it.'''  Such  divisions, 
however,  prevailed  among  the  members  of  the  junta,  as 
prevented  their  deliberating  calmly,  or  judging  with  pru- 
dence, Some  of  the  cities  which  had  entered  into  tlie 
cpnfederacy  were  filled  with  that  mean  jealousy  and  distrust 
of  each  other,  which  rival  ship  in  commerce  or  in  grandeur 
is  apt  to  inspire ;  the  constable,  by  his  influence  and  pro- 
mises, had  prevailed  on  the  hihabitants  of  Burgos  to 
abandon  the  junta,  and  other  noblemen  had  shaken  the 
fidelity  of  some  of  the  lesser  cities ;  no  person  had  arisen 

''  P.  Mart.  Ep.  718.  »«  Ibid.  G95,  713.     Geddes's  Tracts,  i.  2C1. 


330  OPERATIONS  OF  PADILLA  [book  hi. 

among  the  commons  of  such  superior  abilities  or  elevation 
of  mind  as  to  acquire  the  direction  of  their  affairs ;  Padilla, 
their  general,  was  a  man  of  popular  qualities,  but  distrusted 
for  that  reason  by  those  of  highest  rank  who  adhered  to 
the  junta;  the  conduct  of  Giron  led  the  people  to  view 
with  suspicion  every  person  of  noble  birth  who  joined  their 
party ;  so  that  the  strongest  marks  of  irresolution,  mutual 
distrust,  and  mediocrity  of  genius,  appeared  in  all  their 
proceedings  at  this  time.  After  many  consultations  held 
concerning  the  terms  proposed  by  the  regents,  they  suffered 
themselves  to  be  so  carried  away  by  resentment  against 
the  nobility,  that,  rejecting  all  thoughts  of  accommodation, 
they  threatened  to  strip  them  of  the  crown  lands,  which 
they  or  their  ancestors  had  usurped,  and  to  re-annex  these 
to  the  royal  domain.  Upon  this  preposterous  scheme, 
which  would  at  once  have  annihilated  all  the  liberties  for 
which  they  had  been  struggling,  by  rendering  the  kings  of 
Castile  absolute  and  independent  of  their  subjects,  they 
were  so  intent,  that  they  now  exclaimed  with  less  vehe- 
mence against  the  exactions  of  the  foreign  ministers,  than 
against  the  exorbitant  power  and  wealth  of  the  nobles,  and 
seemed  to  hope  that  they  might  make  peace  with  Charles, 
by  offering  to  enrich  him  with  their  spoils. 

The  success  which  Padilla  had  met  with  in  several  small 
rencounters,  and  in  reducing  some  inconsiderable  towns, 
helped  to  precipitate  the  members  of  the  junta  into  this 
measure,  filling  them  with  such  confidence  in  the  valour  of 
their  troops,  that  they  hoped  for  an  easy  victory  over  the 
royalists.  Padilla,  that  his  army  might  not  remain  inactive 
while  flushed  with  good  fortune,  laid  siege  to  Torrelobaton, 
a  place  of  greater  strength  and  importance  than  any  that 
he  had  hitherto  ventured  to  attack,  and  which  was  defended 
by  a  sufficient  garrison ;  and  though  the  besieged  made  a 
desperate  resistance,  and  the  admiral  attempted  to  relieve 
them,  he  took  the  town  by  storm  [1521],  and  gave  it  up 
to    be  plundered    by  his   soldiers.     If  he  had  marched 


BOOK  111.]  AGAINST  THE  ROYALISTS.  331- 

instantly  with  his  victorious  army  to  TordesiUas,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  royalists,  he  could  hardly  have  failed  of 
making  an  effectual  impression  on  their  troops,  Avhom  he 
would  Iiave  found  in  astonishment  at  the  briskness  of  his 
operations,  and  far  from  being  of  sufficient  strength  to  give 
him  battle.  But  the  fickleness  and  imprudence  of  the 
junta  prevented  his  taking  this  step.  Incapable,  like  all 
popular  associations,  either  of  carrying  on  war  or  of  making 
peace,  they  listened  again  to  overtures  of  accommodation, 
and  even  agreed  to  a  short  suspension  of  arms.  This  nego- 
tiation terminated  in  nothing ;  but  while  it  w^as  carrying 
on,  many  of  Padilla's  soldiers,  unacquainted  with  the 
restraints  of  discipline,  went  off  with  the  booty  which  they 
had  got  at  Torrelobaton ;  and  others,  wearied  out  by  the 
unusual  length  of  the  campaign,  deserted. ^^  The  constable, 
too,  had  leism'e  to  assemble  his  forces  at  Burgos,  and  to 
prepare  everything  for  taking  the  field  ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
truce  expired,  he  eff'ected  a  junction  with  the  Conde  de 
Haro,  in  spite  of  all  Padillo's  efforts  to  prevent  it.  They 
advanced  immediately  towards  Torrelobaton  ;  and  Padilla, 
finding  the  number  of  his  troops  so  diminished  that  he 
durst  not  risk  a  battle,  attempted  to  retreat  to  Toro,  which 
if  he  could  have  accomplished,  the  invasion  of  Navarre  at 
that  juncture  by  the  French,  and  the  necessity  which  the 
regents  must  have  been  under  of  detaching  men  to  that 
kingdom,  might  have  saved  him  from  danger.  But  Plaro, 
sensible  how  fatal  the  consequences  would  be  of  suffering 
him  to  escape,  marched  with  such  rapidity  at  the  head  of 
his  cavalry,  that  he  came  up  with  him  near  Villalar,  and, 
without  waiting  for  his  infantry,  advanced  to  the  attack. 
Padilla's  army,  fatigued  and  disheartened  by  their  preci- 
pitate retreat,  which  they  could  not  distinguish  from  a 
flight,  happened  at  that  time  to  be  passing  over  a  ploughed 
field,  on  which  such  a  violent  rain  had  fallen,  that  the 
soldiers  sunk  almost  to  the    knees    at   every    step,    and 

"  Sandov.  336. 


332  DEFEAT  OF  PADILLA,  [book  iir. 

remained  exposed  to  the  fire  of  some  field-pieces  which  the 
royalists  had  brought  along  with  them.  All  these  circum- 
stances so  disconcerted  and  intimidated  raw  soldiers,  that, 
without  facing  the  enemy,  or  making  any  resistance,  they 
fled  in  the  utmost  confusion.  Padilla  exerted  himself  with 
extraordinary  courage  and  activity  in  order  to  rally  them, 
though  in  vain,  fear  rendering  them  deaf  both  to  his 
threats  and  entreaties ;  upon  which,  finding  matters  irre- 
trievable, and  resolving  not  to  survive  the  disgrace  of  that 
day  and  the  ruin  of  his  party,  he  rushed  into  the  thickest 
of  the  enemy,  but  being  wounded  and  dismounted,  he  was 
taken  prisoner.  His  principal  ofiicers  shared  the  same  fate ; 
the  common  soldiers  were  allowed  to  depart  unhurt,  the 
nobles  being  too  generous  to  kill  men  who  threw  down 
their  arms.^^ 

The  resentment  of  his  enemies  did  not  suffer  Padilla  to 
linger  long  in  expectation  of  what  should  befall  him.  Next 
day  he  was  condemned  to  lose  his  head,  though  without 
any  regular  trial,  the  notoriety  of  the  crime  being  supposed 
sufficient  to  supersede  the  formality  of  a  legal  process.  He 
was  led  instantly  to  execution,  together  with  Don  John  Bravo, 
and  Don  Francis  Maldonada,  the  former  commander  of  the 
Segovians,  and  the  latter  of  the  troops  of  Salamanca.  Padilla 
viewed  the  approach  of  death  with  calm  but  undaunted 
fortitude ;  and  when  Bravo,  his  fellow-sufferer,  expressed 
some  indignation  at  hearing  himself  proclaimed  a  traitor, 
he  checked  him,  by  observing,  "  That  yesterday  was  the 
time  to  have  displayed  the  spirit  of  gentlemen,  this  day  to 
die  with  the  meekness  of  Christians."  Being  permitted  to 
write  to  his  wife,  and  to  the  community  of  Toledo,  the  place 
of  his  nativity,  he  addressed  the  former  with  a  manly  and 
virtuous  tenderness,  and  the  latter  with  the  exultation 
natiu-al  to  one  who  considered  himself  as  a  martyr  for  the 

i»  Sandov.  3i5,  &c.  P.  Mart.  Ep.  Carlos  V.  por  D.  Juan.  Auton.  de 
720.  Miiiiaua,  Contiii.  p.  26.  Epi-  Vera  y  Zxmiga,  4to.  Madr.  1627, 
tome  de  la  Vida  j  Hechos  del  Emper.      p.  19. 


BOOK  III.] 


AND  HIS  DEATH. 


333 


liberties  of  his  country.'''  After  this,  he  submitted  quietly 
to  his  fate.  Most  of  the  Spanish  historians,  accustomed  to 
ideas  of  government  and  of  regal  power  very  different  from 
those  upon  which  he  acted,  have  been  so  eager  to  testify 
their  disapprobation  of  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
that  they  have  neglected,  or  have  been  afraid  to  do  justice 
to  his  virtues,  and,  by  blackening  his  memory,  have  endea- 


"  The  strain  of  these  letters  is  so 
eloquent  and  high-spirited,  that  I  liave 
translated  them  for  the  eutertaiiuneut 
of  my  readers  : — 

THE  LETTER  OF  DON  JOHN  PADILLA 
TO  HIS  WIFE. 
"Seiiora, 
"If  your  grief  did  not  afflict  me 
more  than  my  own  death,  I  should 
deem  myself  perfectly  happy.  For  the 
end  of  life  being  certain  to  all  men, 
the  Almighty  confers  a  mark  of  distin- 
guishing favour  upon  tliat  person,  for 
whom  he  appoints  a  death  sucii  as 
mine,  which,  though  lamented  by 
many,  is  nevertheless  acceptable  unto 
him.  It  would  require  more  time  than 
I  now  have,  to  write  anytliiug  that 
could  afford  you  consolation.  That 
my  enemies  will  not  grant  me,  nor  do 
I  wish  to  delay  the  reception  of  that 
crown  which  I  hope  to  enjoy.  You 
may  bewail  your  own  loss,  but  not 
my  deatli,  which,  being  so  honourable, 
ought  not  to  be  lamented  by  any.  My 
soul,  for  nothing  else  is  left  to  me,  I 
bequeath  to  you.  You  will  receive  it, 
as  tiie  thing  in  this  world  which  you 
value  most.  I  do  not  write  to  my 
fatiiei",  Pero  Lopez,  because  I  dare 
not ;  for  though  I  have  shown  myself 
to  be  his  sou  in  daring  to  lose  my  life, 
I  have  not  been  the  heir  of  his  good 
fortune.  I  will  not  attempt  to  say 
anything  more,  that  I  may  not  tire 
the  executioner,  wlio  waits  for  me  ; 
and  that  I  may  not  excite  a  suspicion, 
that,  in  order  to  prolong  my  life,  I 
lengthen  out  my  letter.  My  servant 
Sosia,  an  eye-witness,  and  to  whom  I 
have  communicated  my  most  secret 
thoughts,  will  inform  you  of  what  I 
cannot  now  write ;  and  thus  I  rest, 


expecting  the  instrument  of  your  grief, 
and  of  my  deliverance." 

UIS   LETTER  TO  THE  CITY   OF   TOLEDO. 

"  To  thee,  the  crown  of  Spain,  and 
tlie  light  of  the  whole  world,  free  from 
the  time  of  the  mighty  Goths;  to  thee, 
who,  by  shedding  the  blood  of  stran- 
gers, as  well  as  thy  own  blood,  hast 
recovered  liberty  for  thyself  and  thy 
neighbouring  cities,  thy  legitimate 
son,  Juan  de  Padilla,  gives  informa- 
tion, how  by  the  blood  of  his  body  thy 
ancient  victories  are  to  be  refreshed. 
If  fate  hath  not  permitted  my  actions 
to  be  placed  among  your  successful 
and  celebrated  exploits,  the  fault 
hath  been  in  my  ill  fortune,  not  in 
my  good  will.  This  I  request  of  thee, 
as  of  a  mother,  to  accept,  since  God 
hath  given  me  nothing  more  to  lose 
for  thy  sake,  than  that  which  I  am 
now  to  relinquish.  I  am  more  soli- 
citous about  thy  good  opinion  than 
about  my  ovvn  life.  The  shiftings  of 
fortune,  which  never  stand  still,  are 
many.  But  this  I  see  with  infinite 
consolation,  that  I,  the  least  of  thy 
children,  suffer  deatii  for  thee  ;  and 
that  thou  hast  nursed  at  thy  breasts 
such  as  may  take  vengeance  for  my 
wrongs.  Many  tongues  will  relate 
the  manner  of  my  deatli,  of  which  I 
am  still  ignorant,  though  I  know  it  to 
be  near.  My  end  will  testify  what 
was  my  desire.  JNIy  soul  1  recommend 
to  thee,  as  to  the  patroness  of  Chris- 
tianity. Of  my  body  I  say  nothing, 
for  it  is  not  mine.  I  can  write  not  hing 
more,  for  at  tiiis  very  moment  I  feel 
the  knife  at  my  throat,  with  greater 
dread  of  thy  displeasure,  than  appre- 
hension of  my  own  pain." — Sundoo. 
Hid.  vol  i.  p.  4.7s. 


334  DONNA  MARIA  PACHECO :  [book  hi. 

voured  to  deprive  him  of  that  pity  which  is  seldom  denied 
to  ilkistrious  sufferers. 

The  victory  at  Villalar  proved  as  decisive  as  it  was  com- 
plete.    Valladohd,  the  most  zealous  of  all  the  associated 
cities,  opened  its  gates  immediately  to  the  conquerors,  and 
being  treated  with  great  clemency  by  the  regents,  Medina 
del  Campo,  Segovia,  and  many  other  towns,  followed  its 
example.   This  sudden  dissolution  of  a  confederacy,  formed 
not  upon  slight  disgusts,  or  upon  trifling  motives,  into  which 
the  whole  body  of  the  people  had  entered,  and  which  had 
been  allowed  time  to  acquire  a  considerable  degree  of  order 
and  consistence  by  establishing  a  regular  plan  of  government, 
is  the  strongest  proof  either  of  the  inability  of  its  leaders, 
or  of  some  secret  discord  reigning  among  its  members. 
Though  part  of  that  army  by  which  they  had  been  subdued 
was  obliged,  a  few  days  after  the  battle,  to  march  towards 
Navarre,  in  order  to  check  the  progress  of  the  French  in 
that  kingdom,  nothing  could  prevail  on  the  dejected  com- 
mons of  Castile  to  take  arms  again,  and  to  embrace  such  a 
favourable  opportunity  of  acquiring  those  rights  and  privi- 
leges, for  which  they  had  appeared  so  zealous.    The  city  of 
Toledo  alone,  animated  by  Donna  Maria  Pacheco,  Padilla's 
widow,   who,   instead  of  bewailing  her  husband  with   a 
womanish  sorrow,  prepared  to  revenge  his  death,  and  to 
prosecute  that  cause  in  defence  of  which  he  had  suffered, 
must  be  excepted.     Respect  for  her  sex,  or  admiration  for 
her  courage  and  abilities,  as  well  as   sympathy  with  her 
misfortunes,  and  veneration  for  the  memory  of  her  husband, 
secured  her  the  same  ascendant  over  the  people  which  he 
had  possessed.     The  prudence  and  vigour  with  which  she 
acted,  justified  that  confidence  they  placed  in  her.     She 
wrote   to   the    French   general   in    Navarre,    encouraging 
him  to  invade  Castile  by  the  offer  of  powerful  assistance. 
She  endeavoured,  by  her  letters  and  emissaries,  to  revive 
the  spirit  and  hopes  of  the  other  cities.     She  raised  sol- 
diers, and  exacted  a  great  sum  from  the  clergy  belonging 


BOOK  III.]  HER  DEFENCE  OF  TOLEDO.  335 

to  the  cathedral,  in  order  to  defray  the  expense  of  keep- 
ing them  on  foot.^"  She  employed  every  artifice  that 
could  interest  or  inflame  the  populace.  For  this  purpose 
she  ordered  crucifixes  to  be  used  by  her  troops  instead  of 
colours,  as  if  they  had  been  at  war  with  the  infidels  and 
enemies  of  religion ;  she  marched  through  the  streets  of 
Toledo  with  her  son,  a  young  child,  clad  in  deep  mourning, 
seated  on  a  mule,  having  a  standard  carried  before  him, 
representing  the  manner  of  his  father's  execution. ^^  By  all 
these  means  she  kept  the  minds  of  the  people  in  such  per- 
petual agitation  as  prevented  their  passions  from  subsiding, 
and  rendered  them  insensible  of  the  dangers  to  wdiich  they 
were  exposed,  by  standing  alone,  in  opposition  to  the  royal 
authority.  While  the  army  w^as  employed  in  Navarre,  the 
regents  were  unable  to  attempt  the  reduction  of  Toledo  by 
force  ;  and  all  their  endeavours,  either  to  diminish  Donna 
Maria's  credit  with  the  people,  or  to  gain  her  by  large  pro- 
mises and  the  solicitations  of  her  brother,  the  Marquis  de 
Mondeiar,  proved  ineffectual.  Upon  the  expulsion  of  the 
French  out  of  Navarre,  part  of  the  army  returned  into 
Castile,  and  invested  Toledo.  Even  this  made  no  impression 
on  the  intrepid  and  obstinate  courage  of  Donna  Maria.  She 
defended  the  town  with  vigour;  her  troops,  in  several  sallies, 
beat  the  royalists  ;  and  no  progress  was  made  towards  re- 
ducing the  place,  until  the  clergy,  whom  she  had  highly 
offended  by  invading  their  property,  ceased  to  support  her. 
As  soon  as  they  received  information  of  the  death  of  William 
de  Croy,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  whose  possession  of  that  see 
was  their  chief  grievance,  and  that  the  emperor  had  named 
a  Castilian  to  succeed  him,  they  openly  turned  against  her, 
and  persuaded  the  people  that  she  had  acquired  such  influ- 
ence over  them  by  the  force  of  enchantments ;  that  she  was 
assisted  by  a  familiar  demon,  which  attended  her  in  the 
form  of  a  negro  maid  ;  and  that  by  its  suggestions  she 
regulated  every  part  of  her  conduct.-^  The  credulous 
«»  P.  Mart.  Ep.  727.  ''  Saudov.  375.  ^'  P.  Mart.  Ep.  727. 


336  SURRENDER  OE  TOLEDO.  [book  hi. 

multitude,  whom  their  impatience  of  a  long  blockade,  and 
despair  of  obtaining  succom's  either  from  the  cities  formerly 
in  confederacy  with  them,  or  from  the  Prench,  rendered 
desirous  of  peace,  took  arms  against  her,  and,  driving  her 
out  of  the  city,  surrendered  it  to  the  royalists.  She  retired 
to  the  citadel,  which  she  defended  with  amazing  fortitude 
four  months  longer ;  and,  when  reduced  to  the  last  ex- 
tremities, she  made  her  escape  in  disguise,  and  fled  to 
Portugal,  Avhere  she  had  many  relations.^^ 

Upon  her  flight,  the  citadel  surrendered.  Tranquillity 
was  re-established  in  Castile;  and  this  bold  attempt  of 
the  commons,  like  all  unsuccessful  insurrections,  contributed 
to  confirm  and  extend  the  power  of  the  crown,  which  it 
was  intended  to  moderate  and  abridge.  The  cortes  still 
continued  to  make  a  part  of  the  Castilian  constitution,  and 
was  summoned  to  meet  whenever  the  king  stood  in  need 
of  money ;  but  instead  of  adhering  to  their  ancient  and 
cautious  form  of  examining  and  redressing  public  grievances, 
before  they  proceeded  to  grant  any  sup])ly,  the  more  courtly 
custom  of  voting  a  donative  in  the  first  place  was  intro- 
duced, and  the  sovereign  having  obtained  all  that  he 
wanted,  never  allowed  them  to  enter  into  any  inquiry,  or 
to  attempt  any  reformation  injurious  to  his  authority.  The 
privileges  which  the  cities  had  enjoyed  were  gradually 
circumscribed  or  abolished;  their  commerce  began  from 
this  period  to  decline ;  and  becoming  less  wealthy  and  less 
populous,  they  lost  that  power  and  influence  which  they 
had  acquired  in  the  cortes. 

.  While  Castile  was  exposed  to  the  calamities  of  civil  war, 
the  kingdom  of  Valencia  vv^as  torn  by  intestine  commotions 
still  more  violent.  The  association  which  had  been  formed 
in  the  city  of  Valencia  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred 
and  twenty,  and  which  was  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
the  Germanada,  continued  to  subsist  after  the  emperor's 
departure  from  Spain.     The  members  of  it,  upon  pretext 

*•  Sandov.  375.     P.  Mart.Ep.  75-i.  Ferrer,  viii.  3G3. 


BOOK  in.]  TUMULTS  IN  VALENCIA.  337 

of  defending  the  coasts  against  the  descents  of  the  corsairs 
of  Barbary,  and  under  sanction  of  that  permission,  which 
Charles  had  rashly  granted  tliem,  refused  to  lay  down  their 
arms.  But  as  the  grievances  which  the  Valencians  aimed 
at  redressing  proceeded  from  the  arrogance  and  exactions 
of  the  nobility,  rather  than  from  any  unwarrantable  exercise 
of  the  royal  prerogative,  their  resentment  turned  chiefly 
against  the  former.  As  soon  as  they  were  allowed  the 
use  of  arms,  and  became  conscious  of  their  own  strength, 
they  grew  impatient  to  take  vengeance  of  their  oppressors. 
They  drove  the  nobles  out  of  most  of  the  cities,  plundered 
their  houses,  wasted  their  lands,  and  assaulted  their  castles. 
They  then  proceeded  to  elect  thirteen  persons,  one  from 
cash  company  of  tradesmen  established  at  Valencia,  and 
committed  the  administration  of  government  to  them, 
under  pretext  that  they  would  reform  the  laws,  estabhsh 
one  uniform  mode  of  dispensing  justice,  without  partiality 
or  regard  to  the  distinction  of  ranks,  and  thus  restore  men 
to  some  degree  of  their  original  equality. 

The  nobles  were  obliged  to  take  arms  in  self-defence. 
Hostilities  began,  and  were  carried  on  with  all  the  rancour 
with  which  resentment  at  oppression  inspired  the  one  party, 
and  the  idea  of  insulted  dignity  animated  the  other.  As 
no  person  of  honourable  birth  or  of  liberal  education  joined 
the  Germanada,  the  councils  as  well  as  troops  of  the  con- 
federacy were  conducted  by  low  mechanics,  who  acquired 
the  confidence  of  an  enraged  midtitude  chiefly  by  the 
fierceness  of  their  zeal  and  the  extravagance  of  their  pro- 
ceedings. Among  such  men,  the  laws  introduced  in  civil- 
ized nations,  in  order  to  restrain  or  moderate  the  violence 
of  war,  were  unknown  or  despised ;  and  they  ran  into  the 
wildest  excesses  of  cruelty  and  outrage. 

The  emperor,  occupied  with  suppressing  the  insurrection 
in  Castile,  which  more  immediately  threatened  the  subver- 
sion of  his  power  and  prerogative,  was  unable  to  give  much 
attention  to  the  tumults  in  Valencia,  and  left  the  nobility 

VOL.  I.  Z 


338  COMMOTIONS  IN  ARAGON.  [book  hi. 

of  tliat  kingdom  to  fight  their  own  battles.  His  viceroy, 
the  Conde  de  MeUto,  had  the  supreme  command  of  the 
forces  which  the  nobles  raised  among  the  vassals.  The 
Germanada  carried  on  the  war  during  the  years  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  twenty  and  twenty-one,  with  a  more 
persevering  courage  than  could  have  been  expected  from  a 
body  so  tumultuary  under  the  conduct  of  such  leaders. 
They  defeated  the  nobility  in  several  actions,  which,  though 
not  considerable,  were  extremely  sharp.  They  repulsed 
them  in  their  attempts  to  reduce  different  towns.  But  the 
nobles,  by  their  superior  skill  in  war,  and  at  the  head  of 
troops  more  accustomed  to  service,  gained  the  advantage 
in  most  of  the  rencounters.  At  length  they  were  joined 
by  a  body  of  Castilian  cavalry,  Avhich  the  regents  despatched 
towards  Valencia,  soon  after  their  victory  over  Padilla  at 
Villalar,  and  by  their  assistance  theValencian  nobles  acquired 
such  superiority  that  they  entirely  broke  and  ruined  the 
Germanada.  The  leaders  of  the  party  were  put  to  death, 
almost  without  any  formality  of  legal  trial,  and  suffered 
such  cruel  punishments  as  the  sense  of  recent  injuries 
prompted  their  adversaries  to  inflict.  The  government  of 
Valencia  was  re-established  in  its  ancient  form.^* 

In  Aragon,  violent  symptoms  of  the  same  spirit  of  dis- 
affection and  sedition  which  reigned  in  the  other  kingdoms 
of  Spain,  began  to  appear ;  but  by  the  prudent  conduct  of 
the  viceroy,  Don  John  de  Lanusa,  they  were  so  far  composed 
as  to  prevent  their  breaking  out  into  any  open  insurrection. 
But,  in  the  island  of  Majorca,  annexed  to  the  crown  of 
Aragon,  the  same  causes  which  had  excited  the  commotions 
in  Valencia,  produced  effects  no  less  violent.  The  people, 
impatient  of  the  hardships  which  they  had  endured  under 
the  rigid  jurisdiction  of  the  nobility,  took  arms  in  a  tumul- 
tuary manner  [1511];  deposed  their  viceroy ;  drove  him  out 

-■'  Arsrensola,  Amiales  de  Aragon,  Ep.  lib.  xxsiii.  et  xxxiv.  passim, 
cli.  75,  90,  99,  118.  Sayas,  Anuales  rerrer.  Hist.  d'Espagne,  viii.  pp.  542, 
de  Aragon,  cb.  5,  12,  &c.     P.  Mart.      564,  &c. 


BOOK  III.]  AND  IN  MAJORCA.  339 

of  the  island ;  and  massacred  every  gentleman  who  was  so 
unfortunate  as  to  fall  into  their  hands.  The  obstinacy 
with  which  the  peoi)le  of  Majorca  persisted  in  their  re- 
bellion, was  equal  to  the  rage  with  which  they  began  it. 
Many  and  vigorous  efforts  were  requisite  in  order  to  reduce 
them  to  obedience ;  and  tranquillity  was  re-established  in 
every  part  of  Spain,  before  the  Majorcans  could  be  brought 
to  submit  to  their  sovereign." 

While  the  spirit  of  disaffection  was  so  general  among  the 
Spaniards,  and  so  many  causes  concurred  in  precipitating 
them  into  such  violent  measures,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
redress  of  their  grievances,  it  may  appear  strange,  that  the 
malecontents  in  the  different  kingdoms  should  have  carried 
on  their  operations  without  any  mutual  concert,  or  even 
any  intercourse  with  each  other.  By  uniting  their  councils 
and  arms,  they  might  have  acted  both  with  greater  force 
and  with  more  effect.  The  appearance  of  a  national  con- 
federacy would  have  rendered  it  no  less  respectable  among 
the  i)eople  than  formidable  to  the  crow  n  ;  and  the  emperor, 
unable  to  resist  such  a  combination,  must  have  complied 
with  any  terms  which  the  members  of  it  should  have 
thought  fit  to  prescribe.  Many  things,  however,  prevented 
the  Spaniards  from  forming  themselves  into  one  body,  and 
pursuing  common  measures.  The  people  of  the  different 
kingdoms  in  Spain,  though  they  were  become  the  subjects 
of  the  same  sovereign,  retained  in  full  force  their  national 
antipathy  to  each  other.  The  remembrance  of  their  ancient 
rivalship  and  hostilities  was  still  lively,  and  the  sense  of 
reciprocal  injuries  so  strong  as  to  prevent  them  from  acting 
with  confidence  and  concert.  Each  nation  chose  rather  to 
depend  on  its  own  efforts,  and  to  maintain  the  struggle 
alone,  than  to  implore  the  aid  of  neiglibours  whom  they 
distrusted  and   hated.     At   the  same  time,  the  forms  of 

^^  Argcnsola,  Annales  de  Aragon,      1J-,  76,  81.  Fcrrcras,  Hist.  d'Espagne, 
cli.  113.     Ferrer.  Hist.  viii.  p.  542.      viii.  579,  &c.,  009. 
Sayas,  Auuales  de  Aragon,  cb.  7,  11, 

z  2 


340  GENEROSITY  OF  THE  EMPEROR.  [book  hi. 

government  in  the  several  kingdoms  of  Spain  were  so 
different,  and  the  grievances  of  which  they  complained,  as 
well  as  the  alterations  and  amendments  in  policy  which 
they  attempted  to  introduce,  so  various,  that  it  was  not 
easy  to  bring  them  to  unite  in  any  common  plan.  To  this 
disunion  Charles  was  indebted  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Spanish  crowns  ;  and  while  each  of  the  kingdoms  followed 
separate  measures,  they  were  all  obliged  at  last  to  conform 
to  the  will  of  their  sovereign. 

The  arrival  of  the  emperor  in  Spain  filled  his  subjects 
who  had  been  in  arms  against  him  with  deep  apprehensions, 
from  which  he  soon  delivered  them  by  an  act  of  clemency, 
no  less  prudent  than  generous.  After  a  rebellion  so  general, 
scarcely  twenty  persons,  among  so  many  criminals  obnoxious 
to  the  law,  had  been  punished  capitally  in  Castile.  Though 
strongly  solicited  by  his  council,  Charles  refused  to  shed  any 
more  blood  by  the  hands  of  the  executioner ;  and  published 
a  general  pardon,  extending  to  all  crimes  committed  since 
the  commencement  of  the  insurrections,  from  which  only 
fourscore  persons  were  excepted.  Even  these  he  seems  to 
have  named,  rather  with  an  intention  to  intimidate  others, 
than  from  any  inclination  to  seize  them  ;  for  when  an 
officious  courtier  offered  to  inform  him  where  one  of  the 
most  considerable  among  them  was  concealed,  he  avoided 
it  by  a  good-natured  pleasantry  :  "  Go,"  says  he,  "  I  have 
now  no  reason  to  be  afraid  of  that  man,  but  he  has  some 
cause  to  keep  at  a  distance  from  me ;  and  you  would  be 
better  employed  in  telling  him  that  I  am  here,  than  in 
acquainting  me  with  the  place  of  his  retreat."  ^^  By  this 
appearance  of  magnanimity,  as  well  as  by  his  care  to  avoid 
everything  which  had  disgusted  the  Castilians  during  his 
former  residence  among  them ;  by  his  address  in  assuming 
their  manners,  in  speaking  their  language,  and  in  complying 
with  all  their  humom's  and  customs,  he  acquired  an  ascendant 

2^  Sandov:  377,  &c.     Vida  del  Emper.  Carlos,  por  Don  Juan  Anton,  de  Vera 
y  Zuniga,  p.  30. 


BOOK  III.]  ADRIAN'S  RECEPTION  AT  HOME.  341 

over  tliciii  Avliicli  hardly  any  of  their  native  monarchs  had 
ever  attained,  and  brought  them  to  support  him  in  all  liis 
enterprises  with  a  zeal  and  valour  to  which  he  owed  much 
of  his  success  and  grandeur."^ 

About  the  time  that  Charles  landed  in  Spain,  Adrian  set 
out  for  Italy  to  take  possession  of  his  new  dignity.  But 
though  the  Roman  people  longed  extremely  for  his  arrival, 
they  could  not  on  his  first  appearance  conceal  their  surprise 
and  disappointment.  After  being  accustomed  to  the  princely 
magnificence  of  Julius,  and  the  elegant  splendour  of  Leo, 
they  beheld  with  contempt  an  old  man  of  an  humble 
deportment,  of  austere  manners,  an  enemy  to  pomp, 
destitute  of  taste  in  the  arts,  and  unadorned  with  any  of 
the  external  accomplishments  which  the  vulgar  expect  in 
those  raised  to  eminent  stations. ^^  Nor  did  his  political 
views  and  maxims  seem  less  strange  and  astonishing  to  the 
pontifical  ministers.  He  acknowledged  and  bewailed  the 
corruptions  which  abounded  in  the  church,  as  well  as  in  the 
court  of  Rome,  and  prepared  to  reform  both ;  he  discovered 
no  intention  of  aggrandizing  his  family;  he  even  scrupled 
at  retaining  such  territories  as  some  of  his  predecessors  had 
acquired  by  violence  or  fraud,  rather  than  by  any  legal 
title,  and  for  that  reason  he  invested  Francesco  Maria  de 
Rovere  anew  in  the  duchy  of  Urbino,  of  which  Leo  had 
stripped  him,  and  surrendered  to  the  duke  of  Ferrara  several 
places  wrested  from  him  by  the  church."''  To  men  little 
habituated  to  see  princes  regulate  their  conduct  by  the 
maxims  of  morality  and  the  principles  of  justice,  tliese  actions 
of  the  new  pope  appeared  incontestable  proofs  of  his  weak- 
ness or  inexperience.  Adrian,  wdio  was  a  perfect  stranger  to 
the  complex  and  intricate  system  of  Italian  politics,  and  who 
could  place  no  confidence  in  persons  whose  subtle  refinements 
in  business  suited  so  ill  with  the  natural  simplicity  and 

"  Ulloa,  Vita  di  Carlo  V.,  p.  85.  Priiic.  8. 

2«  Guic.  lib.  XV-.   238.     Jovii  Vita  -'*  Guic.  lib.  xv.  p.  240. 

Adriaui,  117.     Bcllefor.  Epistr.   des 


342  ADRIAN'S  PACIFIC  POLICY.  [book  hi. 

candour  of  his  own  character,  being  often  embarrassed  and 
irresohite  in  his  dehberations,  the  opinion  of  his  incapacity 
daily  increased,  until  both  his  person  and  government 
became  objects  of  ridicule  among  his  subjects.^" 

Adrian,  though  devoted  to  the  emperor,  endeavoured  to 
assum.e  the  impartiality  which  became  the  common  father 
of  Christendom,  and  laboured  to  reconcile  the  contending 
princes,  in  order  that  they  might  unite  in  a  league  against 
Solyman,  whose  conquest  of  Rhodes  rendered  him  more 
formidable  than  ever  to  Europe.^^  But  this  was  an  under- 
taking far  beyond  his  abilities.  To  examine  such  a  variety 
of  pretensions ;  to  adjust  such  a  number  of  interfering 
interests ;  to  extinguish  the  passions  which  ambition,  emu- 
lation, and  mutual  injuries  had  kindled ;  to  bring  so  many 
hostile  powers  to  pursue  the  same  scheme  with  unanimity 
and  vigour,  required  not  only  uprightness  of  intention,  but 
great  superiority  both  of  understanding  and  address. 

The  Itahan  states  were  no  less  desirous  of  peace  than 
the  pope.  The  imperial  army  under  Colonna  was  still  kept 
on  foot ;  but  as  the  emperor's  revenues  in  Spain,  in  Naples, 
and  in  the  Low  Countries,  were  either  exhausted  or  applied 
to  some  other  purpose,  it  depended  entirely  for  pay  and 
subsistence  on  the  Italians.  A  great  part  of  it  was  quartered 
in  the  ecclesiastical  state,  and  monthly  contributions  were 
levied  upon  the  Florentines,  the  Milanese,  the  Genoese,  and 
Lucchese,  by  the  viceroy  of  Naples  ;  and  though  all  exclaimed 
against  such  oppression,  and  were  impatient  to  be  dehvered 
from  it,  the  dread  of  worse  consequences  from  the  rage  of 
the  army,  or  the  resentment  of  the  emperor,  obliged  them 
to  submit.^" 

[1553.]  So  much  regard,  hoAvever,  was  paid  to  the  pope's 
exhortations,  and  to  a  bull  which  he  issued,  requiring  all 
Christian  princes  to  consent  to  a  truce  for  three  years,  that 

^°  Jov.  Vila  Adr.  118.     P.  Mart.  ^i  Bellefor.  Epistr.  p.  86. 

Ep.  774.     Ptuscelli,  Lettere  de'  Priac.  ^2  q^[^  iiIj_  ^^  p  235. 

vol.  i.  pp.  87,  96,  101. 


BOOK  III.]  MEASURES  OF  ERANCIS.  343 

tlie  imperial,  the  French,  and  Enghsh  ambassadors  at  Rome, 
were  empowered  by  their  respective  courts  to  treat  of  that 
matter;  but  while  they  wasted  their  time  in  fruitless  nego- 
tiations, their  masters  continued  their  preparations  for  war. 
The  Venetians,  who  had  hitherto  adhered  with  great  firmness 
to  their  aUiance  with  Francis,  being  now  convinced  that  his 
afifairs  in  Italy  were  in  a  desperate  situation,  entered  into 
league  against  him  with  the  emperor ;  to  which  Adrian,  at 
the  instigation  of  his  countryman  and  friend,  Charles  de 
Lannoy,  viceroy  of  Naples,  who  persuaded  him  that  the 
only  obstacles  to  peace  arose  from  the  ambition  of  the  French 
king,  soon  after  acceded.  The  other  Italian  states  followed 
their  example ;  and  Francis  was  left  without  a  single  ally 
to  resist  the  efforts  of  so  many  enemies,  whose  armies 
threatened,  and  whose  territories  encompassed,  his  dominions 
on  every  side.^^ 

The  dread  of  this  powerful  confederacy,  it  was  thought, 
would  have  obliged  Francis  to  keep  wholly  on  the  defensive, 
or  at  least  have  prevented  his  entertaining  any  thoughts  of 
marching  into  Italy.  But  it  was  the  character  of  that 
prince,  too  apt  to  become  remiss  and  even  negligent  on 
ordinary  occasions,  to  rouse  at  the  approach  of  danger,  and 
not  only  to  encounter  it  with  spirit  and  intrepidity,  qualities 
which  never  forsook  him,  but  to  provide  against  it  with 
diligence  and  industry.  Before  his  enemies  were  ready  to 
execute  any  of  their  schemes,  Francis  had  assembled  a 
numerous  army.  His  authority  over  his  own  subjects  was 
far  greater  than  that  which  Charles  or  lienry  possessed 
over  theirs.  They  depended  on  their  diets,  their  cortes, 
and  their  parliaments,  for  money,  which  was  usually  granted 
them  in  small  sums,  very  slowly,  and  with  much  reluc- 
tance. The  taxes  he  could  impose  were  more  considerable, 
and  levied  with  greater  despatch  ;  so  that  on  this,  as  well 
as  on  other  occasions,  he  brought  his  armies  into  the  field 
while  they  were  only  devising  ways  and  means  for  raising 
5^  Guic.  lib.  XV.  pp.  241,  246. 


344  BOURBON'S  CONSPIRACY.  [book  hi. 

theirs.  Sensible  of  this  advantage,  Francis  hoped  to  discon- 
cert all  the  emperor's  schemes,  by  marching  in  person  into 
the  Milanese ;  and  this  bold  measure,  the  more  formidable 
because  unexpected,  could  scarcely  have  failed  of  producing 
that  effect.  But  when  the  vanguard  of  his  army  had  already 
reached  Lyons,  and  he  himself  was  hastening  after  it  with 
a  second  division  of  his  troops,  the  discovery  of  a  domestic 
conspiracy,  which  threatened  the  ruin  of  the  kingdom, 
obliged  him  to  stop  short,  and  to  alter  his  measures. 

The  author  of  this  dangerous  plot  was  Charles,  duke  of 
Bourbon,  lord  high  constable,  whose  noble  birth,  vast  for- 
tune, and  high  office,  raised  him  to  be  the  most  powerful 
subject  in  Prance,  as  his  great  talents,  equally  suited  to  the 
field  or  the  council,  and  his  signal  services  to  the  crown, 
rendered  him  the  most  illustrious  and  deserving.  The  near 
resemljlance  between  the  king  and  him  in  many  of  their 
qualities,  both  being  fond  of  war,  and  ambitious  to  excel  in 
manly  exercises,  as  well  as  their  equality  in  age,  and  their 
proximity  of  blood,  ought  naturally  to  have  secured  to  him 
a  considerable  share  in  that  monarch's  favour.  But  unhap- 
pily Louise,  the  king's  mother,  had  contracted  a  violent 
aversion  to  the  house  of  Bourbon,  for  no  better  reason  than 
because  Anne  of  Bretagne,  the  queen  of  Louis  the  Twelfth, 
with  whom  she  lived  in  perpetual  enmity,  had  discovered 
a  peculiar  attachment  to  that  branch  of  the  royal  family  ; 
and  had  taught  her  son,  who  was  too  susceptible  of  any 
impression  which  his  mother  gave  him,  to  view  all  the  con- 
stable's actions  with  a  mean  and  unbecoming  jealousy. 
His  distinguished  merit  at  the  battle  of  Marignano  had  not 
been  sufficiently  rewarded ;  he  had  been  recaUed  from  the 
government  of  Milan  upon  very  frivolous  pretences,  and 
had  met  with  a  cold  reception,  which  his  prudent  conduct  in 
that  difficult  station  did  not  deserve ;  the  payment  of  his 
pensions  had  been  suspended  without  any  good  cause  ;  and, 
during  the  campaign  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
twenty-one,  the  king,  as  has  already  been  related,    had 


BOOK  III.]  QUEEN  LOUISE.  345 

affronted  him  in  ])rcsence  of  the  whole  army,  Ijy  giving  the 
command  of  the  van  to  the  duke  of  Alenfon.  The  eon- 
stable,  at  first,  bore  these  indignities  with  greater  modera- 
tion than  could  have  been  expected  from  a  high-spirited 
prince,  conscious  of  what  w^as  due  to  his  rank  and  to  his 
services.  Such  a  multiplicity  of  injuries,  however,  exhausted 
his  patience  ;  and,  inspiring  him  with  thoughts  of  revenge, 
he  retired  from  court,  and  began  to  hold  a  secret  corre- 
spondence with  some  of  the  emperor's  ministers. 

About  that  time  the  duchess  of  Bourbon  happened  to 
die  without  leaving  any  children.  Louise,  of  a  disposition 
no  less  amorous  than  vindictive,  and  still  susceptible  of  the 
tender  passions  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  began  to  view  the 
constable,  a  prince  as  amiable  as  he  was  accomplished,  with 
other  eyes  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  great  disparity  of  their 
years,  she  formed  the  scheme  of  marrying  him.  Bourbon, 
who  might  have  expected  everything  to  which  an  ambitious 
mind  can  aspire  from  the  doting  fondness  of  a  woman  wdio 
governed  her  son  and  the  kingdom,  being  incapable  either 
of  imitating  the  queen  in  her  sudden  transition  from  hatred 
to  love,  or  of  dissembling  so  meanly  as  to  pretend  affection 
for  one  who  had  persecuted  him  so  long  with  unprovoked 
mahce,  not  only  rejected  the  match,  but  embittered  his 
refusal  by  some  severe  raillery  on  Louise's  person  and 
character.  She,  finding  herself  not  only  contemned,  but 
insulted,  her  disappointed  love  turned  into  hatred,  and, 
since  she  could  not  marry,  she  resolved  to  ruin  Bourbon. 

For  this  purpose,  she  consulted  with  the  chancellor  Du 
Prat,  a  man  wdio,  by  a  base  prostitution  of  great  talents 
and  of  superior  skill  in  his  profession,  had  risen  to  that 
high  office.  By  his  advice  a  lawsuit  was  commenced 
against  the  constable,  for  the  whole  estate  belonging  to  the 
house  of  Bourbon.  Part  of  it  was  claimed  in  the  king's 
name,  as  having  fallen  to  the  crown  ;  part  in  that  of  Louise, 
as  the  nearest  heir  in  blood  of  the  deceased  duchess.  Both 
these  claims  were  equally  destitute  of  any  foundation  in 


346  PROGRESS  AND  DISCOVERY  [book  hi. 

justice ;  but  Louise,  by  her  solicitations  and  authority,  and 
Du  Prat,  by  employing  all  the  artifices  and  chicanery  of 
law,  prevailed  on  the  judges  to  order  the  estate  to  be 
sequestered.  This  unjust  decision  drove  the  constable  to 
despair,  and  to  measures  which  despair  alone  could  have 
dictated.  He  renewed  his  intrigues  in  the  imperial  court, 
and,  flattering  himself  that  the  injuries  which  he  had 
suffered  would  justify  his  having  recourse  to  any  means  in 
order  to  obtain  revenge,  he  offered  to  transfer  his  allegiance 
from  his  natural  sovereign  to  the  emperor,  and  to  assist 
him  in  the  conquest  of  Trance.  Charles,  as  well  as  the 
king  of  England,  to  whom  the  secret  was  communicated,^* 
expecting  prodigious  advantages  from  his  revolt,  were 
ready  to  receive  him  with  open  arms,  and  spared  neither 
promises  nor  allurements  which  might  help  to  confirm  him 
in  his  resolution.  The  emperor  offered  him  in  marriage 
his  sister  Eleanor,  the  Mddow  of  the  king  of  Portugal,  with 
an  ample  portion.  He  was  included  as  a  principal  in  the 
treaty  between  Charles  and  Henry,  The  counties  of  Pro- 
vence and  Dauphine  were  to  be  settled  on  him,  with  the 
title  of  king.  The  emperor  engaged  to  enter  Prance  by 
the  Pyrenees,  and  Henry,  supported  by  the  Elemings,  to 
invade  Picardy ;  while  twelve  thousand  Germans,  levied  at 
their  common  charge,  were  to  penetrate  into  Burgundy, 
and  to  act  in  concert  with  Bourbon,  who  undertook  to 
raise  six  thousand  men  among  his  friends  and  vassals  in 
the  heart  of  the  kingdom.  The  execution  of  this  deep-laid 
and  dangerous  plot  was  suspended,  until  the  king  should 
cross  the  Alps  with  the  only  army  capable  of  defending  his 
dominions ;  and  as  he  was  far  advanced  in  his  march  for 
that  purpose,  Prance  was  on  the  brink  of  destruction.^^ 

Happily  for  that  kingdom,  a  negotiation  which  had  now 
been  carrying  on  for  several  months,  though  conducted 
with  the  most  profound  secrecy,  and  communicated  only  to 

^^  Rvmer's  Feeder,  xiii.  p.  794. 
^  Tluiaui  Hist.  lib.  i.  cli.  10.    lleuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  viii.  cli.  IS,  p.  207. 


BOOK  III.]  OF  BOURBON'S  TREACHERY.  347 

a  few  cliosen  confidants,  could  not  altogether  escape  the 
observation  of  the  rest  of  the  constable's  numerous  retainers, 
rendered  more  inquisitive  by  finding  that  they  were  dis- 
trusted. Two  of  these  gave  the  king  some  intimation  of 
a  mysterious  correspondence  between  their  master  and  the 
Count  de  Rocux,  a  Flemish  nobleman  of  great  confidence 
with  the  emperor.  Francis,  who  could  not  bring  himself 
to  suspect  that  the  first  prince  of  the  blood  would  be  so 
base  as  to  betray  the  kingdom  to  its  enemies,  immediately 
repaired  to  Moidins,  where  the  constable  was  in  bed,  feign- 
ing indisposition,  that  he  might  not  be  obliged  to  accom- 
pany the  king  into  Italy,  and  acquainted  him  of  the 
intelligence  which  he  had  received.  Bourbon,  with  great 
solemnity,  and  the  most  imposing  affectation  of  ingenuity 
and  candour,  asserted  his  own  innocence ;  and  as  his  health, 
he  said,  was  now  more  confirmed,  he  promised  to  join  the 
army  within  a  few  days.  Francis,  open  and  candid  himself, 
and  too  apt  to  be  deceived  by  the  appearance  of  those 
virtues  in  others,  gave  such  credit  to  what  he  said,  that  he 
refused  to  arrest  him,  although  advised  to  take  that  pre- 
caution by  his  wisest  councillors ;  and,  as  if  the  danger 
had  been  over,  he  continued  his  march  towards  Lyons. 
The  constable  set  out  soon  after,  seemingly  with  an  inten- 
tion to  follow  him ;  but  turning  suddenly  to  the  left  he 
crossed  the  Rhone,  and,  after  infinite  fatigue  and  peril, 
escaped  all  the  parties  which  the  king,  who  became  sensible 
too  late  of  his  own  credulity,  sent  out  to  intercept  him, 
and  reached  Italy  in  safety, ^'^ 

Francis  took  every  possible  precaution  to  prevent  the  bad 
effects  of  the  irreparable  error  which  he  had  committed. 
He  put  garrisons  in  all  the  places  of  strength  in  the  con- 
stable's territories.  He  seized  all  the  gentlemen  whom  he 
could  suspect  of  being  his  associates ;  and  as  he  had  not 
hitherto  discovered  the  whole  extent  of  the  conspirators' 
schemes,  nor  knew  how  far  the  infection  had  spread  among 

^^  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  Qi,  &c.    Pasqviier,  Rechercbes  dc  la  Frauce,  p.  4S1. 


348  FRANCIS'S  ATTACK  ON  MILAN.  [book  m. 

his  subjects,  he  was  afraid  that  his  absence  might  encou- 
rage them  to  make  some  desperate  attempt,  and  for  that 
reason  reUnquished  his  intention  of  leading  his  army  in 
person  into  Italy. 

He  did  not,  however,  abandon  his  design  on  the  Milanese; 
but  appointed  Admiral  Bonnivet  to  take  the  supreme  com- 
mand in  his  stead,  and  to  march  into  that  country  M'ith  an 
army  thirty  thousand  strong.  Bonnivet  did  not  owe  this 
preferment  to  his  abilities  as  a  general ;  for  of  all  the  talents 
requisite  to  form  a  great  commander,  he  possessed  only 
personal  courage  the  lowest  and  the  most  common.  But 
he  was  the  most  accomplished  gentleman  in  the  French 
court,  of  agreeable  manners  and  insinuating  address,  and 
a  sprightly  conversation ;  and  Francis,  who  lived  in  great 
familiarity  wdth  his  courtiers,  was  so  charmed  with  these 
qualities,  that  he  honoured  him  on  all  occasions  with  the 
most  partial  and  distinguished  marks  of  his  favour.  He 
was,  besides,  the  implacable  enemy  of  Bourbon  ;  and  as  the 
king  hardly  knew  whom  to  trust  at  that  juncture,  he  thought 
the  chief  command  coidd  be  lodged  nowhere  so  safely  as  in 
his  hands. 

Colonna,  who  was  entrusted  with  the  defence  of  the 
Milanese,  his  own  conquest,  was  in  no  condition  to  resist 
such  a  formidable  army.  He  was  destitute  of  money 
sufficient  to  pay  his  troops,  which  were  reduced  to  a  small 
number  by  sickness  or  desertion,  and  had,  for  that  reason, 
been  obliged  to  neglect  every  precaution  necessary  for  the 
security  of  the  country.  The  only  plan  which  he  formed 
Avas,  to  defend  the  passage  of  the  river  Tessino  against  the 
French ;  and,  as  if  he  had  forgotten  how  easily  he  himself 
had  disconcerted  a  similar  scheme  formed  by  Lautrec,  he 
presumed  w4th  great  confidence  on  its  being  effectual.  But, 
in  spite  of  all  his  caution,  it  succeeded  no  better  with  him 
than  with  Lautrec.  Bonnivet  passed  the  river  without  loss, 
at  a  ford  which  had  been  neglected,  and  the  imperialists 
retired  to  Milan,  preparing  to  abandon  the  town  as  soon  as 


BOOK  III.]  DEATH  OE  iNDEIAN.  349 

the  Frencli  should  appear  before  it.  By  an  iiiiaccoim  table 
negligence  which  Guicciardini  imputes  to  iniatuation,'"' 
Bonnivet  did  not  advance  for  three  or  four  days,  and  lost 
the  opportunity  Avitli  which  his  good  fortune  presented  Inm. 
The  citizens  recovered  from  their  consternation ;  Colonna, 
still  active  at  the  age  of  fourscore,  and  Morone,  whose 
enmity  to  France  rendered  him  indefatigable,  were  employed 
night  and  day  in  repairing  the  fortifications,  in  amassing 
provisions,  in  collecting  troops  from  every  quarter ;  and,  by 
the  time  the  French  approached,  had  put  the  city  in  a  con- 
dition to  stand  a  siege.  Bonnivet,  after  some  fruitless 
attempts  on  the  town,  which  harassed  his  own  troops  more 
than  the  enemy,  was  obliged,  by  the  inclemency  of  the 
season,  to  retire  into  winter  quarters. 

During  these  transactions  Pope  Adrian  died;  an  event 
so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Roman  people,  whose 
hatred  or  contempt  of  him  augmented  every  day,  that  the 
night  after  his  decease  they  adorned  the  door  of  his  chief 
physician's  house  with  garlands,  adding  this  inscription, 
TO  THE  DELIVERER  OF  HIS  COUNTRY. ^^  The  Cardinal  de' 
Medici  instantly  renewed  his  pretensions  to  the  papal  dig- 
nity, and  entered  the  conclave  with  high  expectations  on 
his  own  part,  and  a  general  opinion  of  the  people,  that  they 
would  be  successful.  But  though  supported  by  the  imperial 
faction,  possessed  of  great  personal  interest,  and  capable  of 
all  the  artifices,  refinements,  and  corruption,  which  reign  in 
those  assemblies,  the  obstinacy  and  intrigues  of  his  rivals 
protracted  the  conclave  to  the  unusual  length  of  fifty  days. 
The  address  and  perseverance  of  the  cardinal  at  last  sur- 
mounted every  obstacle.  He  was  raised  to  the  head  of  the 
church,  and  assumed  the  government  of  it  by  the  name  of 
Clement  VII.  The  choice  was  universally  approved  of. 
High  expectations  were  conceived  of  a  pope,  whose  great 
talents  and  long  experience  in  business  seemed  to  qualify 

"  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  254.  ^s  jo^jj  yit.  Adr.  127. 


350  WOLSEY'S  DISAPPOINTMENT.  [book  hi. 

him  no  less  for  defending  the  spiritual  interests  of  the 
church,  exposed  to  imminent  danger  by  the  progress  of 
Luther's  opinions,  than  for  conducting  its  political  opera- 
tions with  the  prudence  requisite  at  such  a  difficult  juncture; 
and  who,  besides  these  advantages,  rendered  the  eccle- 
siastical state  more  respectable,  by  having  in  his  hands  the 
government  of  Florence,  together  with  the  wealth  of  the 
family  of  Medici.^'' 

Cardinal  Wolsey,  not  disheartened  by  the  disappointment 
of  his  ambitious  views  at  the  former  election,  had  entertained 
more  sanguine  hopes  of  success  on  this  occasion.  Henry 
wrote  to  the  emperor,  reminding  him  of  his  engagements 
to  second  the  pretensions  of  his  minister.  Wolsey  bestirred 
himself  with  activity  suitable  to  the  importance  of  the  prize 
for  wdiich  he  contended,  and  instructed  his  agents  at  Rome 
to  spare  neither  promises  nor  bribes  in  order  to  gain  his 
end.  But  Charles  had  either  amused  him  with  vain  hopes 
which  he  never  intended  to  gratify,  or  he  judged  it  impo- 
litic to  oppose  a  candidate  who  had  such  a  prospect  of  suc- 
ceeding as  Medici;  or,  perhaps,  the  cardinals  durst  not 
venture  to  provoke  the  people  of  Rome,  while  their  indig- 
nation against  Adrian's  memory  was  still  fresh,  by  placing 
another  ultra-montane  on  the  papal  throne.  Wolsey,  after 
all  his  expectations  and  endeavours,  had  the  mortification 
to  see  a  pope  elected  of  such  an  age,  and  of  so  vigorous 
a  constitution,  that  he  could  not  derive  much  comfort  to 
himself  from  the  chance  of  surviving  him.  This  second 
proof  fully  convinced  Wolsey  of  the  emperor's  insincerity, 
and  it  excited  in  him  all  the  resentment  which  a  haughty 
mind  feels  on  being  at  once  disappointed  and  deceived ; 
and  though  Clement  endeavoured  to  soothe  his  vindictive 
nature  by  granting  him  a  commission  to  be  legate  in  England 
during  life,  with  such  ample  powers  as  vested  in  him  almost 
the  whole  papal  jurisdiction  in  that  kingdom,  the  injury  he 
had  now  received  made  such  an  impression  as  entirely  dis- 

39  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  2G3. 


BOOK  III]  PROGRESS  or  THE  WAR.  351 

solved  the  tie  wliicli  had  united  him  to  Charles,  and  from 
that  moment  he  meditated  revenge.  It  was  necessary, 
however,  to  conceal  his  intention  from  his  master,  and  to 
suspend  the  execution  of  it,  until,  by  a  dexterous  improve- 
ment of  the  incidents  which  might  occur,  he  should  be  able 
gradually  to  alienate  the  king's  affections  from  the  emperor. 
For  this  reason  he  was  so  far  from  expressing  any  uneasi- 
ness on  account  of  the  repulse  which  he  had  met  with, 
that  he  abounded  on  every  occasion,  private  as  well  as 
public,  in  declarations  of  his  high  satisfaction  with  Clement's 
promotion.*** 

Henry  had,  during  the  campaign,  fulfilled  with  great 
sincerity  \vhatever  he  was  bound  to  perform  by  the  league 
against  France,  though  more  slowly  than  he  could  have 
wished.  His  thoughtless  profusion,  and  total  neglect  of 
economy,  reduced  him  often  to  great  straits  for  money. 
The  operations  of  war  were  now  carried  on  in  Europe  in  a 
manner  very  different  from  that  which  had  long  prevailed. 
Instead  of  armies  suddenly  assembled,  which  under  distinct 
chieftains  followed  their  prince  into  the  field  for  a  short 
space,  and  served  at  their  own  cost,  troops  were  now  levied 
at  great  charge,  and  received  regularly  considerable  pay. 
Instead  of  impatience  on  both  sides  to  bring  every  quarrel 
to  the  issue  of  a  battle,  which  commonly  decided  the  fate 
of  open  countries,  and  allowed  the  barons,  together  with 
their  vassals,  to  return  to  their  ordinary  occupations,  towns 
were  fortified  with  great  art,  and  defended  with  much 
obstinacy ;  war,  from  a  very  simple,  became  a  very  intricate 
science ;  and  campaigns  grew,  of  course,  to  be  more  tedious 
and  less  decisive.  The  expense  which  these  alterations  in 
the  military  system  necessarily  created,  appeared  intolerable 
to  nations  hitherto  unaccustomed  to  the  burden  of  heavy 
taxes.  Hence  proceeded  the  frugal  and  even  parsimonious 
spirit  of  the  English  parliaments  in  that  age,  which  Henry, 
with  all  his  authority,  was  seldom  able  to  overcome.     The 

'"  Piddes's  Life  of  Wolsey,  29  i,  &c.     Herbert. 


352  END  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN.  [book  in. 

commons,  having  refused  at  this  time  to  grant  him  the 
suppHes  which  he  demanded,  he  had  recourse  to  the  ample 
and  ahnost  unlimited  prerogative  which  the  kings  of 
England  then  possessed,  and,  by  a  violent  and  unusual 
exertion  of  it,  raised  the  money  he  wanted.  This,  however, 
w^asted  so  much  time,  that  it  was  late  in  the  season  before 
his  army,  under  the  duke  of  Suffolk,  could  take  the  field. 
Being  joined  by  a  considerable  body  of  Flemings,  Suffolk 
marched  into  Picardy ;  and  Francis,  from  his  extravagant 
eagerness  to  recover  the  Milanese,  having  left  that  frontier 
almost  unguarded,  he  penetrated  as  far  as  the  banks  of 
the  river  Oyse,  within  eleven  leagues  of  Paris,  filling  that 
capital  with  consternation.  But  the  arrival  of  some  troops 
detached  by  the  king,  who  was  still  at  Lyons ;  the  active 
gallantry  of  the  French  officers,  Mdio  allowed  the  allies  no 
respite  night  or  day ;  the  rigour  of  a  most  unnatural 
season,  together  with  scarcity  of  provisions,  compelled 
Suffolk  to  retire ;  and  La  Tramouille,  who  commanded  in 
those  parts,  had  the  glory  not  only  of  having  checked  the 
progress  of  a  formidable  army  with  a  handful  of  men, 
but  of  driving  them  with  ignominy  out  of  the  French 
territories.''^ 

The  emperor's  attempts  upon  Burgundy  and  Guienne 
w^re  not  more  fortunate,  though  in  both  these  provinces 
Francis  was  equally  ill  prepared  to  resist  them.  The 
conduct  and  valour  of  his  generals  supplied  his  want  of 
foresight ;  the  Germans,  who  made  an  irruption  into  one 
of  these  provinces,  and  the  Spaniards,  who  attacked  the 
other,  were  repulsed  with  great  disgrace. 

Thus  ended  the  year  1523,  during  which  Francis's  good 
fortune  and  success  had  been  such  as  gave  all  Europe  a 
high  idea  of  his  power  and  resources.  He  had  discovered 
and  disconcerted  a  dangerous  conspiracy,  the  author  of 
which  he  had  driven  into  exile  almost  without  an  attendant ; 
he  had  rendered  abortive  all  the  schemes  of  the  powerful 

^1  Herbert.  Mem.  de  Bellay,  73,  &c. 


BOOK  III.]       .  IMPERIAL  ARMY  AT  MILAN.  353 

confederacy  formed  against  liini ;  he  had  protected  his 
dominions  when  attacked  on  three  different  sides ;  and, 
though  his  army  in  the  ^lilancse  had  not  made  such  pro- 
gress as  might  have  been  expected  from  its  superiority  to 
the  enemy  in  number,  he  had  recovered,  and  still  kept 
possession  of,  one-half  of  that  duchy. 

[1524.]  The  ensuing  year  opened  with  events  more  dis- 
astrous to  France.  Fontarabia  was  lost  by  the  cowardice  or 
treachery  of  its  governor.  In  Italy,  the  allies  resolved  on 
an  early  and  vigorous  effort,  in  order  to  dispossess  Bonnivet 
of  that  part  of  the  ]\Iilancse  which  lies  beyond  the  Tessino. 
Clement,  who,  under  the  pontificates  of  Leo  and  Adrian, 
had  discovered  an  implacable  enmity  to  France,  began  now 
to  view  the  power  which  the  emperor  was  daily  acquiring 
in  Italy  with  so  much  jealousy,  that  he  refused  to  accede, 
as  his  predecessors  had  done,  to  the  league  against  Francis, 
and,  forgetting  private  passions  and  animosities,  laboured 
with  the  zeal  which  became  his  character,  to  bring  about  a 
reconciliation  among  the  contending  parties.  But  all  his 
endeavours  were  ineffectual ;  a  numerous  army,  to  which 
each  of  the  allies  furnished  their  contingent  of  troops,  was 
assembled  at  Milan  by  the  beginning  of  March.  Lannoy, 
viceroy  of  Naples,  took  the  command  of  it  upon  Colonna's 
death,  though  the  chief  direction  of  military  operations  was 
committed  to  Bourbon  and  the  Marquis  de  Pescara,  the 
latter  the  ablest  and  most  enterprising  of  the  imperial 
generals ;  the  former  inspired  by  his  resentment  with  new 
activity  and  invention,  and  acquainted  so  thoroughly  with 
the  characters  of  the  French  commanders,  the  genius  of 
their  troops,  and  the  strength  as  well  as  weakness  of  their 
armies,  as  to  be  of  infinite  service  to  the  party  which  he 
had  joined.  But  all  these  advantages  were  nearly  lost 
through  the  emperor's  inability  to  raise  money  sufficient 
for  executing  the  various  and  extensive  plans  which  he 
had  formed.  When  his  troops  were  commanded  to  march, 
they  mutinied  against  their  leaders,  demanding  the  pay 

VOL.  I.  A   A 


354  THE  PRENCH  ABANDON  THE  MILANESE.       [book  hi. 

vvliicli  was  due  to  tliem  for  some  montlis ;  and,  disregarding 
both  the  menaces  and  entreaties  of  their  officers,  threatened 
to  pillage  the  city  of  Milan,  if  they  did  not  instantly  receive 
satisfaction.  Out  of  this  difficulty  the  generals  of  the  allies 
were  extricated  by  Morone,  who  prevailing  on  his  country- 
men, over  whom  his  inffiience  was  prodigious,  to  advance 
the  sum  that  was  requisite,  the  army  took  the  field.^^ 

Bonnivet  was  destitute  of  troops  to  oppose  this  army, 
and  still  more  of  the  talents  which  could  render  him  an 
equal  match  for  its  leaders.  After  various  movements  and 
encounters,  described  with  great  accuracy  by  the  contem- 
porary historians,  a  detail  of  which  would  now  be  equally 
uninteresting  and  uninstructive,  he  was  forced  to  abandon 
the  strong  camp  in  which  he  had  entrenched  himself  at 
Biagrassa.  Soon  after,  partly  by  his  own  misconduct, 
partly  by  the  activity  of  the  enemy,  who  harassed  and 
ruined  his  army  by  continual  skirmishes,  while  they  care- 
fully declined  a  battle,  which  he  often  offered  them ;  and 
partly  by  the  caprice  of  6,000  Swiss,  who  refused  to  join 
his  army,  though  within  a  day's  march  of  it ;  he  was 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  attempting  a  retreat  into 
France  through  the  valley  of  Aost.  Just  as  he  arrived 
on  the  banks  of  the  Sessia,  and  began  to  pass  that  river, 
Bourbon  and  Pescara  appeared  with  the  vanguard  of  the 
allies,  and  attacked  his  rear  with  great  fury.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  charge,  Bonnivet,  while  exerting  himself 
with  much  valour,  was  wounded  so  dangerously  that  he 
was  obliged  to  quit  the  field ;  and  the  conduct  of  the  rear 
was  committed  to  the  Chevalier  Bayard,  who,  though  so 
much  a  stranger  to  the  arts  of  a  court,  that  he  never  rose 
to  the  chief  command,  was  always  called,  in  times  of  real 
danger,  to  the  post  of  greatest  difficidty  and  importance. 
He  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  men-at-arms,  and 
animating  them  by  his  presence  and  example  to  sustain 
the  whole  shock  of  the  enemy's  troops,  he  gained  time  for 

^-  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  267.     Capella,  190. 


BOOK  111.]  DEATH  OF  BAYARD.  355 

the  rest  of  his  countrymen  to  make  good  their  retreat. 
But  in  this  service  he  received  a  wound  which  he  imme- 
diately perceived  to  be  mortal,  and  being  unable  to  continue 
any  longer  on  horseback,  he  ordered  one  of  his  attendants 
to  place  him  under  a  tree,  with  his  face  towards  the  enemy ; 
then  fixing  his  eyes  on  the  guard  of  his  sword,  which  he 
held  up  instead  of  a  cross,  he  addressed  his  prayers  to  God, 
and  in  this  posture,  which  became  his  character  both  as  a 
soldier  and  as  a  Christian,  he  calmly  awaited  the  approach 
of  death.  Bourbon,  who  led  the  foremost  of  the  enemy's 
troops,  found  him  in  this  situation,  and  expressed  regret 
and  pity  at  the  sight.  ''  Pity  not  me,"  cried  the  high- 
spirited  chevalier ;  "  I  die  as  a  man  of  honour  ought,  in  the 
discharge  of  my  duty  :  they  indeed  are  objects  of  pity  who 
fight  against  their  king,  their  country,  and  their  oath." 
The  Marquis  de  Pescara,  passing  soon  after,  manifested  his 
admiration  of  Bayard's  virtues,  as  well  as  his  sorrow  for  his 
fate,  with  the  generosity  of  a  gallant  enemy ;  and,  finding 
that  he  could  not  be  removed  with  safety  from  that  spot, 
ordered  a  tent  to  be  pitched  there,  and  appointed  proper 
persons  to  attend  him.  He  died,  notwithstanding  their 
care,  as  his  ancestors  for  several  generations  had  done,  in 
the  field  of  battle.  Pescara  ordered  his  body  to  be 
embalmed,  and  sent  to  his  relations ;  and  such  was  the 
respect  paid  to  military  merit  in  that  age,  that  the  duke  of 
Savoy  commanded  it  to  be  received  with  royal  honours  in 
all  the  cities  of  his  dominions :  in  Dauphine,  Bayard's 
native  country,  the  people  of  all  ranks  came  out  in  a  solemn 
procession  to  meet  it."'^ 

Bonnivet  led  back  the  shattered  remains  of  his  army  into 
Prance ;  and  in  one  short  campaign  Francis  was  stripped 
of  all  he  had  possessed  in  Italy,  and  left  without  one  ally 
in  that  country. 

While  the  war,  kindled  by  the  emulation  of  Charles  and 

*^  Bellefor.  Epistr.  p.  73.    Mem.  de      p.  108,  &c.     Pasquicr,  Tlcclicrclies,  p. 
Bcllay,  p.  75.    (Euv.  de  Brant,  torn.  vi.      526. 

A  A  2 


356  LUTHER  TRANSLATES  THE  BIBLE.  [book  hi. 

Francis,  spread  over  so  many  countries  of  Europe,  Ger- 
many enjoyed  a  profound  tranquillity,  extremely  favourable 
to  the  reformation,  wliicli  continued  to  make  progress  daily. 
During  Lutlier's  confinement  in  his  retreat  at  Wartburg, 
Carlostadius,  one  of  his  disciples,  animated  with  the  same 
zeal,  but  possessed  of  less  prudence  and  moderation  than 
his  master,  began  to  propagate  wild  and  dangerous  opi- 
nions, chiefly  among  the  lower  people.  Encouraged  by  his 
exhortations,  they  rose  in  several  villages  of  Saxony,  broke 
into  the  churches  with  tumultuary  violence,  and  threw  down 
and  destroyed  the  images  with  which  they  were  adorned. 
Those  iiTegular  and  outrageous  proceedings  were  so  repug- 
nant to  all  the  elector's  cautious  maxims,  that,  if  they  had 
not  received  a  timely  check,  they  could  hardly  have  failed  of 
alienating  from  the  reformers  a  prince,  no  less  jealous  of  his 
own  authority,  than  afraid  of  giving  offence  to  the  emperor, 
and  other  patrons  of  the  ancient  opinions.  [1522.]  Luther, 
sensible  of  the  danger,  immediately  quitted  his  retreat,  with- 
out waiting  for  Erederic's  permission,  and  returned  to  Wit- 
temberg.  Happily  for  the  reformation,  the  veneration  for  his 
person  and  authority  was  still  so  great,  that  his  appearance 
alone  suppressed  that  spirit  of  extravagance  which  began  to 
seize  his  party.  Carlostadius  and  his  fanatical  followers, 
struck  dumb  by  his  rebukes,  submitted  at  once,  and  declared 
that  they  heard  the  voice  of  an  angel,  not  of  a  man.^^ 

Before  Luther  left  his  retreat  he  had  begun  to  translate 
the  Bible  into  the  German  tongue,  an  undertaking  of  no 
less  difficulty  than  importance,  of  which  he  was  extremely 
fond,  and  for  which  he  was  well  qualified.  He  had  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  the  original  languages;  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  style  and  sentiments  of  the  inspired 
writers  ;  and  though  his  compositions  in  Latin  were  rude 
and  barbarous,  he  was  reckoned  a  great  master  of  the  purity 
of  his  mother  tongue,  and  could  express  himself  with  all 
the  elegance  of  which  it  is  capable.  By  his  own  assiduous 
«   Sleid.  Hist.  51.     Seckend.  195. 


BOOK  III.]  REFOmiATION  IN  GERMANY.  357 

application,  together  with  the  assistance  of  Mclanctlion  and 
several  other  of  his  disciples,  he  finished  part  of  the  New 
Testament  in  the  year  15.2.2;  and  the  publication  of  it 
proved  more  fatal  to  the  church  of  Rome  than  that  of  all 
his  own  works.  It  Avas  read  with  wonderful  avidity  and 
attention  by  persons  of  every  rank.  They  were  astonished 
at  discovering  how  contrary  the  precepts  of  the  author  of 
our  religion  are  to  the  inventions  of  those  priests  who  pre- 
tended to  be  his  vicegerents  ;  and  having  now  in  their  hand 
the  rule  of  faith,  they  thought  themselves  qualified,  by 
applying  it,  to  judge  of  the  established  opinions,  and  to 
pronounce  when  they  were  conformable  to  the  standard,  or 
when  they  departed  from  it.  The  great  advantages  arising 
from  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible  encouraged  the  advo- 
cates for  reformation,  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe,  to 
imitate  his  example,  and  to  publish  versions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  their  respective  languages. 

About  this  time,  Nuremberg,  Frankfort,  Hamburgh,  and 
several  other  free  cities  in  Germany,  of  the  first  rank,  openly 
embraced  the  reformed  religion,  and  by  the  authority  of 
their  magistrates  abolished  the  mass,  and  the  other  super- 
stitious rites  of  popery. ^^  The  elector  of  Brandenburgh,  the 
dukes  of  Brunswick  and  Lunenburgh,  and  prince  of  Anhalt, 
became  avowed  patrons  of  Luther's  opinions,  and  counte- 
nanced the  preaching  of  them  among  their  subjects. 

The  court  of  Rome  beheld  this  growing  defection  with 
great  concern  ;  and  Adrian's  first  care,  after  his  arrival  in 
Italy,  had  been  to  deliberate  with  the  cardinals  concerning 
the  proper  means  of  putting  a  stop  to  it.  He  was  pro- 
foundly skilled  in  scholastic  theology,  and  having  been 
early  celebrated  on  that  account,  he  still  retained  such  an 
excessive  admiration  of  the  science  to  which  he  was  first 
indebted  for  his  reputation  and  success  in  life,  that  he  con- 
sidered Luther's  invectives  against  the  schoolmen,  particu- 
larly Thomas  Aquinas,  as  little  less  than  blasphemy.     All 

*^  Seckend.  241.     Cliytrsci  Coiilin.  Kranlzii,  203. 


358  THE  DIET  OF  NUREMBERG  [book  hi. 

the  tenets  of  that  doctor  appeared  to  him  so  clear  and 
irrefragable,  that  he  supposed  every  person  who  called  in 
question  or  contradicted  them,  to  be  either  blinded  by 
ignorance,  or  to  be  acting  in  opposition  to  the  conviction  of 
his  own  mind.  Of  course,  no  pope  was  ever  more  bigoted 
or  inflexible  with  regard  to  points  of  doctrine  than  Adi'ian ; 
he  not  only  maintained  them  as  Leo  had  done,  because  they 
were  ancient,  or  because  it  was  dangerous  for  the  church  to 
allow  of  innovations,  but  he  adhered  to  them  with  the  zeal 
of  a  theologian,  and  with  the  tenaciousness  of  a  disputant. 
At  the  same  time,  his  own  manners  being  extremely  simple, 
and  iminfected  with  any  of  the  vices  which  reigned  in  the 
court  of  Rome,  he  was  as  sensible  of  its  corruptions  as  the 
reformers  themselves,  and  viewed  them  with  no  less  indig- 
nation. The  brief  which  he  addressed  to  the  diet  of  the 
empire  assembled  at  Nuremberg,  and  the  instructions  which 
he  gave  Cheregato,  the  nuncio  whom  he  sent  thither,  were 
framed  agreeably  to  these  views.  On  the  one  hand,  he  con- 
demned Luther's  opinions  with  more  asperity  and  rancour 
of  expression  than  Leo  had  ever  used ;  he  severely  censured 
the  princes  of  Germany  for  suffering  him  to  spread  his 
pernicious  tenets,  by  their  neglecting  to  execute  the  edict  of 
the  diet  at  Worms,  and  required  them,  if  Luther  did  not 
instantly  retract  his  errors,  to  destroy  him  with  fire  as  a 
gangrened  and  incm^able  member,  in  like  manner  as  Dathan 
and  Abiram  had  been  cut  off  by  Moses,  Ananias  and  Sap- 
phira  by  the  apostles,  and  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague 
by  their  ancestors. '^'^  On  the  other  hand,  he,  witli  great 
candour,  and  in  the  most  explicit  terms,  acknowledged  the 
corruptions  of  the  Roman  court  to  be  the  source  from 
which  had  flowed  most  of  the  evils  that  the  church  now 
felt  or  dreaded  J  he  promised  to  exert  all  his  authority 
towards  reforming  these  abuses,  with  as  much  despatch  as 
the  nature  and  inveteracy  of  the  disorders  would  admit ; 
and  he  requested  of  them  to  give  him  their  advice  with 
*'^  Eascic,  Rer.  expet.  et  fugieud.  p.  342. 


BOOK  III.]  PROPOSES  A  GENERAL  COUNCIL.  359 

regard  to  tlie  most  effectual  means  of  suppressing  that  new- 
heresy  which  had  sprung  up  among  them/^ 

The  members  of  the  diet,  after  praising  the  pope's  pious 
and  laudable  intentions,  excused  themselves  for  not  execut- 
ing the  edict  of  Worms,  by  alleging  that  the  prodigious 
increase  of  Luther's  followers,  as  well  as  the  aversion  to 
the  com-t  of  Rome  among  their  other  subjects  on  account 
of  its  innumerable  exactions,  rendered  such  an  attempt  not 
only  dangerous,  but  impossible.  They  affirmed  that  the 
grievances  of  Germany,  which  did  not  arise  from  imaginary 
injuries,  but  from  impositions  no  less  real  than  intolerable, 
as  his  holiness  would  learn  from  a  catalogue  of  them  which 
they  intended  to  lay  before  him,  called  now  for  some  new 
and  efficacious  remedy ;  and,  in  their  opinion,  the  only 
remedy  adequate  to  the  disease,  or  which  afforded  them 
any  hopes  of  seeing  the  church  restored  to  soundness  and 
vigour,  was  a  general  council.  Such  a  council,  therefore, 
they  advised  him,  after  obtaining  the  emperor's  consent,  to 
assemble,  without  delay,  in  one  of  the  great  cities  of  Ger- 
many, that  all  who  had  right  to  be  present  might  deliberate 
with  freedom,  and  propose  their  opinions  with  such  bold- 
ness as  the  dangerous  situation  of  religion  at  this  junction 
required. ^^ 

The  nuncio,  more  artful  than  his  master,  and  better 
acquainted  with  the  political  views  and  interests  of  the 
Roman  court,  was  startled  at  the  proposition  of  a  council, 
and  easily  foresaw  how  dangerous  such  an  assembly  might 
prove,  at  a  time  when  many  openly  denied  the  papal  autho- 
rity, and  the  reverence  and  submission  yielded  to  it  visibly 
declined  among  all.  For  that  reason,  he  employed  his 
utmost  address  in  order  to  prevail  on  the  members  of  the 
diet  to  proceed  themselves  with  greater  severity  against  the 
Lutheran  heresy,  and  to  relinc|uish  their  proposal  concern- 
ing a  general  council  to  be  held  in  Germany.  They,  per- 
ceiving the  nuncio  to  be  more  solicitous  about  the  interests 
^'  Eascic.  Rer.  expet.  et  fugicud.  p.  345.  *''  Ibid.  p.  316. 


360  LIST  OF  GRIEYANCES.  [book  hi. 

of  the  Roman  court,  than  the  tranqiiilhty  of  the  empu'c, 
or  purity  of  the  church,  remained  inflexible,  and  continued 
to  prepare  the  catalogue  of  their  grievances  to  be  presented 
to  the  pope/^  The  nuncio,  that  he  might  not  be  the  bearer 
of  a  remonstrance  so  disagreeable  to  his  court,  left  Nurem- 
berg abruptly,  without  taking  leave  of  the  diet/" 

The  secular  j^rinces  accordingly,  for  the  ecclesiastics, 
although  they  gave  no  opposition,  did  not  think  it  decent 
to  join  with  them,  drew  up  the  list  (so  famous  in  the 
German  annals)  of  a  hundred  grievances,  wdiich  the  em- 
pire imputed  to  the  iniquitous  dominion  of  the  papal  see. 
This  list  contained  grievances  much  of  the  same  nature  with 
that  prepared  under  the  reign  of  Maximilian.  It  would 
be  tedious  to  enumerate  each  of  them ;  they  complained  of 
the  sums  exacted  for  dispensations,  absolutions,  and  indul- 
gences ;  of  the  expense  arising  from  the  hiAvsuits  carried  by 
appeal  to  Rome ;  of  the  innumerable  abuses  occasioned  by 
reservations,  commendams,  and  annates ;  of  the  exemption 
from  civil  jurisdiction  Avhich  the  clergy  had  obtained ;  of  the 
arts  by  which  they  brought  all  secular  causes  under  the 
cognisance  of  the  ecclesiastical  judges  ;  of  the  indecent  and 
profligate  lives  which  not  a  few  of  the  clergy  led ;  and  of 
various  other  particulars,  many  of  which  have  already  been 
mentioned  among  the  circumstances  that  contributed  to  the 
favourable  reception,  or  to  the  quick  progress,  of  Luther's 
doctrines.  In  the  end  they  concluded,  that  if  the  holy  see 
did  not  speedily  deliver  them  from  those  intolerable  bur- 
dens, they  had  determined  to  endure  them  no  longer,  and 
would  employ  the  power  and  authority  with  which  God  had 
entrusted  them  in  order  to  procure  relief. ^^ 

[1523.]  Instead  of  such  severities  against  Luther  and 
his  followers  as  the  nuncio  had  recommended,  the  recess,  or 
edict  of  the  diet,  contained  only  a  general  injunction  to  all 
ranks  of  men  to  wait  with  patience  for  the  determinations  of 
the  council  which  was  to  be  assembled,  and  in  the  meantime 
«  Fascic.  Rer.  expet.  et  fngiend.  p.  3i9.      "^  Ibid.  p.  376.       ^^  Ibid.' p.  354. 


BOOK  III.]  INJUNCTION  OF  THE  DIET.  361 

not  to  publish  any  new  opinions  contrary  to  the  estabhshed 
doctrines  of  the  church  ;  together  with  an  admonition  to  all 
preachers  to  abstain  from  matters  of  controversy  in  their 
discourses  to  the  people,  and  to  confine  themselves  to  the 
plain  and  instructive  truths  of  religion." 

The  reformers  derived  great  advantage  from  the  transac- 
tions of  this  diet,  as  they  afforded  them  the  fullest  and 
most  authentic  evidence  that  gross  corruptions  prevailed  in 
the  court  of  Rome,  and  that  the  empire  was  loaded  by  the 
clergy  Mdth  insupportable  burdens.  With  regard  to  the 
former,  they  had  now  the  testimony  of  the  pope  himself, 
that  their  invectives  and  accusations  were  not  malicious  or 
ill  founded.  As  to  the  latter,  the  representatives  of  the 
Germanic  body,  in  an  assembly  where  the  patrons  of  the 
new  opinions  were  far  from  being  the  most  numerous  or 
powerful,  had  pointed  out  as  the  chief  grievances  of  the 
empire  those  very  practices  of  the  Romish  church  against 
which  Luther  and  his  disciples  were  accustomed  to  declaim. 
Accordingly,  in  all  their  controversial  writings  after  this 
period,  they  often  appealed  to  Adrian's  declaration,  and  to 
the  hundred  grievances,  in  confirmation  of  whatever  they 
advanced  concerning  the  dissolute  manners,  or  insatiable 
ambition  and  rapaciousness,  of  the  papal  court. 

At  Rome,  Adrian's  conduct  was  considered  as  a  proof 
of  the  most  childish  simplicity  and  imprudence.  Men 
trained  up  amidst  the  artifices  and  corruptions  of  the  papal 
court,  and  accustomed  to  judge  of  actions  not  by  what 
was  just,  but  by  what  was  usefid,  were  astonished  at  a 
pontifi',  who,  departing  from  the  wise  maxims  of  his  prede- 
cessors, acknowledged  disorders  which  he  ought  to  have 
concealed ;  and,  forgetting  his  own  dignity,  asked  advice  of 
those  to  whom  he  was  entitled  to  prescribe.  By  such  an 
excess  of  impolitic  sincerity,  they  were  afraid  that,  instead 
of  reclaiming  the  enemies  of  the  chm^ch,  he  would  render 

^"  Fascic.  Her.  expet.  et  fugicnd.  348. 


362  ADRIAN  AND  CLEMENT :  [book  in. 

them  more  presumptuous,  and,  instead  of  extinguishing 
heresy,  would  weaken  the  foundations  of  the  papal  power, 
or  stop  the  chief  sources  from  which  wealth  flowed  into 
the  church/^  For  this  reason,  the  cardinals,  and  other 
ecclesiastics  of  greatest  eminence  in  the  papal  court,  indus- 
triously opposed  all  his  schemes  of  reformation,  and  by 
throwing  objections  and  difficulties  in  his  way,  endeavoured 
to  retard  or  to  defeat  the  execution  of  them.  Adrian, 
amazed,  on  the  one  hand,  at  the  obstinacy  of  the  Lutherans, 
disgusted,  on  the  other,  with  the  manners  and  maxims  of 
the  Italians,  and  finding  himself  unable  to  correct  either  the 
one  or  the  other,  often  lamented  his  own  situation,  and 
often  looked  back  wdth  pleasure  on  that  period  of  his  life 
wdien  he  was  only  dean  of  Louvain,  a  more  humble  but 
happier  station,  in  which  little  was  expected  from  him,  and 
there  was  nothing  to  frustrate  his  good  intentions.^* 

Clement  VII.,  his  successor,  excelled  Adrian  as  much  in 
the  arts  of  government  as  he  was  inferior  to  him  in  purity 
of  life  or  uprightness  of  intention.  He  was  animated  not 
only  with  the  aversion  which  all  popes  naturally  bear  to 
a  council,  but  having  gained  his  own  election  by  means 
very  uncanonical,  he  was  afraid  of  an  assembly  that  might 
subject  it  to  a  scrutiny  which  it  could  not  stand.  He 
determined,  therefore,  by  every  possible  means,  to  elude 
the  demands  of  the  Germans,  both  with  respect  to  the 
calling  of  a  council,  and  reforming  abuses  in  the  papal 
court,  which  the  rashness  and  incapacity  of  his  predecessor 
had  brought  upon  him.  Por  this  purpose  he  made  choice 
of  Cardinal  Campeggio,  an  artful  man,  often  entrusted  by 
his  predecessors  with  negotiations  of  importance,  as  his 
nuncio  to  the  diet  of  the  empire,  assembled  again  at 
Nuremberg. 

Campeggio,  without  taking  any  notice  of  wdiat  had 
passed  in  the  last  meeting,  exhorted  the  diet,  in  a  long 

^  F.  Paul,  Hist,,  of  Counc.  p.  28.     Pallavic.  Hist.  p.  58. 
'"^  Jovii  Vit.  Adr.  p.  118. 


BOOK  III.]         THEIR  MEASURES  AGAINST  LUTHER.  363 

discourse,  to  execute  the  edict  of  Worms  with  vigour,  as 
the  only  effectual  means  of  suppressing  Luther's  doctrines. 
The  diet,  in  return,  desired  to  know  the  pope's  intentions 
concerning  the  council,  and  the  redress  of  the  hundred 
grievances.  The  former  the  nuncio  endeavoured  to  elude 
by  general  and  unmeaning  declarations  of  the  pope's  reso- 
lution to  pursue  such  measures  as  would  be  for  the  greatest 
good  of  the  church.  With  regard  to  the  latter,  as  Adrian 
was  dead  before  the  catalogue  of  grievances  reached  Rome, 
and,  of  consequence,  it  had  not  been  regularly  laid  before 
the  present  pope,  Campeggio  took  advantage  of  this  cir- 
cumstance to  decline  making  any  definitive  answer  to  them 
in  Clement's  name  ;  though,  at  the  same  time,  he  observed 
that  their  catalogue  of  grievances  contained  many  parti- 
culars extremely  indecent  and  undutiful,  and  that  the 
publishing  it  by  their  own  authority  was  highly  disre- 
spectful to  the  Roman  see.  In  the  end,  he  renewed  his 
demand  of  their  proceeding  with  vigour  against  Luther 
and  his  adherents.  But  though  an  ambassador  from  the 
emperor,  who  was  at  that  time  very  solicitous  to  gain  the 
pope,  warmly  seconded  the  nuncio,  with  many  professions 
of  his  master's  zeal  for  the  honour  and  dignity  of  the  papal 
see,  the  recess  of  the  diet  was  conceived  in  terms  of  almost 
the  same  import  with  the  former,  without  enjoining  any 
additional  severity  against  Luther  and  his  party.  ^^ 

Before  he  left  Germany,  Campeggio,  in  order  to  amuse 
and  soothe  the  people,  published  certain  articles  for  the 
amendment  of  some  disorders  and  abuses  which  prevailed 
among  the  inferior  clergy;  but  this  partial  reformation, 
which  fell  so  far  short  of  the  expectations  of  the  Lutherans, 
and  of  the  demands  of  the  diet,  gave  no  satisfaction,  and 
produced  little  effect.  The  nuncio,  with  a  cautious  hand, 
tenderly  lopped  a  few  branches ;  the  Germans  aimed 
a  deeper  blow,  and,  by  striking  at  the  root,  wished  to 
exterminate  the  evil.^" 

">"  Seckeiid.  286.     Sleid.  Hist.  GG.  "  Seckeud.  292. 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN 


EMPEEOE    CHAELES    V. 


BOOK  IV. 

Views  of  the  Italian  States  respecting  Charles  and  Francis — Charles  invades 
France  without  Success — Francis  invades  the  Milanese — He  besieges  Pavia — 
Neutrality  of  the  Pope — Francis  attacks  Naples — Movements  of  the  Imperial 
Generals — Battle  of  Pavia — Francis  taken  Prisoner — Schemes  of  the  Emperor 
— Prudence  of  Louise  the  Regent — Conduct  of  Henry  VIJL,  and  of  the  Italian 
Powers — The  Emperor's  rigorous  Terms  to  Francis — Francis  carried  to 
Spain — Henry  makes  a  Treaty  with  the  Regent  Louise — Intrigues  of  Morone 
in  Milan — He  is  betrayed  by  Pescara — Treatment  of  Francis — Bourbon 
made  General  and  Duke  of  Milan — Treaty  of  Madrid — Liberation  of  Francis 
— Charles  marries  Isabella  of  Portugal — Affairs  in  Germany — Insurrections — 
Conduct  of  Luther — Prussia  wrested  from  the  Teutonic  Knights — Measures 
of  Francis  upon  reaching  his  Kingdom — A  League  against  the  Emperor — 
Preparations  for  War — The  Colonnas  Masters  of  Rome — The  Pope  detached 
from  the  Holy  League — Position  of  the  Emperor — Bourbon  marches  towards 
the  Pope's  Territories — Negotiations — Assault  of  Rome — Bourbon  slain — 
The  City  taken  and  plundered — The  Pope  a  Prisoner — Hypocrisy  of  the 
Emperor — Solyman  invades  Hungary — Ferdinand,  Archduke  of  Austria, 
becomes  King  of  Hungary — Progress  of  the  Reformation. 

[1524.]  The  expulsion  of  the  French,  both  out  of  the 
Milanese  and  the  repubhc  of  Genoa,  was  considered  by  the 
Itahans  as  the  termination  of  the  war  between  Charles  and 
Francis  ;  and  as  they  began  immediately  to  be  apprehensive 
of  the  emperor,  when  they  saw  no  power  remaining  in 
Italy  capable  either  to  control  or  oppose  him,  they  longed 
ardently  for  the  re-establishment  of  peace.     Having  pro- 


BOOK  IV.]     CHARLES  RESOLVES  TO  INVADE  FRANCE.  365 

cured  the  restoration  of  Sforza  to  his  paternal  dominions, 
^yhich  had  been  their  chief  motive  for  entering  into  con- 
federacy Avith  Charles,  they  plainly  discovered  their  intention 
to  contribute  no  longer  towards  increasing  the  emperor's 
superiority  over  his  rival,  which  was  already  become  the 
object  of  then"  jealousy.  The  pope  especially,  whose  natural 
timidity  increased  his  suspicions  of  Charles's  designs, 
endeavoured  by  his  remonstrances  to  inspire  him  with 
moderation,  and  incline  him  to  peace. 

But  the  emperor,  intoxicated  with  success,  and  urged 
on  by  his  own  ambition,  no  less  than  by  Bourbon's  desire 
of  revenge,  contemned  Clement's  admonitions,  and  declared 
his  resolution  of  ordering  his  army  to  pass  the  Alps,  and 
to  invade  Provence,  a  part  of  his  rival's  dominions,  where, 
as  he  least  dreaded  an  attack,  he  was  least  prepared  to 
resist  it.  His  most  experienced  ministers  dissuaded  him 
from  undertaking  such  an  enterprise  with  a  feeble  army 
and  an  exhausted  treasury ;  but  he  relied  so  much  on 
having  obtained  the  conciu-rence  of  the  king  of  England, 
and  on  the  hopes  which  Bourbon,  with  the  confidence  and 
credulity  natural  to  exiles,  entertained  of  being  joined  by 
a  numerous  body  of  his  partisans  as  soon  as  the  imperial 
troops  should  enter  Trance,  that  he  persisted  obstinately 
in  the  measure.  Henry  undertook  to  furnish  a  hundred 
thousand  ducats  towards  defraying  the  expense  of  the 
expedition  during  the  first  month,  and  had  it  in  his  choice 
either  to  continue  the  payment  of  that  sum  monthly,  or  to 
invade  Picardy  before  the  end  of  July  with  an  army  capable 
of  acting  with  vigour.  The  emperor  engaged  to  attack 
Guienne  at  the  same  time  with  a  considerable  body  of  men  ; 
and  if  these  enterprises  proved  successful,  they  agreed  that 
Bom^bon,  besides  the  territories  which  he  had  lost,  should 
be  put  in  possession  of  Provence,  with  the  title  of  king, 
and  should  do  homage  to  Henry,  as  the  lawful  king  of 
Prance,  for  his  new  dominions.  Of  all  the  parts  of  this 
extensive  but  extravagant  project,  the  invasion  of  Provence 


366  PKECAUTIONS  OF  FKANCIS.  [book  iv. 

was  the  only  one  wliicli  was  executed.  For,  although 
Bourbon,  with  a  scrupulous  delicacy,  altogether  unexpected 
after  the  part  which  he  had  acted,  positively  refused  to 
acknowledge  Henry's  title  to  the  crown  of  France,  and 
thereby  absolved  him  from  any  obligation  to  promote  the 
enterprise,  Charles's  eagerness  to  carry  his  own  plan  into 
execution  did  not  in  any  degree  abate.  The  army  which 
he  employed  for  that  purpose  amounted  only  to  eighteen 
thousand  men,  the  command  of  which  was  given  to  the 
Marquis  de  Pescara,  with  instructions  to  pay  the  greatest 
deference  to  Bourbon's  advice  in  all  his  operations.  Pescara 
passed  the  Alps  without  opposition,  and,  entering  Pro- 
vence, laid  siege  to  Marseilles.  Bourbon  had  advised  him 
rather  to  march  towards  Lyons,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
which  city  his  territories  were  situated,  and  where,  of 
course,  his  influence  was  most  extensive ;  but  the  emperor 
was  so  desirous  to  get  possession  of  a  port,  which  would 
at  all  times  secure  him  an  easy  entrance  into  France,  that, 
by  his  authority,  he  overruled  the  constable's  opinion,  and 
directed  Pescara  to  make  the  reduction  of  Marseilles  his 
chief  object.^ 

Francis,  who  foresaw,  but  was  unable  to  prevent  this 
attempt,  took  the  most  proper  precautions  to  defeat  it.  He 
laid  waste  the  adjacent  country,  in  order  to  render  it  more 
difficult  for  the  enemy  to  subsist  their  army ;  he  razed  the 
suburbs  of  the  city,  strengthened  its  fortifications,  and 
threw  into  it  a  numerous  garrison,  under  the  command  of 
brave  and  experienced  officers.  To  these,  nine  thousand 
of  the  citizens,  whom  their  dread  of  the  Spanish  yoke 
inspired  with  contempt  of  danger,  joined  themselves ;  by 
their  united  courage  and  industry,  all  the  efforts  of  Pescara's 
military  skill,  and  of  Bourbon's  activity  and  revenge,  were 
rendered  abortive.  Francis,  meanwhile,  had  leisure  to 
assemble  a  powerful  army  under  the  walls  of  Avignon,  and 
no  sooner,  began  to  advance  towards  Marseilles,  than  the 

»  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  273,  &c.     Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  80. 


BOOK  IV.]         RETREAT  OE  THE  IMPERIAL  FORCES.  3G7 

imperial  troops,  exhausted  by  tlie  fatigues  of  a  siege  which 
had  lasted  forty  days,  weakened  by  diseases,  and  almost 
destitute  of  provisions,  retired  with  precipitation  towards 
Italy.' 

If,  during  these  operations  of  the  army  in  Provence, 
either  Charles  or  Henry  had  attacked  France  in  the  manner 
which  they  had  projected,  that  kingdom  must  have  been 
exposed  to  the  most  imminent  danger.  But  on  this,  as 
well  as  on  many  other  occasions,  the  emperor  found  that 
the  extent  of  his  revenues  was  not  adequate  to  the  greatness 
of  his  schemes,  or  the  ardour  of  his  ambition,  and  the 
want  of  money  obliged  him,  though  with  much  reluctance, 
to  circumscribe  his  plan,  and  to  leave  part  of  it  unexecuted. 
Henry,  disgusted  at  Bourbon's  refusing  to  recognise  his 
right  to  the  crown  of  France ;  alarmed  at  the  motions  of 
the  Scots,  whom  the  solicitations  of  the  French  king  had 
persuaded  to  march  towards  the  borders  of  England ;  and 
no  longer  incited  by  his  minister,  who  was  become  ex- 
tremely cool  with  regard  to  all  the  emperor's  interests,  took 
no  measures  to  support  an  enterprise  of  which,  as  of  all 
new  undertakings,  he  had  been  at  first  excessively  fond.^ 

If  the  king  of  France  had  been  satisfied  with  having 
delivered  his  subjects  from  this  formidable  invasion ;  if  he 
had  thought  it  enough  to  show  all  Europe  the  facility  with 
which  the  internal  strength  of  his  dominions  enabled  him 
to  resist  the  invasions  of  a  foreign  enemy,  even  when 
seconded  by  the  abilities  and  powerful  efforts  of  a  rebellious 
subject,  the  campaign,  notwithstanding  the  loss  of  the 
Milanese,  would  have  been  far  from  ending  ingloriously. 
But  Francis,  animated  with  courage  more  becoming  a 
soldier  than  a  general,  pushed  on  by  ambition,  enterprising 
rather  than  considerate,  and  too  apt  to  be  elated  with  suc- 
cess, was  fond  of  every  undertaking  that  seemed  bold  and 
adventurous.     Such  an  undertaking,  the  situation  of  his 

^  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  277.    Ulloa,  Vita  ^  Eiddcs's  Life  of  Wolscy,  Append, 

di  Carlo  V.  p.  93.  No.  70,  71,  72. 


368  FRANCIS  RESOLVES  TO  INVADE  ITALY.        [book  iv. 

affairs  at  that  juncture  naturally  presented  to  his  view. 
He  had  under  his  command  one  of  the  most  powerful  and 
best-appointed  armies  France  had  ever  brought  into  the 
field,  which  he  could  not  think  of  disbanding  without 
having  employed  it  in  any  active  service.  The  imperial 
troops  had  been  obliged  to  retire,  almost  ruined  by  hard 
duty,  and  disheartened  Avitli  ill  success  ;  the  Milanese  had 
been  left  altogether  without  defence ;  it  w^as  not  impossible 
to  reach  that  country  before  Pescara,  with  his  shattered 
forces,  could  arrive  there ;  or,  if  fear  should  add  speed  to 
their  retreat,  tliey  were  in  no  condition  to  make  head 
against  his  fresh  and  numerous  troops ;  and  Milan  would 
now,  as  in  former  instances,  submit,  without  resistance,  to 
a  bold  invader.  These  considerations,  which  were  not 
destitute  of  plausibility,  appeared  to  his  sanguine  temper 
to  be  of  the  utmost  weight.  In  vain  did  his  wisest 
ministers  and  generals  represent  to  him  the  danger  of 
taking  the  field,  at  a  season  so  far  advanced,  with  an  army 
composed  chiefly  of  Swiss  and  Germans,  to  whose  caprices 
he  would  be  subject  in  all  his  operations,  and  on  whoso 
fidelity  his  safety  must  absolutely  depend.  In  vain  did 
Louise  of  Savoy  advance  by  hasty  journeys  towards  Pro- 
vence, that  she  might  exert  all  her  authority  in  dissuading 
her  son  from  such  a  rash  enterprise.  Francis  disregarded 
the  remonstrances  of  his  subjects ;  and  that  he  might  save 
himself  the  pain  of  an  interview  with  his  mother,  whose 
counsels  he  had  determined  to  reject,  he  began  his  march 
before  her  ariival,  appointing  her,  however,  by  way  of 
atonement  for  that  neglect,  to  be  regent  of  the  kingdom 
during  his  absence.  Bonnivet,  by  his  persuasions,  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  confirm  Francis  in  this  resolution. 
That  favourite,  who  strongly  resembled  his  master  in  all 
the  defective  parts  of  his  character,  was  led,  by  his  natural 
impetuosity,  warmly  to  approve  of  such  an  enterprise ; 
and  being  prompted  besides  by  his  impatience  to  visit  a 
Milanese  lady,  of  whom  he  had  been  deeply  enamoured 


BOOK  IV.]  BIPEllIALISTS  EMBARRASSED.  3G9 

during  his  late  expedition,  he  is  said,  by  liis  flattering 
descriptions  of  her  beauty  and  accomphshnients,  to  have 
inspired  Francis,  who  ^vas  extremely  susceptible  of  such 
passions,  with  an  equal  desire  of  seeing  her.* 

The  French  passed  the  Alps  at  Mount  Cenis ;  and  as 
their  success  depended  on  despatch,  they  advanced  with 
the  greatest  diligence.  Pescara,  who  had  been  obliged  to 
take  a  longer  and  more  difficult  route  by  Monaco  and 
Final,  was  soon  informed  of  their  intention ;  and  being 
sensible  that  nothing  but  the  presence  of  his  troops  could 
save  the  Milanese,  marched  with  such  rapidity,  that  he 
reached  Alva  on  the  same  day  that  the  French  army  ar- 
rived at  Vercelli.  Francis,  instructed  by  Bonnivet's  error 
in  the  former  campaign,  advanced  directly  tow^ards  ]\Iilan, 
where  the  unexpected  approach  of  an  enemy  so  powerful, 
occasioned  such  consternation  and  disorder,  that  although 
Pescara  entered  the  city  with  some  of  his  best  troops,  he 
found  that  the  defence  of  it  could  not  be  undertaken  with 
any  probability  of  success ;  and,  having  thrown  a  garrison 
into  the  citadel,  retired  through  one  gate,  while  the  French 
were  admitted  at  another.^ 

These  brisk  motions  of  the  French  monarch  disconcerted 
all  the  schemes  of  defence  which  the  imperialists  had 
formed.  Never,  indeed,  did  generals  attempt  to  oppose  a 
formidable  invasion  under  such  circumstances  of  disad- 
vantage. Though  Charles  possessed  dominions  more  ex- 
tensive than  any  other  prince  in  Europe,  and  had,  at  this 
time,  no  other  army  but  that  which  was  employed  in 
Lombardy,  which  did  not  amount  to  sixteen  thousand  men, 
his  prerogative  in  all  his  different  states  was  so  limited, 
and  his  subjects,  without  whose  consent  he  could  raise  no 
taxes,  discovered  such  unwiUingness  to  burden  themselves 
with  new  or  extraordinary  impositions,  that  even  this  small 
body  of  troops  was  in  want  of  pay,  of  ammunition,  of 

*  (Euv.  de  Brant,  torn.  vi.  p.  253.  '^  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  81.     Guic.  lib. 

XV.  p.  278. 

VOL.  I.  B  B 


S70  PRANCIS  BESIEGES  PAVIA.  [book  iv. 

provisions,  and  of  clothing.  In  sucli  a  situation,  it  re- 
quired all  the  wisdom  of  Lannoy,  the  intrepidity  of  Pescara, 
and  the  implacable  resentment  of  Bourbon,  to  preserve 
them  from  sinking  under  despair,  and  to  inspire  them  with 
resolution  to  attempt,  or  sagacity  to  discover,  what  was 
essential  to  their  safety.  To  the  efforts  of  their  genius,  and 
the  activity  of  their  zeal,  the  emperor  was  more  indebted 
for  the  preservation  of  his  Italian  dominions  than  to  his 
own  power.  Lannoy,  by  mortgaging  the  revenues  of 
Naples,  procm-ed  some  money,  which  was  immediately  ap- 
plied towards  providing  the  army  with  whatever  was  most 
necessary.'^  Pescara,  who  was  beloved  and  almost  adored 
by  the  Spanish  troops,  exhorted  them  to  show  the  world, 
by  their  engaging  to  serve  the  emperor  in  that  dangerous 
exigency  without  making  any  immediate  demand  of  pay, 
that  they  were  animated  with  sentiments  of  honour  very 
different  from  those  of  mercenary  soldiers ;  to  which  pro- 
position that  gallant  body  of  men,  with  an  unexampled 
generosity,  gave  their  consent.^  Bourbon,  having  raised 
a  considerable  sum  by  pawning  his  jewels,  set  out  for 
Germany,  where  his  influence  was  great,  that  by  his 
presence  he  might  hasten  the  levying  of  troops  for  the 
imperial  service.^ 

Prancis,  by  a  fatal  error,  allowed  the  emperor's  generals 
time  to  derive  advantage  from  all  these  operations.  Instead 
of  pursuing  the  enemy,  who  retu-ed  to  Lodi  on  the  Adda, 
an  untenable  post,  which  Pescara  had  resolved  to  abandon 
on  the  approach  of  the  French,  he,  in  compliance  with  the 
opinion  of  Bonnivet,  though  contrary  to  that  of  his  other 
generals,  laid  siege  to  Pavia  on  the  Tessino ;  a  town,  indeed, 
of  great  importance,  the  possession  of  which  would  have 
opened  to  him  all  the  fertile  country  lying  on  the  banks  of 
that  river.    But  the  fortifications  of  the  place  were  strong ; 

«  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  280.  perador  Carlos  V.  por  Vera  y  Zuniga, 

7  Jovii,    -Vit.    Davali,   lib.    xv.  '  p.  p.  36. 
386.  Sandov.  vol.  i.  p.  621.  Ulloa,  Vita  «  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  83. 

di  Carlo  V.  p.  94,  &c.     Vida  del  Em- 


BOOK  IV.]  ITS  GALLANT  DEFENCE.  371 

it  was  dangerous  to  undertake  a  difficult  siege  at  so  late  a 
season ;  and  the  imperial  generals,  sensible  of  its  conse- 
quence, had  thrown  into  the  town  a  garrison  composed  of 
six  thousand  veterans  under  the  command  of  Antonio  de 
Ley va,  an  officer  of  high  rank ;  of  great  experience ;  of  a 
patient  but  enterprisnig  courage ;  fertile  in  resources ; 
ambitious  of  distinguishing  himself;  and  capable,  for  that 
reason,  as  well  as  from  his  having  been  long  accustomed 
both  to  obey  and  to  command,  of  suffering  or  performing 
anything  in  order  to  procure  success. 

Francis  prosecuted  the  siege  with  obstinacy  equal  to  the 
rashness  with  which  he  had  undertaken  it.  During  three 
months,  everything  known  to  the  engineers  of  that  age,  or 
that  coidd  be  effected  by  the  valour  of  his  troops,  was 
attempted  in  order  to  reduce  the  place,  while  Lannoy  and 
Pescara,  unable  to  obstruct  his  operations,  were  obliged  to 
remain  in  such  an  ignominious  state  of  inaction,  that  a 
pasquinade  was  published  at  Rome,  offering  a  reward  to 
any  person  who  could  find  the  imperial  army,  lost  in  the 
month  of  October  in  the  mountains  between  France  and 
Lombardy,  and  which  had  not  been  heard  of  since  that 
time.^ 

Leyva,  well  acquainted  with  the  difficulties  under  which 
his  countrymen  laboured,  and  the  impossibility  of  their 
facing,  in  the  field,  such  a  powerful  army  as  formed  the 
siege  of  Pavia,  placed  his  only  hopes  of  safety  in  his  own 
vigilance  and  valour.  The  efforts  of  both  were  extra- 
ordinary, and  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  place 
with  the  defence  of  which  he  was  intrusted.  He  interrupted 
the  approaches  of  the  French  by  frequent  and  furious 
sallies.  Behind  the  breaches  made  by  their  artdlery,  he 
erected  new  w^orks,  which  appeared  to  be  scarcely  inferior 
in  strength  to  the  original  fortifications.  He  repulsed  the 
besiegers  in  all  their  assaults ;  and,  by  his  own  example, 
brought  not  only  the  garrison,  but  the  inhabitants,  to  bear 

»  Sandov.  i.  p.  698. 
B  B  2 


372  THE  POPE'S  TREATY  OF  NEUTRALITY.  [book  iv. 

the  most  severe  fatigues,  and  to  encounter  the  greatest 
dangers,  without  murmuring.  The  rigour  of  the  season 
conspired  with  his  endeavours  in  retarding  the  progress  of 
the  French.  Francis,  attempting  to  become  master  of  the 
town,  by  diverting  the  course  of  the  Tessino,  which  is  its 
chief  defence  on  one  side,  a  sudden  inundation  of  the  river 
destroyed,  in  one  day,  the  labour  of  many  weeks,  and 
swept  away  all  the  mounds  which  his  army  had  raised  with 
infinite  toil,  as  well  as  at  great  expense.'" 

Notwithstanding  the  slow  progress  of  the  besiegers,  and 
the  glory  which  Leyva  acquired  by  his  gallant  defence,  it 
was  not  doubted  but  that  the  town  would,  at  last,  be  obliged 
to  surrender.  The  pope,  who  already  considered  the  French 
arms  as  superior  in  Italy,  became  impatient  to  disengage 
himself  from  his  connexions  with  the  emperor,  of  whose 
designs  he  was  extremely  jealous,  and  to  enter  into  terms 
of  friendship  with  Francis.  As  Clement's  timid  and  cau- 
tious temper  rendered  him  incapable  of  following  the  bold 
plan  which  Leo  had  formed,  of  delivering  Italy  from  the 
yoke  of  both  the  rivals,  he  retimied  to  the  more  obvious 
and  practicable  scheme  of  employing  the  power  of  the  one 
to  balance  and  to  restrain  that  of  the  other.  For  this  reason, 
he  did  not  dissemble  his  satisfaction  at  seeing  the  French 
king  recover  Milan,  as  he  hoped  that  the  dread  of  such  a 
neighbour  would  be  some  check  upon  the  emperor's  ambi- 
tion, which  no  power  in  Italy  was  now  able  to  control.  He 
laboured  hard  to  bring  about  a  peace  that  would  secure 
Francis  in  the  possession  of  his  new  conquests  ;  and,  as 
Charles,  who  was  always  inflexible  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
schemes,  rejected  the  proposition  with  disdain,  and  with 
bitter  exclamations  against  the  pope,  by  whose  persuasions, 
while  Cardinal  de'  Medici,  he  had  been  induced  to  invade 
the  Milanese,  Clement  immediately  concluded  a  treaty  of 
neutrality  with  the  king  of  France,  in  which  the  republic  of 
Florence  was  included.'' 

1"  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  280.  Ulloa,VitadiCarloV.p.95.     »  Guic.  lib. xv.  pp.282,  285. 


BOOK  IV.]         EFFORTS  OF  PESCARA  AND  BOURBON.  373 

Francis  having,  by  tins  transaction,  deprived  the  emperor 
of  his  two  most  powerful  allies,  and,  at  the  same  time,  having 
secured  a  })assage  for  his  own  troops  through  their  territories, 
formed  a  scheme  of  attacking  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  hoping 
either  to  overrun  that  country,  which  was  left  altogether 
without  defence,  or  that,  at  least,  such  an  unexpected  inva- 
sion would  oblige  the  viceroy  to  recal  j)art  of  the  imperial 
army  out  of  the  Milanese.  For  this  purpose,  he  ordered  six 
thousand  men  to  march  under  the  command  of  John  Stuart, 
duke  of  Albany.  But  Pescara,  foreseeing  that  the  effect  of 
this  diversion  would  depend  entirely  upon  the  operations  of 
the  armies  in  the  Milanese,  persuaded  Lannoy  to  disregard 
Albany's  motions,'^  and  to  bend  his  whole  force  against  the 
king  himself ;  so  that  Francis  not  only  weakened  his  army 
very  unseasonably  by  this  great  detachment,  but  incurred 
the  reproach  of  engaging  too  rashly  in  chimerical  and  ex- 
travagant projects. 

[1525.]  By  this  time  the  garrison  of  Pavia  was  reduced  to 
extremity  ;  their  ammunition  and  provisions  began  to  fail ; 
the  Germans,  of  whom  it  was  chiefly  composed,  having  re- 
ceived no  pay  for  seven  months,^^  threatened  to  deliver  the 
town  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  could  hardly  be  restrained 
from  mutiny  by  all  Leyva's  address  and  authority.  The 
imperial  generals,  who  were  no  strangers  to  his  situation, 
saw  the  necessity  of  marching  without  loss  of  time  to  his 
relief.  This  they  had  now  in  their  power  :  twelve  thousand 
Germans,  whom  the  zeal  and  activity  of  Bourbon  taught  to 
move  with  unusual  rapidity,  had  entered  Lombardy  under 
his  command,  and  rendered  the  imperial  army  nearly  equal 
to  that  of  the  French,  greatly  diminished  by  the  absence  of 
the  body  under  Albany,  as  well  as  by  the  fatigues  of  the 
siege,  and  the  rigour  of  the  season.  But  the  more  their 
troops  increased  in  number,  the  more  sensibly  did  the  im- 
perialists feel  the  distress  arising  from  want  of  money. 
Far  from  having  funds  for  paying  a  powerful  army,  they 

'-  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  285.  ''  Gold.  Polit.  Imperial,  p.  875. 


374         ADVANCE  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  GENERALS.  [book  iv. 

Lad  scarcely  what  was  sufficient  for  defraying  the  charges 
of  conducting  their  artillery,  and  of  carrying  their  ammu- 
nition and  provisions.  The  abilities  of  the  generals,  how- 
ever, supplied  every  defect.  By  their  own  example,  as  well 
as  by  magnificent  promises  in  the  name  of  the  emperor,  they 
prevailed  on  the  troops  of  all  the  different  nations  Avhich 
composed  their  army  to  take  the  field  without  pay  ;  they 
engaged  to  lead  them  directly  towards  the  enemy ;  and 
flattered  them  with  the  certain  prospect  of  victory  which 
would  at  once  enrich  them  with  such  royal  spoils  as  would 
be  an  ample  reward  for  all  their  services.  The  soldiers, 
sensible  that,  by  quitting  the  army,  they  Avould  forfeit  the 
great  arrears  due  to  them,  and  eager  to  get  possession  of 
the  promised  treasures,  demanded  a  battle  with  all  the  im- 
patience of  adventurers  who  fight  only  for  plunder.^* 

The  imperial  generals,  without  suffering  the  ardour  of 
their  troops  to  cool,  advanced  immediately  towards  the 
French  camp.  On  the  first  intelligence  of  their  approach, 
Prancis  called  a  council  of  war,  to  deliberate  what  course 
he  ought  to  take.  All  his  officers  of  greatest  experience 
were  unanimous  in  advising  him  to  retire,  and  to  decline  a 
battle  with  an  enemy  who  courted  it  from  despair.  The 
imperialists,  they  observed,  would  either  be  obhged  in  a  few 
Aveeks  to  disband  an  army,  which  they  were  unable  to  pay, 
and  which  they  kept  together  only  by  the  hope  of  plunder, 
or  the  soldiers,  enraged  at  the  non-performance  of  the  pro- 
mises to  which  they  had  trusted,  would  rise  in  some  furious 
mutiny,  which  would  allow  their  generals  to  think  of  nothing 
but  their  own  safety :  that  meanwhile,  he  might  encamp  in 
some  strong  post,  and  waiting  in  safety  the  arrival  of  fresh 
troops  from  France  and  Switzerland,  might,  before  the  end 
of  spring,  take  possession  of  all  the  Milanese  without  danger 
or  bloodshed.  But  in  opposition  to  them,  Bonnivet,  whose 
destiny  it  was  to  give  counsels  fatal  to  France  during  the 

"  Eryci  Peuteani  Hist.  Cisalpiua,  an.  Grsevii  Thes.  Autiquit.  Ital.  iii.  pp. 
1170,   1179.  H  t^r 


BOOK  IV.]  BATTLE  OF  PAVIA.  375 

whole  campaign,  represented  the  ignominy  that  it  wonkl 
reflect  on  their  sovereign,  if  he  should  abandon  a  siege 
which  he  had  prosecuted  so  long,  or  turn  his  back  before 
an  enemy,  to  whom  he  was  still  superior  in  number ;  and 
insisted  on  the  necessity  of  fighting  the  imperialists  rather 
than  relinquish  an  undertaking,  on  the  success  of  which  the 
king's  future  fame  depended.  Unfortunately,  Francis's  no- 
tions of  honour  were  delicate  to  an  excess  that  bordered  on 
what  was  romantic.  Having  often  said  that  he  would  take 
Pavia  or  perish  in  the  attempt,  he  thought  liimself  bound 
not  to  depart  from  that  resolution ;  and  rather  than  expose 
himself  to  the  slightest  imputation,  he  chose  to  forego  all 
the  advantages  which  were  the  certain  consequences  of  a 
retreat,  and  determined  to  wait  for  the  imperialists  before 
the  walls  of  Pavia. '^ 

The  imperial  generals  found  the  Prench  so  strongly  en- 
trenched, that,  notwithstanding  the  powerful  motives  which 
urged  them  on,  they  hesitated  long  before  they  ventured  to 
attack  them;  but  at  last  the  necessities  of  the  besieged,  and 
the  murmurs  of  their  own  soldiers,  obliged  them  to  put 
everything  to  hazard.  Never  did  armies  engage  with  greater 
ardour,  or  with  a  higher  opinion  of  the  importance  of  the 
battle  which  they  Avere  going  to  fight ;  never  were  troops 
more  strongly  animated  with  emulation,  national  antipathy, 
mutual  resentment,  and  all  the  passions  which  inspire  ob- 
stinate bravery.  On  the  one  hand,  a  gallant  young  monarch, 
seconded  by  a  generous  nobility,  and  followed  by  subjects 
to  whose  natural  impetuosity  indignation  at  the  opposition 
which  they  had  encountered  added  new  force,  contended  for 
victory  and  honour.  On  the  other  side,  troops  more  com- 
pletely disciplined,  and  conducted  by  generals  of  greater 
abilities,  fought  from  necessity,  with  courage  heightened  by 
despair.  The  imperialists,  however,  were  unable  to  resist 
the  first  efforts  of  the  Prcnch  valour,  and  their  firmest  bat- 
talions began  to  give  way.    But  the  fortune  of  the  day  was 

^'  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  291. 


376  DEFEAT  OE  THE  FRElSrCH.  [book  iv. 

quickly  changed.  The  Swiss  in  the  service  of  Prance,  im- 
niindful  of  the  reputation  of  their  country  for  fideUty  and 
martial  glory,  abandoned  their  post  in  a  cowardly  manner, 
Leyva,  with  his  garrison,  sallied  out  and  attacked  the  rear 
of  the  French,  during  the  heat  of  the  action,  with  such  fury 
as  threw  it  into  confusion  ;  and  Pescara,  falling  on  their 
cavalry  with  the  imperial  horse,  among  whom  he  had  pru- 
dently intermingled  a  considerable  number  of  Spanish  foot, 
armed  with  the  heavy  muskets  then  in  use,  broke  this  for- 
midable body,  by  an  unusual  method  of  attack,  against 
which  they  were  wholly  unprovided.  The  rout  became  uni- 
versal ;  and  resistance  ceased  in  almost  every  part,  but 
where  the  king  was  in  person,  who  fought  now,  not  for  fame 
or  victory,  but  for  safety.  Though  wounded  in  several  places, 
and  thrown  from  his  horse,  which  was  kihed  under  him, 
Francis  defended  himself  on  foot  with  an  heroic  courage. 
Many  of  his  bravest  officers  gathering  round  him,  and  en- 
deavouring to  save  his  life  at  the  expense  of  their  own,  fell 
at  his  feet.  Among  these  was  Bonnivet,  the  author  of 
this  great  calamity,  who  alone  died  unlamented.  The  king, 
exhausted  with  fatigue,  and  scarcely  capable  of  further  re- 
sistance, was  left  almost  alone,  exposed  to  the  fury  of  some 
Spanish  soldiers,  strangers  to  his  rank,  and  enraged  at  his 
obstinacy.  At  that  moment  came  up  Pomperant,  a  French 
gentleman  wdio  had  entered  together  with  Bourbon  into  the 
emperor's  service,  and  placing  himself  by  the  side  of  the 
monarch  against  whom  he  had  rebelled,  assisted  in  protect- 
ing him  from  the  violence  of  the  soldiers  :  at  the  same  tune 
beseeching  him  to  surrender  to  Bourbon,  who  was  not  far 
distant.  Imminent  as  the  danger  was  which  now  surrounded 
Francis,  he  rejected  with  indignation  the  thoughts  of  an 
action  which  would  have  afforded  such  matter  of  triumph 
to  his  traitorous  sidiject ;  and  calling  for  Lannoy,  who  hap- 
pened likewise  to  be  near  at  hand,  gave  up  his  sword  to  him; 
which  he,  kneeling  to  kiss  the  king's  hand,  received  with 
profound  respect ;  and  taking  his  own  sword  from  his  side^ 


BOOK  IV.]  PEANCIS  TAKEN  PRISONER.  377 

presented  it  to  him,  saying,  "that  it  did  not  become  so  great 
a  monarch  to  remain  disarmed  in  the  presence  of  one  of 
the  emperor's  subjects."  '*^ 

Ten  tliousand  men  fell  on  this  day, — one  of  the  most  fatal 
France  had  ever  seen.  Among  these  were  many  noblemen 
of  the  highest  distinction,  who  chose  rather  to  perish  than 
to  turn  their  backs  with  dishonour.  Not  a  few  were  taken 
prisoners,  of  whom  the  most  illustrious  was  Henry  d'Albret, 
the  unfortunate  king  of  Navarre.  A  small  body  of  the  rear- 
guard made  its  escape,  under  the  command  of  the  duke  of 
Alengon ;  the  feeble  garrison  of  Milan,  on  the  first  news  of 
the  defeat,  retired,  without  being  pursued,  by  another  road  ; 
and  in  two  weeks  after  the  battle,  not  a  Frenchman  re- 
mained in  Italy. 

Lannoy,  though  he  treated  Francis  with  all  the  outward 
marks  of  honour  due  to  his  rank  and  character,  guarded 
him  with  the  utmost  attention.  He  was  solicitous,  not  only 
to  prevent  any  possibility  of  his  escaping,  but  afraid  that 
his  own  troops  might  seize  his  person,  and  detain  it  as  the 
best  security  for  the  payment  of  their  arrears.  In  order  to 
provide  against  both  these  dangers,  he  conducted  Francis, 
the  day  after  the  battle,  to  the  strong  castle  of  Pizzichitone, 
near  Cremona,  committing  him  to  the  custody  of  Don  Fer- 
dinand Alarcon,  general  of  the  Spanish  infantry,  an  officer 
of  great  bravery  and  of  strict  honour,  but  remarkable  for 
that  severe  and  scrupulous  vigilance  which  such  a  trust 
required. 

Francis,  who  formed  a  judgment  of  the  emperor's  dispo- 
sitions by  his  own,  was  extremely  desirous  that  Charles 
should  be  informed  of  his  situation,  fondly  hoping  that  from 
his  generosity  or  sympathy  he  should  obtain  speedy  relief. 
The  imperial  generals  were  no  less  iiupatient  to  give  their 
sovereign  an  early  account  of  the  decisive  victory  which 

6  Guic.  lib.  XV.  p.  292.  (Env.  de  Mart.  Ep.  805,  810.  Iluscelli,  Let- 
Brant,  vi.  p.  355.  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  tere  de'  Principi,  ii.  p.  70.  Ulloa, 
90.     Saudov.  Hist.  i.  p.  638,  &c.    P.       Vita  di  Carlo  V.  p.  98. 


378  EFFECTS  OF  THE  VICTORY  ON  CHARLES.        [book  iv. 

tliey  had  gained,  and  to  receive  his  instructions  with  regard 
to  their  future  conduct.  As  the  most  certain  and  ex- 
peditious method  of  conveying  intelhgence  to  Spain,  at 
that  season  of  the  year,  was  by  land,  Francis  gave  the 
Coramendador  Pennalosa,  who  was  charged  with  Lannoy's 
despatches,  a  passport  to  travel  through  France. 

Charles  received  the  account  of  this  signal  and  unex- 
pected success  that  had  crowned  his  arms  with  a  modera- 
tion, which,  if  it  had  been  real,  would  have  done  him  more 
honour  than  the  greatest  victory.  Without  uttering  one 
word  expressive  of  exultation,  or  of  intemperate  joy,  he 
retired  immediately  into  his  chapel,  and,  having  spent  an 
hour  in  offering  up  his  thanksgivings  to  heaven,  returned 
to  the  presence-chamber,  which  by  that  time  was  filled  with 
grandees  and  foreign  ambassadors,  assembled  in  order  to 
congratulate  him.  He  accepted  of  their  compliments  with 
a  modest  deportment ;  he  lamented  the  misfortune  of  the 
captive  king,  as  a  striking  example  of  the  sad  reverse  of 
fortune  to  which  the  most  powerful  monarchs  are  subject ; 
he  forbade  any  public  rejoicings,  as  indecent  in  a  war 
carried  on  among  Christians,  reserving  them  until  he  should 
obtain  a  victory  equally  illustrious  over  the  infidels  ;  and 
seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  the  advantage  which  he  had 
gained,  only  as  it  Avould  prove  the  occasion  of  restoring 
peace  to  Christendom.^^ 

Charles,  however,  had  already  begun  to  form  schemes  in 
his  ow^n  mind,  which  little  suited  such  external  appearances. 
Ambition,  not  generosity,  was  the  ruling  passion  in  his 
mind ;  and  the  victory  at  Pavia  opened  such  new  and 
unbounded  prospects  of  gratifying  it,  as  allured  him  with 
irresistible  force  ;  but  it  being  no  easy  matter  to  execute 
the  vast  designs  which  he  meditated,  he  thought  it  neces- 
sary, while  proper  measures  were  taken  for  that  purpose, 
to  affect  the  greatest  moderation,  hoping  under  that  veil  to 
conceal  his  real  intentions  from  the  other  princes  of  Europe. 

'7  Sandov.  Hist.  i.  611.     Ulloa,  Vita  di  Carlo  V.  p.  110. 


BOOK  IV.]    PRUDENT  CONDUCT  OF  LOUISE  THE  REGENT.      379 

Meanwhile,  France  was  filled  with  consternation.  The 
king  himself  had  early  transmitted  an  account  of  the  rout 
at  Pavia,  in  a  letter  to  his  mother,  delivered  by  Pennalosa, 
which  contained  only  these  words  :  "  Madam,  all  is  lost, 
except  our  honour."  The  officers  who  made  their  escape, 
when  they  arrived  from  Italy,  brought  such  a  melancholy 
detail  of  particulars  as  made  all  ranks  of  men  sensibly  feel 
the  greatness  and  extent  of  the  calamity.  Prance,  without 
its  sovereign,  without  money  in  her  treasury,  without  an 
army,  without  generals  to  command  it,  and  encompassed 
on  all  sides  by  a  victorious  and  active  enemy,  seemed  to  be 
on  the  very  brink  of  destruction.  But  on  that  occasion  the 
great  abilities  of  Louise,  the  regent,  saved  the  kingdom, 
which  the  violence  of  her  passions  had  more  than  once 
exposed  to  the  greatest  danger.  Instead  of  giving  herself 
up  to  such  lamentations  as  w^ere  natural  to  a  woman  so 
remarkable  for  her  maternal  tenderness,  she  discovered  all 
the  foresight,  and  exerted  all  the  activity,  of  a  consummate 
politician.  She  assembled  the  nobles  at  Lyons,  and  animated 
them,  by  her  example  no  less  than  by  her  Avords,  with  such 
zeal  in  defence  of  their  country  as  its  present  situation 
required.  She  collected  the  remains  of  the  army  which  had 
served  in  Italy,  ransomed  the  prisoners,  paid  the  arrears, 
and  put  them  in  a  condition  to  take  the  field.  She  levied 
new^  troops,  provided  for  the  security  of  the  frontiers,  and 
raised  sums  sufficient  for  defraying  these  extraordinary 
expenses.  Her  chief  care,  however,  ^was  to  appease  the 
resentment,  or  to  gain  the  friendship,  of  the  king  of 
England ;  and  from  that  quarter  the  first  ray  of  comfort 
broke  in  upon  the  Prench. 

Though  Henry,  in  entering  into  alliances  with  Charles  or 
Prancis,  seldom  followed  any  regular  or  concerted  plan  of 
policy,  but  was  influenced  chiefly  by  the  caprice  of  tempo- 
rary passions,  such  occurrences  often  happened  as  recalled 
his  attention  towards  that  equal  balance  of  power  which  it 
was  necessary  to  keep  between  the  two  contending  poten- 


380  POLICY  OP  HENUY  THE  EIGHTH.  [book  iv, 

tates,  the  preservation  of  wliicli  he  always  boasted  to  be  his 
peculiar  office.  He  had  expected  that  his  union  with  the 
emperor  might  afford  him  an  opportunity  of  recovering 
some  part  of  those  territories  in  France  which  had  belonged 
to  his  ancestors,  and  for  the  sake  of  such  an  acquisition  he 
did  not  scruple  to  give  his  assistance  towards  raising  Charles 
to  a  considerable  pre-eminence  above  Francis.  He  had 
never  dreamt,  however,  of  any  event  so  decisive  and  so  fatal 
as  the  victory  at  Pavia,  which  seemed  not  only  to  have 
broken,  but  to  have  annihilated,  the  power  of  one  of  the 
rivals  ;  so  that  the  prospect  of  the  sudden  and  entire  revo- 
lution which  this  would  occasion  in  the  political  system, 
filled  him  with  the  most  disquieting  apprehensions.  He 
saw  all  Europe  in  danger  of  being  overrun  by  an  ambitious 
prince,  to  whose  power  there  now  remained  no  counter- 
poise ;  and  though  he  himself  might  at  first  be  admitted, 
in  quality  of  an  ally,  to  some  share  in  the  spoils  of  the  cap- 
tive monarch,  it  was  easy  to  discern  that,  with  regard  to 
the  manner  of  making  the  partition,  as  well  as  his  security 
for  keeping  possession  of  what  should  be  allotted  him,  he 
must  absolutely  depend  upon  the  will  of  a  confederate,  to 
whose  forces  his  own  bore  no  proportion.  He  was  sensible 
that  if  Charles  were  permitted  to  add  any  considerable  part 
of  France  to  the  vast  dominions  of  which  he  was  already 
master,  his  neighbourhood  would  be  much  more  formidable 
to  England  than  that  of  the  ancient  French  kings ;  while, 
at  the  same  time,  the  proper  balance  on  the  continent,  to 
which  England  owed  both  its  safety  and  importance,  would 
be  entirely  lost.  Concern  for  the  situation  of  the  unhappy 
monarch  co-operated  with  these  political  considerations ; 
his  gallant  behaviour  in  the  battle  of  Pavia  had  excited  a 
high  degree  of  admiration,  which  never  fails  of  augmenting 
sympathy  ;  and  Henry,  naturally  susceptible  of  generous 
sentiments,  was  fond  of  appearing  as  the  deliverer  of  a  van- 
quished enemy  from  a  state  of  captivity.  The  passions  of  the 
English  minister  seconded  the  inclinations  of  the  monarch. 


BOOK  IV.]  POLICY  OF  HENRY  THE  EIGHTH.  381 

Wolsey,  who  had  not  forgotten  the  disappointment  of  his 
hopes  in  two  successive  conclaves,  whicli  ho  imputed  chiefly 
to  the  emperor,  thought  this  a  proper  opportunity  of  taking 
revenge;  and  Louise,  courting  the  friendship  of  England 
with  such  flattering  submissions  as  were  no  less  agreeable 
to  the  king  than  to  the  cardinal,  Henry  gave  her  secret 
assurances  that  he  would  not  lend  his  aid  towards  oppress- 
ing France,  in  its  present  helpless  state,  and  obliged  her 
to  promise  that  she  would  not  consent  to  dismember  the 
kingdom,  even  in  order  to  procure  her  son's  liberty.'^ 

But  as  Henry's  connexions  with  the  emperor  made  it 
necessary  to  act  in  such  a  manner  as  to  save  appearances, 
he  ordered  public  rejoicings  to  be  made  in  his  dominions 
for  the  success  of  the  imperial  arms  ;  and  as  if  he  had  been 
eager  to  seize  the  present  opportunity  of  ruining  the  French 
monarchy,  he  sent  ambassadors  to  Madrid,  to  congratulate 
with  Charles  upon  his  victory ;  to  put  him  in  mind,  that  he, 
as  his  ally,  engaged  in  one  common  cause,  was  entitled  to 
partake  in  the  fruits  of  it ;  and  to  require  that,  in  compliance 
with  the  terms  of  their  confederacy,  he  would  invade 
Guienne  with  a  powerful  army,  in  order  to  give  him  pos- 
session of  that  province.  At  the  same  time,  he  offered  to 
send  the  princess  Mary  into  Spain  or  the  Low  Countries, 
that  she  might  be  educated  under  the  emperor's  direction, 
until  the  conclusion  of  the  marriage  agreed  on  between 
them  ;  and  in  return  for  that  mark  of  his  confidence,  he 
insisted  that  Francis  should  be  delivered  to  him  in  conse- 
quence of  that  article  in  the  treaty  of  Bruges,  whereby  each 
of  the  contracting  parties  was  bound  to  surrender  all 
usurpers  to  him  whose  rights  they  had  invaded.  It  was 
impossible  that  Henry  could  expect  that  the  emperor  would 
listen  to  these  extravagant  demands,  which  it  was  neither 
his  interest  nor  in  his  power  to  grant.  They  appear  evidently 
to  have  been  made  with  no  other  intention  than  to  furnish 

18  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  94.     Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  318.     Herbert. 


382  EFFECTS  OF  VICTORY  ON  ITALIAN  STATES,     [book  iv. 

him  with  a  decent  pretext  for  entering  into  such  engage- 
ments with  France  as  the  juncture  required.^'' 

It  Avas  among  the  ItaKan  states,  however,  that  the  victory 
at  Pavia  occasioned  the  greatest  alarm  and  terror.  That 
balance  of  power  on  which  they  relied  for  their  security, 
and  which  it  had  been  the  constant  object  of  all  their 
negotiations  and  refinements  to  maintain,  was  destroyed  in 
a  moment.  They  were  exposed,  by  their  situation,  to  feel 
the  first  effects  of  that  uncontrolled  authority  which  Charles 
had  acquired.  They  observed  many  symptoms  of  a  boundless 
ambition  in  that  young  prince,  and  were  sensible  that,  as 
emperor,  or  king  of  Naples,  he  might  not  only  form 
dangerous  pretensions  upon  each  of  their  territories,  but 
might  invade  them  with  great  advantage.  They  deliberated, 
therefore,  with  much  solicitude  concerning  the  means  of 
raising  such  a  force  as  might  obstruct  his  progress ;  ^^  but 
their  consultations,  conducted  with  little  union,  and  executed 
with  less  vigour,  had  no  effect.  Clement,  instead  of 
pursuing  the  measures  which  he  had  concerted  with  the 
Venetians  for  securing  the  liberty  of  Italy,  was  so  intimi- 
dated by  Lannoy's  threats,  or  overcome  by  his  promises, 
that  he  entered  into  a  separate  treaty,  binding  himself  to 
advance  a  considerable  sum  to  the  emperor,  in  return  for 
certain  emoluments,  which  he  was  to  receive  from  him.  The 
money  was  instantly  paid ;  but  Charles  afterwards  refused  to 
ratify  the  treaty,  and  the  pope  remained  exposed  at  once  to 
infamy  and  to  ridicule  ;  to  the  former,  because  he  had 
deserted  the  public  cause  for  his  private  interest;  to  the 
latter,  because  he  had  been  a  loser  by  that  unworthy  action.^' 

How  dishonourable  soever  the  artifice  might  be  which 
was  employed  in  order  to  defraud  the  pope  of  this  sum,  it 
came  very  seasonably  into  the  viceroy's  hands,  and  put  it 
in  his  power   to   extricate   himself  out    of   an  imminent 

"  Herbert,  p.  64.  "'  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  305.    Mauroceni 

^  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  300.     Kuscelli,  Histor.  Venet.  ap.  Istorici  delle  Cose 

Lcttere  da'  Princ.  ii.  pp.  74,  76,  &c.  Veiiez.  v.  131,  136. 

Thuani  llisf.  lib.  i.  c.  11. 


aooK  IV.]  MUTINY  IN  THE  IMPERIAL  ARMY.  383 

danger.  Soon  after  the  defeat  of  the  Prencli  army,  the 
German  troops,  which  had  defended  Pavia  with  snch  meri- 
torions  courage  and  perseverance,  growing  insolent  upon 
the  fame  that  they  had  acquired,  and  impatient  of  relying 
any  longer  on  fruitless  promises,  with  which  they  had  been 
so  often  amused,  rendered  themselves  masters  of  the  town, 
with  a  resolution  to  keep  possession  of  it  as  a  security  for 
the  payment  of  their  arrears  ;  and  the  rest  of  the  army 
discovered  a  much  stronger  inchnation  to  assist,  than  to 
punish  the  mutineers.  By  dividing  among  them  the  money 
exacted  from  the  pope,  Lannoy  quieted  the  tumultuous 
Germans  ;  but  though  this  satisfied  their  present  demands, 
he  had  so  little  prospect  of  being  able  to  pay  them  or  his  other 
forces  regularly  for  the  future,  and  w^as  under  snch  continual 
apprehensions  of  their  seizing  the  person  of  the  captive 
king,  that,  not  long  after,  he  Avas  obliged  to  dismiss  all  the 
Germans  and  Italians  in  the  imperial  service.^^  Thus,  from 
a  circumstance  that  now  appears  very  singular,  but  arising 
naturally  from  the  constitution  of  most  European  govern- 
ments in  the  sixteenth  century,  while  Charles  was  suspected 
by  all  his  neighbours  of  aiming  at  universal  monarchy,  and 
while  he  was  really  forming  vast  projects  of  this  kind,  his 
revenues  were  so  limited,  that  he  could  not  keep  on  foot  his 
victorious  army,  though  it  did  not  exceed  twenty-four 
thousand  men. 

During  these  transactions,  Charles,  whose  pretensions  to 
moderation  and  disinterestedness  were  soon  forgotten,  deli- 
berated, with  the  utmost  solicitude,  how  he  might  derive  the 
greatest  advantages  from  the  misfortunes  of  his  adversary. 
Some  of  his  councillors  advised  him  to  treat  Francis  with 
the  magnanimity  that  became  a  victorious  prince, and,  instead 
of  taking  advantage  of  his  situation  to  impose  rigorous 
conditions,  to  dismiss  him  on  such  equal  terms  as  would 
bind  him  for  ever  to  his  interest  by  the  ties  of  gratitude 
and  affection,  more  forcible  as  well  as  more  permanent  than 

^"^  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  302. 


384  CONDITIONS  POR  FRANCIS'S  LIBERATION,      [book  iv. 

any  which  could  be  formed  by  extorted  oaths  and  involuntary 
stipulations.  Such  an  exertion  of  generosity  is  not,  perhaps, 
to  be  expected  in  the  conduct  of  political  affairs,  and  it  was 
far  too  refined  for  that  prince  to  whom  it  was  proposed.  The 
more  obvious,  but  less  splendid  scheme,  of  endeavouring  to 
make  the  utmost  of  Francis's  calamity,  had  a  greater  number 
in  the  council  to  recommend  it,  and  suited  better  with  the 
emperor's  genius.  But  though  Charles  adopted  this  plan, 
he  seems  not  to  have  executed  it  in  the  most  proper  manner. 
Instead  of  making  one  great  effort  to  penetrate  into  France, 
Avith  all  the  forces  of  Spain  and  the  Low  Comitries ;  instead 
of  crushing  the  Italian  states  before  they  recovered  from  the 
consternation  which  the  success  of  his  arms  had  occasioned, 
he  had  recourse  to  the  artifices  of  intrigue  and  negotiation. 
This  proceeded  partly  from  necessity,  partly  from  the  natural 
disposition  of  his  mind.  The  situation  of  his  finances  at 
that  time  rendered  it  extremely  difficult  to  carry  on  any 
extraordinary  armament ;  and  he  himself  having  never 
appeared  at  the  head  of  his  armies,  the  command  of  which 
he  had  hitherto  committed  to  his  generals,  was  averse  to 
bold  and  martial  counsels,  and  trusted  more  to  the  arts 
with  which  he  was  acquainted.  He  laid,  besides,  too  much 
stress  upon  the  victory  of  Pavia,  as  if  by  that  event  the 
strength  of  France  had  been  annihilated,  its  resources  ex- 
hausted, and  the  kingdom  itself,  no  less  than  the  person  of 
its  monarch,  had  been  subjected  to  his  power. 

Full  of  this  opinion,  he  determined  to  set  the  highest 
price  upon  Francis's  freedom,  and  having  ordered  the  Count 
de  Roeux  to  visit  the  captive  king  in  his  name,  he  instructed 
him  to  propose  the  following  articles,  as  the  conditions  on 
which  he  would  grant  him  his  liberty :  That  he  should 
restore  Burgundy  to  the  emperor,  from  whose  ancestors  it 
had  been  unjustly  wrested ;  that  he  should  surrender  Pro- 
vence and  Dauphine,  that  they  might  be  erected  into  an 
independent  kingdom  for  the  constable  Bourbon ;  that  he 
slioidd  make  full  satisfaction  to  the  king  of  England  for  all 


BOOK  IV.]  FEANCIS  CARRIED  TO  SPAIN.  385 

liis  claims,  and  finally  renounce  the  pretensions  of  France  to 
Naples,  Milan,  or  any  other  territory  in  Italy.  Ai'hen 
Francis,  who  had  hitherto  flattered  himself  that  he  should 
be  treated  by  the  emperor  with  the  generosity  becoming  one 
great  prince  towards  another,  heard  these  rigorous  condi- 
tions, he  was  so  transported  with  indignation,  that,  drawing 
his  dagger  hastily,  he  cried  out,  "  'Twere  better  that  a  king 
should  die  thus."  Alarcon,  alarmed  at  his  vehemence,  laid 
hold  on  his  hand ;  but  though  he  soon  recovered  greater 
composure,  he  still  declared,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
that  he  would  rather  remain  a  prisoner  during  life,  than 
purchase  liberty  by  such  ignominious  concessions.'^ 

This  mortifying  discovery  of  the  emperor's  intentions 
greatly  augmented  Francis's  chagrin  and  impatience  under 
his  confinement,  and  must  have  driven  him  to  absolute  des- 
pair, if  he  had  not  laid  hold  of  the  only  thing  which  could 
still  administer  any  comfort  to  him.  He  persuaded  himself, 
that  the  conditions  which  Roeux  had  proposed  did  not  flow 
originally  from  Charles  himself,  but  were  dictated  by  the 
rigorous  policy  of  his  Spanish  council ;  and  that  therefore 
he  might  hope,  in  one  personal  interview  with  him,  to  do 
more  towards  hastening  his  own  deliverance  than  could  be 
effected  by  long  negotiations  passing  through  the  subor- 
dinate hands  of  his  ministers.  Relying  on  this  supposition, 
which  proceeded  from  too  favourable  an  opinion  of  the  em- 
peror's character,  he  offered  to  visit  him  in  Spain,  and  was 
willing  to  be  carried  thither  as  a  spectacle  to  that  haughty 
nation.  Lannoy  employed  all  his  address  to  confirm  him  in 
these  sentiments,  and  concerted  with  him  in  secret  the 
manner  of  executing  this  resolution.  Francis  was  so  eager 
on  a  scheme  which  seemed  to  open  some  prospect  of  liberty, 
that  he  fm^nished  the  galleys  necessary  for  conveying  him 
to  Spain,  Charles  being  at  this  time  unable  to  fit  out  a 
squadron  for  that  purpose.  The  viceroy,  without  com- 
municating his  intentions  either  to  Bourbon  or  Pescara, 

2'  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  94.    Ferreras,  Ilist.  ix.  p.  43. 
VOL.  I.  C  C 


386     HENRY  THE  EIGHTH'S  TREATY  WITH  LOUISE,     [book  iv. 

conducted  his  prisoner  towards  Genoa,  under  pretence  of 
transporting  him  by  sea  to  Naples  ;  though,  soon  after  they 
set  sail,  he  ordered  the  pilots  to  steer  directly  for  Spain  ; 
but  the  wind  happening  to  carry  them  near  to  the  French 
coast,  the  unfortunate  monarch  had  a  full  prospect  of  his 
own  dominions,  towards  which  he  cast  many  a  sorrowful 
and  desiring  look.  They  landed,  however,  in  a  few  days, 
at  Barcelona,  and  soon  after,  Francis  was  lodged,  by  the 
emperor's  command,  in  the  alcazar  of  Madrid,  under  the 
care  of  the  vigilant  Alarcon,  who  guarded  him  with  as  much 
circumspection  as  ever.^^ 

A  few  days  after  Francis's  arrival  at  Madrid,  and  when 
he  began  to  be  sensible  of  his  having  relied,  without  founda- 
tion, on  the  emperor's  generosity,  Henry  VIII.  concluded  a 
treaty  with  the  regent  of  France,  which  afforded  him  some 
hope  of  liberty  from  another  quarter.  Henry's  extravagant 
demands  had  been  received  at  Madrid  with  that  neglect 
which  they  deserved,  and  which  he  probably  expected. 
Charles,  intoxicated  with  prosperity,  no  longer  courted  hi  n 
in  that  respectful  and  submissive  manner  which  pleased  his 
haughty  temper.  Wolsey,  no  less  haughty  than  his  master, 
was  highly  irritated  at  the  emperor's  discontinuing  his 
wonted  caresses  and  professions  of  friendship  to  himself. 
These  slight  offences,  added  to  the  weighty  considerations 
formerly  mentioned,  induced  Henry  to  enter  into  a  defensive 
alliance  Avith  Louise,  in  which  all  the  differences  between 
him  and  her  son  were  adjusted ;  at  the  same  time,  he  en- 
gaged that  he  would  employ  his  best  offices,  in  order  to 
procure  the  deliverance  of  his  new  ally  from  a  state  of 
captivity.  ^^ 

AVhile  the  open  defection  of  such  a  powerful  confederate 
affected  Charles  w^th  deep  concern,  a  secret  conspiracy  was 
carrying  on  in  Italy,  which  threatened  him  with  conse- 
quences still  more  fatal.    The  restless  and  intriguing  genius 

^  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  9.5.    P.  Mart.  ^'^  Herbert.     Fiddes's  Life  of  Wol- 

Ep.  ult.    Guie.  lib.  xvi.  p.  323.  sey,  p.  337. 


BOOK  IV.]  INTRIGUES  OF  MORONE  IN  MILAN.  387 

of  Morone,  chancellor  of  Milan,  gave  rise  to  this.  His 
revenge  had  been  amply  gratified  by  the  expulsion  of  the 
French  out  of  Italy,  and  his  vanity  no  less  soothed  by  the 
re-establishment  of  Sforza,  to  whose  interest  he  had 
attached  himself  in  the  duchy  of  Milan.  The  delays, 
however,  and  evasions  of  the  imperial  court,  in  granting 
Sforza  the  investiture  of  his  newly-acquired  territories,  had 
long  alarmed  Morone;  these  were  repeated  so  often,  and 
with  such  apparent  artifice,  as  became  a  full  proof  to  his 
suspicious  mind,  that  the  emperor  intended  to  strip  his 
master  of  that  rich  country  w^hicli  he  had  conquered  in  his 
name.  Though  Charles,  in  order  to  quiet  the  pope  and 
Venetians,  no  less  jealous  of  his  designs  than  ]\Iorone,  gave 
Sforza,  at  last,  the  investiture  which  had  bee.:  so  long 
desired;  the  charter  was  clogged  with  so  many  reser- 
vations, and  subjected  him  to  such  grievous  burdens,  as 
rendered  the  duke  of  Milan  a  dependent  on  the  emperor, 
rather  than  a  vassal  of  the  empire,  and  afforded  him  hardly 
any  other  security  for  his  possessions  than  the  good  plea- 
sure of  an  ambitious  superior.  Such  an  accession  of  power 
as  would  have  accrued  from  the  addition  of  the  Milanese 
to  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  was  considered  by  Morone  as 
fatal  to  the  liberties  of  Italy,  no  less  than  to  his  own  im- 
portance. Full  of  this  idea,  he  began  to  revolve  in  his  mind 
the  possibility  of  rescuing  Italy  from  the  yoke  of  foreigners; 
the  darling  scheme,  as  has  been  already  observed,  of  the 
Italian  politicians  in  that  age,  and  which  it  was  the  great 
object  of  their  ambition  to  accomplish.  If  to  the  glory  of 
having  been  the  chief  instrument  of  driving  the  French  out 
of  Milan,  he  could  add  that  of  delivering  Naples  from  the 
dominion  of  the  Spaniards,  he  thought  that  nothing  would 
be  wanting  to  complete  his  fame.  His  fertile  genius  soon 
suggested  to  him  a  project  for  that  purpose;  a  difficult, 
indeed,  and  daring  one,  but  for  that  very  reason  more 
agreeable  to  his  bold  and  enterprising  temper. 

Bourbon  and  Pescara  were  equally  enraged  at  Lannoy's 

c  c  2 


388  MORONE'S  NEGOTIATIONS  [book  iv. 

carrying  the  Erencli  king  into  Spain  without  their  know- 
ledge. The  former  being  afraid  that  the  two  monarchs 
might,  in  his  absence,  conchide  some  treaty  in  which  his 
interests  wonld  be  entirely  sacrificed,  hastened  to  Madrid, 
in  order  to  guard  against  that  danger.  The  latter,  on 
whom  the  command  of  the  army  now  devolved,  was  obliged 
to  remain  in  Italy ;  but,  in  every  company,  he  gave  vent  to 
his  indignation  against  the  viceroy,  in  expressions  full  of 
rancour  and  contempt ;  he  accused  him,  in  a  letter  to  the 
emperor,  of  cowardice  in  the  time  of  danger,  and  of  insolence 
after  a  victory,  towards  the  obtaining  of  w^hich  he  had  con- 
tributed nothing  either  by  his  valour  or  his  conduct ;  nor 
did  he  abstain  from  bitter  complaints  against  the  emperor 
himself,  who  had  not  discovered,  as  he  imagined,  a  sufficient 
sense  of  his  merit,  nor  bestowed  any  adequate  reward  on 
his  services.  It  was  on  this  disgust  of  Pescara  that  Morone 
founded  his  whole  system.  He  knew  the  boundless  ambi- 
tion of  his  nature,  the  great  extent  of  his  abilities  in  peace 
as  well  as  war,  and  the  intrepidity  of  his  mind,  capable  alike 
of  undertaking  and  of  executing  the  most  desperate  designs. 
The  cantonment  of  the  Spanish  troops  on  the  frontier  of 
the  Milanese,  gave  occasion  to  many  interviews  between 
him  and  Morone,  in  which  the  latter  took  care  frequently  to 
turn  the  conversation  to  the  transactions  subsequent  to  the 
battle  of  Pavia, — a  subject  upon  which  the  marquis  always 
entered  willingly  and  with  passion ;  and  Morone,  observing 
his  resentment  to  be  uniformly  violent,  artfully  pointed  out 
and  aggravated  every  circumstance  that  could  increase  its 
fury.  He  painted,  in  the  strongest  colours,  the  emperor's 
want  of  discernment,  as  well  as  of  gratitude,  in  preferring 
Lannoy  to  him,  and  in  allowing  that  presumptuous  Fleming 
to  dispose  of  the  captive  king  without  consulting  the  man 
to  whose  bravery  and  wisdom  Charles  was  indebted  for  the 
glory  of  having  a  formidable  rival  in  his  power.  Having 
warmed  him  by  such  discourses,  he  then  began  to  insinuate 
that  now  was  the  time  to  be  avenged  for  these  insults,  and 


BOOK  IV.]  WITH  PESCARA.  389 

to  acquire  immortal  renown  as  tlie  deliverer  of  his  country 
from  the  oppression  of  strangers ;  that  the  states  of  Italy, 
weary  of  the  ignominious  and  intolerable  dominion  of  bar- 
barians, were  at  least  ready  to  combine  in  order  to  vindicate 
their  own  independence ;  that  their  eyes  were  fixed  on  him 
as  the  only  leader  whose  genius  and  good  fortune  could 
ensure  the  happy  success  of  that  noble  enterprise;  that 
the  attempt  was  no  less  practicable  than  glorious,  it  being 
in  his  power  so  to  disperse  the  Spanish  infantry,  the  only 
body  of  the  emperor's  troops  that  remained  in  Italy,  through 
the  villages  of  the  Milanese,  that,  in  one  night,  they  might 
be  destroyed  by  the  people,  who,  having  suffered  much 
from  their  exactions  and  insolence,  would  gladly  undertake 
this  service ;  that  he  might  then,  without  opposition,  take 
possession  of  the  throne  of  Naples, — the  station  destined  for 
him,  and  a  reward  not  unworthy  the  restorer  of  liberty  to 
Italy ;  that  the  pope,  of  whom  that  kingdom  was  held,  and 
whose  predecessors  had  disposed  of  it  on  many  former  oc- 
casions, would  willingly  grant  him  the  right  of  investiture ; 
that  the  Venetians,  the  Florentines,  the  duke  of  Milan,  to 
whom  he  had  communicated  the  scheme,  together  with  the 
French,  would  be  the  guarantees  of  his  right;  that  the 
Neapolitans  would  naturally  prefer  the  government  of  one 
of  their  countrymen,  whom  they  loved  and  admired,  to  that 
odious  dominion  of  strangers,  to  which  they  had  been  so 
long  subjected ;  and  that  the  emperor,  astonished  at  a  blow 
so  unexpected,  would  find  that  he  had  neither  troops  nor 
money  to  resist  such  a  powerful  confederacy.^^ 

Pescara,  amazed  at  the  boldness  and  extent  of  the  scheme, 
listened  attentively  to  Morone,  but  with  the  countenance 
of  a  man  lost  in  profound  and  anxious  thought.  On  the 
one  hand,  the  infamy  of  betraying  his  sovereign,  under 
whom  he  bore  such  high  command,  deterred  him  from  the 


2^  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  325.  Jovii  Vita  ii.  p.  91.  Tliuani  Hish  lib.  i.  cli.  11. 
Davali,  p.  417.  (Euv.  de  Brantome,  P.  Heuter.  Her.  Austr.  lib.  ix.  ch.  3,  p. 
iv.  171.     Ruscelli,  Lettere  de'  Piiiic.      207. 


390  MOEONE  BETRAYED  BY  PESCARA.  [book  iv. 

attempt ;  on  the  other,  the  prospect  of  obtaming  a  crown 
allured  him  to  venture  upon  it.  After  continuing  a  short 
space  in  suspense,  the  least  commendable  motives,  as  is 
usual  after  such  deliberations,  prevailed,  and  ambition 
triumphed  over  honour.  In  order,  however,  to  throw  a 
colour  of  decency  on  his  conduct,  he  insisted  that  some 
learned  casuists  should  give  their  opinion,  "  Whether  it  was 
lawful  for  a  subject  to  take  arms  against  his  immediate 
sovereign,  in  obedience  to  the  lord  paramount  of  Avhom  the 
kingdom  itself  was  held?"  Such  a  resolution  of  the  case 
as  he  expected  was  soon  obtained  from  the  divines  and 
civilians  both  of  Rome  and  Milan  ;  the  negotiation  went 
forward  ;  and  measures  seemed  to  be  taken  with  great  spirit 
for  the  speedy  execution  of  the  design. 

During  this  interval,  Pescara,  either  shocked  at  the 
treachery  of  the  action  that  he  was  going  to  commit,  or 
despairing  of  its  success,  began  to  entertain  thoughts  of 
abandoning  the  engagements  which  he  had  come  under. 
The  indisposition  of  Sforza,  who  happened  at  that  time  to 
be  taken  ill  of  a  distemper  which  was  thought  mortal, 
confirmed  his  resolution,  and  determined  him  to  make 
known  the  whole  conspiracy  to  the  emperor,  deeming  it 
more  prudent  to  expect  the  duchy  of  Milan  from  him  as 
the  reward  of  this  discovery,  than  to  aim  at  a  kingdom  to 
be  purchased  by  a  series  of  crimes.  This  resolution,  how- 
ever, proved  the  source  of  actions  hardly  less  criminal  and 
ignominious.  The  emperor,  who  had  already  received  full 
information  concerning  the  conspiracy  from  other  hands, 
seemed  to  be  highly  pleased  with  Pescara's  fidelity,  and 
commanded  him  to  continue  his  intrigues  for  some  time 
with  the  pope  and  Sforza,  both  that  he  might  discover  their 
intentions  more  fully,  and  that  he  might  be  able  to  convict 
them  of  the  crime  with  greater  certainty.  Pescara,  con- 
scious of  guilt,  as  well  as  sensible  how  suspicious  his  long 
silence  must  have  appeared  at  Madrid,  durst  not  decline 
that   dishonourable  office;    and  was  obliged    to    act   the 


BOOK  IV.]  TREATMENT  OF  EllANClS.  391 

meanest  and  most  disgraceful  of  all  parts,  that  of  seducing 
with  a  purpose  to  betray.  Considering  the  abilities  of  the 
persons  with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  the  part  was  scarcely 
less  difficult  than  base ;  but  he  acted  it  with  such  address, 
as  to  deceive  even  the  penetrating  eye  of  Morone,  who, 
relying  with  full  confidence  on  his  sincerity,  visited  him  at 
Novara,  in  order  to  put  the  last  hand  to  their  machinations. 
Pescara  received  him  in  an  apartment  where  Antonio  de 
Ley va  was  placed  behind  the  tapestry,  that  he  might  over- 
hear and  bear  witness  to  their  conversation  ;  as  JMorone  was 
about  to  take  leave,  that  officer  suddenly  appeared,  and  to  his 
astonishment,  arrested  him  prisoner  in  the  emperor's  name. 
He  was  conducted  to  the  castle  of  Pavia ;  and  Pescara,  who 
had  so  lately  been  his  accomplice,  had  now  the  assurance 
to  interrogate  him  as  his  judge.  At  the  same  time,  the 
emperor  declared  Sforza  to  have  forfeited  all  right  to  the 
duchy  of  Milan,  by  his  engaging  in  a  conspiracy  against 
the  sovereign  of  whom  he  held  ;  Pescara,  by  his  command, 
seized  on  every  ])lace  in  the  ]\Iilanese,  except  the  castles  of 
Cremona  and  Milan,  which  the  unfortunate  duke  attempt- 
ing to  defend,  were  closely  blockaded  by  the  imperial 
troops." 

But  thongli  this  unsuccessful  conspiracy,  instead  of 
stripping  the  emperor  of  what  he  already  possessed  in  Italy, 
contributed  to  extend  his  dominions  in  that  country,  it 
showed  him  the  necessity  of  coming  to  some  agreement 
with  the  Preneh  king,  unless  he  chose  to  draw  on  himself 
a  confederacy  of  all  Europe,  which  the  progress  of  his  arms 
and  his  ambition,  now  as  undisguised  as  it  was  boundless, 
filled  with  general  alarm.  He  had  not  hitherto  treated 
Francis  with  the  generosity  which  that  monarch  expected, 
and  hardly  with  the  decency  due  to  his  station.  Instead 
of  displaying  the  sentiments  becoming  a  great  prince, 
Charles,  by  his  mode  of  treating  Francis,  seems  to  have 
acted  with  the  mercenary  heart  of  a  corsair,  who,  by  the 
'^  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  329.    Jovii  Hist.  p.  319.    Capclla,  lib.  v.  p.  200. 


392  TREATMENT  OF  ERANCIS.  [book  iv. 

rigorous  usage  of  his  prisoners,  endeavours  to  draw  from 
them  a  higher  price  for  their  ransom.  The  captive  king 
was  confined  to  an  ohl  castle,  under  a  keeper  whose  formal 
austerity  of  manners  rendered  his  vigilance  still  more  dis- 
gusting. He  was  allowed  no  exercise  but  that  of  riding 
on  a  mule,  surrounded  with  armed  guards  on  horseback. 
Charles,  on  pretence  of  its  being  necessary  to  attend  the 
cortes  assembled  in  Toledo,  had  gone  to  reside  in  that 
city,  and  suffered  several  wrecks  to  elapse  without  visiting 
Francis,  though  he  solicited  an  interview  with  the  most 
pressing  and  submissive  importunity.  So  many  indignities 
made  a  deep  impression  on  a  high-spirited  prince  j  he  began 
to  lose  all  relish  for  his  usual  amusements ;  his  natural 
gaiety  of  temper  forsook  him ;  and  after  languishing  for 
some  time,  he  was  seized  with  a  dangerous  fever,  during 
the  violence  of  which  he  complained  constantly  of  the  unex- 
pected and  unprincely  rigour  with  which  he  had  been 
treated,  often  exclaiming,  that  now  the  emperor  would  have 
the  satisfaction  of  his  dying  a  prisoner  in  his  hands,  without 
having  once  deigned  to  see  his  face.  The  physicians,  at 
last,  despaired  of  his  life,  and  informed  the  emperor  that 
they  saw  no  hope  of  his  recovery,  unless  he  were  gratified 
with  regard  to  that  point  on  which  he  seemed  to  be  so 
strongly  bent.  Charles,  solicitous  to  preserve  a  life  with 
which  all  his  prospects  of  further  advantage  from  the  victory 
of  Pavia  must  have  terminated,  immediately  consulted  his 
ministers  concerning  the  course  to  be  takeii.  In  vain  did 
the  Chancellor  Gattinara,  the  most  able  among  them,  repre- 
sent to  him  the  indecency  of  his  visiting  Francis,  if  he  did 
not  intend  to  set  him  at  liberty  immediately  upon  equal 
terms ;  in  vain  did  he  point  out  the  infamy  to  which  he 
would  be  exposed,  if  avarice  or  ambition  should  prevail  on 
him  to  give  the  captive  monarch  this  mark  of  attention  and 
sympathy,  for  which  humanity  and  generosity  had  pleaded 
so  long  without  effect.  The  emperor,  less  delicate,  or  less 
solicitous,  about  reputation  than  his  minister,  set  out  for 


BOOK  IV.]  BOURBON  ARRIVES  AT  TOLEDO.  393 

Madrid  to  visit  his  prisoner.  The  interview  was  short : 
Francis  being  too  weak  to  bear  a  long  conversation^  Charles 
accosted  him  in  terms  full  of  affection  and  respect,  and 
gave  him  such  promises  of  speedy  deliverance  and  princely 
treatment,  as  would  have  reflected  the  greatest  honour 
upon  him,  if  they  had  flowed  from  another  source.  Francis 
grasped  at  them  with  the  eagerness  natural  in  his  situation  ; 
and,  cheered  with  this  gleam  of  hope,  began  to  revive  from 
that  moment,  recovering  rapidly  his  wonted  health.^^ 

He  had  soon  the  mortification  to  find,  that  his  confidence 
in  the  emperor  was  not  better  founded  than  formerly. 
Charles  returned  instantly  to  Toledo  ;  all  negotiations  were 
carried  on  by  his  ministers ;  and  Francis  was  kept  in  as 
strict  custody  as  ever.  A  new  indignity,  and  that  very 
galling,  was  added  to  all  those  he  had  already  sufi'ered. 
Bourbon  arriving  in  Spain  about  this  time,  Charles,  who 
had  so  long  refused  to  visit  the  king  of  France,  received  his 
rebellious  subject  with  the  most  studied  respect.  He  met 
him  without  the  gates  of  Toledo,  embraced  him  with  the 
greatest  afiection,  and,  placing  him  on  his  left  hand,  con- 
ducted him  to  his  apartment.  These  marks  of  honour  to 
him  were  so  many  insults  to  the  unfortunate  monarch, 
which  he  felt  in  a  very  sensible  manner.  It  aff'orded  him 
some  consolation,  however,  to  observe,  that  the  sentiments 
of  the  Spaniards  diff'ered  widely  from  those  of  their  sove- 
reign. That  generous  people  detested  Bourbon's  crime. 
Notwithstanding  his  great  talents  and  important  services, 
they  shunned  all  intercourse  with  him  to  such  a  degree, 
that  Charles,  having  desired  the  marquis  de  Villena  to 
permit  Bourbon  to  reside  in  his  palace  while  the  court 
remained  in  Toledo,  he  politely  replied,  "  That  he  could 
not  refuse  gratifying  his  sovereign  in  that  request;"  but 
added,  with  a  Castilian  dignity  of  mind,  that  the  emperor 
must  not  be  surprised,  if,  the  moment  the  constable  de- 
parted, he  should  burn  to  the  ground  a  house  which,  having 
2»  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  339.     Sandov.  Hist.  i.  6G5. 


394  NEGOTIATIONS  TOR  ERANCIS'S  RELEASE,     [book  iv. 

been  polluted  by  tlie  presence  of  a  traitor,  became  an  unfit 
habitation  for  a  man  of  honour.^'' 

Charles  himself,  nevertheless,  seemed  to  have  it  much  at 
heart  to  reward  Bourbon's  services  in  a  signal  manner. 
But  as  he  insisted,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  accomplishment 
of  the  emperor's  promise  of  giving  him  in  marriage  his 
sister  Eleanora,  queen-dowager  of  Portugal,  the  honour  of 
which  alliance  had  been  one  of  his  chief  inducements  to 
rebel  against  his  lawful  sovereign ;  as  Francis,  in  order  to 
prevent  such  a  dangerous  union,  had  offered,  before  he  left 
Italy,  to  marry  that  princess ;  and  as  Eleanora  herself  dis- 
covered an  inclination  rather  to  matcli  with  a  powerful 
monarch  than  with  his  exiled  subject ;  all  these  interfering 
circumstances  created  great  embarrassment  to  Charles,  and 
left  him  hardly  any  hope  of  extricating  himself  with  decency. 
But  the  death  of  Pescara,  wdio,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  left 
behind  him  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  greatest 
generals  and  ablest  politicians  of  that  century,  happened 
opportunely  at  this  juncture  for  his  relief.  By  that  event 
the  command  of  the  army  in  Italy  became  vacant,  and 
Charles,  always  fertile  in  resources,  persuaded  Bourbon, 
who  was  in  no  condition  to  dispute  his  will,  to  accept  the 
office  of  general-in-chief  there,  together  with  a  grant  of  the 
duchy  of  Milan  forfeited  by  Sforza ;  and  in  return  for  these, 
to  relinquish  all  hopes  of  marrying  the  queen  of  Portugal.^" 

The  chief  obstacle  that  stood  in  the  way  of  Francis's 
liberty,  was  the  emperor's  continuing  to  insist  so  peremp- 
torily on  the  restitution  of  Burgundy,  as  a  preliminary  to 
that  event.  Francis  often  declared  that  he  would  never 
consent  to  dismember  his  kingdom ;  and  that  even  if  he 
should  so  far  forget  the  duties  of  a  monarch  as  to  come  to 
such  a  resolution,  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  nation  would 
prevent  its  taking  effect.  On  his  part,  he  w^as  willing  to 
make  an  absolute  cession  to  the  emperor  of  all  his  preten- 

^^  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  335. 
Saudov.  Hist.  i.  p.  676.     (Euv.  cle  Brant,  iv.  p.  249. 


BOOK  IV.]  HE  RESOLVES  TO  ABDICATE.  395 

sions  in  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries;  he  promised  to 
restore  to  Bourbon  all  his  lands  which  had  been  confiscated; 
he  renewed  his  proposal  of  marrying  the  emperor's  sister, 
the  queen-dowager  of  Portugal ;  and  engaged  to  pay  a 
great  sum  by  way  of  ransom  for  his  own  person.  But  all 
mutual  esteem  and  confidence  between  the  two  monarchs 
Avere  now  entirely  lost ;  there  appeared,  on  the  one  hand, 
a  rapacious  ambition  labouring  to  avail  itself  of  evciy 
favourable  circumstance ;  on  the  other,  suspicion  and  re- 
sentment standing  perpetually  on  their  guard ;  so  that  the 
prospect  of  bringing  their  negotiations  to  an  issue  seemed 
to  be  far  distant.  The  duchess  of  Alengon,  the  French 
king's  sister,  whom  Charles  permitted  to  visit  her  brother 
in  his  confinement,  employed  all  her  address  in  order  to 
procure  his  liberty  on  more  reasonable  terms.  Henry  of 
England  interposed  his  good  offices  to  the  same  purpose; 
but  both  with  so  little  success,  that  Francis,  in  despair, 
took  suddenly  the  resolution  of  resigning  his  crown,  with 
all  its  rights  and  prerogatives,  to  his  son,  the  dauphin, 
determining  rather  to  end  his  days  in  prison,  than  to 
purchase  his  freedom  by  concessions  unworthy  of  a  king. 
The  deed  for  this  purpose  he  signed  with  legal  formality  in 
Madrid,  empowering  his  sister  to  carry  it  into  France,  that 
it  might  be  registered  in  all  the  parliaments  of  the  kingdom; 
and  at  the  same  time  intimating  his  intention  to  the  em- 
peror, he  desired  him  to  name  the  place  of  his  confinement, 
and  to  assign  him  a  proper  number  of  attendants  during 
the  remainder  of  his  days.^^ 

This  resolution  of  the  French  king  had  great  effect ; 
Charles  began  to  be  sensible  that  by  pushing  rigour  to 
excess,  he  might  defeat  his  own  measures ;  and  instead  of 
the  vast  advantages  which  he  hoped  to  draw  from  ransom- 
ing a  powerful  monarch,  he  might  at  last  find  in  his  hands 
a  prince  without  dominions  or  revenues.     About  the  same 

^'  This  paper  is  published  in  Mcmoires  Ilistoriqucs,  &c.  par  M.  I'Abbe 
Raynal,  torn.  ii.  p.  151. 


396  TREATY  OF  MADRID.  [book  iv. 

time,  one  of  the  king  of  Navarre's  domestics  happened,  by 
an  extraordinary  exertion  of  fidelity,  courage,  and  address, 
to  procure  his  master  an  opportunity  of  escaping  from  the 
prison  in  which  he  had  been  confined  ever  since  the  battle 
of  Pavia.  This  convinced  the  emperor  that  the  most 
vigilant  attention  of  his  officers  might  be  eluded  by  the 
ingenuity  or  boldness  of  Francis  or  his  attendants,  and  one 
unlucky  hour  might  deprive  him  of  ah  the  advantages 
which  he  had  been  so  solicitous  to  obtain.  By  these  con- 
siderations, he  was  induced  to  abate  somewhat  of  his 
former  demands.  On  the  other  hand,  Francis's  impatience 
under  confinement  daily  increased ;  and  having  received 
certain  intelligence  of  a  powerful  league  forming  against 
his  rival  in  Italy,  he  grew  more  compliant  with  regard  to 
his  concessions,  trusting  that  if  he  could  once  obtain  his 
liberty,  he  would  soon  be  in  a  condition  to  resume  what- 
ever he  had  yielded. 

[1526.]  Such  being  the  views  and  sentiments  of  the  two 
monarchs,  the  treaty  which  procured  Francis  his  liberty 
was  signed  at  Madrid,  on  the  fourteenth  of  January,  one 
thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-six.  The  article  with 
regard  to  Burgundy,  which  had  hitherto  created  the  greatest 
difficulty,  was  compromised,  Francis  engaging  to  restore 
that  duchy,  with  all  its  dependencies,  in  full  sovereignty  to 
the  emperor;  and  Charles  consenting  that  this  restitution 
should  not  be  made  until  the  king  was  set  at  liberty.  In 
order  to  secure  the  performance  of  this  as  well  as  the  other 
conditions  in  the  treaty,  Francis  agreed  that,  at  the  same 
instant  when  he  himself  should  be  released,  he  would  deliver 
as  hostages  to  the  emperor,  his  eldest  son  the  dauphin,  and 
his  second  son,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  or,  in  lieu  of  the  latter, 
twelve  of  his  principal  nobility  to  be  named  by  Charles. 
The  other  articles  swelled  to  a  great  number,  and,  though 
not  of  such  importance,  were  extremely  rigorous.  Among 
these  the  most  remarkable  were,  that  Francis  should  re- 
nounce all  his  pretensions  in  Italy;  that  he  should  disclaim 


BOOK  IV.]  TREATY  Or  MADRID.  S97 

any  title  wliicli  he  had  to  the  sovereignty  of  FLanders 
and  Artois;  that,  witliin  six  -weeks  after  his  release,  he  sliould 
restore  to  Bourbon,  and  his  adherents,  all  their  goods, 
movable  and  immovable,  and  make  them  full  reparation 
for  the  damages  which  they  had  sustained  by  the  confis- 
cation of  them  ;  that  he  should  use  his  interest  with  Henry 
d'Albret  to  relinquish  his  pretensions  to  thecrownof  Navarre, 
and  should  not  for  the  future  assist  him  in  any  attempt  to 
recover  it;  that  there  should  be  established  between  the 
emperor  and  Francis  a  league  of  perpetual  friendship  and 
confederacy,  with  a  promise  of  mutual  assistance  in  every 
case  of  necessity ;  that  in  corroboration  of  this  union, 
Francis  should  marry  the  emperor's  sister,  the  queen- 
dowager  of  Portugal;  that  Francis  should  cause  all  the 
articles  of  this  treaty  to  be  ratified  by  the  states,  and  re- 
gistered in  the  parliaments  of  his  kingdom ;  that  upon  the 
emperor's  receiving  this  ratification,  the  hostages  should  be 
set  at  liberty ;  but  in  their  place,  the  duke  of  Angouleme, 
the  king's  third  son,  should  be  delivered  to  Charles ;  that, 
in  order  to  manifest  as  w^ell  as  to  strengthen  the  amity 
between  the  two  monarchs,  he  might  be  educated  at  the 
imperial  court;  and  that  if  Francis  did  not,  within  the 
time  limited,  fulfil  the  stipulations  in  the  treaty,  he  should 
promise,  upon  his  honour  and  oath,  to  return  to  Spain,  and 
to  surrender  himself  again  a  prisoner  to  the  emperor.^^ 

By  this  treaty,  Charles  flattered  himself  that  he  had  not 
only  effectually  humbled  his  rival,  but  that  he  had  taken 
such  precautions  as  w-ould  for  ever  prevent  his  re-attaining 
any  formidable  degree  of  power.  The  opinion  which  the 
wisest  politicians  formed  concerning  it  was  very  different ; 
they  could  not  persuade  themselves  that  Francis,  after 
obtaining  his  liberty,  w^ould  execute  articles  against  which 
he  had  struggled  so  long,  and  to  which,  notwithstanding  all 
that  he  had  felt  during  a  long  and  rigorous  confinement,  he 
had  consented  with  the  utmost  reluctance.     Ambition  and 

»2  Recueil  des  Trait,  torn.  ii.  p.  112.      UUoa,  Vita  di  Carlo  V.  pp.  102,  &c. 


398  TREATY  OF  MADRID.  [book  iv. 

resentment,  they  knew,  would  conspire  in  prompting  liim 
to  violate  the  hard  conditions  to  which  he  had  been  con- 
strained to  submit ;  nor  would  arguments  and  casuistry  be 
wanting  to  represent  that  which  was  so  manifestly  advan- 
tageous, to  be  necessary  and  just.  If  one  part  of  Francis's 
conduct  had  been  known  at  that  time,  this  opinion  might 
have  been  founded,  not  in  conjecture,  but  in  certainty. 
A  few  hours  before  he  signed  the  treaty,  he  assembled  such 
of  his  counsellors  as  were  then  at  Madrid ;  and  having 
exacted  from  them  a  solemn  oath  of  secrecy,  he  made 
a  long  enumeration  in  their  presence  of  the  dishonourable 
arts,  as  well  as  unprincely  rigour,  which  the  emperor  had 
employed  in  order  to  ensnare  or  intimidate  him.  For  that 
reason,  he  took  a  formal  protest  in  the  hands  of  notaries, 
that  his  consent  to  the  treaty  should  be  considered  as  an 
involuntary  deed,  and  be  deemed  null  and  void.''^  By  this 
disingenuous  artifice,  for  which  even  the  treatment  that  he 
had  met  with  was  no  apology,  Francis  endeavoured  to  satisfy 
his  honour  and  conscience  in  signing  the  treaty,  and  to  pro- 
vide at  the  same  time  a  pretext  on  which  to  break  it. 

Great,  meanwhile,  were  the  outward  demonstrations  of 
love  and  confidence  between  the  two  monarchs;  they 
appeared  often  together  in  public ;  they  frequently  had  long 
conferences  in  private ;  they  travelled  in  the  same  litter, 
and  joined  in  the  same  amusements.  But,  amidst  these 
signs  of  peace  and  friendship,  the  emperor  still  harboured 
suspicion  in  his  mind.  Though  the  ceremonies  of  the 
marriage  between  Francis  and  the  queen  of  Portugal  were 
performed  soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  Charles 
would  not  permit  him  to  consummate  it  until  the  return  of 
the  ratification  from  France.  Even  then  Francis  was  not 
allowed  to  be  at  full  liberty;  his  guards  were  still  con- 
tinued ;  though  caressed  as  a  brother-in-law,  he  was  still 
watched  like  a  prisoner;  and  it  was  obvious  to  attentive 
observers,,  that  an  union,  in  the  very  beginning  of  which 
^^  Recueil  des  Trait,  torn.  ii.  p.  107. 


BOOK  IV.]  LIBERATION  OF  FRANCIS.  399 

there  might  be  discerned  such  symptoms  of  jealousy  and 
distrust,  coukl  not  be  cordial,  or  of  long  continuance.^^ 

About  a  month  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty,  the  regent's 
ratification  of  it  was  brought  from  France ;  and  that  wise 
princess,  preferring,  on  this  occasion,  the  public  good  to 
domestic  affection,  informed  her  son,  that,  instead  of  the 
twelve  noblemen  named  in  the  treaty,  she  had  sent  the 
duke  of  Orleans  along  with  his  brother,  the  dauphin,  to  the 
frontier,  as  the  kingdom  could  suffer  nothing  by  the  absence 
of  a  child,  but  must  be  left  almost  incapable  of  defence,  if 
deprived  of  its  ablest  statesmen  and  most  experienced 
generals,  whom  Charles  had  artfully  included  in  his  nomi- 
nation. At  last,  Francis  took  leave  of  the  emperor,  Avhose 
suspicion  of  the  king's  sincerity,  increasing  as  the  time  of 
putting  it  to  the  proof  approached,  he  endeavom^ed  to  bind 
him  still  faster  by  exacting  new  promises,  which,  after  those 
he  had  already  made,  the  French  monarch  was  not  slow  to 
grant.  He  set  out  from  IMadrid, — a  place  which  the  remem- 
brance of  many  afflicting  circumstances  rendered  peculiarly 
odious  to  him, — with  the  joy  natural  on.  such  an  occasion, 
and  began  the  long-wished-for  journey  towards  his  own 
dominions.  He  was  escorted  by  a  body  of  horse  under 
the  command  of  Alarcon,  who,  as  the  king  drew  near  the 
frontiers  of  France,  guarded  him  with  more  scrupulous 
exactness  than  ever.  When  he  arrived  at  the  river  Andaye, 
which  separates  the  two  kingdoms,  Lautrec  appeared  on 
the  opposite  bank  Avith  a  guard  of  horse,  equal  in  number 
to  Alarcon's.  An  empty  bark  was  moored  in  the  middle 
of  the  stream ;  the  attendants  drew  up  in  order  on  the 
opposite  banks ;  at  the  same  instant,  Lannoy,  with  eight 
gentlemen,  put  off  from  the  Spanish,  and  Lautrec,  with  the 
same  number,  from  the  French  side  of  the  river ;  the  former 
had  the  king  in  his  boat ;  the  latter,  the  dauphin  and  duke 
of  Orleans ;  they  met  in  the  empty  vessel ;  the  exchange 
was  made  in  a  moment ;  Francis,  after  a  short  embrace  of 
^  Guic.  lib.  xvi.  p.  353. 


400  CHARLES  MARRIES  ISABELLA.  [book  iv. 

his  children,  leaped  into  Lautrec's  boat,  and  reached  the 
French  shore.  He  mounted,  at  that  instant,  a  Turkish 
horse,  waved  his  hand  over  his  head,  and  with  a  joyful 
voice  crying  aloud  several  times,  "  I  am  yet  a  king," 
galloped  full  speed  to  St.  John  de  Luz,  and  from  thence  to 
Bayonne.  This  event,  no  less  impatiently  desired  by  the 
French  nation  than  by  their  monarch,  happened  on  the 
eighteenth  of  March,  a  year  and  twenty-two  days  after  the 
fatal  battle  of  Pavia.^^ 

Soon  after  the  emperor  had  taken  leave  of  Francis,  and 
permitted  him  to  begin  his  journey  towards  his  own 
dominions,  he  set  out  for  Seville,  in  order  to  solemnize  his 
marriage  with  Isabella,  the  daughter  of  Emanuel,  the  late 
king  of  Portugal,  and  the  sister  of  John  III.,  who  had 
succeeded  him  in  the  throne  of  that  kingdom.  Isabella 
was  a  princess  of  uncommon  beauty  and  accomplishments  ; 
and  as  the  cortes,  both  in  Castile  and  Aragon,  had  warmly 
solicited  their  sovereign  to  marry,  the  choice  of  a  wife,  so 
nearly  allied  to  the  royal  blood  of  both  kingdoms,  was 
extremely  acceptable  to  his  subjects.  The  Portuguese,  fond 
of  this  new  connexion  with  the  first  monarch  in  Christen- 
dom, granted  him  an  extraordinary  dowry  with  Isabella, 
amounting  to  nine  hundred  thousand  crowns, — a  sum,  which, 
from  the  situation  of  his  affairs  at  that  juncture,  was  of  no 
small  consequence  to  the  emperor.  The  marriage  was  cele- 
brated with  that  splendour  and  gaiety  which  became  a  great 
and  youthful  prince.  Charles  lived  with  Isabella  in  perfect 
harmony,  and  treated  her  on  all  occasions  with  much  dis- 
tinction and  regard. '''' 

During  these  transactions,  Charles  could  hardly  give  any 
attention  to  the  affairs  of  Germany,  though  it  was  torn  in 
pieces  by  commotions,  which  threatened  the  most  danger- 
ous consequences.     By  the  feudal  institutions,  which  still 

^  Sandov.  Hist.  i.  p.  735.  Guic.  Belcarius  Com.  Rer.  Gallic,  p.  565. 
lib.  xvi.  p.  355.  Spalatiims,    ap.    Struv.    Corp.   Hist. 

36  Ulloa,  Vita  di  Carlo  V.  p.  106.      Germ.  ii.  1081. 


BOOK  IV.]  ATFAIRS  OF  GERMANY.  40  J 

subsisted  almost  unimpaired  in  tlic  empire,  the  property  of 
lands  was  vested  in  the  princes  and  free  barons.  Their 
vassals  held  of  them  by  the  strictest  and  most  limited  tenures; 
while  the  great  body  of  the  people  was  kept  in  a  state  but 
little  removed  from  absolute  servitude.  In  some  places  of 
Germany,  people  of  the  lowest  class  were  so  entirely  in  the 
power  of  their  masters,  as  to  be  subject  to  personal  and 
domestic  slavery,  the  most  rigorous  form  of  that  wretched 
state.  In  other  provinces,  particularly  in  Bohemia  and 
Lusatia,  the  peasants  were  bound  to  remain  on  the  lands 
to  which  they  belonged,  and,  making  part  of  the  estate,  Avere 
transferred  like  any  other  property  from  one  hand  to  another. 
Even  in  Suabia,  and  the  countries  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine,  where  their  condition  was  most  tolerable,  the  peasants 
not  only  paid  the  full  rent  of  their  farms  to  the  landlord, 
but  if  they  chose  either  to  change  the  place  of  their  abode, 
or  to  follow  a  new  profession,  before  they  could  accomplish 
what  they  desired,  they  were  obliged  to  purchase  this 
privilege  at  a  certain  price.  Besides  this,  all  grants  of  lands 
to  peasants  expired  at  their  death,  without  descending  to 
their  posterity.  Upon  that  event,  the  landlord  had  a  right 
to  the  best  of  their  cattle,  as  well  as  of  their  furniture  ;  and 
their  heirs,  in  order  to  obtain  a  renewal  of  the  grant,  were 
obliged  to  pay  large  sums  by  way  of  fine.  These  exactions, 
though  grievous,  were  borne  with  patience,  because  they  were 
customary  and  ancient ;  but  when  the  progress  of  elegance 
and  luxury,  as  well  as  the  changes  introduced  into  the  art 
of  war,  came  to  increase  the  expense  of  government,  and 
made  it  necessary  for  princes  to  levy  occasional  or  stated 
taxes  on  their  subjects,  such  impositions  being  new,  appeared 
intolerable ;  and  in  Germany,  these  duties  being  laid  chiefly 
upon  beer,  wine,  and  other  necessaries  of  life,  affected  the 
common  people  in  the  most  sensible  manner.  The  addi- 
tion of  such  a  load  to  their  former  burdens  drove  them  to 
despair.  It  was  to  the  valour  inspired  by  resentment 
against  impositions  of  this  kind,  that  the  Swiss  owed  the 

VOL.  I.  D  D 


402  INSUREECTION  IN  SUABIA.  [book  iv. 

acquisition  of  their  liberty  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
same  cause  had  excited  the  peasants  in  several  other  pro- 
vinces of  Germany  to  rebel  against  their  superiors  towards 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  and  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
centuries ;  and  though  these  insurrections  were  not  attended 
wdth  like  success,  they  could  not,  however,  be  quelled  with- 
out much  difficulty  and  bloodshed. ^'^ 

By  these  checks,  the  spirit  of  the  peasants  was  overawed 
rather  than  subdued  ;  and  their  grievances  multiplying  con- 
tinually, they  ran  to  arms,  in  the  year  one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  twenty-six,  with  the  most  frantic  rage.  Their 
first  appearance  was  near  Ulm,  in  Suabia.  The  peasants 
in  the  adjacent  country  flocked  to  their  standard  with  the 
ardour  and  impatience  natural  to  men  who,  having  groaned 
long  under  oppression,  beheld  at  last  some  prospect  of 
deliverance  ;  and  the  contagion  spreading  from  province  to 
province,  reached  almost  every  part  of  Germany.  Wherever 
they  came,  they  plundered  the  monasteries ;  wasted  the 
lands  of  their  superiors  ;  razed  their  castles,  and  massacred, 
without  mercy,  all  persons  of  noble  birth  who  w^ere  so 
unhappy  as  to  fall  into  their  hands. ^^  Having  intimidated 
their  oppressors,  as  they  imagined,  by  the  violence  of  these 
proceedings,  they  began  to  consider  what  would  be  the 
most  proper  and  effectual  method  of  securing  themselves 
for  the  future  from  their  tyrannical  exactions.  With  this 
view  they  drew  up  and  published  a  memorial  containing 
all  their  demands,  and  declared  that,  while  arms  were  in 
their  hands,  they  would  either  persuade  or  oblige  the 
nobles  to  give  them  full  satisfaction  with  regard  to  these. 
The  chief  articles  were,  that  they  might  have  hberty  to 
choose  their  own  pastors ;  that  they  might  be  freed  from 
the  payment  of  all  tithes,  except  those  of  corn ;  that  they 
might  no  longer  be  considered  as  the  slaves  or  bondmen  of 
their  superiors;  that  the  liberty  of  hunting  and  fishing 

''  Seckend.  lib.  ii.  pp.  2,  6,  ap.  Freher.  Script.  Ker.  Germ.  Argent. 

3'  Petr.  Crinitus  de  BelloEusticano,      1717,  vol.  ill.  p.  243. 


BOOK  IV.]  DErEAT  OF  THE  PEASANTS.  403 

might  be  common  ;  that  tlie  great  forests  might  not  bo 
regarded  as  private  property,  but  be  open  for  the  use  of 
all ;  that  they  miglit  be  delivered  from  the  unusual  bui-den 
of  taxes  under  which  they  lal)oured  ;  that  the  administration 
of  justice  might  be  rendered  less  rigorous  and  more  iin- 
})artial;  that  the  encroachments  of  the  nobles  upon 
meadows  and  conunons  mioht  be  restrained. ^^ 

]\Iany  of  these  demands  were  extremely  reasonable  ;  and, 
being  urged  by  such  formidable  numbers,  should  have  met 
with  some  redress.  But  those  unwieldy  bodies,  assembled 
in  different  places,  had  neither  union,  nor  conduct,  nor 
vigour.  Being  led  by  persons  of  the  lowest  rank,  without 
skill  in  war,  or  knowledge  of  Avhat  was  necessary  for 
accomplishing  their  designs,  all  their  exploits  were  dis- 
tinguished only  by  a  brutal  and  unmeaning  fury.  To 
oppose  this,  the  princes  and  nobles  of  Suabia  and  the 
Lower  Rhine  raised  such  of  their  vassals  as  still  continued 
faithful,  and  attacking  some  of  the  mutineers  with  open 
force,  and  others  by  surprise,  cut  to  pieces  or  dispersed  all 
who  infested  those  provinces ;  so  that  the  peasants,  after 
ruining  the  open  country,  and  losing  upwards  of  twenty 
thousand  of  their  associates  in  the  tield,  were  obliged  to 
return  to  their  habitations  with  less  hope  than  ever  of 
relief  from  their  grievances.^" 

These  commotions  happened  at  first  in  provinces  of 
Germany  where  Luther's  opinions  had  made  little  pro- 
gress ;  and  being  excited  wholly  by  political  causes,  had  no 
connexion  with  the  disputed  points  in  religion.  But  the 
frenzy  reaching  at  last  those  countries  in  which  the  refor- 
mation was  established,  derived  new  strength  from  circum- 
stances peculiar  to  them,  and  rose  to  a  still  greater  pitch 
of  extravagance.  The  reformation,  wherever  it  was  received, 
increased  that  bold  and  innovating  spirit  to  which  it  owed 

^^  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  90.  iu  Germania,  ap.  Scard.  Script,  vol.  ii. 

•>"  Scckend.  lil..    ii.  p.    10.      Petr.      p.  131,  &c. 
Gnodalius  de  Kusticanorum  Tumultu 

D  D  2 


404  REVOLT  IN  THURINGIA.  [book  iv. 

its  birtli.  Men  who  had  the  courage  to  overturn  a  system 
supported  by  everything  which  can  command  respect  or 
reverence,  were  not  to  be  overawed  by  any  authority,  how 
great  or  venerable  soever.  After  having  been  accustomed 
to  consider  themselves  as  judges  of  the  most  important 
doctrines  in  religion,  to  examine  these  freely,  and  to  reject, 
without  scruple,  what  appeared  to  them  erroneous,  it  was 
natural  for  them  to  turn  the  same  daring  and  inquisitive 
eye  towards  government,  and  to  think  of  rectifying  what- 
ever disorders  or  imperfections  were  discovered  there.  As 
religious  abuses  had  been  reformed  in  several  places 
without  the  permission  of  the  magistrate,  it  was  an  easy 
transition  to  attempt  the  redress  of  political  grievances  in 
the  same  manner. 

No  sooner,  then,  did  the  spirit  of  revolt  break  out  in 
Thuringia,  a  province  subject  to  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the 
inhabitants  of  which  were  mostly  converts  to  Lutheranism, 
than  it  assumed  a  new  and  more  dangerous  form.  Thomas 
Muncer,  one  of  Luther's  disciples,  having  established  him- 
self in  that  country,  had  acquired  a  wonderful  ascendant 
over  the  minds  of  the  people.  He  propagated  among  them 
the  wildest  and  most  enthusiastic  notions,  but  such  as 
tended  manifestly  to  inspire  them  with  boldness,  and  lead 
them  to  sedition.  "  Luther,"  he  told  them,  "  had  done 
more  hurt  than  service  to  religion.  He  had,  indeed, 
rescued  the  church  from  the  yoke  of  popery,  but  his 
doctrines  encouraged,  and  his  life  set  an  example  of,  the 
utmost  licentiousness  of  manners.  In  order  to  avoid  vice 
(says  he),  men  must  practise  perpetual  mortification.  They 
nmst  put  on  a  grave  countenance,  speak  little,  wear  a  plain 
garb,  and  be  serious  in  their  whole  deportment.  Such  as 
prepare  their  hearts  in  this  manner,  may  expect  that  the 
Supreme  Being  will  direct  all  their  steps,  and  by  some  visible 
sign  discover  his  will  to  them ;  if  that  illumination  be  at 
any  time. withheld,  we  may  expostulate  with  the  Almighty, 
who   deals  with  us   so  harshly,  and  remind  him  of  his 


BOOK  IV.]  MUNCER  AND  HIS  TENETS.  405 

promises.  This  expostulation  and  anger  will  l)o  highly 
acceptable  to  God,  and  will  at  last  prevail  on  him  to  guide 
us  with  the  same  unerring  hand  which  conducted  the 
patriarchs  of  old.  Let  us  beware,  however,  of  offending 
him  by  our  arrogance ;  but  as  all  men  are  equal  in  his  eye, 
let  them  return  to  that  condition  of  equality  in  which  he 
formed  them,  and,  having  all  things  in  connnon,  let  them 
live  together  like  brethren,  without  any  marks  of  subordi- 
nation or  pre-eminence."  ^' 

Extravagant  as  these  tenets  were,  they  flattered  so  many 
passions  in  the  human  heart,  as  to  make  a  deep  impression. 
To  aim  at  nothing  more  than  abridging  the  power  of  the 
nobility,  w^as  now  considered  as  a  trifling  and  partial  refor- 
mation, not  worth  the  contending  for ;  it  Avas  proposed  to 
level  every  distinction  among  mankind,  and,  by  abolishing 
property,  to  reduce  them  to  their  natural  state  of  equality, 
in  which  aU  should  receive  their  subsistence  from  one 
common  stock.  Muncer  assured  them  that  the  design 
was  approved  of  by  heaven,  and  that  the  Almighty  had  in 
a  dream  ascertained  him  of  its  success.  The  peasants  set 
about  the  execution  of  it,  not  only  with  the  rage  which 
animated  those  of  their  order  in  other  parts  of  Germany, 
but  with  the  ardour  which  enthusiasm  inspires.  They 
deposed  the  magistrates  in  all  the  cities  of  which  they  were 
masters ;  seized  the  lands  of  the  nobles,  and  obliged  such 
of  them  as  they  got  into  their  hands,  to  put  on  the  dress 
commonly  worn  by  peasants,  and,  instead  of  their  former 
titles,  to  be  satisfied  with  the  appellation  given  to  people  in 
the  lowest  class  of  life.  Great  numbers  engaged  in  this 
wild  undertaking;  but  Muncer,  their  leader  and  their 
prophet,  was  destitute  of  the  abilities  necessary  for  con- 
ducting it.  He  had  all  the  extravagance,  but  not  the 
courage,  which  enthusiasts  usually  possess.  It  was  with 
difficulty  he  could  be  persuaded  to  take  the  field ;  and 
though  he  soon  drew  together  eight  thousand  men,  he 
*'  Seckeud.  lib.  ii.  p.  13.     Slcid.  Hist.  p.  83. 


406  DEFEAT  AND  CAPTURE  OE  MUNCER.  [book  iv. 

suffered  himself  to  be  surrounded  by  a  body  of  cavalry 
under  the  command  of  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the  landgrave 
of  Hesse,  and  the  duke  of  Brunswick,  These  princes, 
unwilling  to  shed  the  blood  of  their  deluded  subjects,  sent 
a  young  nobleman  to  theii*  camp,  with  the  offer  of  a 
general  pardon,  if  they  would  immediately  lay  down  their 
arms,  and  deliver  up  the  authors  of  the  sedition.  Muncer, 
alarmed  at  this,  began  to  harangue  his  followers  with  his 
usual  vehemence,  exhorting  them  not  to  trust  these  deceitful 
promises  of  their  oppressors,  nor  to  desert  the  cause  of  God 
and  of  Christian  liberty. 

But  the  sense  of  present  danger  making  a  deeper  impres- 
sion on  the  peasants  than  his  eloquence,  confusion  and 
terror  were  visible  on  every  face,  when  a  rainbow,  which 
was  the  emblem  that  the  mutineers  had  painted  on  their 
colours,  happening  to  appear  in  the  clouds,  Muncer,  with 
admirable  presence  of  mind,  laid  hold  of  that  incident,  and 
suddenly  raising  his  eyes  and  hands  towards  heaven, 
"  Behold,"  cries  he,  with  an  elevated  voice,  "  the  sign 
which  God  has  given.  There  is  the  pledge  of  your  safety, 
and  a  token  that  the  wicked  shall  be  destroyed."  The 
fanatical  multitude  set  up  instantly  a  great  shout,  as  if 
victory  had  been  certain ;  and  passing  in  a  moment  from 
one  extreme  to  another,  massacred  the  unfortunate  noble- 
man who  had  come  with  the  offer  of  pardon,  and  demanded 
to  be  led  towards  the  enemy.  The  princes,  enraged  at 
this  shocking  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  advanced  with 
no  less  impetuosity,  and  began  the  attack ;  but  the  be- 
haviour of  the  peasants  in  the  combat  was  not  such  as 
might  have  been  expected,  either  from  their  ferocity  or 
confidence  of  success ;  an  undisciplined  rabble  was  no 
equal  match  for  well-trained  troops ;  above  five  thousand 
were  slain  in  the  field,  almost  without  making  resistance ; 
the  rest  fled,  and  among  the  foremost  Muncer  their  general. 
He  was  taken  next  day,  and  being  condemned  to  such 
punishments  as  his  crimes  had  deserved,  he  suffered  them 


BOOK  IV.]  CONDUCT  OF  LL'TIIER.  40/ 

with  a  poor  and  dastardly  spirit.  His  death  put  an  end  to 
the  insurrections  of  the  peasants,  which  had  filled  Germany 
with  such  terrors  ;^-  but  the  enthusiastic  notions  which  he 
had  scattered  were  not  extirpated,  and  produced,  not  long 
after,  effects  more  memorable  as  well  as  more  extravagant. 

During  these  commotions,  Luther  acted  with  exemplary 
prudence  and  moderation,  like  a  common  parent,  solicitous 
about  the  welfare  of  both  parties,  without  sparing  the  faults 
or  errors  of  either.  On  the  one  hand,  he  addressed  a 
monitory  discourse  to  the  nobles,  exhorting  them  to  treat 
their  dependents  with  greater  hiunanity  and  indulgence. 
On  the  other,  he  severely  censured  the  seditious  spirit  of 
the  peasants,  advising  them  not  to  murmur  at  hardships 
inseparable  from  their  condition,  nor  to  seek  for  redress 
by  any  but  legal  means. ''^ 

Luther's  famous  marriage  with  Catherine  a  Boria,  a  nun 
of  a  noble  family,  who,  having  thrown  off  the  veil,  had  fled 
from  the  cloister,  happened  this  year,  and  was  far  from 
meeting  \a  ith  the  same  approbation.  Even  his  most  devoted 
followers  thought  this  step  indecent,  at  a  time  when  his 
country  was  involved  in  so  many  calamities ;  while  his 
enemies  never  mentioned  it  with  any  softer  appellation 
than  that  of  incestuous  or  profane.  Luther  himself  was 
sensible  of  the  impression  which  it  had  made  to  his  disad- 
vantage ;  but  being  satisfied  with  his  own  conduct,  he  bore 
the  censure  of  his  friends,  and  the  reproaches  of  his  adver- 
saries, wdth  his  usual  fortitude."** 

This  year  the  reformation  lost  its  first  protector,  Frederic, 
elector  of  Saxony ;  but  the  blow  was  the  less  sensibly  felt, 
as  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  John,  a  more  avowed 
and  zealous,  though  less  able  patron  of  Luther  and  his 
doctrines. 

Another  event  happened  about  the  same  time,  which, 

«  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  S4.     Seckend.  lib.  «  Sleid.  Hist  p.  87. 

ii.  p.  12.     Gnodulius,  Tumult.   Rus-  **  Seckend.  lib.  ii.  p.  15. 

tican.  p.  155. 


408  PRUSSIA  WRESTED  FROM  [book  iv. 

as  it  occasioned  a  considerable  change  in  the  state  of 
Germany,  must  be  traced  back  to  its  source.  While  the 
frenzy  of  the  crusades  possessed  all  Europe  during  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  several  orders  of  religious 
knighthood  were  founded  in  defence  of  the  Christian  faith 
against  heathens  and  infidels.  Among  these,  the  Teutonic 
order  in  Germany  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious,  the 
knights  of  which  distinguished  themselves  greatly  in  all 
the  enterprises  carried  on  in  the  Holy  Land.  Being  driven 
at  last  from  their  settlements  in  the  East,  they  were  obliged 
to  return  to  their  native  country.  Their  zeal  and  valour 
Avere  too  impetuous  to  remain  long  inactive  :  they  invaded, 
on  very  slight  pretences,  the  province  of  Prussia,  the  inha- 
bitants of  which  were  still  idolaters  ;  and,  having  completed 
the  conquest  of  it  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tuiy,  held  it  piany  years  as  a  fief  depending  on  the  crown 
of  Poland.  Fierce  contests  arose,  during  this  period, 
between  the  grand-masters  of  the  order  and  the  kings  of 
Poland ;  the  former  struggling  for  independence,  while  the 
latter  asserted  their  right  of  sovereignty  with  great  firm- 
ness. Albert,  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Brandenburg,  who 
was  elected  grand-master  in  the  year  one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  eleven,  engaged  keenly  in  this  quarrel,  and 
maintained  a  long  war  with  Sigismund,  king  of  Poland ;  but 
having  become  an  early  convert  to  Luther's  doctrines,  this 
gradually  lessened  his  zeal  for  the  interests  of  his  fraternity, 
so  that  he  took  the  opportunity  of  the  confusions  in  the 
empire,  and  the  absence  of  the  emperor,  to  conclude  a 
treaty  with  Sigismund,  greatly  to  his  own  private  emolu- 
ment. By  it,  that  part  of  Prussia  which  belonged  to  the 
Teutonic  order  was  erected  into  a  secular  and  hereditary 
duchy,  and  the  investiture  of  it  granted  to  Albert,  who, 
in  return,  bound  himself  to  do  homage  for  it  to  the  kings  of 
Poland  as  their  vassal.  Immediately  after  this,  he  made 
public  profession  of  the  reformed  religion,  and  married  a 
jn'incess  of  Denmark.     The  Teutonic  knights  exclaimed  so 


BOOK  IV.]  THE  TEUTONIC  ORDER.  409 

loudly  against  the  treachery  of  their  grand-master,  that  he 
was  put  under  the  ban  of  the  empire ;  but  he  still  kc\)t 
possession  of  the  province  which  he  had  usurped,  and 
transmitted  it  to  his  posterity.  In  process  of  time,  this 
rich  inheritance  fell  to  the  electoral  branch  of  the  family ; 
all  dependence  on  the  crown  of  Poland  was  shaken  off;  and 
the  margraves  of  Brandenburg,  having  assumed  the  title  of 
kings  of  Prussia,  have  not  only  risen  to  an  equality  with  the 
first  princes  in  Germany,  but  take  their  rank  among  the 
great  monarchs  of  Europe. ^^ 

Upon  the  return  of  the  French  king  to  his  dominions, 
the  eyes  of  all  the  powers  in  Europe  were  fixed  upon  him, 
that,  by  observing  his  first  motions,  they  might  form  a 
judgment  concerning  his  subsequent  conduct.  They  were 
not  held  long  in  suspense.  Francis,  as  soon  as  he  arrived 
at  Bayonne,  wrote  to  the  king  of  England,  thanking  him 
for  the  zeal  and  affection  wherewith  he  had  interposed  in 
his  favour,  to  which  he  acknowledged  that  he  owed  the 
recovery  of  his  liberty.  Next  day,  the  emperor's  ambas- 
sadors demanded  audience,  and,  in  their  master's  name, 
required  him  to  issue  such  orders  as  were  necessary  for 
carrying  the  treaty  of  Madrid  into  immediate  and  full 
execution  ;  he  coldly  answered,  that  though,  for  his  own 
part,  he  determined  religiously  to  perform  all  that  he  had 
promised,  the  treaty  contained  so  many  articles  relative  not 
to  himself  alone,  but  affecting  the  interests  of  the  French 
monarchy,  that  he  could  not  take  any  farther  step  without 
consulting  the  states  of  his  kingdom,  and  that  some  time 
would  be  necessary,  in  order  to  reconcile  their  minds  to  the 
hard  conditions  which  he  had  consented  to  ratify. '*''  This 
reply  was  considered  as  no  obscure  discovery  of  his  being 
resolved  to  elude  the  treaty ;  and  the  compliment  paid  to 
Henry  appeared  a  very  proper  step  towards  securing  the 
assistance  of  that  monarch  in  the  war  with  the  emperor, 

*"  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  98.     PfefFcl,  Abrcgc  de  I'Hist.  du  Droit  Publ.  pp.  G05,  &c. 
'''  Mem.  de  Bellaj,  p.  97. 


410  FIRST  MEASURES  OE  FRANCIS.  [book  i v. 

to  which  such  a  resolution  would  certainly  give  rise.  These 
circumstances,  added  to  the  explicit  declarations  which 
Francis  made  in  secret  to  the  ambassadors  from  several  of 
the  Italian  powers,  fully  satisfied  them  that  their  conjectures 
with  regard  to  his  conduct  had  been  just,  and  that  instead 
of  intending  to  execute  an  unreasonable  treaty,  he  was  eager 
to  seize  the  first  opportunity  of  revenging  those  injuries 
which  had  compelled  him  to  feign  an  approbation  of  it. 
Even  the  doubts,  and  fears,  and  scruples,  which  used,  on 
other  occasions,  to  hold  Clement  in  a  state  of  uncertainty, 
were  dissipated  by  Francis's  seeming  impatience  to  break 
through  all  his  engagements  with  the  emperor.  The  situa- 
tion, indeed,  of  affairs  in  Italy  at  that  time  did  not  allow 
the  pope  to  hesitate  long.  Sforza  was  still  besieged  by  the 
imperialists  in  the  castle  of  jMilan.  That  feeble  prince, 
deprived  now  of  Morone's  advice,  and  unprovided  with 
everything  necessary  for  defence,  found  means  to  inform 
Clement  and  the  Venetians  that  he  must  soon  surrender, 
if  they  did  not  come  to  his  relief.  The  imperial  troops, 
as  they  had  received  no  pay  since  the  battle  of  Pavia,  lived 
at  discretion  in  the  Milanese,  levying  such  exorbitant  con- 
tributions in  that  duchy  as  amounted,  if  we  may  rely  on 
Guicciardini's  calculation,  to  no  less  a  sum  than  five  thou- 
sand ducats  a  day  f  nor  was  it  to  be  doubted  but  that 
the  soldiers,  as  soon  as  the  castle  should  submit,  would 
choose  to  leave  a  ruined  country,  which  hardly  afforded 
them  subsistence,  that  they  might  take  possession  of  more 
comfortable  quarters  in  the  fertile  and  untouched  territories 
of  the  pope  and  Venetians.  The  assistance  of  the  French 
king  was  the  only  thing  which  could  either  save  Sforza,  or 
enable  them  to  protect  their  own  dominions  from  the  insults 
of  the  imperial  troops. 

For  these  reasons  the  pope,  the  Venetians,  and  duke  of 
Milan,  were  equally  impatient  to  come  to  an  agreement 
with  Francis,  who,  on  his  part,  was  no  less  desirous  of 

-■'  Guic.  lib.  xvii.  360. 


BOOK  IV.]  LEAGUE  AGAINST  THE  EMPEROR,  411 

acquiring  such  a  considerable  accession  both  of  strength 
and  reputation  as  such  a  confederacy  wouhl  bring  along 
with  it.  The  chief  objects  of  this  alliance,  which  was  coii- 
cluded  at  Cognac  on  the  twenty-second  of  May,  though 
kept  secret  for  some  time,  were  to  oblige  the  emperor  to 
set  at  liberty  the  Prencli  king's  sons  upon  payment  of 
a  reasonable  ransom,  and  to  re-establish  Sforza  in  the  quiet 
possession  of  the  Milanese.  If  Charles  should  refuse  either 
of  these,  the  contracting  parties  bound  themselves  to  bring 
into  the  field  an  army  of  thirty-five  thousand  men,  with 
which,  after  driving  the  Spaniards  out  of  the  Milanese, 
they  would  attack  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  The  king  of 
England  was  declared  protector  of  this  league,  which  they 
dignified  with  the  name  of  holy,  because  the  pope  was  at 
the  head  of  it ;  and  in  order  to  allure  Henry  more  effec- 
tually, a  principality  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  of  thirty 
thousand  ducats'  yearly  revenue,  was  to  be  settled  on  him ; 
and  lands  to  the  value  of  ten  thousand  ducats  on  Wolsey, 
his  favomite.^^ 

No  sooner  was  this  league  concluded  than  Clement,  by 
the  plenitude  of  his  papal  power,  absolved  Francis  from  the 
oath  which  he  had  taken  to  observe  the  treaty  of  Madrid.'*' 
This  right,  how  pernicious  soever  in  its  effects,  and  destruc- 
tive of  that  integrity  which  is  the  basis  of  all  transactions 
among  men,  was  the  natural  consequence  of  the  powers 
which  the  popes  arrogated  as  the  infallible  vicegerents  of 
Christ  upon  earth.  But  as,  in  virtue  of  this  pretended 
prerogative,  they  had  often  dispensed  with  obligations 
which  were  held  sacred,  the  interest  of  some  men,  and  the 
credulity  of  others,  led  them  to  imagine  that  the  decisions 
of  a  sovereign  pontiff"  authorized  or  justified  actions  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  criminal  and  impious. 

The  discovery  of  Francis's  intention  to  elude  the  treaty 
of  Madrid,  filled  the  emperor  with  a  variety  of  disquieting 

«  P.  Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  ix-  cli.  «  Goldast.  Polit.  Imperial,  p.  1002. 

3,  p.  217.     Recucil  des  Trait,  ii.  12i.      Pallav.  Hist.  p.  70. 


412  THE  EMrEROR'S  ALARM.  [book  iv. 

tliouglits.  He  had  treated  an  unfortunate  prince  in  the 
most  ungenerous  manner ;  he  had  displayed  an  insatiable 
ambition  in  all  his  negotiations  with  his  prisoner  ;  he  knew 
what  censures  the  former  had  drawn  upon  him,  and  what 
apprehensions  the  latter  had  excited  in  every  court  of 
Europe ;  nor  had  he  reaped  from  the  measures  which  he 
pursued  any  of  those  advantages  which  politicians  are  apt 
to  consider  as  an  excuse  for  the  most  criminal  conduct,  and 
a  compensation  for  the  severest  reproaches.  Francis  was 
now  out  of  his  hands,  and  not  one  of  all  the  mighty  con- 
sequences which  he  had  expected  from  the  treaty  that  set 
him  at  hberty  was  likely  to  take  place.  His  rashness  in 
relying  so  far  on  his  own  judgment  as  to  trust  to  the 
sincerity  of  the  French  king,  in  opposition  to  the  sentiments 
of  his  wisest  ministers,  was  now  apparent ;  and  he  easily 
conjectured  that  the  same  confederacy,  the  dread  of  which 
had  induced  him  to  set  Francis  at  liberty,  would  now  be 
formed  against  him,  with  that  gallant  and  incensed  monarch 
at  its  head.  Self-condemnation  and  shame  on  account  of 
what  was  past,  with  anxious  apprehensions  concerning 
what  might  happen,  were  the  necessary  result  of  these 
reflections  on  his  own  conduct  and  situation.  Charles, 
however,  was  naturally  firm  and  inflexible  in  all  his  mea- 
sures. To  have  receded  suddenly  from  any  article  in  the 
treaty  of  Madrid,  would  have  been  a  plain  confession  of 
imprudence,  and  a  palpable  symptom  of  fear;  he  deter- 
mined, therefore,  that  it  was  most  suitable  to  his  dignity 
to  insist,  whatever  might  be  the  consequences,  on  the  strict 
execution  of  the  treaty,  and  particularly  not  to  accept  of 
anything  which  might  be  off'ered  as  an  equivalent  for  the 
restitution  of  Burgundy.^" 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  he  appointed  Lannoy 

and  Alarcon  to  repair,  as  his  ambassadors,  to  the  court  of 

France,  and  formally  to  summon  the  king,  either  to  execute 

the  treaty  with  the  sincerity  that  became  him,  or  to  return, 

=0  Guic.  lib.  xvii.  36G. 


BOOK  IV.]  HIS  MESSAGE  TO  FRANCIS.  413 

according  to  his  oath,  a  prisoner  to  Madrid.  Instead  of 
giving  them  an  immediate  answer,  Francis  admitted  the 
deputies  of  the  states  of  Burgundy  to  an  audience  in  their 
presence.  They  humbly  represented  to  him  that  he  had 
exceeded  the  powers  vested  in  a  king  of  Trance  when  he 
consented  to  ahenate  their  country  from  the  crown,  the 
domains  of  which  he  w^as  bound  by  his  coronation-oath 
to  preserve  entire  and  unimpaired.  Francis,  in  return, 
thanked  them  for  their  attachment  to  his  crow^n,  and 
entreated  them,  though  very  faintly,  to  remember  the  obli- 
gations which  he  lay  under  to  fulfil  his  engagements  with 
the  emperor.  The  deputies,  assuming  a  higher  tone, 
declared  that  they  would  not  obey  commands  which  they 
considered  as  illegal ;  and  if  he  should  abandon  them  to 
the  enemies  of  France,  they  had  resolved  to  defend  them- 
selves to  the  best  of  their  power,  with  a  firm  purpose  rather 
to  perish  than  submit  to  a  foreign  dominion.  Upon  which 
Francis,  turning  towards  the  imperial  ambassadors,  repre- 
sented to  them  the  impossibility  of  performing  what  he 
had  undertaken,  and  oiFered,  in  lieu  of  Burgundy,  to  pay 
the  emperor  two  millions  of  crowns.  The  viceroy  and 
Alarcon,  who  easily  perceived  that  the  scene  to  which  they 
had  been  witnesses  was  concerted  between  the  king  and 
his  subjects  in  order  to  impose  upon  them,  signified  to 
him  their  master's  fixed  resolution  not  to  depart  in  the 
smallest  point  from  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  and  withdrew.^' 
Before  they  left  the  kingdom,  they  had  the  mortification  to 
hear  the  holy  league  against  the  emperor  published  with 
great  solemnity. 

Charles  no  sooner  received  an  account  of  this  confede- 
racy, than  he  exclaimed,  in  the  most  public  manner,  and 
in  the  harshest  terms,  against  Francis,  as  a  prince  void  of 
faith  and  of  honour.  He  complained  no  less  of  Clement, 
whom  he  solicited  in  vain  to  abandon  his  new  allies  ;  he 
accused  him  of  ingratitude ;  he  taxed  him  with  an  ambi- 
tion   unbecoming   his  cliaracter;  he   threatened  him,  not 

"  Bclcar.  Comment,  cle  llcb.  Gal.  p.  573.     Mem.  dc  Bellay,  p.  97. 


414  FEEBLE  OPERATIONS  OF  [book  iv. 

only  with  all  the  vengeance  which  the  power  of  an  emperor 
can  inflict,  but,  by  appealing  to  a  general  council,  called 
u]i  before  his  eyes  all  the  terrors  arising  from  the  authority 
of  those  assemblies  so  formidable  to  the  papal  see.  It  was 
necessary,  however,  to  oppose  something  else  than  reproaches 
and  threats  to  the  powerful  combination  formed  against 
him ;  and  the  emperor,  prompted  by  so  many  passions, 
did  not  fail  to  exert  himself  with  unusual  vigour,  in  order 
to  send  supplies,  not  only  of  men,  but  of  money,  which 
was  still  more  needed,  into  Italy. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  efforts  of  the  confederates  bore 
no  proportion  to  that  animosity  against  the  emperor  with. 
which  they  seemed  to  enter  into  the  holy  league.     Francis, 
it  was  thought,  would  have  infused  spirit  and  vigour  into 
the  whole  body.     He  had  his  lost  honour  to  repair,  many 
injuries  to  revenge,  and  the  station  among  the  princes  of 
Europe,  from  which  he  had  fallen,  to  recover.     From  all 
these  powerful  incitements,  added  to  the  natural  impetuosity 
of  his  temper,  a  war  more  fierce  and  bloody  than  any  that 
he  had  hitherto  made  upon  his  rival,  was  expected.     But 
Francis  had  gone  through  such  a  scene  of  distress,  and  the 
impression  it  had  made  was  still  so  fresh  in  his  memory, 
that  he  was  become  diffident  himself,  distrustful  of  fortune, 
and  desirous  of  tranquillity.     To  procure  the  release  of  his 
sons,  and  to  avoid  the  restitution  of  Burgundy  by  paying 
some  reasonable  equivalent,  were  his  chief  objects ;   and 
for  the  sake  of  these,  he  would  willingly  have  sacrificed 
Sforza  and  the  hberties  of  Italy  to  the  emperor.     He  flat- 
tered himself  that  the  dread  of  the  confederacy  which  he 
had  formed  would  of  itself  induce  Charles  to  listen  to  what 
was   equitable  ;  and   was  afraid  of  employing  any  consi- 
derable force  for  the  relief  of  the  Milanese,  lest  his  allies, 
whom  he  had  often  found  to  be  more  attentive  to  their  own 
interest  than  punctual  in  fulfilling  their  engagements,  should 
abandon  him  as  soon  as  the  imperialists  were  driven  oat 
of  that  country,   and   deprive    his   negotiations  with  the 
emperor  of  that  weight  which  they  derived  from  his  being 


BOOK  IV.]  THE  CONFEDEILiTES.    ^  415 

at  the  head  of  a  powerful  league.  In  the  meantime  the 
castle  of  Milan  was  pressed  more  closely  than  ever,  and 
Sforza  was  now  reduced  to  the  last  extremity.  The  pope 
and  Venetians,  trusting  to  Francis's  concurrence,  com- 
manded their  troops  to  take  the  field  in  order  to  relieve 
him,  and  an  army  more  than  sufficient  for  that  service  was 
soon  formed.  The  IMilanese,  passionately  attached  to  their 
unfortunate  duke,  and  no  less  exasperated  against  the  impe- 
rialists, who  had  oppressed  them  so  cruelly,  were  ready  to 
aid  the  confederates  in  all  their  enterprises.  But  the  duke 
d'Urbino,  their  general,  naturally  slow  and  indecisive,  and 
restrained,  besides,  by  his  ancient  enmity  to  the  family  of 
Medici  from  taking  any  step  that  might  aggrandize  or  add 
reputation  to  the  pope,*^  lost  some  opportunities  of  attack- 
ing the  imperialists  and  raising  the  siege,  and  refused  to 
improve  others.  These  delays  gave  Bourbon  time  to  bring 
up  a  reinforcement  of  fresh  troops  and  a  supply  of  money. 
He  immediately  took  the  command  of  the  army,  and  pushed 
on  the  siege  with  such  vigour,  as  quickly  obliged  Sforza  to 
surrender,  who,  retiring  to  Lodi,  which  the  confederates 
had  surprised,  left  Bourbon  in  full  possession  of  the  rest  of 
the  duchy,  the  investiture  of  which  the  emperor  had  pro- 
mised to  grant  him.^^ 

The  Italians  began  now  to  perceive  the  game  which 
Francis  had  played,  and  to  be  sensible  that,  notwithstanding 
all  their  address  and  refinem.ents  in  negotiation,  which  they 
boasted  of  as  talents  peculiarly  their  own,  they  had  for 
once  been  over-reached  in  those  very  arts  by  a  tramontane 
prince.  He  had  hitherto  thrown  almost  the  whole  burden 
of  the  war  upon  them,  taking  advantage  of  their  efforts,  in 
order  to  enforce  the  proposals  which  he  often  renewed  at 
the  court  of  Madrid  for  obtaining  the  liberty  of  his  sons. 
The  pope  and  Venetians  expostulated  and  complained  ;^* 

^2  Guic.  lib.  xvii.  p.  382.  •^■»  Kiiscelli,  Lettere  dc'  Principi,  ii. 

53  Id.  ibid.  pp.  370,  &c.  pp.  157,  &c.  159,  100— IGG. 


416  MEASURES  OF  THE  IMPERLiLISTS.  [book  iv. 

but  as  they  were  not  able  to  rouse  Prancis  from  his  inac- 
tivity, their  own  zeal  and  vigour  gradually  abated ;  and 
Clement,  having  already  gone  farther  than  his  timidity 
usually  permitted  him,  began  to  accuse  himself  of  rash- 
ness, and  to  relapse  into  his  natural  state  of  doubt  and 
uncertainty. 

All  the  emperor's  motions,  depending  on  himself  alone, 
were  more  brisk  and  better  concerted.  The  narrowness 
of  his  revenues,  indeed,  did  not  allow  him  to  make  any 
sudden  or  great  effort  in  the  field,  but  he  abundantly  sup- 
plied that  defect  by  his  intrigues  and  negotiations.  The 
family  of  Colonna,  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  Roman 
barons,  had  adhered  uniformly  to  the  Ghibelline  or  imperial 
faction,  during  those  fierce  contentions  between  the  popes 
and  emperors  which,  for  several  ages,  filled  Italy  and  Ger- 
many with  discord  and  bloodshed.  Though  the  causes 
which  at  first  gave  birth  to  these  destructive  factions 
existed  no  longer,  and  the  rage  with  which  they  had  been 
animated  was  in  a  great  measure  spent,  the  Colonnas  still 
retained  their  attachment  to  the  imperial  interest,  and,  by 
placing  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  emperors, 
secured  the  quiet  possession  of  their  own  territories  and 
privileges.  The  Cardinal  Pompeo  Colonna,  a  man  of  a 
tm'bulent  and  ambitious  temper,  at  that  time  the  head  of 
the  family,  had  long  been  Clement's  rival,  to  whose  influ- 
ence in  the  last  conclave  he  imputed  the  disappointment  of 
all  his  schemes  for  attaining  the  papal  dignity,  of  which, 
from  his  known  connexion  with  the  emperor,  he  thought 
himself  secure.  To  an  aspiring  mind,  this  was  an  injury 
too  great  to  be  forgiven ;  and  though  he  had  dissembled 
his  resentment  so  far  as  to  vote  for  Clement  at  his  election, 
and  to  accept  of  great  offices  in  his  court,  he  waited  with 
the  utmost  impatience  for  an  opportunity  of  being  revenged. 
Don  Hugo  de  Moncada,  the  imperial  ambassador  at  Rome, 
who  was  no  stranger  to  these  sentiments,  easily  persuaded 
him  that  now  was  the  time,  while  all  the  papal  troops  were 


BOOK  IV.]  THE  COLONNAS  MASTERS  OF  ROME.  417 

employed  in  Lombardy,  to  attempt  something,  wliicli  would 
at  once  avenge  his  own  wrongs,  and  be  of  essential  service 
to  the  emperor,  his  patron.  The  pope,  however,  whose 
timidity  rendered  him  qnick-sighted,  was  so  attentive  to 
their  operations,  and  began  to  be  alarmed  so  early,  that  he 
might  have  drawn  together  troops  sufficient  to  have  discon- 
certed all  Colonna's  measures.  But  Moncada  amused  him 
so  artfully  with  negotiations,  promises,  and  false  intelligence, 
that  he  lulled  asleep  all  his  suspicions,  and  prevented  his 
taking  any  of  the  precautions  necessary  for  his  safety ;  and, 
to  the  disgrace  of  a  prince  possessed  of  great  power,  as  well 
as  renowned  for  political  wisdom,  Colonna,  at  the  head  of 
three  thousand  men,  seized  one  of  the  gates  of  his  capital, 
while  he,  imagining  himself  to  be  in  perfect  security,  was 
altogether  unprepared  for  resisting  such  a  feeble  enemy. 
The  inhabitants  of  Rome  permitted  Colonna's  troops,  from 
wdiom  they  apprehended  no  injury,  to  advance  without 
opposition  ;  the  pope's  guards  w^re  dispersed  in  a  moment ; 
and  Clement  himself,  terrified  at  the  danger,  ashamed  of 
his  own  credulity,  and  deserted  by  almost  every  person, 
fled  with  precipitation  into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  wdiich 
was  immediately  invested.  The  palace  of  the  Vatican,  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  houses  of  the  pope's  ministers 
and  servants,  were  plundered  in  the  most  licentious  manner. 
The  rest  of  the  city  was  left  unmolested.  Clement,  destitute 
of  everything  necessary  either  for  subsistence  or  defence, 
was  soon  obliged  to  demand  a  capitulation;  and  IMoncada 
being  admitted  into  the  castle,  prescribed  to  him,  with  all 
the  haughtiness  of  a  conqueror,  conditions  which  it  Avas  not 
in  his  power  to  reject.  The  chief  of  these  was,  that  Clement 
should  not  only  grant  a  full  pardon  to  the  Colonnas,  but 
receive  them  into  favour,  and  immediately  withdraw  all  the 
troops  in  his  pay  from  the  army  of  the  confederates  in 
Lombardy." 

**  Jovii  Vita  Pomp.  Colon.   Guic.  lib.  xvii.  p.  407.    Ruscclli,  Lettere  de' 
Principi,  i.  10 i. 

VOL.  I.  E  E 


418  THE  IMPERIAL  ARMY  HEINFOECED.         [book  iv. 

The  Colonnas,  who  talked  of  nothing  less  than  of  deposing 
Clement,  and  of  placing  Pompeo,  their  kinsman,  in  the 
vacant  chair  of  St,  Peter,  exclaimed  loudly  against  a  treaty 
which  left  them  at  the  mercy  of  a  pontiff  justly  incensed 
against  them.  But  Moncada,  attentive  only  to  his  master's 
interest,  paid  little  regard  to  their  complaints,  and,  by 
tliis  fortunate  measure,  broke  entirely  the  power  of  the 
confederates. 

While  the  army  of  the  confederates  suffered  such  a  con- 
siderable diminution,  the  imperialists  received  two  great 
reinforcements ;  one  from  Spain,  under  the  command  of 
Lannoy  and  Alarcon,  which  amounted  to  six  thousand 
men  ;  the  other  was  raised  in  the  empire  by  George  Fron- 
sperg,  a  German  nobleman,  who,  having  served  in  Italy 
with  great  reputation,  had  acquired  such  influence  and 
popularity,  that  multitudes  of  his  countrymen,  fond  on  every 
occasion  of  engaging  in  military  enterprises,  and  impatient 
at  that  juncture  to  escape  from  the  oppression  which  they 
felt  in  religious  as  well  as  civil  matters,  crowded  to  his 
standard ;  so  that,  without  any  other  gratuity  than  the 
payment  of  a  crown  to  each  man,  fourteen  thousand  enlisted 
in  his  service.  To  these  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  added 
two  thousand  horse,  levied  in  the  Austrian  dominions.  But 
although  the  emperor  had  raised  troops,  he  coidd  not  remit 
the  sums  necessary  for  their  support.  His  ordinary  revenues 
were  exhausted  ;  the  credit  of  princes,  during  the  infancy 
of  commerce,  was  not  extensive ;  and  the  cortes  of  Castile, 
though  every  art  had  been  tried  to  gain  them,  and  some 
innovations  had  been  made  in  the  constitution,  in  order  to 
secure  their  concurrence,  peremptorily  refused  to  grant 
Charles  any  extraordinary  supply  j^*^  so  that  the  more  his 
army  increased  in  number  the  more  were  his  generals 
embarrassed  and  distressed.  Bourbon,  in  particular,  was 
involved  in  such  difficulties,  that  he  stood  in  need  of  all  his 
address  and  courage  in  order  to  extricate  himself.     Large 

^«  Saudov.  i.  814. 


BooKiY.]  STATE  OF  THE  EMPEROH'S  FINANCES.  419 

sums  were  due  to  the  Spanish  troops  already  in  the  ]\Iihinese, 
when  Fronsperg  arrived  with  sixteen  thousand  hungry  Ger- 
mans, destitute  of  everything.  Both  made  their  demands 
with  equal  fierceness ;  the  former  claiming  their  arrears,  and 
the  latter  the  pay  which  had  been  promised  them  on  their 
entering  Lombardy.  Bourbon  was  altogether  incapable  of 
giving  satisfaction  to  either.  In  this  situation  he  was  con- 
strained to  commit  acts  of  violence  extremely  shocking  to 
his  own  nature,  which  was  generous  and  humane.  He 
seized  the  principal  citizens  of  Milan,  and  by  threats,  and 
even  by  torture,  forced  from  them  a  considerable  sum  ;  he 
rifled  the  churches  of  all  their  plate  and  ornaments ;  the 
inadequate  supply  which  these  afl'orded  he  distributed 
among  the  soldiers,  with  so  many  soothing  expressions  of 
his  sympatliy  and  affection,  th-t,  though  it  fell  far  short  of 
the  sums  due  to  them,  it  appeased  their  present  murmurs." 
Among  other  expedients  for  raising  money,  Bourbon 
granted  his  life  and  liberty  to  Morone,  who,  having  been 
kept  in  prison  since  his  intrigue  Avith  Pescara,  had  been 
condemned  to  die  by  the  Spanish  judges  empowered  to  try 
him.  For  this  remission  he  paid  twenty  thousand  ducats ; 
and  such  were  his  singular  talents,  and  the  wonderful 
ascendant  which  he  always  acquired  over  the  minds  of 
those  to  whom  he  had  access,  that,  in  a  few  days,  from 
being  Bourbon's  prisoner,  he  became  his  prime  confidant, 
with  whom  he  consulted  in  all  affairs  of  importance.  To 
his  insinuations  must  be  imputed  the  suspicions  which 
Bourbon  began  to  entertain,  that  the  emperor  had  never 
intended  to  grant  him  the  investiture  of  Milan,  but  liad 
appointed  Leyva,  and  the  other  Spanish  generals,  rather  to 
be  spies  on  his  conduct,  than  to  cooperate  heartily  towards 
the  execution  of  his  schemes.  To  liim  likewise,  as  he  still 
retained,  at  the  age  of  fourscore,  all  the  enterprising  spirit 
of  youth,  may  be  attributed  the  bold  and  unexpected  measm'e 
on  which  Bourbon  soon  after  ventured. ^^ 

"  Ripaniond.  Hist.  Mediol.  lib.  ix.  p.  717.  ^^  Guic.  lib.  xvii.  p.  II 'J. 

E  E  2 


420  BOURBON  MARCHES  TO  INVADE  [book  iv. 

Such,  indeed,  were  tlie  exigencies  of  the  imperial  troops 
in  the  Milanese,  that  it  became  indispensably  necessary  to 
take  some  immediate  step  for  their  relief.  The  arrears  of 
the  soldiers  increased  daily ;  the  emperor  made  no  remit- 
tances to  his  generals ;  and  the  utmost  rigour  of  military 
extortion  could  draw  nothing  more  from  a  country  entirely 
drained  and  ruined.  In  this  situation  there  was  no  choice 
left,  but  either  to  disband  the  army,  or  to  march  for  sub- 
sistence into  the  enemy's  country.  The  territories  of  the 
Venetians  lay  nearest  at  hand ;  but  they,  with  their  usual 
foresight  and  prudence,  had  taken  such  precautions  as 
secured  them  from  any  insult.  Nothing,  therefore,  remained 
but  to  invade  the  dominions  of  the  Church,  or  of  the  Floren- 
tines ;  and  Clement  had  of  late  acted  such  a  part  as  merited 
the  severest  vengeance  from  the  emperor.  No  sooner  did 
the  papal  troops  return  to  Rome  after  the  insurrection  of 
the  Colonnas,  than,  without  paying  any  regard  to  the  treaty 
with  Moncada,  he  degraded  the  Cardinal  Colonna,  excom- 
municated the  rest  of  the  family,  seized  their  places  of 
strength,  and  wasted  their  lands  with  all  the  cruelty  which 
the  smart  of  a  recent  injury  naturally  excites.  After  this 
he  turned  his  arms  against  Naples,  and  as  his  operations 
were  seconded  by  the  French  fleet,  he  made  some  progress 
towards  the  conquest  of  that  kingdom  ;  the  viceroy  being 
no  less  destitute  than  the  other  imperial  generals  of  the 
money  requisite  for  a  vigorous  defence.^'' 

[1527.]  These  proceedings  of  the  pope  justified,  in  ap- 
pearance, the  measures  which  Bourbon's  situation  rendered 
necessary ;  and  he  set  about  executing  them  under  such  dis- 
advantages as  furnish  the  strongest  proof  both  of  the  despair 
to  which  he  was  reduced,  and  of  the  greatness  of  his  abili- 
ties, which  were  able  to  surmount  so  many  obstacles. 
Flaving  committed  the  government  of  Milan  to  Leyva, 
whom  he  was  not  unwilling  to  leave  behind,  he  began  his 
march  in  the  depth  of  winter,  at  the  head  of  twenty-five 

*^  Jovii  Vita  Pomp.  Colon.    Guic.  lib.  xviii.  p.  424. 


BOOK  IV.]  THE  POPE'S  TERRITOHIES.  421 

thousand  men,  composed  of  nations  differing  from  each  other 
in  language  and  manners,  witliout  money,  without  maga- 
zines, without  artillery,  without  carriages  ;  in  short,  without 
any  of  those  things  which  are  necessary  to  the  smallest 
party,  and  which  seem  essential  to  the  existence  and  motions 
of  a  great  army.  His  route  lay  through  a  country  cut  by 
rivers  and  mountains,  in  which  the  roads  were  almost 
impracticable :  as  an  addition  to  his  difficulties,  the  enemy's 
army,  superior  to  his  ow^n  in  number,  was  at  hand  to  watch 
all  his  motions,  and  to  improve  every  advantage.  But  his 
troops,  impatient  of  their  present  hardships,  and  allured  by 
the  hopes  of  immense  booty,  witliout  considering  how  ill 
provided  they  were  for  a  march,  followed  him  with  great 
cheerfulness.  His  first  scheme  was  to  have  made  himself 
master  of  Placentia,  and  to  have  gratified  his  soldiers  by  the 
plunder  of  that  city :  but  the  vigilance  of  the  confederate 
generals  rendered  the  design  abortive  ;  nor  had  he  better 
success  in  his  project  for  the  reduction  of  Bologna,  which 
was  seasonably  supplied  with  as  many  troops  as  secured  it 
from  the  insults  of  an  army  which  had  neither  artillery  nor 
ammunition.  Having  failed  in  both  these  attempts  to 
become  master  of  some  great  city,  he  was  under  a  necessity 
of  advancing.  But  he  had  now  been  two  months  in  the 
field  ;  his  troops  had  suffered  every  calamity  that  a  long 
march,  together  with  the  uncommon  rigour  of  the  season, 
could  bring  upon  men  destitute  of  all  necessary  accommo- 
dations in  an  enemy's  country ;  the  magnificent  promises 
to  which  they  trusted  had  hitherto  proved  altogether  vain ; 
they  saw  no  prospect  of  relief;  their  patience,  tried  to  the 
utmost,  failed  at  last,  and  they  broke  out  into  open  mutiny. 
Some  officers,  who  rashly  attempted  to  restrain  them,  fell 
victims  to  their  fury  :  Bourbon  himself,  not  daring  to  appear 
during  the  first  transports  of  their  rage,  Avas  obliged  to  fly 
secretly  from  his  quarters. ''''  But  this  sudden  ebullition  of 
wrath  began  at  last  to  subside,  when  Bourbon,  who  pos- 

^  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  p.  434.    Jovii  Vit.  Colon,  p.  163. 


422  THE  POPE'S  IRRESOLUTIOX.  [book  iv. 

sessecl,  in  a  wonderful  degree,  the  art  of  governing  the 
minds  of  soldiers,  renewed  his  promises  with  more  confi- 
dence than  formerly,  and  assured  them  that  they  would  be 
soon  accomplished.  He  endeavoured  to  render  their  hard- 
ships more  tolerable  by  partaking  of  them  himself ;  he  fared 
no  better  than  the  meanest  sentinel ;  he  marched  along  with 
them  on  foot ;  he  joined  them  in  singing  tlieir  camp  ballads, 
in  which,  with  high  praises  of  his  valour,  they  mingled  many 
strokes  of  military  raillery  on  his  poverty ;  and  wherever 
they  came,  he  allowed  them,  as  a  foretaste  of  what  he  had 
promised,  to  plunder  the  adjacent  villages  at  discretion. 
Encouraged  by  all  these  soothing  arts,  they  entirely  forgot 
their  sufferings  and  complaints,  and  followed  him  with  the 
same  implicit  confidence  as  formerly/' 

Bourbon,  meanwhile,  carefully  concealed  his  intentions. 
Home  and  Florence,  not  knowing  on  which  the  blow  would 
fall,  were  held  in  the  most  disquieting  state  of  suspense. 
Clement,  equally  solicitous  for  the  safety  of  both,  fluctuated 
in  more  than  his  usual  uncertainty ;  and  while  the  rapid 
approach  of  danger  called  for  prompt  and  decisive  measures, 
he  spent  the  time  in  deliberations  which  came  to  no  issue, 
or  in  taking  resolutions,  which,  next  day,  his  restless  mind, 
more  sagacious  in  discerning  than  in  obviating  difficulties, 
overturned  without  being  able  to  fix  on  what  should  be 
substituted  in  their  place.  At  one  time  he  determined  to 
unite  himself  more  closely  than  ever  with  his  allies,  and  to 
push  on  the  war  with  vigour ,  at  another,  he  inclined  to 
bring  all  differences  to  a  final  accommodation  by  a  treaty 
with  Lannoy,  wdio,  knowing  his  passion  for  negotiation, 
solicited  him  incessantly  with  proposals  for  that  purpose. 
His  timidity  at  length  prevailed,  and  led  him  to  conclude 
an  agreement  with  Lannoy,  of  which  the  following  were 
the  chief  articles :  That  a  suspension  of  arms  should  take 
place  between  the  pontifical  and  imperial  troops  for  eight 
months :  that  Clement  should  advance  sixty  thousand  crowns 

"  Qiluvres  de  Braut.  vol.  iv.  pp.  246,  &c. 


HOOK  IV.]  HIS  TREATY  WITH  LANNOY.  423 

towards  satisfying  the  demands  of  the  imperial  army  -.  tliat 
the  Colonnas  should  be  absolved  from  censm'e,  and  their 
former  dignities  and  possessions  be  restored  to  them :  tliat 
the  viceroy  should  come  to  Home,  and  prevent  Bom-bon 
from  approaching  nearer  to  that  city,  or  to  Florence.''^  On 
this  hasty  treaty,  which  deprived  him  of  all  hopes  of 
assistance  from  his  allies,  without  affording  him  any  solid 
foundation  of  security,  Clement  relied  so  firmly,  that,  like 
a  man  extricated  at  once  out  of  all  difficulties,  he  was  at 
f)erfect  ease;  and,  in  the  fulness  of  his  confidence,  disbanded 
all  his  troops,  except  as  many  as  Avere  sufficient  to  guard 
his  own  person.  This  amazing  confidence  of  Clement,  who, 
on  every  other  occasion,  was  fearful  and  suspicious  to  excess, 
appeared  so  unaccountable  to  Guicciardini,  who,  being  at 
that  time  the  pontifical  commissary-general  and  resident  in 
the  confederate  army,  had  great  opportunities,  as  well  as 
great  abilities,  for  observing  how  chimerical  all  his  hopes 
were,  that  he  imputes  the  pope's  conduct,  at  this  juncture, 
wholly  to  infatuation,  which  those  who  are  doomed  to  ruin 
cannot  avoid.^^ 

Lannoy,  it  would  seem,  intended  to  have  executed  the 
treaty  with  great  sincerity ;  and  having  detached  Clement 
from  the  confederacy,  wished  to  turn  Bourbon's  army  against 
the  Venetians,  who,  of  all  the  powers  at  war  with  the  em- 
peror, had  exerted  the  greatest  vigour.  With  this  view  he 
despatched  a  courier  to  Bourbon,  informing  him  of  the 
suspension  of  arms,  which,  in  the  name  of  their  common 
master,  he  had  concluded  with  the  pope.  Bourbon  had 
other  schemes,  and  he  had  prosecuted  them  now  too  far  to 
think  of  retreating.  To  have  mentioned  a  retreat  to  his 
soldiers  would  have  been  dangerous ;  his  command  was 
independent  of  Lannoy  ;  he  was  fond  of  mortifying  a  man 
whom  he  had  many  reasons  to  hate  :  for  tliese  reasons,  with- 
out paying  the  least  regard  to  the  message,  he  continued 
to   ravage    the    ecclesiastical  territories,   and  to    advance 

«2  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  p.  43G,  '^  jijij_  ^,  j.^^^ 


424  BOUEBON  ADVxVNCES  TOWAUDS  ROME.         [book  iv. 

towards  Florence.  Upon  tliis,  all  Clement's  terror  and 
anxiety  returning  with  new  force,  he  had  recourse  to  Lan- 
noy,  and  entreated  and  conjured  him  to  put  a  stop  to 
Bourbon's  progress.  Lannoy,  accordingly,  set  out  for  his 
camp,  but  durst  not  approach  it;  Bourbon's  soldiers  having 
got  notice  of  the  truce,  raged  and  threatened,  demanding 
the  accomplishment  of  the  promises  to  which  they  had 
trusted ;  their  general  himself  could  hardly  restrain  them ; 
every  person  in  Rome  perceived  that  nothing  remained  but 
to  prepare  for  resisting  a  storm  which  it  was  now  impos- 
sible to  dispel,  Clement  alone,  relying  on  some  ambiguous 
and  deceitful  professions,  which  Bourbon  made  of  his  incli- 
nation towards  peace,  sunk  back  into  his  former  security.^'' 
Bourbon,  on  his  part,  was  far  from  being  free  from  solici- 
tude. All  his  attempts  on  any  place  of  importance  had 
hitherto  miscarried ;  and  Florence,  towards  which  he  had 
been  approaching  for  some  time,  was,  by  the  arrival  of  the 
duke  d'Urbino's  army,  put  in  a  condition  to  set  his  power 
at  defiance.  As  it  now  became  necessary  to  change  his 
route,  and  to  take  instantly  some  new  resolution,  he  fixed, 
without  hesitation,  on  one  which  was  no  less  daring  in  itself 
than  it  was  impious,  according  to  the  opinion  of  that  age. 
This  was  to  assault  and  plunder  Rome.  Many  reasons, 
however,  prompted  him  to  it.  He  was  fond  of  thwarting 
Lannoy,  who  had  undertaken  for  the  safety  of  that  city ; 
he  imagined  that  the  emperor  would  be  highly  pleased  to 
see  Clement,  the  chief  author  of  the  league  against  him, 
humbled  ;  he  flattered  himself  that,  by  gratifying  the  rapa- 
city of  his  soldiers  with  such  immense  booty,  he  would 
attach  them  for  ever  to  his  interest ;  or  (which  is  otill  more 
propable  than  any  of  these)  he  hoped,  that,  by  means  of 
the  power  and  fame  which  he  Avould  acquire  from  the  con- 
quest of  the  first  city  in  Christendom,  he  might  lay  the 
foundation  of  an  independent  power;  and  that,  after  shak- 
ing off  all  connexion  with  the   emperor,  he   might  take 

"  Guic.  lib,  xviii.  pp.  437,  &c,     Mem,  de  Bellay,  p.  ICO. 


BOOK  IV.]     THE  POPE  PREPARES  FOR  DEFENCE       425 

possession  of  Naples,  or  of  some  of  the  Italian  states,  in 
his  own  name.'^ 

Whatever  his  motives  were,  he  executed  his  resolution 
with  a  rapidity  equal  to  the  boldness  with  which  he  had 
formed  it.  His  soldiers,  now  that  they  had  their  prey  full 
in  view,  complained  neither  of  fatigue,  nor  famine,  nor 
want  of  pay.  No  sooner  did  they  begin  to  move  from 
Tuscany  towards  Rome,  than  the  pope,  sensible  at  last  how 
fallacious  the  hopes  had  been  on  which  he  reposed,  started 
from  his  security.  But  no  time  now  remained,  even 
for  a  bold  and  decisive  pontiff,  to  have  taken  proper  mea- 
sures, or  to  have  formed  any  effectual  plan  of  defence. 
Under  Clement's  feeble  conduct,  all  was  consternation,  dis- 
order, and  irresolution.  He  collected,  however,  such  of 
his  disbanded  soldiers  as  still  remained  in  the  city  ;  he 
armed  the  artificers  of  Rome,  and  the  footmen  and  train- 
bearers  of  the  cardinals ;  he  repaired  the  breaches  in  the 
walls ;  he  began  to  erect  new  works  ;  he  excommunicated 
Bourbon  and  all  his  troops,  branding  the  Germans  with 
the  name  of  Lutherans,  and  the  Spaniards  with  that  of 
Moors.''''  Trusting  to  these  ineffectual  military  preparations, 
or  to  his  spiritual  arms,  which  were  still  more  despised  by 
rapacious  soldiers,  he  seems  to  have  laid  aside  his  natural 
timidity,  and  contrary  to  the  advice  of  all  his  counsellors, 
determined  to  wait  the  approach  of  an  enemy  whom  he 
might  easily  have  avoided  by  a  timely  retreat. 

Bourbon,  who  saw  the  necessity  of  despatch,  now  that 
his  intentions  were  known,  advanced  with  such  speed,  that 
he  gained  several  marches  on  the  duke  d'Urbino's  army, 
and  encamped  in  the  plains  of  Rome  on  the  evening  of 
the  fifth  of  May.  From  thence  he  showed  his  soldiers  the 
palaces  and  churches  of  that  city,  into  which,  as  the  capital 
of  the  Christian  commonwealth,  the  riches  of  all  Europe 
had  flowed  during  many  centuries,  without  having  been 

^5  Braut.  iv.  p.  271,  vi.  p.  189.     Belcarii  Comment,  p.  594. 
fi«  Seckeud.  lib.  ii.  p.  G8. 


426  •  ASSAULT  AND  CAPTURE  [book  iv. 

once  violated  by  any  hostile  hand ;  and  commanding  them 
to  refresh  themselves  that  night,  as  a  preparation  for  the 
assault  next  day,  promised  them,  in  reward  of  their  toils 
and  valour,  the  possession  of  all  the  treasures  accumulated 
there. 

Early  in  the  morning,  Bourbon,  who  had  determined  to 
distinguish  that  day  either  by  his  death  or  the  success  of 
his  enterprise,  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  troops  clad  in 
complete  armour,  above  which  he  wore  a  vest  of  white 
tissue,  that  he  might  be  more  conspicuous  both  to  his 
friends  and  to  his  enimies ;  and,  as  all  depended  on  one 
bold  impression,  he  led  them  instantly  to  scale  the  walls. 
Three  distinct  bodies,  one  of  Germans,  another  of  Spaniards, 
and  the  last  of  Italians, — the  three  different  nations  of  whom 
the  army  was  composed, — were  appointed  to  this  service ; 
a  separate  attack  was  assigned  to  each  ;  and  the  whole  army 
advanced  to  support  them,  as  occasion  should  require. 
A  thick  mist  concealed  their  approach  until  they  reached 
almost  the  brink  of  the  ditch  which  surrounded  the 
suburbs  :  having  planted  their  ladders  in  a  moment,  each 
brigade  rushed  on  to  the  assault  with  an  impetuosity  height- 
ened by  national  emulation.  They  were  received  at  first 
with  fortitude  equal  to  their  own  ;  the  Swiss  in  the  pope's 
guards,  and  the  veteran  soldiers  Avho  had  been  assembled, 
fought  with  a  courage  becoming  men  to  whom  the  defence 
of  the  noblest  city  in  the  world  was  intrusted.  Bourbon's 
troops,  notwithstanding  all  their  valour,  gained  no  ground, 
and  even  began  to  give  way  ;  when  their  leader,  perceiving 
that  on  this  critical  moment  the  fate  of  the  day  depended, 
leaped  from  his  horse,  pressed  to  the  front,  snatched  a  scal- 
ing ladder  from  a  soldier,  planted  it  against  the  wall,  and 
began  to  mount  it,  encouraging  his  men  with  his  voice  and 
hand  to  follow  him.  But  at  that  very  instant,  a  musket 
bullet  from  the  ramparts  pierced  his  groin  with  a  v/ound, 
which  he  immediately  felt  to  be  mortal ;  but  he  retained 
so  much  presence  of  mind  as  to  desire  those  who  Avere  near 


BOOK  IV.]  OF  THE  CITY  OF  ROME.  427 

him  to  cover  liis  body  with  a  cloak,  that  his  death  niiglit 
not  dishearten  his  troops  ;  and  soon  after,  he  expired  with 
a  courage  "worthy  of  a  better  cause,  and  which  would  have 
entitled  him  to  the  highest  praise,  if  he  had  thus  fallen  in 
defence  of  his  country,  not  at  the  head  of  its  enemies." 

This  fatal  event  could  not  be  concealed  from  the  army ; 
the  soldiers  soon  missed  their  general,  whom  they  were 
accustomed  to  see  in  every  time  of  danger :  but  instead  of 
being  disheartened  by  their  loss,  it  animated  them  with 
new  valour;  the  name  of  Bourbon  resounded  along  the 
line,  accompanied  with  the  cry  of  hlood  and  revenge.  The 
veterans  who  defended  the  walls  were  soon  overpowered  by 
numbers;  the  untrained  body  of  city  recruits  fled  at  the 
sight  of  danger,  and  the  enemy,  with  irresistible  violence, 
rushed  into  the  town. 

During  the  combat,  Clement  was  employed  at  the  high 
altar  of  St.  Peter's  church  in  offering  up  to  heaven  unavail- 
ing prayers  for  victory.  No  sooner  was  he  informed  that 
his  troops  began  to  give  way,  than  he  fled  with  precij)ita- 
tion;  and  with  an  infatuation  still  more  amazing  than 
anything  already  mentioned,  instead  of  making  his  escape 
by  the  opposite  gate,  where  there  was  no  enemy  to  oppose 
it,  he  shut  himself  up,  together  with  thirteen  cardinals,  the 
foreign  ambassadors,  and  many  persons  of  distinction,  in 
the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  which,  from  his  late  misfortune, 
he  might  have  known  to  be  an  insecure  retreat.  In  his 
way  from  the  Vatican  to  that  fortress,  he  saw  his  troops 
flying  before  an  enemy  vAvd  pursued  without  giving 
quarter ;  he  heard  the  cries  and  lamentations  of  the  Roman 
citizens,  and  beheld  the  beginning  of  those  calamities  which 
his  own  credulity  and  ill-conduct  had  brought  upon  his 
subjects.*'^ 

It  is  impossible  to  describe,  or  even  to  imagine,  the 
misery  and  horror  of  that  scene  which  followed.    Whatever 

^"^  Mem,  deBellay,  p.  101.     Guio.  lib.  xviii.pp.  445,  &c.  (Euv.  de  Brant,  iv. 
pp.  257,  &c.  «8  Jov.  Vit.  Colon,  p.  105. 


428  THE  POPE  BESIEGED  IN  ST.  ANGELO.         [book.  iv. 

a  city  taken  by  storm  can  dread  from  military  rage,  unre- 
strained by  discipline ;  whatever  excesses  the  ferocity  of 
the  Germans,  the  avarice  of  the  Spaniards,  or  the  licen- 
tiousness of  the  Italians,  could  commit,  these  the  wretched 
inhabitants  were  obliged  to  suffer.  Churches,  palaces,  and 
the  houses  of  private  persons,  were  plundered  without 
distinction.  No  age,  or  character,  or  sex,  was  exempt 
from  injury.  Cardinals,  nobles,  priests,  matrons,  virgins, 
w^ere  all  the  prey  of  soldiers,  and  at  the  mercy  of  men 
deaf  to  the  voice  of  humanity.  Nor  did  these  outrages 
cease,  as  is  usual  in  towns  which  are  carried  by  assault, 
when  the  first  fury  of  the  storm  was  over ;  the  imperialists 
kept  possession  of  Rome  several  months ;  and,  during  all 
that  time,  the  insolence  and  brutality  of  the  soldiers  hardly 
abated.  Their  booty  in  ready  money  alone  amounted  to 
a  million  of  ducats ;  what  they  raised  by  ransoms  and 
exactions  far  exceeded  that  sum.  Rome,  though  taken 
several  different  times  by  the  northern  nations,  who  over- 
ran the  empire  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  was  never 
treated  with  so  much  cruelty  by  the  barbarous  and  heathen 
Huns,  Vandals,  or  Goths,  as  now  by  the  bigoted  subjects 
of  a  catholic  monarch.^^ 

After  Bourbon's  death,  the  command  of  the  imperial 
army  devolved  on  Philibert  de  Chalons,  prince  of  Orange, 
who  with  difficulty  prevailed  on  as  many  of  his  soldiers  to 
desist  from  the  pillage  as  were  necessary  to  invest  the 
castle  of  St.  Angelo.  Clement  was  immediately  sensible 
of  his  error  in  having  retired  into  that  ill-provided  and 
untenable  fort.  But  as  the  imperialists,  scorning  discipline, 
and  intent  only  on  plunder,  pushed  the  siege  with  little 
vigour,  he  did  not  despair  of  holding  out  until  the  duke 
d'Urbino  could  come  to  his  relief.  That  general  advanced 
at  the  head  of  an  army  composed  of  Venetians,  Florentines, 

«9  Jov.  Vit.  Colon,  p.  166.  Guic.  p.  230.  Ulloa,  Vita  di  Carlo  V.  pp. 
lib.  xviii.  pp.  140,  &.c.  Comment,  de  110,  &c.  Gianoiiue,  Hist,  of  Nap.  B. 
Capta  Urbe  Romse,  ap.  Scardium,  ii.      xxxi.  ch.  3,  p.  507. 


BOOK  IV.]  HE  IS  TAKEN  PRISONER.  429 

and  Swiss,  in  tlie  pay  of  France,  of  sufficient  strength  to 
have  deUvered  Clement  from  the  present  danger.  But 
d'Urbino,  preferring  the  indulgence  of  his  hatred  against 
the  family  of  Medici  to  the  glory  of  delivering  the  capital 
of  Christendom,  and  the  head  of  the  church,  pronounced 
the  enterprise  to  be  too  hazardous ;  and,  from  an  exquisite 
refinement  in  revenge,  having  marched  forward  so  far, 
that  his  army,  being  seen  from  the  ramparts  of  St. 
Angelo,  flattered  the  pope  with  the  prospect  of  certain 
relief,  he  immediately  wheeled  about,  and  retired/" 
Clement,  deprived  of  every  resource,  and  reduced  to  such 
extremity  of  famine  as  to  feed  on  asses'  flesh,''  was  obliged 
to  capitulate  on  such  conditions  as  the  conquerors  were 
pleased  to  prescribe.  He  agreed  to  pay  four  hundred 
thousand  ducats  to  the  army ;  to  surrender  to  the  emperor 
all  the  places  of  strength  belonging  to  the  church ;  and, 
besides  giving  hostages,  to  remain  a  prisoner  himself  until 
the  chief  articles  were  performed.  He  was  committed  to 
the  care  of  Alarcon,  who,  by  his  severe  vigilance  in  guarding 
Francis,  had  given  full  proof  of  his  being  qualified  for  that 
office ;  and  thus,  by  a  singular  accident,  the  same  man  had 
the  custody  of  the  two  most  illustrious  personages  who  had 
been  made  prisoners  in  Europe  during  several  ages. 

The  account  of  this  extraordinary  and  unexpected  event 
was  no  less  surprising  than  agreeable  to  the  emperor.  But 
in  order  to  conceal  his  joy  from  his  subjects,  who  were 
filled  with  horror  at  the  success  and  crimes  of  their 
countrymen,  and  to  lessen  the  indignation  of  the  rest  of 
Europe,  he  declared  that  Rome  had  been  assaulted  without 
any  order  from  him.  He  wrote  to  all  the  princes  with 
whom  he  was  in  alliance,  disclaiming  his  having  had  any 
knowledge  of  Bourbon's  intention/^  He  put  himself  and 
court  into  mourning ;  commanded  the  rejoicings  which  had 
been  ordered  for  the  birth  of  his  son  Philip  to  be  stopped ; 

™  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  p.  450.     "  ^i  Jqv.  Vit.  Colon,  p.  167. 

'*  Ruscclli,  Lettere  de'  Priiicipi,  ii.  p.  231. 


430  SOLYMAN  INVADES  HUNGARY.  [book  iv. 

and,  employing  an  artifice  no  less  hypocritical  than  gross, 
he  appointed  prayers  and  processions  throughout  all  Spain 
for  the  recovery  of  the  pope's  liberty,  which,  by  an  order 
to  his  generals,  he  could  have  immediately  granted  him/^ 

The  good  fortune  of  the  house  of  Austria  was  no  less 
conspicuous  in  another  part  of  Europe.  Solyman  having 
invaded  Hungary  with  an  army  of  three  hundred  thousand 
men,  Lewis  II.,  king  of  that  country  and  of  Bohemia,  a 
weak  and  unexperienced  prince,  advanced  rashly  to  meet 
him  with  a  body  of  men  which  did  not  amount  to  thirty 
thousand.  With  an  imprudence  still  more  unpardonable, 
he  gave  the  command  of  these  troops  to  Paul  Tomorri,  a 
Franciscan  monk,  archbishop  of  Golocza.  This  awkward 
general,  in  the  dress  of  his  order,  girt  with  its  cord,  marched 
at  the  head  of  the  troops ;  and,  hurried  on  by  his  own  pre- 
sumption, as  well  as  by  the  impetuosity  of  nobles  who  de- 
spised danger,  but  were  impatient  of  long  service,  he  fought 
the  fatal  battle  of  Mohacz  [1526],  in  which  the  king,  the 
flower  of  the  Hungarian  nobility,  and  upwards  of  twenty 
thousand  men,  fell  the  victims  of  his  folly  and  ill-conduct. 
Solyman,  after  his  victory,  seized  and  kept  possession  of 
several  towns  of  the  greatest  strength  in  the  southern  pro- 
vinces of  Hungary,  and,  overrunning  the  rest  of  the  country, 
carried  near  two  hundred  thousand  persons  into  captivity. 
As  Lewis  was  the  last  male  of  the  royal  family  of  Jagellon, 
the  archduke  Ferdinand  claimed  both  his  crowns.  This 
claim  was  founded  on  a  double  title ;  the  one  derived  from 
the  ancient  pretensions  of  the  house  of  Austria  to  both 
kingdoms ;  the  other,  from  the  right  of  his  wife,  the  only 
sister  of  the  deceased  monarch.  The  feudal  institutions, 
however,  subsisted  both  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia  in  such 
vigour,  and  the  nobles  possessed  such  extensive  power, 
that  the  crowns  were  still  elective,  and  Ferdinand's  rights, 
if  they  had  not  been  powerfully  supported,  would  have  met 
with  little. regard.    But  his  own  personal  merit ;  the  respect 

'3  Sleid.  p.  109.     Saudov.  i.  822.    Mauroc.  Hist.  Veneta,  lib.  iii.  p.  220. 


BOOK  IV.]  PHOGRESS  OF  THE  KEEORMATION.  431 

due  to  tlie  brother  of  the  greatest  monarch  in  Christendom ; 
the  necessity  of  choosing  a  prince  able  to  afford  his  subjects 
some  additional  protection  against  the  Turkish  arms,  which, 
as  they  had  recently  felt  their  power,  they  greatly  dreaded ; 
together  with  the  intrigues  of  his  sister,  who  had  been 
married  to  the  late  king,  overcame  the  prejudices  which 
the  Hungarians  had  conceived  against  the  archduke  as  a 
foreigner ;  and,  though  a  considerable  party  voted  for  the 
Vaywode  of  Transylvania,  at  length  secured  Ferdinand  the 
throne  of  that  kingdom.  The  states  of  Bohemia  imitated 
the  example  of  their  neighbour  kingdom ;  but  in  order  to 
ascertain  and  secure  their  own  privileges,  they  obliged 
Ferdinand,  before  his  coronation,  to  subscribe  a  deed, 
which  they  term  a  reverse,  declaring  that  he  held  that 
crown  not  by  any  previous  right,  but  by  their  gratuitous 
and  voluntary  election.  By  such  a  vast  accession  of  terri- 
tories, the  hereditary  possession  of  which  they  secured  in 
process  of  time  to  their  family,  the  princes  of  the  house  of 
Austria  attained  that  pre-eminence  in  power  which  liatli 
rendered  them  so  formidable  to  the  rest  of  Germany.''^ 

The  dissensions  between  the  pope  and  emperor  proved 
extremely  favourable  to  the  progress  of  Lutheranism. 
Charles,  exasperated  by  Clement's  conduct,  and  fully 
employed  in  opposing  the  league  which  he  had  formed 
against  him,  had  little  inclination,  and  less  leisure,  to  take 
any  measures  for  suppressing  the  new  opinions  in  Germany. 
In  a  diet  of  the  empire  held  at  Spires,  [152G]  the  state  of 
religion  came  to  be  considered ;  and  all  that  the  emperor 
required  of  the  princes  was,  that  they  would  wait  patiently, 
and  without  encouraging  innovations,  for  the  meeting  of  a 
general  council,  which  he  had  demanded  of  the  pope.  They, 
in  return,  acknowledged  the  convocation  of  a  council  to  be 
the  proper  and  regular  step  towards  reforming  abuses  in 

7"  Steph.  Broderick   Procancellarii      Hist.  d'Alleiuagne,  torn.  viii.  part.  i.  p. 
Ilungar.     Cladcs   in  Campo  Mohacz,       198. 
ap.    Scardium,    ii.    218.      P.    Barre, 


432  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION.  [book  iv. 

the  cliurch;  but  contended,  that  a  national  council  held  in 
Germany  would  be  more  effectual  for  that  purpose  than 
what  he  had  proposed.  To  his  advice,  concerning  the  dis- 
couragement of  innovations,  they  paid  so  little  regard,  that, 
even  during  the  meeting  of  the  diet  at  Spires,  tlie  divines 
who  attended  the  elector  of  Saxony  and  landgrave  of 
Hesse-Cassel  thither,  preached  publicly,  and  administered 
the  sacraments,  according  to  the  rites  of  the  reformed 
Church.'^  The  emperor's  own  example  emboldened  the 
Germans  to  treat  the  papal  authority  with  little  reverence. 
During  the  heat  of  his  resentment  against  Clement,  he  had 
published  a  long  reply  to  an  angry  brief  which  the  pope 
had  intended  as  an  apology  for  his  own  conduct.  In  this 
manifesto,  the  emperor,  after  having  enumerated  many 
instances  of  that  pontiff's  ingratitude,  deceit,  and  ambition, 
— all  which  he  painted  in  the  strongest  and  most  aggravated 
colours, — appealed  from  him  to  a  general  council.  At  tlie 
same  time,  he  wrote  to  the  college  of  cardinals,  complaining 
of  Clement's  partiality  and  injustice ;  and  requiring  them, 
if  he  refused  or  delayed  to  call  a  council,  to  show  their 
concern  for  the  peace  of  the  Christian  church,  so  shamefully 
neglected  by  its  chief  pastor,  by  summoning  that  assembly 
in  their  own  name.''*'  This  manifesto,  little  inferior  in  viru- 
lence to  the  invectives  of  Luther  himself,  was  dispersed 
over  Germany  with  great  industry ;  and,  being  eagerly  read 
by  persons  of  every  rank,  did  much  more  than  counter- 
balance the  effect  of  all  Charles's  declarations  against  the 
new  opinions. 

75  Sleid.  p.  103.  ■  '«  Goldast.  Polit.  Imper.  p.  984. 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN 


EMPEEOR    CHAELES    Y. 


BOOK  V. 

General  Indignation  and  Confederacy  against  the  Emperor — The  Florentines — 
TiiC  French  Army  in  Italy — The  Emperor  sets  the  Pope  at  Liberty,  and 
makes  Pacific  Overtures — A  Royal  Challenge — Retreat  of  the  Imperial 
Army  from  Rome — The  French  besiege  Naples — Revolt  of  Andrew  Doria — • 
Freedom  of  Genoa — Operations  in  the  Milanese — Treaty  between  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor,  and  between  Charles  and  Francis — Henry  VIII.  seeks  a 
Divorce  from  his  Queen,  Catharine  of  Aragon — Charles  visits  Italy,  and  re- 
establishes the  Power  of  the  Medici — Returns  to  Germany — The  Diet  of 
Spires — The  Protest — The  Diet  of  Augsburg — Decree  against  the  Protes- 
tants— Charles  makes  his  Brother,  Ferdinand,  King  of  the  Romans — 
Negotiations  of  the  Protest  ants — The  Campaign  in  Hungary — Conference 
between  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope — Movements  of  the  French  King — • 
Henry  divorced  from  Queen  Catharine  by  tiie  Archbishop,  and  excommuni- 
cated by  the  Pope — Pupal  Authority  abolished  in  England — Death  of 
Clement  VII. — Pope  Paul  III. — Insurrection  of  the  Anabaptists  in  Germany 
■ — They  become  Masters  of  Munster — John  of  Leydeu  crowned  King — • 
Confederacy  against  him — Munster  besieged  and  taken — The  League  of 
Smalkalde — Expedition  of  the  Emperor  to  Africa — The  Barbarv  States — The 
Barbarossas — Conquest  of  Tunis — 'Ihe  Emperor  besieges  Golelta,  defeats 
Barbarossa,  and  restores  the  King  of  Tunis. 

[]527.]  The  account  of  the  cruel  manner  in  which  the 
pope  had  been  treated  filled  all  Europe  with  astonishment 
or  horror.  To  see  a  Christian  emperor,  who,  by  possessing 
that  dignity,  ought  to  have  been  the  protector  and  advocate 
of  the  holy  see,  lay  violent  hands  on  him  who  represented 
Christ  on  earth,  and  detain  his  sacred  person  in  a  rigorous 

VOL.  I.  F  F 


434  CONrEDERACY  AGAINST  CHARLES.  [book  v. 

captivity,  was  considered  as  an  impiety  that  merited  the 
severest  vengeance,  and  which  called  for  the  immediate 
interposition  of  every  dutiful  son  of  the  church.  Francis 
and  Henry,  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  the  imperial  arms 
in  Italy,  had,  even  before  the  taking  of  Rome,  entered  into 
a  closer  alliance ;  and,  in  order  to  give  some  check  to  the 
emperor's  ambition,  had  agreed  to  make  a  vigorous  diversion 
in  the  Low  Countries.  The  force  of  every  motive  which 
had  influenced  them  at  that  time  was  now  increased ;  and 
to  these  was  added  the  desire  of  rescuing  the  pope  out  of 
the  emperor's  hands,  a  measure  no  less  politic  than  it  ap- 
peared to  be  pious.  This,  however,  rendered  it  necessary  to 
abandon  their  hostile  intentions  against  the  Low  Countries, 
and  to  make  Italy  the  seat  of  war,  as  it  was  by  vigorous 
operations  there  they  might  contribute  most  eflectually 
towards  delivering  Rome,  and  setting  Clement  at  liberty. 
Francis  being  now  sensible  that,  in  his  system  with  regard 
to  the  afi^irs  of  Italy,  the  spirit  of  refinement  had  carried 
him  too  far,  and  that,  by  an  excess  of  remissness,  he  had 
allowed  Charles  to  attain  advantages  which  he  might  easily 
have  prevented,  was  eager  to  make  reparation  for  an  error 
of  which  he  was  not  often  guilty,  by  an  activity  more 
suitable  to  his  temper.  Henry  thought  his  interposition 
necessary,  in  order  to  hinder  the  emperor  from  becoming 
master  of  all  Italy,  and  acquiring  by  that  means  such 
superiority  of  power  as  would  enable  him,  for  the  future,  to 
dictate  without  control  to  the  other  princes  of  Europe. 
Wolsey,  whom  Francis  had  taken  care  to  secure,  by  flattery 
and  presents,  the  certain  methods  of  gaining  his  favour, 
neglected  nothing  that  could  incense  his  master  against  the 
emperor.  Besides  all  these  public  considerations,  Henry 
was  influenced  by  one  of  a  more  private  nature :  having 
begun,  about  this  time,  to  form  his  great  scheme  of  divorcing 
Catharine  of  Aragon,  towards  the  execution  of  which  he 
knew  that  the  sanction  of  papal  authority  would  be 
necessary,  he  was  desirous  to  acquire  as  much  merit  as 


BOOK  v.]  THE  FLORENTINES.  435 

possible    with   Clement,    by   appearing   to   be   the   chief 
instrument  of  his  deliverance. 

The  negotiation,  betAATcn  princes  thus  disposed,  was  not 
tedious.  Wolsey  himself  conducted  it,  on  the  part  of  his 
sovereign,  with  unbounded  powers.  I'rancis  treated  with 
him  in  person  at  Amiens,  where  the  cardinal  a])pcared,  and 
was  received  with  royal  magnificence,  A  marriage  between 
the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the  Princess  Mary  was  agreed  to 
as  the  basis  of  the  confederacy ;  it  was  resolved  that  Italy 
should  be  the  theatre  of  war;  the  strength  of  the  army 
which  should  take  the  field,  as  well  as  the  contingent  of 
troops  or  of  money,  which  each  prince  should  furnish,  were 
settled ;  and  if  the  emperor  did  not  accept  of  the  proposals 
which  they  were  jointly  to  make  him,  they  bound  them- 
selves immediately  to  declare  war,  and  to  begin  hostilities. 
Henry,  who  took  every  resolution  with  impetuosity,  entered 
so  eagerly  into  this  new  alliance,  that,  in  order  to  give 
Francis  the  strongest  proof  of  his  friendship  and  respect, 
he  formally  renounced  the  ancient  claim  of  the  English 
monarchs  to  the  crown  of  France,  which  had  long  been  the 
pride  and  ruin  of  the  nation ;  as  a  full  compensation  for 
which  he  accepted  a  pension  of  fifty  thousand  crowns,  to 
be  paid  annually  to  himself  and  his  successors.' 

The  pope,  being  unable  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of  his 
capitulation,  still  remained  a  prisoner,  under  the  severe 
custody  or  Alarcon.  The  Florentines  no  sooner  heard  of 
what  had  happened  at  Rome,  than  they  ran  to  arms  in  a 
tumultuous  manner  ;  expelled  the  Cardinal  di  Cortona,  who 
governed  their  city  in  the  pope's  name ;  defaced  the  arms  of 
the  Medici ;  broke  in  pieces  the  statues  of  Leo  and  Clement; 
and,  declaring  themselves  a  free  state,  re-established  their 
ancient  popular  government.  The  Venetians,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  calamity  of  their  ally  the  pope,  seized  Ravenna, 
and  other  places  belonging  to  the  church,  under  pretext  of 
keeping  them  in  deposit.    The  dukes  of  Urbino  and  Ferrara 

'  Herbert,  pp.  83,  &c.    Rym.  Feed.  xiv.  p.  203. 

F  r  2 


436  INACTIVITY  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  TROOPS.       [book  v. 

laid  hold  likewise  on  part  of  the  spoils  of  the  unfortunate 
pontiff,  whom  they  considered  as  irretrievably  ruined.^ 

■  Lannoy,  on  the  other  hand,  laboured  to  derive  some  solid 
benefit  from  that  unforeseen  event,  which  gave  such  splendour 
and  superiority  to  his  master's  arms.  For  this  piupose,  he 
inarched  to  Kome,  together  with  Moncada,  and  the  Marquis 
del  Guasto,  at  tlie  head  of  all  the  troops  which  they  could 
assemble  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  The  arrival  of  this 
reinforcement  brought  new  calamities  on  the  unhappy 
citizens  of  Rome ;  for  the  soldiers,  envying  the  wealth  of 
their  companions,  imitated  their  licence,  and  with  the  utmost 
rapacity  gathered  the  gleanings  which  had  escaped  the 
avarice  of  the  Spaniards  and  Germans.  There  was  not  now 
any  army  in  Italy  capable  of  making  head  against  the 
imperialists ;  and  nothing  more  was  requisite  to  reduce 
Bologna,  and  the  other  towns  in  the  ecclesiastical  state, 
than  to  have  appeared  before  them.  But  the  soldiers  having 
been  so  long  accustomed,  under  Bourbon,  to  an  entire 
relaxation  of  discipline,  and  having  tasted  the  sweets  of 
living  at  discretion  in  a  great  city,  almost  without  the 
control  of  a  superior,  were  become  so  impatient  of  military 
subordination,  and  so  averse  to  service,  that  they  refused 
to  leave  Home,  unless  all  their  arrears  were  paid ;  a  con- 
dition which  they  knew  to  be  impossible.  At  the  same 
time  they  declared,  that  they  would  not  obey  any  other 
person  than  the  prince  of  Orange,  whom  the  army  had 
chosen  general.  Lannoy,  finding  that  it  was  no  longer 
safe  for  him  to  remain  among  licentious  troops,  who  despised 
his  dignity  and  hated  his  person,  returned  to  Naples ;  soon 
after,  the  Marquis  del  Guasto  and  Moncada  thought  it 
prudent  to  quit  Rome  for  the  same  reason.  The  prince  of 
Orange,  a  general  only  in  name,  and  by  the  most  precarious 
of  all  tenures,  the  good-will  of  soldiers,  whom  success  and 
licence  had  rendered  capricious,  was  obliged  to  pay  more 
attention. to  their  humours  than  they  did  to  his  commands. 

-  Guic.  lib.  xviil.  p.  453. 


BOOK  v.]  THE  FRENCH  INVADE  ITALY.  437 

Thus  the  emperor,  instead  of  reaping  any  of  the  advantages 
which  he  might  have  expected  from  the  reduction  of  Rome, 
had  the  mortification  to  see  the  most  formidable  body  of 
troops  that  he  had  ever  brought  into  the  hekl  continue  in  a 
state  of  inactivity,  from  which  it  was  impossible  to  rouse 
them.^ 

This  gave  the  king  of  France  and  the  Venetians  leisure 
to  form  new  schemes,  and  to  enter  into  new  engagements 
for  delivering  the  pope,  and  preserving  the  liberties  of 
Italy.  The  newly-restored  republic  of  Florence  very  im- 
prudently joined  with  them,  and  Lautrec,  of  whose  abilities 
the  Italians  entertained  a  much  more  favourable  opinion 
than  his  own  master,  was,  in  order  to  gratify  them,  ap- 
pointed generalissimo  of  the  league.  It  was  with  the 
utmost  reluctance  he  undertook  that  office,  being  unwilling 
to  expose  himself  a  second  time  to  the  difficulties  and 
disgraces,  which  the  negligence  of  the  king,  or  the  malice 
of  his  favourites,  might  bring  upon  him.  The  best  troops 
in  France  marched  under  his  command,  and  the  king  of 
England,  though  he  had  not  yet  declared  war  against  the 
emperor,  advanced  a  considerable  sum  tow^ards  carrying  on 
the  expedition.  Lautrec's  first  operations  were  prudent, 
vigorous,  and  successful.  By  the  assistance  of  Andrew 
Doria,  the  ablest  sea-officer  of  that  age,  he  rendered  himself 
master  of  Genoa,  and  re-established  in  that  republic  the 
faction  of  the  Fregosi,  together  with  the  dominion  of 
France.  He  obliged  Alexandria  to  surrender  after  a  short 
siege,  and  reduced  all  the  country  on  that  side  of  the 
Tessino.  He  took  Pavia,  which  had  so  long  resisted  the 
arms  of  his  sovereign,  by  assault,  and  plundered  it  with 
that  cruelty,  which  the  memory  of  the  fatal  disaster  that 
had  befallen  the  French  nation  before  its  walls  naturally 
inspired.  All  the  Milanese,  which  Antonio  de  Leyva 
defended  with  a  small  body  of  troops,  kept  together,  and 
supported  by  his  own  address  and  industry,  must  have  soon 

^  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  154. 


438  OPERATIONS  OF  THE  FRENCH  ARMY.         [book  v. 

submitted  to  his  power,  if  lie  had  continued  to  bend  the 
force  of  his  arms  against  that  country.  But  Lautrec  durst 
not  complete  a  conquest  which  would  have  been  so  honour- 
able to  himself,  and  of  such  advantage  to  the  league. 
Francis  knew  his  confederates  to  be  more  desirous  of  cir- 
cumscribing the  imperial  power  in  Italy,  than  of  acquiring 
new  territories  for  him ;  and  was  afraid  that  if  Sforza  were 
once  re-established  in  Milan,  they  would  second  but  coldly 
the  attack  which  he  intended  to  make  on  the  kingdom  of 
Naples.  Tor  this  reason,  he  instructed  Lautrec  not  to  push 
his  operations  with  too  much  vigour  in  Lombardy ;  and 
happily  the  importunities  of  the  pope,  and  the  solicitations 
of  the  Florentines,  the  one  for  relief,  and  the  other  for  pro- 
tection, were  so  urgent  as  to  furnish  him  with  a  decent 
pretext  for  marching  forward,  without  yielding  to  the  en- 
treaties of  the  Venetians  and  Sforza,  who  insisted  on  his 
laying  siege  to  Milan.* 

While  Lautrec  advanced  slowly  towards  Rome,  the  em- 
peror had  time  to  deliberate  concerning  the  disposal  of  the 
pope's  person,  who  still  remained  a  prisoner  in  the  castle 
of  St.  Angelo.  Notwithstanding  the  specious  veil  of  re- 
ligion, with  which  he  usually  endeavoured  to  cover  his 
actions,  Charles,  in  many  instances,  appears  to  have  been 
but  little  under  the  influence  of  religious  considerations, 
and  had  frequently,  on  this  occasion,  expressed  an  inclina- 
tion to  transport  the  pope  into  Spain,  that  he  might  indulge 
his  ambition  with  the  spectacle  of  the  two  most  illustrious 
personages  in  Europe,  successively  prisoners  in  his  court. 
But  the  fear  of  giving  new  offence  to  all  Christendom,  and 
of  filling  his  own  subjects  with  horror,  obliged  him  to 
forego  that  satisfaction.^  The  progress  of  the  confederates 
made  it  now  necessary,  either  to  set  the  pope  at  liberty,  or 
to  remove  him  to  some  place  of  confinement  more  secure 
than  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo.     Many  considerations  in- 

^  Guic.lib.xviii.p.'iOl.    Bcllay,  pp.      ii.  238. 
107,  &c.     Mauroc.  Hibt.  Venet.  lib.  '"  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  457. 


300K  v.]  THE  POPE'S  RANSOM.  439 

duced  him  to  prefer  the  former,  particularly  his  want  of 
the  money,  requisite  as  well  for  recruiting  his  army,  us  for 
paying  off  the  vast  arrears  due  to  it.  In  order  to  obtain 
this,  he  had  assembled  the  cortes  of  Castile  at  Valladolid 
about  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  having  laid  before 
them  the  state  of  his  affairs,  and  represented  the  necessity 
of  making  great  preparations  to  resist  the  enemies,  whom 
envy  at  the  success  which  had  crowned  his  arms  would 
unite  against  him,  he  demanded  a  large  supply  in  the  most 
pressing  terms  ;  but  the  cortes,  as  the  nation  was  already 
exhausted  by  extraordinary  donatives,  refused  to  load  it 
with  any  new  burden,  and,  in  spite  of  all  his  endeavours  to 
gain  or  to  intimidate  the  members,  persisted  in  this  reso- 
lution." No  resource,  therefore,  remained,  but  the  extorting 
from  Clement,  by  way  of  ransom,  a  sum  sufficient  for  dis- 
charging what  was  due  to  his  troops,  without  which  it  was 
vain  to  mention  to  them  their  leaving  Rome. 

Nor  was  the  pope  inactive  on  his  part,  or  his  intrigues 
unsuccessful  towards  hastening  such  a  treaty.  By  flattery, 
and  the  appearance  of  unbounded  confidence,  he  disarmed 
the  resentment  of  Cardinal  Colonna,  and  wrought  upon 
his  vanity,  which  made  him  desirous  of  showing  the  world, 
that  as  his  power  had  at  first  depressed  the  pope,  it  could 
now  raise  him  to  his  former  dignity.  By  favours  and 
promises  he  gained  Morone,  who,  by  one  of  those  whimsical 
revolutions  Avliich  occur  so  often  in  his  life,  and  which  so 
strongly  display  his  character,  had  now  recovered  his  credit 
and  authority  with  the  imperialists.  The  address  and  in- 
fluence of  two  such  men  easily  removed  all  the  obstacles 
which  retarded  an  accommodation,  and  brought  the  treaty 
for  Clement's  liberty  to  a  conclusion,  upon  conditions  hard 
indeed,  but  not  more  severe  than  a  prince  in  his  situation 
had  reason  to  expect.  He  was  obliged  to  advance,  in  ready 
money,  a  hundred  thousand  crowns  for  the  use  of  the 
army ;  to  pay  the  same  sum  at  the  distance  of  a  fortnight ; 
*  Sandov.  i.  p.  814. 


440  PACIFIC  OVERTURES  [book  v. 

and,  at  the  end  of  three  months,  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  more.  He  engaged  not  to  take  part  in  the  war 
agamst  Charles,  either  in  Lombardy  or  in  Naples ;  he 
granted  him  a  bull  of  cruzado,  and  the  tenth  of  ecclesias- 
tical revenues  in  Spain  ;  and  he  not  only  gave  hostages,  but 
put  the  emperor  in  possession  of  several  towns,  as  a  secu- 
rity for  the  performance  of  these  articles/  Having  raised 
the  first  moiety  by  a  sale  of  ecclesiastical  dignities  and 
benefices,  and  other  expedients  equally  uncanonical,  a  day 
was  fixed  for  delivering  him  from  imprisonment.  But 
Clement,  impatient  to  be  free,  after  a  tedious  confinement 
of  six  months,  as  well  as  full  of  the  suspicion  and  distrust 
natural  to  the  unfortunate,  was  so  much  afraid  that  the 
imperialists  might  still  throw  in  obstacles  to  put  off  his 
deliverance,  that  he  disguised  himself,  on  the  night  pre- 
ceding the  day  when  he  was  to  be  set  free,  in  the  habit  of 
a  merchant,  and  Alarcon  having  remitted  somewhat  of  his 
vigilance  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  he  made  his 
escape  undiscovered.  He  arrived  before  next  morning  at 
Orvietto,  without  any  attendants  but  a  single  officer ;  and 
from  thence  wrote  a  letter  of  thanks  to  Lautrec,  as  the 
chief  instrument  of  procuring  him  liberty.^ 

During  these  transactions,  the  ambassadors  of  France 
and  England  repaired  to  Spain,  in  consequence  of  the  treaty 
which  Wolsey  had  concluded  with  the  French  king.  The 
emperor,  unwilling  to  draw  on  himself  the  united  forces  of 
the  two  monarchs,  discovered  an  inclination  to  relax  some- 
what the  rigour  of  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  to  which,  hitherto, 
he  had  adhered  inflexibly.  He  ofiered  to  accept  of  the 
two  millions  of  crowns,  which  Francis  had  proposed  to  pay 
as  an  equivalent  for  the  duchy  of  Burgundy,  and  to  set 
his  sons  at  liberty,  on  condition  that  he  would  recal  his 
army  out  of  Italy,  and  restore  Genoa,  together  with  the 
other  conquests  which  he  had  made  in  that  country.    With 

^  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  pp.  467,  &c.  Vit.   Colon,  p.   169.    Mauroc.  Hist. 

*  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  pp.  467,  &c.     Jov.      Venet.  lib.  iii.  p.  252. 


BOOK  v.]  OF  THE  EMPEROR  TO  FRANCIS.  441 

regard  to  Sforza,  he  insisted  that  his  fate  shouhl  be  de- 
termined by  the  judges  appointed  to  inquire  into  his  crimes. 
These  propositions  being  made  to  Henry,  he  transmitted 
them  to  his  ally  the  French  king,  whom  it  more  nearly 
concerned  to  examine  and  to  answer  tliem ;  and  if  Francis 
had  been  sincerely  solicitous,  either  to  conclude  peace  or 
preserve  consistency  in  his  own  conduct,  he  ought  instantly 
to  have  closed  with  overtures  which  differed  but  little  from 
the  propositions  which  he  himself  haid  formerly  made.^ 
But  his  vicAvs  w^re  now  much  changed ;  his  alliance  with 
Henry,  Lautrec's  progress  in  Italy,  and  the  superiority  of 
his  army  there  above  that  of  the  emperor,  hardly  left  him 
room  to  doubt  of  the  success  of  his  enterprise  against 
Naples.  Full  of  these  sanguine  hopes,  he  was  at  no  loss 
to  find  pretexts  for  rejecting  or  evading  what  the  emperor 
had  proposed.  Under  the  appearance  of  sympathy  with 
Sforza,  for  whose  interests  he  had  not  hitherto  discovered 
much  solicitude,  he  again  demanded  the  full  and  uncon- 
ditional re-establishment  of  that  unfortunate  prince  in  his 
dominions.  Under  colom^  of  its  being  imprudent  to  rely 
on  the  emperor's  sincerity,  he  insisted  that  his  sons  should 
be  set  at  liberty  before  the  French  troops  left  Italy,  or 
surrendered  Genoa.  The  unreasonableness  of  these  de- 
mands, as  v.'ell  as  the  reproachful  insinuation  with  which 
they  were  accompanied,  irritated  Charles  to  such  a  degree, 
that  he  could  hardly  listen  to  them  with  patience ;  and 
repenting  of  his  moderation,  which  had  made  so  little  im- 
pressicm  on  his  enemies,  declared  that  he  would  not  depart 
in  the  smallest  article  from  the  conditions  which  he  had 
now  offered.  Upon  this,  the  French  and  Fnglish  ambas- 
sadors (for  Henry  had  been  drawn  unaccountably  to  concur 
wdth  Francis  in  these  strange  propositions)  demanded  and 
obtained  their  audience  of  leave.'** 
[1528.]  Next  day,  two  heralds,  who  had  accompanied  the 

^  Recueil  des  Trait  es,  ii.  p.  249. 
1"  Rjm.  xiv.  p.  200.    Herbert,  p.  85.    Guic.  lib.  xviii.  p.  471. 


442  rRANCTS'  CHALLENGE  TO  THE  EMPEEOR        [book  v. 

ambassadors  on  purpose,  though  they  had  hitherto  concealed 
their  character,  having  assumed  the  ensigns  of  their  office, 
appeared  in  the  emperor's  court,  and  being  admitted  into 
his  presence,  they,  in  the  name  of  their  respective  masters, 
and  with  all  the  solemnities  customary  on  such  occasions, 
denounced  war  against  him.  Charles  received  both  with 
a  dignity  suitable  to  his  own  rank,  but  spoke  to  each  in 
a  tone  adapted  to  the  sentiments  w^hich  he  entertained  of 
the  sovereigns.  He  accepted  the  defiance  of  the  English 
monarch  with  a  firmness  tempered  by  some  degree  of 
decency  and  respect.  His  reply  to  the  French  king 
abounded  with  that  acrimony  of  expression,  which  per- 
sonal rivalship,  exasperated  by  the  memory  of  many  inju- 
ries inflicted  as  well  as  suffered,  naturally  suggests.  He 
desired  the  French  herald  to  acquaint  his  sovereign,  that 
he  would  henceforth  consider  him  not  only  as  a  base 
violator  of  public  faith,  but  as  a  stranger  to  the  honour  and 
integrity  becoming  a  gentleman.  Francis,  too  high-spirited 
to  bear  such  an  imputation,  had  recourse  to  an  uncommon 
expedient  in  order  to  vindicate  his  character.  He  in- 
stantly sent  back  the  herald  with  a  cartel  of  defiance,  in 
which  he  gave  the  emperor  the  lie  in  form,  challenged  him 
to  single  combat,  requiring  him  to  name  the  time  and  place 
for  the  encounter,  and  the  weapons  with  which  he  chose  to 
fight.  Charles,  as  he  w^as  not  inferior  to  his  rival  in  spirit 
or  bravery,  readily  accepted  the  challenge ;  but,  after 
several  messages  concerning  the  arrangement  of  all  the 
circumstances  relative  to  the  combat,  accompanied  with 
mutual  reproaches,  bordering  on  the  most  indecent  scur- 
rility, all  thoughts  of  this  duel,  more  becoming  the  heroes 
of  romance  than  the  two  greatest  monarchs  of  their  age, 
were  entirely  laid  aside." 

The  example  of  two  personages  so  illustrious  drew  such 
general  attention,  and  carried  with  it  so  much  authority, 

"  Recueil  'des  Traites,  p.  2.    Mem.  de  Bellay,  pp.  103,  &c.    Sandov.  Hist.  i. 
p.  837. 


BOOK  v.]  ITS  CONSEQUENCES.  443 

that  it  liad  considerable  influence  in  producing  an  im- 
portant change  in  manners  all  over  Europe.  Duels,  as  has 
already  been  observed,  had  long  been  permitted  by  the 
laws  of  all  the  European  nations,  and,  forming  a  part  of 
their  jurisprudence,  were  authorized  by  the  magistrate,  on 
many  occasions,  as  the  most  proper  method  of  terminating 
questions  with  regard  to  property,  or  of  deciding  those 
which  respected  crimes.  But  single  combats  being  con- 
sidered as  solemn  appeals  to  the  omniscience  and  justice 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  they  were  allowed  only  in  public 
causes,  according  to  the  prescription  of  law,  and  carried  on 
in  a  judicial  form.  Men  accustomed  to  this  manner  of 
decisions  in  courts  of  justice,  were  naturally  led  to  apply  it 
to  personal  and  private  quarrels.  Duels,  which  at  first  could 
be  appointed  by  the  civil  judge  alone,  were  fought  without 
the  interposition  of  his  authority,  and  in  cases  to  which  the 
laws  did  not  extend.  The  transaction  between  Charles  and 
Francis  strongly  countenanced  this  practice.  Upon  every 
affi'ont,  or  injury,  Avhicli  seemed  to  touch  his  lionom*,  a 
gentleman  thought  himself  entitled  to  draw  his  sword,  and 
to  call  on  his  adversary  to  give  him  satisfaction.  Such  an 
opinion  becoming  prevalent  among  men  of  fierce  courage, 
of  high  spirit,  and  of  rude  manners,  when  offence  was  often 
given,  and  revenge  was  always  prompt,  produced  most  fatal 
consequences.  Much  of  the  best  blood  in  Christendom 
was  shed;  many  useful  lives  were  sacrificed;  and,  at  some 
periods,  war  itself  hath  hardly  been  more  destructive  than 
these  private  contests  of  honour.  So  powerful,  however,  is 
the  dominion  of  fashion,  that  neither  the  terror  of  penal 
laws,  nor  reverence  for  religion,  has  been  able  entirely  to 
abolish  a  practice  unknown  among  the  ancients,  and  not 
justifiable  by  any  principle  of  reason  ;  though  at  the  same 
time  it  must  be  admitted  that,  to  this  absurd  custom,  we 
must  ascribe  in  some  degree  the  extraordinary  gentleness 
and  complaisance  of  modern  manners,  and  that  respectful 
attention  of  one  man  to  another,  which  at  present  render 


444  RETREAT  OE  TEE  IMPERIALISTS,  [book  v. 

the  social  intercourses  of  life  far  more  agreeable  and  decent, 
than  among  the  most  civilized  nations  of  antiquity. 

While  the  two  monarchs  seemed  so  eager  to  terminate 
their  quarrel  by  a  personal  combat,  Lautrec  continued  his 
operations,  which  promised  to  be  more  decisive.  His  army, 
which  was  now  increased  to  thirty-five  thousand  men,  ad- 
vanced by  great  marches  towards  Naples.  The  terror  of 
their  approach,  as  well  as  the  remonstrances  and  the  en- 
treaties of  the  prince  of  Orange,  prevailed  at  last  on  the 
imperial  troops,  though  with  difficulty,  to  quit  Rome,  of 
which  they  had  kept  possession  during  ten  months.  But  of 
that  flourishing  army  which  had  entered  the  city,  scarcely 
one-half  remained ;  the  rest,  cut  off  by  the  plague,  or  wasted 
by  diseases,  the  eff'ects  of  their  inactivity,  intemperance,  and 
debauchery,  fell  victims  to  their  own  crimes. ^^  Lautrec 
made  the  greatest  efforts  to  attack  them  in  their  retreat 
towards  the  Neapolitan  territories,  which  would  have  finished 
the  war  at  one  blow.  But  the  prudence  of  their  leaders 
disappointed  all  his  measures,  and  conducted  them  with 
little  loss  to  Naples.  The  people  of  that  kingdom,  extremely 
impatient  to  shake  off*  the  Spanish  yoke,  received  the  French 
with  open  arm.s,  wherever  they  appeared  to  take  possession; 
and,  Gaeta  and  Naples  excepted,  hardly  any  place  of  im- 
portance remained  in  the  hands  of  the  imperialists.  The 
preservation  of  the  former  was  owing  to  the  strength  of  its 
fortifications,  that  of  the  latter  to  the  presence  of  the  impe- 
rial army.  Lautrec,  however,  sat  down  before  Naples  ;  but 
finding  it  vain  to  think  of  reducing  a  city  by  force  while 
defended  by  a  whole  army,  he  was  obliged  to  employ  the 
slower  but  less  dangerous  method  of  blockade ;  and  having 
taken  measures  Avhich  appeared  to  him  effectual,  he  con- 
fidently assured  his  master  that  famine  would  soon  compel 
the  besieged  to  capitulate.  These  hopes  were  strongly 
confirmed  by  the  defeat  of  a  vigorous  attempt  made  by  the 
enemy  in  order  to  recover  the  command  of  the  sea.     The 

^-  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  p.  47S. 


BOOK  v.]  AND  SIEGE  OF  NAPLES.  445 

galleys  of  Andrew  Doria,  under  the  command  of  his  nephew 
Philippine,  guarded  the  mouth  of  the  harbour.  Moncada, 
who  had  succeeded  Lannoy  in  the  viceroyalty,  rigged  out  a 
number  of  galleys  superior  to  Doria's,  manned  them  with 
a  chosen  body  of  Spanish  veterans,  and  going  on  board 
himself,  together  with  the  Marquis  del  Guasto,  attacked 
Philippino  before  the  arrival  of  the  Venetian  and  French 
fleets.  But  the  Genoese  admiral,  by  his  superior  skill  in 
naval  operations,  easily  triumphed  over  the  valour  and 
number  of  the  Spaniards.  The  viceroy  was  killed,  most  of 
his  fleet  destroyed,  and  Guasto,  with  many  officers  of  distinc- 
tion, being  taken  prisoners,  were  put  on  board  the  captive 
galleys,  and  sent  by  Philippino  as  trophies  of  his  victory  to 
his  uncle.  ^^ 

Notwithstanding  this  flattering  prospect  of  success, 
many  circumstances  concurred  to  frustrate  Lautrec's  expec- 
tations. Clement,  though  he  always  acknowledged  his  being 
indebted  to  Prancis  for  the  recovery  of  his  liberty,  and  often 
complained  of  the  cruel  treatment  which  he  had  met  with 
from  the  emperor,  was  not  influenced  at  this  juncture  by 
principles  of  gratitude,  nor,  which  is  more  extraordinary, 
was  he  swayed  by  the  desire  of  revenge.  His  past  misfor- 
tunes rendered  him  more  cautious  than  ever,  and  his  recol- 
lection of  the  errors  which  he  had  committed  increased  the 
natural  irresolution  of  his  mind.  AVhile  he  amused  Francis 
with  promises,  he  secretly  negotiated  with  Charles ;  and 
being  solicitous,  above  all  things,  to  re-establish  his  family 
in  Florence  with  their  ancient  authority,  which  he  could 
not  expect  from  Francis,  who  had  entered  into  strict  alli- 
ance with  the  new  republic,  he  leaned  rather  to  the  side  of 
his  enem)'  than  to  that  of  his  benefactor,  and  gave  Lautrec 
no  assistance  towards  carrying  on  his  operations.  The 
Venetians,  viewing  with  jealousy  the  progress  of  the  French 
arms,  were  intent  only  upon  recovering  such  maritime  towns 
in  the  Neapolitan  dominions  as  were  to  be  possessed  by 

"  Guic.  lib.  xix.  p.  487.     P.  Heuter.  \\h.  x.  cli.  2.  p.  231. 


446  CAUSES  OF  EMBARRASSMENT.  [book  v 

their  republic,  while  they  were  altogether  careless  about  the 
reduction  of  Naples,  on  which  the  success  of  the  common 
cause  depended.'*  The  king  of  England,  instead  of  being 
able,  as  had  been  projected,  to  embarrass  the  emperor  by 
attacking  his  territories  in  the  Low  Countries,  found  his 
subjects  so  averse  to  an  unnecessary  war,  which  would  have 
ruined  the  trade  of  the  nation,  that,  in  order  to  silence  their 
clamours,  and  pvit  a  stop  to  theinsiuTections  ready  to  break 
out  among  them,  he  was  compelled  to  conclude  a  truce 
for  eight  months  with  the  governess  of  the  Netherlands.'^ 
Francis  himself,  with  the  same  unpardonable  inattention  of 
which  he  had  formerly  been  guilty,  and  for  which  he  had 
suffered  so  severely,  neglected  to  make  proper  remittances 
to  Lautrec  for  the  support  of  his  army."^ 

These  unexpected  events  retarded  the  progress  of  the 
French,  discouraging  both  the  general  and  his  troops ;  but 
the  revolt  of  Andrew  Doria  proved  a  fatal  blow  to  all  their 
measures.  That  gallant  officer,  the  citizen  of  a  republic, 
and  trained  up  from  his  infancy  in  the  sea-service,  retained 
the  spirit  of  independence  natural  to  the  former,  together 
with  the  plain  liberal  manners  peculiar  to  the  latter.  A 
stranger  to  the  arts  of  submission  or  flattery  necessary  in 
courts,  but  conscious,  at  the  same  time,  of  his  own  merit 
and  importance,  he  always  offered  his  advice  with  freedom, 
and  often  preferred  his  complaints  and  remonstrances  with 
boldness.  The  French  ministers,  unaccustomed  to  such 
liberties,  determined  to  ruin  a  man  who  treated  them  with 
so  little  deference  ;  and  though  Francis  himself  had  a  just 
sense  of  Doria's  services,  as  well  as  a  high  esteem  for  his 
character,  the  courtiers,  by  continually  representing  him  as  a 
man  haughty,  intractable,  and  more  solicitous  to  aggrandize 
himself  than  to  promote  the  interests  of  France,  gradually 
undermined  the  foundations  of  his  credit,  and  filled  the 
king's  mind  with  suspicion  and  distrust.  From  thence  pro- 

"  Guic.'lib.  xix.  p.  491.  *^  Herbert,  p.  90.     Rymer,  xiv.  p.  25S. 

'"  Guic.  lib.  xviii.  p.  478. 


;bookv.]  revolt  OF  ANDREW  DORIA.  447 

ceeded  several  affronts  and  indignities  pnt  upon  Doria.  His 
appointments  were  not  regularly  paid  ;  his  advice,  even  in 
naval  affairs,  was  often  sliglited  ;  an  attempt  was  made  to 
seize  the  prisoners  taken  by  his  nephew  in  tlie  sea-fight  off 
Naples ;  all  which  he  bore  with  abundance  of  ill  humour. 
But  an  injury  offered  to  his  country  transported  him  beyond 
all  bounds  of  patience.  The  French  began  to  fortify  Savona, 
to  clear  its  harbour,  and,  removing  thither  some  branches 
of  trade  carried  on  at  Genoa,  plainly  showed  that  they 
intended  to  render  that  town,  which  had  been  long  the 
object  of  jealousy  and  hatred  to  the  Genoese,  their  rival  in 
wealth  and  commerce.  Doria,  animated  with  a  patriotic 
zeal  for  the  honour  and  interest  of  his  country,  remonstrated 
against  this  in  the  highest  tone,  not  without  threats,  if  the 
measure  were  not  instantly  abandoned.  This  bold  action, 
aggravated  by  the  malice  of  the  courtiers,  and  placed  in  the 
most  odious  light,  irritated  Francis  to  such  a  degree,  that 
he  commanded  Barbesieux,  whom  he  appointed  admiral  of 
the  Levant,  to  sail  directly  to  Genoa  with  the  French  fleet, 
to  arrest  Doria,  and  to  seize  his  galleys.  This  rash  order, 
the  execution  of  which  could  have  been  secured  only  by  the 
most  profound  secrecy,  was  concealed  with  so  little  care, 
that  Doria  got  timely  intelligence  of  it,  and  retired  with  all 
his  galleys  to  a  place  of  safety.  Guasto,  his  prisoner,  who 
had  long  observed  and  fomented  his  growing  discontent, 
and  had  often  allured  him  by  magnificent  promises  to  enter 
into  the  emperor's  service,  laid  hold  on  this  favourable 
opportunity.  While  his  indignation  and  resentment  were  at 
their  height,  he  prevailed  on  him  to  despatch  one  of  his 
officers  to  the  imperial  court  with  his  overtures  and  de- 
mands. The  negotiation  was  not  long;  Charles,  fnlly  sensible 
of  the  importance  of  such  an  acquisition,  granted  him  what- 
ever terms  he  required.  Doria  sent  back  his  commission, 
together  with  the  collar  of  St.  Michael,  to  Francis,  and 
hoisting  the  imperial  colours,  sailed  with  all  his  galleys 
towards  Naples,  not  to  block  up  the  harbour  of  that  unhappy 


448  DEATH  OF  LAUTEEC.  [book  v. 

city,  as  he  had  formerly  engaged,  but  to  bring  them  pro- 
tection and  deUverance. 

His  arrival  opened  the  communication  with  the  sea,  and 
restored  plenty  in  Naples,  which  was  now  reduced  to  the 
last  extremity;  and  the  French,  having  lost  their  superiority 
at  sea,  were  soon  reduced  to  great  straits  for  want  of  pro- 
visions. The  prince  of  Orange,  who  succeeded  the  viceroy  in 
the  command  of  the  imperial  army,  showed  himself,,  by  his 
prudent  conduct  worthy  of  that  honour  which  his  good  for- 
tune and  the  death  of  his  generals  had  twice  acquired  him. 
Beloved  by  the  troops,  who,  remembering  the  prosperity 
which  they  had  enjoyed  under  his  command,  served  him  with 
the  utmost  alacrity,  he  let  slip  no  opportunity  of  harassing 
the  enemy,  and  by  continual  alarms  or  sallies  fatigued  and 
weakened  them.^'^  As  an  addition  to  all  these  misfortunes, 
the  diseases  common  in  that  country  during  the  sultry 
months  began  to  break  out  among  the  French  troops.  The 
prisoners  communicated  to  them  the  pestilence  which  the 
imperial  army  had  brought  to  Naples  from  Rome,  and  it 
raged  with  such  violence  that  few,  either  officers  or  soldiers, 
escaped  the  infection.  Of  the  whole  army,  not  four  thou- 
sand men,  a  number  hardly  sufficient  to  defend  the  camp, 
were  capable  of  doing  duty  ;'^  and  being  now  besieged  in 
their  turn,  they  suffered  all  the  miseries  from  which  the 
imperialists  were  delivered.  Lautrec,  after  struggling  long 
with  so  many  disappointments  and  calamities,  which  preyed 
on  his  mind  at  the  same  time  that  the  pestilence  wasted  his 
body,  died,  lamenting  the  neghgence  of  his  sovereign  and 
the  infidelity  of  his  allies,  to  which  so  many  brave  men  had 
fallen  victims. ^^  By  his  death,  and  the  indisposition  of  the 
other  generals,  the  command  devolved  on  the  Marquis  de 
Saluces,  an  officer  altogether  unequal  to  such  a  trust.  He, 
with  troops  no  less  dispirited  than  reduced,  retreated  in 

17  Jovii  Hist.  lib.  xxxvi.  pp.  31,  &c.  "  Belky,  pp.  117,  &c. 

Sigonii  Vita  Dorise,  p.  1139.     Bellay,  '^  P.  Heuter.  Rerum  Austr.  lib.  x. 

pp.  114,  &c.  cli.  2,  p.  231. 


BOOK  v.]  GENOA  RECOVERS  ITS  LIBERTY.  449 

disorder  to  Aversa;  which  town  being  invested  by  the  prince 
of  Orange,  Saluces  was  under  the  necessity  of  consenting 
that  he  himself  sliould  remain  a  prisoner  of  war,  that  his 
troops  should  lay  down  their  arms  and  colours,  give  up 
their  baggage,  and  march  under  a  guard  to  the  frontiers  of 
France.  By  this  ignominious  capitulation,  the  wretched 
remains  of  the  French  army  were  saved  ;  and  the  emperor, 
by  his  own  perseverance,  and  the  good  conduct  of  his 
generals,  acquired  once  more  the  superiority  in  Italy. ^^ 

The  loss  of  Genoa  followed  immediately  upon  the  ruin  of 
the  army  in  Naples.  To  deliver  his  country  from  the  do- 
minion of  foreigners  was  Doria's  highest  ambition,  and  had 
been  his  principal  inducement  to  quit  the  service  of  France, 
and  enter  into  that  of  the  emperor.  A  most  favourable 
opportunity  for  executing  this  honourable  enterprise  now 
presented  itself.  The  city  of  Genoa,  afflicted  by  the  pesti- 
lence, was  almost  deserted  by  its  inhabitants ;  the  French 
garrison,  being  neither  regularly  paid  nor  recruited,  was 
reduced  to  an  inconsiderable  number ;  Doria's  emissaries 
found  that  such  of  the  citizens  as  remained,  being  weary 
alike  of  the  French  and  imperial  yoke,  the  rigour  of  which 
they  had  alternately  felt,  were  ready  to  welcome  him  as 
their  deliverer,  and  to  second  all  his  measures.  Things 
wearing  this  promising  aspect,  he  sailed  towards  the  coast 
of  Genoa  ;  on  his  approach,  the  French  galleys  retired ;  a 
small  body  of  men  which  he  landed  surprised  one  of  the 
gates  of  Genoa  in  the  night-time  ;  Trivulci,  the  French 
governor,  with  his  feeble  garrison,  shut  himself  up  in  the 
citadel,  and  Doria  took  possession  of  the  town  without 
bloodshed  or  resistance.  Want  of  provisions  quickly  obliged 
Trivulci  to  capitulate ;  the  people,  eager  to  abolish  such  an 
odious  monument  of  tliek  servitude,  ran  together  with  a  tu- 
multuous violence,  and  levelled  the  citadel  with  the  ground. 

It  was  now  in  Doria's  power  to  have  rendered  himself 
the  sovereign  of  his  country,  which  he  had   so  happily 

-"  Bellay,  pp.  117,  &c.    Jovii  Hist.  lib.  xxv.  xxvi. 
VOL.  I.  G  G 


450  MA.GNANIMITY  OF  ANDREW  DORIA.  [book  v. 

delivered  from  oppression.  The  fame  of  his  former  actions, 
the  success  of  his  present  attempt,  the  attachment  of  his 
friends,  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen,  together  with  the 
support  of  the  emperor,  all  conspired  to  facilitate  his 
attaining  the  supreme  authority,  and  invited  him  to  lay 
hold  of  it.  But  with  a  magnanimity  of  which  there  are 
few  examples,  he  sacrificed  all  thoughts  of  aggrandizing 
himself  to  the  virtuous  satisfaction  of  establishing  liberty 
in  his  country,  the  highest  object  at  which  ambition  can 
aim.  Having  assembled  the  whole  body  of  the  people  in 
the  court  before  his  palace,  he  assured  them  that  the 
happiness  of  seeing  them  once  more  in  possession  of 
freedom  was  to  him  a  full  reward  for  all  his  services ;  that, 
more  delighted  with  the  name  of  citizen  than  of  sovereign, 
he  claimed  no  pre-eminence  or  power  above  his  equals; 
but  remitted  entirely  to  them  the  right  of  settling  what 
form  of  government  they  would  now  choose  to  be  esta- 
blished among  them.  The  people  listened  to  him  with 
tears  of  admiration  and  of  joy.  Twelve  persons  were  elected 
to  new-model  the  constitution  of  the  republic.  The  in- 
fluence of  Doria's  virtue  and  example  communicated  itself 
to  his  countrymen ;  the  factions  which  had  long  torn  and 
ruined  the  state  seemed  to  be  forgotten;  prudent  precautions 
were  taken  to  prevent  their  reviving;  and  the  same  form 
of  government  which  hath  subsisted  with  little  variation 
since  that  time  in  Genoa,  Avas  established  with  universal 
applause.  Doria  lived  to  a  great  age,  beloved,  respected, 
and  honoured  by  his  countrymen ;  and  adhering  uniformly 
to  his  professions  of  moderation,  without  arrogating  any- 
thing unbecoming  a  private  citizen,  he  preserved  a  great 
ascendant  over  the  councils  of  the  republic,  which  owed  its 
being  to  his  generosity.  The  authority  which  he  possessed 
was  more  flattering,  as  well  as  more  satisfactory,  than  that 
derived  from  sovereignty ;  a  dominion  founded  in  love  and 
in  gratitude  ;  and  upheld  by  veneration  for  his  virtues,  not 
by  the  dread  of  his  power.    His  memory  is  still  reverenced 


BOOK  v.]  NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE.  451 

by  the  Genoese,  and  he  is  distinguished  in  their  puhHc 
monuments,  and  celebrated  in  the  works  of  their  historians, 
by  the  most  honourable  of  all  appellations,  the  tather  of 

HIS  COUNTRY,  AND  THE  RESTORER  OF  ITS  LIBERTY.^' 

,  [1529.]  Francis,  in  order  to  recover  the  reputation  of  his 
arms,  discredited  by  so  many  losses,  made  new  efforts  in 
the  Milanese.  But  the  count  of  St.  Pol,  a  rash  and  inex- 
perienced officer,  to  whom  he  gave  the  command,  was  no 
match  for  Antonio  de  Leyva,  the  ablest  of  the  imperial 
generals.  He,  by  his  superior  skill  in  war,  checked,  with 
a  handful  of  men,  the  brisk  but  ill-concerted  motions  of 
the  French;  and  though  so  infirm  himself,  that  he  was 
carried  constantly  in  a  litter,  he  surpassed  them,  when 
occasion  required,  no  less  in  activity  than  in  prudence.  By 
an  unexpected  march  he  surprised,  defeated,  and  took 
prisoner  the  count  of  St.  Pol,  ruining  the  French  army  in 
the  Milanese  as  entirely  as  the  prince  of  Orange  had  ruined 
that  which  besieged  Naples. ^^ 

Amidst  these  vigorous  operations  in  the  field,  each  party 
discovered  an  impatient  desire  of  peace,  and  continual 
negotiations  were  carried  on  for  tliat  purpose.  The  French 
king,  discouraged  and  almost  exhausted  by  so  many  un- 
successful enterprises,  was  reduced  now  to  think  of  obtain- 
ing the  release  of  his  sons  by  concessions,  not  by  the 
terror  of  his  arms.  The  pope  hoped  to  recover  by  a  treaty 
whatever  he  had  lost  in  the  war.  The  emperor,  notwith- 
standing the  advantages  which  he  had  gained,  had  many 
reasons  to  make  him  wish  for  an  accommodation.  Solyman, 
having  overrun  Hungary,  was  ready  to  break  in  upon  the 
Austrian  territories  with  the  whole  force  of  the  East.  Tlie 
reformation  gaining  ground  daily  in  Germany,  the  princes 
who  favoured  it  had  entered  into  a  confederacy  which  Charles 
thought  dangerous  to  the  tranquillity  of  the  empire.  The 
Spaniards  murmured  at  a  war  of  such  unusual  length,  the 

2*  Guic.   lib.  xix.   p.  498.     Sigoiiii  22  Guic.  lib.  xix.  p.  520.  T.  Heider. 

Vila  Dorise,  p.  114G.  Jovii  Hist.  lib.  Her.  Austr.  lib.  x.  cli.  3,  p.  233.  Mem 
xxvi.  pp.  3G,  &c.  de  Bcllay,  p.  121. 

G  G  2 


452       MARGARET  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  QUEEN  LOUISE,     [book  v. 

weight  of  whicli  rested  chiefly  on  them.  The  variety  and 
extent  of  the  emperor's  operations  far  exceeded  what  his 
revenues  could  support.  His  success  hitherto  had  been 
owing  chiefly  to  his  own  good  fortune,  and  to  the  abilities 
of  his  generals ;  nor  could  he  flatter  himself  that  they, 
with  troops  destitute  of  everything  necessary,  would  always 
triumph  over  enemies  still  in  a  condition  to  renew  their 
attacks.  All  parties,  however,  were  at  equal  pains  to  conceal 
or  to  dissemble  their  real  sentiments.  The  emperor,  that 
his  inability  to  carry  on  the  war  might  not  be  suspected, 
insisted  on  high  terms  in  the  tone  of  a  conqueror.  The 
pope,  solicitous  not  to  lose  his  present  allies  before  he 
came  to  any  agreement  with  Charles,  continued  to  make 
a  thousand  protestations  of  fidelity  to  the  former,  while  he 
privately  negotiated  with  the  latter.  Francis,  afraid  that 
his  confederates  might  prevent  him  by  treating  for  them- 
selves with  the  emperor,  had  recourse  to  many  dishonour- 
able artifices,  in  order  to  turn  their  attention  from  the 
measures  which  he  was  taking  to  adjust  all  difl'erences  with 
his  rival. 

In  this  situation  of  afiairs,  when  all  the  contending 
powers  wished  for  peace,  but  durst  not  venture  too  hastily 
on  the  steps  necessary  for  attaining  it,  two  ladies  undertook 
to  procure  this  blessing  so  much  desired  by  all  Europe. 
These  were  Margaret  of  Austria,  duchess  dowager  of  Savoy, 
the  emperor's  aunt,  and  Louise,  Francis's  mother.  They 
agreed  on  an  interview  at  Cambray,  and  being  lodged  in 
two  adjoining  houses,  between  which  a  communication  was 
opened,  met  together  without  ceremony  or  observation,  and 
held  daily  conferences,  to  which  no  person  whatever  was 
admitted.  As  both  were  profoundly  skilled  in  business, 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  secrets  of  their  respective 
courts,  and  possessed  with  perfect  confidence  in  each  other, 
they  soon  made  great  progress  towards  a  final  accommoda- 
tion ;  and  the  ambassadors  of  all  the  confederates  waited 
in  anxious  suspense  to  know  their  fate,  the  determination 


BOOK  v.]  CHARLES'S  TREATY  WITH  THE  POPE.  453 

of  wliicli  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  tliosc  ilhistrious 
negotiators." 

But  whatever  dihgence  they  used  to  hasten  forward  a 
general  peace,  the  pope  had  the  address  and  industry  to 
get  the  start  of  his  allies,  by  concluding  at  Barcelona  a 
particular  treaty  for  himself.  The  emperor,  impatient  to 
visit  Italy  in  his  way  to  Germany,  and  desirous  of  re- 
establishing tranquillity  in  the  one  country,  before  he 
attempted  to  compose  the  disorders  which  abounded  in 
the  other,  found  it  necessary  to  secure  at  least  one  alHance 
among  the  Italian  states,  on  which  he  might  depend. 
That  wdth  Clement,  who  courted  it  with  unwearied  im- 
portunity, seemed  more  proper  than  any  other,  Charles, 
being  extremely  solicitous  to  make  some  reparation  for  the 
insults  which  he  had  offered  to  the  sacred  character  of  the 
pope,  and  to  redeem  past  offences  by  new  merit,  granted 
Clement,  notwithstanding  all  his  misfortunes,  terms  more 
favoui'able  than  he  could  have  expected  after  a  continued 
series  of  success.  Among  other  articles,  he  engaged  to 
restore  all  the  territories  belonging  to  the  ecclesiastical 
state;  to  re-establish  the  dominion  of  the  Medici  in  Plorence ; 
to  give  his  natural  daughter  in  marriage  to  Alexander,  the 
head  of  that  family  ;  and  to  pi\t  it  in  the  pope's  power  to 
decide  concerning  the  fate  of  Sforza  and  the  possession  of 
the  Milanese.  In  return  for  these  ample  concessions, 
Clement  gave  the  emperor  the  investiture  of  Naples  without 
the  reserve  of  any  tribute,  but  the  present  of  a  white  steed, 
in  acknowledgment  of  his  sovereignty ;  absolved  all  who 
had  been  concerned  in  assaulting  and  plundering  Rome, 
and  permitted  Charles  and  his  brother  Perdinand  to  levy 
the  fourth  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  throughout  their 
dominions. ^^ 

The  account  of  this  transaction  quickened  the  negotiations 
at  Cambray,  and  brought  Margaret  and  Louise  to  an  imme- 

23  p.  Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  x.  cli.  3,  p.  133.    M6m.  de  Bellay,  p.  122. 
^*  Guic.  lib.  xix.  p.  522. 


454  :    THE  TREATY  OF  CAMBEAY,  [book  v. 

diate  agreement.  The  treaty  of  Madrid  served  as  the  basis 
of  that  which  they  conchided ;  the  latter  being  intended  to 
mitigate  the  rigonr  of  the  former.  The  chief  articles  were, 
that  the  emperor  should  not,  for  the  present,  demand  the 
restitution  of  Burgundy,  reserving,  however,  in  full  force, 
his  rights  and  pretensions  to  that  duchy;  that  Francis  should 
pay  two  millions  of  crowns  as  the  ransom  of  his  sons,  and, 
before  they  were  set  at  liberty,  should  restore  such  towns 
as  he  still  held  in  the  Milanese  ;  that  he  should  resign  his 
pretensions  to  the  sovereignty  of  Manders  and  of  Artois  ; 
that  he  should  renounce  all  his  pretensions  to  Naples,  Milan, 
Genoa,  and  every  other  place  beyond  the  Alps  ;  that  he 
should  immediately  consummate  the  marriage  concluded 
between  him  and  the  emperor's  sister  Eleanora," 

Thus  Francis,  chiefly  from  his  impatience  to  procure 
liberty  to  his  sons,  sacrificed  everything  which  had  at  first 
prompted  him  to  take  arms,  or  which  had  induced  him,  by 
continuing  hostilities  during  nine  successive  campaigns,  to 
protract  the  war  to  a  length  hardly  known  in  Em^ope,  before 
the  establishment  of  standing  armies  and  the  imposition  of 
exorbitant  taxes  became  universal.  The  emperor,  by  this 
treaty,  was  rendered  sole  arbiter  of  the  fate  of  Italy ;  he 
delivered  his  territories  in  the  Netherlands  from  an  un- 
pleasant badge  of  subjection  ;  and  after  having  baffled  his 
rival  in  the  field,  he  prescribed  to  him  the  conditions  of 
peace.  The  different  conduct  and  spirit  with  which  the  two 
monarchs  carried  on  the  operations  of  war,  led  naturally  to 
such  an  issue  of  it.  Charles,  inclined  by  temper,  as  well  as 
obliged  by  his  situation,  concerted  all  his  schemes  with 
caution,  pursued  them  with  perseverance,  and,  observing 
circumstances  and  events  Avitli  attention,  let  none  escape 
that  could  be  improved  to  advantage.  Francis,  more  enter- 
prising than  steady,  undertook  great  designs  with  warmth, 
but  often  executed  them  with  remissness  ;  and,  diverted  by 

«  P.  Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  x.  cli.  3,  p.  23i.     Sandov.  Hist,  del  Emper. 
Car.  V.  ii.  p.  28. 


BOOK  v.]  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES.  455 

his  pleasures,  or  deceived  by  his  favom-ites,  he  lost,  on 
several  occasions,  the  most  promising  opportunities  of  suc- 
cess. Nor  had  the  character  of  the  two  rivals  themselves 
greater  influence  on  the  operations  of  war,  than  the  oppo- 
site qualities  of  the  generals  whom  they  employed.  Among 
the  imperialists,  valour  tempered  wqth  prudence  ;  fertility 
of  invention,  aided  by  experience;  discernment  to  penetrate 
the  designs  of  their  enemies  ;  a  provident  sagacity  in  con- 
ducting their  own  measures  ;  in  a  word,  all  the  talents 
which  form  great  commanders,  and  ensure  victory,  w^ere 
conspicuous.  Among  the  French,  these  qualities  were  either 
■wanting,  or  the  very  reverse  of  them  abounded ;  nor  could 
they  boast  of  one  man  (unless  we  except  Lautrec,  who  was 
always  unfortunate)  that  equalled  the  merit  of  Pescara, 
Leyva,  Guasto,  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  other  leaders 
whom  Charles  had  set  in  opposition  to  them.  Bourbon, 
Morone,  Doria,  who,  by  their  abilities  and  conduct,  might 
have  been  capable  of  balancing  the  superiority  which  the 
imperialists  had  acquired,  were  induced  to  abandon  the 
service  of  France,  by  the  carelessness  of  the  king,  and  the 
malice  or  injustice  of  his  councillors ;  and  the  most  fatal 
blows  given  to  France,  during  the  progress  of  the  war, 
proceeded  from  the  despair  and  resentment  of  these  three 
persons. 

The  hard  conditions  to  w^hich  Francis  was  obliged  to 
submit  were  not  the  most  afflicting  circumstances  to  him 
in  the  treaty  of  Cambray.  He  lost  his  reputation  and  the 
confidence  of  all  Europe,  by  abandoning  his  allies  to  his 
rival.  Unwilling  to  enter  into  the  details  necessary  for 
adjusting  theii*  interests,  or  afraid  that  whatever  he  claimed 
for  them  must  have  been  purchased  by  farther  concessions 
on  his  own  part,  he  gave  them  up  in  a  body ;  and,  without 
the  least  provision  in  their  behalf,  left  the  Venetians,  the 
Florentines,  the  duke  of  Ferrara,  together  with  such  of  the 
Neapolitan  barons  as  had  joined  his  army,  to  the  mercy  of 
the  emperor.    They  exclaimed  loudly  against  this  base  and 


456  HENRY  THE  EIGHTH  [book  v 

perfidious  action,  of  which  Francis  himself  was  so  much 
ashamed,  that,  in  order  to  avoid  the  pain  of  hearing  from 
their  ambassadors  the  reproaches  which  he  justly  merited, 
it  was  some  time  before  he  would  consent  to  allow  them  an 
audience.  Charles,  on  the  other  hand,  was  attentive  to  the 
interest  of  every  person  who  had  adhered  to  him :  the 
rights  of  some  of  his  Flemish  subjects,  who  had  estates  or 
pretensions  in  France,  were  secured ;  one  article  was 
inserted,  obliging  Francis  to  restore  the  blood  and  memory 
of  the  constable  Bourbon ;  and  to  grant  his  heirs  the  pos- 
session of  his  lands  which  had  been  forfeited ;  another,  by 
which  indemnification  was  stipulated  for  those  French 
gentlemen  who  had  accompanied  Bourbon  in  his  exile.^^ 
This  conduct,  laudable  in  itself,  and  placed  in  the  most 
striking  light  by  a  comparison  with  that  of  Francis,  gained 
Charles  as  much  esteem  as  the  success  of  his  arms  had 
acquii'ed  him  glory. 

Francis  did  not  treat  the  king  of  England  with  the  same 
neglect  as  his  other  allies.  He  communicated  to  him  all 
the  steps  of  his  negotiation  at  Cambray,  and  luckily  found 
that  monarch  in  a  situation  which  left  him  no  choice  but 
to  approve  implicitly  of  his  measures,  and  to  concur  with 
them.  Henry  had  been  soliciting  the  pope  for  some  time, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  divorce  from  Catharine  of  Aragon,  his 
queen.  Several  motives  combined  in  prompting  the  king 
to  urge  his  suit.  As  he  was  powerfully  influenced  at  some 
seasons  by  religious  considerations,  he  entertained  many 
scruples  concerning  the  legitimacy  of  his  marriage  with  his 
brother's  widow ;  his  affections  had  long  been  estranged 
from  the  queen,  who  was  older  than  himself,  and  had  lost 
all  the  charms  which  she  possessed  in  the  earlier  part  of 
her  life  ;  he  was  passionately  desirous  of  having  male  issue  ; 
Wolsey  artfully  fortified  his  scruples,  and  encouraged  his 
hopes,  that  he  might  widen  the  breach  between  him  and 
the  emperor,  Catharine's   nephew ;  and,   what  was  more 

>^  Guic.  lib.  xix.  p.  525.     P.  Heuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  x.  cli.  4,  p.  235. 


BOOK  v.]  SUES  FOR  A  DIVORCE.  45/ 

forcible,  perhaps,  in  its  operation,  than  all  these  united, 
the  king  had  conceived  a  violent  love  for  the  celebrated 
Anne  Boleyn,  a  young  lady  of  great  beauty  and  of  greater 
accomplishments,  Avhom,  as  he  found  it  impossible  to  gain 
her  on  other  terms,  he  determined  to  raise  to  the  throne. 
The  papal  authority  had  often  been  interposed  to  grant 
divorces,  for  reasons  less  specious  than  those  which  Henry 
produced.  When  the  matter  was  first  proposed  to  Clement, 
during  his  imprisonment  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  as  his 
hopes  of  recovering  liberty  depended  entirely  on  the  king 
of  England  and  his  ally  of  France,  he  expressed  the  warm- 
est inclination  to  gratify  him.  But  no  sooner  was  he  set 
free,  than  he  discovered  other  sentiments.  Charles,  who 
espoused  the  protection  of  his  aunt  with  zeal  inflamed  by 
resentment,  alarmed  the  pope,  on  the  one  hand,  with 
threats,  which  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  timid  mind, 
and  allured  him,  on  the  other,  with  those  promises  in 
favour  of  his  family  which  he  afterwards  accomplished. 
Upon  the  prospect  of  these,  Clement  not  only  forgot  all  his 
obligations  to  Henry,  but  ventured  to  endanger  the  interests 
of  the  Romish  religion  in  England,  and  to  run  the  risk  of 
alienating  that  kingdom  for  ever  from  the  obedience  of  the 
papal  see.  After  amusing  Henry  during  two  years  Avith 
all  the  subtleties  and  chicane  which  the  court  of  Rome  can 
so  dexterously  employ  to  protract  or  defeat  any  cause ; 
after  displaying  the  whole  extent  of  his  ambiguous  and 
deceitful  policy,  the  intricacies  of  which  the  English  histo- 
rians, to  whom  it  properly  belongs,  have  found  it  no  easy 
matter  to  trace  and  unravel,  he  at  last  recalled  the  powers 
of  the  delegates,  whom  he  had  appointed  to  judge  in  the 
point,  avocated  the  cause  to  Rome,  leaving  the  king  no 
other  hope  of  obtaining  a  divorce  but  from  the  personal 
decision  of  the  pope  himself.  As  Clement  was  now  in  strict 
alliance  with  the  emperor,  who  had  purchased  his  friendship 
by  the  exorbitant  concessions  Avhich  have  been  mentioned, 
Henry  despaired  of  procuring  any  sentence  from  the  former 


458  THE  EMPEROE  VISITS  ITALY.  [book  v. 

but  what  was  dictated  by  the  latter.  His  honour,  however, 
and  passions  concurred  in  preventing  him  from  reUnquishing 
his  scheme  of  a  divorce,  which  he  determined  to  accomplish 
by  other  means,  and  at  any  rate ;  and  the  continuance  of 
Francis's  friendship  being  necessary  to  counterbalance  the 
emperor's  power,  he,  in  order  to  secure  that,  not  only  offered 
no  remonstrances  against  the  total  neglect  of  their  alhes  in 
the  treaty  of  Cambray,  but  made  Francis  the  present  of  a 
large  sum,  as  a  brotherly  contribution  towards  the  payment 
of  the  ransom  for  his  sons." 

Soon  after  the  treaty  of  peace  w^as  concluded,  the  emperor 
landed  in  Italy  with  a  numerous  train  of  the  Spanish 
nobility,  and  a  considerable  body  of  troops.  He  left  the 
government  of  Spain,  during  his  absence,  to  the  empress 
Isabella.  By  his  long  residence  in  that  country,  he  had 
acquired  such  thorough  knowledge  of  the  character  of  the 
people,  that  he  could  perfectly  accommodate  the  maxims 
of  his  government  to  their  genius.  He  could  even  assume, 
upon  some  occasions,  such  popular  manners  as  gained 
wonderfully  upon  the  Spaniards.  A  striking  instance  of 
his  disposition  to  gratify  them  had  occurred  a  few^  days 
before  he  embarked  for  Italy.  He  was  to  make  his  public 
entry  into  the  city  of  Barcelona  ;  and  some  doubts  having 
arisen  among  the  inhabitants,  whether  they  should  receive 
him  as  emperor,  or  as  count  of  Barcelona,  Charles  instantly 
decided  in  favour  of  the  latter,  declaring  that  he  was  more 
proud  of  that  ancient  title  than  of  his  imperial  crown. 
Soothed  with  this  flattering  expression  of  his  regardj  the 
citizens  welcomed  him  with  acclamations  of  joy,  and  the 
states  of  the  province  sw^ore  allegiance  to  his  son  Philip, 
as  heir  of  the  county  of  Barcelona.  A  similar  oath  had 
been  taken  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Spain,  with  equal 
satisfaction.-^ 

The  emperor  appeared  in  Italy  wdth  the  pomp  and  power 
of  a  conqueror.     Ambassadors  from  all  the  princes  and 

'-'  Herbert,  Mem.  de  Bellay,  p.  122.     ««  Sandov.  ii.  p.  50.     Perrer.  ix.  116. 


POOR  v.]  HIS  APPExVRANCE  AND  CONDUCT.  459 

states  of  that  country  attended  his  court,  waiting  to  receive 
his  decision  with  regard  to  their  fate.  At  Genoa,  where 
he  first  landed,  he  was  received  with  the  acclamations  due 
to  the  protector  of  their  liberties.  Having  honoured  Doria 
with  many  marks  of  distinction,  and  bestowed  on  the 
republic  several  new  privileges,  he  proceeded  to  Bologna, 
the  place  fixed  upon  for  his  hiterview  Avith  the  pope.  He 
affected  to  unite  in  his  public  entry  into  that  city  the  state 
and  majesty  that  suited  an  emperor,  with  the  humility 
becoming  an  obedient  son  of  the  church  ;  and  while  at  the 
head  of  twenty  thousand  veteran  soldiers,  able  to  give  law 
to  all  Italy,  he  kneeled  down  to  kiss  the  feet  of  that  very 
l^ope  whom  he  had  so  lately  detained  a  prisoner.  The 
Italians,  after  suffering  so  much  from  the  ferocity  and  licen- 
tiousness of  his  armies,  and  after  having  been  long  accus- 
tomed to  form  in  their  imagination  a  picture  of  Charles, 
which  bore  some  resemblance  to  that  of  the  barbarous 
nionarchs  of  the  Goths  or  Huns,  who  had  formerly  afflicted 
their  country  with  like  calamities,  Avere  surprised  to  see  a 
prince  of  a  graceful  appearance,  affable  and  courteous  in  his 
deportment,  of  regular  manners,  and  of  exemplary  attention 
to  all  the  offices  of  religion.^''  They  were  still  more 
astonished  when  he  settled  all  the  concerns  of  the  princes 
and  states  which  now  depended  on  him,  with  a  degree 
of  moderation  and  equity  much  beyond  Avhat  they  had 
expected. 

Charles  himself,  when  he  set  out  from  Spain,  far  from 
intending  to  give  any  such  extraordinary  proof  of  his  self- 
denial,  seems  to  have  been  resolved  to  avail  himself  to  the 
utmost  of  the  superiority  which  he  had  acquired  in  Italy. 
But  various  cu'cumstances  concurred  in  pointing  out  the 
necessity  of  pursuing  a  very  different  course.  The  progress 
of  the  Turkish  sultan,  who,  after  overrunning  Hungary, 
had  penetrated  into  Austria,  and  laid  siege  to  Vienna,  Avith 
an  army  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men,  loudly  called 

2'  Sandov.  Hist,  del  Emp.  Carl.  V.  ii.  pp.  50,  53,  &c. 


460  MODERATION  OF  THE  EMPEROR.  [book  v. 

upon  him  to  collect  his  whole  force  to  oppose  that  torrent ; 
and  though  the  valour  of  the  Germans,  the  prudent  conduct 
of  Ferdinand,  together  with  the  treachery  of  the  vizier,  soon 
obliged  Solyman  to  abandon  that  enterprise  with  disgrace 
and  loss,  the  religious  disorders  still  growing  in  Germany 
rendered  the  presence  of  the  emperor  highly  necessary 
there. ^^  The  Florentines,  instead  of  giving  their  consent 
to  the  re-establishment  of  the  Medici,  which,  by  the  treaty 
of  Barcelona,  the  emperor  had  bound  himself  to  procure, 
were  preparing  to  defend  their  liberty  by  force  of  arms  ; 
the  preparations  for  his  jonrney  had  involved  him  in 
unusual  expenses ;  and  on  this,  as  well  as  many  other 
occasions,  the  multiplicity  of  his  affairs,  together  with  the 
narrowness  of  his  revenues,  obliged  him  to  contract  the 
schemes  which  his  boundless  ambition  was  apt  to  form, 
and  to  forego  present  and  certain  advantages,  that  he 
might  guard  against  more  remote  but  unavoidable  dangers. 
Charles,  from  all  these  considerations,  finding  it  neces- 
sary to  assume  an  air  of  moderation,  acted  his  part  with 
a  good  grace.  He  admitted  Sforza  into  his  presence,  and 
not  only  gave  him  a  full  pardon  of  all  past  offences,  but 
granted  him  the  investiture  of  the  duchy,  together  with 
his  niece,  the  king  of  Denmark's  daughter,  in  marriage. 
He  alloAved  the  duke  of  Ferrara  to  keep  possession  of 
all  his  dominions,  adjusting  the  points  in  dispute  between 
him  and  the  pope  with  an  impartiality  not  very  agree- 
able to  the  latter.  He  came  to  a  final  accommodation 
with  the  Venetians,  upon  the  reasonable  condition  of  their 
restoring  whatever  they  had  usurped  during  the  late  war, 
either  in  the  Neapolitan  or  papal  territories.  In  return 
for  so  many  concessions,  he  exacted  considerable  sums 
from  each  of  the  powers  with  whom  he  treated,  which  they 
paid  without  reluctance,  and  which  afforded  him  the  means 
of  proceeding  on  his  journey  towards  Germany  with  a 
magnificence  suitable  to  his  dignity. ^^ 

2"  Sleidan,  121.     Guic.  lib.  xx.  550.  '^  Sandov.  ii.  pp.  55,  &c. 


BOOK  v.]     RESTORES  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  MEDICI.         4GI 

[1530.]  Tliese  treaties,  which  restored  tranquiUity  to 
Italy  after  a  tedious  Avar,  the  calamities  of  which  had  chiefly 
affected  that  country,  uere  published  at  Bologna  with  great 
solemnity  on  the  first  day  of  the  year  one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  thirty,  amidst  the  universal  acclamations  of 
the  people,  applauding  the  emperor,  to  whose  moderation 
and  generosity  they  ascribed  the  blessings  of  peace  which 
they  had  so  long  desired.  The  Florentines  alone  did  not 
partake  of  this  general  joy.  Animated  with  a  zeal  for 
liberty  more  laudable  than  prudent,  they  determined  to 
oppose  the  restoration  of  the  Medici.  The  imperial  army 
had  already  entered  their  territories,  and  formed  the  siege 
of  their  capital.  But,  though  deserted  by  all  their  allies, 
and  left  without  any  hope  of  succour,  they  defended  them- 
selves many  months  with  an  obstinate  valour  worthy  of  better 
success ;  and  even  when  they  surrendered,  they  obtained  a 
capitulation  which  gave  them  hopes  of  securing  some  remains 
of  their  liberty.  But  the  emperor,  from  his  desire  to  gratify 
the  pope,  frustrated  all  their  expectations,  and,  abolishing 
their  ancient  form  of  government,  raised  Alexander  de' 
Medici  to  the  same  absolute  dominion  over  that  state,  which 
his  family  have  retained  to  the  present  times.  Philibert 
de  Chalons,  prince  of  Orange,  the  imperial  general,  w^as 
killed  during  this  siege.  His  estate  and  titles  descended 
to  his  sister,  Claude  de  Chalons,  who  was  married  to  Rene, 
count  of  Nassau,  and  she  transmitted  to  her  posterity  of 
the  house  of  Nassau  the  title  of  princes  of  Orange,  which, 
by  their  superior  talents  and  valour,  they  have  rendered  so 
illustrious.^^ 

After  the  publication  of  the  peace  at  Bologna,  and  the 
ceremony  of  his  coronation  as  king  of  Lombardy  and 
emperor  of  the  Romans,  which  the  pope  performed  with 
the  accustomed  formalities,  nothing  detained  Charles  in 
Italy  ;^^  and  he  began  to  prepare  for  his  journey  to  Germany. 

"  Guic.  lib.  XX.  pp.  341,  &c.     P.  ^  H.  Cornel.  Agrippa  deduplicico- 

Heuter.  Iler.  Austr.  lib.  ii.  cb.  4,  p.  23G.      ronationc  Car.  V.  ap.  Scard.  ii.  p.  22G. 


462  CHAELES  RETURNS  TO  GERMANY.  [book  v. 

His  presence  became  every  day  more  necessary  in  that 
country,  and  was  solicited  with  equal  importunity  by  the 
catholics  and  by  the  favourers  of  the  new  doctrines.  During 
that  long  interval  of  tranquillity,  which  the  absence  of  the 
emperor,  the  contests  between  him  and  the  pope,  and  his 
attention  to  the  war  with  France,  afforded  them,  the  latter 
gained  much  ground.  Most  of  the  princes  who  had 
embraced  Luther's  opinions,  had  not  only  established  in 
their  territories  that  form  of  worship  which  he  approved, 
but  had  entirely  suppressed  the  rites  of  the  Romish  church. 
Many  of  the  free  cities  had  imitated  their  conduct.  Almost 
one-half  of  the  Germanic  body  had  revolted  from  the  papal 
see ;  and  its  authority,  even  in  those  provinces  which  had 
not  hitherto  shaken  off  the  yoke,  was  considerably  weakened, 
partly  by  the  example  of  revolt  in  the  neighbom'ing  states, 
partly  by  the  secret  progress  of  the  reformed  doctrine,  even 
in  those  countries  where  it  was  not  openly  embraced. 
Whatever  satisfaction  the  emperor,  w^hile  he  was  at  open 
enmity  with  the  see  of  Rome,  might  have  felt  in  those 
events  w^hich  tended  to  mortify  and  embarrass  the  pope,  he 
could  not  help  perceiving  now  that  the  religious  divisions 
in  Germany  would,  in  the  end,  prove  extremely  hurtful  to 
the  imperial  authority.  The  weakness  of  former  emperors 
had  suffered  the  great  vassals  of  the  empire  to  make  such 
successful  encroachments  upon  their  power  and  prerogative, 
that,  during  the  whole  course  of  the  war,  which  had  often 
required  the  exertion  of  his  utmost  strength,  Charles  hardly 
drew  any  effectual  aid  from  Germany,  and  found  that 
magnificent  titles  or  obsolete  pretensions  were  almost  the 
only  advantages  which  he  had  gained  by  swaying  the 
imperial  sceptre.  He  became  fully  sensible  that  if  he  did 
not  recover  in  some  degree  the  prerogatives  which  his  pre- 
decessors had  lost,  and  acquire  the  authority,  as  well  as 
possess  the  name,  of  head  of  the  empire,  his  high  dignity 
would  contribute  more  to  obstruct  than  to  promote  his 
ambitious  schemes.     Nothing,  he  saw,  was  more  essential 


BOOK  v.]  I>IET  OF  SPIRES.  463 

towards  attaining  this,  than  to  suppress  opinions  which 
might  form  new  bonds  of  confederacy  among  the  princes 
of  the  empire,  and  unite  them  by  ties  stronger  and  more 
sacred  than  any  pohtical  connexion.  Nothing  seemed  to 
lead  more  certainly  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  design, 
than  to  employ  zeal  for  the  established  rehgion,  of  which 
he  was  the  natural  protector,  as  the  instrument  of  extend- 
mg  his  civil  authority. 

Accordingly,  a  prospect  no  sooner  opened  of  coming  to 
an  accommodation  with  the  pope,  than,  by  the  emperor's 
appointment,  a  diet  of  the  empire  was  held  at  Spires  [1 529], 
in  order  to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  religion.  The 
decree  of  the  diet  assembled  there  in  the  year  one  thousand 
five  hundred  and  twenty-six,  which  was  almost  equivalent 
to  a  toleration  of  Luther's  opinions,  had  given  great  offence 
to  the  rest  of  Christendom.  The  greatest  delicacy  of 
address,  however,  was  requisite  in  proceeding  to  any  deci- 
sion more  rigorous.  The  minds  of  men,  kept  in  perpetual 
agitation  by  a  controversy  carried  on  during  twelve  years, 
without  intermission  of  debate,  or  abatement  of  zeal,  were 
now  inflamed  to  a  high  degree.  They  were  accustomed  to 
innovations,  and  saw  the  boldest  of  them  successful.  Having 
not  only  abolished  old  rites,  but  substituted  new  forms  in 
their  place,  they  were  influenced  as  much  by  attachment  to 
the  system  which  they  had  embraced,  as  by  aversion  to 
that  which  they  had  abandoned.  Luther  himself,  of  a  spirit 
not  to  be  worn  out  by  the  length  and  obstinacy  of  the 
combat,  or  to  become  remiss  upon  success,  continued  the 
attack  with  as  much  vigour  as  he  had  begun  it.  His  dis- 
ciples, of  whom  many  equalled  him  in  zeal,  and  some 
surpassed  him  in  learning,  were  no  less  capable  than  their 
master  to  conduct  the  controversy  in  the  properest  manner. 
Many  of  the  laity,  some  even  of  the  princes,  trained  up 
amidst  these  incessant  disputations,  and  in  the  habit  of 
listening  to  the  arguments  of  the  contending  parties,  who 
alternately  appealed  to  them  as  judges,  came  to  be  pro- 


464  THE  PROTEST.  [book  v. 

foundly  skilled  in  all  the  questions  which  were  agitated, 
and,  upon  occasion,  could  show  themselves  not  inexpert  in 
any  of  the  arts  with  which  these  theological  encounters 
were  managed.  It  was  obvious  from  all  these  circum- 
stances, that  any  violent  decision  of  the  diet  must  have 
immediately  precipitated  matters  into  confusion,  and  have 
kindled  in  Germany  the  flames  of  a  religious  war.  All, 
therefore,  that  the  archduke  and  the  other  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  emperor,  demanded  of  the  diet  was,  to 
enjoin  those  states  of  the  empire  which  had  hitherto  obeyed 
the  decree  issued  against  Luther  at  Worms,  in  the  year 
one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-four,  to  persevere 
in  the  observation  of  it,  and  to  prohibit  the  other  states 
from  attempting  any  further  innovation  in  religion,  parti- 
cularly from  abolishing  the  mass,  before  the  meeting  of 
a  general  council.  After  much  dispute,  a  decree  to  that 
effect  was  approved  of  by  a  majority  of  voices.^'* 

The  elector  of  Saxony,  the  marquis  of  Brandenburg,  the 
landgrave  of  Hesse,  the  dukes  of  Lunenburg,  the  prince  of 
Anhalt,  together  with  the  deputies  of  foiu^teen  imperial  or 
free  cities,^^  entered  a  solemn  protest  against  this  decree,  as 
unjust  and  impious.  On  that  account  they  were  distin- 
guished by  the  name  of  Protestants,^^  an  application 
which  hath  since  become  better  known  and  more  honour- 
able, by  its  being  applied  indiscriminately  to  all  the  sects,  of 
whatever  denomination,  which  have  revolted  from  the  Roman 
see.  Not  satisfied  with  this  declaration  of  their  dissent 
from  the  decree  of  the  diet,  the  protestants  sent  ambas- 
sadors into  Italy,  to  lay  their  grievances  before  the  emperor, 
from  whom  they  met  with  the  most  discouraging  reception. 
Charles  was  at  that  time  in  close  union  with  the  pope,  and 
solicitous  to  attach  him  inviolably  to  his  interest.     During 

^^  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  117.  "Weissemburgh,  Nordlingen,  and  St. 

^^  The  fourteen  cities  were  Stras-  Gal. 
l)urgh,  Nureiiiburgh,  XJlm,  Constance,  ^^  Sleid.  Hist.  p.  119.  F.  Paul,  Hist. 

Reutlingen,  -Wiudsheim,  Meinengen,  p.  45.    Seckend.  ii.  p.  127. 
Lindaw,    Kempten,   Hailbron,   Isna, 


BOOK  v.]      DELIBERATIONS  KESPECTING  SCHISMATICS.         465 

their  long  residence  at  Bologna,  they  held  many  consult- 
ations concerning  the  most  eflectual  means  of  extirpating 
the  heresies  Avhicli  had  sprung  up  in  Germany.  Clement, 
whose  cautious  and  timid  mind  the  proposal  of  a  general 
council  filled  with  horror,  even  beyond  what  popes,  the 
constant  enemies  of  such  assemblies,  usually  feel,  employed 
every  argument  to  dissuade  the  emperor  from  consenting 
to  that  measure.  He  represented  general  councils  as  fac- 
tious^ ungovernable,  presumptuous,  formidable  to  civil 
authority,  and  too  slow  in  their  operations  to  remedy  dis- 
orders which  required  an  immediate  cure.  Experience,  he 
said,  had  now  taught  both  the  emperor  and  himself,  that 
forbearance  and  lenity,  instead  of  soothing  the  spirit  of  inno- 
vation, had  rendered  it  more  enterprishig  and  presump- 
tuous ;  it  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  have  recourse  to  the 
rigorous  methods  which  such  a  desperate  case  required ; 
Ijco's  sentence  of  excommunication,  together  with  the 
decree  of  the  diet  at  Worms,  should  be  carried  into  execu- 
tion, and  it  was  incumbent  on  the  emperor  to  employ  his 
whole  power,  in  order  to  overawe  those  on  whom  the  reve- 
rence due  either  to  ecclesiastical  or  civil  authority  had  no 
longer  any  influence.  Charles,  whose  views  were  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  pope's,  and  who  became  daily  more  sensible 
how  obstinate  and  deep-rooted  the  evil  \vas,  thought  of 
reconciling  the  protestants  by  means  less  violent,  and  con- 
sidered the  convocation  of  a  council  as  no  improper  expe- 
dient for  that  purpose ;  but  promised,  if  gentler  arts  failed 
of  success,  that  then  he  would  exert  himself  with  rigour 
to  reduce  to  the  obedience  of  the  holy  see  those  stubborn 
enemies  of  the  catholic  faith.^^ 

Such  were  the  sentiments  with  which  the  emperor  set 
out  for  Germany,  having  already  appointed  a  diet  of  the 
empire  to  be  held  at  Augsburg.  In  his  journey  towards 
that  city,  he  had  many  opportunities  of  observing  the  dis- 

^'  r.  Paul,  xlvii.     Seckend.  lib.  ii.      burt^,  par   D.  CLyticus,   4to.  Autw. 
p.  142.     Hist,  de  la  Confers.  d'Augs-      1572,  p.  G. 

VOL.  I.  H  H 


466  DIET  OF  AUGSBURG.  [book  v. 

position  of  the  Germans  with  regard  to  tlie  points  in  con- 
troversy, and  found  their  minds  everywhere  so  much  irritated 
and  inflamed,  as  convinced  him  that  nothing  tending  to 
severity  or  rigour  ought  to  be  attempted,  until  all  other 
measures  proved  ineftectual.  He  made  his  public  entry 
into  Augsburg  with  extraordinary  pomp  ;  and  found  there 
such  a  full  assembly  of  the  members  of  the  diet,  as  was 
suitable  both  to  the  importance  of  the  affairs  which  were 
to  come  under  their  consideration,  and  to  the  honour  of 
an  emperor,  who,  after  a  long  absence,  returned  to  them 
crowned  with  reputation  and  success.  His  presence  seems  to 
have  communicated  to  all  parties  an  unusual  spirit  of  mode- 
ration and  desire  of  peace.  The  elector  of  Saxony  would  not 
permit  Luther  to  accompany  him  to  the  diet,  lest  he  should 
offend  the  emperor  by  bringing  into  his  presence  a  person 
excommunicated  by  the  pope,  and  who  had  been  the  author 
of  all  those  dissensions  which  it  now  appeared  so  difficult 
to  compose.  At  the  emperor's  desire,  all  the  protestant 
princes  forbade  the  divines  who  accompanied  them  to 
preach  in  public  during  their  residence  at  Augsburg.  For 
the  same  reason,  they  employed  Melancthon,  the  man  of 
the  greatest  learning,  as  well  as  of  the  most  pacific  and 
gentle  spirit  among  the  reformers,  to  draw  up  a  confession 
of  their  faith,  expressed  in  terms  as  little  offensive  to  the 
Roman  catholics  as  a  regard  for  truth  would  permit. 
Melancthon,  Avho  seldom  suffered  the  rancour  of  contro- 
versy to  envenom  his  style,  even  in  writings  purely  polemi- 
cal, executed  a  task  so  agreeable  to  his  natural  disposition 
with  great  moderation  and  address.  The  creed  which  he 
composed,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Confemon  of  Avgs- 
burg,  from  the  place  where  it  was  presented,  was  read 
publicly  in  the  diet.  Some  popish  divines  were  appointed 
to  examine  it ;  they  brought  in  their  animadversions  ;  a  dis- 
pute ensued  between  them  and  Melancthon,  seconded  by 
some  of  his  brethren ;  but  though  Melancthon  softened 
some  articles,  made. concessions  with  regard  to  others,  and 


BOOK  Y.]  DECREE  AGAINST  THE  PROTESTANTS.  467 

put  the  least  exceptionable  sense  upon  all ;  tliougli  the 
emperor  hmiself  laboured  with  great  earnestness  to  recon- 
cile contending  parties  ;  so  many  marks  of  distinction  were 
now  established,  and  such  insuperable  barriers  placed 
between  the  two  churches,  that  all  hopes  of  bringing  about 
a  coalition  seemed  utterly  desperate. ^^ 

From  the  divines,  among  whom  his  endeavours  had  been 
so  unsuccessful,  Charles  turned  to  the  princes  their  patrons. 
Nor  did  he  find  them,  how  desirous  soever  of  accommoda- 
tion, or  willing  to  oblige  the  emperor,  more  disposed  than 
the  former  to  renounce  their  opinions.  At  that  time,  zeal 
for  religion  took  possession  of  the  minds  of  men,  to  a 
degree  which  can  scarcely  be  conceived  by  those  who  live 
in  an  age  when  the  passions,  excited  by  the  first  manifest- 
ation of  truth,  and  the  first  recovery  of  liberty,  have  in 
a  great  measm'e  ceased  to  operate.  This  zeal  was  then  of 
such  strength  as  to  overcome  attachment  to  their  political 
interests,  which  is  commonly  the  predominant  motive 
among  princes.  The  elector  of  Saxony,  the  landgrave  of 
Hesse,  and  other  chiefs  of  the  protestants,  though  solicited 
separately  by  the  emperor,  and  allured  by  the  promise  or 
prospect  of  those  advantages  which  it  was  known  they  were 
more  solicitous  to  attain,  refused,  with  a  fortitude  highly 
^^orthy  of  imitation,  to  abandon  what  they  deemed  the 
cause  of  God,  for  the  sake  of  any  earthly  acquisition.^'' 

Every  scheme  in  order  to  gain  or  disunite  the  protestant 
party  proving  abortive,  nothing  now  remained  for  the 
emperor  but  to  take  some  vigorous  measures  towards 
asserting  the  doctrines  and  authority  of  the  established 
church.  These  Campeggio,  the  papal  nuncio,  liad  always 
recommended  as  the  only  proper  and  effectual  course  of 
dealing  with  such  obstinate  heretics.  In  compliance  with 
his  opinions  and  remonstrances,  the  diet  issued  a  decree, 

38  Seckend.  lib.  ii.  pp.  159,  &c.   Abr.      Lips.  1717,  fol.  p.  159. 
ScuUetiAtinalesEvaiigelici,  aj).  Hcrni.  ^i*  Sleid.  p.  132.     Scultet.  Auual.  p. 

Von  dcr  Hard.  Hist.  Liter,  llelorm.      158. 

n  n  2 


468  ALAllM  OF  THE  PROTESTANTS.  [book  v 

condemning  most  of  the  peculiar  tenets  held  by  the  pro« 
testants  ;  forbidding  any  person  to  protect  or  tolerate  such 
as  taught  them ;  enjoining  a  strict  observance  of  the 
established  rites ;  and  prohibiting  any  further  innovation 
under  severe  penalties.  All  orders  of  men  were  required  to 
assist  with  their  persons  and  fortunes  in  carrying  this 
decree  into  execution ;  and  such  as  refused  to  obey  it,  were 
declared  incapable  of  acting  as  judges,  or  of  appearing  as 
parties  in  the  imperial  chamber,  the  supreme  court  of 
judicature  in  the  empire ;  to  all  which  was  subjoined  a 
promise,  that  an  application  should  be  made  to  the  pope, 
requiring  him  to  call  a  general  council  within  six  months, 
in  order  to  terminate  all  controversies  by  its  sovereign 
decisions.^" 

The  severity  of  this  decree,  which  was  considered  as  a 
prelude  to  the  most  violent  persecution,  alarmed  the  pro- 
testants,  and  convinced  them  that  the  emperor  was  resolved 
on  their  destruction.  The  dread  of  those  calamities  which 
were  ready  to  fall  on  the  church,  oppressed  the  feeble 
spirit  of  Melancthon  ;  and,  as  if  the  cause  had  already  been 
desperate,  he  gave  himself  up  to  melancholy  and  lamen- 
tation. But  Luther,  who  during  the  meeting  of  the  diet 
had  endeavoured  to  confirm  and  animate  his  party  by 
several  treatises  which  he  addressed  to  them,  was  not  dis- 
concerted or  dismayed  at  the  prospect  of  this  new  danger. 
He  comforted  Melancthon  and  his  other  desponding  dis- 
ciples, and  exhorted  the  princes  not  to  abandon  those 
truths  Avhich  they  had  lately  asserted  with  such  laudable 
boldness.^^  His  exhortations  made  the  deeper  impression 
upon  them,  as  they  were  greatly  alarmed  at  that  time  by 
the  account  of  a  combination  among  the  popish  princes  of 
the  empire  for  the  maintenance  of  the  established  religion, 
to  which  Charles  himself  had  acceded. ^^  This  convinced 
them  that  it  was  necessary  to  stand  on  their  guard ;  and 


40 


Sleid,  p.  139,  ^' Seckeiid.  ii.  p.  JSO.     Sleid.  p.  liO. 

*-  Seckend.  ii.  p.  200;  iii.  p.  11. 


BOOK  v.]  LEAGUE  OF  SMALKALDE.  4G9 

that  their  own  safety,  as  Avell  as  the  success  of  their  cause, 
depended  on  union.  Filled  with  this  dread  of  the  adverse 
party,  and  with  these  sentiments  concerning  the  conduct 
proper  for  themselves,  they  assembled  at  Smalkalde.  There 
they  concluded  a  league  of  mutual  defence  against  all 
aggressors,'*^  by  which  they  formed  the  protestant  states 
of  the  empire  into  one  regular  body,  and,  beginning  already 
to  consider  themselves  as  such,  they  resolved  to  apply  to 
the  kings  of  France  and  England,  and  to  implore  them 
to  patronise  and  assist  their  new  confederacy. 

An  affair  not  connected  with  religion  furnished  them 
with  a  pretence  for  courting  the  aid  of  foreign  princes. 
Charles,  wdiose  ambitious  views  enlarged  in  proportion  to 
the  increase  of  his  power  and  grandeur,  had  formed  a 
scheme  of  continuing  the  imperial  crown  in  his  family,  by 
procuring  his  brother  Ferdinand  to  be  elected  king  of  the 
Romans.  The  present  juncture  was  favourable  for  the 
execution  of  that  design.  The  emperor's  arms  had  been 
everywhere  victorious ;  he  had  given  law  to  all  Europe  at 
the  late  peace ;  no  rival  now  remained  in  a  condition  to 
balance  or  to  control  him ;  and  the  electors,  dazzled  w^ith  the 
splendour  of  his  success,  or  overawed  by  the  greatness  of 
his  power,  durst  scarcely  dispute  the  will  of  a  prince,  whose 
solicitations  carried  with  them  the  authority  of  commands. 
Nor  did  he  want  plausible  reasons  to  enforce  the  measure. 
The  affairs  of  his  other  kingdoms,  he  said,  obliged  him  to 
be  often  absent  from  Germany;  the  growing  disorders 
occasioned  by  the  controversies  about  religion,  as  well  as 
the  formidable  neighbourhood  of  the  Turks,  who  continually 
threatened  to  break  in  with  their  desolating  armies  into 
the  heart  of  the  empire,  required  the  constant  presence  of 
a  prince  endowed  with  prudence  capable  of  composing  the 
former,  and  with  power  as  well  as  valour  sufficient  to  repel 
the  latter.  His  brother  Ferdinand  possessed  these  qualities 
in  an  eminent  degree ;  by  residing  long  in  Germany,  he 

«  Sleid.  p.  142. 


470  FERDINAND,  KING  OF  THE  ROMANS.  [book  v. 

had  acquired  a  thoroiigli  knowledge  of  its  constitution  and 
manners ;  having  been  present  almost  from  the  first  rise  of 
the  religious  dissensions,  he  knew  what  remedies  Avere 
most  proper,  what  the  Germans  could  bear,  and  how  to 
apply  them ;  as  his  own  dominions  lay  on  the  Turkish 
frontier,  he  was  the  natural  defender  of  Germany  against 
the  invasions  of  the  infidels,  being  prompted  by  interest  no 
less  than  he  would  be  bound  in  duty  to  oppose  them. 

These  arguments  made  little  impression  on  the  pro- 
testants.  Experience  taught  them  that  nothing  had 
contributed  more  to  the  undisturbed  progress  of  their 
opinions,  than  the  interregnum  after  Maximilian's  death, 
the  long  absence  of  Charles,  and  the  slackness  of  the  reins 
of  government  which  these  occasioned.  Conscious  of  the 
advantages  which  their  cause  had  derived  from  this  relax- 
ation of  government,  they  were  unwilling  to  render  it  more 
vigorous  by  giving  themselves  a  new  and  a  fixed  master. 
They  perceived  clearly  the  extent  of  Charles's  ambition, 
that  he  aimed  at  rendering  the  imj^erial  crown  hereditary 
in  his  family,  and  would  of  course  establish  in  the  empire 
an  absolute  dominion,  to  which  elective  princes  could  not 
have  aspired  with  equal  facility.  They  determined,  there- 
fore, to  oppose  the  election  of  Ferdinand  with  the  utmost 
vigour,  and  to  rouse  their  countrymen,  by  their  example 
and  exhortations,  to  withstand  this  encroachment  on  their 
liberties.  [1531.]  The  elector  of  Saxony,  accordingly, 
not  only  refused  to  be  present  at  the  electoral  college, 
which  the  emperor  summoned  to  meet  at  Cologne,  but 
instructed  his  eldest  son  to  appear  there,  and  to  protest 
against  the  election  as  informal,  illegal,  contrary  to  the 
articles  of  the  golden  bull,  and  subversive  of  the  liberties 
of  the  empire.  But  the  other  electors,  whom  Charles  had 
been  at  great  pains  to  gain,  without  regarding  either  his 
-absence  or  protest,  chose  Ferdinand  king  of  the  Romans;; 
who,  a  few  days  after,  was  crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.^^   . 

^^  Sleid.  p.  142.   Seckend.  iii.  p.  1.   P.  Ileuter.  Rer.  Austr.  lib.  x.  ch.  C,  p.  240. 


BOOK  v.]  NEGOTIATIONS  OF  THE  PROTESTANTS.  471 

When  the  protestants,who  were  assembled  a  second  time 
at  Smalkalde,  received  an  account  of  this  transaction,  and 
heard,  at  the  same  time,  that  prosecutions  were  commenced 
in  the  imperial  chamber  against  some  of  their  number,  on 
account  of  their  rehgious  principles,  they  thought  it  neces- 
sary not  only  to  renew  tlieir  former  confederacy,  but  im- 
mediately to  despatch  their  ambassadors  into  France  and 
England.  Francis  had  observed,  with  all  the  jealousy  of  a 
rival,  the  reputation  which  the  emperor  had  acquired  by  his 
seeming  disinterestedness  and  moderation  in  setthng  the 
affairs  in  Italy ;  and  beheld  with  great  concern  the  success- 
ful step  which  he  had  taken  towards  perpetuating  and  ex- 
tending his  authority  in  Germany  by  the  election  of  a  king 
of  the  Romans.  Nothing,  however,  would  have  been  more 
impolitic  than  to  precipitate  his  kingdom  into  a  new  war, 
when  exhausted  by  extraordinary  efforts,  and  discouraged 
by  ill  success,  before  it  had  got  time  to  recruit  its  strength, 
or  to  forget  past  misfortunes.  As  no  provocation  had  been 
given  by  the  emperor,  and  hardly  a  pretext  for  a  rnpture 
had  been  afforded  him,  he  could  not  violate  a  treaty  of  peace 
which  he  himself  had  so  lately  solicited,  without  forfeiting 
the  esteem  of  all  Europe,  and  being  detested  as  a  prince 
void  of  probity  and  honour.  He  observed,  with  great  joy, 
powerful  factions  beginning  to  form  in  the  empire ;  he 
listened  with  the  utmost  eagerness  to  the  complaints  of  the 
protestant  princes  ;  and,  without  seeming  to  countenance 
their  religious  opinions,  determined  secretly  to  cherish  those 
sparks  of  political  discord  which  might  be  afterwards  kindled 
into  a  flame.  For  this  purpose,  he  sent  William  de  Bellay, 
one  of  the  ablest  negotiators  in  France,  into  Germany,  who, 
visiting  the  courts  of  the  malecontent  princes,  and  heigliten- 
ing  their  ill  humour  by  various  arts,  concluded  an  alHance 
between  them  and  his  master,^^  which,  though  concealed  at 
that  time,  and  productive  of  no  immediate  effects,  laid  the 
-foundation  of  a  union  fatal  on  many  occasions  to  Charles's 

*5  Mem.  dc  Bellaj,  pp.  129  a,  130  b.  Seek.  iii.  p.  U. 


472  CHARLES  COURTS  THE  PROTESTANTS,  [book  v. 

ambitious  projects ;  and  showed  the  discontented  princes  of 
Germany  where,  for  the  future,  they  might  find  a  protector 
no  less  able  than  willing  to  undertake  their  defence  against 
the  encroachments  of  the  emperor. 

The  king  of  England,  highly  incensed  against  Charles,  in 
complaisance  to  whom  the  pope  had  long  retarded,  and  now 
openly  opposed, his  divorce,  was  no  less  disposed  than  Francis 
to  streno'then  a  leaG;ue  which  mioht  be  rendered  so  formi- 
dable  to  the  emperor.  But  his  favourite  project  of  the  divorce 
led  him  into  such  a  labyrinth  of  schemes  and  negotiations, 
and  he  Avas,  at  the  same  time,  so  intent  on  abolishing  the 
papal  jurisdiction  in  England,  that  he  had  no  leisure  for 
foreign  affairs.  This  obliged  him  to  rest  satisfied  with  giving 
general  promises,  together  with  a  small  supply  in  money,  to 
the  confederates  of  Smalkalde.'**' 

Meanwhile,  many  circumstances  convinced  Charles  that 
this  was  not  a  juncture  when  the  extirpation  of  heresy  was 
to  be  attempted  by  violence  and  rigour;  that,  in  compliance 
witli  the  pope's  inclinations,  he  had  already  proceeded  with 
imprudent  precipitation ;  and  that  it  was  more  his  interest 
to  consolidate  Germany  into  one  united  and  vigorous  body, 
than  to  divide  and  enfeeble  it  by  a  civil  war.  The  protestants, 
who  were  considerable,  as  well  by  their  numbers  as  by  their 
zeal,  had  acquired  additional  weight  and  importance  by  their 
joining  in  that  confederacy  into  which  the  rash  steps  taken 
at  Augsburg  had  forced  them.  Having  now  discovered  their 
own  strength,  they  despised  the  decisions  of  the  imperial 
chamber  :  and,  being  secure  of  foreign  protection,  were  ready 
to  set  the  head  of  the  empire  at  defiance.  At  the  same  time, 
the  peace  with  Erance  was  precarious,  the  friendship  of  an 
irresolute  and  interested  pontiff  was  not  to  be  relied  on;  and 
Solyman,  in  order  to  repair  the  discredit  and  loss  which  his 
arms  had  sustained  in  the  former  campaign,  w^as  preparing 
to  enter  Austria  with  more  numerous  forces.  On  all  these 
accounts,  especially  the  last,  a  speedy  accommodation  with 
■^  Herbert,  pp.  152,  154. 


BOOK  v.]        AND  GRANTS  THEM  FAYOUllABLE  TERMS.  473 

the  malecontent  princes  became  necessary,  not  only  for  the 
accomphshment  of  his  future  schemes,  but  for  ensuring  his 
present  safety.  Negotiations  Averc,  accordingly,  carried  on 
by  his  direction  with  the  elector  of  Saxony  and  his  associates; 
and  after  many  delays,  occasioned  by  their  jealousy  of  the 
emperor  and  of  each  other ;  after  innumerable  difficulties 
arising  from  the  inflexible  nature  of  religious  tenets,  which 
cannot  admit  of  being  altered,  modified,  or  relinquished  in 
the  same  manner  as  points  of  political  interest,  terms  of 
pacification  were  agreed  upon  at  Nuremberg,  and  ratified 
solemnly  in  the  diet  at  Ratisbon.  In  this  treaty  it  was 
stipulated  that  universal  peace  be  established  in  Germany, 
imtil  the  meeting  of  a  general  council,  the  convocation  of 
which  "vvithin  six  months  the  emperor  shall  endeavour  to 
procure  ;  that  no  person  shall  be  molested  on  account  of 
religion ;  that  a  stop  shall  be  put  to  all  processes  begim  by 
the  imperial  chamber  against  protestants,  and  the  sentences 
already  passed  to  their  detriment  shall  be  declared  void. 
On  their  part,  the  protestants  engaged  to  assist  the  emperor 
with  all  their  forces  in  resisting  the  invasion  of  the  Turks."*^ 
Thus  by  their  firmness  in  adhering  to  their  principles,  by 
the  unanimity  with  which  they  urged  all  their  claims,  and 
by  their  dexterity  in  availing  themselves  of  the  emperor's 
situation,  the  protestants  obtained  terms  w^hich  amounted 
almost  to  a  toleration  of  their  religion.  All  the  concessions 
were  made  by  Charles,  none  by  them ;  even  the  favourite 
point  of  their  approving  his  brother's  election  was  not 
mentioned  ;  and  the  protestants  of  Germany,  who  had 
hitherto  been  viewed  only  as  a  religious  sect,  came  hence- 
forth to  be  considered  as  a  political  body  of  no  small 
consequence.'*'' 

[1532.]  The  intelligence  which  Charles  received  of  Soly- 
man's  having  entered  Hungary  at  the  head  of  three  hundred 
thousand  men,  brought  the  deliberations   of  the  diet  at 

*7  Du  Mont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  *^  Sleid.  pp.  149,  &c.     Seckcnd.  iii. 

torn.  iv.  part  ii.  pp.  87,  89.  p.  19. 


474  CA3IPAIGN  IN  HUNGARY.  [book  v. 

Ratisbon  to  a  period ;  the  contingent  both  of  troops  and 
money  which  each  prince  was  to  furnish  towards  the  de- 
fence of  the  empire  having  been  ah*eady  settled.  The  pro- 
testants,  as  a  testimony  of  their  gratitude  to  the  emperor, 
exerted  themselves  with  extraordinary  zeal,  and  brought 
into  the  field  forces  which  exceeded  in  number  the  quota 
imposed  on  them  ;  .  and  the  catholics  imitating  their  ex- 
ample, one  of  the  greatest  and  best-appointed  armies  that 
had  ever  been  levied  in  Germany  assembled  near  Vienna. 
Being  joined  by  a  body  of  Spanish  and  Italian  veterans, 
under  the  Marquis  del  Guasto  ;  by  some  heavy-armed 
cavalry  from  the  Low  Countries ;  and  by  the  troops  which 
Ferdinand  had  raised  in  Bohemia,  Austria,  and  his  other 
territories,  it  amounted  in  all  to  ninety  thousand  disciplined 
foot,  and  thirty  thousand  horse,  besides  a  prodigious  swarm 
of  irregulars.  Of  this  vast  army,  worthy  the  first  prince  in 
Clu'istendom,  the  emperor  took  the  command  in  person, 
and  mankind  waited  in  suspense  the  issue  of  a  decisive 
battle  between  the  two  greatest  monarchs  in  the  world. 
But  each  of  them  dreading  the  other's  power  and  good 
fortune,  they  both  conducted  their  operations  with  such 
excessive  caution,  that  a  campaign,  for  which  such  immense 
preparations  had  been  made,  ended  without  any  memorable 
event.  Solyman,  finding  it  impossible  to  gain  grovmd  upon 
an  enemy  always  attentive  and  on  his  guard,  marched 
back  to  Constantinople  towards  the  end  of  autumn.^^  It  is 
remarkable,  that  in  such  a  martial  age,  when  every  gentle- 
man was  a  soldier,  and  every  prince  a  general,  this  was  the 
first  time  that  Charles,  who  had  already  carried  on  such 
extensive  wars,  and  gained  so  many  victories,  appeared  at 
the  head  of  his  troops.  In  this  first  essay  of  his  arms,  to 
have  opposed  such  a  leader  as  Solyman  was  no  small  honour; 
to  have  obliged  him  to  retreat,  merited  very  considerable 
praise. 

About  .the  beginning  of  this  campaign,  the  elector  of 

•*^  Jovii  Hist.  lib.  xxx.  pp.  100,  &c.     Barre,  Hist,  de  I'Empire,  i.  pp.  8,  347- 


BOOK  v.]  THE  EMPEROR  AND  THE  POPE.  475 

Saxony  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  John  Frederick. 
The  reformation  rather  gained  than  lost  by  that  event ;  the 
new  elector,  no  less  attached  than  his  predecessors  to  the 
opinions  of  Luther,  occupied  the  station  which  they  had 
held  at  the  head  of  the  protestant  party,  and  defended,  with 
the  boldness  and  zeal  of  youth,  that  cause  which  they  had 
fostered  and  reared  with  the  caution  of  more  advanced  age. 
Immediately  after  the  retreat  of  the  Turks,  Charles,  im- 
patient to  revisit  Spain,  set  out  on  his  w^ay  thither,  for 
Italy.  As  he  was  extremely  desirous  of  an  interview  with  the 
pope,  they  met  a  second  time  at  Bologna,  w^itli  the  same 
external  demonstrations  of  respect  and  friendship,  but  with 
little  of  that  confidence  w^liich  had  subsisted  between  them 
during  their  late  negotiations  there.  Clement  was  much 
dissatisfied  with  the  emperor's  proceedings  at  Augsburg ; 
his  concessions  with  regard  to  the  speedy  convocation  of  a 
council  having  more  than  cancelled  all  the  merit  of  the 
severe  decree  against  the  doctrines  of  the  reformers.  The 
toleration  granted  to  the  protestants  at  Ratisbon,  and  the 
more  explicit  promise  concerning  a  council,  with  which  it 
was  accompanied,  had  irritated  him  still  farther.  Charles, 
however,  partly  from  conviction  that  the  meeting  of  a 
council  would  be  attended  with  salutary  effects,  and  partly 
from  his  desire  to  please  the  Germans,  having  solicited  the 
pope  by  his  ambassadors  to  call  that  assembly  without 
delay,  and  now  urging  the  same  thing  in  person,  Clement 
was  greatly  embarrassed  what  reply  he  should  make  to  a 
request  which  it  was  indecent  to  refuse,  and  dangerous  to 
grant.  He  endeavoured  at  first  to  divert  Charles  from 
the  measure ;  but,  finding  him  inflexible,  he  had  recourse 
to  artifices  which  he  knew  would  delay,  if  not  entirely 
defeat,  the  calling  of  that  assembly.  Under  the  plausible 
pretext  of  its  being  previously  necessary  to  settle,  Avith 
all  parties  concerned,  the  place  of  the  council's  meeting, 
the  manner  of  its  proceedings,  the  right  of  the  persons 
wdio   should   be    admitted  to   vote,  and  the  authority  of 


476  NEGOTIATIONS  CONCERNING  A  COUNCIL.         [book  v. 

their  decisions,  he  despatched  a  nuncio,  accompanied  by 
an  ambassador  from  the  emperor,  to  the  elector  of  Saxony, 
as  head  of  the  protestants.  With  regard  to  each  of  these 
articles,  inextricable  difficulties  and  contests  arose.  The 
protestants  demanded  a  council  to  be  held  in  Germany ; 
the  pope  insisted  that  it  should  meet  in  Italy :  they  con- 
tended that  all  points  in  dispute  should  be  determined  by 
the  words  of  holy  scripture  alone  ;  he  considered  not  only 
the  decrees  of  the  church,  but  the  opinions  of  fathers  and 
doctors,  as  of  equal  authority  :  they  required  a  free  council, 
in  which  the  divines,  commissioned  by  different  churches, 
should  be  allowed  a  voice  ;  he  aimed  at  modelling  the  council 
in  such  a  manner  as  Avould  render  it  entirely  dependent  on 
his  pleasure.  Above  all,  the  protestants  thought  it  un- 
reasonable that  they  should  bind  themselves  to  submit  to 
the  decrees  of  a  council,  before  they  knew  on  what  principles 
these  decrees  were  to  be  founded,  by  what  persons  they 
were  to  be  pronounced,  and  what  forms  of  proceeding  they 
would  observe.  The  pope  maintained  it  to  be  altogether 
unnecessary  to  call  a  council,  if  those  who  demanded  it  did 
not  previously  declare  their  resolution  to  acquiesce  in  its 
decrees.  In  order  to  adjust  such  a  variety  of  pomts,  many 
expedients  were  proposed,  and  the  negotiations  spun  out 
to  such  a  length,  as  effectually  answered  Clement's  purpose 
of  putting  off  the  meeting  of  a  council,  without  drawing  on 
himself  the  whole  infamy  of  obstructing  a  measure  which  all 
Europe  deemed  so  essential  to  the  good  of  the  church.^" 

Together  with  this  negotiation  about  calling  a  council, 
the  emperor  carried  on  another,  wdiich  he  had  still  more  at 
heart,  for  securing  the  peace  established  in  Italy.  As 
Francis  had  renounced  his  pretensions  in  that  country  with 
great  reluctance,  Charles  made  no  doubt  but  that  he  would 
lay  hold  on  the  first  pretext  afforded  him,  or  embrace  the 
first  opportunity  which  presented  itself,  of  recovering  what 
he  had  lost.  It  became  necessary,  on  this  account,  to  take 
5"  E.  Paul,  Hist.  p.  62.    Seckend.  iii.  p.  73. 


BOOK  v.]  LEAGUE  AVITII  THE  ITALIAN  STATES.  4/7 

measures  for  assembling  an  army  able  to  oppose  him.  As 
his  treasury,  drained  by  a  long  war,  coidd  not  supply  the 
sums  requisite  for  keeping  sucli  a  body  constantly  on  foot, 
he  attempted  to  throw  that  burden  on  his  allies,  and  to 
provide  for  the  safety  of  his  own  dominions  at  their  expense, 
by  proposing  that  the  Italian  states  should  enter  into  a 
league  of  defence  against  all  invaders ;  that,  on  the  first 
appearance  of  danger,  an  army  should  be  raised  and  main- 
tained at  the  common  charge ;  and  that  Antonio  do  Leyva 
should  be  appointed  the  generalissimo  [1533].  Nor  was 
the  proposal  unacceptable  to  Clement,  though  for  a  reason 
very  different  from  that  which  induced  the  emperor  to  make 
it.  He  hoped,  by  this  expedient,  to  deliver  Italy  from  the 
German  and  Spanish  veterans,  Avhicli  had  so  long  filled  all 
the  powers  in  that  country  with  terror,  and  still  kept  them 
in  subjection  to  the  imperial  yoke.  A  league  was  accordingly 
concluded ;  all  the  Italian  states,  the  Venetians  excepted, 
acceded  to  it ;  the  sum  which  each  of  the  contracting 
parties  should  furnish  towards  maintaining  the  army  was 
fixed ;  the  emperor  agreed  to  withdraw  the  troops  which 
gave  so  much  umbrage  to  his  allies,  and  which  he  was 
unable  any  longer  to  support.  Having  disbanded  part  of 
them,  and  removed  the  rest  to  Sicily  and  Spain,  he  embarked 
on  board  Doria's  galleys  and  arrived  at  Barcelona.'^' 

Notwithstanding  all  his  precautions  for  securing  the 
peace  of  Germany,  and  maintaining  that  system  which  he 
had  established  in  Italy,  the  emperor  became  every  day 
more  and  more  apprehensive  that  both  would  be  soon 
disturbed  by  the  intrigues  or  arms  of  the  French  king. 
His  apprehensions  were  well  founded,  as  nothing  but  the 
desperate  situation  of  his  affairs  could  have  brought  Francis 
to  give  his  consent  to  a  treaty  so  dishonourable  and  dis- 
advantageous as  that  of  Cambray ;  he,  at  the  very  time  of 
ratifying  it,  had  formed  a  resolution  to  observe  it  no  longer 
than  necessity  compelled  him,  and  took  a  soleuai  protest, 

^'  Guic.  lib.  XX.  p.  5jL     rcrrcras,  ix.  p.  1-19. 


478  MOVEMENTS  OF  FRANCIS,  [book  v. 

tlioiigli  with  tlie  most  profound  secrecy,  against  several 
articles  in  the  treaty,  particularly  that  whereby  he  renounced 
all  pretensions  to  the  duchy  of  Milan,  as  unjust,  injurious 
to  his  heirs,  and  invalid.  One  of  the  crown  lawyers,  by 
his  command,  entered  a  protest  to  the  same  purpose,  and 
with  the  like  secrecy,  when  the  ratification  of  the  treaty 
was  registered  in  the  parliament  of  Paris /^  Francis  seems 
to  have  thought  that,  by  employing  an  artifice  unworthy  of 
a  king,  destructive  of  public  faith,  and  of  the  mutual 
confidence  on  which  all  transactions  between  nations  are 
founded,  he  was  released  from  any  obligation  to  perform  the 
most  solemn  promises,  or  to  adhere  to  the  most  sacred 
engagements.  From  the  moment  he  concluded  the  peace 
of  Cambray,  he  wished  and  watched  for  an  opportunity  of 
violating  it  with  safety.  He  endeavoiured  for  that  reason 
to  strengthen  his  alhance  with  the  king  of  England,  whose 
friendship  he  cultivated  with  the  greatest  assiduity.  He 
put  the  military  force  of  his  own  kingdom  on  a  better  and 
more  respectable  footing  than  ever.  He  artfully  fomented 
the  jealousy  and  discontent  of  the  German  princes. 

But  above  all,  Francis  laboured  to  break  the  strict  con- 
federacy which  subsisted  between  Charles  and  Clement ;  and 
he  had  soon  the  satisfaction  to  observe  appearances  of  dis- 
gust and  alienation  arising  in  the  mind  of  that  suspicious 
and  interested  pontiff,  which  gave  him  hopes  that  their 
union  would  not  be  lasting.  As  the  emperor's  decision  in 
favour  of  the  duke  of  Ferrara  had  greatly  irritated  the 
pope,  Francis  aggravated  the  injustice  of  that  proceeding, 
and  flattered  Clement  that  the  papal  see  would  find  in  him 
a  more  impartial  and  no  less  powerful  protector.  As  the 
importunity  with  which  Charles  demanded  a  council  was 
extremely  off'ensive  to  the  pope,  Francis  artfully  created 
obstacles  to  prevent  it,  and  attempted  to  divert  the  German 
princes,   his  allies,  from  insisting  so  obstinately  on  that 

^^  Du  Moat,  Corps  Diploni.  torn.  iv.  part  ii.  p.  52. 


BOOK  v.]  AND  OF  THE  EMPEROR.  479 

pohit/^    As  the  emperor  had  gained  such  an  ascendant 
over  Clement  by  contributing  to  aggrandize  his  family, 
Francis  endeavoured  to  allure  him  by  the  same  irresistible 
bait,  proposing  a  marriage  between  his  second  son,  Henry, 
duke  of  Orleans,  and  Catharine,  the  daughter  of  the  pope's 
cousin,  Laurence  de'  Medici.    On  the  first  overture  of  this 
match,  the  emperor  could  not  persuade  himself  that  Francis 
really  intended  to  debase  the  royal  blood  of  France  by  an 
alliance  with  Catharine,  whose  ancestors  had  been  so  lately 
private  citizens  and  merchants  in  Florence,  and  believed 
that  he  meant  only  to  flatter  or  amuse  the  ambitious  pontiff. 
He  thought  it  necessary,  however,  to  efface  the  impression 
which  such  a  dazzling  offer  might  have  made,  by  promising 
to  break  off  the  marriage  which  had  been  agreed  on  between 
his  own  niece,  the  king  of  Denmark's  daughter,  and  the 
duke  of  Milan,  and  to  substitute  Catharine  in  her  place. 
But  the  French  ambassador  producing  unexpectedly  full 
powers  to  conclude  the  marriage  treaty  with  the  duke  of 
Orleans,  this   expedient  had  no  effect.     Clement  was  so 
highly  pleased  with  an  honour  which  added  such  lustre  and 
dignity  to  the  house  of  Medici,  that  he  offered  to  grant 
Catharine  the  investiture  of  considerable  territories  in  Italy, 
by  way  of  portion ;  he  seemed  ready  to  support  Francis  in 
prosecuting  his  ancient  claims  in  that   country,  and  con- 
sented to  a  personal  interview  with  that  monarch. '^^ 

Charles  was  at  the  utmost  pains  to  prevent  a  meeting, 
in  wdiich  nothing  was  likely  to  pass  but  what  would  be  of 
detriment  to  him ;  nor  could  he  bear,  after  he  had  twice 
condescended  to  visit  the  pope  in  his  own  territories,  that 
Clement  should  bestow  such  a  mark  of  distinction  on  his 
rival,  as  to  venture  on  a  voyage  by  sea,  at  an  unfavourable 
season,  in  order  to  pay  court  to  Francis  in  the  French 
dominions.  But  the  pope's  eagerness  to  accomplish  the 
match  overcame  all  the  scruples  of  pride,  or  fear,  or  jealousy, 

"Mem.    de    Bellav,  pp.  lil,    &c.  ^' Guic.  lib.  xx.  pp.  551,  553.   Mem. 

•Seckend.  iii.  p.  48.    E.  JPaul,  p.  G3.  de  Bellaj,  p.  138. 


480   INTERVIEW  BETWEEN  EEANCIS  AND  THE  POPE,   [book  v. 

whicli  would  have  probably  influenced  him  on  any  other 
occasion.  The  interview,  notwithstanding  several  artifices 
of  the  emperor  to  prevent  it,  took  place  at  Marseilles  with 
extraordinary  pomp,  and  demonstrations  of  confidence  on 
both  sides ;  and  the  marriage,  whicli  the  ambition  and 
abilities  of  Catharine  rendered  in  the  sequel  as  pernicious 
to  France,  as  it  was  then  thought  dishonourable,  was  con- 
summated. But  whatever  schemes  may  have  been  secretly 
concerted  by  the  pope  and  Francis  in  favour  of  the  duke  of 
Orleans,  to  whom  his  father  proposed  to  make  over  all  his 
rights  in  Italy,  so  careful  were  they  to  avoid  giving  any 
cause  of  offence  to  the  emperor,  that  no  treaty  was  con- 
cluded between  them ;"  and  even  in  the  marriage-articles, 
Catharine  renounced  all  claims  and  pretensions  in  Italy, 
except  to  the  duchy  of  Urbino.^'' 

But  at  the  very  time  when  he  was  carrying  on  these 
negotiations,  and  forming  this  connexion  with  Francis, 
which  gave  so  great  umbrage  to  the  emperor,  such  was 
the  artifice  and  duplicity  of  Clement's  character,  that  he 
suffered  the  latter  to  direct  all  his  proceedings  with  regard 
to  the  king  of  England,  and  was  no  less  attentive  to  gratify 
him  in  that  particular,  than  if  the  most  cordial  union  had 
subsisted  between  them.  Henry's  suit  for  a  divorce  had 
now  continued  near  six  years  ;  during  all  which  period  the 
pope  negotiated,  promised,  retracted,  and  concluded  no- 
thing. After  bearing  repeated  delays  and  disappointments 
longer  than  could  have  been  expected  from  a  prince  of  such 
a  choleric  and  impetuous  temper,  the  patience  of  Henry 
was  at  last  so  much  exhausted,  that  he  applied  to  another 
tribunal  for  that  decree,  which  he  had  solicited  in  vain  at 
Home.  Cranmer,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  by  a  sentence 
founded  on  the  authority  of  universities,  doctors,  and 
rabbles,  who  had  been  consulted  with  respect  to  the  point, 
annulled  the  king's  marriage  with  Catharine ;  her  daughter 

"  Guic.  lib'.  XX.  p.  555.  ^^  Da  Mout,  Corps  Diplom.  iv.  part  ii.  p.  101. 


BOOK  V.J         PAPAL  VOVTER  ABOLISHED  IN  ENGLAND.  481 

Avas  declared  illegitimate ;  and  Anne  Boleyn  acknowledged 
as  qneen  of  England.  At  the  same  time,  Henry  began 
not  only  to  neglect  and  to  threaten  the  pope,  wliom  he  had 
hitherto  courted,  but  to  make  innovations  in  the  church 
of  which  he  had  formerly  been  such  a  zealous  defender. 
Clement,  who  had  already  seen  so  many  provinces  and 
kingdoms  revolt  from  the  holy  see,  became  apprehensive 
at  last  that  England  might  imitate  their  example ;  and 
partly  from  his  solicitude  to  prevent  that  fatal  blow,  partly 
in  compliance  with  the  Erench  king's  solicitations,  deter- 
mined to  give  Henry  such  satisfaction  as  might  retain  him 
Avithin  the  bosom  of  the  church.  But  the  violence  of  the 
cardinals,  devoted  to  the  emperor,  did  not  allow  the  pope 
leisure  for  executing  this  prudent  resolution,  and  hurried 
him,  with  a  precipitation  fatal  to  the  Eonian  sec,  to  issue  a 
bull  rescinding  Cranmcr's  sentence,  confirming  E[cnry's 
marriage  with  Catharine,  and  declaring  him  excommu- 
nicated, if,  within  a  time  specified,  he  did  not  abandon  the 
Avifc  he  had  taken,  and  return  to  her  Avliom  he  had 
deserted.  Enraged  at  this  unexpected  decree,  Henry  kept 
no  longer  any  measures  with  the  court  of  Rome ;  his  sub- 
jects seconded  his  resentment  and  indignation ;  an  act  of 
parhament  Avas  passed,  abolishing  the  papal  poAver  and 
jurisdiction  in  England ;  by  another,  the  king  Avas  declared 
supreme  head  of  the  church,  and  all  the  authority  of  Avhich 
the  popes  AA^ere  deprived,  Avas  vested  in  him.  That  vast 
fabric  of  ecclesiastical  dominion  Avhich  had  been  raised  Avitli 
such  art,  and  of  Avhich  the  foundations  seemed  to  have  been 
laid  so  deep,  being  no  longer  supported  by  the  veneration 
of  the  people,  Avas  overturned  in  a  moment.  Henry  him- 
self, Avitli  the  caprice  peculiar  to  his  character,  continued  to 
defend  the  doctrines  of  the  Romish  church  as  fiercely  as  he 
attacked  its  jurisdiction.  He  alternately  persecuted  the 
protestants  for  rejecting  the  former,  and  the  catholics  for 
acknoAvledging  the  latter.  But  his  subjects,  being  once 
permitted  to  enter  into  ncAv  paths,  did  not  choose  to  stop 

VOL.  I.  II 


482  DEATH  or  CLEMENT  THE  SEVENTH.  [book  v 

short  at  the  precise  point  prescribed  by  him.  Having  been 
encouraged  by  his  example  to  break  some  of  their  fetters, 
they  were  so  impatient  to  sliake  off  what  still  remained/^ 
that  in  the  following  reign,  with  the  applause  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  nation,  a  total  separation  was  made  from  the 
church  of  Rome  in  articles  of  doctrine,  as  well  as  in  matters 
of  discipline  and  jurisdiction. 

A  short  delay  might  have  saved  the  see  of  Rome  from 
all  the  unhappy  consequences  of  Clement's  rashness.  Soon 
after  his  sentence  against  Henry,  he  fell  into  a  languishing 
distemper,  which  gradually  wasting  his  constitution,  put 
an  end  to  his  pontificate,  the  most  unfortunate,  both  during 
its  continuance,  and  by  its  effects,  that  the  church  had 
known  for  many  ages.  The  very  day  on  which  the  car- 
dinals entered  the  conclave,  they  raised  to  the  papal  throne 
Alexander  Farnese,  dean  of  the  sacred  college,  and  the 
oldest  member  of  that  body,  who  assumed  the  name  of 
Paul  HI.  The  account  of  his  promotion  was  received  with 
extraordinary  acclamations  of  joy  by  the  people  of  Rome, 
highly  pleased,  after  an  interval  of  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  to  see  the  crown  of  St.  Peter  placed  on  the  head  of 
a  Roman  citizen.  Persons  more  capable  of  judging,  formed 
a  favourable  presage  of  his  administration,  from  the  expe- 
rience which  he  had  acquired  under  four  pontificates,  as 
well  as  the  character  of  prudence  and  moderation  which  he 
had  uniformly  maintained  in  a  station  of  great  eminence, 
and  during  an  active  period  that  required  both  talents 
and  address. ^^ 

Europe,  it  is  probable,  owed  the  continuance  of  its  peace 
to  the  death  of  Clement ;  for,  although  no  traces  remain 
in  history  of  any  league  concluded  between  him  and  Francis, 
it  is  scarcely  to  be  doubted  but  that  he  would  have  seconded 
the  operations  of  the  French  arms  in  Italy,  that  he  might 
have  gratified  his  ambition  by  seeing  one  of  his  family 

^^  Herbert.     Burn.  Hisf.  of  Reform. 
"  Guic.  lib.  XX.  p.  556.     F.  Paul,  p.  64. 


jiooK  v.]   UNTOWARD  RESULTS  OE  THE  REFORMATION.         483 

possessed  of  the  siiprenic  power  in  Florence,  and  another 
in  Milan.  But  upon  the  election  of  Paul  III.,  who  had 
hitherto  adhered  uniformly  to  the  imperial  interest,  Francis 
found  it  necessary  to  suspend  his  operations  for  some  time, 
and  to  put  otF  the  connnencement  of  hostilities  against  the 
emperor,  on  which,  before  the  death  of  Clement,  he  had 
been  fully  determined. 

While  Francis  Avaited  for  an  opportunity  to  renew  a  war 
which  had  hitherto  proved  so  fatal  to  himself  and  his 
subjects,  a  transaction  of  a  very  singular  nature  was  carried 
on  in  Germany.  Among  many  beneficial  and  salutary  effects 
of  which  the  reformation  was  the  immediate  cause,  it  was 
attended,  as  must  be  the  case  in  all  actions  and  events 
wherein  men  are  concerned,  with  some  consequences  of  an 
opposite  nature.  When  the  human  mind  is  roused  by 
grand  objects,  and  agitated  by  strong  passions,  its  opera- 
tions acquire  such  force  that  they  are  apt  to  become  irregular 
and  extravagant.  Upon  any  great  revolution  in  religion, 
such  irregularities  abound  most,  at  that  particular  period 
when  men,  having  thrown  off  the  authority  of  their  ancient 
principles,  do  not  yet  fully  comprehend  the  nature,  or  feel 
the  obligation  of  those  new  tenets  which  they  have  embraced. 
The  mind  in  that  situation  pushing  forward  with  the  bold- 
ness which  prompted  it  to  reject  established  opinions,  and 
not  guided  by  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  system  substituted 
in  their  place,  disdains  all  restraint,  and  runs  into  Avild 
notions,  which  often  lead  to  scandalous  or  immoral  conduct. 
Thus,  in  the  first  ages  of  the  Christian  church,  many  of  the 
new  converts,  having  renounced  their  ancient  systems  of 
religious  faith,  and  being  but  imperfectly  acquainted  with 
the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  Christianity,  broached  the 
most  extravagant  opinions,  equally  subversive  of  piety  and 
virtue ;  all  which  errors  disappeared,  or  were  exploded, 
when  the  knowledge  of  religion  increased,  and  came  to 
be  more  generally  difiused.  In  like  manner,  soon  after 
Luther's  appearance,  the  rashness  or  ignorance  of  some  of 

I  I  2 


484  INSURRECTION  OF  ANABAPTISTS  [book  v, 

his  disciples  led  them  to  publish  tenets  no  less  absurd  than 
pernicious,  which  being  proposed  to  men  extremely  ilhte- 
rate,  but  fond  of  novelty,  and  at  a  time  when  their  minds 
were  occupied  chiefly  with  religious  speculations,  gained 
too  easy  credit  and  authority  among  them.  To  these 
causes  must  be  imputed  the  extravagances  of  Muncer,  in 
the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-five,  as 
well  as  the  rapid  progress  which  his  opinions  made 
among  the  peasants;  but  though  the  insurrection  excited 
by  that  fanatic  was  soon  suppressed,  several  of  his  followers 
lurked  in  different  places,  and  endeavoured  privately  to 
propagate  his  opinions. 

In  those  provinces  of  Upper  Germany  which  had  already 
been  so  cruelly  wasted  by  their  enthusiastic  rage,  the 
magistrates  watched  their  motions  with  such  severe  atten- 
tion, that  many  of  them  found  it  necessary  to  retire  into 
other  countries  ;  some  were  punished,  others  driven  into 
exile,  and  their  errors  were  entirely  rooted  out.  But  in  the 
Netherlands  and  Westphalia,  where  the  pernicious  tendency 
of  their  opinions  was  more  unknown,  and  guarded  against 
wdth  less  care,  they  got  admittance  into  several  towns,  and 
spread  tlie  infection  of  their  principles.  The  most  remark- 
able of  their  religious  tenets  related  to  the  sacrament  of 
baptism,  which,  as  they  contended,  ought  to  be  administered 
only  to  persons  grown  up  to  years  of  understanding,  and 
should  be  performed,  not  by  sprinkling  them  with  water,  but 
by  dipping  them  in  it ;  for  this  reason  they  condemned  the 
baptism  of  infants,  and  re-baptizing  all  whom  they  admitted 
into  their  society,  the  sect  came  to  be  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  anabaptists.  To  this  peculiar  notion  concerning 
baptism,  which  has  the  appearance  of  being  founded  on 
the  practice  of  the  church  in  the  apostolic  age,  and  contains 
nothing  inconsistent  with  the  peace  and  order  of  human 
society,  they  added  other  principles  of  a  most  enthusiastic 
as  well  as  dangei'ous  nature.  They  maintained  that,  among 
Christians  who  had  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  to  direct. 


uooK  v.]  IN  GERMANY.  485 

and  the  Spirit  of  God  to  guide  them,  tlie  ofRcc  of  magis- 
tracy was  not  only  unnecessary,  but  an  unlawful  encroach- 
ment on  their  spiritual  liberty  ;  that  tlie  distmctions 
occasioned  by  birth,  or  rank,  or  wealth,  being  contraiy  to 
the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  which  considers  all  men  as  equals, 
should  be  entirely  abohshed  ;  that  all  Christians,  throwing 
their  possessions  into  one  common  stock,  should  hve  toge- 
ther in  that  state  of  equality  which  becomes  members  of 
the  same  family :  that  as  neither  the  laws  of  nature,  nor 
the  precepts  of  the  New  Testament,  had  imposed  any 
restraints  upon  men  with  regard  to  the  number  of  wives 
which  they  might  marry,  they  should  use  tliat  liberty 
which  God  himself  had  granted  to  the  patriarclis. 

Such  opinions,  propagated  and  maintained  with  enthusi- 
astic zeal  and  boldness,  were  not  long  without  producing  the 
violent  effects  natural  to  them.  Two  anabaptist  i)ro])hets, 
John  Matthias,  a  baker  of  Haerlem,  and  John  Boccold,  or 
Beiikels,  a  journeyman  tailor  of  Leyden,  possessed  with  the 
rage  of  making  proselytes,  fixed  their  residence  at  Munstcr, 
an  imperial  city  in  Westphalia,  of  the  first  rank,  under  the 
sovereignty  of  its  bishop,  but  governed  by  its  own  senate 
and  consuls.  As  neither  of  these  fanatics  wanted  the  talents 
requisite  in  desperate  enterprises,  great  resolution,  tlie  ap- 
pearance of  sanctity,  bold  pretensions  to  inspiration,  and  a 
confident  and  plausible  manner  of  discoursing,  they  soon 
gained  many  converts.  Among  these  were  Rothman,  wlio 
had  first  preached  the  protestant  doctrine  in  Munstcr,  and 
Cnipperdoling,  a  citizen  of  good  birth  and  considerable 
eminence.  Emboldened  by  the  countenance  of  such  dis- 
ciples, they  openly  taught  their  opinions ;  and  not  satisfied 
with  that  liberty,  they  made  several  attempts,  though  with- 
out success,  to  become  masters  of  the  town,  in  order  to 
get  their  tenets  established  by  public  authority.  At  last, 
having  secretly  called  in  their  associates  from  the  neighbour- 
ing country,  they  suddenly  took  possession  of  the  arsenal 
and  senate-house  in  the  night-time,  and  running  through 


486  INSURRECTION  OF  ANABAPTISTS  [book  v. 

the  streets  with  drawn  swords,  and  horrible  howhngs,  cried 
out  alternately,  "  Repent,  and  be  baptized ;"  and  "  Depart^ 
ye  ungodly."  The  senators,  the  canons,  the  nobility, 
together  with  the  more  sober  citizens,  w'hether  papists  or 
protestants,  terrified  at  their  threats  and  outcries,  fled  in 
confusion,  and  left  the  city  under  the  dominion  of  a  frantic 
multitude,  consisting  chiefly  of  strangers.  Nothing  now 
remaining  to  overawe  or  control  them,  they  set  about  model- 
ling the  government  according  to  their  own  wild  ideas  ;  and 
though  at  first  they  showed  so  much  reverence  for  the  ancient 
constitution,  as  to  elect  senators  of  their  own  sect,  and  to 
appoint  Cnipperdoling  and  another  proselyte  consuls,  this 
was  nothing  more  than  form  ;  for  all  their  proceedings  were 
directed  by  Matthias,  who,  hi  the  style,  and  with  the  autho- 
rity of  a  prophet,  uttered  his  commands,  which  it  was  instant 
death  to  disobey.  Having  begun  with  encouraging  the  mul- 
titude to  pillage  the  churches  and  deface  their  ornaments, 
he  enjoined  them  to  destroy  all  books  except  the  Bible,  as 
useless  or  impious ;  he  ordered  the  estates  of  such  as  fled 
to  be  confiscated,  and  sold  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent 
country ;  he  commanded  every  man  to  bring  forth  his  gold, 
silver,  and  other  precious  effects,  and  to  lay  them  at  his  feet; 
the  wealth  amassed  by  these  means,  he  deposited  in  a  public 
treasury,  and  named  deacons  to  dispense  it  for  the  common 
use  of  all.  The  members  of  his  commonwealth  being  thus 
brought  to  a  perfect  equality,  he  commanded  all  of  them  to 
eat  at  tables  prepared  in  public,  and  even  prescribed  the 
dishes  which  were  to  be  served  up  each  day.  Having 
finished  his  plan  of  reformation,  his  next  care  was  to  pro- 
vide for  the  defence  of  the  city  ;  and  he  took  measures  for 
that  purpose  with  a  prudence  that  savoured  nothing  of  fa- 
naticism. He  collected  large  magazines  of  every  kind  ;  he 
-repaired  and  extended  the  fortifications,  obliging  every 
person  without  distinction  to  work  in  his  turn  ;  he  formed 
such  as  were  capable  of  bearing  arms  into  regular  bodies, 
and  endeavoured  to  add  the  stability  of  discipline  to  the 


BOOK  v.]  IN  GERMANY.  487 

impetuosity  of  enthusiasm.  He  sent  emissaries  to  tlie  ana- 
baptists in  the  Low  Countries,  inviting  them  to  assemble 
at  JNIunster,  which  he  dignified  with  the  name  of  Mount 
Sion,  that  from  thence  they  might  set  out  to  reduce  ah  tlie 
nations  of  the  earth  under  their  dominion.  He  himself  was 
unwearied  in  attending  to  everything  necessary  for  the 
security  or  increase  of  the  sect ;  animating  his  disciples  by 
his  own  example  to  decline  no  labour,  as  well  as  to  submit 
to  every  hardship  ;  and  their  enthusiastic  passions  being 
kept  from  subsiding  by  a  perpetual  succession  of  exhor- 
tations, revelations,  and  prophecies,  they  seemed  ready  to 
undertake  or  to  suffer  anythmg  in  maintenance  of  their 
opinions. 

While  they  were  thus  employed,  the  bishop  of  ]\Iunster, 
having  assembled  a  considerable  army,  advanced  to  besiege 
the  town.  On  his  approach,  Matthias  sained  out  at  the 
head  of  some  chosen  troops,  attacked  one  quarter  of  his 
camp,  forced  it,  and,  after  great  slaughter,  returned  to  the 
city  loaded  with  glory  and  spoil.  Intoxicated  with  this 
success,  he  appeared  next  day  brandishing  a  spear,  and 
declared,  that,  in  imitation  of  Gideon,  he  would  go  forth 
with  a  handful  of  men,  and  smite  the  host  of  the  ungodly. 
Thirty  persons,  whom  he  named,  followed  him  without  hesi- 
tation in  this  wild  enterprise,  and,  rushing  on  the  enemy 
with  a  frantic  courage,  were  cut  off  to  a  man.  The  death 
of  their  prophet  occasioned  at  first  great  consternation 
among  his  disciples ;  but  Boccold,  by  the  same  gifts  and 
pretensions  which  had  gained  Matthias  credit,  soon  revived 
their  spirits  and  hopes  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  succeeded 
the  deceased  prophet  in  the  same  absolute  direction  of  all 
their  affairs.  As  he  did  not  possess  that  enterprising  courage 
which  distinguished  his  predecessor,  he  satisfied  himself 
with  carrying  on  a  defensive  war;  and,  without  attempting 
to  annoy  the  enemy  by  sallies,  he  waited  for  the  succours 
he  expected  from  the  Low  Countries,  the  arrival  of  which 
Was  often  foretold  and  promised  by  their  prophets.     But 


488  JOHN  OF  LEYDEN  CROWNED  KING.  [book  v. 

thoiigli  less  daring  in  action  than  Matthias,  he  was  a  wilder 
enthusiast,  and  of  more  unbounded  ambition.  Soon  after 
the  death  of  his  predecessor,  having,  by  obscure  visions  and 
prophecies,  prepared  the  multitude  for  some  extraordinary 
event,  he  stripped  himself  naked,  and,  marching  through 
the  streets,  proclaimed  with  a  loud  voice,  "  That  the  king- 
dom of  vSion  was  at  hand ;  that  whatever  was  highest  on 
earth  should  be  brought  low,  and  whatever  was  lowest 
should  be  exalted."  In  order  to  fulfil  this,  he  commanded 
the  churches,  as  the  most  lofty  buildings  in  the  city,  to  be 
levelled  with  the  ground;  he  degraded  the  senators  chosen 
by  Matthias,  and  depriving  Cnipperdoling  of  the  consul- 
ship, the  highest  ofiice  in  the  commonwealth,  appointed 
him  to  execute  the  lowest  and  most  infamous,  that  of  com- 
mon hangman,  to  Avhich  strange  transition  the  other  agreed, 
not  only  without  murmuring,  but  with  the  utmost  joy ;  and 
such  was  the  despotic  rigour  of  Boccold's  administration, 
tliat  he  was  called  almost  every  day  to  perform  some  duty 
or  other  of  his  wretched  function.  In  place  of  the  deposed 
senators,  he  named  twelve  judges,  according  to  the  number 
of  tribes  in  Israel,  to  preside  in  all  affairs  ;  retaining  to  him- 
self the  same  authority  which  Moses  anciently  possessed  as 
legislator  of  that  people. 

Not  satisfied,  however,  with  power  or  titles  which  were 
not  supreme,  a  prophet,  whom  he  had  gained  and  tutored, 
having  called  the  multitude  together,  declared  it  to  be  the 
will  of  God  that  John  Boccold  should  be  king  of  Sion,  and 
sit  on  the  throne  of  David.  John,  kneeling  down,  accepted 
of  the  heavenly  call,  which  he  solemnly  protested  had  been 
revealed  likewise  to  himself,  and  was  immediately  acknow- 
ledged as  monarch  by  the  deluded  multitude.  From  that 
moment  he  assumed  all  the  state  and  pomp  of  royalty.  He 
wore  a  crown  of  gold,  and  was  clad  in  the  richest  and  most 
sumptuous  garments.  A  Bible  was  carried  on  his  one  hand, 
a  naked  sword  on  the  other.  A  great  body  of  guards  accom- 
panied him  when  he  a})pcared  in  public.  He  coined  money 


BOOK  v.]  HIS  CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT.  489 

stamped  with  his  own  imnge,  and  appointed  the  great 
officers  of  his  hoiisehokl  and  kingdom,  among  whom  Cnip- 
perdoUng  was  nominated  governor  of  the  city,  as  a  reward 
for  his  former  submission. 

Having  now  attained  the  height  of  power,  Boccokl  began 
to  discover  passions  which  he  had  liitherto  restrained,  or 
indulged  only  in  secret.  As  the  excesses  of  enthusiasm 
have  been  observed  in  every  age  to  lead  to  sensual  grati- 
fications, the  same  constitution  that  is  susceptible  of  the 
former  being  remarkably  prone  to  the  latter,  he  instructed 
the  prophets  and  teachers  to  harangue  the  people  for 
several  days  concerning  the  lawfulness,  and  even  necessity, 
of  taking  more  wives  than  one,  which  they  asserted  to  be 
one  of  the  privileges  granted  by  God  to  the  saints.  When 
their  ears  were  once  accustomed  to  this  licentious  doctruic, 
and  their  passions  inflamed  with  the  prospect  of  such 
unbounded  indulgence,  he  himself  set  them  an  example  of 
using  what  he  called  their  Christian  liberty,  by  marryuig 
at  once  three  wives,  among  which  the  widow  of  Matthias, 
a  woman  of  singular  beauty,  was  one.  As  he  was  allured 
by  beauty,  or  the  love  of  variety,  he  gradually  added  to 
the  number  of  his  wives,  until  they  amounted  to  fourteen, 
though  the  widow  of  Matthias  was  the  only  one  dignified 
with  the  title  of  queen,  or  Avho  shared  with  him  the 
splendour  and  ornaments  of  royalty.  After  the  example  of 
their  prophet,  the  multitude  gave  themselves  up  to  the 
most  licentious  and  uncontrolled  gratification  of  their 
desires.  No  man  remained  satisfied  with  a  single  wife. 
Not  to  use  their  Christian  liberty  was  deemed  a  crime. 
Persons  were  appointed  to  search  the  houses  for  young 
w^omen  grown  up  to  maturity,  whom  they  instantly  com- 
pelled to  marry.  Together  with  polygamy,  freedom  of 
divorce,  its  inseparable  attendant,  was  introduced,  and 
became  a  new  source  of  corruption.  Every  excess  was 
conmiitted,  of  which  the  passions  of  men  are  capable,  when 
restrained  neither  by  the  authority  of  laws  nor  the  sense  of 


490  CONFEDERACY  AGAINST  ANABAPTISTS.  [book  v. 

decency  ;^^  and  by  a  monstrous  and  almost  incredible  con- 
junction, voluptuousness  was  engrafted  on   religion,  an 
dissolute    riot    accompanied    the   austerities   of    fanatical 
devotion. 

Meanwhile,  the  German  princes  were  highly  offended  at 
the  insult  offered  to  their  dignity  by  Boccold's  presump- 
tuous usurpation  of  royal  honours ;  and  the  profligate 
manners  of  his  followers,  which  were  a  reproach  to  the 
Christian  name,  filled  men  of  all  professions  with  horror, 
Luther,  who  had  testified  against  this  fanatical  spirit  on 
its  first  appearance,  now  deeply  lamented  its  progress,  and 
having  exposed  the  delusion  with  great  strength  of  argu- 
ment, as  well  as  acrimony  of  style,  called  loudly  on  all  the 
states  of  Germany  to  put  a  stop  to  frenzy  no  less  pernicious 
to  society,  than  fatal  to  religion.  The  emperor,  occupied 
with  other  cares  and  projects,  had  not  leisure  to  attend  to 
such  a  distant  object;  but  the  princes  of  the  empire, 
assembled  by  the  king  of  the  Romans,  voted  a  supply  of 
men  and  money  to  the  bishop  of  Munster,  who,  being 
unable  to  keep  a  sufficient  army  on  foot,  had  converted 
the  siege  of  the  town  into  a  blockade.  [1535.]  The  forces 
raised  in  consequence  of  this  resolution,  were  put  under 
the  command  of  an  officer  of  experience,  who,  approaching 
the  town  towards  the  end  of  spring,  in  the  year  one 
thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-five,  pressed  it  more 
closely  than  formerly ;  but  found  the  fortifications  so 
strong,  and  so  diligently  guarded,  that  he  durst  not 
attempt  an  assault.      It  was  now  about  fifteen   months 

*"  Prophetse  et  concionatorum  auto-  contentus  fuit,  neque  cuiquam  extra 
ritate  juxta  et  exemplo,  tota  urbe  ad  effoetas  et  viris  immaturas  continenti 
rapiendas  pulcherrimas  quasque  foemi-  esse  licuit.  Id.  p.  307.  Tacebo  hie, 
nas  discursum  est.  Nee  intra  paucos  ut  sit  suus  honor  auribus,  quanta  bar- 
dies, in  tanta  hominum  turba,  fere  baria  et  mililiii  usi  sunt  in  puellis 
ulla  reperta  est  supra  annum  decimum  vitiandis  nondum  aptis  malrimonio,  id 
quartum.quBestuprum  passanonfuerit.  quod  mihi  neque  ex  vano,  neque  eX 
Xiamb.  Hortens.  p.  303.  Vulgo  viris  vulgi  sernionibus  haustum  est,  sed  eS 
quinas  esse  uxorcs,  pluribus  senas,  ea  vetula,  cui  cura  sic  vitiatarum  de- 
tionnullis  septenas  et  octonas.  Puellas  mandata  fuit,  auditutn.  Job.  Corviuus^ 
'supra  duodecimura  ajtatis  annum  p.  31G. 
statim  amare.    Id',  p. '305.     Nemo-una                                              "        


BOOK  v.]  .  MUNSTER  BESIEGED.  491 

since  the  anabaptists  had  estabhshed  their  dominion  in 
Munster ;  they  had  dnring  that  time  undergone  prodigious 
fatigue  in  working  on  the  fortifications,  and  performing 
mihtary  duty.  Notwithstanding  the  prudent  attention  of 
their  king  to  provide  for  their  subsistence,  and  his  frugal 
as  well  as  regular  economy  in  their  public  meals,  they 
began  to  feel  the  approach  of  famine.  Several  small  bodies 
of  their  brethren,  who  were  advancing  to  their  assistance 
from  the  Low  Countries,  had  been  intercepted  and  cut  to 
pieces ;  and  while  all  Germany  was  ready  to  combine 
against  them,  they  had  no  prospect  of  succour.  But  such 
was  the  ascendant  which  Boccold  had  acquired  over  the 
multitude,  and  so  powerful  the  fascination  of  enthusiasm, 
that  their  hopes  were  as  sanguine  as  ever,  and  they 
hearkened  with  implicit  credulity  to  the  visions  and  pre- 
dictions of  their  prophets,  who  assured  them  that  the 
Almighty  would  speedily  interpose,  in  order  to  deliver  the 
city.  The  faith,  however,  of  some  few,  shaken  by  the  vio- 
lence and  length  of  their  sufferings,  began  to  fail ;  but 
being  suspected  of  an  inclination  to  surrender  to  the 
enemy,  they  were  punished  with  immediate  death,  as 
guilty  of  impiety  in  distrusting  the  power  of  God.  One 
of  the  king's  wives,  having  uttered  certain  words  which 
implied  some  doubt  concerning  his  divine  mission,  he 
instantly  called  the  whole  number  together,  and  com- 
manding the  blasphemer,  as  he  called  her,  to  kneel  down, 
cut  off  her  head  with  his  OAvn  hands ;  and  so  far  were  the 
rest  from  expressing  any  horror  at  this  cruel  deed,  that 
they  joined  him  in  dancing  with  a  frantic  joy  around  the 
bleeding  body  of  their  companion. 

By  this  time,  the  besieged  endured  the  utmost  rigour  of 
famine;  but  they  chose  rather  to  suffer  hardships,  the 
recital  of  which  is  shocking^  to  humanity,  than  to  listen  to 
the  terms  of  capitulation  offered  them  by  the  bishop.  At 
last  a  deserter,  whom  they  had  taken  into  their  service 
beinoj  either  less  intoxicated  with  the  fumes  of  enthusiasm, 


492  MUNSTER  CAPTURED.  [book  v. 

or  unable  any  longer  to  bear  such  distress,  made  his  escape 
to  the  enemy.  He  informed  their  general  of  a  Aveak  part 
in  the  fortifications  which  he  had  observed  ;  and  assuring 
him  that  the  besieged,  exhausted  with  hunger  and  fatigue, 
kept  watch  there  with  little  care,  he  offered  to  lead  a  party 
thither  in  the  nig) it.  The  proposal  was  accepted,  and  a 
chosen  body  of  troops  appointed  for  the  service,  who, 
scaling  the  walls  unperceived,  seized  one  of  the  gates,  and 
admitted  the  rest  of  the  army.  The  anabaptists,  though 
surprised,  defended  themselves  in  the  market-place  with 
valour  heightened  by  despair :  but  being  overpowered  by 
numbers,  and  surrounded  on  every  hand,  most  of  them 
were  slain,  and  the  remainder  were  taken  prisoners. 
Among  the  last  were  the  king  and  Cnipperdoling.  The 
king,  loaded  with  chains,  was  carried  from  city  to  city  as 
a  spectacle  to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  people,  and  was 
exposed  to  all  their  insults.  His  spirit,  however,  was  not 
broken  or  humbled  by  this  sad  reverse  of  his  condition ; 
and  he  adhered  with  unshaken  firmness  to  the  distin- 
guishing tenets  of  his  sect.  After  this,  he  was  brought 
back  to  Munster,  the  scene  of  his  royalty  and  crimes,  and 
put  to  death  with  the  most  exquisite,  as  well  as  lingering 
tortures ;  all  which  he  bore  with  astonishing  fortitude. 
This  extraordinary  man,  who  had  been  able  to  acquire 
such  amazing  dominion  over  the  minds  of  his  followers, 
and  to  excite  commotions  so  dangerous  to  society,  w^as 
only  twenty-six  years  of  age.*^*^ 

Together  with  its  monarch,  the  kingdom  of  the  anabaptists 
came  to  an  end.  Their  principles  having  taken  deep  root 
in  the  Low  Countries,  the  party  still  subsists  there,  under 
the  name  of  Mennonites  ;  but,  by  a  very  singular  revolution, 
this  sect,  so  nmtinous  and  sanguinary  at  its  first  origin, 

*''  Sleid,  pp.  190,  &c.     Tumult uum  lus  Anioiiii  Corviui,  ap.  Scar.  p.  313. 

Anabaptistaruni  liber  uuus.  Aut.  Lam-  Annales  Anabuptistici,  a  Job.  Henrico 

bertoHortensioAuctore,  ap.Scardium,  Ottio,  4t,o.  Busileai,  1672.  Cor.  lleers- 

vol.  ii.   pp.   2&8,  &c.     De  Miserabili  bacbius,    Hist.    Anab.  edit.  1037,  p. 

Mouasteriensium  Obsidioue,  &c.,  libel-  110. 


BOOK  v.]  THE  LEAGUE  OF  SMALKALDE.  493 

hath  become  altogether  innocent  and  pacific.  Holding  it 
unlawful  to  wage  war,  or  to  accept  of  civil  offices,  they 
devote  themselves  entirely  to  the  duties  of  private  citizens, 
and  by  their  industry  and  charity  endeavour  to  make  re})a- 
ration  to  human  society  for  the  violence  connuitted  by  their 
founders.*"  A  small  number  of  this  sect  which  is  settled 
in  England,  retain  its  peculiar  tenets  concerning  baptism, 
but  without  any  dangerous  mixture  of  enthusiasm. 

The  mutiny  of  the  anabaptists,  though  it  drew  general 
attention,  did  not  so  entirely  engross  the  princes  of 
Germany,  as  not  to  allow  leisure  for  other  transactions. 
The  alliance  between  the  French  king  and  the  confede- 
rates at  Smalkalde,  began  about  this  time  to  produce 
great  effects.  Ulric,  duke  of  Wurtemberg,  having  been  ex- 
pelled his  dominions  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred 
and  nineteen,  on  account  of  his  violent  and  oppressive 
administration,  the  house  of  Austria  had  got  possession  of 
his  duchy.  That  prince,  having  now  by  a  long  exile  atoned 
for  the  errors  in  his  conduct,  which  were  the  effect  rather 
of  inexperience  than  of  a  tyrannical  disposition,  was  become 
the  object  of  general  compassion.  The  landgrave  of  Hesse, 
in  particular,  his  near  relation,  warmly  espoused  his  interest, 
and  used  many  efforts  to  recover  for  him  his  ancient  inherit- 
ance. But  the  king  of  the  Romans  obstinately  refused 
to  relinquish  a  valuable  acquisition  Avhich  his  family  had 
made  with  so  much  ease.  The  landgrave,  unable  to  compel 
him,  applied  to  the  king  of  France,  his  new  ally.  Francis, 
eager  to  embrace  any  opportunity  of  distressing  the  house 
of  Austria,  and  desirous  of  wresting  from  it  a  territory 
Avhich  gave  it  footing  and  influence  in  a  part  of  Germany 
at  a  distance  from  its  other  dominions,  encouraged  the 
landgrave  to  take  arms,  and  secretly  supplied  him  with  a 
large  sum  of  money.  This  he  employed  to  raise  troops ; 
and,  marching  with  great  expedition  towards  AVurtemberg, 
attacked,  defeated,  and  dispersed  a  considerable  body  of 

"^  Bayle,  Diction,  art.  A/iahaptinics. 


494  THE  LEAGUE  OF  SMALKALDE.  [book  v. 

Austrians,  intmsted  with  the  defence  of  the  country.  All 
the  duke's  subjects  hastened,  with  emulation,  to  receive 
their  native  prince,  and  re-invested  him  with  that  authority 
which  is  still  enjoyed  by  his  descendants.  At  the  same 
time,  the  exercise  of  the  protestant  religion  was  established 
in  his  dominions. *^^ 

Ferdinand,  how  sensible  soever  of  this  unexpected  blow, 
not  daring  to  attack  a  prince  whom  all  the  protestant 
powers  in  Germany  were  ready  to  support,  judged  it 
expedient  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  him,  by  which,  in  the 
most  ample  form,  he  recognised  his  title  to  the  duchy. 
The  success  of  the  landgrave's  operations,  in  behalf  of  the 
duke  of  Wurtemberg,  having  convinced  Ferdinand  that  a 
rupture  with  a  league  so  formidable  as  that  of  Smalkalde, 
was  to  be  avoided  with  the  utmost  care,  he  entered  like- 
wise into  a  negotiation  with  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the  head 
of  that  union,  and  by  some  concessions  in  favour  of  the 
protestant  religion,  and  others  of  advantage  to  the  elector 
himself,  he  prevailed  on  him,  together  with  his  confederates, 
to  acknowledge  his  title  as  king  of  the  Romans.  At  the 
same  time,  in  order  to  prevent  any  such  precipitate  or 
irregular  election  in  times  to  come,  it  was  agreed  that  no 
person  should  hereafter  be  promoted  to  that  dignity  without 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  electors ;  and  the  emperor 
soon  after  confirmed  this  stipulation.'^^ 

These  acts  of  indulgence  towards  the  protestants,  and 
the  close  union  into  which  the  king  of  the  Romans  seemed 
to  be  entering  with  the  princes  of  that  party,  gave  great 
offence  at  Rome.  Paul  III.,  though  he  had  departed  from 
a  resolution  of  his  predecessor,  never  to  consent  to  the 
calling  of  a  general  council,  and  had  promised,  in  the  first 
consistory  held  after  his  election,  that  he  would  convoke 
that  assembly  so  much  desired  by  all  Christendom,  was  no 
less  enraged  than  Clement  at  the  innovations  in  Germany, 

•52  Sleid.  p."  172.    Mem.  de  Bellay,  ^^  gigi^j^   p_  173^     Qqj.^^    Diplom. 

pp.  159,  &c.  torn.  iv.  pp.  2,  119. 


300K  v.]        GENERAL  COUNCIL  CALLED  AT  MANTUA.  495 

and  no  less  averse  to  any  scheme  for  reforming  either  the 
doctrines  of  the  church,  or  the  abuses  in  the  court  of  Rome. 
But  having  been  a  witness  of  the  universal  censure  which 
Clement  had  incurred  by  his  obstinacy  with  regard  to  these 
points,  he  hoped  to  avoid  the  same  reproach  by  the  seeming 
alacrity  with  which  he  proposed  a  council ;  flattering  him- 
self, however,  that  such  difficulties  would  arise  concerning 
the  time  and  place  of  meeting,  the  persons  who  had  a  right 
to  be  present,  and  the  order  of  their  proceedings,  as  would 
effectually  defeat  the  intention  of  those  who  demanded  that 
assembly,  without  exposing  himself  to  any  imputation  for 
refusing  to  call  it.  With  this  view,  he  despatched  nuncios 
to  the  several  courts,  in  order  to  make  known  his  intention, 
that  he  had  fixed  on  Mantua  as  a  proper  place  in  which  to 
hold  the  council.  Such  difficulties  as  the  pope  had  fore- 
seen, immediately  presented  themselves  in  great  number. 
The  French  king  did  not  approve  of  the  place  which  Paul 
had  chosen,  as  the  papal  and  imperial  influence  would 
necessarily  be  too  great  in  a  town  situated  in  that  part  of 
Italy.  The  king  of  England  not  only  concurred  with 
Francis  in  urging  that  objection,  but  refused,  besides,  to 
acknowledge  any  council  called  in  the  name  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  pope.  The  German  protestants  having 
met  together  at  Smalkalde,  insisted  on  their  original  demand 
of  a  council  to  be  held  in  Germany,  and  pleading  the 
emperor's  promise,  as  well  as  the  agreement  at  Ratisbon  to 
that  effect,  declared  that  they  would  not  consider  an  as- 
sembly held  at  Mantua  as  a  legal  or  free  representative  of 
the  chm'ch.  By  this  diversity  of  sentiments  and  views, 
such  a  field  for  intrigue  and  negotiation  opened,  as  made 
it  easy  for  the  pope  to  assume  the  merit  of  being  eager  to 
assemble  a  council,  wdiile  at  the  same  time  he  could  put  off 
its  meeting  at  pleasure.  The  protestants,  on  the  other 
'hand,  suspecting  his  designs,  and  sensible  of  the  im- 
portance which  they  derived  from  their  union,  renewed  for 
ten   years  the  league  of  Smalkalde,   which  now  became 


496  CHARLES'S  EXPEDITION  TO  AFRICA.  [book v. 

stronger  and  more  formidable  by  tlie  accession  of  several 
new  members.^* 

During  these  transactions  in  Germany,  the  emperor 
nndertook  his  famous  enterprise  against  the  piratical  states 
in  Africa.  That  part  of  the  African  continent  lying  along 
the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  which  anciently  formed 
the  kingdoms  of  Mauritania  and  Massylia,  together  with 
the  republic  of  Carthage,  and  which  is  now  known  by  the 
general  name  of  Barbary,  had  undergone  many  revolutions. 
Subdued  by  the  Romans,  it  became  a  province  of  their 
empire.  When  it  was  conquered  afterwards  by  the  Vandals, 
they  erected  a  kingdom  there.  That  being  overturned  by 
Belisarius,  the  country  became  subject  to  the  Greek  em- 
perors, and  continued  to  be  so  until  it  was  overrun,  towards 
the  end  of  the  seventh  century,  by  the  rapid  and  irresistible 
arms  of  the  Arabians.  It  remained  for  some  time  a  part 
of  that  vast  empire  which  the  caliphs  governed  with  abso- 
lute authority.  Its  immense  distance,  however,  from  the 
seat  of  government,  encouraged  the  descendants  of  those 
leaders  who  had  subdued  the  country,  or  the  chiefs  of  the 
Moors,  its  ancient  inhabitants,  to  throAv  off  the  yoke,  and 
to  assert  their  independence.  The  caliphs,  who  derived 
their  authority  from  a  spirit  of  enthusiasm,  more  fitted  for 
making  conquests  than  for  preserving  them,  were  obliged 
to  connive  at  acts  of  rebellion  which  they  could  not 
prevent ;  and  Barbary  was  divided  into  several  kingdoms,  of 
which  Morocco,  Algiers,  and  Tunis,  were  the  most  consider- 
able. The  inhabitants  of  these  kingdoms  were  a  mixed  race, 
Arabs,  Negroes  from  the  southern  provinces,  and  Moors, 

"  This  league  was  concluded  De-  princes  of  Anhalt ;  Gebliard  and  Al- 
cember,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  bert,  counts  of  Mansfield  ;  William, 
tiiirty-five,  but  not  extended  or  signed  count  of  Nassau.  The  cities,  Stras- 
in  form  till  September  in  the  following  burg,  Nuremberg,  Constance,  Ulm, 
year.  The  princes  who  acceded  to  it  Magdeburg,  Bremeu.Ileutlingen,  Hail- 
were,  John,  elector  of  Saxony;  Ernest,  bron,  Memmengen,  Liudau,  Canipen, 
duke  of  Brunswick  ;  Philip,  laudgrave  Isna,  Bibrac,  VVindsheim,  Augsburg, 
of  Hesse;  Ulric,  duke  of  Wurtemberg;  Erankfort,  Esling,  Brunswick,  Goslar, 
Barnim  and  Philip,  dukes  of  Pome-  Hanover,  Gottingeu,  Eimbeck,  Ham.- 
rauia;   John,    George,  and   Joachim,  burg,  Minden. 


BOOKV]  THE  BARBARY  STATES.  497 

either  natives  of  Africa,  or  who  had  been  expelled  out  of 
Spain;  all  zealous  professors  of  the  Mahometan  religion, 
and  inflamed  against  Christianity  with  a  bigoted  hatred 
proportional  to  their  ignorance  and  barbarous  manners. 

Among  these  people,  no  less  daring,  inconstant,  and 
treacherous,  than  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  same  coun- 
try described  by  the  Roman  historians,  frequent  seditions 
broke  out,  and  many  changes  in  government  took  place. 
These,  as  they  aff'ected  only  the  internal  state  of  a  country 
extremely  barbarous,  are  but  little  known,  and  deserve  to 
be  so.  But  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century 
a  sudden  revolution  happened,  Avhich,  by  rendering  the 
states  of  Barbary  formidable  to  the  Europeans,  hath  made 
their  history  worthy  of  more  attention.  This  revolution 
was  brought  about  by  persons  born  in  a  rank  of  life  which 
entitled  them  to  act  no  such  illustrious  part.  Horuc  and 
Hayradin,  the  sons  of  a  potter  in  the  isle  of  Lesbos, 
prompted  by  a  restless  and  enterprising  spirit,  forsook 
their  father's  trade,  ran  to  sea,  and  joined  a  crew  of  pirates. 
They  soon  distinguished  themselves  by  their  valour  and 
activity,  and,  becoming  masters  of  a  small  brigantine, 
carried  on  their  infamous  trade  with  such  conduct  and 
success,  that  they  assembled  a  fleet  of  twelve  galleys^ 
besides  many  vessels  of  smaller  force.  Of  this  fleet,  Horuc 
the  elder  brother,  called  Barbarossa  from  the  red  colour  oi 
his  beard,  was  admiral,  and  Hayradin  second  in  command, 
but  with  almost  equal  authority.  They  called  themselves 
the  friends  of  the  sea,  and  the  enemies  of  all  who  sail  upon 
it ;  and  their  names  soon  became  terrible  from  the  Straits 
of  the  Dardanelles  to  those  of  Gibraltar.  Together  with 
their  fame  and  power,  their  ambitious  views  extended ;  and 
while  acting  as  corsairs,  they  adopted  the  ideas  and  ac- 
quired the  talents  of  conquerors.  They  often  carried  the 
prizes  which  they  took  on  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Italy 
into  the  ports  of  Barbary,  and,  enriching  the  inhabitants 
by  the  sale  of  their  booty,  and  the  thoughtless  prodigality 

VOL.  I.  K  K 


498  THE  BARBAROSSAS.  [book  t. 

of  their  crews,  were  welcome  guests  in  every  place  at  which 
they  touched.  The  convenient  situation  of  these  harbours, 
lying  so  near  the  greatest  commercial  states  at  that  time  in 
Christendom,  made  the  brothers  wish  for  an  establishment 
in  that  country.  An  opportunity  of  accomplishing  this 
quickly  presented  itself,  which  they  did  not  suffer  to  pass 
unimproved.  Eutemi,  king  of  Algiers,  having  attempted 
several  times,  without  success,  to  take  a  fort  which  the 
Spanish  governors  of  Oran  had  built  not  far  from  his  capi- 
tal, was  so  ill-advised  as  to  apply  for  aid  to  Barbarossa,  whose 
valour  the  Africans  considered  as  irresistible.  [1516.]  The 
active  corsair  gladly  accepted  of  the  invitation,  and,  leaving 
his  brother  Hayradin  with  the  fleet,  marched  at  the  head 
of  five  thousand  men  to  Algiers,  where  he  was  received  as 
their  deliverer.  Such  a  force  gave  him  the  command  of 
the  town ;  and  as  he  perceived  that  the  Moors  neither 
suspected  him  of  any  bad  intention,  nor  were  capable 
with  their  light-armed  troops  of  opposing  his  disciplined 
veterans,  he  secretly  murdered  the  monarch  whom  he  had 
come  to  assist,  and  proclaimed  himself  king  of  Algiers  in 
his  stead.  The  authority  which  he  had  thus  boldly  usurped, 
he  endeavoured  to  establish  by  arts  suited  to  the  genius  of 
the  people  whom  he  had  to  govern ;  by  liberality  without 
bounds  to  those  who  favoured  his  promotion,  and  by 
cruelty  no  less  unbounded  towards  all  whom  he  had  any 
reason  to  distrust.  Not  satisfied  with  the  throne  which  he 
had  acquired,  he  attacked  the  neighbouring  king  of  Tre- 
mecen,  and  having  vanquished  him  in  battle,  added  his 
dominions  to  those  of  Algiers.  At  the  same  time,  he 
continued  to  infest  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Italy  with  fleets 
which  resembled  the  armaments  of  a  great  monarch,  rather 
than  the  light  squadrons  of  a  corsair.  Their  frequent  and 
cruel  devastations  obliged  Charles,  about  the  beginning  of  his 
reign,  [1518,]  to  furnish  the  Marquis  de  Comares,  governor 
of  Oran,  with  troops  sufficient  to  attack  him.  That  officer, 
assisted  by  the  dethroned  king  of  Tremecen,  executed  the 


BOOK  v.]  THE  BARBAROSSAS.  499 

commission  with  such  spirit,  that  Barbarossa's  troops  being 
beaten  in  several  encounters,  he  himself  was  shut  up  in 
Tremecen.  After  defending  it  to  the  last  extremity,  he 
was  overtaken  in  attempting  to  make  his  escape,  and  slain 
while  he  fought  with  an  obstinate  valour,  worthy  of  his 
former  fame  and  exploits. 

His  brother  Ilayradin,  known  likewise  by  the  name  of 
Barbarossa,  assumed  the  sceptre  of  Algiers  with  the  same 
ambition  and  abilities,  but  with  better  fortune.  His  reign 
being  undisturbed  by  the  arms  of  the  Spaniards,  which 
had  full  occupation  in  the  wars  among  the  European 
powers,  he  regulated  with  admirable  prudence  the  interior 
police  of  his  kingdom,  carried  on  his  naval  operations  with 
great  vigour,  and  extended  his  conquests  on  the  continent 
of  Africa.  But  perceiving  that  the  Moors  and  Arabs  sub- 
mitted to  his  government  Avitli  the  utmost  reluctance,  and 
being  afraid  that  his  continual  depredations  would,  one 
day,  draw  upon  him  the  arms  of  the  Christians,  he  put  his 
dominions  under  the  protection  of  the  grand  seignior,  and 
received  from  him  a  body  of  Turkish  soldiers  sufficient  for 
his  security  against  his  domestic  as  well  as  his  foreign 
enemies.  At  last,  the  fame  of  his  exploits  daily  increasing, 
Solyman  offered  him  the  command  of  the  Turkish  fleet,  as 
the  only  person  whose  valour  and  skill  in  naval  affairs  en- 
titled him  to  command  against  Andrew  Doria,  the  greatest 
sea-officer  of  that  age.  Proud  of  this  distinction,  Barba- 
rossa repaired  to  Constantinople,  and  with  a  wonderful 
versatility  of  mind,  minghng  the  arts  of  a  courtier  with 
the  boldness  of  a  corsair,  gained  the  entire  confidence  both 
of  the  sultan  and  his  vizier.  To  them  he  connnunicated  a 
scheme  which  he  had  formed  of  making  himself  master  of 
Tunis,  the  most  flourishing  kingdom  at  that  time  on  the 
coast  of  Africa ;  and  this  being  approved  of  by  them,  he 
obtained  whatever  he  demanded  for  carrying  it  into  ex- 
ecution. 

His  hopes  of  success  in  this  undertaking  were  founded  on 

K  K  2 


500  BARBAROSSA'S  INTBIGUES  [book  v. 

the  intestine  divisions  in  tlie  kingdom  of  Tunis,  Mahmed, 
the  last  king  of  that  country,  having  thirty-four  sons 
by  different  wives,  appointed  Muley-Hascen,  one  of  the 
youngest  among  them,  to  be  his  successor.  That  weak 
prince,  who  owed  this  preference,  not  to  his  own  merit, 
but  to  the  ascendant  which  his  mother  had  acquired  over 
a  monarch  doting  with  age,  first  poisoned  Mahmed,  his 
father,  in  order  to  prevent  him  from  altering  his  destination 
with  respect  to  the  succession;  and  then,  with  the  bar- 
barous policy  which  prevails  wherever  polygamy  is  per- 
mitted, and  the  right  of  succession  is  not  precisely  fixed, 
he  put  to  death  all  his  brothers  whom  he  could  get  into 
his  power.  Alraschid,  one  of  the  eldest,  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  escape  his  rage;  and,  finding  a  retreat  among  the 
wandering  Arabs,  made  several  attempts,  by  the  assistance 
of  some  of  their  chiefs,  to  recover  the  throne  which  of 
right  belonged  to  him.  But  these  proving  unsuccessful, 
and  the  Arabs,  from  their  natural  levity,  being  ready  to 
deliver  him  up  to  his  merciless  brother,  he  fled  to  Algiers, 
the  only  place  of  refuge  remaining,  and  implored  the  pro- 
tection of  Barbarossa ;  who,  discerning  at  once  all  the 
advantages  which  might  be  gained  by  supporting  his  title, 
received  him  with  every  possible  demonstration  of  friend- 
ship and  respect.  Being  ready,  at  that  time,  to  set  sail 
for  Constanthiople,  he  easily  persuaded  Alraschid,  whose 
eagerness  to  obtain  a  crown  disposed  him  to  believe  or 
undertake  anything,  to  accompany  him  thither,  promising 
him  effectual  assistance  from  Solyman,  whom  he  repre- 
sented to  be  the  most  generous,  as  well  as  most  powerful 
monarch  in  the  world.  But  no  sooner  were  they  arrived 
at  Constantinople,  than  the  treacherous  corsair,  regardless 
of  all  his  promises  to  him,  opened  to  the  sultan  a  plan  for 
conquering  Tunis,  and  annexing  it  to  the  Turkish  empire, 
by  making  use  of  the  name  of  this  exiled  prince,  and  co- 
operating with  the  party  in  the  kingdom  which  was  ready 
to  declare  in  his  favour ;  Solyman  approved,  with  too  much 


BOOK  v.]  AND  CONQUEST  OF  TUNIS.  501 

facility,  of  tiiis  perfidious  proposal,  extremely  suitable  to 
the  character  of  its  author,  but  altogether  unworthy  of 
a  great  prince.  A  powerful  fleet  and  numerous  army  were 
soon  assembled ;  at  the  sight  of  Avhich  the  crcdidous 
Alraschid  flattered  himself  that  he  should  soon  enter  his 
capital  in  triumph. 

But  just  as  this  unhappy  prince  was  going  to  embark, 
he  was  arrested  by  order  of  the  sultan,  shut  up  in  the 
seraglio,  and  was  never  heard  of  more.  Barbarossa  sailed 
with  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  vessels  towards 
Africa.  After  ravaging  the  coasts  of  Italy,  and  spreading 
terror  through  every  part  of  that  country,  he  appeared 
before  Tunis ;  and,  landing  his  men,  gave  out  that  he  came 
to  assert  the  right  of  Alraschid,  whom  he  pretended  to 
have  left  sick  aboard  the  admiral's  galley.  The  fort  of 
Goletta,  which  commands  the  bay,  soon  fell  into  his  hands, 
partly  by  his  own  address,  partly  by  the  treachery  of  its 
commander;  and  the  inhabitants  of  Tunis,  wTary  of 
Muley-Hascen's  government,  took  arms  and  declared  for 
Alraschid  with  such  zeal  and  unanimity,  as  obliged  the 
former  to  fly  so  precipitately,  that  he  left  all  his  treasures 
behind  him.  The  gates  were  immediately  set  open  to 
Barbarossa,  as  the  restorer  of  their  lawful  sovereign.  But 
when  Alraschid  himself  did  not  appear,  and  when,  instead 
of  his  name,  that  of  Solyman  alone  Avas  heard  among  the 
acclamations  of  the  Turkish  soldiers  marching  into  the 
town,  the  people  of  Tunis  began  to  suspect  the  corsair's 
treachery.  Their  suspicions  being  soon  converted  into 
certainty,  they  ran  to  arms  with  the  utmost  fury,  and  sur- 
rounded the  citadel  into  which  Barbarossa  had  led  his 
troops.  But  having  forseen  such  a  revolution,  he  was  not 
unprepared  for  it ;  he  immediately  turned  against  them  the 
artillery  on  the  ramparts,  and  by  one  brisk  discharge  dis- 
persed the  numerous  but  undirected  assailants,  and  forced 
them  to  acknowledge  Solyman  as  their  sovereign,  and  to 
submit  to  himself  as  his  viceroy. 


502  CHARLES'S  ASSISTANCE  IMPLORED.  [book  v 

His  first  care  was  to  put  the  kingdom,  of  which  he 
had  thus  got  possession,  in  a  proper  posture  of  defence. 
He  strengthened  the  citadel  which  commands  the  town ; 
and  fortifjdng  the  Goletta  in  a  regular  manner,  at  vast 
expense,  made  it  the  principal  station  for  his  fleet,  and  his 
great  arsenal  for  military  as  well  as  naval  stores.  Being 
now  possessed  of  such  extensive  territories,  he  carried  on 
his  depredations  against  the  Christian  states  to  a  greater 
extent  and  with  more  destructive  violence  than  ever.  Daily 
complaints  of  the  outrages  committed  by  his  cruisers  were 
brought  to  the  emperor  by  his  subjects,  both  in  Spain  and 
Italy.  All  Christendom  seemed  to  expect  from  him,  as  its 
greatest  and  most  fortunate  prince,  that  he  would  put  an 
end  to  this  new  and  odious  species  of  oppression.  [1535.] 
At  the  same  time  Muley-Hascen,  the  exiled  king  of  Tunis, 
finding  none  of  the  Mahometan  princes  in  Africa  willing 
or  able  to  assist  him  in  recovering  his  throne,  applied  to 
Charles  as  the  only  person  who  could  assert  his  rights  in 
opposition  to  such  a  formidable  usurper.  The  emperor, 
equally  desirous  of  delivering  his  dominions  from  the 
dangerous  neighbourhood  of  Barbarossa ;  of  appearing  as 
the  protector  of  an  unfortunate  prince ;  and  of  acquiring 
the  glory  annexed  in  that  age  to  every  expedition  against 
the  Mahometans,  readily  concluded  a  treaty  with  Muley- 
Hascen,  and  began  to  prepare  for  invading  Tunis.  Having 
made  trial  of  his  own  abilities  for  war  in  the  late  campaign 
in  Hungary,  he  was  now  become  so  fond  of  the  military 
character,  that  he  determined  to  command  on  this  occasion 
in  person.  The  united  strength  of  his  dominions  was 
called  out  upon  an  enterprise  in  which  the  emperor  was 
about  to  hazard  his  glory,  and  which  drew  the  attention  of 
all  Europe.  A  Flemish  fleet  carried  from  the  ports  of  the 
Low  Countries  a  body  of  German  infantry  f^  the  galleys  of 
Naples  and  Sicily  took  on  board  the  veteran  bands  of 
Italians  and  Spaniards,  v/hich  had  distinguished  themselves 

^  Harsei  Aunales  Brabant,  i.  599. 


BOOK  v.]  HE  LANDS  IN  AFRICA.  503 

by  so  many  victories  over  the  French  :  the  emperor  liimself 
embarked  at  Barcelona  with  the  flower  of  tlic  Spanish 
nobihty,  and  was  joined  by  a  considerable  scpia(h-on  from 
Portugab  under  the  connnand  of  the  Infant  don  Lewis, 
the  empress's  brother ;  Andrew  Doria  conducted  his  own 
galleys, — the  best  appointed  at  that  time  in  Europe,  and 
commanded  by  the  most  skilful  officers ;  the  pope  fnrnishcd 
all  the  assistance  in  his  power  towards  such  a  pious  enter- 
prise ;  and  the  order  of  Malta,  the  perpetual  enemies  of 
the  infidels,  equipped  a  squadron,  which,  though  small, 
was  formidable  by  the  valour  of  the  knights  who  served  on 
board  it.  The  port  of  Cagliari  in  Sardinia  w\as  the  general 
place  of  rendezvous.  Doria  was  appointed  high-admiral 
of  the  fleet;  the  command  of  the  land-forces  under  the 
emperor  was  given  to  the  Marquis  del  Guasto. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  July,  the  fleet,  consisting  of  near 
five  hundred  vessels,  having  on  board  above  thirty  thousand 
regular  troops,  set  sail  from  Cagliari,  and,  after  a  prosperous 
navigation,  landed  wdthin  sight  of  Tunis.  Barbarossa 
having  received  early  intelligence  of  the  emperor's  immense 
armament,  and  suspecting  its  destination,  prepared  w^ith 
equal  prudence  and  vigour  for  the  defence  of  his  new 
conquest.  lie  called  in  all  his  corsairs  from  their  different 
stations  ;  he  drew  from  Algiers  what  forces  could  be  spared  ; 
he  despatched  messengers  to  all  the  African  princes.  Moors 
as  well  as  Arabs,  and,  by  representing  Muley-Hascen  as  an 
infamous  apostate,  prompted  by  ambition  and  revenge,  not 
only  to  become  the  vassal  of  a  Christian  prince,  but  to 
conspire  w^ith  him  to  extirpate  the  Mahometan  faith,  he 
inflamed  these  ignorant  and  bigoted  chiefs  to  such  a 
degree,  that  they  took  arms  as  in  a  common  cause. 
Twenty  thousand  horse,  together  with  a  great  body  of 
foot,  soon  assembled  at  Tunis ;  and,  by  a  proper  distribu- 
tion of  presents  among  them  from  time  to  time,  Barbarossa 
kept  the  ardour  which  had  brought  them  together  from 
subsiding.     But  as  he  was  too  well  acquainted  with  the 


504        CHARLES  BESIEGES  AND  TAKES  THE  GOLETTA.    [book  v. 

enemy  whom  he  had  to  oppose,  to  think  that  these  hght 
troops  coiikl  resist  the  heavy-armed  cavalry  and  veteran 
infantry  which  composed  the  imperial  army,  his  chief  con- 
fidence was  in  the  strength  of  the  Goletta,  and  in  his  body 
of  Turkish  soldiers,  who  were  armed  and  disciplined  after 
the  European  fashion.  Six  thousand  of  these  under  the 
command  of  Sinan,  a  renegado  Jew,  the  bravest  and  most 
experienced  of  all  his  corsairs,  he  threw  into  that  fort,  which 
the  emperor  immediately  invested.  As  Charles  had  the 
command  of  the  sea,  his  camp  was  so  plentifully  supplied  not 
only  with  the  necessaries,  but  with  all  the  luxuries  of  life, 
that  Muley-Hascen,  who  had  not  been  accustomed  to  see  war 
carried  on  with  such  order  and  magnificence,  was  filled  with 
admiration  of  the  emperor's  power.  His  troops,  animated 
by  his  presence,  and  considering  it  as  meritorious  to  shed 
their  blood  in  such  a  pious  cause,  contended  with  each 
other  for  the  posts  of  honour  and  danger.  Three  separate 
attacks  were  concerted,  and  the  Germans,  Spaniards,  and 
Italians,  having  one  of  these  committed  to  each  of  them, 
pushed  them  forward  with  the  eager  courage  which  national 
emulation  inspires.  Sinan  displayed  resolution  and  skill 
becoming  the  confidence  which  his  master  had  put  in  him ; 
the  garrison  performed  the  hard  service  on  which  they  were 
ordered  with  great  fortitude.  But  though  he  interrupted 
the  besiegers  by  frequent  salhes,  though  the  Moors  and 
Arabs  alarmed  the  camp  with  their  continual  incursions ; 
the  breaches  soon  became  so  considerable  towards  the  land, 
while  the  fleet  battered  those  parts  of  the  fortifications 
which  it  could  approach  with  no  less  fury  and  success,  that, 
an  assault  being  given  on  all  sides  at  once,  the  place  was 
taken  by  storm.  Sinan,  with  the  remains  of  his  garrison, 
retired,  after  an  obstinate  resistance,  over  a  shallow  part  of 
the  bay  towards  the  city.  By  the  reduction  of  the  Goletta, 
the  emperor  became  master  of  Barbarossa's  fleet,  consisting 
of  eighty-seven  galleys  and  galliots,  together  with  his 
aisenal  and  three   hundred  cannon,  mostly  brass,  which 


BOOK  v.]  HE  ADVANCES  TOWARDS  TUNIS.  505 

were  planted  on  the  ramparts ;  a  prodigions  number  in 
that  age,  and  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  strength  of  the  fort, 
as  well  as  of  the  greatness  of  the  corsair's  power.  The 
emperor  marched  into  the  Goletta  through  the  breach,  and 
turning  to  Muley-Hascen,  who  attended  him,  "  Here," 
says  he,  "  is  a  gate  open  to  you,  by  which  you  shall  return 
to  take  possession  of  your  dominions." 

Barbarossa,  though  he  felt  the  full  weight  of  the  blow 
which  he  had  received,  did  not,  however,  lose  courage,  or 
abandon  the  defence  of  Tunis.  But  as  the  walls  were  of 
great  extent,  and  extremely  weak,  as  he  could  not  depend 
on  the  fidelity  of  the  inhabitants,  nor  hope  that  the  Moors 
and  Arabs  would  sustain  the  hardships  of  a  siege,  he  boldly 
determined  to  advance  with  his  army,  which  amounted  to 
fifty  thousand  men,'^'^  towards  the  imperial  camp,  and  to 
decide  the  fate  of  his  kingdom  by  the  issue  of  a  battle. 
This  resolution  he  communicated  to  his  principal  officers, 
and  representing  to  them  the  fatal  consequences  which 
might  follow,  if  ten  thousand  Christian  slaves,  whom  he  had 
shut  up  in  his  citadel,  should  attempt  to  mutiny  during  the 
absence  of  the  army,  he  proposed,  as  a  necessary  precaution 
for  the  public  security,  to  massacre  them  without  mercy 
before  he  began  his  march.  They  all  approved  warmly  of 
his  intention  to  fight ;  but  inured  as  they  were,  in  their 
piratical  depredations,  to  scenes  of  bloodshed  and  cruelty, 
the  barbarity  of  his  proposal  concerning  the  slaves  filled 
them  with  horror ;  and  Barbarossa,  rather  from  the  dread 
of  irritating  them,  than  swayed  by  motives  of  humanity, 
consented  to  spare  the  lives  of  the  slaves. 

By  this  time,  the  emperor  had  begun  to  advance  towards 
Tunis ;  and  though  his  troops  sufiered  inconceivable  hard- 
ships in  their  march  over  burning  sands,  destitute  of  water, 
and  exposed  to  the  intolerable  heat  of  the  sun,  they  soon 
came  up  with  the  enemy.     The  Moors  and  Arabs,  enibol- 

^  Epistres  des  Priuces,  par  Ruscelli,  pp.  119,  &c. 


506  CHARLES  DEFEATS  BARBAROSSA,  [book  v. 

dened  by  their  vast  superiority  in  number,  immediately 
rushed  on  to  the  attack  with  loud  shouts,  but  their  undis- 
ciplined courage  could  not  long  stand  the  shock  of  regular 
battalions;  and  though  Barbarossa,  with  admirable  pre- 
sence of  mind,  and  by  exposing  his  own  person  to  the 
greatest  dangers,  endeavoured  to  rally  them,  the  rout 
became  so  general,  that  he  himself  was  hurried  along  Avith 
them  in  their  flight  back  to  the  city.  There  he  found 
everything  in  the  utmost  confusion  ;  some  of  the  inhabitants 
flying  with  their  families  and  eff'ects ;  others  ready  to  set 
open  their  gates  to  the  conqueror;  the  Turkish  soldiers 
preparing  to  retreat ;  and  the  citadel,  which  in  such  cir- 
cumstances might  have  aff'orded  him  some  refuge,  already 
in  the  possession  of  the  Christian  captives.  These  unhappy 
men,  rendered  desperate  by  their  situation,  had  laid  hold 
on  the  opportunity  which  Barbarossa  dreaded.  As  soon 
as  his  army  was  at  some  distance  from  the  town,  they 
gained  two  of  their  keepers,  by  whose  assistance,  knocking 
off"  their  fetters,  and  bursting  open  their  prisons,  they  over- 
powered the  Turkish  garrison,  and  turned  the  artillery  of  the 
fort  against  their  former  masters.  Barbarossa,  disappointed 
and  enraged,  exclaiming  somttimes  against  the  false  com- 
passion of  his  officers,  and  sometimes  condemning  his 
own  imprudent  compliance  with  their  opinion,  fled  preci- 
pitately to  Bona. 

Meanwhile  Charles,  satisfied  with  the  easy  and  almost 
bloodless  victory  which  he  had  gained,  and  advancing 
slowly  with  the  precaution  necessary  in  an  enemy's  country, 
did  not  yet  know  the  whole  extent  of  his  own  good  for- 
tune. Bat  at  last,  a  messenger  despatched  by  the  slaves 
acquainted  him  with  the  success  of  their  noble  effort  for 
the  recovery  of  their  liberty;  and  at  the  same  time 
deputies  arrived  from  the  town  in  order  to  present  him 
the  keys  of  their  gates,  and  to  implore  his  protection  from 
military  violence.  While  he  was  deliberating  concerning 
the  proper  measures  for  this  purpose,  the  soldiers,  fearing 


BOOK  v.]  AND  RESTORES  THE  KING  OF  TUNIS.  507 

that  they  should  be  deprived  of  the  booty  which  they  had 
expected,  rushed  suddenly,  and  without  orders,  into  the 
town,  and  began  to  kill  and  plunder  without  distinction. 
It  was  then  too  late  to  restrain  their  cruelty,  their  avarice, 
or  licentiousness.  All  the  outrages  of  which  soldiers  are 
capable  in  the  fury  of  a  storm,  all  the  excesses  of  which 
men  can  be  guilty  when  their  passions  are  heightened  by 
the  contempt  and  hatred  which  difi'erence  in  manners  and 
religion  inspires,  Avere  committed.  Above  thirty  thousand 
of  the  innocent  inhabitants  perished  on  that  unhappy  day, 
and  ten  thousand  were  carried  away  as  slaves.  Muley- 
Hascen  took  possession  of  a  throne  surrounded  with  car- 
nage, abhorred  by  his  subjects,  on  whom  he  had  brought 
such  calamities,  and  pitied  even  by  those  whose  rashness 
had  been  the  occasion  of  them.  The  emperor  lamented  the 
fatal  accident  which  had  stained  the  lustre  of  his  victory ; 
and  amidst  such  a  scene  of  horror  there  was  but  one  spec- 
tacle that  afforded  him  any  satisfaction.  Ten  thousand 
Christian  slaves,  among  whom  were  several  persons  of  dis- 
tinction, met  him  as  he  entered  the  town ;  and,  falling 
on  their  knees,  thanked  and  blessed  him  as  their  deliverer. 
At  the  same  time  that  Charles  accomplished  his  promise 
to  the  Moorish  king,  of  re-establishing  him  in  his  dominions, 
he  did  not  neglect  what  was  necessary  for  bridling  the 
power  of  the  African  corsairs,  for  the  security  of  his  own 
subjects  and  for  the  interest  of  the  Spanish  crown.  In  order 
to  gain  these  ends,  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  Muley- 
Hascen  on  the  following  conditions :  That  he  should  hold 
the  kingdom  of  Tunis  in  fee  of  the  crown  of  Spain,  and  do 
homage  to  the  emperor  as  his  liege  lord ;  that  all  the 
Christian  slaves  now  within  his  dominions,  of  whatever 
nation,  should  be  set  at  liberty  without  ransom ;  that  no 
subject  of  the  emperor's  should  for  the  future  be  detained 
in  servitude ;  that  no  Turkish  corsair  should  be  admitted 
into  the  ports  of  his  dominions ;  that  free  trade,  together 
with  the  public  exercise  of  the  Christian  religion,  should  be 


508  CHARJiES  ACaUIRES  [book  v. 

allowed  to  all  tlie  emperor's  subjects;  thattlie  emperor  should 
not  only  retain  the  Goletta,  but  that  all  the  other  sea-ports 
in  the  kingdom  which  were  fortified  should  be  put  into  his 
hands ;  that  Muley-Hascen  should  pay  annually  twelve 
thousand  crowns  for  the  subsistence  of  the  Spanish  garrison 
in  the  Goletta ;  that  he  should  enter  into  no  alliance  with 
any  of  the  emperor's  enemies,  and  should  present  to  him 
every  year,  as  an  acknowledgement  of  his  vassalage,  six 
Moorish  horses,  and  as  many  hawks.*'''  Having  thus  settled 
the  affairs  of  Africa ;  chastised  the  insolence  of  the  corsairs; 
secured  a  safe  retreat  for  the  ships  of  his  subjects,  and  a 
proper  station  to  his  own  fleets,  on  that  coast  from  which 
he  was  most  infested  by  piratical  depredations ;  Charles 
embarked  again  for  Europe,  the  tempestuous  weather  and 
sickness  among  his  troops  not  permitting  him  to  pursue 
Barbarossa.'^^ 

By  this  expedition,  the  merit  of  which  seems  to  have 
been  estimated  in  that  age  rather  by  the  apparent  generosity 
of  the  undertaking,  the  magnificence  wherewith  it  was 
conducted,  and  the  success  which  crowned  it,  than  by  the 
importance  of  the  consequences  that  attended  it,  the  em- 
peror attained  a  greater  height  of  glory  than  at  any  other 
period  of  his  reign.  Twenty  thousand  slaves  whom  he  freed 
from  bondage,  either  by  his  arms  or  by  his  treaty  with 
Muley-Hascen,''^  each  of  whom  he  clothed  and  furnished 
with  the  means  of  returning  to  their  respective  countries, 
spread  all  over  Europe  the  fame  of  their  benefactor's  muni- 
ficence, extolling  his  power  and  abilities  with  the  exaggera- 
tion flowing  from  gratitude  and  admiration.  In  comparison 
with  him,  the  other  monarchs  of  Europe  made  an  incon- 

®'  Da   Mont,   Corps   Diplomat,  ii.  Epistres  des   Princes,    par   Ruscelli, 

p.  128.     Summonte,  Hist,  di  Napoli,  traduites  par  Belleforest,  pp.  119, 120, 

iv.  p.  89.  &c.     Anton.  Pontii  Consentini  Hist. 

^^  Joli.  Etropii  Diarium  Expedition.  Belli  adv.  Barbar.  ap.  Matthsei  Ana- 

Tunetanse,  ap.  Scard.  v.  ii.  pp.  320,  lecta. 

&c.    Jovii  Histor.  lib.  xxxiv.  pp.  153,  ^^  Summonte,  Hist,  di  Nap.  vol.  iv. 

&c.     Sandov.  ii.  pp.  154,  &c.    Vertot,  p.  103. 
Hist,     des      Cheval.     de     Malthe. 


BOOK  v.]  UNIYERSAL  PRAISE.  509 

siderable  figure.  They  seemed  to  be  solicitous  about 
nothing  but  theii-  private  and  particular  interests;  while 
Charles,  with  an  elevation  of  sentiment  which  became  the 
chief  prince  in  Christendom,  appeared  to  be  concerned  for 
the  honour  of  the  Christian  name,  and  attentive  to  the 
public  security  and  welfare. 


PBOOFS   AND   ILLUSTEATIOXS. 


Note  [1],  page  3. — The  consternation  of  the  Britons,  when  invaded  by  the 
Picts  and  Caledonians,  after  the  Roman  legions  were  called  out  of  the  island, 
may  give  some  idea  of  the  degree  of  debasement  to  which  the  human  mind  was 
reduced  by  long  servitude  under  the  Romans.  In  their  supplicatory  letter  to 
^tius,  which  they  call  the  Groans  of  Britain,  "We  know  not  (say  they)  which 
way  to  turn  us.  The  barbarians  drive  us  to  the  sea,  and  the  sea  forces  us  back 
on  the  barbarians;  between  which  we  have  only  the  choice  of  two  deaths,  either 
to  be  swallowed  up  by  tlie  waves,  or  to  be  slain  by  the  sword."  Histor. 
Gildae,  ap.  Gale,  Hist.  Britan.  Script,  p.  6.  One  can  hardly  believe  tbis 
dastardly  race  to  be  descendants  of  that  gallant  people  who  repulsed  Caisar, 
and  defended  their  liberty  so  long  against  the  Roman  arms. 

{_'i\  page  4. — The  barbarous  nations  were  not  only  illiterate,  but  regarded 
literature  with  contempt.  They  found  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  provinces  of 
the  empire  sunk  in  effeminacy,  and  averse  to  war.  Such  a  character  was  the 
object  of  scorn  to  a  high-spirted  and  gallant  race  of  men.  "  When  we  would 
brand  an  enemy,"  says  Luitprandus,  "  with  the  most  disgraceful  and  contume- 
lious appellation,  we  call  him  a  Roman;  hoc  solo,  id  est  Romani  nomine,  quicquid 
ignobilitatis,  quicquid  timiditatis,  quicquid  avaritise,  quicquid  luxurise,  quicquid 
mendacii,  immo  quicquid  viliorum  est  comprehendentes."  Luitprandi  Legatio 
apud  Murat.  Scriptor.  Italic,  vol.  ii.  pars  i.  p.  481.  This  degeneracy  of  man- 
ners, illiterate  barbarians  imputed  to  tlieir  love  of  learning.  Even  after  they 
settled  in  the  countries  which  they  had  conquered,  they  would  not  permit 
their  children  to  be  instructed  in  any  science;  "For  (said  they)  instruction  in 
the  sciences  tends  to  corrupt,  enervate,  and  depress  the  mind ;  and  he  who  haa 
been  accustomed  to  tremble  under  the  rod  of  a  pedagogue,  will  never  look  on  a 
sword  or  spear  with  an  undaunted  eye."  Procop.  de  Bello  Gothor.  lib.  i.  p.  4, 
ap.  Script.  Byz.  edit.  Venet.  vol.  i.  A  considerable  number  of  years  elapsed 
before  nations  so  rude,  and  so  unwilling  to  learn,  could  produce  historians 
capable  of  recording  their  transactions,  or  of  describing  their  manners  and 
institutions.  By  that  time,  the  memory  of  their  ancient  condition  was  in  a 
great  measure  lost,  and  few  monuments  remained  to  guide  their  first  writers 
to  any  certain  knowledge  of  it.  If  one  expects  to  receive  any  satisfactory 
account  of  the  manners  and  laws  of  the  Goths,  Lombards,  or  Pranks,  during 
their  residence  in  those  countries  where  they  were  originally  seated,  from 


512  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Jornandes,  Paulus  Warnefridus,  or  Gregory  of  Tours,  the  earliest  and  most 
authentic  historians  of  these  people,  he  will  be  miserably  disappointed.  What- 
ever imperfect  knowledge  lias  been  conveyed  to  us  of  their  ancient  state,  we 
owe  not  to  their  own  writers,  but  to  tlie  Greek  and  Roman  historians. 

[3],  ^fl'^e  4. — A  circumstance,  related  by  Priscus,  in  his  history  of  the 
embassy  to  Attila,  king  of  the  Huns,  gives  a  striking  view  of  the  enthusiastic 
passion  for  war  which  prevailed  among  the  barbarous  nations.  When  the  enter- 
tainment, to  which  that  fierce  conqueror  admitted  the  Roman  ambassadors,  was 
ended,  two  Scythians  advanced  towards  Attila,  and  recited  a  poem,  in  which 
they  celebrated  his  victories  and  military  virtues.  All  the  Huns  fixed  their  eyes 
with  attention  on  the  bards.  Some  seemed  to  be  delighted  with  tlie  verses ; 
others,  remembering  their  own  battles  and  exploits,  exulted  with  joy ;  while 
such  as  were  become  feeble  through  age,  burst  out  into  tears,  bewailing  the 
decay  of  their  vigour,  and  the  state  of  inactivity  in  which  they  were  now 
obliged  to  remain.  Excerpta  ex  Historia  Prisci  Rhetoris,  ap.  Byz.  Hist.  Script, 
vol.  i.  p.  45. 

[4],  page  9. — A  remarkable  confirmation  of  both  parts  of  this  reasoning 
occurs  in  the  history  of  England.  The  Saxons  carried  on  the  conquest  of  that 
country  with  the  same  destructive  spirit  which  distinguished  the  other  barbarous 
nations.  The  ancient  inhabitants  of  Britain  were  either  exterminated,  or  forced  to 
take  shelter  among  the  mountains  of  Wales,  or  reduced  to  servitude.  The  Saxon 
government,  laws,  manners,  and  language  were  of  consequence  introduced  into 
Britain,  and  were  so  perfectly  established,  that  all  memory  of  the  institutions 
previous  to  their  conquest  of  the  country  was,  in  a  great  measure,  lost.  The 
very  reverse  of  this  happened  in  a  subsequent  revolution.  A  single  victory 
placed  William  the  Norman  on  the  throne  of  England.  The  Saxon  inhabit- 
ants, though  oppressed,  were  not  exterminated.  William  employed  the  utmost 
efforts  of  his  power  and  policy  to  make  his  new  subjects  conform  in  everything 
to  the  Norman  standard,  but  without  success.  The  Saxons,  though  vanquished, 
were  far  more  numerous  than  their  conquerors ;  when  the  two  races  began  to 
incorporate,  the  Saxon  laws  and  manners  gradually  gained  ground.  The  Nor- 
man institutions  became  unpopular  and  odious  ;  many  of  them  fell  into  disuse : 
and  in  the  English  constitution  and  language  at  this  day,  many  essential  parts 
are  manifestly  of  Saxon  not  of  Norman  extraction. 

[5],  page  10. — Procopius,  the  historian,  declines,  from  a  principle  of  benevo- 
lence, to  give  any  particular  detail  of  the  cruelties  of  the  Goths :  "  Lest,"  says 
he,  "  I  should  transmit  a  monument  and  example  of  inhumanity  to  succeeding 
ages,"  Proc.  de  Bello  Goth.  lib.  iii.  cap.  10,  ap.  Byz.  Script,  vol  i.  p.  126.  But  as 
the  change,  which  I  have  pointed  out  as  a  consequence  of  the  settlement  of 
the  barbarous  nations  in  the  countries  formerly  subject  to  the  Roman  empire, 
could  not  have  taken  place,  if  the  greater  part  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  had 
not  been  extirpated,  an  event  of  such  importance  and  influence  merits  a  more 
particular  illustration.  This  will  justify  me  for  exhibiting  some  part  of  that 
melancholy  spectacle,  over  which  humanity  prompted  Procopius  to  draw  a  veil. 
I  shall  not,  however,  disgust  my  readers  by  a  minute  narration;  but  rest  satis- 
fied with  collecting  some  instances  of  the  devastations  made  by  two  of  the 


PROOES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  513 

many  nations  which  settled  in  the  empire.  The  Vandals  were  the  first  of  the 
barbarians  who  invaded  Spaui.  It  was  one  of  the  richest  and  most  populous 
of  the  Roman  provinces;  the  inhabitants  had  been  distinguished  lor  courage, 
and  had  defended  their  liberty  against  the  arms  of  Rome,  with  greater  obsti- 
nacy, and  dnring  a  longer  course  of  years,  than  any  nation  in  Eur()})e.  But  so 
entirely  were  they  enervated  by  their  subjection  to  tiic  Romans,  that  the  Van- 
dals, who  entered  the  kingdom  A.  d.  409,  completed  the  conquest  of  it  with 
such  rapidity,  that,  in  the  year  411,  these  barbarians  divided  it  among  them,  by 
casting  lots.  The  desolation,  occasioned  by  tlieir  invasion,  is  thus  described 
by  Idatius,  an  eye-witness :  "  The  barbarians  wasted  everything  with  hostile 
cruelty.  The  pestilence  was  no  less  destructive.  A  dreadful  famine  raged  to 
such  a  degree,  tliat  the  living  were  constrained  to  feed  on  the  dead  bodies  of 
their  fellow-citizens  ;  and  all  these  terrible  plagues  desolated  at  once  the 
unhappy  kingdoms."  Idatii  Chron.  ap.  Biblioth.  Patrum,  vol.  vii.  p.  1233, 
edit.  Ludg.  1677.  The  Goths,  having  attacked  the  Vandals  in  their  new  settle- 
ments, a  fierce  war  ensued ;  the  country  was  plundered  by  both  parties ;  the 
cities  which  had  escaped  from  destruction  in  the  first  invasion  of  the  Vandals 
were  now  laid  in  ashes,  and  the  inhabitants  exposed  to  sulFer  everything  that 
the  wanton  cruelty  of  barbarians  could  inflict.  Idatius  describes  these  scenes 
of  inhumanity,  ibid.  p.  1235,  b.  1236,  c.  f.  A  similar  account  of  their  devasta- 
tions is  given  by  Tsidorus  Hispalensis,  and  other  contemporary  writers.  Isid. 
Chron.  ap.  Grot.  Hist.  Goth.  732.  Prom  Spain  the  Vandals  passed  over  into 
Africa,  a.d.  428.  Africa  was,  next  to  Egypt,  the  most  fertile  of  the  Roman 
provinces.  It  was  one  of  the  granaries  of  the  empire,  and  is  called  by  an 
ancient  writer  the  soul  of  the  commonwealth.  Though  the  army  with  which 
the  Vandals  invaded  it  did  not  exceed  30,000  lighting  men,  they  became 
absolute  masters  of  the  province  in  less  than  two  years.  A  contemporary 
author  gives  a  dreadful  account  of  the  havoc  which  they  made :  "  They  found 
a  province  well  cultivated,  and  enjoying  plenty,  the  beauty  of  the  whole  earth. 
They  carried  their  destructive  arms  into  every  corner  of  it ;  they  dispeopled  it 
by  their  devastations,  exterminating  everything  with  fire  and  sword.  They 
did  not  even  spare  the  vines  and  fruit-trees,  that  those,  to  whom  caves  and 
inaccessible  mountains  had  afforded  a  retreat,  might  find  no  nourishment  of 
any  kind.  Their  hostile  rage  could  not  be  satiated,  and  there  was  no  place 
exempted  from  the  effects  of  it.  They  tortured  their  prisoners  with  the  most 
exquisite  cruelty,  that  they  might  force  from  them  a  discovery  of  their  hidden 
treasures.  The  more  they  discovered,  the  more  they  expected,  and  the  more 
implacable  they  became.  Neither  the  infirmities  of  age  nor  of  sex;  neither  the 
dignity  of  nobility  nor  the  sanctity  of  the  sacerdotal  ofiice,  could  mitigate  their 
fury ;  but  the  more  illustrious  their  prisoners  were,  the  more  barbarously  they 
insulted  them.  The  public  buildings,  which  resisted  the  violence  of  the  fiames, 
they  levelled  with  the  ground.  They  left  many  cities  without  an  inhabitant. 
When  they  approached  any  fortified  place  which  their  undisciplined  army  could 
not  reduce,  they  gathered  together  a  multitude  of  prisoners,  and  putting  them 
to  the  sword,  left  their  bodies  unburied,  that  the  stench  of  the  carcases  might 
oblige  the  garrison  to  abandon  it."  Victor  Vitensis  de  Persecutione  Afrieana, 
ap.  Bibl.  Patrum,  vol.  viii.  p.  666.  St.  Augustin,  an  African,  who  survived 
the  conquest  of  his  country  by  the  Vandals  some  years,  gives  a  similar 
description  of  their  cruelties.  Opera,  vol.  x.  p.  372,  edit.  1610.  About  an 
VOL.  I.  L  L 


514  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

hundred  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  Vandals  in  Africa,  Belisarius  attacked 
and  dispossessed  them.  Procopius,  a  contemporary  historian,  describes  the 
devastation  which  that  war  occasioned.  "Africa,"  says  he,  "was  so  entirely 
dispeopled,  that  one  might  travel  several  days  in  it  without  meeting  one  man ; 
and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  in  the  course  of  the  war  five  millions  of 
persons  perished."  Proc.  Hist.  Arcana,  cap.  18,  ap.  Byz.  Script,  vol.  i.  p.  315. 
I  have  dwelt  longer  upon  the  calamities  of  this  province,  because  they  are 
described  not  only  by  contemporary  authors,  but  by  eye-witnesses.  The 
present  state  of  Africa  confirms  their  testimony.  Many  of  the  most  flourishing 
and  populous  cities  with  which  it  was  filled  were  so  entirely  ruined,  that  no 
vestiges  remain  to  point  out  where  they  were  situated.  That  fertile  territory, 
which  sustained  the  Roman  empire,  still  lies  in  a  great  measure  uncultivated ; 
and  that  province,  which  Victor,  in  his  barbarous  Latin,  called  Speciositas  totiits 
ferrtp  florentis,  is  now  the  retreat  of  pirates  and  banditti. 

While  the  Vandals  laid  waste  a  great  part  of  the  empire,  the  Huns  desolated 
the  remainder.  Of  all  the  barbarous  tribes,  they  were  the  fiercest  and  most 
formidable.  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  a  contemporary  author,  and  one  of  the 
best  of  the  later  historians,  gives  an  account  of  their  policy  and  manners,  which 
nearly  resemble  tliose  of  the  Scythians  described  by  the  ancients,  and  of  the 
Tartars  known  to  the  modems.  Some  parts  of  their  character,  and  several  of 
their  customs,  are  not  unlike  those  of  the  savages  in  North  America.  Their 
passion  for  war  was  extreme.  "As  in  polished  societies  (says  Ammianus)  ease 
and  tranquillity  are  courted,  they  delight  in  war  and  dangers.  He  who  falls  in 
battle  is  reckoned  happy.  They  who  die  of  old  age  or  of  disease  are  deemed 
infamous.  They  boast,  with  the  utmost  exultation,  of  the  number  of  enemies 
whom  they  have  slain,  and,  as  the  most  glorious  of  all  ornaments,  they  fasten 
the  scalps  of  those  who  have  fallen  by  their  hands  to  the  trappings  of  their 
horses."  Ammian.  Marc.  lib.  xxxi.  p.  477,  edit.  Gronov.  Ludg.  1693. — Their 
incursions  into  the  empire  began  in  the  fourth  century;  and  the  Romans, 
though  no  strangers,  by  that  time,  to  the  effects  of  barbarous  rage,  were 
astonished  at  the  cruelty  of  their  devastations.  Thrace,  Pannonia,  and  Illyri- 
cum,  were  the  countries  which  they  first  laid  desolate.  As  they  had  at  first 
no  intention  of  settling  in  Europe,  they  made  only  inroads  of  short  continuance 
into  the  empire ;  but  these  were  frequent ;  and  Procopius  computes  that  in 
each  of  these,  at  a  medium,  two  hundred  thousand  persons  perished,  or  were 
carried  off  as  slaves.  Procop.  Hist.  Arcan.  ap.  Byz.  Script,  vol.  i.  316.  Thrace, 
the  best-cultivated  province  in  that  quarter  of  the  empire,  was  converted  into 
a  desert ;  and,  when  Priscus  accompanied  the  ambassadors  sent  to  Attda,  there 
were  no  inhabitants  in  some  of  the  cities,  but  a  few  miserable  people,  who  had 
taken  shelter  among  the  ruins  of  the  churches ;  and  the  fields  were  covered  with 
the  bones  of  those  who  had  fallen  by  the  sword.  Priscus  ap.  Byz.  Script,  vol.  i. 
p.  34.  Attila  became  king  of  the  Huns,  a.d.  434.  He  is  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  enterprising  conquerors  mentioned  in  history.  He  extended  his 
empire  over  all  the  vast  countries  comprehended  under  the  general  names  of 
Scythia  and  Germany  in  the  ancient  division  of  the  world.  While  he  was 
carrying  on  his  wars  against  the  barbarious  nations,  he  kept  the  Roman  empire 
under  perpetual  apprehensions,  and  extorted  enormous  subsidies  from  the 
timid  and  effeminate  monarchs  who  governed  it.  In  the  year  451,  he  entered 
Gaul,  at  the  head  of  an  army  composed  of  all  the  various  nations  which  he  had 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  515 

subdued.  It  was  more  numerous  than  any  with  wliich  the  barbarians  liad 
hitlierto  invaded  the  empire.  The  devastations  which  he  committed  were 
horrible;  not  only  the  open  country,  but  the  most  flourishing  cities  weic 
desolated.  The  extent  and  cruelty  of  his  devastations  are  described  by  Sal- 
viamis  de  Gubernat.  Dei,  edit.  Baluz.  Par.  1G69,  p.  139,  &c.,  and  by  Idalius, 
ubi  supra,  p.  1235.  JUtius  put  a  stop  to  his  progress  in  that  country  by  the 
famous  battle  of  Chalons,  in  which  (if  we  may  believe  the  historians  of  that 
age)  three  hundred  thousand  persons  perished.  Idat.  ibid.  Jornandes  de 
Rebus  Geticis,  ap.  Grot.  Hist.  Gothor.  p.  071.  Amst.  1665.  But  the  next 
year  he  resolved  to  attack  the  centre  of  the  empire,  and  marching  into  Italy 
wasted  it  with  rage,  inflamed  by  the  sense  of  his  late  disgrace.  What  Italy, 
suffered  by  the  Huns  exceeded  all  the  calamities  which  the  preceding  incursions 
of  the  barbarians  had  brought  upon  it.  Conringius  has  collected  several  pas- 
sages from  the  ancient  historians,  which  prove  that  the  devastations  committed 
by  the  Vandals  and  Huns,  in  the  countries  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine^ 
were  no  less  cruel  and  fatal  to  the  human  race.  Exercitatio  de  Urbibus  Ger- 
manise, Opera,  vol.  i.  p.  488.  It  is  endless,  it  is  shocking,  to  follow  these 
destroyers  of  mankind  through  so  many  scenes  of  horror,  and  to  contemplate 
the  havoc  which  they  made  of  the  human  specieSi 

But  the  state  in  which  Italy  appears  to  have  been,  during  several  ages  after 
the  barbarous  nations  settled  in  it,  is  the  most  decisive  proof  of  the  cruelty  as 
well  as  the  extent  of  their  devastations.  Whenever  any  country  is  thinly 
inhabited,  trees  and  shrubs  spring  up  in  the  uncultivated  fields,  and,  spreading 
by  degrees,  form  large  forests ;  by  tlie  overflowing  of  rivers,  and  the  stagnating 
of  waters,  other  parts  of  it  are  converted  into  lakes  and  marshes.  Ancient 
Italy,  which  the  Romans  rendered  the  seat  of  elegance  and  luxury,  was  culti- 
vated to  the  highest  pitch.  But  so  effectually  did  the  devastations  of  the 
barbarians  destroy  all  the  effects  of  Roman  industry  and  cultivation,  that  in  the 
eighth  century  a  considerable  part  of  Italy  appears  to  have  been  covered  with 
forests  and  marshes  of  great  extent.  Muratori  enters  into  a  minute  detail 
concerning  the  situation  and  limits  of  several  of  these ;  and  proves,  by  tlie  most 
authentic  evidence,  that  great  tracts  of  territory  in  all  the  different  provinces 
of  Italy,  were  either  overrun  with  wood,  or  laid  under  water.  Nor  did  these 
occupy  parts  of  the  country  naturally  barren  or  of  little  value,  but  were  spread 
over  districts  which  ancient  writers  represent  as  extremely  fertile,  and  which 
at  present  are  highly  cultivated.  Muratori,  Antiquitates  Italics  Mcdii  ^vi, 
dissert,  xxi.  v.  ii.  p.  149,  153,  &c.  A  strong  proof  of  this  occurs  in  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  city  of  Modena,  by  an  author  of  the  tenth  century.  Murat.  Script. 
Rerum  Italic,  vol.  iii.  pars  ii.  p.  691.  The  state  of  desolation  in  other  countries 
of  Europe  seems  to  have  been  the  same.  In  many  of  the  most  early  charters 
now  extant,  the  lands  granted  to  monasteries,  or  to  private  persons,  are  dis- 
tinguished into  such  as  are  cidtivated  or  inhabited,  and  such  as  were  erenii, 
desolate.  In  many  instances,  lands  are  granted  to  persons  because  they  had 
taken  them  from  the  desert,  ab  eremo,  and  had  cultivated  and  planted  them 
with  inhabitants.  This  appears  from  a  charter  of  Charlemagne,  published  by 
Eckhart,  de  Rebus  Francise  Orientalis,  vol.  ii.  p.  864,  and  from  many  charters 
of  his  successors  quoted  by  Du  Cange,  voc.  Eremus. — W^hercver  a  right  of  pro- 
perty in  land  can  be  thus  acquired,  it  is  evident  that  the  country  must  be 
extremely  desolate,  and  thinly  peopled.     The  first  settlers  in  America  obtained 

LL  2 


516  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

possession  of  land  by  sucli  a  title.  Whoever  was  able  to  clear  and  to  cultivate  a 
field,  was  recognised  as  tiie  proprietor.  His  industry  merited  such  a  recompense. 
The  grants  in  the  charters  which  I  have  mentioned  flow  from  a  similar  principle, 
and  there  must  have  been  some  resemblance  in  the  state  of  the  countries. 

Muratori  adds,  that,  during  the  eightli  and  ninth  centuries,  Italy  was  greatly 
infested  by  wolves  and  other  wild  beasts;  another  mark  of  its  being  destitute 
of  inhabitants.  Murat.  Aiitiq.  vol.  ii.  p.  163.  Thus  Italy,  the  pride  of  the 
ancient  world  for  its  fertility  and  cultivation,  was  reduced  to  the  state  of  a 
country  newly  peopled  and  lately  rendered  habitable. 

I  am  sensible,  not  only  that  some  of  these  descriptions  of  the  devastations, 
which  I  have  quoted,  may  be  exaggerated,  but  that  the  barbarous  tribes,  in 
making  their  settlements,  did  not  proceed  invariably  in  the  same  manner. 
Some  of  them  seemed  to  be  bent  on  exterminating  the  ancient  inhabitants ; 
others  were  more  disposed  to  incorporate  with  them.  It  is  not  my  province 
either  to  inquire  into  the  causes  which  occasioned  this  variety  in  the  conduct 
of  the  conquerors,  or  to  describe  the  state  of  those  countries  where  the  ancient 
inhabitants  were  treated  most  mildly.  The  facts  which  I  have  produced  are 
sufficient  to  justify  the  account  which  I  have  given  in  the  text,  and  to  prove, 
that  the  destruction  of  the  human  species,  occasioned  by  the  hostile  invasions 
of  the  northern  nations,  and  their  subsequent  settlements,  was  much  greater 
than  many  authors  seem  to  imagine. 

[6'], paf/e  11. — I  have  observed.  Note  2,  that  our  only  certain  information 
concerning  the  ancient  state  of  the  barbarous  nations  must  be  derived  from  the 
Greek  and  Roman  writers.  Happily,  an  account  of  the  institutions  and  customs 
of  one  people,  to  which  those  of  all  the  rest  seem  to  have  been  in  a  great  measure 
similar,  has  been  transmitted  to  us  by  two  authors,  the  most  capable,  perhaps, 
that  ever  wrote,  of  observing  them  with  profound  discernment,  and  of  describing 
them  with  propriety  and  force.  The  reader  must  perceive  that  Csesar  and 
Tacitus  are  the  authors  whom  I  have  in  view.  The  former  gives  a  short 
account  of  the  ancient  Germans  in  a  few  chapters  of  the  sixth  book  of  his 
Commentaries :  the  latter  wrote  a  treatise  expressly  on  that  subject.  These 
are  the  most  precious  and  instructive  monuments  of  antiquity  to  the  present 
inhabitants  of  Europe.    Prom  them  we  learn, 

1.  That  the  state  of  society  among  the  ancient  Germans  was  of  the  rudest 
and  most  simple  form.  They  subsisted  entirely  by  hunting  or  by  pasturage. 
Cses.  lib.  vi.  c.  21.  They  neglected  agriculture,  and  lived  chiefly  on  milk, 
cheese,  and  flesh.  Ibid,  c.  22.  Tacitus  agrees  with  him  in  most  of  these  points ; 
De  Morib.  Germ.  c.  14,  15,  23.  The  Goths  were  equally  negligent  of  agricul. 
ture.  Prise.  Rhet.  ap.  Byz.  Script,  v.  i.  p.  31,  B.  Society  was  in  the  same  state 
among  the  Huns,  who  disdained  to  cultivate  the  earth,  or  to  touch  a  plough. 
Amm.  Marcel,  lib.  xxxi.  p.  475.  The  same  maimers  took  place  among  the 
Alans;  ibid.  p.  477.  While  society  remains  in  this  simple  state,  men  by 
uniting  together  scarcely  relinquish  any  portion  of  their  natural  independence. 
Accordingly  we  are  informed,  2.  that  the  authority  of  civil  government  was 
extremely  limited  among  the  Germans.  During  times  of  peace,  they  had  no 
common  or  fixed  magistrate,  but  the  chief  men  of  every  district  dispensed 
justice,  and  accommodated  diff"erences.  Cses.  ibid.  c.  23.  Their  kings  had  not 
absolute  or  unbounded  power ;  their  authority  consisted  rather  in  the  privilege 


PEOOPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  517 

of  advising,  than  in  the  power  of  commanding.  Matters  of  small  consequence 
were  determined  by  the  chief  men;  affairs  of  importance  by  the  whole  commu- 
nity. Tacit,  c.  7,  11.  The  Huns,  in  like  manner,  deliberated  in  common  con- 
cerning every  business  of  moment  to  the  society;  and  were  not  subject  to  the 
rigour  of  regal  authority.  Amm.  Marcel,  lib.  xxxi.  p.  474. 3.  Every  indi- 
vidual among  tlie  ancient  Germans  was  left  at  liberty  to  choose  whether  he  would 
take  part  in  any  military  enterprise  which  was  proposed ;  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  obligation  to  engage  in  it  imposed  on  him  by  public  authority,  "When  any 
of  the  chief  men  proposes  an  expedition,  such  as  approve  of  the  cause  and  of 
the  leader,  rise  up  and  declare  their  intention  of  following  him  :  after  coming 
under  this  engagement,  those  who  do  not  fulfil  it  are  considered  as  deserters  and 
traitors,  and  are  looked  upon  as  infamous."     Ca;s.  ibid.  c.  23.     Tacitus  plainly 

points  at  the  same  custom,  though  in  terms  more  obscure.  Tacit,  c.  11. 4.  As 

every  individual  was  so  independent,  and  master  in  so  great  a  degree  of  his  own 
actions,  it  became,  of  consequence,  the  great  object  of  every  person  among  the 
Germans  who  aimed  at  being  a  leader,  to  gain  adherents,  and  to  attach  them 
to  his  person  and  interest.  These  adherents  Caesar  calls  ambacli  and  clientes, 
i.  e.  retainers  or  clients;  Tacitus,  comites,  or  companions.  The  chief  distinction 
and  power  of  the  leaders  consisted  in  being  attended  by  a  numerous  band  of 
chosen  youth.  This  was  their  pride  as  well  as  ornament  during  peace,  and  their 
defence  in  war.  The  leaders  gained  or  preserved  the  favour  of  these  retainers 
by  presents  of  armour  and  of  horses ;  or  by  the  profuse,  though  inelegant, 

hospitality  with  which  they  entertained  them.   Tacit,  c.  14,  15. 5.  Another 

consequence  of  the  personal  liberty  and  independence  which  the  Germans 
retained,  even  after  they  united  in  society,  was  their  circumscribing  the  crimmal 
jurisdiction  of  the  magistrate  within  very  narrow  limits,  and  their  not  only 
claiming,  but  exercising,  almost  all  the  rights  of  private  resentment  and 
revenge.  Their  magistrates  had  not  the  power  either  of  imprisoning  or  of 
inflicting  any  corporal  punishment  on  a  free  man.  Tacit,  c,  7.  Every  person 
was  obliged  to  avenge  the  wrongs  which  his  parents  or  friends  had  sustained. 
Their  enmities  were  hereditary,  but  not  irreconcileable.  Even  murder  was 
compensated  by  paying  a  certain  number  of  cattle.  Tacit,  c.  21.  A  part  of 
the  fine  went  to  the  king,  or  state,  a  part  to  the  person  who  had  been  injured, 
or  to  his  kindred.     Ibid.  c.  12. 

Those  particulars  concerning  the  institutions  and  manners  of  the  Germans, 
though  well  known  to  every  person  conversant  in  ancient  literature,  I  have 
thought  proper  to  arrange  in  this  order,  and  to  lay  before  such  of  my  readers 
as  may  be  less  acquainted  with  these  facts,  both  because  they  confirm  the  account 
which  I  have  given  of  the  state  of  the  barbarous  nations,  and  because  they  tend 
to  illustrate  all  the  observations  I  shall  have  occasion  to  make  concerning  the 
various  changes  in  their  government  and  customs.  The  laws  and  customs 
introduced  by  the  barbarous  nations  into  their  new  settlements,  arc  the  best 
commentary  on  the  writings  of  Ca;sar  and  Tacitus ;  and  their  observations  arc 
the  best  key  to  a  perfect  knowledge  of  these  laws  and  customs. 

One  circumstance  with  respect  to  the  testimonies  of  Ca;sar  and  Tacitus 
concerning  the  Germans,  merits  attention.  Cajsar  wrote  his  brief  account  of 
their  manners  more  than  a  hundred  years  before  Tacitus  composed  his  Treatise 
de  Moribus  Germanorum.  A  hundred  years  make  a  considerable  period  m 
the  progress  of  national  manners,  especially  if,  during  that  time,  those  people 


518  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

who  are  rude  and  unpolished  have  had  much  communication  with  more  civilized 
states.  This  was  the  case  with  the  Germans.  Their  intercourse  with  the 
Romans  began  when  Caisar  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  increased  greatly  during 
the  interval  between  that  event  and  the  time  when  Tacitus  flourished.  We  may 
accordingly  observe,  that  the  manners  of  the  Germans,  in  his  time,  which  Csesar 
describes,  were  less  improved  than  those  of  the  same  people  as  delineated  by 
Tacitus.  Besides  this,  it  is  remarkable,  that  there  was  a  considerable  difference 
in  the  state  of  society  among  the  different  tribes  of  Germans.  The  Suiones 
were  so  much  improved  that  they  began  to  be  corrupted.  Tacit,  c.  44.  The 
Fenni  were  so  barbarous,  that  it  is  wonderful  how  they  were  able  to  subsist. 
Ibid.  c.  46.  Whoever  undertakes  to  describe  the  manners  of  the  Germans,  or 
to  found  any  political  theory  upon  the  state  of  society  among  them,  ought  care- 
fully to  attend  to  both  these  circumstances. 

Before  I  quit  this  subject,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  observe,  that,  though 
successive  alterations  in  their  institutions,  together  with  the  gradual  progress 
of  refinement,  have  made  an  entire  change  in  the  manners  of  the  various  people 
who  conquered  the  Roman  empire,  there  is  still  one  race  of  men  nearly  in  the 
same  political  situation  with  theirs,  when  they  first  settled  in  their  new  con- 
quests ;  I  mean  the  various  tribes  and  nations  of  savages  in  North  America. 
It  cannot,  then,  be  considered  either  as  a  digression,  or  as  an  improper  indul- 
gence of  curiosity,  to  inquire  whether  this  similarity  in  their  political  state  has 
occasioned  any  resemblance  between  their  character  and  manners.  If  the 
likeness  turns  out  to  be  striking,  it  is  a  stronger  proof  that  a  just  account  has 
been  given  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Europe,  than  the  testimony  even  of 
Csesar  or  of  Tacitus. 

1.  The  Americans  subsist  chiefly  by  hunting  and  fishing.  Some  tribes 
neglect  agriculture  entirely.  Among  those  who  cultivate  some  small  spot  near 
their  huts,  that,  together  with  all  works  of  labour,  is  performed  by  the  women. 
P.  Charevoix,  Journal  Historique  d'un  Voyage  de  I'Amerique,  4to.  Par.  1744, 
p.  334.  In  such  a  state  of  society,  the  common  wants  of  men  being  few,  and 
their  mutual  dependence  upon  each  other  small,  their  union  is  extremely 
imperfect  and  feeble,  and  they  continue  to  enjoy  their  natural  liberty  almost 
unimpaired.  It  is  the  first  idea  of  an  American,  that  every  man  is  born  free 
and  independent,  and  that  no  power  on  earth  hath  any  right  to  diminish  or 
circumscribe  his  natural  liberty.  There  is  hardly  any  appearance  of  subordi- 
nation, either  in  civil  or  domestic  government.  Every  one  does  what  he 
pleases.  A  father  and  mother  live  with  their  children,  like  persons  whom 
chance  has  brought  together,  and  whom  no  common  bond  unites.  Their 
manner  of  educating  their  children  is  suitable  to  this  principle.  They  never 
chastise  or  punish  them,  even  during  their  infancy.  As  they  advance  in  years, 
they  continue  to  be  entirely  masters  of  their  own  actions,  and  seem  not  to  be 
conscious  of  being  responsible  for  any  part  of  their  conduct.     Ibid,  p.  272,  273. 

2.  The  power  of  their  civil  magistrates  is  extremely  limited.     Among 

most  of  their  tribes,  the  sachem,  or  chief,  is  elective.  A  council  of  old  men  is 
chosen  to  assist  him,  without  whose  advice  he  determines  no  affair  of  import- 
ance. The  sachems  neither  possess  nor  claim  any  great  degree  of  authority. 
They  propose  and  entreat,  rather  than  command.  The  obedience  of  their  people 

is  altogether  voluntary.     Ibid.  p.  2G6,  268. 3.  The  savages  of  America 

engage  in  their  military  enterprises,  not  from  constraint,  but  choice.     When 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  619 

war  is  resolved,  a  chief  arises,  and  offers  himself  to  be  the  leader.  Such  as 
are  willing  (for  they  compel  no  person)  stand  np  one  after  another,  and  sing 
their  war-song.  But  if,  after  this,  any  of  these  should  refuse  to  follow  the 
leader  to  whom  they  have  engaged,  his  life  would  be  in  danger,  and  he  would 

be  considered  as  the  most  infamous  of  men.     Ibid,  pp.  217,  21S. 4.  Such 

as  engage  to  follow  any  leader,  expect  to  be  treated  by  him  with  great  attention 
and  respect;  and  he  is  obliged  to  make  them  presents  of  considerable  value. 

Ibid.  p.  218. 5,  Among  the  Americans,  the  magistrate  has  scarcely  any 

criminal  jurisdiction.  Ibid.  p.  272.  Upon  receiving  any  injury,  the  person  or 
family  offended  may  inflict  what  punishment  they  please  on  the  person  who  was 
the  author  of  it.  Ibid.  p.  27'i.  Their  resentment  and  desire  of  vengeance 
are  excessive  and  implacable.  Time  can  neither  extinguish  nor  abate  it.  It 
is  the  chief  inheritance  parents  leave  to  their  children ;  it  is  transmitted  from 
generation  to  generation,  until  an  occasion  be  found  of  satisfying  it.  Ibid, 
p.  309.  Sometimes,  however,  the  offended  party  is  appeased.  A  compensation 
is  paid  for  a  murder  that  has  been  committed.  The  relations  of  the  deceased 
receive  it ;  and  it  consists  most  commonly  of  a  captive  taken  in  war,  who  being 
substituted  in  place  of  the  person  who  was  murdered,  assumes  his  name,  and 
is  adopted  into  his  family.  Ibid.  p.  274.  The  resemblance  holds  in  many  other 
particulars.  It  is  sufficient  for  my  purpose  to  have  pointed  out  the  similarity 
of  those  great  features  which  distinguish  and  characterise  both  people.  Bocliart, 
and  other  philologists  of  the  last  century,  who,  with  more  erudition  than  science, 
endeavoured  to  trace  the  migrations  of  various  nations,  and  who  were  apt,  upon 
the  slightest  appearance  of  resemblance,  to  find  an  affinity  between  nations  far 
removed  from  each  other,  and  to  conclude  that  they  were  descended  from  the 
same  ancestors,  would  hardly  have  failed,  on  viewing  such  an  amazing  similarity, 
to  pronounce  with  confidence,  "  that  the  Germans  and  the  Americans  must  be 
the  same  people."  But  a  philosopher  will  satisfy  himself  with  observing,  "  that 
the  characters  of  nations  depend  on  the  state  of  society  in  which  they  live, 
and  on  the  political  institutions  established  among  them;  and  tliat  the  human 
mind,  whenever  it  is  placed  in  the  same  situation,  will,  in  ages  the  most  distant, 
and  in  countries  the  most  remote,  assume  the  same  form,  and  be  distinguished 
by  the  same  manners." 

I  have  pushed  the  comparison  betw^een  the  Germans  and  Americans  no 
further  than  was  necessary  for  the  illustration  of  my  subject.  I  do  not  pretend 
that  the  state  of  society  in  the  two  countries  was  perfectly  similar  in  every 
respect.  Many  of  the  German  tribes  were  more  civilized  than  the  Americans. 
Some  of  them  were  not  unacquainted  with  agriculture ;  almost  all  of  them  had 
flocks  of  tame  cattle,  and  depended  upon  them  for  the  chief  part  of  their 
subsistence.  Most  of  the  American  tribes  subsist  by  hunting,  and  are  in  a 
ruder  and  more  simple  state  than  the  ancient  Germans.  Tlie  resemblance, 
however,  between  their  condition,  is  greater,  perhaps,  than  any  that  history 
affords  an  opportunity  of  observing  between  any  two  races  of  uncivilized  people, 
and  this  has  produced  a  surprising  similarity  of  manners. 

[7],  puge  11. — The  booty  gained  by  an  army  belonged  to  the  army.  The  king 
himself  had  no  part  of  it  but  what  he  acquired  by  lot.  A  remarkable  instance 
of  this  occurs  in  the  history  of  the  Franks.  The  array  of  Clovis,  the  founder 
of  the  French  monarchy,  having  plundered  a  church,  carried  off,  among  other 


520  PROOES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

sacred  utensils,  a  vase  of  extraordinary  size  and  beauty.  The  bishop  seat 
deputies  to  Clovis,  beseecliing  him  to  restore  the  vase,  that  it  might  be 
again  employed  in  the  sacred  services  to  which  it  had  been  consecrated.  Clovis 
desired  the  deputies  to  follow  him  to  Soissons,  as  the  booty  was  to  be  divided 
in  that  place,  aud  promised,  that  if  the  lot  sliould  give  him  the  disposal  of  the 
vase,  he  would  grant  what  the  bishop  desired.  When  he  came  to  Soissons,  and 
all  the  booty  was  being  placed  in  one  great  heap  in  the  middle  of  the  army, 
Clovis  entreated  that,  before  making  the  division,  they  would  give  him  that 
vase  over  and  above  his  share.  All  appeared  willing  to  gratify  the  king,  and 
to  comply  with  his  request,  when  a  fierce  and  haughty  soldier  lifted  up  his 
battle-axe,  and,  striking  the  vase  with  the  utmost  violence,  cried  out  with  a 
loud  voice,  "  You  shall  receive  nothing  here  but  that  to  which  the  lot  gives  you 
a  right,"     Gregor.  Turon.  Histor.  Francorum,  lib.  ii.  c.  27.  p.  70,  Par.  1610. 

1.8],  pa^e  13. — The  history  of  the  establishment  and  progress  of  the  feudal 
system  is  an  interesting  object  to  all  the  nations  of  Europe.  In  some  countries 
their  jurispnidence  and  laws  are  still  in  a  great  measure  feudal.  In  others,  many 
forms  and  practices  established  by  custom,  or  founded  on  statutes,  took  their 
rise  from  the  feudal  law,  and  cannot  be  understood  without  attending  to  the 
ideas  peculiar  to  it.  Several  authors  of  the  highest  reputation  for  genius  and 
erudition,  have  endeavoured  to  illustrate  this  subject,  but  still  many  parts  of  it 
are  obscure.  I  shall  endeavour  to  trace,  with  precision,  the  progress  and 
variation  of  ideas  concerning  property  in  laud  among  the  barba  rous  nations ; 
and  shall  attempt  to  point  out  the  causes  which  introduced  these  changes,  as 
well  as  the  effects  which  followed  upon  them.  Property  in  land  seems  to  have 
gone  through  four  successive  changes  among  the  people  who  settled  in  the 
various  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire. 

I.  While  the  barbarous  nations  remained  in  their  original  countries,  their 
property  in  land  was  only  temporary,  and  they  had  no  certain  limits  to  their 
possessions.  After  feeding  their  flocks  in  one  district,  they  removed  with  them, 
and  with  their  wives  and  families,  to  another ;  and  abandoned  that  likewise  in 
a  short  time.  They  were  not,  in  consequence  of  this  imperfect  species  of 
property,  brought  under  any  positive  or  formal  obligation  to  serve  the  commu- 
nity ;  all  their  services  were  purely  voluntary.  Every  individual  was  at  liberty 
to  choose  how  far  he  would  contribute  towards  carrying  on  any  military  enter- 
prise. If  he  followed  a  leader  ia  any  expedition,  it  was  from  attachment,  not 
from  a  sense  of  obligation.  The  clearest  proof  of  this  has  been  produced  in 
Note  6.  While  property  continued  in  this  state,  we  can  discover  nothing  that 
bears  any  resemblance  to  a  feudal  tenure,  or  to  the  subordination  and  military 
service  which  the  feudal  system  introduced. 

II.  Upon  settling  in  the  countries  which  they  had  subdued,  the  victorious 
troops  divided  the  conquered  lands.  Whatever  portion  of  them  fell  to  a 
soldier,  he  seized  as  the  recompense  due  to  his  valour,  as  a  settlement  acquired 
by  his  own  sword.  He  took  possession  of  it  as  a  freeman  in  full  property. 
He  enjoyed  it  during  his  own  life,  and  could  dispose  of  it  at  pleasure,  or 
transmit  it  as  an  iaheritance  to  his  children.  Thus  property  in  land  became 
fixed.  It  was  at  the  same  time  allodial,  i.  e.  the  possessor  had  the  entire  right 
of  property  and  dominion  ;  he  held  of  no  sovereign  or  superior  lord,  to  whom 
he  was  bound  to  do  homage  and  perform  service.    But  as  these  new  proprietors 


PROOES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  521 

were  in  some  danger  (as  has  been  observed  in  the  text)  of  being  disturbed  by 
the  remainder  of  the  ancient  iuliabitants,  and  in  still  greater  danger  of  being 
attacked  by  successive  colonies  of  barbarians  as  fierce  and  rapacious  as  them- 
selves,  tliey  saw   the  necessity  of  coming  under  obligations  to  defend  the 
community  more  explicit  than  those  to  whicli  they  liad  been  subject  in  tlieir 
original  habitations.     On  this  account,  immediately  upon  their  fixing  in  tlieir 
new  settlements,  every  freeman  became  bound  to  take  arms  in  defence  of  the 
community,  and,  if  he  refused  or  neglected  so  to  do,  was  liable  to  a  consider- 
able penalty.     1  do  not  mean  that   any  contract  of  this  kind  was  formally 
concluded,  or  mutually  ratified  by  any  legal  solemnity.     It  was  established  by 
tacit  consent,  like  the  other  compacts  which  hold  society  together.     Their 
mutual  security  and  preservation  made  it  the  interest  of  all  to  recognise  its 
authority,  and  to  enforce  the  observation  of  it.     We  can  trace  back  this  new 
obligation  on  the  proprietors  of  land  to  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  the 
Franks.     Chilperic,  who  began  his  reign  a.d.  5G2,  exacted  a  fine  bcmnos  jussU 
exigi,  from  certain  persons  who  had  refused  to  accompany  him  in  an  expedition. 
Gregor.  Turon.  lib.  v.  c.  26,  p.  211.     Childebert,  who  began  his  reign  a.d.  576, 
proceeded  in  the  same  manner  against  others  who  had  been  guilty  of  a  like 
crime.     Ibid.  lib.  vii.  c.  42,  p.' 342.     Such  a  fine  could  not  have  been  exacted 
while  property  continued  in  its  first  state,  and  military  service  was  entirely 
voluntary.      Charlemagne  ordained,  that  every  freeman    who  possessed  five 
mansi,  i.  e.  sixty  acres  of  land,  in  properti/,  should  march  in  person  against  the 
enemy.     Capitul.  a.d.  807.     Louis  le  Debounaire,  a.d.  815,  granted  lands  to 
certain  Spaniards  who  fled  from  the  Saracens,  and  allowed   them  to  settle  in 
his  territories,  on  condition  that  they  should  serve  in  the  army  like  other 
freemen.     Capitul.  vol.  i.  p.  500.      By  land  possessed  in  properly,  which  is 
mentioned  in  the  law  of  Charlemagne,  we  are  to  understand,  according  to  the 
style  of  that  age,  allodial  land ;  alodes  and  proprietas,  alodum  and  proprium , 
being  words  perfectly  synonymous.     Du  Cange,  voce  Alodis.     The  clearest 
proof  of  the  distinction  between  allodial  and  beneficiary  possession,  is  contained 
in  two  charters  published  by  Muratori,  by  which  it  appears  that  a  person  might 
possess  one  part  of  his  estate  as  allodial,  which  he  could  dispose  of  at  pleasure, 
the  other  as  a  beneficiim,  of  which  he  had  only  the   usufruct,  the  property 
returning  to  the  superior  lord  on  his  demise.     Antiq.  Ital.  Mcdii  M\i,  vol.  i. 
pp.  559,  565.     The  same  distinction  is  pointed  out  in  a  capitulaire  of  Charle- 
magne, A.D.  812,  edit.  Baluz.  vol.  i.  p.  491.     Count  Everard,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Louis  le  Debounaire,  in  the  curious  testament  by  which  he  disposes 
of  his  vast  estate  among  his  children,  distinguishes  between  what  he  possessed 
proprielate,  and  what  he  held  benejicio ;  and  it  appears  that  the  greater  part 
was  allodial,  a.d.  837.    Aub.  Miraii  Opera  Diplomatica,  Lovan.  1723.  vol.  i. 
p.  19. 

In  the  same  manner  liber  homo  is  commonly  opposed  to  vassus  or  vassallus  ; 
the  former  denotes  an  allodial  proprietor,  the  latter  one  who  held  of  a  superior. 
These//-ee  men  were  under  an  obligation  to  serve  the  state;  and  this  duty  was 
considered  as  so  sacred,  that  freemen  were  prohibited  from  entering  into  holy 
orders,  unless  they  had  obtained  the  consent  of  the  sovereign.  The  reason 
given  for  this  in  the  statute  is  remarkable  :  "  Tor  we  are  informed  that  some 
do  so,  not  so  much  out  of  devotion,  as  in  order  to  avoid  that  military 
service  which  they  are  bound  to  perform."     Capitul.  lib.  i.  §  111.     If,  upon 


622  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

being  summoned  into  the  field,  any  freeman  refuse  to  obey,  a  full  herebannuni, 
i.  a,  a  fine  of  sixty  crowns,  was  to  be  exacted  from  him  according  to  the  law  of 
the  Franks.  Capit.  Car.  Magu.  ap.  Leg.  Longob.  lib.  i.  tit.  14,  §  15,  p.  139.  This 
expression,  according  to  the  law  of  the  Franks,  seems  to  imply,  that  both  the 
obligation  to  serve,  and  the  penalty  on  those  who  disregarded  it,  were  coeval 
with  tlie  laws  made  by  the  Franks  at  their  first  settlement  iu  Gaul.  This  fine 
was  levied  with  such  rigour,  "  That  i£  any  person  convicted  of  this  crime  was 
insolvent,  he  was  reduced  to  servitude,  and  continued  in  that  state  until  such 
time  as  his  labour  should  amount  to  the  value  of  the  herebanimm."  Ibid,  The 
Emperor  Lotharius  rendered  the  penalty  still  more  severe;  and  if  any  person, 
possessing  such  an  extent  of  property  as  made  it  incumbent  on  him  to  take 
the  field  iu  person,  refused  to  obey  the  summons,  all  his  goods  were  declared 
to  be  forfeited,  and  he  himself  might  be  punished  with  banishment,  Murat, 
Script.  Ital.  vol  i.  pars  ii.  p,  153. 

III.  Property  in  land  having  thus  become  fixed,  and  subject  to  military 
service,  another  change  was  introduced,  though  slowly,  and  step  by  step.  We 
learn  from  Tacitus,  that  the  chief  men  among  the  Germans  endeavoured  to 
attach  to  their  persons  and  interests  certain  adherents  whom  he  calls  comites. 
These  fought  under  their  standard,  and  followed  them  in  all  their  enterprises. 
The  same  custom  continued  among  them  in  their  new  settlements,  and  those 
attached  or  devoted  followers  were  called  fdeles,  antrustiones,  homines  in  truste 
dominica,  leudes.  Tacitus  informs  us,  that  the  rank  of  a  comes  was  deemed 
honourable ;  De  Morib.  Germ.  c.  13.  The  composition,  which  is  the  standard 
by  which  we  must  judge  of  the  rank  and  condition  of  persons  in  the  middle  ages, 
paid  for  the  murder  of  one  in,  truste  dominica,  was  triple  to  that  paid  for  the 
murder  of  a  free  man.  Leg.  Salicor.  tit.  44,  §  1  et  3.  While  the  Germans 
remained  in  their  own  country,  they  courted  the  favour  of  these  comites 
by  presents  of  arms  and  horses,  and  by  hospitality.  See  Note  6.  As  long  as 
they  had  no  fixed  property  in  land,  these  were  the  only  gifts  that  they  could 
bestow,  and  the  only  reward  which  their  followers  desired.  But  upon  their 
settling  in  the  countries  which  they  conquered,  and  when  the  value  of  property 
came  to  be  understood  among  them,  instead  of  those  slight  presents,  the  kings 
and  chieftains  bestowed  a  more  substantial  recompense  in  land  on  their 
adherents.  These  grants  were  called  heneficia,  because  they  were  gratuitous 
donations ;  and  honores,  because  they  were  regarded  as  marks  of  distinction. 
What  were  the  services  originally  exacted  in  return  for  these  beneficia  cannot 
be  determined  with  absolute  precision  ;  because  there  are  no  records  so  ancient. 
When  allodial  possessions  were  first  rendered  feudal,  they  were  not,  at  once, 
subjected  to  all  the  feudal  services.  The  transition  here,  as  in  all  other  changes 
of  importance,  was  gradual.  As  the  great  object  of  a  feudal  vassal  was  to 
obtain  protection,  when  allodial  proprietors  first  consented  to  become  vassals 
of  any  powerful  leader,  they  continued  to  retain  as  much  of  their  ancient 
independence  as  was  consistent  with  that  new  relation.  The  homage  which 
they  did  to  their  superior,  of  whom  they  chose  to  hold,  was  called  Jiomagium 
planum,  and  bound  them  to  nothing  more  than  fidelity,  but  M'ithout  any  obliga- 
tion either  of  military  service,  or  attendance  in  the  courts  of  their  superior. 
Of  this  homagium  planum  some  traces,  though  obscure,  may  still  be  discovered. 
Erussel,  torn.-  i.  p.  97.  Among  the  ancient  writs  published  by  D.  D.  De  Vic. 
and  Vaisette,  Hist,  de  Langued.,  are  a  great  many  which  they  call  homagia. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  523 

They  seem  to  be  au  intermediate  step  between  the  liomagium  plamnn  mentioned 
by  Brussel,  and  the  engagement  to  perform  complete  feudal  service.  The  one 
party  promises  protection,  and  grants  certain  castles  or  lands;  the  other 
engages  to  defend  the  person  of  the  granter,  and  to  assist  him  likewise  in 
defending  his  property  as  often  as  he  shall  be  summoned  to  do  so.  But  these 
engagements  are  accompanied  with  none  of  the  feudal  formalities,  and  no 
mention  is  made  of  any  of  the  other  feudal  services.  They  appear  rather  to  be 
a  mutual  contract  between  equals,  than  the  engagement  of  a  vassal  to  perform 
services  to  a  superior  lord.  Preuves  de  I'Hist.  de  Lang.  tom.  ii.  173,  et  passim. 
As  soon  as  men  were  accustomed  to  these,  the  other  feudal  services  were 
gradually  introduced.  M.  de  Montesquieu  considers  these  beneficia  as  fiefs, 
which  originally  subjected  those  who  held  them  to  military  service.  L'Esprit 
des  Loix,  1.  xxx.  c.  3  et  16.  M.  I'Abbe  de  Mably  contends,  that  such  as  held 
these  were  at  first  subjected  to  no  other  service  than  what  was  incumbent 
on  every  free  man.  Observations  sur  I'Histoire  de  France,  i.  356.  But  upon 
comparing  their  proofs  and  reasonings  and  conjectures,  it  seems  to  be  evident, 
that  as  every  free  man,  in  consequence  of  his  allodial  property,  was  bound  to 
serve  the  community  under  a  severe  penalty,  no  good  reason  can  be  assigned 
for  conferring  these  heneficia,  if  they  did  not  subject  such  as  received  tliem  to 
some  new  obligation.  Why  should  a  king  have  stripped  himself  of  his  domain, 
if  he  had  not  expected  that,  by  parcelling  it  out,  he  might  acquire  a  right  to 
services,  to  which  he  had  formerly  no  title  ?  We  may  then  warrantably  conclude, 
"That  as  allodial  property  subjected  those  who  possessed  it  to  serve  the 
community,  so  beneficia  subjected  such  as  held  them  to  personal  service  and 
fidelity  to  him  from  whom  they  received  these  lands."  These  beneficia  were 
granted  originally  only  during  pleasure.  No  circumstance  relating  to  the 
customs  of  the  middle  ages  is  better  ascertained  than  this  ;  and  innumerable 
proofs  of  it  might  be  added  to  those  produced  in  L'Esprit  dcs  Loix,  1.  xxx. 
0.  16,  and  by  Du  Gauge,  voc.  Beneficium  ti  Feudum. 

IV.  But  the  possession  of  benefices  did  not  continue  long  in  this  state.  A 
precarious  tenure  during  pleasure  was  not  sufficient  to  satisfy  such  as  held 
lands,  and  by  various  means  they  gradually  obtained  a  confirmation  of  their 
benefices  during  life.  Feudor.  lib.  i.  tit.  i.  Du  Gauge  produces  several  quotations 
fi'om  ancient  charters  and  chronifles  in  proof  of  this ;  Gloss,  voc.  Beneficiicm. 
After  this  it  was  easy  to  obtain  or  extort  charters  rendering  beneficia  here- 
ditary, first  in  the  direct  line,  then  in  the  collateral,  and  at  last  in  the  female 
line.     Leg.  Longob.  lib.  iii.  tit.  8.     Du  Gauge,  voc.  Beneficium. 

It  is  no  easy  matter  to  fix.  the  precise  time  when  each  of  these  changes  took 
place.  M.  I'Abbe  Mably  conjectures,  with  some  probability,  that  Gharles 
Martel  first  introduced  the  practice  of  granting  beneficia  for  life  :  Observat. 
tom.  i.  p.  103,  160;  and  that  Louis  le  Dcbonnairc  was  among  the  first  who 
rendered  them  hereditary,  is  evident  from  the  authorities  to  which  he  refers ; 
Ibid.  429.  Mabillon,  however,  has  published  a  placitum  of  Louis  le  Dcbonuaire, 
A.D.  860,  by  which  it  appears,  tliat  he  still  continued  to  grant  some  beneficia 
only  during  life.  De  Re  Diplomatica,  lib.  vi.  p.  353.  In  the  year  889,  Odo, 
king  of  France,  granted  lands  to  "  Ricabodo,  fideli  suo,  jure  beneficiario  ct 
fructuario,"  during  his  own  life ;  and  if  he  should  die,  and  a  son  were  born  to 
him,  that  right  was  to  continue  during  the  life  of  his  son.  ]\Iabillon,  ut  supra, 
p.  556.    This  was  an  intermediate  step  between  fiefs  merely  during  life,  and 


524  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTUATIONS. 

fiefs  hereditary  to  perpetuity.  While  heneficia  continued  under  their  first 
form,  and  were  held  only  during  pleasure,  he  who  granted  them  not  only 
exercised  the  dominium,  or  prerogative  of  superior  lord,  but  he  retained  the 
property,  giving  his  vassal  only  the  usufruct.  But  under  the  latter  form,  when 
they  became  hereditary,  although  feudal  lawyers  continued  to  define  a  bene- 
Jicium  agreeably  to  its  original  nature,  the  property  was  in  effect  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  tlie  superior  lords,  and  lodged  in  those  of  the  vassal.  As  soon  as 
the  reciprocal  advantages  of  the  feudal  mode  of  tenure  came  to  be  understood 
by  superiors  as  well  as  vassals,  that  species  of  holding  became  so  agreeable  to 
both,  that  not  only  lands,  but  casual  rents,  such  as  the  profits  of  a  toll,  the  fare 
paid  at  ferries,  &c.,  the  salaries  or  perquisites  of  offices,  and  even  pensions 
themselves,  were  granted  and  held  as  fiefs  ;  and  military  service  was  promised 
and  exacted  on  account  of  these.  Morice,  Mem.  pour  servir  de  Preuves  a 
I'Hist.  de  Bretagne,  torn.  ii.  78,  690.  Brussel,  torn.  i.  p.  41.  How  absurd 
soever  it  may  seem  to  grant  or  to  hold  such  precarious  and  casual  property  as 
a  fief,  there  are  instances  of  feudal  tenures  still  more  singular.  The  profits 
arising  from  the  masses  said  at  an  altar,  were  properly  an  ecclesiastical  revenue, 
belonging  to  the  clergy  of  the  church  or  monastery  which  performed  that  duty; 
but  these  were  sometimes  seized  by  the  powerful  barons.  In  order  to  ascertain 
their  right  to  them,  they  held  them  as  fiefs  to  the  cliurch,  and  parcelled  them 
out  in  the  same  manner  as  other  property  to  their  sub-vassals.  Bouquet, 
Recueil  des  Hist.  vol.  x.  238,  480.  The  same  spirit  of  encroachment  which 
rendered  fiefs  hereditary,  led  the  nobles  to  extort  from  their  sovereigns  here- 
ditary grants  of  offices.  Many  of  the  great  offices  of  the  crown  became  here- 
ditary in  most  of  the  kingdoms  in  Europe ;  and  so  conscious  were  monarchs 
of  this  spirit  of  usurpation  among  the  nobility,  and  so  solicitous  to  guard 
against  it,  that,  on  some  occasions,  they  obliged  the  persons  whom  they  pro- 
moted to  any  office  of  dignity,  to  grant  an  obligation,  that,  neither  they  nor 
their  heirs  should  claim  it  as  belonging  to  them  by  hereditary  right.  A 
remarkable  instance  of  this  is  produced,  Mem.  de  I'Acad.  des  Inscrip.  tom.  xxx. 
p.  595.  Another  occurs  in  the  Thesaur.  Auecdot.  published  by  Martene  et 
Durand,  vol.  i.  p.  873. — This  revolution  in  property  occasioned  a  change  corre- 
sponding to  it  in  political  government ;  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown,  as  they 
acquired  such  extensive  possessions,  usurped  a  proportional  degree  of  power, 
depressed  the  jurisdiction  of  the  crown,  and  trampled  on  the  privileges  of  the 
people.  It  is  on  account  of  this  connexion,  that  it  becomes  an  object  of 
importance  in  history  to  trace  the  progress  of  feudal  property;  for,  upon 
discovering  in  what  state  property  was  at  any  particular  period,  we  may  determine 
with  precision  what  was  the  degree  of  power  possessed  by  the  king  or  by  the 
nobility  at  that  juncture. 

One  circumstance  more,  with  respect  to  the  changes  which  property  under- 
went, deserves  attention.  I  have  shown,  that  when  the  various  tribes  of 
barbarians  divided  their  conquests  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  the  property 
which  they  acquired  was  allodial ;  but  in  several  parts  of  Europe,  property  had 
become  almost  entirely  feudal  by  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century.  The 
former  species  of  property  seems  to  be  so  much  better  and  more  desirable  than 
the  latter,  that  such  a  change  appears  surprising,  especially  when  we  are 
informed  that  allodial  property  was  frequently  converted  into  feudal  by  a 
voluntary  deed  of  the  possessor.     The  motives  which  determined  them  to  a 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  525 

choice  so  repugnant  to  the  ideas  of  modern  times  concerning  property,  have 
been  investigated  and  explained  by  M.  de  ^Montesquieu,  with  his  usual  discern- 
ment and  accuracy,  lib.  xxxi.  c.  8.  The  most  considerable  is  that  of  whicii  \vc 
have  a  hint  in  Lambertus  Ardensis,  an  ancient  writer  quoted  by  Du  Cange, 
voce  Alodis.  In  those  times  of  anarchy  and  disorder  which  became  general  ia 
Europe  after  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  when  there  was  scarcely  any  uniou 
among  the  different  members  of  the  community,  and  individuals  were  exposed, 
single  and  undefended  by  government,  to  rapine  and  oppression,  it  became 
necessary  fur  every  man  to  have  a  powerful  protector,  under  whose  banner  he 
might  range  himself,  and  obtain  security  against  enemies  whom  singly  he 
could  not  oppose.  For  this  reason  he  relinquished  his  allodial  independence, 
and  subjected  himself  to  the  feudal  services,  that  he  might  find  safety  under 
the  patronage  of  some  respectable  superior.  In  some  parts  of  Europe,  this 
change  from  allodial  to  feudal  property  became  so  general,  that  he  who  pos- 
sessed land  had  no  longer  any  liberty  of  choice  left.  He  was  obliged  to  recognise 
some  liege  lord,  and  to  hold  of  him.  Thus  Beaumanoir  informs  us,  that  in  the 
counties  of  Clermont  and  Beauvois,  if  the  lord  or  count  discovered  any  lands 
within  his  jurisdiction  for  which  no  service  was  performed,  and  which  paid  to 
him  no  taxes  or  customs,  he  might  instantly  seize  it  as  his  own ;  for,  says  he, 
according  to  our  custom,  no  man  can  hold  allodial  property.  Const,  chap.  24, 
p.  123.  Upon  the  same  principle  is  founded  a  maxim,  which  has  at  length 
become  general  in  the  law  of  France,  KuUe  terre  sans  seifftieur.  In  other 
provinces  of  France,  allodial  property  seems  to  have  remained  longer  un- 
alienated, and  to  have  been  more  highly  valued.  A  great  number  of  charters, 
containing  grants,  or  sales,  or  exchanges  of  allodial  lands  in  the  province  of 
Languedoc,  are  published  Hist.  Gener.  de  Langued.  par  D.  D.  De  Vic.  et 
Vaisette,  torn.  ii.  During  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  gi-eat  part  of  the  eleventh 
century,  the  property  in  that  province  seems  to  have  been  entirely  allodial ; 
and  scarcely  any  mention  of  feudal  tenures  occurs  in  the  deeds  of  that  country. 
The  state  of  property,  during  these  centuries,  seems  to  have  been  perfectly 
similar  in  Catalonia  and  the  country  of  Rousillon,  as  appears  from  the  original 
charters  published  in  the  Appendix  to  Petr.  de  la  Marca's  treatise  de  Marca 
sive  Limite  Hispanico.  Allodial  property  seems  to  have  continued  in  the  Low 
Countries  to  a  period  still  later.  During  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  this  species  of  property  appears  to  have  been  of  considerable  extent. 
Mirffii  Opera  Diplom.  vol.  i.  34,  74,  75,  83,  817,  296,  842,  847,  578.  Some 
vestiges  of  allodial  property  appear  there  as  late  as  the  fourteenth  century. 
Ibid.  218.  Several  facts  which  prove  that  allodial  property  subsisted  in 
different  parts  of  Europe  long  after  the  introduction  of  feudal  tenures,  and 
which  tend  to  illustrate  the  distinction  between  these  two  different  species  of 
possession,  are  produced  by  M.  Houard,  Anciennes  Loix  des  Franfois,  con- 
servees  dans  les  Coutumes  Angloises,  vol.  i.  p.  192,  &c.  The  notions  of  men 
with  respect  to  property  vary  according  to  the  diversity  of  their  under- 
standings, and  the  caprice  of  their  passions.  At  the  same  time  that  some 
persons  were  fond  of  relinquishing  allodial  property,  in  order  to  hold  it  by 
feudal  tenure,  others  seem  to  have  been  solicitous  to  convert  their  fiefs  into 
allodial  property.  An  instance  of  this  occurs  in  a  charter  of  Louis  le  Debon- 
naire,  published  by  Eckhard,  Commentarii  de  Rebus  Franciaj  Orientalis, 
vol.  ii.  p.  885.     Another  occurs  in  the  year  1299,  Reliquiee  MSS.  omnis  iEvi, 


526  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

by  Ludwig,  vol.  i.  p.  209 ;  and  even  one  as  late  as  the  year  1337,  ibid.  vol.  vii. 
p.  40.     The  same  thing  took  place  in  the  Low  Countries.    Mirsei  Oper.  i.  52. 

In  tracing  these  various  revolutions  of  property,  I  have  hitherto  chiefly  eon- 
fined  myself  to  what  happened  in  France,  because  the  ancient  monuments  of 
that  nation  have  either  been  more  carefully  preserved  or  have  been  more 
clearly  illustrated,  tliau  those  of  any  people  in  Europe. 

In  Italy,  the  same  revolutions  happened  in  property,  and  succeeded  each 
other  in  the  same  order.  There  is  some  ground,  however,  for  conjecturing,  that 
allodial  property  continued  longer  in  estimation  among  the  Italians  than  among 
the  French.  It  appears  that  many  of  the  charters  granted  by  the  emperors  in 
the  ninth  century  conveyed  an  allodial  right  to  land.  Murat.  Antiq.  Med. 
^vi,  vol.  i.  p.  575,  &c.  But  in  the  eleventh  century,  we  find  some  examples 
of  persons  who  resigned  their  allodial  property,  and  received  it  back  as  a  feudal 
tenure.  Ibid.  p.  610,  &c.  Muratori  observes,  that  the  word  feudum,  which 
came  to  be  substituted  in  place  of  heneficium,  does  not  occur  in  any  authentic 
charter  previous  to  the  eleventh  century.  Ibid.  594  A  charter  of  King 
Robert  of  France,  a.  d.  1008,  is  the  earliest  deed  in  which  I  have  met  with  the 
^ovA  feudum.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de  la  France, 
torn.  X.  p.  593,  b.  This  word  occurs,  indeed,  in  an  edict,  a.  d.  790,  published 
by  Brussel,  vol.  i.  p.  11.  But  the  authenticity  of  that  deed  has  been  called  in 
question,  and  perhaps  the  frequent  use  of  the  -^ox^  feudum  in  it,  is  an  additional 
reason  for  doing  so.  The  account  which  I  have  given  of  the  nature  both  of 
allodial  and  feudal  possessions  receives  some  confirmation  from  the  etymology 
of  the  words  themselves.  Alode  or  allodium  is  compounded  of  the  German 
article  an  and  lot,  i.  e.  land  obtained  by  lot.  "Wachteri  Glossar.  Germanicum, 
voc;  Allodium,  p.  35.  It  appears  from  the  authorities  produced  by  him,  and 
by  Du  Cange,  voc.  Sors,  that  the  northern  nations  divided  the  lands  which  they 
had  conquered  in  this  manner.  Feodum  is  compounded  of  od,  possession  or 
estate,  andy^o,  wages,  pay ;  intimating  that  it  was  stipendiary,  and  granted  as  a 
recompense  for  service;     Wachterus,  ibid>.  voc.  Feodum,  p.  441: 

The  progress  of  the  feudal  system  among  the  Germans  was  perfectly  similar 
to  that  which  we  have  traced  in  France.  But  as  the  emperors  of  Germany, 
especially  after  the  imperial  crown  passed  from  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne 
to  the  house  of  Saxony,  were  far  superior  to  the  contemporary  monarchs  of 
France  in  abilities,  the  imperial  vassals  did  not  aspire  so  early  to  independence, 
nor  did  they  so  soon  obtain  the  privilege  of  possessing  their  benefices  by 
hereditary  right.  According  to  the  compilers  of  the  Libri  Feudorum,  Conrad. 
II.  or  the  Salic,  was  the  first  emperor  who  rendered  fiefs  hereditary.  Lib.  i. 
tit.  i.  Conrad  began  his  reign,  a.  d.  1024.  Ludovicus  Pius,  under  whose  reign 
grants  of  hereditary  fiefs  were  frequent  in  France,  succeeded  his  father  a.  d. 
814.  Not  only  was  this  innovation  so  much  later  in  being  introduced  among 
the  vassals  of  the  German  emperors,  but  even  after  Conrad  had  established  it, 
the  law  continued  favourable  to  the  ancient  practice  ;  and  unless  the  charter  of 
the  vassal  bore  expressly  that  the  fief  descended  to  his  heirs,  it  was  presumed 
to  be  granted  only  during  life.  Lib.  Feud.  ibid.  Even  after  the  alteration 
made  by  Conrad,  it  was  not  uncommon  in  Germany  to  grant  fiefs  only  for  life. 
A  charter  of  this  kind  occurs  as  late  as  the  year  1376.  Charta  ap.  Boehmer. 
Princip.  Jur.  Feud.  p.  361.  The  transmission  of  fiefs  to  collateral  and  female 
heirs  took  place  very  slowly  among  the  Germans.    There  is  extant  a  charter. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  527 

A.D.  1201,  conveying  the  right  of  successiou  to  females ;  but  it  is  granted 
as  an  extraordinary  marii  of  favour,  and  in  reward  of  uncommon  services. 
Boehmer.  ibid.  p.  365.  In  Germany,  as  well  as  iu  France  and  Italy,  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  lands  continued  to  be  allodial  long  after  the  feudal  mode 
of  tenure  was  introduced.  It  appears  from  the  Codex  Diplomaticus  Monasterii 
Buch,  that  a  great  part  of  the  lands  in  the  marquisate  of  Misnia  was  still 
allodial  as  late  as  the  thirteentli  century.  No.  31,  30,  37,  40,  &c.  ap.  Scriptorcs 
Hist.  German,  cura  Schoetgenii  et  Kreysigii.  Altenb.  1755,  vol.  ii.  183,  &c. 
Allodial  property  seems  to  have  been  common  in  another  district  of  tiie  same 
province,  during  the  same  period.  Reliquiae  Diplomaticse  Sanctimonial.  Beuliz. 
No.  17,  30,  58,  ibid.  374,  &c. 

[9],  iiage  14. — As  I  shall  have  occasion,  iu  another  note,  to  represent  the 
condition  of  that  part  of  the  people  who  dwelt  in  cities,  I  will  confine  myself  in 
this  to  consider  the  state  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country.  The  persons  em- 
ployed in  cultivating  the  ground  during  the  ages  under  review  may  be  divided 
into  tliree  classes :  I.  Seni,  or  slaves.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  most 
numerous  class,  and  consisted  either  of  captives  taken  in  war,  or  of  persons,  tiie 
property  in  whom  was  acquired  in  some  one  of  the  various  methods  enumerated 
by  Du  Cange,  voc.  Servus,  v.  0,  p.  447.  The  wretched  condition  of  this  numerous 
race  of  men  will  appear  from  several  circumstances.  1.  Their  masters  had  abso- 
lute dominion  over  their  persons.  They  had  the  power  of  punishing  their  slaves 
capitally,  without  the  intervention  of  any  judge.  This  dangerous  riglit  they 
possessed,  not  only  in  the  more  early  periods  when  their  manners  were  fierce, 
but  it  continued  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century.  Joach.  Pptgiesserus  de  Statu 
Servorum.  Lemgov.  1730,  4to.  lib.  ii.  cap.  i.  §  4, 10,  13,  24.  Even  after  this 
jurisdiction  of  masters  came  to  be  restrained,  the  life  of  a  slave  was  deemed  to 
be  of  so  little  value,  that  a  very  slight  compensation  atoned  for  taking  it  away. 
Idem,  lib.  iii.  c.  0.  If  masters  had  power  over  the  lives  of  their  slaves,  it  is 
evident  that  abnost  no  bounds  would  be  set  to  the  rigour  of  tlie  punishments 
which  they  might  inflict  upon  them.  The  codes  of  ancient  laws  prescribed 
punishments  for  the  crimes  of  slaves  different  from  those  wliich  were  inflicted 
on  freemen.  The  latter  paid  only  a  fine  or  compensation ;  the  former  were 
subjected  to  corporal  punishments.  The  cruelty  of  these  was,  in  many  instances, 
excessive.  Slaves  might  be  put  to  the  rack  on  very  slight  occasions.  The 
laws,  with  respect  to  these  points,  are  to  be  found  in  Potgiesserus,  lib.  iii.  cap. 
7,  2,  and  are  shocking  to  humanity.  2.  If  the  dominion  of  masters  over  the 
lives  and  persons  of  their  slaves  was  thus  extensive,  it  was  no  less  so  over 
their  actions  and  property.  They  were  not  originally  permitted  to  marry. 
Male  and  female  slaves  were  allowed,  and  even  encouraged,  to  cohabit  together. 
But  this  union  was  not  considered  as  a  marriage :  it  was  called  contubeniium, 
not  nuptice  or  matrimonium.  Potgiess.  lib.  ii.  c.  2,  §  1.  This  notion  was  so 
much  established,  that,  during  several  centuries  after  the  barbarous  nations 
embraced  the  Christian  religion,  slaves,  who  lived  as  husband  and  wife,  were 
not  joined  together  by  any  religious  ceremony,  and  did  not  receive  the  nuptial 
benediction  from  a  priest.  Ibid.  §  10,  11.  When  this  conjunction  between 
slaves  came  to  be  considered  as  a  lawful  marriage,  they  were  not  permitted  to 
marry  without  the  'consent  of  their  master,  and  such  as  ventured  to  do  so, 
without  obtaining  that,  were  punished  with  great  severity,  and  sometimes  were 


528  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

put  to  death.  Potgiess.  Ibid.  §  12,  &c.  Gregor,  Turon.  Hist.  lib.  v.  c.  3. 
When  the  manners  of  the  European  nations  became  more  gentle,  and  their  ideas 
more  liberal,  slaves  who  married  without  their  master's  consent  were  subjected 
only  to  a  fine.  Potgiess.  Ibid.  §  20.  Du  Gauge,  Gloss,  voc.  Formnaritagium, — 
3.  All  the  children  of  slaves  were  in  the  same  condition  with  their  parents,  and 
became  the  property  of  the  master.  Du  Cange,  Gloss,  voc.  Semis,  vol.  vi.  450. 
Murat.  Autiq.  Ital.  vol.  i.  766. — 4.  Slaves  were  so  entirely  the  property  of  their 
masters,  that  they  could  sell  them  at  pleasure.  While  domestic  slavery  con- 
tinued, property  in  a  slave  was  sold  in  the  same  manner  with  that  which  a 
person  had  in  any  other  moveable.  Afterwards  slaves  became  adscripti  glebts, 
and  were  conveyed  by  sale,  together  with  the  farm  or  estate  to  which  they 
belonged.  Potgiesserus  has  collected  the  laws  and  charters  which  illustrate 
this  well-known  circumstance  in  the  condition  of  slaves.  Lib.  ii.  c.  4. — 5.  Slaves 
had  a  title  to  nothing  but  subsistence  and  clothes  from  their  master ;  all  the 
profits  of  their  labour  accrued  to  him.  If  a  master,  from  indulgence,  gave  his 
slaves  sxxj  peculinm,  or  fixed  allowance  for  their  subsistence,  they  had  no  right 
of  property  in  what  they  saved  out  of  that.  All  that  they  accumulated  belonged 
to  their  master.  Potgiess.  lib.  ii.  c.  10.  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  i.  768.  Du 
Cange,  voc.  Servus,  vol.  vi.  451.  Conformably  to  the  same  principle,  all  the 
effects  of  slaves  belonged  to  their  master  at  their  death,  and  they  could  not 
dispose  of  them  by  testament.  Potgiess.  lib.  ii.  c.  11. — 6.  Slaves  were  distin- 
guished from  freemen  by  a  peculiar  dress.  Among  all  the  barbarous  nations, 
long  hair  was  a  mark  of  dignity  and  freedom ;  slaves  were,  for  that  reason, 
obliged  to  shave  their  heads ;  and  by  this  distinction,  how  indifferent  soever  it 
may  be  in  its  own  nature,  they  were  reminded  every  moment  of  the  inferiority 
of  their  condition.  Potgiess.  lib.  iii.  c.  4.  Por  the  same  reason,  it  was  enacted 
in  the  laws  of  almost  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  that  no  slave  should  be  admitted 
to  give  evidence  against  a  freeman  in  a  court  of  justice.  Du  Cange,  voc.  Servus, 
vol.  vi.  p.  451.   Potgiess.  lib.  iii.  c.  3. 

II.  Villani.  They  were  likewise  adscripti  glebee  or  villa,  from  which  they 
derived  their  name,  and  were  transferable  along  with  it.  Du  Cange,  voc. 
Villanus.  But  in  this  they  differed  from  slaves,  that  they  paid  a  fixed  rent  to 
their  master  for  the  land  which  they  cultivated,  and,  after  paying  that,  all  the 
fruits  of  ,'their  labour  and  industry  belonged  to  themselves  in  property.  This 
distinction  is  marked  by  Pierre  de  Fontain's  Conseil.  Vie  de  St.  Louis  par 
Joinville,  p.  119,  edit,  de  Du  Cange.  Several  cases,  decided  agreeably  to  this 
principle,  are  mentioned  by  Murat.     Ibid.  p.  773. 

III.  The  last  class  of  persons  employed  in  agriculture  were  freemen.  These 
are  distinguished  by  various  names  among  the  writers  of  the  middle  ages, 
arimamii,  conditionales,  originarii,  tributales,  &c.  These  seem  to  have  been 
persons  who  possessed  some  small  allodial  property  of  their  own,  and  besides 
that,  cultivated  some  farm  belonging  to  their  more  wealthy  neighbours,  for 
which  they  paid  a  fixed  rent ;  and  bound  themselves  likewise  to  perform  several 
small  services  in  jirafo  vel  in  messe,  in  aratura  vet  in  vinea,  such  as  ploughing 
a  certain  quantity  of  their  landlord's  ground,  assisting  him  in  harvest  and 
vintage  work,  &c.  The  clearest  proof  of  this  may  be  found  in  Muratori,  voL  i. 
p.  712,  and  iuDu  Cange,  under  the  respective  words  above  mentioned.  Ihave 
not  been  able  to  discover  whether  these  arimanni,  &c.  were  removeable  at 
pleasure,  or  held  their  farms  by  lease  for  a  certain  number  of  years.     The 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  529 

former,  if  wc  may  judge  from  the  genius  and  maxims  of  tlic  age,  seems  to  be 
most  probable.  These  persons,  however,  were  considered  as  freemen  in  the 
most  honourable  sense  of  the  word ;  they  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  of  that 
condition,  and  were  even  called  to  serve  in  war;  an  honour  to  which  no  slave 
was  admitted.  Murat.  Antiq.  vol.  i.  p.  743,  vol.  ii.  p.  41-6.  Tliis  account  of 
the  condition  of  these  tliree  different  classes  of  persons  will  enable  the  reader 
to  apprehend  the  full  force  of  an  argument  which  I  shall  produce  in  confir- 
mation of  what  I  have  said  in  the  text  concerning  the  wretched  state  of  the 
people  during  the  middle  ages.  Notwithstanding  the  immense  difference 
between  the  first  of  these  classes  and  the  third,  such  was  the  spirit  of  tyranny 
which  prevailed  among  the  great  proprietors  of  lands,  and  so  various  their  oppor- 
tunities of  oppressing  those  who  were  settled  on  their  estates,  and  of  rendering 
their  condition  intolerable,  that  many  freemen,  in  despair,  renoixnced  their 
liberty,  and  voluntarily  surrendered  themselves  as  slaves  to  their  powerful 
masteis.  This  they  did,  in  order  that  their  masters  might  become  more  imme- 
diately interested  to  afi'ord  them  protection,  together  with  the  means  of 
subsisting  themselves  and  their  families.  The  forms  of  such  a  surrender,  or 
ob/wxia^io,as  it  was  then  called,  are  preserved  by  Marculfus,  lib.  ii.  c.  28 ;  and 
by  the  anonymous  author,  published  by  M.  Bignon,  together  with  the  collection 
oi  formvlcp.  compiled  by  Marculfus,  c.  16.  In  both,  the  reason  given  for  the 
obnoxiatio,  is  the  wretched  and  indigent  condition  of  the  person  who  gives  up 
his  liberty.  It  was  still  more  common  for  freemen  to  surrender  their  liberty  to 
bishops  or  abbots,  that  they  might  partake  of  the  security  which  the  vassals 
and  slaves  of  churches  and  monasteries  enjoyed,  in  consequence  of  the  super- 
stitious veneration  paid  to  the  saint  under  whose  immediate  protection  they 
were  supposed  to  be  taken.  Du  Cange,  voc.  OhUdus,  vol.  iv.  p.  128G.  That 
condition  must  have  been  miserable  indeed,  which  could  induce  a  freeman 
voluntarily  to  renounce  his  liberty,  and  to  give  up  himself  as  a  slave  to  the 
disposal  of  another.  The  number  of  slaves  in  every  nation  of  Europe  was 
immense.  The  greater  part  of  the  inferior  class  of  people  in  Prance  were 
reduced  to  this  state  at  the  commencement  of  the  third  race  of  kings.  L'Esprit 
des  Loix,  liv.  xxx.  c.  11.  The  same  was  the  case  in  England.  Brady,  Pref.  to 
Gen.  Hist. — Many  curious  facts,  with  respect  to  the  ancient  state  of  villains 
or  slaves  in  England,  are  published  in  Observations  on  the  Statutes,  chiefly  the 
more  ancient,  3d  edit.  pp.  269,  &c. 

[  10  ],  page  16. — Innumerable  proofs  of  this  might  be  produced.  Many 
charters,  granted  by  persons  of  the  highest  rank,  are  preserved,  from  which  it 
appears  that  they  could  not  subscribe  their  name.  It  was  usual  for  persons  who 
could  not  write,  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  confirmation  of  a  charter.  Several 
of  these  remain,  where  kings  and  persons  of  great  eminence  affix  sigmim  crucis 
manu  propria  pro  ignoratione  literarum.  Du  Cange,  voc.  Crux,  vol.  iii.  p.  1191. 
From  this  is  derived  the  phrase  of  signing  instead  of  subscribing  a  paper.  In 
the  ninth  century,  Herbaud,  Comes  Palatii,  though  supreme  judge  of  the  empire 
by  virtue  of  his  office,  could  not  subscribe  his  name.  Nouveau  Traite  de 
Diplomatique  par  deux  Benedictins,  4to.  tom.  ii.  p.  422.  As  late  as  the 
fourteenth  century,  Du  Gucsclin,  constable  of  France,  the  greatest  man  in  the 
state,  and  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  age,  could  neither  read  nor  write.  St. 
Palaye,  Memoires  sur  I'ancienne  Chevalerie,  tit.  ii.  p.  82.  Nor  was  this  igno- 
VOL.  I.  MM 


530  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ranee  confined  to  laymen ;  the  greater  part  of  the  clergy  was  not  many  degrees 
superior  to  tliem  in  science.  Many  dignified  ecclesiastics  could  not  subscribe 
the  canons  of  those  councils  in  which  they  sat  as  members.  Nouv.  Traite  de 
Diplom.  torn.  ii.  p.  424.  Oue  of  the  questions  appoiuted  by  the  canons  to  be 
put  to  persons  who  were  candidates  for  orders  was  this :— "  Whether  they 
could  read  the  gospels  and  epistles,  and  explain  the  sense  of  them,  at  least 
literally  ?"  Regino  Prumiensis,  ap.  Brack.  Uist.  Philos.  v.  iii.  p.  631.  Alfred 
the  Great  complained,  that  from  the  Humber  to  the  Tliames  there  was  not  a 
priest  who  understood  the  liturgy  in  his  mother- tongue,  or  who  could  translate 
the  easiest  piece  of  Latin ;  and  that  from  the  Thames  to  the  sea,  the  ecclesiastics 
were  still  more  ignorant.  Asserus  de  Rebus  Gestis  Alfredi,  ap.  Camdeni 
Anglica,  &c.  p.  25.  The  ignorance  of  the  clergy  is  quaintly  described  by  an 
author  of  the  dark  ages  :  "  Potius  dediti  guise  quam  glossse ;  potius  colligunt 
libras  quam  legunt  libros  ;  libeutius  intuentur  Martham  quam  Marcum ;  malunt 
iegere  in  Salmone  quam  in  Solomone."  Alanus  de  Art.  Predicat.  ap.  Lebeuf, 
Dissert,  torn.  ii.  p.  21.  To  the  obvious  causes  of  such  universal  ignorance, 
arising  from  the  state  of  government  and  manners,  from  the  seventh  to  the 
eleventh  century,  we  may  add  the  scarcity  of  books  during  that  period,  and  the 
diflaculty  of  rendering  them  more  common.  The  Romans  wrote  their  books 
either  on  parchment  or  on  paper  made  of  the  Egyptian  papyrus.  The  latter, 
being  the  cheapest,  was  of  course  the  most  commonly  used.  But  after  the 
Saracens  conquered  Egypt  iu  the  seventh  century,  the  communication  between 
that  country  and  the  people  settled  in  Italy,  or  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  was 
almost  entirely  broken  off,  and  the  papyrus  was  no  longer  in  use  among  them; 
They  were  obliged,  on  that  account,  to  write  all  their  books  upon  parchment, 
and,  as  the  price  of  that  was  high,  books  became  extremely  rare,  and  of  great 
value.  We  may  judge  of  the  scarcity  of  the  materials  for  writing  them  from 
oue  circumstance.  There  still  remain  several  manuscripts  of  the  eighth,  ninth, 
and  following  centuries,  written  on  parchment,  from  which  some  former  writing 
had  been  erased,  in  order  to  substitute  a  new  composition  in  its  place.  In  this 
manner  it  is  probable  that  several  works  of  the  ancients  perished.  A  book  of 
Livy  or  of  Tacitus  might  be  erased,  to  make  room  for  the  legendary  tale  of  a 
saint,  or  the  superstitious  prayers  of  a  missal.  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  iii. 
p.  833.  P.  de  Montfaucon  affirms,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  manuscripts  on 
parchment  which  he  has  seen,  those  of  an  ancient  date  excepted,  are  written 
on  parchment,  from  which  some  former  treatise  had  been  erased.  Mem.  de 
I'Acad.  des  Inscript.  tom.  ix.  p.  325.  As  the  want  of  materials  for  writing  is 
one  reason  why  so  many  of  the  works  of  the  ancients  have  perished,  it  accounts 
likewise  for  the  small  number  of  manuscripts  of  any  kind  previous  to  the 
eleventh  century,  when  they  began  to  multiply,  from  a  cause  which  shall  be 
mentioned.  Hist.  Litter,  de  Prance,  tom.  vi.  p.  6.  Many  circumstances  prove 
the  scarcity  of  books  during  these  ages.  Private  persons  seldom  possessed  any 
books  whatever.  Even  monasteries  of  considerable  note  had  only  one  missal. 
Murat.  Antiq.  vol.  ix.  p.  789.  Lupus,  abbot  of  Perrieres,  in  a  letter  to  the 
pope,  A..D.  855,  beseeches  him  to  lend  him  a  copy  of  Cicero  de  Oratore  and 
Quintilian's  Institutions ;  "for,"  says  he,  "although  we  have  parts  of  those 
books,  there  is  no  complete  copy  of  them  in  all  Prance."  Murat.  Ant.  v.  iii. 
p.  835.  The  price  of  books  became  so  high,  that  persons  of  a  moderate  fortune 
could  not  afford  to  purchase  them.     The  countess  of  Anjou  paid  for  a  copy  of 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  [y'M 

the  Homilies  of  Haimon,  bisliop  of  Halberstadt.  two  hundred  sheep,  five 
quarters  of  wheat,  and  the  same  quautity  of  rye  and  millet.  Histoire  Littdraire 
de  France,  par  dcs  Raligicux  Bc-ncdiclins,  torn.  vii.  p.  3.  Even  so  late  as  the 
year  1471,  when  Louis  XL  borrowed  tlie  works  of  Rasis,  the  Arabian  physician, 
from  the  faculty  of  medicine  iu  Paris,  he  not  only  deposited  in  pledge  a  cou- 
siderable  quautity  of  plate,  but  was  obliged  to  procure  a  nobleman  to  join  with 
him  as  surety  in  a  deed,  binding  himself,  under  a  great  forfeiture,  to  restore  it. 
Gabr.  Naude  Addit.  a  I'Histoire  de  Louys  XL  par  Comines,  Mit.  de  Fresnoy, 
tom.  iv.  p.  281.  Many  curious  circumstances,  with  respect  to  the  extravagant 
price  of  books  in  the  middle  ages,  arc  collected  by  that  industrious  compiler,  to 
whom  I  refer  such  of  my  readers  as  deem  this  small  branch  of  literary  history 
an  object  of  curiosity.  When  any  person  made  a  present  of  a  book  to  a  church 
or  monastery,  iu  which  were  the  only  libraries  during  several  ages,  it  was 
deemed  a  donative  of  such  value,  that  he  offered  it  on  tlie  altar  pro  remedio 
catima  suce,  in  order  to  obtain  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins.  Murat.  vol.  iii. 
p.  836.  Hist.  Litter,  de  France,  tom.  vi.  p.  6.  Nouv.  Trait,  de  Diplomat,  par 
deux  Benedictins,  4to.  tom.  i.  p.  481.  In  the  eleventh  century,  the  art  of 
making  paper,  in  the  manner  now  become  universal,  was  invented ;  by  means  of 
that,  not  only  the  number  of  manuscripts  increased,  but  the  study  of  the 
sciences  was  wonderfully  facilitated.  Murat.  ib.  p.  871.  The  invention  of  the 
art  of  making  paper,  and  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing,  are  two  consider- 
able events  in  literary  history.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  former  preceded  the 
first  dawning  of  letters  and  improvement  in  knowledge  towards  the  close  of 
the  eleventh  century ;  the  latter  ushered  in  the  light  which  spread  over  Europe 
at  the  era  of  the  Reformation. 

[  11  ],  page  17. — All  the  religious  maxims  and  practices  of  the  dark  ages  are 
a  proof  of  this.  I  shall  produce  one  remarkable  testimony  in  confirmation  of  it, 
from  an  author  canonized  by  the  church  of  Rome,  St.  Eloy,  or  Egidius,  bishop  of 
Noyon,  in  the  seventh  century.  "  He  is  a  good  Christian  who  comes  frequently 
to  church;  who  presents  the  oblation  which  is  offered  to  God  upon  the  altar; 
who  doth  not  taste  of  the  fruits  of  his  own  industry  until  he  has  consecrated 
a  part  of  them  to  God ;  who,  when  the  holy  festivals  approach,  lives  chastely 
even  with  his  own  wife  during  several  days,  that  with  a  safe  conscience  he 
may  draw  near  the  altar  of  God ;  and  who,  in  the  last  place,  can  repeat  the 
Creed  and  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Redeem  then  your  souls  from  destruction,  while 
you  have  the  means  in  your  power:  offer  presents  and  tythcs  to  churchmen; 
come  more  frequently  to  church ;  humbly  implore  the  patronage  of  the  saints  ; 
for,  if  you  observe  these  things,  you  may  come  with  security  in  the  day  of 
retribution  to  the  tribunal  of  the  eternal  Judge,  and  say,  'Give  to  us,  O 
Lord,  for  we  have  given  unto  thee.' "  Dacherii  Spicilegium  Vet.  Script,  vol.  ii. 
p.  94.  The  learned  and  judicious  translator  of  Dr.  Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical 
History,  to  one  of  whose  additional  notes  I  am  indebted  for  my  knowledge  of 
this  passage,  subjoins  a  very  proper  reflection :  "  We  see  here  a  large  and 
ample  description  of  a  good  Christian,  in  which  there  is  not  the  least  mention 
of  the  love  of  God,  resignation  to  his  will,  obedience  to  his  laws,  or  of  justice, 
benevolence,  and  charity  towards  men."     Mosh.  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  324. 

[12],  page  17. — Tliat  infallibility  iu  all  its  determinations,  to  which  the 
church  of  Rome  pretends,  has  been  attended  with  one  unhappy  consequence. 

M  M  2 


532  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

As  it  is  impossible  to  relinquish  any  opinion,  or  to  alter  any  practice  wliicli  lias 
been  established  by  authority  that  cannot  err,  all  its  institutions  and  ceremonies 
must  be  immutable  and  everlasting,  and  the  church  must  continue  to  observe, 
in  enlightened  times,  those  rites  which  were  introduced  during  the  ages  of 
darkness  and  credulity.  What  delighted  and  edified  the  latter,  must  disgust 
and  shock  the  former.  Many  of  the  rites  observed  in  the  Romish  church  appear 
manifestly  to  have  been  introduced  by  a  superstition  of  the  lowest  and  most 
illiberal  species.  Many  of  them  were  borrowed,  with  little  variation,  from  the 
religious  ceremonies  established  among  the  ancient  heatliens.  Some  were  so 
ridiculous,  that  if  every  age  did  not  furnish  instances  of  the  fascinating  influence 
of  superstition,  as  well  as  of  the  whimsical  forms  which  it  assumes,  it  must 
appear  incredible  that  they  should  have  been  ever  received  or  tolerated.  In. 
several  churches  of  France,  they  celebrated  a  festival  in  commemoration  of  the 
Virgin  Mark's  fliglit  into  Egypt.  It  was  called  the  feast  of  the  Ass.  A  young 
girl,  richly  dressed,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  was  set  upon  an  ass  superbly  capa- 
risoned. The  ass  was  led  to  the  altar  in  solemn  procession.  High  mass  was 
said  with  great  pomp.  The  ass  was  taught  to  kneel  at  proper  places ;  a 
hymn  no  less  childish  than  impious  was  sung  in  his  praise ;  and,  when  the 
ceremony  w^as  ended,  the  priest,  instead  of  the  usual  words  with  which  he 
dismissed  the  people,  brayed  three  times  like  an  ass  ;  and  the  people,  instead 
of  the  usual  response,  "  We  bless  the  Lord,"  brayed  three  times  in  the  same 
manner.  Du  Cange,  voc.  Festimi,  vol.  iii.  p.  424.  This  ridiculous  ceremony 
M'as  not  like  the  festival  of  fools,  and  some  other  pageants  of  those  ages,  a 
mere  farcical  entertainment  exhibited  in  a  church,  and  mingled,  as  was  then 
the  custom,  with  an  imitation  of  some  religious  rites  ;  it  was  an  act  of  devotion, 
performed  by  the  ministers  of  religion,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  church. 
However,  as  this  practice  did  not  prevail  universally  in  the  catholic  church, 
its  absurdity  contributed  at  last  to  abolish  if-. 

[  13],  page  21. — As  there  is  no  event  in  the  history  of  mankind  more  singular 
than  that  of  the  crusades,  every  circumstance  that  tends  to  explain  or  to  give 
any  rational  account  of  this  extraordinary  frenzy  of  the  human  mind  is  interest- 
ing. I  have  asserted  in  the  text,  that  the  minds  of  men  were  prepared  gradually 
for  the  amazing  effort  which  they  made  in  consequence  of  the  exhortations  of 
Peter  the  Hermit,  by  several  occurrences  previous  to  his  time.  A  more  particu- 
lar detail  of  this  curious  and  obscure  part  of  history  may,  perhaps,  appear  to 
some  of  my  readers  to  be  of  importance.  That  the  end  of  the  world  was 
expected  about  tlie  close  of  the  tenth,  and  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century, 
and  that  this  occasioned  a  general  alarm,  is  evident  from  the  authors  to  whom 
I  have  referred  in  the  text.  This  belief  was  so  universal  and  so  strong,  that 
it  mingled  itself  with  civil  transactions.  Many  charters,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  tenth  century,  begin  in  this  mauner :  "  Appropinquante  mundi  termino," 
&c.  As  the  end  of  the  world  is  now  at  hand,  and  by  various  calamities  and 
judgments  the  signs  of  its  approach  are  now  manifest.  Hist,  de  Langued.  par 
D.  D.  de  Vic.  et  Vaisette,  tom.  ii.  Preuves,  pp.  86,  89,  90, 117,  ]  58,  &c.  One 
effect  of  this  opinion  was,  that  a  great  number  of  pilgrims  resorted  to  Jerusa- 
lem, with  a  resolution  to  die  there,  or  to  wait  the  coming  of  the  Lord ;  kings, 
earls,  marquises,  bishops,  and  even  a  great  number  of  women,  besides  persons 
of  an  inferior  rank,  flocked  to  the  Holy  Land.     Glaber.  Rodulph.  Hist,  apud 


PROOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  533 

Bouquet.,  Recueil,  torn.  x.  pp.  50,  52.  Another  historian  mentions  a  vast 
cavalcade  of  pilgrims  who  accompanied  the  count  of  Angoulcine  to  Jerusalem 
iu  the  year  102G.  Ciironic.  Ademari,  ibid.  p.  102.  Upon  their  return,  these 
pilgrims  filled  Europe  with  lamentable  accounts  of  the  state  of  Christians  iu 
the  Holy  Land.  VVillerm.  Tyr.  Hist.  ap.  Gest.  Dei  per  Eranc.  vol.  ii.  p.  636. 
Guibert.  Abbat.  Hist.  ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  476.  Besides  this,  it  was  usual  for  many 
of  the  Christian  inlmbitants  of  Jerusalem,  as  well  as  of  otlier  cities  iu  the  East, 
to  travel  as  mendicants  througli  Europe  ;  and,  by  describing  tlie  wretched 
conditionof  the  professors  of  the  Christian  faith  under  the  douuuiou  of  iuti- 
dels,  to  extort  charity,  aud  to  excite  zealous  persons  to  make  some  attempt 
in  order  to  deliver  them  from  oppression.  Baldrici  Archiepiscopi  Histor.  ap. 
Gesta  Dei,  &c.  vol.  i.  p.  86.  In  the  year  986,  Gerbert,  archbishop  of  liavenna, 
afterwards  Pope  Silvester  IL,  addressed  a  letter  to  all  Christians  iu  the  name 
of  the  church  of  Jerusalem.  It  is  eloquent  and  pathetic,  and  contains  a  formal 
exhortation  to  take  arms  against  the  pagan  oppressors,  iu  order  to  rescue  the 
holy  city  from  their  yoke.  Gerberti  Epislola;,  ap.  Bouquet,  Recueii,  tom.  x. 
p.  426.  In  consequence  of  this  spirited  call,  some  subjects  of  the  republic  of 
Pisa  equipped  a  fleet,  and  invaded  the  territories  of  the  Mahometans  iu  Syria. 
Murat.  Script.  Rer.  Italic,  vol.  iii.  p.  400.  The  alarm  was  taken  in  the  East, 
and  an  opinion  prevailed  a.d.  1010,  that  all  the  forces  of  Christendom  were  to 
unite,  in  order  to  drive  the  Mahometans  out  of  Palestine.  Chrou.  Ademari, 
ap.  Bouquet,  torn.  x.  p.  152.  It  is  evident  from  all  these  particulars,  tliat  the 
ideas  which  led  the  crusaders  to  undertake  their  wild  enterprise  did  not  arise, 
according  to  the  description  of  many  authors,  from  a  sudden  fit  of  frantic 
enthusiasm,  but  were  gradually  formed ;  so  that  the  universal  concourse  to  the 
standard  of  the  cross,  mIicu  erected  by  Urban  IL,  will  appear  less  surprising. 

If  the  various  circumstances  which  I  have  enumerated  in  this  note,  as  well 
as  in  the  history,  are  sufficient  to  account  for  the  ardour  with  which  sucli  vast 
numbers  engaged  iu  such  a  dangerous  undertaking,  the  extensive  privileges 
and  immunities  granted  to  the  persons  who  assumed  the  cross  serve  to  account 
for  the  long  continuance  of  tliis  spirit  in  Europe.  1.  They  were  exempted 
from  prosecutions  on  account  of  debt,  during  the  time  of  their  bemg  engaged 
in  this  holy  service.  Du  Cange,  voc.  Crucis  Privilegium,  vol.  ii.  p.  1194. — 
2.  They  were  exempted  from  paying  interest  for  the  money  wliich  they  had 
borrowed,  in  order  to  fit  them  for  this  sacred  warfare.  Ibid. — 3.  Tliey  were 
exempted  either  entirely,  or  at  least  during  a  certain  time,  from  the  payment 
of  taxes.  Ibid.  Ordouuances  des  Rois  de  France,  tom.  i.  p.  33. — 4.  They  might 
alienate  their  lands  williout  the  consent  of  the  superior  lord  of  whom  tiiey 
held.  Ibid. — 5.  Their  persons  and  effects  were  taken  under  the  protection  of 
St.  Peter,  and  the  anathemas  of  the  church  were  denounced  against  all  who 
should  molest  them,  or  carry  on  any  quarrel  or  hostility  against  them,  during 
their  absence,  on  account  of  the  lioly  war.  Du  Gauge,  ibid.  Guibertus 
Abbas,  ap.  Bongars.  i.  pp.  480,  482. — 6.  They  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  of  eccle- 
siastics, and  were  not  bound  to  plead  in  any  civil  court,  but  were  declared 
subject  to  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  alone.  Du  Cange,  Ibid.  Ordon.  des  Rois, 
tom.  i.  pp.  34, 174. — 7.  They  obtained  a  plenary  remission  of  all  their  sins,  and 
the  gates  of  heaven  were  set  open  to  them,  without  requiring  any  other  proof  of 
their  penitence,  but  their  engaging  in  tliis  expedition;  and  thus,  by  gratifying 
their  favourite  passion,  the  love  of  war,  they  secured  to  themselves  immunities 


534  PEOOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

which  were  not  usually  oblaiued  but  by  paying  large  sums  of  money,  or  by 
undergoing  painful  penances.  Guibert,  Abbas,  p.  480.  When  we  behold 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  vying  with  each  other,  and  straining  their 
invention,  in  order  to  devise  expedients  for  encouraging  and  adding  strength 
to  the  spirit  of  superstition,  can  we  be  surprised  that  it  should  become  so 
general  as  to  render  it  infamous,  and  a  mark  of  cowardice,  to  decline  engaging 
in  the  holy  war?  Willerm.  Tyriensis,  ap.  Bongars.  vol.  ii.  p.  641.  Tlie  his- 
tories of  the  crusades,  written  by  modern  authors,  who  are  apt  to  substitute 
the  ideas  and  maxims  of  their  own  age  in  the  place  of  those  which  influenced 
the  persons  whose  actions  they  attempt  to  relate,  convey  a  very  imperfect 
notion  of  the  spirit  at  that  time  predominant  in  Europe.  The  original  his- 
torians, who  were  animated  themselves  with  the  same  passions  which  possessed 
their  contemporaries,  exhibit  to  us  a  more  striking  picture  of  the  times  and 
manners  which  they  describe.  The  enthusiastic  rapture  with  which  they 
account  for  the  effects  of  the  pope's  discourse  in  the  council  of  Clermont ;  the 
exultation  with  which  they  mention  the  numbers  who  devoted  themselves  to 
this  holy  warfare ;  the  confidence  with  which  they  express  their  reliance  on 
the  divine  protection;  the  ecstasy  of  joy  with  which  they  describe  their  taking 
possession  of  the  holy  city,  will  enable  us  to  conceive,  in  some  degree,  the 
extravagance  of  that  zeal  which  agitated  the  minds  of  men  with  such  violence, 
and  will  suggest  as  many  singular  reflections  to  a  philosopher,  as  any  occur- 
rence in  the  history  of  mankind.  It  is  unnecessary  to  select  the  particular 
passages  in  the  several  historians,  which  confirm  this  observation.  But,  lest 
those  authors  may  be  suspected  of  adorning  their  narrative  with  any  exag- 
gerated description,  I  shall  appeal  to  one  of  the  leaders  who  conducted  the 
enterprise.  There  is  extant  a  letter  from  Steplieu,  the  earl  of  Chartres  and 
Blois  to  Adela  his  wife,  in  which  he  gives  her  an  account  of  the  progress  of 
the  crusaders.  He  describes  the  crusaders  as  the  chosen  army  of  Christ,  as 
the  servants  and  soldiers  of  God,  as  men  who  marched  under  the  immediate 
protection  of  the  Almighty,  being  conducted  by  his  hand  to  victory  and  con- 
quest. He  speaks  of  the  Turks  as  accursed,  sacrilegious,  and  devoted  by 
Heaven  to  destruction ;  and  when  he  mentions  the  soldiers  in  the  Christian 
army,  who  had  died,  or  were  killed,  he  is  confident  that  their  souls  were 
admitted  directly  into  the  joys  of  Paradise.  Dacherii  Spicilegium,  vol.  iv. 
p.  257. 

The  expense  of  conducting  numerous  bodies  of  men  from  Europe  to  Asia 
must  have  been  excessive,  and  the  difDculty  of  raising  the  necessary  sums 
must  have  been  proportionally  great,  during  ages  when  the  public  revenues  in 
every  nation  of  Europe  were  extremely  small.  Some  account  is  preserved  of 
the  expedients  employed  by  Humbert  II.,  Dauphin  of  Vienne,  in  order  to 
levy  the  money  requisite  towards  equipping  him  for  the  crusade,  a.d.  1346. 
These  I  shall  mention,  as  they  tend  to  show  the  considerable  influence  which 
the  crusades  had,  both  on  the  state  of  property  and  of  civil  government.  1.  He 
exposed  to  sale  part  of  his  domains ;  and  as  the  price  was  destined  for  such  a 
sacred  service,  he  obtained  the  consent  of  the  French  king,  of  whom  these 
lands  were  held,  ratifying  the  alienation.  Hist,  de  Dauphine,  tom.  i.  p.  332, 
335. — 2.  He  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which  he  promised  to  grant  new  privi- 
leges to  the  nobles,  as  well  as  new  immunities  to  the  cities  and  towns  in  his 
territories,  in  consideration  of  certain  sums  which  they  were  instantly  to  pay  on 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  535 

that  account.  Ibid.  torn.  ii.  p.  512.  Many  of  the  cliarters  of  community, 
which  I  shall  mention  in  another  note,  were  obtained  in  this  manner. — 3.  lie 
exacted  a  contribution  towards  defraying  the  charges  of  the  expedition  from  all 
his  subjects,  whether  ecclesiastics  or  laymen,  who  did  not'  accompany  him  in 
person  to  the  East.  Ibid.  tom.  i.  p.  335. — 4.  He  appropriated  a  considerable 
part  of  his  usual  revenues  for  the  support  of  the  troops  to  be  employed  in  this 
service.  Ibid.  tom.  ii.  p.  518. — 5.  He  exacted  considerable  sums,  not  only  of 
the  Jews  settled  in  his  dominions,  but  also  of  the  Lombards  and  other  bankers 
who  had  fixed  their  residence  there.  Ibid.  tom.  i.  p.  338,  tom.  ii.  p.  528. 
Notwithstanding  the  variety  of  these  resources,  the  dauphin  was  involved  in 
such  expense  by  this  expedition,  that,  on  his  return,  he  was  obliged  to  make 
new  demands  on  his  subjects,  and  to  pillage  the  Jews  by  fresh  exactions. 
Ibid.  tom.  i.  pp.  344,  347.  When  the  count  de  Foix  engaged  in  the  first  crusade, 
he  raised  the  money  necessary  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  that  expedition  by 
alienating  part  of  bis  territories.  Hist,  de  Langued.  par  D.  D.  de  Vict,  et 
Vaisette,  tom.  ii.  p.  287.  In  like  manner  Baldwin,  count  of  Hainault,  mort- 
gaged or  sold  a  considerable  portion  of  his  dominions  to  the  bishop  of  Liege, 
A.D.  1096.  Du  Mont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  tom.  i.  p.  59.  At  a  later  period, 
Baldwin,  count  of  Namur,  sold  part  of  his  estate  to  a  monastery,  when  he 
intended  to  assume  the  cross,  a.d.  1239.     Mirsei  Oper.  i.  p.  313. 

[14,]  page2o. — The  usual  method  of  forming  an  opinion  concerning  the 
comparative  state  of  maimers  in  two  different  nations,  is  by  attending  to  the 
facts  which  historians  relate  concerning  each  of  them.  Various  passages  might 
be  selected  from  the  Byzantine  historians,  describing  the  splendour  and  magni- 
ficence of  the  Greek  empire.  P.  de  Montfaucou  has  produced  from  the  writings 
of  St.  Chrysostom  a  very  full  account  of  the  elegance  and  luxury  of  the  Greeks 
in  his  age.  That  father,  in  his  sermons,  enters  into  such  minute  details  con- 
cerning the  manners  and  customs  of  his  contemporaries,  as  appear  strange  in 
discourses  from  the  pulpit.  P.  de  Montfaucon  has  collected  these  descriptions, 
and  ranged  them  under  different  heads.  The  court  of  the  more  early  Greek 
emperors  seems  to  have  resembled  those  of  eastern  monarchs,  both  in  magnifi- 
cence and  in  corruption  of  manners.  The  emperors  in  the  eleventh  century, 
though  inferior  in  power,  did  not  yield  to  them  in  ostentation  and  splendour. 
Memoires  de  I'Acad.  des  Inscript.  tom.  xx.  p.  197.' — But  we  may  decide  con- 
cerning the  comparative  state  of  manners  in  the  eastern  empire,  and  among 
the  nations  in  the  west  of  Europe,  by  another  method,  which,  if  not  more 
certain,  is  at  least  more  striking.  As  Constantinople  was  the  place  of  rendez- 
vous for  all  the  armies  of  the  crusaders,  this  brought  together  the  people  of 
the  East  and  West  as  to  one  great  interview.  There  are  extant  several  con- 
temporary authors,  both  among  the  Greeks  and  Latins,  who  were  witnesses  of 
this  singular  congress  of  people,  formerly  strangers,  in  a  great  measure,  to  each 
other.  They  describe,  with  simplicity  and  candour,  the  impression  which  that 
new  spectacle  made  upon  their  own  minds.  This  may  be  considered  as  the 
most  lively  and  just  picture  of  the  real  character  and  manners  of  each  people. 
When  the  Greeks  speak  of  the  Franks,  they  describe  them  as  barbarians, 
fierce,  illiterate,  impetuous,  and  savage.  They  assume  a  tone  of  superiority,  as 
a  more  polished  people,  acquainted  with  the  arts  both  of  government  and  of 
elegance,  of  which  the  other  was  ignorant.     It  is  thus  Anna  Comneua  describes 


536  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

the  manners  of  the  Latins,  Alexias,  pp.  224,  231,  237,  ap.  Byz.  Script,  vol,  ix. 
Slie  always  views  tliera  with  contempt  as  a  rude  people,  the  very  mention  of 
whose  names  was  sufficient  to  contaminate  the  beauty  and  elegance  of  history, 
p.  229.  Nicetas  Clioniatas  inveighs  against  them  with  still  more  violence, 
and  gives  an  account  of  their  ferocity  and  devastations,  in  terms  not  unlike 
those  which  preceding  historians  had  employed  in  describing  the  incursions  of 
the  Goths  and  Vandals.  Nicet.  Chon.  ap.  Byz.  Script,  vol.  iii.  pp.  302,  &c. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Latin  historians  were  struck  with  astonishment  at 
the  magnificence,  wealth,  and  elegance  which  they  discovered  in  the  eastern 
empire.  "  0  what  a  vast  city  is  Constantinople  (exclaims  Pulcherius  Carno- 
teusis,  when  he  first  beheld  it),  and  how  beautiful !  How  many  monasteries 
are  there  in  it,  and  how  many  palaces  built  with  wonderful  art !  How  many 
manufactures  are  there  in  the  city  amazing  to  behold !  It  would  be  astonishing 
to  relate  how  it  abounds  with  all  good  things,  with  gold,  silver,  and  stuffs  of 
various  kind;  for  every  hour  ships  arrive  in  its  port  laden  with  all  things 
necessary  for  the  use  of  man."  Fulcher.  ap.  Bongars.  vol.  i.  p.  3S6.  Willer- 
mus,  archbishop  of  Tyre,  the  most  intelligent  historian  of  the  crusades,  seems 
to  be  fond,  on  every  occasion,  of  describing  the  elegance  and  splendour  of  the 
court  of  Constantinople,  and  adds,  that  what  he  and  his  countrymen  observed 
there  exceeded  any  idea  which  they  could  have  formed  of  it,  "nostrarum  enim 
rerum  mjdum  et  dignitatem  excedunt."  Willerm.  Tyr.  ap.  Bong.  vol.  ii.  pp. 
657,  6G4.  benjamin  the  Jew,  of  Tudela  in  Navarre,  who  began  his  travels 
A.D.  1173,  appears  to  have  been  equally  astonished  at  the  magnificence  of  that 
city,  and  gives  a  description  of  its  splendour,  in  terms  of  high  admiration. 
Benj.  Tudel.  ap.  Les  Voyages  faits  dans  les  12^  13^  &c.  Siecles,  par  Ber- 
geron, p.  10,  &c.  Guutherus,  a  French  monk,  who  wrote  a  history  of  the 
conquest  of  Constantinople  by  the  crusaders,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  speaks 
of  tlie  magnificence  of  that  city  in  the  same  tone  of  admiration  :  "  Structurara 
autem  sedificiorum  in  corpore  civitatis,  in  ecclesiis  videlicet,  et  turribus,  et  in 
domibus  magnatorum,  vix  ullus  vel  describere  potest,  vel  credere  describenti, 
nisi  qui  ea  oculata  fide  cognoverit."  Hist.  Constantiuop.  ap.  Canisii  Lectiones 
Antiquas,  fol.  Antw.  1725,  vol.  iv.  p.  14.  Geoffrey  de  Villehardouin,  a  noble- 
man of  liigh  rank,  and  accustomed  to  all  the  magnificence  then  known  in  the 
West,  describes,  in  similar  terms,  the  astonishment  and  admiration  of  such  of 
his  fellow-soldiers  as  beheld  Constantinople  for  the  fiirst  time :  "  They  could 
not  have  believed,"  says  he,  "that  there  was  a  city  so  beautiful  and  so  rich  in 
the  whole  world.  When  they  viewed  its  high  walls,  its  lofty  towers,  its  rich 
palaces,  its  superb  churches,  all  appeared  so  great,  that  they  could  have  formed 
no  conception  of  this  sovereign  city,  unless  they  had  seen  it  with  their  own 
eyes."  Histoire  de  la  Conquete  de  Constant,  p.  49.  From  these  undisguised 
representations  of  their  own  feelings,  it  is  evident  that  to  the  Greeks  the 
crusaders  appeared  to  be  a  race  of  rude,  unpolished  barbarians ;  whereas  the 
latter,  how  much  soever  they  might  contemn  the  unwarlike  character  of  the 
former,  could  not  help  regarding  them  as  far  superior  to  themselves  in  ele- 
gance and  arts. — That  the  state  of  government  and  manners  was  much  more 
improved  in  Italy  than  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe,  is  evident  not  only 
from  the  facts  recorded  in  history,  but  it  appears  that  the  more  intelligent 
leaders  of  thexjrusaders  were  struck  with  the  difference.  Jacobus  de  Vitriaco, 
a  French   historian  of  the  holy  war,  makes  an  elaborate  panegyric  on  the 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  637 

character  and  manners  of  the  Italians.  He  views  them"  as  a  more" polished 
people,  and  particularly  celebrates  them  for  their  love  of  liberty,  and  civil 
•wisdom  :  "in  consiliis  circumspecti,  in  re  sua  publica  procuranda  diligentes  et 
studiosi;  sibi  in  posterum  providentes;  aliis  subjici  renuentes;  ante  omnia 
libertatem  sibi  defendentes ;  sub  uno  quern  eligunt  capitaneo,  comniunitati 
suae  jura  et  instituta  dictautcs  et  similiter  observautes."  Histor.  Hierosol. 
ap.  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  vol.  ii.  p.  10S5. 

[15],  page  28. — The  different  steps  taken  by  the  cities  of  Italy,  in  order  to 
extend  their  power  and  dominions,  are  remarkable.  As  soon  as  their  liberties 
were  established,  and  they  began  to  feel  tlieir  own  importance,  they  eudeavoured 
to  render  themselves  masters  of  the  territory  round  their  w;dls.  Under  the 
Romans,  when  cities  enjoyed  municipal  privileges  and  jurisdiction,  the  circum- 
jacent lands  belonged  to  each  town,  and  were  the  property  of  the  community. 
But  as  it  was  not  the  genius  of  the  feudal  policy  to  encourage  cities,  or  to 
show  any  regard  for  their  possessions  and  immunities,  these  lands  had  been 
seized,  and  shared  among  the  conquerors.  The  barons  to  whom  they  M'cre 
granted,  erected  their  castles  almost  at  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  exercised 
their  jurisdiction  there.  Under  pretence  of  recovering  tlieir  ancient  property, 
many  of  the  cities  in  Italy  attacked  these  troublesome  neighbours,  and,  dis- 
possessing them,  annexed  their  territories  to  the  communities,  and  made  thereby 
a  considerable  addition  to  their  power.  Several  instances  of  this  occur  in  the 
eleventh,  and  beginning  of  the  twelfth  centuries.  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  iv. 
p.  159,  &c.  Their  ambition  increasing  together  with  their  power,  the  cities 
afterwards  attacked  several  barons  situated  at  a  greater  distance  from  their 
walls,  and  obliged  them  to  engage  that  they  would  become  members  of  their 
community;  that  they  would  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  their  magistrates; 
that  they  would  subject  their  lands  to  all  burdens  and  taxes  imposed  by  com- 
mon consent;  that  they  would  defend  the  community  against  all  its  enemies; 
and  that  they  would  reside  within  the  city  during  a  certain  specified  lime  in 
each  year.  Murat.  ibid.  p.  163.  This  subjection  of  the  nobility  to  the  muni- 
cipal government  established  in  cities,  became  almost  universal,  and  was  often 
extremely  grievous  to  persons  accustomed  to  consider  themselves  as  indepen- 
dent. Otto  Frisingensis  thus  describes  the  state  of  Italy  under  Frederick  I. : 
"  The  cities  so  much  affect  liberty,  and  are  so  solicitous  to  avoid  the  insolence 
of  power,  that  almost  all  of  them  have  thrown  off  every  other  authority,  and  are 
governed  by  their  own  magistrates.  Insomuch  that  all  that  country  is  now 
filled  with  free  cities,  most  of  which  have  compelled  their  bishops  to  reside 
within  their  walls,  and  there  is  scarcely  any  nobleman,  how  great  soever  his 
power  may  be,  who  is  not  subject  to  the  laws  and  government  of  some  city." 
De  Gestis  Frider.  I.  Imp.  lib.  ii.  c.  13,  p.  453.  In  another  place  he  observes 
of  the  marquis  of  Montferrat,  that  he  was  almost  the  only  Italian  baron  who 
had  preserved  his  independence,  and  had  not  become  subject  to  the  laws  of 
any  city.  See  also  Muratori,  AntiehitaEstensi,  vol.  i.  pp.  411,  412.  That  state, 
into  which  some  of  the  nobles  were  compelled  to  enter,  others  embraced  from 
choice.  They  observed  the  high  degree  of  security,  as  well  as  of  credit  and 
estimation,  which  the  growing  wealth  and  dominion  of  the  great  communities 
procured  to  all  the  members  of  them.  They  were  desirous  to  partake  of  these, 
and  to  put  themselves  under  such  powerful  protection.     With  this  view  they 


538  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

voluntarily  became  citizens  of  the  towns  to  whicli  their  lands  were  most  con- 
tiguous ;  and,  abandoning  their  ancient  castles,  took  up  their  residence  in  the 
cities,  at  least  during  part  of  the  year.  Several  deeds  are  still  extant,  by 
which  some  of  the  most  illustrious  families  in  Italy  are  associated  as  citizens 
of  different  cities.  Murat.  ibid.  p.  165,  &c.  A  charter,  by  which  Atto  de 
Macerata  is  admitted  as  a  citizen  of  Osima,  a.d.  1198,  in  the  Marcha  di  Ancona, 
is  still  extant.  In  this  he  stipulates,  that  he  will  acknowledge  himself  to  be 
a  burgess  of  that  community;  that  he  will  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  promote 
its  honour  and  welfare ;  that  he  will  obey  its  magistrates ;  that  he  will  enter 
into  no  league  with  its  enemies ;  that  he  will  reside  in  the  town  during  two 
months  in  every  year,  or  for  a  longer  time,  if  required  by  the  magistrates. 
The  community,  on  the  other  hand,  take  him,  his  family,  and  friends,  under 
their  protection,  and  engage  to  defend  him  against  every  enemy.  Fr.  Ant. 
Zacharias,  Anecdota Medii  Ji^vi,  Aug.  Taur.  1755,  fol.  p.  66,  This  privilege  was 
deemed  so  important,  that  not  only  laymen,  but  ecclesiastics  of  the  highest 
rank,  condescended  to  be  adopted  as  members  of  the  great  communities,  in 
hopes  of  enjoying  the  safety  and  dignity  which  that  condition  conferred. 
Murat.  ibid.  1 79.  Before  the  institution  of  communities,  persons  of  noble  birth 
had  no  other  residence  but  their  castles.  They  kept  their  petty  courts  there ; 
and  the  cities  were  deserted,  having  hardly  any  inhabitants  but  slaves  or  persons 
of  low  condition.  But  in  consequence  of  the  practice  which  I  have  mentioned, 
cities  not  only  became  more  populous,  but  were  filled  with  inhabitants  of  better 
rank,  and  a  custom  which  still  subsists  in  Italy  was  then  introduced,  that  all 
families  of  distinction  reside  more  constantly  in  the  great  towns,  than  is  usual 
in  other  parts  of  Europe.  As  cities  acquired  new  consideration  and  dignity  by 
the  accession  of  such  citizens,  they  became  more  solicitous  to  preserve  their 
liberty  and  independence.  The  emperors,  as  sovereigns,  had  anciently  a  palace 
in  almost  every  great  city  of  Italy:  when  they  visited  that  country,  they  wei'e 
accustomed  to  reside  in  these  palaces,  and  the  troops  which  accompanied  them 
were  quartered  in  the  houses  of  the  citizens.  This  the  citizens  deemed  both 
ignominious  and  dangerous.  They  could  not  help  considering  it  as  receiving 
a  master  and  an  enemy  within  their  walls.  They  laboured,  therefore,  to  get 
free  of  this  subjection.  Some  cities  prevailed  on  the  emperors  to  engage  that 
they  would  never  enter  their  gates,  but  take  up  their  residence  without  the 
walls.  Chart.  Hen.  IV.  Murat.  ibid.  p.  24.  Others  obtained  the  imperial  licence 
to  pull  down  the  palace  situated  within  their  liberties,  on  condition  that  they 
built  another  in  the  suburbs  for  the  occasional  reception  of  the  emperor. 
Chart.  Hen.  IV.  Murat.  ibid.  p.  25.  These  various  encroachments  of  the  Italian 
cities  alarmed  the  emperors,  and  put  them  on  schemes  for  re-establishing  the 
imperial  jurisdiction  over  them  on  its  ancient  footing.  Frederick  Barbarossa 
eno'aged  in  this  enterprise  with  great  ardour.  The  free  cities  of  Italy  joined 
together  in  a  general  league,  and  stood  on  their  defence ;  and  after  a  long  con- 
test, carried  on  with  alternate  success,  a  solemn  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded 
at  Constance,  a.d.  1183,  by  which  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  granted  by 
former  emperors  to  the  principal  cities  in  Italy  were  confirmed  and  ratified. 
Murat.  Dissert.  XL VIII.  This  treaty  of  Constance  was  considered  as  such  an 
important  article  in  the  jurisprudence  of  the  middle  ages,  that  it  is  usually 
published  together  with  the  Libri  Feudorum  at  the  end  of  the  Corpus  Juris 
Civilis.     The  treaty  secured  privileges  of  great  importance  to  the  confederate 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  539 

cities,  and  though  it  reserved  a  considerable  degree  of  autliority  and  jurisdiction 
to  the  empire,  yet  the  cities  persevered  witli  such  vigour  in  their  efforts  in  order 
to  extend  their  immunities,  and  the  conjunctures  in  which  they  made  them  were 
so  favourable,  that,  before  the  conclusion  of  the  thirteenth  century,  most  of  the 
great  cities  in  Italy  had  shaken  off  all  marks  of  subjection  to  the  empire,  and 
were  become  independent  sovereign  republics.  It  is  not  requisite  that  I  should 
trace  the  various  steps  by  which  they  advanced  to  this  high  degree  of  power  so 
fatal  to  the  empire,  and  so  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  liberty  in  Italy.  iMuratori, 
with  his  usual  industry,  has  collected  many  original  papers  which  illustrate 
this  curious  and  little  known  part  of  history.  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  Dissert.  L. 
See  also  Jo.  Bapt.  Yillanovai  Hist.  Laudis  Pompeii  sive  Lodi,  in  Grav.  Thes. 
Antiquit.  Ital.  vol.  iii.  p.  8SS. 

[IG],  page  29. — Long  before  the   institution   of  communities   in  France, 
charters  of  immunity  or  franchise  were  granted  to  some  towns  and  villages  by 
the  lords  on  whom  they  depended.     But  these  are  very  different  from  such  as 
became  common  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  They  did  not  erect  these 
towns  into  corporations:  they  did  not  estabhsh  a  municipal  government;  they 
did  not  grant  them  the  privilege  of  bearing  arms.     They  contained  nothing 
more  than  a  manumission  of  the  inhabitants  from  the  yoke  of  servitude ;  an 
exemption  from  certain  services  which  were  oppressive  and  ignominious ;  and 
the  establishment  of  a  fixed  tax  or  rent  which  the  citizens  were  to  pay  to  their 
lord  in  place  of  impositions  which  he  could  formerly  lay  upon  them  at  pleasure. 
Two  charters  of  this  kind  to  two  villages  in  the  county  of  Rousillon,  one  in 
A.D.  974,  the  other  in  a.d.  1025,  are  still  extant.     Petr.  de  Marca,  Marca,  sive 
Limes  Hispanicus,  App.  pp.  909,  1038.     Such  concessions,  it  is  probable,  were 
not  unknown  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  may  be   considered   as  a  step 
towards  the  more  extensive  privileges  conferred  by  Louis  le  Gros,  on  the 
towns  within  his  domains.     The  communities  in  Prance  never  aspired  to  the 
same  independence  with  those  in  Italy.     They  acquired  new  privileges  and 
immunities,  but  the  right  of  sovereignty  remained  entire  to  the  king  or  baron 
within  whose  territories  the  respective  cities  were  situated,  and  from  whom 
they  received  the  charter  of  their  freedom.     A  great  number  of  these  charters, 
granted  both  by  the  kings  of  Prance  and  by  their  great  vassals,  are  published 
by  M.  d'Achery  in  his  Spicilegium,  and  many  are  found  in  the  collection  of  the 
Ordonnances  des  Rois  do  Prance.     These  convey  a  very  striking  representation 
of  the  wretched  condition  of  cities  previous  to  the  institution  of  communities, 
when  they  were  subject  to  the  judges  appointed  by  the  superior  lords  of  whom 
they  held,  and  who  bad  scarcely  any  other  law  but  their  will.     Each  concession 
in  these  charters  must  be  considered  as  a  grant  of  some  new  privilcijcs  which 
the  people  did  not  formerly  enjoy,  and  each  regulation  as  a  method  of  redressing 
some  grievance  under  which  the  inhabitants  of  cities  formerly  laboured.    The 
charters  of  communities  contain  likewise  the  first  expedients  employed  for  the 
introduction  of  equal  laws  and  regular  government.     On  both  these  accounts 
they  merit  particular  attention,  and  therefore,  instead  of  referring  my  readers 
to  the  many  bulky  volumes  in  which  they  are  scattered,  I  shall  give  them  a 
view  of  some  of  the  most  important  articles  in  these  charters,  ranged  under 
two  general  heads.     I.  Such  as  respect  personal  safety.     11.  Such  as  respect 
the  security  of  property. 


540  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I.  During  that  state  of  turbulence  and  disorder  which  the  corruption  of  the 
feudal  government  introduced  into  Europe,  personal  safety  was  the  first  and 
great  object  of  every  individual ;  and  as  the  great  military  barous  alone  were 
able  to  give  sufficient  protection  to  their  vassals,  this  was  one  great  source  of 
their  power  and  authority.  But,  by  the  institution  of  conimuuities,  effectual 
provision  was  made  for  the  safety  of  individuals,  independent  of  the  nobles. 
For,  1.  The  fundamental  article  in  every  charter  was,  that  all  the  members  of 
the  community  bound  themselves  by  oath  to  assist,  defend,  and  stand  by  each 
other  against  all  aggressors,  and  that  they  should  not  suffer  any  person  to 
injure,  distress,  or  molest  any  of  their  fellow-citizens.  D'Acher.  Spicil.  x.  642 ; 
xi.  341,  &c. — 2.  Whoever  resided  in  any  town  which  was  made  free,  was  obliged, 
under  a  severe  penalty,  to  accede  to  the  community,  and  to  take  part  in  the 
mutual  defence  of  its  members.  D'Acher.  Spic.  xi.  3i4. — 3.  The  communities 
had  the  privilege  of  carrying  arms ;  of  making  war  on  their  private  enemies ; 
and  of  executing  by  military  force  any  sentence  which  their  magistrates  pro- 
nounced. D'Acher.  Spicil.  x.  643,  644 ;  xi.  343. — 4.  The  practice  of  making 
satisfaction  by  a  pecuniary  compensation  for  murder,  assault,  or  other  acts  of 
violence,  most  inconsistent  with  the  order  of  society,  and  the  safety  of  indi- 
Tiduals,  was  abolished ;  and  such  as  committed  these  crimes  were  punished 
capitally,  or  with  rigour  adequate  to  their  guilt.  D'Acher.  xi.  362.  Mirsei 
Opera  Diplomatica,  i.  292. — 5.  No  member  of  a  community  was  bound  to 
justify  or  defend  himself  by  battle  or  combat ;  but,  if  he  was  charged  with  any 
crime,  he  could  be  convicted  only  by  the  evidence  of  witnesses,  and  the  regular 
course  of  legal  proceedings.  Mirseus,  ibid.  D'Acher.  xi.  375,  349.  Ordon. 
torn.  iii.  265. — 6.  If  any  man  suspected  himself  to  be  in  danger  from  the  mahce 
or  enmity  of  another,  upon  his  making  oath  to  that  effect  before  a  magistrate, 
the  person  suspected  was  bound  under  a  severe  penalty  to  give  security  for  his 
peaceable  behaviour.  D'Acher.  xi.  346.  This  is  the  same  species  of  security 
which  is  still  known  in  Scotland  under  the  name  of  la-w  burrows.  In  France 
it  was  first  introduced  among  the  inhabitants  of  communities,  and  having  been 
found  to  contribute  considerably  towards  personal  safety,  it  was  extended  to 
all  the  other  members  of  the  society.  Etablissemens  de  St.  Louis,  liv.  i.  cap.  28, 
ap.  Du  Cange,  Vie  de  St.  Louis,  p.  15. 

IL  The  provisions  in  the  charters  of  communities  concerning  the  security  of 
property,  are  not  less  considerable  than  those  respecting  personal  safety.  By 
the  ancient  law  of  France,  no  person  could  be  arrested  or  confined  in  prison  on 
account  of  any  private  debt.  Ordon.  des  Rois  de  France,  torn.  i.  p.  72,  80. 
If  any  person  was  arrested  upon  any  pretext  but  his  having  been  guilty  of  a 
capital  crime,  it  was  lawful  to  rescue  him  out  of  the  hands  of  the  officers  who 
had  seized  him.  Ordon.  iii.  p.  17-  Freedom  from  arrest,  on  account  of  debt, 
seems  likewise  to  have  been  enjoyed  in  other  countries.  Gudenus,  Sylloge 
Diplom.  473.  In  society,  while  it  remained  in  its  rudest  and  most  simple  form, 
debt  seems  to  have  been  considered  as  an  obligation  merely  personal.  Men  had 
made  some  progress  towards  refinement,  before  creditors  acquired  a  right  of 
seizing  the  property  of  their  debtors,  in  order  to  recover  payment.  The  expe- 
dients for  this  purpose  were  all  introduced  originally  in  communities,  and  we 
can  trace  the  gradual  progress  of  them.  1.  The  simplest  and  most  obvious 
species  of  security  was,  that  the  person  who  sold  any  commodity  should  receive 
a  pledge  from  him  who  bought  it,  which  he  restored  upon  receiving  payment.   Of 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  541 

this  custom  Ihere  are  vestiges  in  several  charters  of  community.  D'Acher. 
ix.  185  ;  xi.  377. — 2.  When  no  pledge  was  given,  and  the  debtor  became  refrac- 
tory or  insolvent,  the  creditor  was  allowed  to  seize  his  effects  with  a  strong 
band,  and  by  his  private  autiiority;  the  citizens  of  Paris  are  warranted  by  the 
royal  mandate,  "  ut  ubicunique,  et  quocumquc  modo  poterunt,  taiitum  capiant, 
unde  pecuniam  sibi  dcbitam  integre  et  plenarie  habcant,  et  indc  sibi  iiiviccni 
adjutores  existant."  Ordon.  &c.  torn.  i.  p.  6.  This  rude  practice,  suitable  only 
to  the  violence  of  that  which  has  been  called  a  state  of  nature,  was  tolerated 
longer  than  one  can  conceive  to  be  possible  in  any  society  where  laws  and  order 
were  at  all  known.  The  ordinance  authorizing  it  was  issued  a.d.  1134<;  and 
that  which  corrects  the  law,  and  prohibits  creditors  from  seizing  the  effects  of 
their  debtors,  unless  by  a  warrant  from  a  magistrate,  and  under  his  inspection, 
was  not  published  until  tlie  year  1351.  Ordon.  tom.  ii.  p.  43S.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  men  were  taught,  by  observing  the  disorders  which  the  former 
mode  of  proceeding  occasioned,  to  correct  it  in  practice  long  before  a  remedy 
was  provided  by  a  law  to  that  effect.  Every  discerning  reader  will  apply  this 
observation  to  many  other  customs  and  practices  which  I  have  mentioned. 
New  customs  are  not  always  to  be  ascribed  to  the  laws  which  authorize  them. 
Those  statutes  only  give  a  legal  sanction  to  such  things  as  the  experience  of 
mankind  has  previously  found  to  be  proper  and  beneficial. — 3.  As  soon  as  the 
interposition  of  the  magistrate  became  requisite,  regular  provision  was  made 
for  attacliing  or  distraining  the  moveable  effects  of  a  debtor ;  and  if  his  move- 
ables were  not  sufficient  to  discharge  the  debt,  his  immoveable  property,  or 
estate  in  land,  was  liable  to  the  same  distress,  and  was  sold  for  the  benefit  of 
his  creditor.  D'Acher.  ix.  pp.  lS4,i_lS5  ;  xi.  pp.  MS,  380.  As  tliis  regulation 
afforded  the  most  complete  security  to  the  creditor-,  it  was  considered  as  so 
severe,  that  humanity  pointed  out  several  limitations  in  the  execution  of  it. 
Creditors  were  prohibited  from  seizing  the  wearing  apparel  of  their  debtors, 
their  beds,  the  door  of  their  house,  their  instruments  of  husbandry,  &c. 
D'Acher.  ix.  p.  184;  xi.  p.  377.  Upon  the  same  principles,  when  the  power  of 
distraining  effects  became  more  general,  the  horse  and  arms  of  a  gentleman  could 
not  be  seized.  D'Acher.  ix.  p.  185.  As  hunting  was  the  favourite  amusement  of 
martial  nobles,  the  emperor  Ludovicus  Pius  prohibited  the  seizing  of  a  hawk  on 
account  of  any  composition  or  debt,  Capitul.  lib.  iv.  §  21.  Put  if  the  debtor  had 
no  other  moveables,  even  these  privileged  articles  might  be  seized. — 4.  In  order 
to  render  the  security  of  property  complete  within  a  community,  every  person 
who  was  admitted  a  member  of  it,  was  obliged  to  buy  or  build  a  house,  or  to 
purchase  lands  within  its  precincts,  or  at  least  to  bring  into  the  town  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  liis  moveables,  y;^?-  qua  justiciarl  possit,  si  quid  forte  in  eum 
qverelcP  evenci-it.  D'Acher.  xi.  p.  326.  Ordon.  i.  p.  367.  Libertates  S.  Georgii 
de  Esperanchia,  Hist,  de  Dauphine,  torn.  i.  p.  26. — 5.  That  security  might  be 
as  perfect  as  possible,  in  some  towns  the  members  of  the  community  seem  to 
have  been  bound  for  each  other.  DAclier.  x.  p.  644. — 6.  All  questions  with 
respect  to  property  were  tried  within  the  community,  by  magistrates  and  judges 
whom  the  citizens  elected  or  appointed.  Tiieir  decisions  were  more  equal  and 
fixed  than  the  sentences  which  depended  on  the  capricious  and  arbitrary  will  of 
a  baron,  who  thought  himself  superior  to  all  laws.  D'Acher.  x.  pp.  644,  646; 
xi.  p.  344,  et  passim.  Ordon.  iii.  p.  204. — 7.  No  member  of  a  community 
could  be  burdened  by  any  arbitrary  tax ;  for  the  superior  lord,  who  granted  the 


542  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

charter  of  community,  accepted  of  a  fixed  census  or  duty  in  lieu  of  all  demands. 
Ordon.  torn.  iii.  p.  204.     Libertatis  de  Calma,  Hist,  de  Dauphiue,  torn.  i.  p.  19. 
Libertates  S.  Georgii  de  Esperanchia,  ibid.  p.  26.     Nor  could  the  members  of  a 
community  be  distressed  by  an  unequal  imposition  of  the  sum  to  be  levied  on 
the  community.     Regulations  are  inserted  in  the  charters  of  some  communities, 
concerning  the  method  of  determining  tlie  quota  of  any  tax  to  be  levied  on  each 
inhabitant.    D'Ach.  xi.  pp.  350,  365.    St.  Louis  published  an  ordinance  concern- 
ing this  matter,  which  extended  to  all  the  communities.    Ordon.  tom.  i,  p.  186. 
These  regulations  are  extremely  favourable  to  liberty,  as  they  vest  the  power 
of  proportioning  the  taxes  in  a  certain  number  of  citizens  chosen  out  of  each 
parish,  who  were  bound,  by  solemn  oath,  to  decide  according  to  justice.     That 
the  more  perfect  security  of  property  was  one  great  object  of  those  who  insti- 
tuted communities,  we  learn,  not  only  from  the  nature  of  the  thing,  but  from 
the  express  words  of  several  charters,  of  which  I  shall  only  mention  that 
granted  by  Alienor,  queen  of  England  and  duchess  of  Guienne,  to  the  commu- 
nity of  Poitiers,  "ut  sua  propria  melius  defendere  possint,  et  magis  integre 
custodire."     Du  Cange,  voc.  Communia,  vol.  ii.  p.  863. — Such  are  some  of  the 
capital  regulations  established  in  communities  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries.    These  maybe  considered  as  the  first  expedients  for  the  re-establish- 
ment of  law  and  order,  and  contributed  greatly  to  introduce  regular  government 
among  all  the  members  of  society.     As  soon  as  communities  were  instituted, 
high  sentiments  of  liberty  began  to  manifest  themselves.    When  Humbert,  lord 
of  Beaujeu,  upon  granting  a  charter  of  community  to  the  town  of  Belleville, 
exacted  of  the  inhabitants  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  himself  and  successors,  they 
stipulated,  on  their  part,  that  he  should  swear  to  maintain  their  franchises  and 
liberties;  and,  for  their  greater  security,  they  obliged  him  to  bring  twenty 
gentlemen  to  take  the  same  oath,  and  to  be  bound  together  with  him.    D'Ach, 
ix.  p.  183.     In  the  same  manner,  the  lord  of  Morieus  in  Dauphine  produced  a 
certain  number  of  persons  as  his  sureties  for  the  observation  of  the  articles 
contained  in  the  charter  of  community  to  that  town.     These  were  bound  to 
surrender  themselves  prisoners  to  the  inhabitants  of  Morieus,  if  their  liege  lord 
should  violate  any  of  their  franchises,  and  they  promised  to  remain  in  custody 
until  he  should  grant  the  members  of  the  community  redress.  Hist,  de  Dauphine, 
tom.  i.  p.  17.     If  the  mayor  or  chief  magistrate  of  a  town  did  any  injury  to  a 
citizen,  he  was  obliged  to  give  security  for  his  appearance  in  judgment,  in  the 
same  manner  as  a  private  person :  and  if  cast,  was  liable  to  the  same  penalty. 
D'Acher.  ix.  p.  183.     These  are  ideas  of  equality  uncommon  in  the  feudal  times. 
Communities  were  so  favourable  to  freedom,  that  they  were  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  libertates.    Du  Cange,  vol.  ii.  p.  863.    They  were  at  first  extremely 
odious  to  the  nobles,  who  foresaw  what  a  check  they  must  prove  to  their  power 
and  domination.     Guibert,  abbot  of  Nogent,  calls  them  execrable  inventions, 
by  which,  contrary  to  law  and  justice,  slaves  withdrew  themselves  from  that 
obedience  which  they  owed  to  their  masters.     Du  Cange,  ibid.  p.  862.     The 
zeal  with  which  some  of  the  nobles  and  powerful  ecclesiastics  opposed  the 
establishment  of  communities,  and  endeavoured  to  circumscribe  their  privileges, 
was  extraordinary.     A  striking  instance  of  this  occurs  in  the  contests  between 
the  archbishop  of  Rheims  and  the  inhabitants  of  that  community.     It  was  the 
chief  business  of  every  archbishop,  during  a  considerable  time,  to  abridge  the 
rights  and  jurisdiction  of  the  community ;  and  the  great  object  of  the  citizens, 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  543 

especially  when  the  see  was  vacant,  to  maintain,  to  recover,  and  to  extend  their 
own  jurisdiction.  Histoire  Civile  et  Politique  de  la  ViUe  do  Reims,  par  M. 
Anquetil,  torn.  i.  p.  2S7,  &c. 

The  observatious  which  I  have  made  concerning  the  low  state  of  cities,  and 
the  condition  of  their  inhabitants,  are  confirmed  by  innumerable  passages  in 
the  historians  and  laws  of  the  middle  ages.  It  is  not  improbable,  however, 
that  some  cities  of  the  first  order  were  in  a  better  state,  and  enjoyed  a  superior 
degree  of  liberty.  Under  the  Roman  government,  the  municipal  government 
established  in  cities  was  extremely  favourable  to  liberty.  The  jurisdiction  of 
the  senate  in  each  corporation,  and  the  privileges  of  the  citizens,  were  both 
extensive.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  some  of  the  greater  cities,  which 
escaped  the  destructive  rage  of  the  barbarous  nations,  still  retained  their 
ancient  form  of  government,  at  least  in  a  great  measure.  They  were  governed 
by  a  council  of  citizens,  and  by  magistrates  whom  they  themselves  elected. 
Very  strong  presumptions  in  favour  of  this  opinion  are  produced  by  M.  I'Abbc 
de  Bos,  Hist.  Grit,  de  la  Mon.  Fran?.,  torn.  i.  p.  18,  &c.,  tom.  ii.  p.  524,  edit, 
1742.  It  appears  from  some  of  the  charters  of  community  to  cities,  granted 
in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  that  these  only  confirm  the  privileges 
possessed  by  the  inhabitants  previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  community. 
D'Acher.  Spicileg.  vol.  xi.  p.  345.  Other  cities  claimed  their  privileges,  as 
having  possessed  them  without  interruption  from  the  times  of  the  Romans. 
Hist.  Grit,  de  la  Mon.  Fran?,  tom.  ii.  p.  333.  But  the  number  of  cities  which 
enjoyed  such  immunities  was  so  small,  as  hardly,  in  any  degree,  to  diminish 
the  force  of  my  conclusions  in  the  text. 

[17],  iwge  29. — Having  given  a  full  account  of  the  establishment,  as  well  as 
effects  of  communities  in  Italy  and  France,  it  will  be  necessary  to  inquire,  with 
some  attention,  iuto  the  progress  of  cities  and  of  municipal  government  in  Ger- 
many. The  ancient  Germans  had  no  cities.  Even  in  their  hamlets  or  villages, 
they  did  not  build  their  houses  contiguous  to  each  other.  Tacit,  de  Mor.  Germ, 
eap.  16.  They  considered  it  as  a  badge  of  servitude,  to  be  obliged  to  dwell  in 
a  city  surrounded  with  walls.  When  one  of  their  tribes  had  shaken  off  the 
Roman  yoke,  their  eountiymen  required  of  them,  as  an  evidence  of  their 
having  recovered  liberty,  to  demolish  the  walls  of  a  town  which  the  Romans 
had  built  in  theii-  country.  Even  the  fiercest  animals,  said  they,  lose  their 
spirit  and  courage  when  they  are  confined.  Tacit.  Histor.  lib.  iv.  c.  04.  The 
Romans  built  several  cities  of  note  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  But  in  all  the 
vast  countries  from  that  river  to  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  there  was  hardly  one 
city  previous  to  the  ninth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  Conringius,  Exercitatio 
de  Urbibus  Germanise,  Oper.  vol.  \.  \\  25,  27,  31,  &c.  Heineccius  differs  from 
Conringius  with  respect  to  this.  But  even  after  allowing  to  his  arguments 
and  authorities  their  utmost  force,  they  prove  only,  that  there  were  a  few 
places  in  those  extensive  regions  on  which  some  historians  have  bestowed  the 
name  of  towns.  Elem.  Jur.  German,  lib.  i.  §  102.  Under  Charlemagne,  and 
the  emperors  of  his  family,  as  the  political  state  of  Germany  began  to  improve, 
several  cities  were  founded,  and  men  became  accustomed  to  associate  and  to 
live  together  in  one  place.  Charlemagne  founded  two  archbishoprics  and  nine 
bishoprics  in  the  most  considei-able  towns  of  Germany.  Aub.  Mirsei  Opera 
Diplomatica,  vol.  i.  p.  16.  His  successors  increased  the  number  of  these  ;  and 


544  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

as  bishops  fixed  their  residence  in  the  chief  town  of  their  diocese,  and  per- 
formed religious  functions  there,  that  induced  many  people  to  settle  in  them. 
Conring.  ibid.  §  48.     But  Henry,  surnamed  the  Fowler,  who  began  his  reign 
A.  D.  920,  must  be  considered  as  the  great  founder  of  cities  in  Germany.     The 
empire  was  at  that  time  infested  by  the  incursions  of  the  Hungarians  and  other 
barbarous  people.    In  order  to  oppose  them,  Henry  encouraged  his  subjects  to 
settle  in  cities,  which  he  surrounded  with  walls  strengthened  by  towers.     He 
enjoined  or  persuaded  a  certain  proportion  of  the  nobility  to  fix  their  residence 
in  the  towns,  and  thus  rendered  the  condition  of  citizens  more  honourable 
than  it  had  been  formerly.    Wittikiudus,  Annal.  lib.  i.  ap.  Conrig.  §  82.   From 
this  period,  the  number  of  cities  continued  to  increase,  and  they  became  more 
populous  and  more  wealthy.     But  cities  in  Germany  were  still  destitute  of 
municipal   liberty   or  jurisdiction.     Such   of  them  as  were  situated   in  the 
imperial  demesnes,  were  .subject  to  the  emperors.     Their  comites,  missi,  and 
other  judges,  presided  in  them,  and  dispensed  justice.     Towns  situated  on  the 
estate  of  a  baron  were  part  of  his  fief,  and  he  or  his  ofiicers  exercised  a  similar 
jurisdiciion  in  them.  Conring.  ibid.  §§  73,  74.  Heinec.  Elem.  Jur.  Germ.  lib.  i. 
\  104.     The  Germans    borrowed  the  institution  of   communities   from  the 
Italians.      Knipschildius,     Traetatus   Polilico-Histor.    Jurid.    de    Civitatum 
Imperialium  Juribus,  vol.  i.  lib.  i.  cap.  5,  No.  23.     Frederick  Barbarossa  was 
the  first  emperor  who,  from  tlie  same  political  consideration  that  iufiueneed 
Louis  le  Gros,  multiplied  communities,  in  order  to  abridge  the  power  of  the 
nobles,     Pfeffel,  Abrege  de  I'Histoire  et  du  Droit  Publique  d'AUemagne,  4to. 
p.  297.     From  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Fowler,  to  the  time  when  the  German 
cities    acquired    full  possession  of  their   immunities,    various    circumstances 
contributed    to  their  increase.      The   establishment    of  bishoprics    (already 
mentioned),  and  the  building  of  cathedrals,  naturally  induced  many  people  to 
settle  near  the  chief  place  of  worship.     It  became  the  custom  to  hold  councils 
and  courts  of  judicature  of  every  kind,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil,  in  cities. 
In  the  eleventh  century,  many  slaves  were  enfranchised,  the  greater  part  of 
whom    settled   in  cities.      Several   mines  were   discovered   and  wrought   in 
different  provinces,  which  drew  together  such  a  concourse  of  people,  as  gave 
rise   to   several  cities,   and    increased  the  number  of  inhabitants  in  others. 
Conring.  §  105.     The  cities  began,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  to  form  leagues 
for  their  mutual  defence,  and  for  repressing  the  disorders  occasioned  by  the 
private  wars  among  the  barons,  as  well  as  by  their  exactions.     This  rendered 
the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  cities  more  secure  than  that  of  any  other 
order  of  men,  and  allured  many  to  become  members  of  their  communities. 
Conring.  §  94.     There  were  inhabitants  of  three  difi'erent  ranks  in  the  towns 
of  Germany:  the  nobles,  ovfamilup;  the  citizens,  or  liberi ;  and  the  artisans, 
who  were  slaves,  or   homines  proprii ;    Kuipschild.  lib.  ii.  cap.  29,  No.  13. 
Henry  V.,  who  began  his  reign  a.  d.  1100,  enfranchised  the  slaves  who  were 
artisans  or  inhabitants  in  several  towns,  and  gave  them  the  rank  of  citizens  or 
liberi.     Pfeff'el,  p.  254.     Knipsch.  lib.  ii.  c.  29.  Nos.  113,  119.     Though  the 
cities  in  Germany  did  not  acquire  liberty  so  early  as  those  in  France,  they 
extended  their  privileges  much  farther.     All  the   imperial  and  free  cities,  the 
number  of  which  is  considerable,  acquired  the  full  right  of  being  immediate  ; 
by  which  term,  in  the  German  jurisprudence,  we  are  to  understand,  that  they 
are  subject  to  the  empire  alone,  and  possess  within  their  own  precincts  all  the 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  545 

lights  of  complete  and  independent  sovereignty.  The  varions  privileges  of  (he 
imperial  cities,  the  great  guardians  of  the  Germanic  liberties,  are  enumerated 
by  Knipscliild.  lib.  ii.  The  most  important  articles  are  generally  known,  and 
it  would  be  improper  to  enter  into  any  disquisition  concerning  minute 
particulars. 

[IS],  page  29.— The  Spanish  historians  arc  almost  entirely  silent  concerning 
the  origin  and  progress  of  communities  in  that  kingdom  ;  so  that  1  cannot  fix, 
with  any  degree  of  certainty,  the  time  and  manner  of  their  first  introduction 
there.  It  appears,  however,  from  Mariana,  vol.  ii.  p.  221,  fol.  Hagse,  1736, 
that  in  the  year  1350,  eighteen  cities  had  obtained  a  seat  in  the  cortes  of 
Castile.  From  the  account  which  is  given  of  their  constitution  and  preten- 
sions, Sect.  III.  of  this  volume,  it  will  appear  that  their  privileges  and  form 
of  government  were  the  same  with  those  of  the  other  feudal  corporations  ; 
and  this,  as  well  as  the  perfect  similarity  of  political  institutions  and  transac- 
tions in  all  the  feudal  kingdoms,  may  lead  us  to  conclude,  that  communities 
were  introduced  there  in  the  same  manner,  and  probably  about  the  same  time, 
as  in  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  In  Aragon,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  observe 
in  a  subsequent  note,  cities  seem  early  to  have  acquired  extensive  immunities, 
together  with  a  share  in  the  legislature.  In  the  year  1118,  the  citizens  of 
Saragossa  had  not  only  attained  political  liberty,  but  they  were  declared  to  be 
of  equal  rank  with  the  nobles  of  the  second  class  ;  and  many  other  immunities, 
unknown  to  persons  in  their  rank  of  life  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  were  con- 
ferred upon  them.  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  torn.  i.  p.  44.  In  England,  the 
establishment  of  communities  or  corporations  was  posterior  to  the  conquest. 
The  practice  was  borrowed  from  France,  and  the  privileges  granted  by  the 
crown  were  perfectly  similar  to  those  which  I  have  enumerated.  But  as  this 
part  of  history  is  well  known  to  most  of  my  readers,  I  shall,  without  entering 
into  any  critical  or  minute  discussion,  refer  tiiem  to  authors  who  have  fully 
illustrated  this  interesting  point  in  the  English  history.  Brady's  Treatise  of 
Boroughs.  Madox,  Firma  Burgi,  cap.  i.  sect.  ix.  Hume's  History  of  England, 
vol.  i.  Append,  i.  and  ii.  It  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  the  towns  in 
England  were  formed  into  corporations  under  the  Saxon  kings,  and  that  the 
charters  granted  by  the  kings  of  the  Norman  race  were  not  charters  of 
enfranchisement  from  a  state  of  slavery,  but  a  confirmation  of  privileges  which 
they  already  enjoyed.  See  Lord  Lyttelton's  History  of  Henry  II.  vol.  ii. 
p.  317.  The  English  cities,  however,  were  very  inconsiderable  in  the  twelfth 
century.  A  clear  proof  of  this  occurs  in  the  history  to  which  I  last  referred. 
Fitzstephen,  a  contemporary  author,  gives  a  description  of  the  city  of  London 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  and  the  terms  in  which  he  speaks  of  its  trade,  its 
wealth,  and  the  splendour  of  its  inhabitants,  would  suggest  no  inadequate  idea 
of  its  state  at  present,  when  it  is  the  greatest  and  most  opulent  city  of  Europe. 
But  all  ideas  of  grandeur  and  magnificence  are  merely  comparative  ;  and  every 
description  of  them  in  general  terms  is  very  apt  to  deceive.  It  appears  from 
Peter  of  Blois,  archdeacon  of  London,  who  flourished  in  the  same  reign,  and 
who  had  good  opportunity  of  being  well  informed,  that  this  city,  of  which 
Fitzstephen  gives  such  a  pompous  account,  contained  no  more  than  forty 
thousand  inhabitants.  Ibid.  pp.  315,  316.  The  other  cities  were  small  in 
proportion,  and  were  not  in  a  eondilion  to  extort  any  extensive  privileges. 
That  the  constitution  of  the  boroughs  in  Scotland,  in  many  circumstances, 
VOL.  I.  N  N 


546  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

resembled  that  of  the  towns  in  rrance  and  England,  is  manifest  from  the 
Leges  Burgorum,  annexed  to  the  Regiam  Majestateni. 

[19],  page  33.  — Soon  after  the  introduction  of  the  third  estate  into  the 
national  council,  the  spirit  of  liberty  which  that  excited  in  France  began  to 
produce  conspicuous  effects.  In  several  provinces  of  France  the  nobility  and 
communities  formed  associations,  whereby  they  bound  themselves  to  defend  their 
rights  and  piivileges  against  the  formidable  and  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  king. 
The  count  de  Boulaiuvilliers  has  preserved  a  copy  of  one  of  these  associations, 
dated  in  the  year  1314,  twelve  years  after  the  admission  of  the  deputies  from 
towns  into  the  states-general.  Histoire  de  I'ancien  Gouvernement  de  la  France, 
tom.  ii.  p.  94.  The  vigour  with  which  the  people  asserted  and  prepared  to 
maintain  their  rights,  obliged  their  sovereigns  to  respect  them.  Six  years  after 
this  association,  Philip  the  Long  issued  a  writ  of  summons  to  the  community 
of  Narbouue,  in  the  following  terms  : — "  Philip,  by  the  grace,  &c.  to  our  well- 
beloved,  &c.  As  we  desire  with  all  our  heart,  and  above  all  other  things,  to 
govern  our  kingdom  and  people  in  peace  and  tranquillity,  by  the  help  of  God  ;  and 
to  reform  our  said  kingdom  in  so  far  as  it  stands  in  need  thereof,  for  the  public 
good,  and  for  the  benefit  of  our  subjects,  who  in  times  past  have  been  aggrieved 
and  oppressed  in  divers  manners  by  the  malice  of  sundry  persons,  as  we  have 
learned  by  common  report,  as  well  as  by  the  information  of  good  men  worthy 
of  credit,  and  we  having  determined  in  our  council  which  we  have  called  to 
meet  in  our  good  city,  &c.,  to  give  redress  to  the  utmost  of  our  power,  by  all 
ways  and  means  possible,  according  to  reason  and  justice,  and  willing  that  this 
should  be  done  with  solemnity  and  deliberation  by  the  advice  of  the  prelates, 
barons,  and  good  towns  of  our  realm,  and  particularly  of  you,  and  that  it  should 
be  transacted  agreeably  to  the  will  of  God,  and  for  the  good  of  our  people, 
therefore  we  command,"  &e.  Mably,  Observat.  ii.  App.  p.  3S6.  I  shall  allow 
these  to  be  only  the  formal  words  of  a  public  and  legal  style ;  but  the  ideas 
are  singular,  and  much  more  liberal  and  enlarged  than  one  could  expect  in  that 
age.  A  popular  monarch  of  Great  Britain  could  hardly  address  himself  to 
parliament  in  terms  more  favourable  to  public  liberty.  There  occurs  in  the 
history  of  France  a  striking  instance  of  the  progress  which  the  principles  of 
liberty  had  made  iu  that  kingdom,  and  of  the  iniluence  which  the  deputies  of 
towns  had  acquired  in  the  states-general.  During  the  calamities  in  which  the 
war  with  England,  and  the  captivity  of  King  John,  had  involved  France,  the 
states-general  made  a  bold  effort  to  extend  their  own  privileges  and  jurisdiction. 
The  regulations  established  by  the  states,  held  a.  b.  1355,  concerning  the  mode 
of  levying  taxes,  the  administration  of  which  they  vested  not  in  the  crown,  but 
in  commissioners  appointed  by  the  states ;  concerning  the  coining  of  money  ; 
concerning  the  redress  of  the  grievance  of  purveyance  ;  concerning  the  regular 
administration  of  justice  ;  are  much  more  suitable  to  the  genius  of  a  republican 
government,  than  that  of  a  feudal  monarchy.  This  curious  statute  is 
published,  Ordon.  tom.  iii.  p.  19.  Such  as  have  not  an  opportunity  to  consult 
timt  large  collection,  will  find  an  abridgement  of  it  in  Hist,  de  France  par 
Villaret,  tom.  ix.  p.  130,  or  ui  Histoire  de  Boulainv.  tom.  ii.  p.  213.  The 
French  historians  represent  the  bishop  of  Laon,  and  Marcel,  provost  of  the 
merchants  of  Paris,  who  had  the  chief  direction  of  this  assembly,  as  seditious 
tribunes,  violent,  interested,  ambitious,  and  aiming  at  innovations  subversive 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  647 

of  the  constitution  and  f^overnmcnt  of  their  country.  That  may  have  been  the 
case  ;  but  these  mcu  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  people  ;  and  the  measures 
which  they  proposed  as  the  most  popular  and  acccptal)lc,  as  well  as  most  likely 
to  increase  their  own  influence,  plainly  prove  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  had 
spread  wonderfully,  and  that  the  ideas  which  then  prevailed  in  France  con- 
cerning government  were  extremely  liberal.  The  states-general  held  at  Paris 
A.  D.  1355,  consisted  of  about  eight  hundred  members,  and  above  one-half  of 
these  were  deputies  from  towns.  M.  Secousse,  Pref.  a  Ordon.  torn.  iii.  p.  48. 
It  appears  that  in  all  the  different  assemblies  of  the  states,  held  during  the 
reign  of  John,  the  representatives  of  towns  had  great  influence,  and  in  every 
respect  tlie  third  state  was  considered  as  co-ordinate  and  equal  to  either  of  the 
other  two.  lb.  passim.  These  spirited  efforts  were  made  in  France  long  before 
the  House  of  Commons  in  England  acquired  any  considerable  influence  in  the 
legislature.  As  the  feudal  system  was  carried  to  its  utmost  height  in  France 
sooner  than  in  England,  so  it  began  to  decline  sooner  in  the  former  than  in  the 
latter  kingdom.  In  England,  almost  all  attempts  to  establish  or  to  extend 
the  liberty  of  the  people  have  been  successful ;  in  France  they  have  proved 
unfortunate.  What  were  the  accidental  events,  or  political  causes,  which 
occasioned  this  difference,  it  is  not  my  present  business  to  inquire. 

[20],  j5«^.?  35. — In  a  former  note  (No.  8)  I  have  inquired  into  the  condition 
of  that  part  of  the  people  which  was  employed  in  agriculture ;  and  have  repre- 
sented the  various  hardships  and  calamities  of  their  situation.  When  charters 
of  liberty  or  manumission  were  granted  to  such  persons,  they  contained  four 
concessions  corresponding  to  the  four  capital  grievances  to  which  men  in  a 
state  of  servitude  are  subject.  1.  The  right  of  disposing  of  their  persons  by 
sale  or  grant  was  relinquished.  2.  Power  was  given  to  them  of  conveying  their 
property  and  effects  by  will  or  any  other  legal  deed.  Or  if  they  happened  to 
die  intestate,  it  was  provided  that  their  property  should  go  to  their  lawful 
heirs  in  the  same  manner  as  the  property  of  other  persons.  3.  The  services 
and  taxes  which  they  owed  to  their  superior  or  liege  lord,  which  were  formerly 
arbitrary  and  imposed  at  pleasure,  are  precisely  ascertained.  4.  They  are 
allowed  the  privilege  of  marrying  according  to  their  own  inclination ;  formerly 
they  could  contract  no  marriage  without  their  lord's  permission,  and  with  no 
person  but  one  of  his  slaves.  All  these  particulars  are  found  united  in  the 
charter  granted  "  Habitatoribus  Montis  Britonis,"  a.d.  13G7.  Hist,  de 
Dauphiue,  tom.  i.  p.  81.  Many  circumstances  concurred  with  those  which  I 
have  mentioned  in  the  text  in  procuring  them  deliverance  from  that  wretched 
state.  The  gentle  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion;  the  doctrines  which  it 
teaches,  concerning  the  original  equality  of  mankind ;  its  tenets  with  respect 
to  the  divine  government,  and  the  impartial  eye  with  which  the  Almighty 
regards  men  of  every  condition,  and  admits  them  to  a  participation  of  his 
benefits,  are  all  inconsistent  with  servitude.  But  in  this,  as  in  many  other 
instances,  considerations  of  interest,  and  the  maxims  of  false  policy,  led  men 
to  a  conduct  inconsistent  with  their  principles.  They  were  so  sensible,  however, 
of  this  inconsistency,  that  to  set  their  fellow-Christians  at  liberty  from  servi- 
tude was  deemed  an  act  of  piety  highly  meritorious  and  acceptable  to  Heaven. 
The  humane  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion  struggled  long  with  the  maxims 
and  manners  of  the  world,  and  contributed  more  than  any  other  circumstance  to 

N  N  2 


548  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

introduce  the  practice  of  manumission.  When  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  wlio 
flourished  toward  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  granted  liberty  to  some  of 
his  slaves,  he  gives  this  reason  for  it :  "  Cum  Redemptor  noster,  totius  conditor 
natura;,  ad  hoc  propitiatus  humauam  carnem  voluerit  assumere,  ut  divinitatis 
suae  gratia,  dirempto  (quo  tencbamur  captivi)  vinculo,  pristinse  nos  restitueret 
libertati;  salubriter  agitur,  si  homines,  quos  ab  initio  liberos  natura  protulit, 
ct  jus  gentium  jugo  substituit  servitutis,  in  ca,  qua  nati  fuerant,  manumit- 
tentis  beueficio,  libertati  reddantur."  Gregor.  Magn.  ap.  Potgiess.  lib.  iv.  c.  1, 
§  3.  Several  laws  or  charters  founded  on  reasons  similar  to  this  are  produced 
by  the  same  author.  Accordingly,  a  great  part  of  the  charters  of  manumission, 
previous  to  the  reign  of  Louis  X.,  are  granted  "  pro  amore  Dei,  pro  remedio 
animse,  et  pro  mercede  anima;."  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  i.  pp.  849,  850. 
Du  Gauge,  voc.  Maimmissio.  The  formality  of  manumission  was  executed  in  a 
church,  as  a  religious  solemnity.  The  person  to  be  set  free  was  led  round 
the  great  altar  with  a  torch  in  his  hand,  he  took  hold  of  the  horns  of  the  altar, 
and  there  the  solemn  words  conferring  liberty  were  pronounced.  Du  Cange, 
ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  467.  I  shall  transcribe  a  part  of  a  charter  of  manumission, 
granted  a.d.  105G ;  both  as  it  contains  a  full  account  of  the  ceremonies  used 
m  this  form  of  manumission,  and  as  a  specimen  of  the  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  Latin  tongue  in  that  barbarous  age.  It  is  granted  by  Willa,  the  widow  of 
Hugo,  the  duke  and  marquis,  in  favour  of  Clariza,  one  of  her  slaves.  "  Et 
ideo  nos  Domine  Wille  indite  cometisse— libera  et  absolvo  te  Cleriza  filia 
Uberto — pro  timore  omnipotentis  Dei,  et  remedio  luminarie  auime  bone  memorie 
quondam  supra  scripto  Domini  Ugo  gloriossissimo,  ut  quando  ilium  Dominus 
de  hac  vita  migrare  jusserit,  pars  iniqua  non  abeat  potestatem  ullam,  sed 
anguelus  Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  colocare  dignitur  ilium  inter  sanctos 
dilectos  suos ;  et  beatus  Petrus  princips  apostolorum,  qui  habed  potestatem 
omnium  animarum  ligandi  et  absolvendi,  ut  ipsi  absolvat  animse  ejus  de 
peccatis  sui,  aperiad  ilium  janua  paradisi;  pro  eadem  vero  rationi,  in  mauo 
mite  te,  Benzo  presbiter,  ut  vadat  tecum  in  ecclesia  sancti  Bartholomsei  apostoli ; 
traad  de  tribus  vicibus  circa  altare  ipsius  ecclesia;  cum  ccereo  apprehensum  in 
manibus  tuis  et  manibus  suis;  deinde  exite  ambulate  in  via  quadrubio,  ubi  quatuor 
vie  se  dividuntur.  Statimque  pro  remedio  luminarie  anime  bone  memorie  quon- 
dam supra  scripto  Domini  Ugo  et  ipsi  presbiter  Benzo  fecit  omnia,  et  dixit,  Ecce 
quatuor  vie,  ite  et  ambulate  in  quacunque  partem  tibi  placuerit,  tam  sic  supra 
scripta  Cleriza,  qua  nosque  tui  heredes,  qui  ab  ac  hora  in  antea  nati,  vel 
procreati  fuerit  utriusque  sexus,"  &c.  Murat.  ibid.  p.  853.  Many  other 
charters  miglit  have  been  selected,  which,  in  point  of  grammar  or  style,  are  in 
nowise  superior  to  this.  Manumission  was  frequently  granted  on  death-bed 
or  by  latter  will.  As  the  minds  of  men  are  at  that  time  awakened  to  sentiments 
of  humanity  and  piety,  these  deeds  proceeded  from  religious  motives,  and  were 
granted  pro  redemptione  animce,  in  order  to  obtain  acceptance  with  God. 
Du  Cange,  ubi  supra,  p.  470,  et  voc.  Servus,  vol.  vi.  p.  451.  Another  method 
of  obtaining  liberty  was  by  entering  into  holy  orders,  or  taking  the  vow  in 
a  monastery.  This  was  permitted  for  some  time,  but  so  many  slaves  escaped, 
by  this  means,  out  of  the  hands  of  their  masters,  that  the  practice  was 
afterwards  restrained,  and  at  last  prohibited  by  tlie  laws  of  almost  all  the 
nations  of  Europe.  Murat.  ibid.  p.  842.  Conformably  to  t!ie  same  principles, 
princes,  on  the  birth  of  a  son,  or  upon  any  other  agreeable  event,  appointed 


i 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  549 

a  certain  number  of  slaves  to  be  enfranchised,  as  a  testimony  of  their  gratitude 
to  God  for  that  beiicGt.  Marculfi  Form.  lib.  i.  cap.  39.  There  are  several  forms 
of  manumission  published  by  Marculfus,  and  all  of  them  arc  founded  ou 
religious  considerations,  in  order  to  procure  the  favour  of  God,  or  to  obtain  the 
forgiveness  of  their  sins.  Lib.  ii.  c.  23,  33,  31,  edit.  Baluz.  The  same  obser- 
vation holds  with  respect  to  the  otlier  collections  of  Formulaj  annexed  to 
Marculfus.  As  sentiments  of  religion  induced  some  to  grant  liberty  to  their 
fellow-Christians  who  groaned  under  the  yoke  of  servitude,  so  mistaken  ideas 
concerning  devotion  led  others  to  relinquish  their  liberty.  When  a  person 
conceived  an  extraordinary  respect  for  the  saint  who  was  the  patron  of  any 
church  or  monastery  in  which  he  was  accustomed  to  attend  religious  worship, 
it  was  not  unusual  among  men  possessed  with  an  excess  of  superstitious 
reverence,  to  give  up  themselves  and  their  posterity  to  be  the  slaves  of  the 
saint.  Mabillon,  De  Re  Diplomat,  lib.  vi.  632.  The  oblaii,  or  voluntary  slaves 
of  churches  or  monasteries,  were  very  numerous,  and  may  be  divided  into  three 
different  classes.  The  first  were  such  as  put  themselves  and  effects  under  the 
protection  of  a  particular  church  or  monastery,  binding  themselves  to  defend 
its  privileges  and  property  against  every  aggressor.  These  were  prompted  to 
do  so  not  merely  by  devotion,  but  in  order  to  obtain  that  security  which  arose 
from  the  protection  of  the  church.  They  were  rather  vassals  than  slaves ;  and 
sometimes  persons  of  noble  birth  found  it  prudent  to  secure  the  protection  of 
the  church  in  this  manner.  Persons  of  the  second  class  bound  themselves  to 
pay  an  annual  tax  or  quit-rent  out  of  their  estates  to  a  church  or  monastery.  Be- 
sides this,  they  sometimes  engaged  to  perform  certain  services.  They  were  called 
cenmales.  The  last  class  consisted  of  such  as  actually  renounced  their  liberty,  and 
became  slaves  in  the  strict  and  proper  sense  of  the  word.  These  were  called 
minister iales,  and  enslaved  their  bodies,  as  some  of  the  charters  bear,  that  they 
might  procure  the  liberty  of  their  souls.  Potgiesserus,  De  Statu  Servorum, 
lib.  i.  cap.  i.  §§  6,  7.  How  zealous  the  clergy  were  to  encourage  the  opinions 
which  led  to  this  practice,  will  appear  from  a  clause  in  a  charter  by  which  one 
gives  up  himself  as  a  slave  to  a  monastery.  "  Cum  sit  omni  earnali  ingcnui- 
tate  generosius  extremum  quodeumque  Dei  servitium,  scilicet  quod  lerrena 
uobilitas  multos  plerumque  vitiorum  servos  facit,  servitus  vero  Christi  nobilcs 
virtutibus  reddit,  nemo  autem  saui  capitis  virtutibus  vitia  comparaverit,  claret 
pro  certo  eum  esse  generosiorem,  qui  se  Dei  servitio  pra;buerit  proniorem. 
Quod  ego  Ragnaldus  intelligens,"  &c.  Another  charter  is  expressed  in  the 
following  words :  "  Eligeus  magis  esse  servus  Dei  quam  libertus  saculi,  firmiter 
credens  et  scieus,  quod  servire  Deo,  regnare  est,  summaque  ingenuitas  sit  in 
qua  servitus  eomparabatur  Christi,"  &c.  Du  Cange,  voc.  Oblatus,  vol.  iv. 
pp.  1280,  1287.  Great,  however,  as  the  power  of  religion  was,  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  enfranchisement  of  slaves  was  a  frequent  practice  while  the 
feudal  system  preserved  its  vigour.  Ou  the  contrary,  there  were  laws  which 
set  bounds  to  it  as  detrimental  to  society.  Potgiess.  lib.  iv.  c.  2,  §  6.  The 
inferior  order  of  men  owed  the  recovery  of  their  liberty  to  the  decline  of  that 
aristoeratical  policy  which  lodged  the  most  extensive  power  in  the  hands  of  a 
few  members  of  the  society,  and  depressed  all  the  rest.  When  Louis  X.  issued 
his  ordinance,  several  slaves  had  been  so  long  accustomed  to  servitude,  and 
their  minds  were  so  much  debased  by  that  unhappy  situation,  that  they  refused 
to  accept  of  the  liberty  which  was  offered  them.     D'Acher.  S]ucil.  vol.  xi. 


550  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

p.  387.  Long  after  the  reign  of  Louis  X.  several  of  the  Erencli  nobility 
continued  to  assert  their  ancient  dominion  over  their  slaves.  It  appears,  from 
an  ordinance  of  the  famous  Bertrand  de  Gueselin,  constable  of  France,  that 
the  custom  of  enfranchising  them  was  considered  as  a  pernicious  imiovation. 
Morice,  Mem.  pour  servir  de  Preuves  a  I'Hist.  de  Bret.  torn.  ii.  p.  100.  In 
some  instances,  when  the  prsedial  slaves  were  declared  to  be  freemen,  they  were 
still  bound  to  perform  certain  services  to  their  ancient  masters ;  and  were  kept 
in  a  state  different  from  other  subjects,  being  restricted  either  from  purchasing 
land,  or  becoming  members  of  a  community  within  the  precincts  of  the  manor 
to  wliich  they  formerly  belonged.  Martene  et  Durand,  Thesaur.  Anecdot. 
vol.  i.  p.  914.  This,  however,  seems  not  to  have  been  common. — There  is 
no  general  law  for  the  manumission  of  slaves  in  the  statute-book  of  England, 
similar  to  that  which  has  been  quoted  from  the  ordonnances  of  the  kings  of 
Prance.  Though  the  genius  of  the  English  constitution  seems  early  to  have 
favoured  personal  liberty,  personal  servitude,  nevertheless,  continued  long  in 
England  in  some  particular  places.  In  the  year  1514,  we  find  a  charter  of 
Henry  VIII.  enfranchising  two  slaves  belonging  to  one  of  his  manors.  Rym, 
Feeder,  vol.  xiii.  p.  470.  As  late  as  the  year  1574,  there  is  a  commission  from 
Queen  Elizabeth  with  respect  to  the  manumission  of  certain  bondmen  belonging 
to  her.    Rymer,  in  Observat.  on  the  Statutes,  &c.  p.  251. 

[  21],  page  40. — There  is  no  custom  in  the  middle  ages  more  singular  than 
that  of  private  war.  It  is  a  right  of  so  great  importance,  and  prevailed  so 
universally,  that  the  regulations  concerning  it  occupy  a  considerable  place  in  the 
system  of  laws  during  the  middle  ages.  M.  de  Montesquieu,  who  has  unravelled 
so  many  intricate  points  in  feudal  jurisprudence,  and  thrown  light  on  so  many 
customs  formerly  obscure  and  unintelligible,  was  not  led  by  his  subject  to 
consider  this.  I  shall  therefore  give  a  more  minute  account  of  the  customs 
and  regulations  which  directed  a  practice  so  contrary  to  the  present  ideas  of 
civilized  nations  concerning  government  and  order.  1.  Among  the  ancient 
Germans,  as  well  as  other  nations  in  a  similar  state  of  society,  the  right  of 
avenging  injuries  was  a  private  and  personal  right  exercised  by  force  of  arms, 
without  any  reference  to  an  umpire,  or  any  appeal  to  a  magistrate  for  decision. 
The  clearest  proofs  of  this  were  produced,  Note  6.-2.  This  practice  subsisted 
among  the  barbarous  nations,  after  their  settlement  in  the  provinces  of  the 
empire  which  they  conquered ;  and  as  the  causes  of  dissension  am.ong  them 
multiplied,  their  family  feuds  and  private  wars  became  more  frequent.  Proofs 
of  this  occur  in  their  early  l;istorians.  Greg.  Turon.  Hist.  liv.  vii.  c.  2,  lib.  viii. 
c.  18,  lib.  X.  c.  27,  and  likewise  in  the  codes  of  their  laws.  It  was  not  only 
allowable  for  the  relations  to  avenge  the  injuries  of  their  family,  but  it  was 
incumbent  on  them.  Thus,  by  the  laws  of  the  Angli  and  Werini,  "ad  quem- 
cunque  hereditas  terrae  pervenerit,  ad  ilhim  vestis  bellica,  id  est  lorica  et  ultio 
proxitni,  et  solatio  leudis,  debet  pertinere,"  tit.  vi.  §  5,  ap.  Lindenbr.  Leg. 
Saliq.  tit.  63.  Leg.  Longob.  lib.  ii.  tit.  14,  §  10.— 3.  None  but  gentlemen, 
or  persons  of  noble  birth,  had  the  right  of  private  war.  All  disputes  between 
slaves,  villani,  the  inhabitants  of  towns,  and  freemen  of  inferior  condition, 
were  decided  in  the  courts  of  justice.  All  disputes  between  gentlemen  and 
persons  of  inferior  rank  were  terminated  in  tlie  same  raannner.  The  right  of 
private  war  supposed  nobility  of  birth,  and  equality  of  rank,  in  both  the  con- 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  551 

tending  parties.  Beaumanoir,  Coustumes  de  Beauv.  eh.  lis.  p.  300.  Ordon. 
des  Rois  de  Prance,  torn.  ii.  p.  395,  §  xvii.  p.  508,  §  xv.  &c.  The  dignified  ecclesi- 
astics likewise  claimed  and  exercised  tlic  right  of  private  war;  but,  as  it  was 
not  altogether  decent  for  them  to  prosecute  quarrels  in  person,  advocati  or 
vidames  were  chosen  by  the  several  monasteries  and  bishoprics.  These  were 
commonly  men  of  high  rank  and  reputation,  who  became  the  protectors  of  the 
churches  and  convents  by  which  they  were  elected ;  espoused  their  quarrels, 
and  fought  their  battles ;  "  armis  omnia  qufc  erant  ecelcsiffi  viriliter  defendc- 
bant,  et  vigilauter  protegebant."  Brusscl,  Usage  des  Fiefs,  torn.  i.  p.  li'i. 
Du  Gauge,  voc.  Advocatus.  On  many  occasions,  the  martial  ideas  to  which 
ecclesiastics  of  noble  birth  were  accustomed,  made  them  forget  the  pacific 
spirit  of  their  profession,  and  led  them  into  the  field  in  person,  at  the  head  of 
their  vassals,  "flamraa,  ferro,  csede,  posscssiones  ecclesiarum  prrclati  defende- 
bant."  Guido  Abbas,  ap.  Du  Cange,  ib.  p.  179. — 4.  It  was  not  every  injury 
or  trespass  that  gave  a  gentleman  a  title  to  make  war  upon  his  adversary. 
Atrocious  acts  of  violence,  insults,  and  afifrouts,  publicly  committed,  were 
legal  and  permitted  motives  for  taking  arms  against  the  authors  of  them. 
Such  crimes  as  are  now  punished  capitally  in  civilized  nations,  at  that  time 
justified  private  hostilities.  Beauman.  ch.  lix.  Du  Gauge,  Dissert,  xxix.  sur 
Joinville,  p.  331.  But,  though  the  avenging  of  injuries  was  the  only  motive 
that  could  legally  authorize  a  private  war,  yet  disputes  concerning  civil  pro- 
perty often  gave  rise  to  hostilities,  and  were  terminated  by  the  sword.  Du 
Gauge,  Dissert,  p.  332. — 5.  All  persons  present,  when  any  quarrel  arose,  or 
any  act  of  violence  was  committed,  were  included  in  the  war  which  it  occa- 
sioned ;  for  it  was  supposed  to  be  impossible  for  any  man  in  such  a  situation 
to  remain  neuter,  without  taking  side  with  one  or  other  of  the  contending 
parties.  Beauman.  p.  300. — 6.  All  the  kindred  of  the  two  principals  in  the 
war  were  included  in  it,  and  obliged  to  espouse  the  quarrel  of  the  chieftain 
with  whom  they  were  connected.  Du  Gauge,  ibid.  332.  This  was  founded  on 
the  maxim  of  the  ancient  Germans,  "  suseipere  tarn  inimieitias  sen  patris,  seu 
propinqui,  quam  amicitias,  necesse  est;"  a  maxim  natural  to  all  rude  nations, 
among  which  the  form  of  society,  and  political  union,  strengthen  such  a  senti- 
ment. This  obligation  was  enforced  by  legal  authority.  If  a  person  refused 
to  take  part  in  the  quarrel  of  his  kinsman,  and  to  aid  him  against  his  adver- 
sary, he  was  deemed  to  have  renounced  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  kiur 
dredship,  and  became  incapable  of  succeeding  to  any  of  his  relations,  or  of 
deriving  any  benefit  from  any  civil  right  or  property  belonging  to  them.  Du 
Gauge,  Dissert,  p.  333.  The  method  of  ascertaining  the  degree  of  affinity 
which  obliged  a  person  to  take  part  in  the  quarrel  of  a  kinsman,  was  curious. 
While  the  church  prohibited  the  marriage  of  persons  within  the  seventh  degree 
of  affinity,  the  vengeance  of  private  war  extended  as  far  as  this  absurd  prohibi- 
tion, and  all  who  had  such  a  remote  connexion  with  any  of  the  principals  were 
involved  in  the  calamities  of  war.  But  when  the  church  relaxed  somewhat  of 
its  rigour,  and  did  not  extend  its  prohibition  of  marrying  beyond  the  fourth 
degree  of  aflanity,  the  same  restriction  took  place  in  the  conduct  of  private 
war.  Beauman.  303.  Du  Gauge,  Dissert.  333. — 7.  A  private  war  could  not 
be  carried  on  between  two  full  brothers,  because  both  have  the  same  common 
kindred,  and  consequently  neither  had  any  persons  bound  to  stand  by  him 
against  the  other,  in  the  contest;  but  two  brothers  of  the  half  blood  might 


.552  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

wage  war,  because  eacli  of  them  has  a  distinct  kindred.    Beauman.  p.  299. — 

8.  Tiie  vassals  of  each  principal  in  any  private  war  were  involved  in  the  con- 
test, because,  by  the  feudal  maxims,  they  were  bound  to  take  arms  in  defence 
of  the  chieftain  of  whom  they  held,  and  to  assist  him  in  every  quarrel.  As 
soon,  therefore,  as  feudal  tenures  were  introduced,  and  this  artificial  connexion 
was  established  between  vassals  and  the  baron  of  whom  they  held,  vassals 
came  to  be  considered  as  in  the  same  state  with  relations.     Beauman.  303. — 

9.  Private  wars  were  very  frequent  for  several  centuries.  Nothing  contributed 
more  to  increase  those  disorders  in  government,  or  to  encourage  such  ferocity 
of  manners  as  reduced  the  nations  of  Europe  to  that  wretched  state  which  dis- 
tinguished the  period  of  history  which  I  am  reviewing.  Nothing  was  such  an 
obstacle  to  the  introduction  of  a  regular  administration  of  justice.  Nothing 
could  more  effectually  discourage  industry,  or  retard  the  progress  and  culti- 
vation of  the  arts  of  peace.  Private  wars  were  carried  on  with  all  the  destruc- 
tive rage  which  is  to  be  dreaded  from  violent  resentment,  when  armed  with  force 
and  authorized  by  law.  It  appears  from  the  statutes,  prohibiting  or  restraining 
the  exercise  of  private  hostilities,  that  the  invasion  of  the  most  barbarous 
enemy  could  not  be  more  desolating  to  a  country,  or  more  fatal  to  its  inhabit- 
ants, than  those  intestine  wars.  Ordon.  torn.  i.  p.  701,  torn.  ii.  pp.  395,  408, 
507,  &c.  The  contemporary  historians  describe  the  excesses  committed  in 
prosecution  of  these  quarrels  in  such  terras  as  excite  astonishment  and  horror. 
I  shall  mention  only  one  passage  from  the  History  of  the  Holy  War,  by 
Guibert,  abbot  of  Nogent :  "  Erat  eo  tempore,  maximis  ad  invicera  hostilitati- 
bus,  totius  Erancorum  regni  facta  turbatio;  crcbra  ubique  latrocinia,  viarum 
obsessio;  audiebautur  passim,  immo  fiebant  iucendia  infinita;  nullis  praeter 
sola  et  indomita  cupiditate  existentibus  causis,  extruebantur  praelia;  et  ut 
brevi  totum  claudam,  quicquid  obtutibus  cupidorum  subjacebat,  nusquam 
attendendo  cujus  esset,  prsedse  patebat."  Gesta  Dei  per  Erancos,  vol.  i. 
p.  482. 

Having  thus  collected  the  chief  regulations  which  custom  had  established 
concerning  the  right  and  exercise  of  private  war,  I  shall  enumerate,  in  chrono- 
logical order,  the  various  expedients  employed  to  abolish  or  restrain  this  fatal 
custom.  1.  The  first  expedient  employed  by  the  civil  magistrate,  in  order  to 
set  some  bounds  to  the  violence  of  private  revenge,  was  the  fixing  by  law  the 
fine  or  composition  to  be  paid  for  each  different  crime.  The  injured  person 
was  originally  the  sole  judge  concerning  the  nature  of  the  wrong  which  he  had 
suffered,  the  degree  of  vengeance  which  he  should  exact,  as  well  as  the  species 
of  atonement  or  reparation  with  which  he  might  rest  satisfied.  Resentment 
became,  of  course,  as  implacable  as  it  was  fierce.  It  was  often  a  point  of 
honour  not  to  forgive,  nor  to  be  reconciled.  This  made  it  necessary  to  fix 
those  compositions  which  make  so  great  a  figure  in  the  laws  of  barbarous 
nations.  The  nature  of  crimes  and  offences  was  estimated  by  the  magistrate, 
and  the  sum  due  to  the  person  offended  was  ascertained  with  a  minute,  and 
often  a  whimsical  accuracy.  Rotharis,  the  legislator  of  the  Lombards,  who 
reigned  about  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century,  discovers  his  intention  both 
in  ascertaiuing  the  composition  to  be  paid  by  the  offender,  and  in  increasing  its 
value ;  it  is,  says  he,  that  the  enmity  may  be  extinguished,  the  prosecution  may 
cease,  and  peace  may  be  restored.  Leg.  Longob.  lib.  i.  tit.  7,  §  10.— 2.  About 
the  beginning  of  the  ninth  centur}',  Charlemagne  struck  at  the  root  of  the  evil. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  553 

and  enacted,  "  That  when  any  person  had  been  guilty  of  a  crime,  or  had  com- 
mitted an  outrage,  he  should  immediately  submit  to  the  penance  which  the 
church  imposed,  and  offer  to  pay  the  composition  which  the  law  prescribed ; 
and  if  the  injured  person  or  his  kindred  should  refuse  to  accept  of  this,  and 
presume  to  avenge  themselves  by  force  of  arms,  their  lands  and  properties 
should  be  forfeited."  Capitul.  a.d.  802,  edit.  Baluz.  vol.  i.  371. — 3.  But  in 
this,  as  well  as  in  other  regulations,  the  genius  of  Charlemagne  advanced 
before  the  spirit  of  his  age.  The  ideas  of  his  contemporaries  concerning  regu- 
lar government  were  too  imperfect,  and  their  manners  too  fierce,  to  submit  to 
this  law.  Private  wars,  with  all  the  calamities  which  they  occasioned,  became 
more  frequent  than  ever  after  the  death  of  that  great  monarch.  His  successors 
were  unable  to  restrain  them.  The  church  found  it  necessary  to  interpose.  The 
most  early  of  these  interpositions  now  extant  is  towards  the  end  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury. In  the  year  990,  several  bishops  in  the  south  of  France  assembled,  and 
published  various  regulations,  in  order  to  set  some  bounds  to  the  violence  and 
frequency  of  private  wars;  if  any  person  within  their  dioceses  shoiild  venture 
to  transgress,  they  ordained  that  he  should  be  excluded  from  all  Christian 
privileges  during  his  life,  and  be  denied  Christian  burial  after  his  death.  Du 
Mont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  tom.  i.  p.  41.  These,  however,  were  only  partial 
remedies;  and,  therefore,  a  council  was  held  at  Limoges,  a.d.  994.  The 
bodies  of  the  saints,  according  to  the  custom  of  those  ages,  were  carried 
thither ;  and  by  these  sacred  relics  men  were  exhorted  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
to  extinguish  their  animosities,  and  to  swear  that  they  would  not,  for  the 
future,  violate  the  public  peace  by  their  private  hostilities.  Bouquet,  Recueil 
des  Histor.  vol.  x.  pp.  49,  147.  Several  other  councils  issued  decrees  to  the 
same  effect.  Du  Cange,  Dissert.  343. — 4.  But  the  authority  of  councils,  how 
venerable  soever  in  those  ages,  was  not  sufficient  to  abolish  a  custom  which 
flattered  the  pride  of  the  nobles,  and  gratified  their  favourite  passions.  The 
evil  grew  so  intolerable,  that  it  became  necessary  to  employ  supernatural  means 
for  suppressing  it.  A  bishop  of  Aquitaine,  a.d.  1032,  pretended  that  an 
angel  had  appeared  to  him,  and  brought  him  a  writing  from  heaven,  enjoining 
men  to  cease  from  their  hostilities,  and  to  be  reconciled  to  each  other.  It  was 
during  a  season  of  public  calamity  that  he  published  this  revelation.  The 
minds  of  men  were  disposed  to  receive  pious  impressions,  and  willing  to  per- 
form anything  in  order  to  avert  the  wrath  of  heaven.  A  general  peace  and 
cessation  from  hostilities  took  place,  and  continued  for  seven  years ;  and  a 
resolution  was  formed  that  no  man  should,  in  times  to  come,  attack  or  molest 
his  adversaries  during  the  seasons  set  apart  for  celebrating  the  great  festivals 
of  the  church,  or  from  the  evening  of  Thursday  in  each  week  to  the  morning 
of  Monday  in  the  week  ensuing ;  the  intervening  days  being  considered  as  par- 
ticularly holy,  our  Lord's  passion  having  happened  on  one  of  these  days,  and 
his  resurrection  on  another.  A  change  in  the  dispositions  of  men  so  sudden, 
and  which  produced  a  resolution  so  unexpected,  was  considered  as  miraculous; 
and  the  respite  from  hostilities  which  followed  upon  it,  was  called  the  truce  of 
God.  Glaber.  Rodulphus,  Histor.  lib.  v.  ap.  Bouquet,  vol.  x.  p.  59.  This, 
from  being  a  regulation  or  concert  in  one  kingdom,  became  a  general  law  iu 
Christendom,  was  confirmed  by  the  authority  of  several  popes,  and  the  viola- 
tors were  subjected  to  the  penalty  of  excommunication.  Corpus  Jur.  Canon. 
Decretal,  lib.  i.  tit.  34,  c.  1.     Du  Cange,  Glossar.  voc.  Treuga.    An  act  of  the 


554  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

council  of  Toulujes  in  Rousillon,  a.d.  1041,  containing  all  the  stipulations 
required  by  the  truce  of  God,  is  published  by  Dora  de  Vic  et  Dom  Vaisette, 
Hist,  de  Languedoc,  torn.  ii.  Preuves,  p.  206.  A  cessation  from  hostilities 
during  three  complete  days  in  every  week,  allowed  such  a  considerable  space 
for  the  passions  of  the  antagonists  to  cool,  and  for  the  people  to  enjoy  a 
respite  from  tlie  calamities  of  war,  as  well  as  to  take  measures  for  their  own 
security,  that,  if  this  truce  of  God  had  been  exactly  observed,  it  must  have 
gone  far  towards  putting  an  end  to  private  wars.  This,  however,  seems  not 
to  have  been  the  case ;  the  nobles,  disregarding  the  truce,  prosecuted  their 
quarrels  without  interruption  as  formerly.  "  Qua  nimirum  tempestate,  uni- 
versa;  provinciae  adeo  devastationis  coutinuge  importunitate  inquietantur,  ut  ne 
ipsa,  pro  observatione  divina;  paeis,  professa  sacramenta  custodiantur."  Abbas 
Uspurgensis,  apud  Datt.  de  Pace  Imperii  Publica,  p.  13,  No.  35.  The  violent 
spirit  of  the  nobility  could  not  be  restrained  by  any  engagements.  The  com- 
plaints of  this  were  frequent ;  and  bishops,  in  order  to  compel  them  to  renew 
their  vows  and  promises  of  ceasing  from  their  private  wars,  were  obliged  to 
enjoin  their  clergy  to  suspend  the  performance  of  divine  service,  and  the  exer- 
cise of  any  religious  function,  within  the  parishes  of  such  as  were  refractory 
and  obstinate.  Hist,  de  Langued.  par  D.  D.  de  Vic  et  Vaisette,  tom.  ii. 
Preuves,  p.  118. — 5.  The  people,  eager  to  obtain  relief  from  their  sufferings, 
called  in  a  second  time  revelation  to  their  aid.  Towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
century,  a  carpenter  in  Guienne  gave  out  that  Jesus  Christ,  together  with  the 
blessed  Virgui,  had  appeared  to  him,  and  having  commanded  him  to  exhort 
mankind  to  peace,  had  given  him  as  a  proof  of  his  mission,  an  image  of  the 
Virgin  holding  her  Son  in  her  arms,  with  this  inscription,  Lamb  of  God,  who 
tukest  away  the  sins  of  the  world,  give  us  peace.  This  low  fanatic  addressed 
himself  to  an  ignorant  age,  prone  to  credit  what  was  marvellous.  He  was 
received  as  an  inspired  messenger  of  God.  Many  prelates  and  barons  assem- 
bled at  Puy,  and  took  an  oath,  not  only  to  make  peace  with  all  their  enemies, 
but  to  attack  sucli  as  refused  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  to  be  reconciled  to 
their  enemies.  They  formed  an  association  for  this  pui-pose,  and  assumed 
the  lionourable  name  of  the  brotherhood  of  God.  Robertus  de  Monte  Michaele, 
ap.  M.  de  Lauriere  Pref.  torn.  i.  Ordou.  p.  29.  But  the  influence  of  this 
superstitious  terror  or  devotion  was  not  of  long  continuance. — 6.  The  civil 
magistrate  was  obliged  to  exert  his  authority  in  order  to  check  a  custom  which 
threatened  the  dissolution  of  government.  Philip  Augustus,  as  some  imagine, 
or  St.  Louis,  as  is  more  probable,  published  an  ordinance,  a.d.  1245,  prohibit- 
ing any  person  to  commence  hostilities  against  the  friends  and  vassals  of  his 
adversary,  until  forty  days  after  the  commission  of  the  crime  or  offence  wliich 
gave  rise  to  tlie  quarrel ;  declaring  that  if  any  man  presumed  to  transgress 
this  statute,  he  should  be  considered  as  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  public  peace, 
and  be  tried  and  punished  by  the  judge  ordinary  as  a  traitor.  Ordon.  tom.  i. 
p.  56.  This  was  called  the  royal  trtice,  and  afforded  time  for  the  violence  of 
resentment  to  subside,  as  well  as  leisure  for  the  good  offices  of  such  as  were 
willing  to  compose  the  difference.  The  happy  effects  of  this  regulation  seem 
to  have  been  considerable,  if  wc  may  judge  from  the  solicitude  of  succeeding 
monarchs  to  enforce  it. — 7.  In  order  to  restrain  the  exercise  of  private  war 
still  farther,  Philip  tlie  Pair,  towards  the  close  of  the  same  century,  a.d.  1296, 
published  an  ordinance  commanding  all  private  hostilities  to  cease,  wliile  he 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  555 

was  engaged  in  war  against  the  enemies  of  the  state.  Ordon.  torn,  i.  pp.  328, 
390.  This  regulation,  wliich  seems  to  be  ahiiost  essential  to  the  existence 
and  preservation  of  society,  was  often  renewed  by  his  successors,  and,  being 
enforced  by  the  regal  authority,  proved  a  considerable  check  to  tlic  destructive 
contests  of  the  nobles.  Both  these  regulations,  introduced  first  in  France,  were 
adopted  by  the  other  nations  of  Europe. — S.  The  evil,  however,  was  so  inve- 
terate, that  it  did  not  yield  to  all  these  remedies.  No  sooner  was  public  peace 
established  in  any  kingdom,  than  the  barons  renewed  their  private  hostilities. 
They  not  only  struggled  to  maintain  this  pernicious  right,  but  to  secure  the 
exercise  of  it  without  any  restraint.  Upon  the  death  of  Philip  the  Fair,  the 
nobles  of  different  provinces  in  France  formed  associations,  and  presented 
remonstrances  to  his  successor,  demanding  the  repeal  of  several  laws,  by  which 
he  had  abridged  the  privileges  of  their  order.  Among  these,  the  right  of  pri- 
vate war  is  always  mentioned  as  one  of  the  most  valuable ;  and  they  claim  that 
the  restraint  imposed  by  the  truce  of  God,  the  royal  truce,  as  well  as  that 
arising  from  the  ordinance  of  the  year  129G,  should  be  taken  off.  In  some 
instances,  the  two  sons  of  Philip,  who  mounted  the  throne  successively,  eluded 
their  demands ;  in  others,  they  were  obliged  to  make  concessions.  Ordou. 
torn.  i.  pp.  551,  557,  561,  573.  The  ordinances  to  which  I  here  refer  are  of 
such  length  that  I  cannot  insert  them ;  but  they  are  extremely  curious,  and 
may  be  peculiarly  instructive  to  an  English  reader,  as  they  throw  considerable 
light  on  that  period  of  English  history  in  which  the  attempts  to  circumscribe 
the  regal  prerogative  were  o«rricd  on,  not  by  the  people  struggling  for  liberty, 
but  by  the  nobles  contending  for  power.  It  is  not  necessary  to  produce  any 
evidence  of  the  continuance  and  frequency  of  private  wars  under  the  successors 
of  Philip  the  Fair. — 9.  A  practice  somewhat  similar  to  the  royal  truce  was 
introduced,  in  order  to  strengthen  and  extend  it.  Bonds  of  assurance,  or 
mutual  security,  were  demanded  from  the  parties  at  variance,  by  which  they 
obliged  themselves  to  abstain  from  all  hostilities,  either  during  a  time  men- 
tioned in  the  bond,  or  for  ever,  and  became  subject  to  heavy  penalties  if  they 
violated  this  obligation.  These  bonds  were  sometimes  granted  voluntarily, 
but  more  frequently  exacted  by  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate.  Upon  a 
petition  from  the  party  who  felt  himself  weakest,  the  magistrate  summoned  his 
adversary  to  appear  in  court,  and  obliged  him  to  give  him  a  bond  of  assurance. 
If,  after  that,  he  committed  any  further  hostilities,  he  became  subject  to  all 
the  penalties  of  treason.  This  restraint  on  private  war  was  known  in  the  age 
of  St.  Louis.  Establissements,  liv.  i.  c.  2S.  It  was  frequent  in  Bretagne; 
and,  what  is  very  remarkable,  such  bonds  of  assurance  were  given  mutually 
between  vassals  and  the  lord  of  whom  they  held.  Oliver  de  Clisson  grants 
one  to  the  duke  of  Bretagne,  his  sovereign.  Morice,  M6m.  pour  servir  de 
Preuves  a  I'Hist.  de  Bret.  tom.  i.  p.  846 ;  ii.  p.  371.  Many  examples  of  bonds 
of  assurance  in  other  provinces  of  France  are  collected  by  Brussel,  tom.  ii. 
p.  856.  The  nobles  of  Burgundy  remonstrated  against  this  practice,  and 
obtained  exemption  from  it  as  an  encroachment  on  the  privileges  of  their  order. 
Ordon.  tom.  i.  p.  558.  This  mode  of  security  was  first  introduced  into  cities, 
and,  the  good  effects  of  it  having  been  felt  there,  was  extended  to  the  nobles. 
See  Note  16.— 10.  The  calamities  occasioned  by  private  wars  became  at  some 
times  so  intolerable,  that  the  nobles  entered  into  voluntary  associations,  bindmg 
themselves  to  refer  all  matters  in  dispute,  whether  concerning  civil  property  or 


556  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

points  of  honour,  to  the  determination  of  the  majority  of  the  associates. 
Morice,  Mem.  pour  servir  de  Preuves  a  I'Hist.  de  Bret.  torn.  ii.  p.  728. — 
11.  But  all  these  expedients  proving  ineffectual,  Charles  YI.  a.d.  1413,  issued 
au  ordinance  expressly  prohibiting  private  wars  on  any  pretext  whatsoever, 
with  power  to  the  judge  ordinary  to  compel  all  persons  to  comply  with  this 
injunction,  and  to  punish  such  as  should  prove  refractory  or  disobedient,  by 
imprisoning  their  persons,  seizing  their  goods,  and  appointing  the  officers  of 
justice,  manageurs  et  (/asteurs,  to  live  at  free  quarters  on  their  estate.  If  those 
who  were  disobedient  to  this  edict  could  not  be  personally  arrested,  he  ap- 
pointed their  friends  and  vassals  to  be  seized,  and  detained  until  they  gave 
surety  for  keeping  the  peace ;  and  he  abolished  all  laws,  customs,  or  privileges, 
wliich  might  be  pleaded  in  opposition  to  this  ordinance.  Ordon.  tom.  x.  p.  138. 
How  slow  is  the  progress  of  reason  and  of  civil  order !  Regulations  which 
to  us  appear  so  equitable,  obvious,  and  simple,  required  the  efforts  of  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authority,  during  several  centuries,  to  inti-oduce  and  establish 
them.  Even  posterior  to  this  period,  Louis  XL  was  obliged  to  abolish  private 
wars  in  Dauphine,  by  a  particular  edict,  a.d.  1451.  Du  Gauge,  Dissert, 
p.  348. 

This  note  would  swell  to  a  disproportionate  bulk,  if  I  should  attempt  to 
inquire,  with  the  same  minute  attention,  into  the  progress  of  this  perni- 
cious custom  in  the  other  countries  of  Europe.  In  Eugland,  the  ideas  of 
the  Saxons  concerning  personal  revenge,  the  right  of  private  wars,  and  the 
composition  due  to  the  party  offended,  seem  to  have  been  much  the  same  with 
those  wliich  prevailed  on  the  continent.  The  law  of  Ina  de  vindicautibus,  in 
the  eighth  century.  Lamb.  p.  3  ;  those  of  Edmund  in  the  tenth  century,  de 
homicidio.  Lamb.  p.  72,  and  de  inimicitiis,  p.  76 ;  and  those  of  Edward  the 
Confessor,  in  the  eleventh  century,  de  temporibus  et  diebus  pacis,  or  Treuga 
Dei,  Lamb.  p.  126,  are  perfectly  similar  to  the  ordonnances  of  the  French 
kings  their  contemporaries.  The  laws  of  Edward,  de  pace  regis,  are  still  more 
explicit  than  those  of  the  French  monarcbs,  and,  by  several  provisions  in  them, 
discover  that  a  more  perfect  police  was  established  in  England  at  that  period. 
Lombard,  p.  128,  fol.  vers.  Even  after  the  conquest,  private  wars,  and  the 
regulations  for  preventing  them,  were  not  altogether  unknown,  as  appears 
from  Madox,  Formulare  Anglicanum,  No.  cxlv.,  and  from  the  extracts  from 
Domesday  Book,  published  by  Gale,  Scriptores  Hist.  Britan.  pp.  759,  777.  The 
well-known  clause  in  the  form  of  an  English  indictment,  which,  as  an  aggrava- 
tion of  the  criminal's  guilt,  mentions  his  having  assaulted  a  person  who  was 
in  the  peace  of  God  and  of  the  king,  seems  to  be  borrowed  from  the  Treuga 
or  Pax  Dei,  and  the  Pax  Regis,  which  I  have  explained.  But  after  tho 
conquest,  the  mention  of  private  wars  among  the  nobility  occurs  more  rarely 
in  the  English  history  than  in  that  of  any  other  European  nation,  and  no  laws 
concerning  them  are  to  be  found  in  the  body  of  their  statutes.  Such  a  change 
in  their  own  manners,  and  such  a  variation  from  those  of  their  neighbours,  is 
remarkable.  Is  it  to  be  ascribed  to  the  extraordinary  power  that  William  the 
Norman  acquired  by  right  of  conquest,  and  transmitted  to  his  successors,  which 
rendered  the  execution  of  justice  more  vigorous  and  decisive,  and  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  king's  court  more  extensive  than  under  the  monarchs  on  the 
continent  ?  -  Or,  was  it  owing  to  the  settlement  of  the  Normans  in  England, 
who,  having  never  adopted  the  practice  of  private  war  in  their  own  country. 


PROOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  557 

abolished  it  ia  the  kingdom  which  they  conquered  ?  It  is  asserted  in  an 
ordinance  of  John,  king  of  France,  that  in  all  times  past,  persons  of  every  rank 
in  Normandy  have  been  prohibited  to  wage  private  war,  and  the  practice  has 
been  deemed  unlawful.  Ordou.  torn.  ii.  p.  407.  If  this  fact  were  certain,  ifc 
would  go  far  towards  explaining  the  peculiarity  which  I  have  mentioned.  But 
as  there  are  some  English  acts  of  parliament  which,  according  to  the  remark  of 
the  learned  author  of  the  Observatiuns  on  the  Slatules,  chiejlij  the  more  ancient, 
recite  falsehoods,  it  may  be  added  that  tiiis  is  not  peculiar  to  the  laws  of  that 
country.  Notwithstanding  the  positive  assertion  contained  in  this  public  law 
of  France,  there  is  good  reason  for  considering  it  as  a  statute  which  recites 
a  falsehood.  This,  however,  is  not  the  place  for  discussing  that  pomt.  It  is 
an  inquiry  not  unworthy  the  curiosity  of  an  English  antiquary. 

In  Castile,  the  pernicious  practice  of  private  war  prevailed,  and  was  autho- 
rized by  the  customs  and  law  of  the  kingdom.  Leges  Tauri,  tit.  76,  cum 
commentario  Anton.  Gomezii,  p.  551.  As  the  Castiliaa  nobles  were  no  les3 
turbulent  than  powerful,  their  quarrels  and  hostilities  involved  their  country  in 
many  calamities.  Innumerable  proofs  of  this  occur  in  Mariana.  In  Aragon 
the  right  of  private  revenge  was  likewise  authorized  by  law ;  exercised  in  its 
full  extent,  and  accompanied  with  the  same  unhappy  consequences.  Hicron. 
Blanca,  Comment,  de  Rebus  Arag.  ap.  Schotti  Hispan.  illustrat.  vol.  iii.  p.  733. 
Lex  Jacobi  I.  a.d.  1247.  Fueros  y  Observancias  del  Reyno  de  Aragon,  lib.  ix. 
p.  182.  Several  confederacies  between  the  kings  of  Aragon  and  their  nobles, 
for  the  restoring  of  peace,  founded  on  the  truce  of  God,  are  still  extant.  Petr, 
de  Marca,  Marca  sive  Limes  Hispanic.  App.  1303, 1388,  1428.  As  early  as  the 
year  1165,  we  find  a  combination  of  the  king  and  court  of  Aragon,  in  order  to 
abolish  the  right  of  private  war,  and  to  punish  tiiosc  who  presumed  to  claim 
that  privilege.  Annales  de  Aragon  por  Zurita,  vol.  i.  p.  73.  But  the  evil  was 
so  inveterate,  that  as  late  as  a.d.  1519,  Charles  V.  was  obliged  to  publish  a  law 
enforcing  all  former  regulations  tending  to  suppress  this  practice.  Fueros  y 
Observanc.  lib.  ix.  183,  b. 

The  Lombards,  and  other  northern  nations  who  settled  in  Italy,  introduced 
the  same  maxims  concerning  the  right  of  revenge  into  that  country,  and  these 
were  followed  by  the  same  effects.  As  the  progress  of  the  evil  was  perfectly 
similar  to  what  happened  in  France,  the  expedients  employed  to  check  its 
career,  or  to  extirpate  it  finally,  resembled  those  which  I  have  enumerated. 
Murat.  Ant.  Ital.  vol.  ii.  pp.  306,  &c. 

In  Germany,  the  disorders  and  calamities  occasioned  by  the  right  of  private 
war  were  greater  and  more  intolerable  than  in  any  other  country  of  Europe. 
The  imperial  authority  was  so  much  shaken  and  enfeebled  by  the  violence  of 
the  civil  wars  excited  by  the  contests  between  the  popes  and  the  emperors  of 
the  Franconian  and  Suabian  lines,  that  not  only  the  nobility  but  the  cities 
acquired  almost  independent  power,  and  scorned  all  subordination  and  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws.  The  frequency  of  these  faidtv,  or  private  wars,  is  often 
mentioned  in  the  German  annals,  and  the  fatal  effects  of  them  are  most  pathe- 
tically described,  Datt.  de  Pace  Imper.  pub.  lib.  i.  cap.  5,  No.  30,  et  passim. 
The  Germans  early  adopted  the  Treuga  Dei,  which  was  first  established  in 
France.  This,  however,  proved  but  a  temporary  and  ineffectual  remedy.  The 
disorders  multi])lied  so  fast,  and  grew  to  be  so  enormous,  that  they  threatened 
the  dissolution  of  society,  and  compelled  the  Germans  to  have  recourse  to  the 


558  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ouly  remedy  of  the  evil,  viz.  an  absolute  probibitiou  of  private  wars.  The 
Emperor  William  published  his  edict  to  this  purpose,  a.d.  1255,  an  hundred 
and  sixty  years  previous  to  the  ordiuance  of  Ciiarles  VI.  in  France.  Datt. 
lib.  i.  cap.  4,  No.  20.  But  neither  he  nor  his  successors  had  authority  to 
secure  the  observance  of  it.  This  gave  rise  to  a  practice  in  Germany,  which 
conveys  to  us  a  striking  idea  both  of  the  intolerable  calamities  occasioned  by 
private  wars,  and  of  the  feebleness  of  government  during  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries.  The  cities  and  nobles  entered  into  alliances  and  associa- 
tions, by  which  they  bound  themselves  to  maintain  the  public  peace,  and  to 
make  war  on  such  as  should  violate  it.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  league  of 
the  Rhine,  of  Suabia,  and  of  many  smaller  confederacies  distinguished  by 
various  names.  The  rise,  progress,  and  beneflcial  effects  of  these  associations, 
are  traced  by  Datt  with  great  accuracy.  Whatever  degree  of  public  peace  or 
of  regular  administration  was  preserved  in  f  he  empire  from  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century  to  the  close  of  the  fifteenth,  Germany  owes  to  these  leagues. 
During  that  period,  political  order,  respect  for  the  laws,  together  with  the 
equal  administration  of  justice,  made  considerable  progress  in  Germany.  But 
the  final  and  perpetual  abolition  of  the  right  of  private  war  was  not  accomplished 
until  A.D.  1495.  The  imperial  authority  was  by  that  time  more  firmly  established, 
the  ideas  of  men  with  respect  to  government  and  subordination  were  become 
more  just.  That  barbarous  and  pernicious  privilege  of  waging  private  war, 
which  the  nobles  had  so  long  possessed,  was  declared  to  be  incompatible  with 
the  happiness  and  existence  of  society.  In  order  to  terminate  any  differences 
which  might  arise  among  the  various  members  of  the  Germanic  body,  the 
Imperial  Chamber  was  instituted  with  supreme  jurisdiction,  to  judge  without 
appeal  in  every  question  brought  before  it.  That  court  has  subsisted 
since  that  period,  forming  a  very  respectable  tribunal  of  essential  importance 
in  the  German  constitution.  Datt.  lib.  iii.  iv.  v.  Pfeifel,  Abrege  de  I'Histoire  du 
Droit,  &c.  p.  556. 

[22'], page  49. — It  would  be  tedious  and  of  little  use  to  enumerate  the  various 
modes  of  appealing  to  the  justice  of  God,  which  superstition  introduced  during 
the  ages  of  ignorance.  I  shall  mention  only  one,  because  we  have  an  account 
of  it  in  a  placitum,  or  trial,  in  the  presence  of  Charlemagne,  from  which  we 
may  learn  the  imperfect  manner  in  which  justice  was  administered  even  during 
his  reign.  In  the  year  775,  a  contest  arose  between  the  bishop  of  Paris  and 
the  abbot  of  St.  Denys,  concerning  the  property  of  a  small  abbey.  Each  of  them 
exhibited  deeds  and  I'ecords,  in  order  to  prove  the  right  to  be  in  them.  Instead 
of  trying  the  authenticity,  or  considering  the  import  of  these,  the  point  was 
referred  to  the  judicium  crucis.  Each  produced  a  person,  who,  during  the 
celebration  of  mass,  stood  before  the  cross  with  his  arms  expanded ;  and  he 
whose  representative  first  became  weary,  and  altered  his  posture,  lost  the 
cause.  The  person  employed  by  the  bishop  on  this  occasion  had  less  strength 
or  less  spirit  than  his  adversary,  and  the  question  was  decided  in  favour  of  the 
abbot.  Mabillon  De  Re  Diplomat,  lib.  vi.  p.  498.  If  a  prince  so  enlightened 
as  Charlemagne  countenanced  such  an  absurd  mode  of  decision,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  other  monarchs  should  tolerate  it  so  long.  M.  de  Montesquieu  has  treated 
of  the  trial  by  judicial  combat  at  considerable  length.  The  two  talents  which 
distinguish  that  illustrious  author — industry  in  tracing  all  the  circumstauces  of 


PROOFS  AT^D  ILLUSTRATIONS.  559 

ancient  and  obscure  institutions,  and  sagacity  in  penetrating  into  the  causes 
and  principles  which  coutributed  to  establish  them — arc  equally  conspicuous  in 
his  observations  on  this  subject.  To  these  I  refer  the  reader,  as  they  contain 
most  of  the  principles  by  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  explain  this  practice. 
De  I'Espirit  des  Loix.  liv.  xxviii.  It  seems  to  be  probable,  from  the  remarks 
of  M.  de  Montesquieu,  as  well  as  from  the  facts  produced  by  Muratori, 
torn.  iii.  Dissert,  xxxviii.,  that  appeals  to  the  justice  of  God  by  the  experi- 
ments with  fire  and  water,  &c.,  were  frequent  among  the  people  who  settled 
in  the  different  provinces  of  the  Ronum  empire,  before  tliey  had  recourse  to 
the  judicial  combat;  and  yet  the  judicial  combat  seems  to  have  been  the  most 
ancient  mode  of  terminating  any  controversy  among  the  barbarous  nations  in 
their  original  settlements.  Tiiis  is  evident  from  Velleius  Paterculus,  lib.  ii. 
c.  118,  who  informs  us  that  all  questions  whicii  were  decided  among  the 
Romans  by  legal  trial,  were  terminated  among  the  Germans  by  arms.  The 
same  thing  appears  in  the  ancient  laws  and  customs  of  the  Swedes,  quoted  by 
Jo.  0.  Stiernhook  de  Jure  Sueonum  et  Gothorura  vetusto,  4to.  Ilolmia-,  1082, 
lib.  i.  c.  7.  It  is  probable  that  when  the  various  tribes  which  invaded  the 
empire  were  converted  to  Christianity,  their  ancient  custom  of  allowing  judicial 
combats  appeared  so  glaringly  repugnant  to  tlie  precepts  of  religion,  that  for 
some  time  it  was  abolished,  and,  by  degrees,  several  circumstances  which  I  have 
mentioned  led  them  to  resume  it. 

It  seems  likewise  to  be  probable,  from  a  law  quoted  by  Stiernhook  in  the 
treatise  which  I  have  mentioned,  that  the  judicial  combat  was  originally 
permitted,  in  order  to  determine  points  respecting  the  personal  character  or 
reputation  of  individuals,  and  was  afterwards  extended  not  only  to  criminal 
cases,  but  to  questions  concerning  property.  The  words  of  the  law  are,  "  If 
any  man  shall  say  to  another  these  reproachful  words,  '  You  are  not  a  man 
equal  to  other  men,'  or,  '  You  have  not  the  heart  of  a  man,'  and  the  other  shall 
reply,  '  I  am  a  man  as  good  as  you,'  let  them  meet  on  the  highway.  If  he  who 
first  gave  offence  appear,  and  the  person  offended  absent  himself,  let  the 
latter  be  deemed  a  worse  man  even  than  he  was  called;  let  him  not  be 
admitted  to  give  evidence  in  judgment  either  for  man  or  woman,  and  let  him 
not  have  the  privilege  of  making  a  testament.  If  he  who  gave  the  offence 
be  absent,  and  only  the  person  offended  appear,  let  him  call  upon  the  other 
thrice  with  a  loud  voice,  and  make  a  mark  upon  the  earth,  and  tlien  let  him 
who  absented  himself  be  deemed  infamous,  because  he  uttered  words  which 
he  durst  not  support.  If  both  shall  appear  properly  armed,  and  the  person 
offended  shall  fall  in  the  combat,  let  a  half  compensation  be  paid  for  his  death. 
But  if  the  person  who  gave  the  offence  shall  fall,  let  it  be  imputed  to  his  own 
rashness.  The  petulance  of  his  tongue  hath  been  fatal  to  him.  Let  hun  lie 
in  the  field  without  any  compensation  being  demanded  for  his  death."  Lex 
Uplandica,  ap  Stiern.  p.  76.  Martial  people  were  extremely  delicate  with 
respect  to  everythmg  that  affected  their  reputation  as  soldiers.  By  the  laws 
of  the  Salians,  if  any  man  called  another  a  hare,  or  accused  him  of  having  left 
his  shield  in  the  field  of  battle,  he  was  ordained  to  pay  a  large  fine.  Leg.  Sal. 
tit  xxxii.  §§  4,  6.  By  the  law  of  the  Lombards,  if  any  one  called  another  ar(ja, 
i.  e.  a  good-for-nothing  fellow,  he  might  immediately  challenge  him  to  combat. 
Leg.  Longob.  lib.  i.  tit.  v.  §  1.  By  the  law  of  the  Salians,  if  one  called  another 
ceuitus,  a  term  of  reproach  equivalent  to  arga,  he  was  bound  to  pay  a  very 


560  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTHATIONS. 

high  fine.  Tit.  xxxii.  §  1.  Paulus  Diaconus  relates  the  violent  impression 
■which  this  reproachful  expression  made  upon  one  of  his  countrymen,  and  the 
fatal  effects  with  which  it  was  attended.  De  Gestis  Longobard.  liv.  vi.  c.  34. 
Thus  the  ideas  concerning  the  point  of  honour,  which  we  are  apt  to  consider 
as  a  modern  refinement,  as  well  as  the  practice  of  duelling,  to  which  it  gave 
rise,  are  derived  from  the  notions  of  our  ancestors,  while  in  a  state  of  society 
very  little  improved. 

As  M.  de  Montesquieu's  view  of  this  subject  did  not  lead  him  to  consider 
every  circumstance  relative  to  judicial  combats,  I  shall  mention  some  particular 
facts  necessary  for  the  illustration  of  what  I  have  said  with  respect  to  them. 
A  remarkable  instance  occurs  of  the  decision  of  an  abstract  point  of  law  by 
combat.  A  question  arose  in  the  tenth  century  concerning  the  right  of  repre- 
sentation, which  was  not  then  fixed,  though  now  universally  established  in  every 
part  of  Europe.  "  It  was  a  matter  of  doubt  and  dispute  (saith  the  historian) 
whether  the  sons  of  a  son  ought  to  be  reckoned  among  the  children  of  the 
family,  and  succeed  equally  with  their  uncles,  if  their  father  happened  to  die 
while  their  grandfather  was  alive.  An  assembly  was  called  to  deliberate  on 
this  point,  and  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  it  ought  to  be  remitted  to  the 
examination  and  decision  of  judges.  But  the  emperor,  following  a  better  course, 
and  desirous  of  dealing  honourably  with  his  people  and  nobles,  appointed  the 
matter  to  be  decided  by  battle  between  two  champions.  He  who  appeared 
in  behalf  of  the  right  of  children  to  represent  their  deceased  father  was 
victorious ;  and  it  was  established,  by  a  perpetual  decree,  that  they  should 
hereafter  share  in  the  inheritance  together  with  their  uncles."  Wittikindus 
Corbiensis,  lib.  Annal.  ap.  M.  de  Lauriere,  Pref.  Ordou.  vol.  i.  p.  xxxiii.  If  we 
can  suppose  the  caprice  of  folly  to  lead  men  to  any  action  more  extravagant 
than  this  of  settling  a  point  in  law  by  combat,  it  must  be  that  of  referring  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  a  religious  opinion  to  be  decided  in  the  same  manner.  To 
the  disgrace  of  human  reason,  it  has  been  capable  even  of  this  extravagance. 
A  question  was  agitated  in  Spain  in  the  eleventh  century,  whether  the  Musarabic 
liturgy  and  ritual  which  had  been  used  in  the  churches  of  Spain,  or  that 
approved  of  by  the  see  of  Home,  which  differed  in  many  particulars  from  the 
other,  contained  the  form  of  worship  most  acceptable  to  the  Deity.  The 
Spaniards  contended  zealously  for  the  ritual  of  their  ancestors.  The  popes 
urged  them  to  receive  that  to  which  they  had  given  their  infallible  sanction. 
A  violent  contest  arose.  The  nobles  proposed  to  decide  the  controversy  by 
the  sword.  The  king  approved  of  this  method  of  decision.  Two  knights  in 
complete  armour  entered  the  lists.  John  Ruys  de  Matanca,  the  champion  of 
the  Musarabic  liturgy,  was  victorious.  But  the  queen  and  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  who  favoured  the  other  form,  insisted  on  having  the  matter  submitted 
(o  another  trial,  and  had  interest  enough  to  prevail  in  a  request,  inconsistent 
with  the  laws  of  combat,  which  being  considered  as  an  appeal  to  God,  the 
decision  ought  to  have  been  acquiesced  in  as  final.  A  great  fire  was  kindled. 
A  copy  of  each  liturgy  was  cast  into  the  flames.  It  was  agreed  that  the  book 
which  stood  this  proof,  and  remained  untouched,  should  be  received  in  all  the 
churches  of  Spain.  The  Musarabic  liturgy  trium[)lied  likewise  in  this  trial, 
and  if  we  may  believe  Roderigo  de  Toledo,  remained  unhurt  by  the  fire,  when 
the  other  was  reduced  to  ashes.  The  queen  and  archbishop  had  power  or  art 
sufficient  to  elude  this  decision  also,  and  the  use  of  the  Musarabic  form  of 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  5G1 

devotion  was  pevmitted  only  in  certain  cluirclics.  A  determination  no  less 
cxtniordinary  than  the  whole  transaction.  Roder.  dc  Toledo,  qnolcd  by 
P.  Orleans,  Hist,  des  Rcvol.  d'Espagne,  torn.  i.  p.  417.  IMariana,  lib.  i.  c.  18, 
vol.  i.  p.  378. — A  remarkable  proof  of  the  general  nsc  of  trial  by  combat,  and 
of  the  predilection  for  that  mode  of  decision,  occurs  in  the  laws  of  the 
Lombards.  It  was  a  custom  in  the  middle  ages,  that  any  person  might  signify 
publicly  the  law  to  whinh  he  chose  to  be  subjected  ;  and  by  tlic  prescriptions 
of  that  law  he  was  obliged  to  regulate  his  transactions,  without  being  bound 
to  comply  with  any  practice  authorized  by  other  codes  of  law.  Persons  who 
had  subjected  themselves  to  the  Roman  law,  and  adhered  to  the  ancient  juris- 
prudence, as  far  as  any  knowledge  of  it  was  retained  in  those  ages  of  ignorance, 
were  exempted  from  paying  any  regard  to  the  forms  of  proceedings  established 
by  tlie  laws  of  the  Burgundians,  Lombards,  and  other  barbarous  people.  Rut 
the  Emperor  Otho,  in  direct  contradiction  to  this  received  maxim,  ordained 
"  That  all  persons,  under  whatever  law  they  lived,  even  although  it  were  the 
Roman  law,  should  be  bound  to  conform  to  the  edicts  concerning  the  trial  by 
combat."  Leg.  Longob.  lib.  ii.  tit.  55,  §  38.  While  the  trial  by  judicial 
combat  subsisted,  proof  by  charters,  contracts,  or  other  deeds,  became  inef- 
fectual; and  even  this  species  of  written  evidence,  calculated  to  render  the 
proceedings  of  courts  certain  and  decisive,  was  eluded.  When  a  charter  or 
other  instrument  was  produced  by  one  of  the  parties,  his  opponent  might 
challenge  it,  affirm  that  it  was  false  and  forged,  and  offer  to  prove  this  by 
combat.  Leg.  Longob.  ibid.  §  34.  It  is  true,  that  among  the  reasons 
enumerated  by  Bcaumanoir,  on  account  of  which  judges  might  refuse  to  permit 
a  trial  by  combat,  one  is,  "  If  the  point  in  contest  can  be  clearly  proved  or 
ascertained  by  other  evidence."  Const,  de  Rcauv.  ch.  G3,  p.  323.  Rut  that 
regulation  removed  the  evil  only  a  single  step.  For  the  party  who  suspected 
that  a  witness  was  about  to  depose  in  a  manner  unfavourable  to  his  cause, 
might  accuse  him  of  being  suborned,  give  him  the  lie,  and  challenge  him  to 
combat;  if  the  witness  was  vanquished  in  battle,  no  other  evidence  could  be 
admitted,  and  the  party  by  whom  he  was  summoned  to  appear  lost  his  cause. 
Leg.  Baivar.  tit.  16,  §  2.  Leg.  Burgund.  tit.  45.  Beauman.  ch.  61,  p.  315. 
The  reason  given  for  obliging  a  witness  to  accept  of  a  defiance,  and  to  defend 
himself  by  combat,  is  remarkable,  and  contains  the  same  idea  which  is  still 
the  foundation  of  what  is  called  the  point  of  honour;  "  for  it  is  just,  that  if 
any  one  affirms  that  he  perfectly  knows  the  truth  of  anything,  and  ofi"ers  to 
give  oath  upon  it,  that  he  should  not  hesitate  to  maintain  the  veracity  of  his 
affirmation  in  combat."     Leg.  Burgund.  tit.  45. 

That  the  trial  by  judicial  combat  was  established  in  every  country  of  Europe, 
is  a  fact  well  known,  and  requires  no  proof.  That  this  mode  of  decision  was 
frequent,  appears  not  only  from  the  codes  of  ancient  laws  which  established  it, 
but  from  the  earliest  writers  concerning  the  practice  of  law  in  the  diiTcrent 
nations  of  Europe.  They  treat  of  this  custom  at  great  length  :  they  enumerate 
the  regulations. concerning  it  with  minute  accuracy ;  and  explain  them  with  much 
solicitude.  It  made  a  capital  and  extensive  article  in  jurisprudence.  There 
is  not  any  one  subject  in  their  system  of  law  which  Beaumanoir,  Defontaines, 
or  the  compilers  of  the  Assises  dc  Jerusalem,  seem  to  have  considered  as  of 
greater  importance  ;  and  none  upon  which  they  have  bestowed  so  much  atten- 
tion. The  same  observation  will  hold  with  respect  to  the  early  authors  of 
VOL.  I.  0  0 


562  PROOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

other  nations.  It  appears  from  Madox  that  trials  of  tliis  kind  were  so  frequent 
in  England,  that  fines,  paid  on  these  occasions,  made  no  inconsiderable  branch 
of  the  king's  revenue.  Hist,  of  the  Excheq,  vol.  i.  p.  349.  A  very  curious 
account  of  a  judicial  combat  between  Messire  Robert  de  Bcaumanoir  and 
Messire  Pierre  Tournemine,  iu  presence  of  the  duke  of  Bretagnc,  a.d.  1385,  is 
published  by  Morice,  Mem.  pour  servir  de  Preuves  al'Hist.  de  Breiagne,  torn.  ii. 
p.  498.  All  the  formalities  observed  in  such  extraordinary  proceedings  are  there 
described  more  minutely  than  in  any  ancient  monument  which  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  considering.  Tournemine  was  accused  by  Beaumanoir  of  having 
murdered  his  brother.  The  former  was  vanquished,  but  was  saved  from  being 
hanged  upon  the  spot  by  the  generous  intercession  of  his  antagonist.  A  good 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  laws  concerning  judicial  combat  is  published  in 
the  History  of  Pavia,  by  Bernardo  Sacci,  lib.  ix,  c.  8,  in  Graev.  Thes.  xVntiquit. 
Ital.  vol.  iii.p.  743. 

This  mode  of  trial  was  so  acceptable,  that  ecclesiastics,  notwithstanding 
the  prohibitions  of  the  church,  were  constrained  not  only  to  connive  at  the 
practice,  but  to  authorize  it.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  is  produced  by 
Pasquier,  Recherches,  lib.  iv.  c.  i.  p.  350.  The  Abbot  Wittikindus,  whose 
words  I  have  produced  in  this  note,  considered  the  determination  of  a  point  in 
law  by  combat,  as  the  best  and  most  honourable  mode  of  decision.  In  the  year 
978,  a  judicial  combat  was  fought  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor.  The  Arch- 
bishop Aldebert  advised  him  to  terminate  a  contest  which  had  arisen  between 
two  noblemen  of  his  court  by  this  mode  of  decision.  The  vanquished  com- 
batant, though  a  person  of  high  rank,  was  beheaded  on  the  spot.  Chronic. 
Ditmari,  Episc.  Mersb.  apud  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Hist.  torn.  x.  p.  121. 
Questions  concerning  the  property  of  churches  and  monasteries  were  decided 
by  combat.  In  the  year  961  a  controversy  concerning  the  church  of  St.  Medard, 
■whether  it  belonged  to  the  abbey  of  Beaulieu  or  not,  was  terminated  by 
judicial  combat.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Hist.  torn.  ix.  p.  729.  Ibid.  p.  G12,  &c. 
The  Emperor  Henry  I.  declares  that  this  law,  authorizing  the  practice  of 
judicial  combats,  was  enacted  with  consent  and  applause  of  many  faithful 
bishops.  Ibid.  p.  231.  So  remarkably  did  the  martial  ideas  of  those  ages 
prevail  over  the  genius  and  maxims  of  the  canon  law,  which  in  other  instances 
was  in  the  highest  credit  and  authority  with  ecclesiastics.  A  judicial  combat 
was  appointed  in  Spain,  by  Charles  V.,  a.d.  1522.  The  combatants  fought  iu 
the  emperor's  presence,  and  the  battle  was  conducted  with  all  the  rites  prescribed 
by  the  ancient  laws  of  chivalry.  The  whole  transaction  is  described  at  great 
length  by  Pontus  Heuterus,  Rer.  Austriac.  lib.  viii.  c.  17,  p.  205. 

The  last  instance  which  occurs  in  the  history  of  Prance,  of  a  judicial  combat 
authorized  by  the  magistrate,  was  the  famous  one  between  M.  Jarnac  and 
M.  de  la  Chaistaignerie,  a.d.  1547.  A  trial  by  combat  was  appointed  in 
England,  a.d.  1571,  luider  the  inspection  of  the  judges  in  the  court  of  Common 
Pleas  ;  and  though  it  was  not  carried  to  the  same  extremity  with  the  former. 
Queen  Elizabeth  having  interposed  her  authority,  and  enjoined  the  parties  to 
compound  the  matter,  yet,  in  order  to  preserve  their  honour,  the  lists  were 
marked  out,  and  all  the  forms  previous  to  the  combat  were  observed  with 
much  ceremony.  Spelm.  Gloss,  voe.  Campus,  p.  103.  In  the  year  1631,  a 
judicial  combat  was  appointed  between  Donald  Lord  Rea,  and  David  Ramsay, 
Esq.,  by  the  authority  of  the  lord  higli  co  stable  and  earl  marshal  of  England ; 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  663 

but  that  quarrel  likewise  terminated  -without  bloodshed,  being  accommodated 
by  Charles  I.  Anotlier  instance  occurs  seven  years  later.  Rushworth,  iu 
Observations  on  the  Statutes,  &c.,  p.  2GG. 

[23],  fY/z/i?  54. — The  text  contains  tlie  great  outlines  which  mark  the  course 
of  private  and  public  jurisdiction  in  the  several  nations  of  Europe.  1  shall  here 
follow  more  minutely  the  various  steps  of  this  progress,  as  the  matter  is 
curious  and  important  enough  to  merit  this  attention.  The  payment  of  a  fine 
by  way  of  satisfaction  to  the  person  or  family  injured,  was  the  first  device  of  a 
rude  people,  in  order  to  check  the  career  of  private  resentment,  and  to  ex- 
tinguish thoRe  fr/idce,  or  deadly  feuds,  which  were  prosecuted  among  them  with 
the  utmost  violence.  This  custom  may  be  traced  back  to  the  ancient  Germans, 
Tacit,  de  Morib.  Germ.  c.  21,  and  prevailed  among  other  uncivilized  nations. 
Many  examples  of  this  are  collected  by  the  ingenious  and  learned  autlior  of 
Historical  Law  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  41.  These  fiues  were  ascertained  and  levied 
iu  three  different  manners.  At  first  they  were  settled  by  voluntary  agreement 
between  tlie  parties  at  variance.  When  their  rage  began  to  subside,  and 
they  felt  the  bad  eirccts  of  their  continuing  in  enmity,  they  came  to  terms  of 
concord,  and  tbe  satisfaction  made  was  called  a  composilio)i,  implying  that  it 
was  fixed  by  mutual  consent.  De  I'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxx.  c.  19.  It  is 
apparent  from  some  of  the  more  ancient  codes  of  laws,  that  at  the  time  when 
these  were  compiled,  matters  still  remained  in  that  simple  state.  In  certain 
eases,  the  person  who  had  committed  an  offence,  was  left  exposed  to  the 
resentment  of  those  whom  he  had  injured,  until  he  should  recover  their  favour, 
"quoquo  modo  potuerit."  Leg.  Erision.  tit.  11,  §  1.  The  next  mode  of 
levying  these  fines  was  by  the  sentence  of  arbiters.  An  arbiter  is  called  iu 
the  Regiam  Majestatem  amicuhilis  compositor,  lib.  xi.  c.  4,  §  10.  He  could 
estimate  the  degree  of  offence  with  more  impartiality  than  the  parties 
interested,  and  determine  with  greater  equity  what  satisfaction  ought  to  be 
demanded.  It  is  difficult  to  bring  an  authentic  proof  of  a  custom  previous  to 
the  records  preserved  in  any  nation  of  Europe.  But  one  of  the  Eurmulse 
Andegaveuses  compiled  in  the  sixth  century  seems  to  allude  to  a  transaction 
carried  on,  not  by  the  authority  of  a  judge,  but  by  the  mediation  of  arbiters 
chosen  by  mutual  consent.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Histor.  torn.  iv.  p.  56G.  But 
as  an  arbiter  wanted  authority  to  enforce  his  decisions,  judges  were  appointed 
M'ith  compulsive  power  to  oblige  both  parties  to  acquiesce  in  their  decisions. 
Previous  to  this  last  step,  the  expedient  of  paying  compositions  was  an 
imperfect  remedy  against  the  pernicious  effects  of  private  resentment.  As  soon 
as  this  important  change  was  introduced,  the  magistrate,  putting  himself  in 
place  of  the  person  injured,  ascertained  the  composition  with  which  he  ought 
to  rest  satisfied.  Every  possible  injury  that  could  occur  iu  the  intercourse  of 
civil  society  was  considered,  and  estimated,  and  the  compositions  due  to  the 
person  aggrieved  were  fixed  with  such  minute  attention  as  discovers,  in  most 
cases,  amazing  discernment  and  delicacy,  in  some  instances  unaccountable 
caprice.  Besides  the  composition  payable  to  the  private  party,  a  certain  sum, 
called  a  fredum,  was  paid  to  the  king  or  state,  as  Tacitus  expresses  it,  or  to 
the  fiscus,  in  the  language  of  the  barbarous  laws.  Some  authors,  blending  the 
refined  ideas  of  modern  policy  with  their  reasonings  concerning  ancient  trans- 
actions, have  imagined  that  \.\\c  fredu/ii  was  a  compensation  due  to  the  com- 

00  2 


564  PEOOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

mimity,  on  account  of  the  violation  of  tlic  public  peace.  But  it  is  manifestly 
nothing-  more  than  the  price  paid  to  the  magistrate  for  the  protection  which  he 
afforded  against  the  violence  of  resentment.  The  enacting  of  this  was  a  con- 
siderable step  towards  improvement  in  criminal  jurisprudence.  In  some  of  the 
more  ancient  codes  of  laws,  the  freda  are  altogether  omitted,  or  so  seldom 
mentioned,  that  it  is  evident  they  were  but  little  known.  In  the  later  codes, 
the  freditm  is  as  precisely  specified  as  the  composition.  In  common  cases,  it 
was  equal  to  the  third  part  of  the  composition.  Capitul.  vol.  i.  p.  52.  In  some 
extraordinary  cases,  where  it  was  more  difficult  to  protect  the  person  who  had 
committed  violence,  {Xx^fredum  was  augmented.  Capitul.  vol.  i.  p.  515.  These 
freda  made  a  considerable  branch  in  the  revenues  of  the  barons  ;  and  in  what- 
ever district  territorial  jurisdiction  was  granted,  the  royal  judges  were  pro- 
hibited from  levying  any/;YY/«.  In  explaining  the  nature  of  Wicfrcdiim,  I  have 
followed,  in  a  great  measure,  the  opinion  of  M.  de  Montesquieu,  though  I 
know  that  several  learned  antiquaries  have  taken  the  word  in  a  different 
sense.  De  i'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxx.  c.  20,  &c.  The  great  object  of  judges 
was  to  compel  the  one  party  to  give,  and  the  other  to  accept,  the  satisfaction 
prescribed.  They  multiplied  regulations  to  this  purpose,  and  enforced  them 
by  grievous  penalties.  Leg.  Longol).  lib.  i.  tit.  9,  §  34.  Ibid.  tit.  37,  §  1,  2. 
Capitul.  vol.  i.  p.  371,  §  22.  The  person  who  received  a  composition  was 
obliged  to  cease  from  all  further  hostility,  and  to  confirm  his  reconciliation 
with  the  adverse  party  by  an  oath.  Leg.  Longob.  lib.  i.  tit.  9,  §  8.  As  an 
additional  and  more  permanent  evidence  of  reconciliation,  he  was  required  to 
grant  a  bond  of  security  to  the  person  from  whom  he  received  a  composition, 
absolving  him  from  all  further  prosecution.  Marculfus,  and  tlie  other  collectors 
of  ancient  writs,  have  preserved  several  different  forms  of  such  bonds.  Marc, 
lib.  xi.  §18.  Append.  §  23.  Form.  Sirmondicfc,  §  39.  1\\e  letters  of  Slaues, 
known  in  the  law  of  Scotland,  are  perfectly  similar  to  these  bonds  of  security. 
By  the  letters  of  Slanes,  the  heirs  and  relations  of  a  person  who  liad  been 
inurdered  bound  themselves,  in  consideration  of  an  ax^ythment,  or  composition 
paid  to  them,  to  forgive,  "  pass  over,  and  for  ever  forget,  and  in  oblivion  inter, 
all  rancour,  malice,  revenge,  prejudice,  grudge,  and  resentment,  that  they  have 
or  may  conceive  against  the  aggressor  or  his  posterity,  for  the  crime  which 
he  had  committed,  and  discharge  him  of  all  action,  civil  or  criminal,  against 
him  or  his  estate,  for  now  and  ever."  System  of  Stiles  by  Dallas  of  St. 
Martin's,  p.  862.  In  the  ancient  form  of  letters  of  Slanes,  the  private  party 
not  only  forgives  and  forgets,  but  pardons  and  grants  remission  of  the  crime. 
This  practice,  Dallas,  reasoning  according  to  the  principles  of  his  own  age, 
onsiders  as  an  encroachment  on  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  as  none,  says  he, 
could  pardon  a  criminal  but  the  king.  Ibid.  But  in  early  and  rude  tiuics,  the 
prosecution,  the  punishment,  and  the  pardon  of  criminals,  were  all  deeds  of  the 
private  person  who  was  injured.  Madox  has  published  two  writs,  one  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  I.,  the  other  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  by  which  private 
persons  grant  a  release  or  pardon  of  all  trespasses,  felonies,  robberies,  and 
murders  committed.  Eormul.  Anglican.  No.  702,  705.  In  the  last  of  these 
instruments,  some  regard  seems  to  be  paid  to  the  rights  of  the  sovereign,  for 
the  pardon  is  granted  en  quant  que  en  nous  ed.  Even  after  the  authority  of  the 
magistrate  was  interposed  in  punishing  crimes,  the  punishment  of  criminals  is 
long  considered  chiefly  as  a  gratification  to  the  resentment  of  the  persons  who 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  565 

Lave  been  injured.  In  Persia  a  murderer  is  still  delivered  to  the  relations  of 
the  person  whom  lie  has  slain,  who  put  him  to  death  with  their  own  liauds.  If 
Ihcy  refuse  to  aece])t  of  a  sum  of  money  as  a  comjicnsation,  the  sovereign, 
absolute  as  he  is,  cannot  pardon  the  murderer.  Voyages  de  Cliardin,  iii. 
p.  417,  edit.  1735,  4to.  Voyages  dc  Tavernier,  liv.  v.  c.  5,  10.  Among  the 
Arabians,  tliougli  one  of  the  first  polished  people  in  the  East,  tlie  same  custom 
still  subsists.  Description  de  1' Arabic  par  M.  INicbuhr,  p.  28.  By  a  law  in  the 
kingdom  of  Aragon,  as  late  as  the  year  1564,  the  punishment  of  one  condemned 
to  death  cannot  be  mitigated  but  by  consent  of  the  parties  who  have  been 
injured.     Pueros  y  Observaueias  del  Reyno  dc  Aragon,  p.  204,  6. ' 

If,  after  all  the  engagements  to  cease  from  enmity  which  I  have  mentioned, 
any  person  renewed  hostilities,  and  was  guilty  of  any  violence,  either  towards 
the  person  from  whom  he  had  received  a  composition,  or  towards  his  relations 
and  heirs,  this  was  deemed  a  most  heinous  crime,  and  punished  with  extra- 
ordinary rigour.     It  was  an  act  of  direct  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the 
magistrate,  and  was  repressed  by  the  interposition  of  all  his  power.    Leg. 
Longob.  lib.  i.  tit.  9,  §  8,  p.  34.    Capit.  vol.  i.  p.  371,  §  22.   Thus  the  avenging 
of  injuries  was  taken  out  of  private  hands,  a  legal  composition  was  established, 
and  peace  and  amity  were  restored  under  the  inspection,  and  by  the  authority 
of  a  judge.     It  is  evident,  that  at  the  time  when  the  barbarians  settled  iu  the 
provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  they  had  fixed  judges  established  among  them 
with  compulsive  authority.     Persons  vested  with  this  character  are  mentioned 
by  the  earliest  historians.     Du  Cange,  voc.  Judices.     The  right  of  territorial 
jurisdiction  was  not  altogether  an  usurpation  of  the  feudal   barons,  or  an 
invasion  of  the  prerogative  of  the  sovereign.    There  is  good  reason  to  believe, 
that  the  powerful  leaders,  who  seized  ditferent  districts  of  the  countries  which 
they  conquered,  and  kept  possession  of  them  as  allodial  property,  assumed 
from  the  beginning  the  right  of  jurisdiction,  and  exercised  it  within  their 
own  territories.     This  jurisdiction  was  supreme,  and  extended  to  all  causes. 
The  clearest  proofs  of  this  are  produced  by  M.  Bouquet,  Lc  Droit  publique  de 
Prance  eclairci,  &c.  tom.  i.  p.  206,  &c.     The  privilege  of  judging  his  own 
vassals,  appears  to  have  been  originally  a  right  inherent  in  every  baron  who 
held  a  fief.     As  far  back  as  the  archives  of  nations  can  conduct  us  with  any 
certainty,  we  find  the  jurisdiction  and  fief  united.     One  of  the  earliest  charters 
to  a  layman  which  I  have  met  with  is  that  of  Ludovicus  Pius,  A.  D.  814 ;  and 
it  contains  the  right  of  territorial  jurisdiction  in  the  most  express  and  extensive 
terms.     Capitul.  vol.  ii.  p.  1405.     There  are  many  charters  to  churches  and 
monasteries  of  a  more  early  date,  containing  grants  of  similar  jurisdiction,  and 
prohibiting   any   royal  judge   to  enter  the  territories  of  those   churches  or 
monasteries,   or  to  perform  any  act  of  judicial  authority   there.     Bouquet, 
Recueil  des  Hist.  tom.  iv.  pp.  028,  631,  633;  tom.  v.  pp.  703,  710,  752,  762. 
Muratori  has   published   many   very  ancient   charters    containing  the   same 
immunities.     Autiq.  Ital.  Dissert.  Ixx.     In  most  of  these  deeds,  the  royal 
judge  is  prohibited  from  exacting  i\\Qfreda  due  to  the  possessor  of  territorial 
jurisdiction,  which  shows  that  they  constituted  a  valuable  part  of  the  revenue 
of  each  superior  lord  at  that  juncture.     The  expense  of  obtaining  a  sentence 
iu  a  court  of  justice  during  the  middle  ages  M'as  so  considerable,  tliat  this 
circumstance  alone  was  sufficient  to  render  men  unwilling  to  decide  any  contest 
ill  judicial  form.     It  appears  from  a  charter  in  the  thirteenth  century,  that  the 


666  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

baron  who  liad  the  right  of  justice  received  the  fifih  part  of  the  vahie  of  every 
subject,  the  pro[)erty  of  which  was  tried  and  determined  in  his  court.  If,  after 
the  commencement  of  a  lawsuit,  tlie  parties  terminated  the  contest  in  an 
amicable  manner,  or  by  arbitration,  they  were,  nevertheless,  bound  to  pay  the 
fifth  part  of  the  subject  contested  to  the  court  before  which  the  suit  had  been 
brought.  Hist,  de  Dauphine,  Geneve,  1722,  torn.  i.  p.  22.  Similar  to  this  is 
a  regulation  in  the  charter  of  liberty  granted  to  the  town  of  Friburg,  a.d. 
1120.  If  two  of  the  citizens  shall  quarrel,  and  if  one  of  them  shall  complain 
to  the  superior  lord  or  to  his  judge,  and  after  commencing  the  suit  shall  be 
privately  reconciled  to  his  adversary,  the  judge,  if  he  does  not  approve  of  this 
reconciliation,  may  compel  him  to  go  on  with  bis  lawsuit,  and  all  who  were 
present  at  the  reconciliation  shall  forfeit  the  favour  of  the  superior  lord. 
Historia  Zariugo-Badensis.  Auctor.  Jo.  Dan.  Schoepflinus.  Carolsr.  1765, 4to. 
vol.  v.  p.  55. 

What  was  the  extent  of  that  jurisdiction  which  those  who  held  fiefs 
possessed  originally,  we  cannot  now  determine  with  certainty.  It  is  evident 
that,  during  the  disorders  which  prevailed  in  every  kingdom  of  Europe,  the 
great  vassals  took  advantage  of  the  feebleness  of  their  monarchs,  and  enlarged 
their  jurisdictions  to  the  utmost.  As  early  as  the  tenth  century,  the  more 
powerful  barons  had  usurped  the  right  of  deciding  all  causes,  whether  civil  or 
criminal.  They  had  acquired  the  high  jndice  v^'s.  well  as  the  low.  Establ.  de 
St.  Louis,  Uv.  i.  c.  24,  25.  Their  sentences  were  final,  and  there  lay  no  appeal 
from  them  to  any  superior  court.  Several  striking  instances  of  this  are 
collected  by  Brussel.  Traite  des  Fiefs,  liv.  iii.  c.  11,  12,  13.  Not  satisfied  with 
this,  the  more  potent  barons  got  their  territories  created  into  regalities,  with 
almost  every  royal  prerogative  and  jurisdiction.  Instances  of  these  were 
frequent  in  France;  Bruss.  Ibid.  In  Scotland,  wliere  the  power  of  the 
feudal  nobles  became  exorbitant,  they  were  very  numerous.  Historical  Law 
Tracts,  vol.  i.  tract  vi.  Even  in  England,  though  the  authority  of  the  Norman 
kings  circumscribed  the  jurisdiction  of  the  barons  within  more  narrow  limits 
than  in  any  other  feudal  kingdom,  several  counties  palatine  were  erected,  into 
which  the  king's  judges  could  not  enter,  and  no  writ  could  come  in  the  king's 
name,  until  it  received  the  seal  of  the  county  palatine.  Spelman.  Gloss,  voc. 
Comites  Palatini ;  Blackstone's  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  vol.  iii. 
p.  78.  These  lords  of  regalities  had  a  right  to  claim  or  rescue  their  vassals 
from  the  king's  judges,  if  they  assumed  any  jurisdiction  over  them.  Brussel, 
ubi  supra.  In  the  law  of  Scotland,  this  privilege  was  termed  the  right  of 
repledging  ;  and  the  frequency  of  it  not  only  interrupted  the  course  of  justice, 
but  gave  rise  to  great  disorders  in  the  exercise  of  it.  Hist.  Law  Tracts,  ibid. 
The  jurisdiction  of  the  counties  palatine  seems  to  have  been  productive  of 
like  inconveniences  in  England. 

The  remedies  provided  by  princes  against  the  bad  effects  of  these  usurpa- 
tions of  the  nobles,  or  inconsiderate  grants  of  the  crown,  were  various,  and 
gradually  applied.  Under  Charlemagne  and  his  immediate  descendants,  the 
regal  prerogative  still  retained  great  vigour,  and  the  duces,  comites,  and  missi 
dominici,  the  former  of  whom  were  ordinary  and  fixed  judges,  the  latter 
extraordinary  and  itinerant  judges,  in  the  different  provinces  of  their  extensive 
dominions,  exercised  a  jurisdiction  co-ordinate  with  the  barons  in  some  cases, 
and  superior  to  them  in  others.  Du  Gauge,  voc.  Dux,  Comites,  ct  Jlissi.  Murat. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATION- S.  §6? 

Antiq,  Dissert,  viii.  et  ix.  But  uudcr  the  feeble  nice  of  uiuuiiichs  who 
succeeded  them,  the  autliority  of  the  royal  judges  declined,  aud  the  barons 
acquired  that  unlimited  jurisdictiou  which  has  been  described.  Louis  VI.  of 
Piance  attempted  to  revive  the  fuuctiou  of  the  missi  domi/Uci  under  the  title 
oijuges  des  exempts,  but  the  barous  were  become  too  powerful  to  bear  such 
an  encroachment  on  their  jurisdiction,  and  he  was  obliged  to  desist  from 
employing  them.  Haiuault,  Abrego  Chrou.  torn.  ii.  p.  730.  His  successor 
(as  has  been  observed)  had  recourse  to  expedients  less  alarming.  The  appeal 
de  defaute  de  droit,  or  on  account  of  the  refusal  of  justice,  was  the  first  which 
was  attended  with  any  considerable  effect.  According  to  the  maxims  of 
feudal  law,  if  a  baron  had  not  as  many  vassals  as  enabled  him  to  try  by  their 
peers  the  parties  who  offered  to  plead  in  his  court,  or  if  he  delayed  or  refused 
to  proceed  in  the  trial,  the  cause  might  be  carried,  by  appeal,  to  the  court  of 
the  superior  lord  of  whom  the  baron  held,  and  Iried  there.  De  I'Esprit  des 
Loix,  liv.  xxviii.  e.  28.  Du  Gauge,  voc.  Defedus  Jiistitite.  The  number  of  peers 
or  assessors  in  the  courts  of  barons  was  frequently  very  considerable.  It 
appears  from  a  criminal  trial  in  the  court  of  the  Viscount  de  Lautrcc,  A.  D. 
1299,  that  upwards  of  two  hundred  persons  were  present,  and  assisted  in  the 
trial,  and  voted  in  passing  judgment.  Hist.  De  Langued.  par  D.  D.  de  Vic  et 
Vaisette,  torn.  iv.  Preuves,  p.  114.  But  as  the  right  of  jurisdictiou  had  been 
usurped  by  many  inconsiderable  barons,  they  were  often  unable  to  hold  courts. 
This  gave  frequent  occasion  to  such  appeals,  and  rendered  the  practice  familiar. 
By  degrees,  such  appeals  began  to  be  made  from  the  courts  of  the  n)ore 
powerful  barons ;  and  it  is  evident,  from  a  decision  recorded  by  Brussel,  that 
the  royal  judges  were  willing  to  give  countenance  to  any  pretext  for  them. 
Traite  des  Fiefs,  torn.  i.  pp.  235,  261.  This  species  of  appeal  had  less  effect  in 
abridging  the  jurisdictiou  of  the  nobles,  than  the  appeal  on  account  of  the 
injustice  of  the  sentence.  When  the  feudal  monarchs  were  powerful,  and 
their  judges  possessed  extensive  authority,  such  appeals  seem  to  have  been 
frequent.  Capitul.  vol.  i.  pp.  175,  180;  and  they  were  made  in  a  manner 
suitable  to  the  rudeness  of  a  simple  age.  The  persons  aggrieved  resorted  to 
tiie  palace  of  their  sovereign,  and  with  outcries  and  loud  noise  called  to  him  for 
redress.  Capitul.  lib.  iii.  c.  59.  Chronic.  Lawterbergiense,  ap.  Mencken. 
Script.  German,  .vol.  ii.  p.  284,  b.  In  the  kingdom  of  Aragon,  the  appeals  to 
the  judiza,  or  supreme  judge,  were  taken  in  such  a  form  as  sup[)Osed  the 
appellant  to  be  in  immediate  daiiger  of  death,  or  of  some  violent  outrage;  he 
rushed  into  the  presence  of  the  judge,  crying  with  a  loud  voice,  Ati,  Avi, 
Fuerza,  Fuerza,  thus  imploring  (as  it  were)  the  instant  interposition  of  that 
supreme  judge  in  order  to  save  him.  Hier.  Blanca,  Comment,  de  Rebus  Aragon. 
ap.  Script.  Hispanic.  Pistorii,  vol.  iii.  p.  753.  The  abolition  of  the  trial  by  combat 
facilitated  the  revival  of  appeals  of  this  kind.  The  effects  of  the  subordina- 
tion which  appeals  established,  in  introducing  attention,  equitj^,  and  consistency 
of  decision,  into  courts  of  judicature,  were  soon  conspicuous ;  and  almost 
all  causes  of  importance  were  carried  to  be  finally  determined  in  the  king's 
courts.  Brussel,  torn.  i.  p.  252.  Various  circumsiances  which  contributed 
towards  the  introduction  and  frequercy  of  such  appeals  are  enumerated  De 
I'Esprit  des  Loix,  liv.  xxviii.  c.  27.  Nothing,  however,  was  of  such  effect  as 
the  attention  which  monarchs  gave  to  the  constitution  and  dignity  of  their 
courts  of  justice.     It  was  the  ancient  custom  for  the  feudal  monarclis  to  preside 


568  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTllATIONS. 

themselves  iu  their  courts,  and  to  administer  justice  in  person.  Marculf. 
lib.  i.  §  25.  Murat.  Dissert,  xxxi.  Charleiiiagne,  whilst  he  was  dressing,  used 
to  call  parties  into  his  presence,  and  having  heard  and  considered  the  subject 
of  litigation,  gave  judgment  concerning  it.  Ej^nhartus,  Vita  Caroli  Magui, 
oiled  by  Madox,  Hist,  of  Exchequer,  vol.  i.  p.  91.  This  trial  and  decision  of 
causes  by  the  sovereigns  themselves  could  not  fail  of  rendering  their  courts 
respectable.  St.  Louis,  who  encouraged  to  the  utmost  tlie  practice  of  appeals, 
revived  this  ancient  custom,  and  administered  justice  in  person  with  all  the 
ancient  simplicity.  "I  have  often  seen  the  saint,"  says  Joiuville,  "sit  under 
the  shade  of  an  oak  iu  the  wood  of  Vincennes,  when  all  who  had  any  complaint 
freely  approached  him.  At  other  times  he  gave  orders  to  spread  a  carpet  in 
a  garden,  and  seating  himself  upon  it,  heard  the  causes  that  were  brought 
before  him."  Hist,  de  St.  Louis,  p.  13,  edit.  1761.  Princes  of  inferior  rank, 
who  possessed  the  right  of  justice,  sometimes  dispensed  it  iu  person,  and 
presided  in  their  tribunals.  Two  instances  of  this  occur  with  respect  to  the 
dauphins  of  Vienne.  Hist,  de  Dauphiuc,  torn.  i.  p.  18,  torn.  ii.  p.  257.  But 
as  kings  and  princes  could  not  decide  every  cause  iu  person,  nor  bring  them 
all  to  be  determined  in  the  same  court,  they  appointed  baillis,  with  a  right  of 
jurisdiction,  in  different  districts  of  their  kingdom.  These  possessed  powers 
somewhat  similar  to  those  of  the  ancient  comites.  It  was  towards  the  end  of  tlie 
twelfth  century  and  beginning  of  the  thirteenth,  that  this  office  was  first  insti- 
tuted in  Erance.  Brussel,  liv.  ii.  c.  35.  When  the  king  had  a  court  established 
in  different  quarters  of  his  dominions,  this  invited  his  subjects  to  have 
recourse  to  it.  It  was  the  private  interest  of  the  baillis,  as  well  as  an  object 
of  public  policy,  to  extend  their  jurisdiction.  They  took  advantage  of  every 
defect  in  the  rights  of  the  barons,  and  of  every  error  iu  their  proceedings, 
to  remove  causes  out  of  their  courts,  and  to  bring  them  under  their  own 
cognisance.  There  was  a  distinction  in  the  feudal  law  and  an  extremely 
ancient  one,  between  the  high  justice  and  the  low.  Capital.  3,  a.d.  812, 
§  4,  A.D.  815,  §  3.  Establ.  de  St.  Louis,  liv.  i.  c.  40.  Many  barons  possessed 
the  latter  jurisdiction,  who  had  no  title  to  the  former.  The  former  included 
the  right  of  trying  crimes  of  every  kind,  even  the  highest ;  the  latter  was 
confined  to  petty  trespasses.  This  furnished  endless  pretexts  for  obstructing, 
restraining,  and  reviewing  the  proceedings  iu  the  baron  courts.  Ordon.  ii.  457, 
§  25,  458,  §  29. A  regulation  of  greater  importance  succeeded  the  institu- 
tion of  baillis.  The  king's  supreme  court  or  parliament  was  rendered  fixed  as 
to  the  place,  and  constant  as  to  the  time  of  its  meetings.  In  France,  as  well 
as  in  the  other  feudal  kingdoms,  the  king's  court  of  justice  was  originally 
ambulatory,  followed  the  person  of  the  monarch,  and  was  held  only  during  some 
of  the  great  festivals.  Philip  Augustus,  a.d.  1305,  rendered  it  stationary  at 
Paris,  and  continued  its  terms  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  Pasquier, 
lleeherches,  liv.  ii.  c.  2  et  3,  &c.  Ordon.  tom.  i.  p.  3G6,  §  02.  He  and  his 
successors  vested  extensive  powers  in  that  court ;  they  granted  the  members 
of  it  several  privileges  and  distinctions,  which  it  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate. 
Pasquier,  ibid.  Velly,  Hist,  de  Erance,  tom.  vi.  p.  307.  Persons  eminent  for 
integrity  and  skill  in  law  were  appointed  judges  there.  Ibid.  By  degrees 
the  final  decision  of  all  causes  of  importance  was  brought  into  the  parliament 
of  Paris,  and-  the  other  parliaments  which  administered  justice  in  the  king's 
name,  in  different  provinces  of  the  kingdom.     This  jurisdiction,  however,  the 


PROOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  509 

parliament  of  Paris  acquired  very  slowly,  aud  the  great  vassals  of  tlic  crowu 
made  violeut  efforts  in  order  to  obstruct  the  attempts  of  that  parliament  to 
extend  its  authority.  Towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Philip  the 
Fair  was  obliged  to  prohibit  his  parliament  from  taking  cognisance  of  certain 
appeals  brought  into  it  from  the  courts  of  the  count  of  Brctague,  and  to 
recognise  and  respect  his  right  of  supreme  and  final  jurisdiction.  Mcnioircs 
pour  servir  dc  Preuves  a  1'  Histoire  de  Bretagnc  par  ]\[oricc,  torn  i.  p.  10.'i7,  iOZl. 
Charles  "VJ.,  at  the  end  of  the  following  century,  was  obliged  to  confirm  the 
rights  of  the  dukes  of  Pretagne  in  still  more  ample  form.  Ibid.  torn.  ii.  p.  580, 
581.  So  violent  was  the  opposition  of  the  barons  to  this  right  of  appeal, 
which,  they  considered  as  fatal  to  their  privileges  and  power,  that  the  authors 
of  the  Eiici/clopedie  have  mentioned  several  instances  in  which  barons  put 
to  death,  or  mutilated,  such  persons  as  ventured  to  appeal  from  the  sentences 
pronounced  in  their  courts,  to  the  parliament  of  Paris,  tom.  xii.  Art.  Farlement, 
p.  25. 

The  progress  of  jurisdiction  in  the  other  feudal  kingdoms  was  in  a  great 
measure  similar  to  that  which  we  have  traced  in  Prance.  In  England,  the 
territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  barons  was  both  ancient  and  extensive.  Leg. 
Edw.  Couf.  No.  5  and  9.  After  the  Norman  conquest,  it  became  more  strictly 
feudal ;  and  it  is  evident,  from  facts  recorded  in  the  English  history,  as  well  as 
from  the  institution  of  counties  palatine,  which  I  have  already  mentioned,  that 
the  usurpations  of  the  nobles  in  England  were  not  less  bold  or  extensive  than 
those  of  their  contemporaries  on  the  continent.  The  same  expedients  were 
employed  to  circumscribe  or  abolish  those  dangerous  jurisdictions.  William 
the  Conqueror  established  a  constant  court  in  the  hall  of  his  palace ;  from 
which  the  four  courts  now  entrusted  with  the  administration  of  justice  in 
England  took  their  rise.  Henry  II.  divided  his  kingdom  into  six  circuits,  aud 
sent  itinerant  judges  to  hold  their  courts  in  them  at  stated  seasons.  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,  vol,  iii.  p.  57.  Justices  of  the 
peace  were  appointed  in  every  county  by  subsequent  mouarchs,  to  whose  juris- 
diction the  people  gradually  had  recourse  in  many  civil  causes.  The  privileges 
of  the  counties  palatine  were  gradually  limited;  with  respect  to  some  points 
they  were  abolished ;  and  the  administration  of  justice  was  brought  into  the 
king's  courts,  or  before  judges  of  his  appointment.  The  several  steps  taken 
for  this  purpose  are  enumerated  iu  Dalrymple's  History  of  Peudal  Property, 
chap.  vii. 

In  Scotland  the  usurpations  of  the  nobility  were  more  exorbitant  than  in  any 
other  feudal  kingdom.  The  progress  of  their  encroachments,  and  the  methods 
taken  by  the  crown  to  limit  or  abolish  their  territorial  and  independent  juris- 
dictions, both  which  I  had  occasion  to  consider  and  explain  in  a  former  work, 
differed  very  little  from  those  of  which  I  have  now  given  the  detail.  History 
of  Scotland,  vol.  i.  p.  37. 

I  should  perplex  myself  aud  my  readers  in  the  labyrinth  of  German  juris- 
prudence, if  I  were  to  attempt  to  delineate  the  progress  of  jurisdiction  in  the 
empire,  with  a  minute  accuracy.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  authority 
which  the  aulic  council  and  imperial  chamber  now  possess,  took  its  rise  from  the 
same  desire  of  redressing  tiie  abuses  of  territorial  jurisdiction,  and  was  acquired 
in  the  same  manner  that  the  royal  courts  attained  influence  in  otlier  countries 
of  Europe.     All  the  important  facts,  with  respect  to  both  these  particulars,  mny 


$70  J'B.OOES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

be  found  in  riiil.  Datt.  de  Pace  Publica  Imperii,  lib,  iv.  Tlie  capital  articles 
arc  pointed  out  in  Pl'ell'el,  Abrcge  de  I'llistoire  du  Droit  Publiquc  d'Allemagne, 
p.  55G,  581;  and  in  Traite  du  Droit  Publique  de  I'Empire  par  M.  le  Coq.  de 
Villeray.  The  two  last  treatises  are  of  great  authority,  having  been  composed 
under  the  eye  of  M.  Schoepfliu  of  Strasburg,  one  of  the  ablest  public  lawyers 
iu  Germany. 

[34],  'page  5G. — It  is  not  easy  to  fix  with  precision  the  period  at  which  eccle- 
siastics first  began  to  claim  exemption  from  the  civil  jurisdiction.  It  is  certain, 
that  during  tlie  early  and  purest  ages  of  the  church,  they  pretended  to  no  such 
immunity.  The  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  extended  to  all  persons  and  to 
all  causes.  This  fact  has  not  only  been  clearly  established  by  protestaut  authors, 
but  is  admitted  by  many  Roman  Catholics  of  eminence,  and  particularly  by  the 
writers  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallicaa  church.  There  are  several 
original  papers  published  by  Muratori,  which  show  that,  in  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries,  causes  of  the  greatest  importance  relating  to  ecclesiastics  were  still 
determined  by  civil  judges.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  v.  dissert.  Ixx.  Proofs  of  this  are 
produced  likewise  by  M.  Houard,  Auciennes  Loix  des  rran9ois,  &c.,  vol.  L 
p.  209.  Ecclesiastics  did  not  shake  off  all  at  once  their  subjection  to  civil  courts. 
This  privilege,  like  their  other  usurpations,  was  acquired  slowly,  and  step  by 
step.  This  exemption  seems  at  first  to  have  been  merely  an  act  of  complaisance, 
flowing  from  veneration  for  their  character.  Tims  from  a  charter  of  Charle- 
magne in  favour  of  tlie  church  of  Mans,  a.d.  796,  to  -which  M.  I'Abbe  de  Foy 
refers  in  his  Notice  deDiplomes,  tom.  i.  p.  201,  that  monarch  directs  his  judges, 
if  any  difference  should  arise  between  the  administrators  of  the  revenues  of 
that  church  and  any  person  whatever,  not  to  summon  the  administrators  to 
appear  in  "mallo  publico;"  but,  first  of  all,  to  meet  with  them,  and  to  endea- 
vour to  accommodate  the  difference  iu  an  amicable  manner.  This  indulgence 
was  in  process  of  time  improved  into  a  legal  exemption ;  which  was  founded 
on  the  same  superstitious  respect  of  the  laity  for  tlie  clerical  character  and 
function  .  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  occurs  in  a  charter  of  Frederic  Barba- 
rossa,  A.D.  1172,  to  the  monastery  of  Altenburg.  He  grants  them  "judicium 
non  tantum  sanguinolentis  plagge,  sed  vitee  et  mortis;"  he  prohibits  any  of  the 
royal  judges  from  disturbing  tlieir  jurisdiction  ;  and  the  reason  which  he  gives 
for  this  ample  concession  is,  "nam  quorum,  ex  Dei  gratia,  ratione  divini  minis- 
terii  onus  leve  est,  et  jugum  suave ;  nos  penitus  nolumus  illos  oppressionis  con- 
tumelia,  vel  manu  laica,  fatigari."  Mencken,  Script.  Rer.  Germ.,  vol.  iii. 
p.  1067. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  illustrating  what  is  contained  in  the  text,  that  I  should 
describe  the  manner  in  which  the  code  of  the  canon  law  was  compiled,  or  show 
that  the  doctrines  in  it  most  favourable  to  the  power  of  the  clergy,  are  founded 
on  ignorance,  or  supported  by  fraud  and  forgery.  Tlie  reader  will  find  a  full 
account  of  these  iu  Gerard,  van  Mastricht,  Historia  Juris  Ecclesiastici,  and  in 
Science  du  Gouvernement,  par  M.  Real,  tom.  vii.  c.  1,  et  3,  §  2,  3,  &c.  The 
history  of  the  progress  and  extent  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  with  an  account 
of  the  arts  which  tlic  clergy  employed  in  order  to  draw  causes  of  every  kind 
into  the  spiritual  courts,  is  no  less  curious,  and  would  throw  great  light  upon 
many  of  the  x;ustoms  and  institutions  of  the  dark  ages ;  but  it  is  likewise  foreign 
from  the  present  subject.    Du  Cange,  in  his  glossary,  voc.  Curia  Christianitatu, 


PllOOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  67X 

has  collected  most  of  the  causes  with  respect  to  \Yhicli  the  clergy  arrogated  an 
exclusive  jurisdiction,  and  refers  to  the  authors,  or  original  papers,  which  con- 
firm his  observations.  Giannone,  in  his  Civil  History  of  Naples,  lib.  xix.  §  3, 
has  ranged  these  under  proper  heads,  and  scrutinizes  tlie  pretensions  of  the 
church  with  his  usual  boklness  and  discernment.  M.  Tleury  observes,  that  the 
clergy  multiplied  the  pretexts  for  extending  the  authority  of  the  spiritual  courts 
with  so  much  boldness,  that  it  was  soon  in  tliuir  power  to  withdraw  almost 
every  person  and  every  cause  from  the  jurisdiction  of  tiie  civil  magistrate. 
Hist.  Eccles.  torn.  xix.  Disc.  Prelim.  16.  But  how  ill  founded  soever  the  juris- 
diction of  the  clergy  may  have  been,  or  whatever  niiglit  be  the  abuses  to  which 
their  manner  of  exercising  it  gave  rise,  the  principles  and  forms  of  their  juris- 
prudence were  far  more  perfect  than  that  which  was  known  in  the  civil  courts. 
It  seems  to  be  certain,  that  ecclesiastics  never  submitted,  during  any  period  in 
the  middle  ages,  to  the  laws  contained  in  the  codes  of  the  barbarous  nations, 
but  were  governed  entirely  by  the  Roman  law.  They  regulated  all  their 
transactions  by  such  of  its  maxims  as  were  preserved  by  tradition,  or  were 
contained  in  the  Tlieodosian  code,  and  other  books  extant  among  thcni.  This 
we  learn  from  a  custom  which  prevailed  universally  in  tiiose  ages.  Every  per- 
son was  permitted  to  choose  among  the  various  codes  of  laws  then  in  force, 
that  to  whicli  he  was  willing  to  conform.  In  any  transaction  of  importance,  it 
was  usual  for  the  persons  contracting  to  mention  the  law  to  which  the)'  sub- 
mitted, that  it  might  be  known  how  any  controversy  that  should  arise  between 
them  was  to  be  decided.  Innumerable  proofs  of  this  occur  in  the  charters  of 
the  middle  ages.  But  the  clergy  considered  it  as  such  a  valuable  privilege  of 
their  order  to  be  governed  by  the  Roman  law,  that  when  any  person  entered 
into  holy  orders,  it  was  usual  for  him  to  renounce  the  code  of  laws  to  which  he 
had  been  formerly  subject,  and  to  declare  tliat  he  now  submitted  to  the  Roman 
law.  "  Constat  me  Johaunem  clericum,  filium  quondam  Verandi,  qui  professus 
^um,  ex  uatione  mea,  lege  vivere  Longobardorum,  sed  tamen,  pro  honore  eccle- 
siastico,  lege  nunc  videor  vivere  Romana."  Charta,  a.d.  1072.  "  Farulfus 
presbyter  qui  professus  sum,  more  sacerdotii  mei,  lege  vivere  Romana."  Charta, 
A.D.  1075.  Muratori,  Antichita  Estensi,  voh  i.  p.  78.  See  likewise  Ilouard, 
Auciennes  Loix  des  Erauyois,  &c.  vol.  i.  p.  203. 

Tlie  code  of  the  canon  law  began  to  be  compiled  early  in  the  ninth  century. 
Mem.  de  I'Acad.  des  Inseript.  torn,  xviii.  pp.  310,  &c.  It  was  above  two  cen- 
turies after  that  before  any  collection  was  made  of  those  customs  wdiich  were 
the  rule  of  judgments  in  the  courts  of  the  barons.  Spiritual  judges  decided, 
of  course,  according  to  written  and  known  laws:  lay  judges,  left  without  any 
fixed  guide,  were  directed  by  loose  traditionary  customs.  But,  besides  tliis 
general  advantage  of  the  canon  lasv,  its  forms  and  principles  were  more  conso- 
nant to  reason,  and  more  favourable  to  the  equitable  decision  of  every  point  in 
controversy,  than  those  which  prevailed  in  lay  courts.  It  appears  from  Notes 
21  and  23  concerning  private  wars,  and  the  trial  by  combat,  that  the  whole 
spirit  of  ecclesiastical  jurisprudence  was  adverse  to  those  sanguinary  customs 
which  were  destructive  of  justice ;  and  the  whole  force  of  ecclesiastical  autho- 
rity was  exerted  to  abolish  tliem,  and  to  substitute  trials  by  law  and  evidence 
in  their  room.  Almost  all  the  forms  in  lay  courts  which  contribute  to  establish, 
and  continue  to  preserve  order  injudicial  proceedings,  are  borrowed  from  the 
canon  law.    Flcury,  Instit.  du  Droit  Canon,  part  iii.  c.  6,  p.  52.     St.  Louis,  in 


572  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

his  Establissemeus,  confirms  mauy  of  his  new  regulations  concerning  property 
and  the  administration  of  justice,  by  the  authority  of  the  canon  law,  from  which 
he  borrowed  them.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  first  hint  of  attaching  moveables 
for  the  recovery  of  a  debt,  was  taken  from  the  canon  law.  Estab.  liv.  ii.  c.  21, 
et  40.  And  lili.ewise  the  cessio  lonoritm,  by  a  person  who  was  insolvent.  Ibid. 
In  the  same  manner,  he  established  new  regulations  with  respect  to  the  effects 
of  persons  dying  intestate,  liv.  i.  c.  89.  These  and  many  other  salutary  regu- 
lations the  canonists  had  borrowed  from  the  Roman  law.  Many  other  examples 
might  be  produced  of  more  perfect  jurisprudence  in  the  canon  law  than  was 
known  in  lay  courts.  Eor  that  reason,  it  was  deemed  a  high  privilege  to  be 
subject  to  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  Among  the  many  immunities,  by  which 
men  were  allured  to  engage  in  the  dangerous  expeditions  for  the  recovery  of 
the  Holy  Laud,  one  of  the  most  considerable  was  the  declaring  such  as  took 
the  cross  to  be  subject  only  to  the  spiritual  courts,  and  to  the  rules  of  decision 
observed  in  them.     See  Note  13,  and  Du  Gauge,  voc.  Crucis  Priviler/ia. 

[25],  parje  58. — The  rapidity  with  which  the  knowledge  and  study  of  the 
RoQian  law  spread  over  Europe  is  amazing.  The  copy  of  the  Pandects  was 
found  at  Amalfi,  a.b.  1137.  Irnerius  opened  a  college  of  civil  law  at  Bologna 
a  few  years  after.  Giann.  Hist,  book  xi.  c.  2.  It  began  to  be  taught  as  a 
part  of  academical  learniug  in  different  parts  of  Prance  before  the  middle  of  the 
century.  Vaccarius  gave  lectures  on  the  civil  law  at  Oxford,  as  early  as  the 
year  1117.  A  regular  system  of  feudal  law,  formed  plainly  in  imitation  of  the 
Roman  code,  was  composed  by  two  Milanese  lawyers  about  the  year  1150. 
Gratian  published  the  code  of  canon  law,  with  large  additions  and  emendations, 
about  the  same  time.  The  earliest  collection  of  those  customs,  which  served 
as  the  rules  of  decision  in  the  courts  of  justice,  is  the  Assises  de  Jerusalem. 
They  were  compiled,  as  the  preamble  informs  us,  in  the  year  1099,  and  are 
called  "Jus  Consuetudinarium  quo  regebatur  Regnum  Orientale."  Willerm. 
Tyr.  lib.  xix.  c.  2.  But  peculiar  circumstances  gave  occasion  to  this  early 
compilation.  The  victorious  crusaders  settled  as  a  colony  in  a  foreign  country, 
and  adventurers  from  all  the  different  nations  of  Europe  composed  this  new 
society.  It  was  necessary  on  that  account  to  ascertain  the  laws  and  customs 
which  were  to  regulate  the  transactions  of  business,  and  the  administration  of 
justice  among  them.  But  in  no  country  of  Europe  was  there,  at  that  time,  any 
collection  of  customs,  nor  had  any  attempt  been  made  to  render  law  fixed. 
The  first  undertaking  of  that  kind  was  by  Glanville,  lord  chief  justice  of  Eng- 
land, in  his  Tractatus  de  Legibus  et  Consuctudinibus  Angliaj,  composed  about 
the  year  1181.  The  Regiam  Majestatem  in  Scotland,  ascribed  to  David  I., 
seems  to  be  an  imitation,  and  a  servile  one,  of  Glanville.  Several  Scottish 
antiquarians,  under  the  influence  of  that  pious  credulity  which  disposes  men 
to  assent,  without  hesitation,  to  whatever  they  deem  for  the  honour  of  their 
native  country,  contend  zealously,  that  the  Regiam  Majestatem  is  a  production 
prior  to  the  treatise  of  Glanville ;  and  have  brought  themselves  to  believe,  that 
a  nation,  in  a  superior  state  of  improvement,  borrowed  its  laws  and  institutions 
from  one  considerably  less  advanced  in  its  political  progress.  The  internal 
evidence  (were  it  my  province  to  examine  it)  by  which  this  theory  might  be 
refuted,  is,  in  my  opinion,  decisive.  The  external  circumstances  which  have 
seduced  Scottish  authors  into  this  mistake,  have  been  explained  M'ith  so  much 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  573 

precision  and  candour  by  Sir  David  Dalrymplc,  in  his  examination  of  some  ot 
the  arguments  for  the  high  antiquity  of  ]lcgiam  jMajestatcm,  Ediu.  17G9, 
4to.,  that  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  controversy  will  not  be  again  revived.  Pierre 
de  Fontaines,  who  tells  us  that  he  was  the  first  who  had  attempted  such  a  work 
in  France,  composed  his  Conseil,  which  contains  an  account  of  the  customs  of 
the  country  of  Yermandois,  in  the  reign  of  St.  Louis,  which  began  a.d.  122G. 
Bcaumanoir,  tlic  author  of  the  Coustumcs  dc  Ecauvoisis,  lived  about  the  same 
time.  The  Establisscmens  of  St.  Louis,  containing  a  large  collection  of  tlie 
customs  which  prevailed  within  the  royal  domains,  were  published  by  the 
authority  of  that  monarch.  As  soon  as  men  became  acquainted  with  the 
advantages  of  having  written  customs  and  laws,  to  which  they  could  have 
recourse  on  every  occasion,  the  practice  of  collecting  them  became  common. 
Charles  VII.  of  France,  by  an  ordinance  a.d.  Ii53,  appointed  the  customary 
laws  in  every  province  of  France  to  be  collected  and  arranged.  Velley  ct 
Villaret,  liistoire,  tom.  xvi.  p.  113. 

His  successor,  Louis  XL,  renewed  the  injunction.  But  this  salutary  under- 
taking hath  never  been  fully  executed,  and  the  jurisprudence  of  the  French 
nation  remains  more  obscure  and  uncertain  tlian  it  would  have  been  if  these 
prudent  regulations  of  their  monarchs  had  taken  effect.  A  mode  of  judicial 
determination  was  established  in  the  middle  ages,  M'hieh  affords  tlie  clearest 
proof  that  judges,  while  they  had  no  other  rule  to  direct  their  decrees  but 
unwritten  and  traditionary  customs,  were  often  at  a  loss  how  to  find  out  the 
facts  and  principles,  according  to  which  they  were  bound  to  decide.  They  were 
obliged,  in  dubious  cases,  to  call  a  certain  number  of  old  men,  and  to  lay  the 
case  before  them,  that  they  might  inform  tliemwliat  was  the  practice  or  custom 
with  regard  to  the  point.  This  was  called  oiqueste  par  tourbe.  Da  Cange,  voc. 
Turha.  The  effects  of  the  revival  of  the  Roman  jurisprudence  have  been 
explained  by  M.  de  Montesquieu,  liv.  xxviii.  c.  4-2,  and  by  Mr.  Hume,  Hist,  of 
England,  vol.  ii.  p.  441.  I  liave  adopted  many  of  their  ideas.  Who  can  pre- 
tend to  review  any  subject  which  sucli  writers  have  considered,  without  receiv- 
ing from  them  light  and  information  ?  At  the  same  time,  I  am  convinced,  that 
the  knowledge  of  the  Roman  law  v,'as  not  so  entirely  lost  in  Europe  during 
tlie  middle  ages  as  is  commonly  believed.  My  subject  does  not  require  me  to 
examine  this  point.  Many  striking  facts  with  regard  to  it  are  collected  by 
Donato  Antonio  d'Asti,  Dell'  Uso  e  Autorita  delta  ragione  civile  ncllc  provincie 
dell'  Imperio  Oecidentale.     Nap.  1/51,  2  vols.  Svo. 

That  the  civil  law  is  intimately  connected  with  the  municipal  jurisprudence 
in  several  countries  of  Europe,  is  a  fact  so  well  known,  that  it  needs  no  illus- 
tration. Even  in  England,  where  the  common  law  is  supposed  to  form  a  system 
perfectly  distinct  from  the  Roman  code,  and  although  such  as  apply  in  that 
country  to  the  study  of  the  common  law  boast  of  this  distinction  with  some 
degree  of  affectation,  it  is  evident  that  many  of  the  ideas  and  maxims  of  the 
civil  law  are  incorporated  into  the  Englisli  jurisprudence.  This  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  ingenious  and  learned  author  of  Observations  on  the  Statutes, 
chiefly  the  more  ancient,  3d  edit.  pp.  70,  &c. 

[26],  jttjfje  GO. — The  whole  history  of  the  middle  ages  makes  it  evident  that 
war  was  the  sole  profession  of  gentlemen,  and  almost  the  only  object  attended 
to  in  their  education.    Even  after  some  change  in  manners  began  to  take  place. 


574  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

and  the  civil  arts  of  life  had  acquired  some  reputation,  the  ancient  ideas" witli 
respect  to  the  accomplishments  necessary  for  a  person  of  noble  birth,  continued 
long  in  force.  In  the  Memoires  de  Eieuranges,  pp.  9,  &c.,  we  have  an  account 
of  the  youthful  exeixises  and  occupations  of  Francis  T.,  and  they  were  altogether 
martial  and  athletic.  That  father  of  letters  owed  his  relish  for  them,  not  to 
education,  but  to  his  own  good  sense  and  good  taste.  The  manners  of  the 
superior  order  of  ecclesiastics  during  the  middle  ages  furnish  the  strongest 
proof  that,  in  some  instances,  the  distinction  of  professions  was  not  completely 
ascertained  in  Europe.  The  functions  and  character  of  the  clergy  are  obviously 
very  different  from  those  of  laymen ;  and  among  the  inferior  orders  of  church- 
men this  constituted  a  distinct  character  separate  from  that  of  other  citizens. 
But  the  dignified  ecclesiastics,  who  were  frequently  of  noble  birth,  were  above 
such  a  distinction ;  they  retained  the  idea  of  what  belonged  to  them  as  gentle- 
men, and  in  spite  of  the  decrees  of  popes,  or  the  canons  of  councils,  they  bore 
arms,  led  their  vassals  to  the  field,  and  fought  at  their  head  in  battle.  Among 
them  the  priesthood  was  scarcely  a  separate  profession  ;  the  military  accomplish- 
ments which  they  thought  essential  to  them  as  gentlemen,  were  cultivated ; 
the  theological  science,  and  pacific  virtues  suitable  to  their  spiritual  function, 
were  neglected  and  despised. 

As  soon  as  the  science  of  law  became  a  laborious  study,  and  the  practice  of 
it  a  separate  profession,  such  persons  as  I'ose  to  eminence  in  it  obtained  honours 
which  had  formerly  been  appropriated  to  soldiers.  Knighthood  was  the  most 
illustrious  mark  of  distinction  during  several  ages,  and  conferred  privileges  to 
which  rank  or  birth  alone  were  not  entitled.  To  this  high  dignity  persons 
eminent  for  their  knowledge  of  law  were  advanced,  and  were  thereby  placed  on 
a  level  with  those  whom  their  military  talents  had  rendered  conspicuous.  Miles 
justiti(P,  mile}  literatus,  became  common  titles.  Matthew  Paris  mentions  such 
knights  as  early  as  a.d.  1251.  If  a  judge  attained  a  certain  rank  in  the  courts 
of  justice,  that  alone  gave  him  a  right  to  the  honour  of  knighthood.  Pasquier, 
Recherches,  liv.  xi.  c.  16,  p.  130.  Dissertations  Historiques  sur  la  Chevalerie 
par  Honore  de  Salute  Marie,  pp.  1G4,  &c.  A  profession  that  led  to  offices, 
which  ennobled  the  persons  who  held  them,  grew  into  credit,  and  the  people 
of  Europe  became  accustomed  to  see  men  rise  to  emhieuce  by  civil  as  well  as 
military  talents. 

\_'il\j)age  62. — The  chief  intention  of  these  notes  was  to  bring  at  once 
under  the  view  of  my  readers  such  facts  and  circumstances  as  tend  to  illustrate 
or  confirm  what  is  contained  in  that  part  of  the  history  to  which  they  refer. 
When  these  lay  scattered  iu  many  different  authors,  and  were  taken  from 
books  not  generally  known,  or  which  many  of  my  readers  might  find  it  disagree- 
able to  consult,  I  thought  it  would  be  of  advantage  to  collect  them  together. 
But  when  everything  necessary  for  the  proof  or  illustration  of  my  narrative  or 
reasoning  may  be  found  in  any  one  book  which  is  generally  known,  or  deserves 
to  be  so,  I  shall  satisfy  myself  with  referring  to  it.  This  is  the  case  with 
respect  to  chivalry.  Almost  every  fact  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  text, 
together  with  many  other  curious  and  instructive  particulars  concerning  this 
singular  institution,  may  be  found  in  Memoires  sur  I'aucienne  Chevalerie  con- 
sideree  comniie  une  Establissement  politique  et  miiitaire,  par  M.  de  la  Curne  de 
St.  Palaye. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  575 

[2S],  'page  GO. — The  subject,  of  my  inquiries  docs  nol,  call  mc  to  write  a  liistory 
of  the  progress  of  science.  The  facts  and  observations  which  1  have  produced 
are  suliicient  to  illustrate  the  effects  of  its  progress  upon  manners  and  tiie  state 
of  society.  While  science  was  altogether  extinct  iu  the  western  parts  of  Europe, 
itwas  cultivated  in  Constantinople  and  other  parts  of  the  Grecian  empire.  But 
the  subtle  genius  of  the  Greeks  turned  almost  entirely  to  theological  disputation. 
The  Latins  borrowed  that  spirit  from  them,  and  many  of  the  controversies  which 
still  occupy  and  diviile  theologians,  took  their  rise  among  the  Greeks,  from  whom 
the  other  Europeans  derived  a  considerable  part  of  their  knowledge.  See  the 
testimony  of  ^Encas  Silvius,  ap.  Conringium  de  Antiq.  Acadeniieis,  p.  43.  II  is- 
toire  Litteraire  de  Eranee,  torn.  vii.  p.  113,  &c.,  toni.  ix.  p.  151,  &:c.  Soon 
after  the  empire  of  the  eahphs  was  established  in  the  East,  some  illustrious 
princes  arose  among  them,  who  encouraged  science,  liut  when  the  Arabians 
turned  their  attention  to  the  literature  cultivated  by  the  ancient  Greeks  and 
Romans,  the  chaste  aud  correct  taste  of  their  works  of  genius  appeared  frigid 
and  unauiuuited  to  a  people  of  a  more  warm  imagination.  Though  they  could 
not  admire  the  poets  aud  historians  of  Greece  or  of  Home,  they  were  sensible  to 
the  merit  of  their  philosophers.  The  operations  of  the  intellect  are  more  hxed 
and  uniform  than  those  of  the  fancy  or  taste.  Truth  makes  an  impression 
nearly  the  same  iu  every  place ;  the  ideas  of  what  is  beautiful,  elegant,  or 
sublime,  vary  in  different  climates.  The  Arabians,  though  they  neglected 
Homer,  translated  the  most  emineut  of  the  Greek  philosophers  into  their  own 
language ;  and,  guided  by  their  precepts  aud  discoveries,  applied  themselves 
with  great  ardour  to  the  study  of  geometry,  astronomy,  medicine,  dialectics, 
and  metaphysics.  In  the  three  former  they  made  considerable  aud  useful 
improvements,  which  have  contributed  uot  a  little  to  advance  those  sciences  to 
that  high  degree  of  perfection  which  they  have  attained.  Iu  the  two  latter 
they  chose  Aristotle  for  their  guide,  and  retiuiug  ou  the  subtle  aud  distinguish- 
ing spirit  which  characterises  his  philosophy,  they  rendered  it  iu  a  great  degree 
frivolous  aud  unintelligible.  The  schools  established  iu  the  East  for  teaching 
and  cultivating  these  scieuees  were  in  high  reputation.  They  couimunicated 
their  love  of  science  to  their  couuirymeu,  who  conquered  Africa  and  Spain ;  aud 
the  schools  instituted  there  were  httle  inferior  iu  fame  to  those  in  the  East. 
Many  of  the  persons  who  distinguished  themselves  by  their  proflciency  iu  science 
during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  were  educated  among  the  Arabians. 
Bruekerus  collects  many  instances  of  this,  llistor.  Philos.  vol.  iii.  p.  OSl,  &c. 
Almost  all  the  meu  eminent  for  science  during  several  centuries,  if  they  did  uot 
resort  in  person  to  the  schools  in  Africa  and  Spain,  were  instructed  in  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  Arabians.  The  first  knowledge  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy 
in  the  middle  ages  was  acquired  by  translations  of  Aristotle's  works  out  ol  the 
Arabic.  The  Arabian  commentators  were  deemed  the  most  skilful  and  authentic 
guides  in  the  study  of  his  system.  Conriug.  Antiq.  Acad.  Diss.  iii.  p.  95,  &c. 
Supplem.  p.  2-11,  &c.  Murat.  Antiquit.  Hal.  vol.  iii.  p.  <J32,  &c.  Erom  them 
the  schoolmen  derived  the  genius  and  principles  of  their  philosophy,  ^hich 
contributed  so  much  to  retard  the  progress  of  true  science. 

The  estabbshmeut  of  colleges  or  universities  is  a  remarkable  era  in  literary 
history.  The  schools  in  cathedrals  aud  monasteries  conlined  themselves  chiclly 
to  the  teaching  of  grammar.  There  were  only  one  or  two  masters  employed  in 
that  office.  But  iu  colleges,  professors  were  appointed  to  teach  all  the  different 
parts  of  science.    The  course  or  order  of  education  was  fixed.    The  time  that 


5/6  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ouglit  to  be  allotted  to  the  study  of  each  science  was  ascertained.  A  regular 
form  of  trying  the  proficiency  of  students  was  prescribed;  and  academical  titles 
and  honours  were  conferred  on  such  as  acquitted  themselves  with  approbation. 
A  good  account  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  tliese  is  given  by  Seb.  Bacmeisterus, 
Antiquitates  llostochieuscs,  sive,  Hisloria  Urbis  et  Academia;  Rostoch.  ap. 
Monumcnta  iucdita  Rer.  Germ,  per  E.  J.  de  "Westphalcn,  vol.  iii.  p.  78L  Lips. 
1743.  The  first  obscure  mention  of  these  academical  degrees  in  the  university 
of  Paris  (from  which  the  other  universities  in  Europe  have  borrowed  most  of 
their  customs  and  institutions)  occurs  a.d.  1215.  Crevier,  Ilist.  de  I'Univ.  de 
Paris,  torn.  i.  p.  29G,  &c.  They  were  completely  established  a.d.  1231.  Ibid. 
248.  It  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate  the  several  privileges  to  which  bachelors, 
masters,  and  doctors  were  entitled.  One  circumstance  is  suSicient  to  demon- 
strate the  liigh  degree  of  estimation  in  M'hich  they  were  held.  Doctors  in  the 
different  faculties  contended  with  knights  for  precedence,  and  tlie  dispute  was 
terminated  in  many  instances  by  advancing  the  former  to  the  dignity  of  knight- 
hood, the  higli  prerogatives  of  which  I  have  mentioned.  It  was  even  asserted 
that  a  doctor  had  a  right  to  that  title  without  creation.  Bartolus  taught  "  doc- 
torem  actualiter  regentem  in  jure  civiliper  decennium  effici  militem  ipso  facto." 
lionore  de  St.  Marie,  Dissert,  p.  165.  This  was  called  "chevalerie  de  lectures," 
and  the  persons  advanced  to  that  dignity,  "  milites  clerici."  These  new  estab- 
lishments for  education,  together  with  the  extraordinary  honours  conferred  on 
learned  men,  greatly  increased  the  number  of  scholars.  In  the  year  1262,  there 
were  ten  thousand  students  in  the  university  of  Rologua;  and  it  appears  from 
tlie  history  of  that  university,  that  law  was  the  only  science  taught  in  it  at  that 
time.  In  the  year  1340  there  were  thirty  thousand  in  the  university  of  Oxford. 
Speed's  Chron.  ap.  Anderson's  Chrouol.  Deduction  of  Commerce,  vol.  i.  p.  172. 
In  the  same  century,  ten  thousand  persons  voted  in  a  question  agitated  in  the 
university  of  Paris  ;  and  as  graduates  alone  were  admitted  to  that  privilege,  the 
number  of  students  must  have  been  very  great.  Velley,  Hist,  de  Prance,  torn.  xi. 
p.  147.  There  were  indeed  few  universities  in  Europe  at  that  time  ;  but  such 
a  number  of  students  may  nevertheless  be  produced  as  a  proof  of  the  extra- 
ordinary ardour  with  which  men  applied  to  the  study  of  science  in  those  ages  ; 
it  shows,  likewise,  that  they  already  began  to  consider  other  professions  beside 
that  of  a  soldier  as  honourable  and  useful. 

[20],  p(///e  a? . — The  great  variety  of  subjects  which  I  have  endeavoured  to 
illustrate,  and  the  extent  of  this  upon  which  I  now  enter,  will  justify  my  adopt- 
ing tlie  words  of  M.  de  Montesquieu,  when  he  begins  to  treat  of  commerce. 
"  The  subject  which  follows  would  require  to  be  discussed  more  at  large ;  but 
the  nature  of  this  work  does  not  permit  it.  I  wish  to  glide  on  a  tranquil  stream ; 
but  I  am  hurried  along  by  a  torrent." 

Many  proofs  occur  in  history  of  the  little  intercourse  between  nations  during 
the  middle  ages.  Towards  the  close  of  the  tenth  century.  Count  Bouchard, 
intending  to  found  a  monastery  at  St.  Maur  des  Fosses,  near  Paris,  applied  to 
an  abbot  of  Clugny,  in  Burgundy,  famous  for  his  sanctity,  entreating  him  to 
conduct  the  monks  thither.  The  language  in  which  he  addressed  that  holy  man 
is  singular :  he  tells  him,  that  he  had  undertaken  the  labour  of  such  a  great 
journey ;  that  he  was  fatigued  with  the  length  of  it,  therefore  hoped  to  obtain 
his  request,  and  that  his  journey  into  such  a  distant  country  should  not  be  in 
vain.    The  answer  of  the  abbot  is  still  more  extraordinary.     He  refused  to 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  577 

comply  with  liis  desire,  as  it  would  be  extremely  fatiguing  to  go  along  with  bim 
into  a  strange  and  uuknown  region.  Vita  Burchardi  vcncrabilis  Comitis,  ap. 
Bouquet,  Rec.  des  Hist.  vol.  x.  p.  35L  Even  so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  the  monks  of  Ferriercs,  in  the  diocese  of  Sens,  did  not  know 
that  there  was  such  a  city  as  Tournay  in  Flanders ;  and  the  monks  of  St.  Marlin 
of  Tournay  were  equally  unacquainted  with  the  situation  of  Ferrieres.  A  trans- 
action in  which  they  were  botli  concerned,  made  it  necessary  for  them  to  have 
some  intercourse.  The  mutual  interest  of  both  monasteries  prompted  each  to 
find  out  the  situation  of  the  other.  After  a  long  search,  which  is  particularly 
described,  the  discovery  was  made  by  accident.  Herimanuus  Abbas,  de  Restau- 
ratione  St.'Martini  Tornaccnsis  ap.  Dacher,  Spicil.  vol.  xii.  p.  400.  The  ignor- 
ance of  the  middle  ages  with  respect  to  the  situation  and  geography  of  remote 
countries  was  still  more  remarkable.  The  most  ancient  geographical  chart 
which  now  remains  as  a  monument  of  the  state  of  that  science  in  Europe  during 
the  middle  ages,  is  found  in  a  manuscript  of  the  Chronique  de  St.  Denys.  There 
the  three  parts  of  the  earth  then  known  are  so  represented,  that  Jerusalem  is 
placed  in  the  middle  of  the  globe,  and  Alexandria  appears  to  be  as  near  to  it  as 
Nazareth.  Mem.  de  I'Acad.  des  Belles  Lettres,  tom.  xvi.  p.  185.  There]  seem 
to  have  been  no  inns  or  houses  of  entertainment  for  the  reception  of  travellers 
during  the  middle  ages.  Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  iii.  p.  581,  &c.  This  is  a  proof 
of  the  little  intercourse  which  took  place  between  .different  nations.  Among 
people  whose  manners  are  simple,  and  who  are  seldom  visited  by  strangers, 
hospitality  is  a  virtue  of  the  first  rank.  This  duty  of  hospitality  was  so  neces- 
sary in  that  state  of  society  which  took  place  during  the  middle  ages,  that  jt 
was  not  considered  as  one  of  those  virtues  which  men  may  practise  or  not^ 
according  to  the  temper  of  their  minds,  and  the  generosity  of  their  hearts. 
Hospitality  was  enforced  by  statutes ;  and  such  as  neglected  this  duty  were 
liable  to  punishment.  "  Quicunque  hospiti  venienti  lectuni  aut  focum  negaverit, 
trium  solidorum  inlatioue  mulctetur."  Leg.  Burgund.  tit.  xxxviii.  §  1.  "  Si 
quis  homini  aliquo  pergenti  in  itinere  mansioneni  vetaverit,  sexaginta  solidos 
componat  in  publico."  Capitul.  lib.  vi.  §  82.  This  increase  of  the  penalty,  at 
a  period  so  long  after  that  in  which  the  laws  of  the  Burguudians  were  published, 
and  when  the  state  of  society  M'as  much  improved,  is  very  remarkable.  Other 
laws  of  the  same  purport  are  collected  by  Jo.  Fred.  Polac.  Systema  Jurisprud. 
Gerniauicaj,  Lips.  1733,  p.  75.  The  laws  of  the  Slavi  were  more  rigorous  than 
any  that  he  mentions ;  they  ordained,  that  the  moveables  of  an  inhospitable 
person  should  be  confiscated,  and  his  house  burnt.  They  were  even  so  solicitous 
for  the  entertainment  of  strangers,  that  they  permitted  the  landlord  to  steal  for 
the  support  of  his  guest.  "  Quod  uoctu  furatus  fueris,  eras  appone  hospi- 
tibus."  Reruni  Meeleburgicar.  lib.  viii.  a  Mat.  Jo.  Bcehr.  Lips.  1751,  p.  50. 
In  consequence  of  these  laws,  or  of  the  state  of  society  which  made  it  proper 
to  enact  them,  hospitality  abounded  while  the  intercourse  among  men  was 
inconsiderable,  and  secured  the  stranger  a  kind  reception  under  every  roof 
where  he  chose  to  take  shelter.  This,  too,  proves  clearly  that  the  intercourse 
among  men  was  rare,  for  as  soon  as  this  became  frequent,  what  was  a  pleasure 
became  a  burden,  and  the  entertaining  of  travellers  was  converted  into  a 
branch  of  commerce. 

But  the  laws  of  the  middle  ages  afford  a  proof  still  more  convincing  of  the 
small  intercourse  between  different  nations.    The  genius  of  the  feudal  system, 
VOL.  I.  V  T 


678  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

as  well  as  the  spii'it  of  jealousy  whicli  always  accompauies  ignorance,  concurred 
in  discouraging  strangers  from  settling  in  any  new  country.  If  a  person 
removed  from  one  province  in  a  kingdom  to  another,  he  was  bound  within  a 
year  and  a  day  to  acknowledge  himself  the  vassal  of  the  baron  on  whose  estate 
he  settled ;  if  he  neglected  to  do  so,  he  became  liable  to  a  penalty  ;  and  if  at  his 
death  he  neglected  to  leave  a  certain  legacy  to  the  baron  within  whose  territory 
he  had  resided,  all  his  goods  were  conliscated.  The  hardships  imposed  on 
foreigners  settling  in  a  country  were  still  more  intolerable.  In  more  early 
times  the  superior  lord  of  any  territory  in  which  a  foreigner  settled  might  seize 
his  person  and  reduce  him  to  servitude.  Very  striking  mstances  of  this  occur 
in  the  history  of  the  middle  ages.  The  cruel  depredations  of  the  Normans  in 
the  ninth  century  obliged  many  inhabitants  of  the  maritime  provinces  of  France 
to  fly  into  the  interior  parts  of  the  kingdom.  But  instead  of  being  received 
with  that  humanity  to  which  their  wretched  condition  entitled  them,  they  were 
reduced  to  a  state  of  servitude.  Both  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  found 
it  necessary  to  interpose,  in  order  to  put  a  stop  to  this  barbarous  practice. 
Potgiesser.  de  Statu  Servor.  lib.  i.  c.  1,  §  16.  In  other  countries  the  laws  per- 
mitted the  inhabitants  of  the  maritime  provinces  to  reduce  such  as  were  ship- 
wrecked on  their  coast  to  servitude.  Ibid,  §  17.  This  barbarous  custom  pre- 
vailed in  many  countries  of  Europe.  The  practice  of  seizing  the  goods  of 
persons  who  had  been  shipwrecked,  and  of  confiscating  them  as  the  property 
of  the  lord  on  whose  manor  they  were  thrown,  seems  to  have  been  universal. 
De  Westphaleu,  Mouum.  iuedita  Her.  Germ.  vol.  iv.  pp.  907.  &c.,  and  in  Du 
Cange,  voc.  Laganum.  Bechr.  Her.  Mecleb.  lib.  viii.  p.  512.  Among  the  ancient 
Welsh,  three  sorts  of  persons,  a  madman,  a  stranger,  and  a  leper,  might  be  killed 
with  impunity.  Leges  Hoel  Dda,  quoted  in  Observat.  on  the  Statutes,  chiefly 
the  more  ancient,  p.  22.  M.  de  Lauriere  produces  several  ancient  deeds  which 
prove  that  in  diflerent  provinces  of  France  strangers  became  the  slaves  of  the 
lord  on  whose  lands  they  settled.  Glossaire  du  Droit  Francois,  art.  Aubaiiie, 
p.  92.  Beaumauoir  says,  "  That  there  are  several  places  in  France  in  which,  if 
a  stranger  fixes  his  residence  for  a  year  and  a  day,  he  becomes  the  slave  of  the 
lord  of  the  manor."  Const,  de  Beauv.  ch.  45,  p.  254.  As  a  practica  so  con- 
trary to  humanity  could  not  subsist  long,  the  superior  lords  found  it  necessary 
to  rest  satisfied,  instead  of  enslaving  aliens,  with  levying  certain  annual  taxes 
upon  them,  or  imposing  upon  them  some  extraordinary  duties  or  services.  But 
when  any  stranger  died,  he  could  not  convey  his  effects  by  will ;  and  all  his 
real  as  well  as  personal  estate  fell  to  the  king,  or  to  the  lord  of  the  barony,  to 
the  exclusion  of  his  natural  heirs.  This  is  termed  in  France  droit  d'aubaine. 
Pref.  de  Lauriere,  Ordon.  torn.  i.  p.  15.  Brussel,  torn,  ii,  p.  944.  Du  Cange, 
voc.  Albani.  Pasquier,  Recherches,  p.  367.  This  practice  of  confiscating  the 
effects  of  strangers  upon  their  death  was  very  ancient.  It  is  mentioned,  though 
very  obscurely,  in  a  law  of  Charlemagne,  a.d.  813,  Capitul.  Baluz.  p.  507,  §  5. 
Not  only  persons  who  were  born  in  a  foreign  country  were  subject  to  the 
*'  droit  d'aubaine,"  but  in  some  countries  such  as  removed  from  one  diocese  to 
another,  or  from  the  lands  of  one  baron  to  another.  Brussel,  vol.  ii.  pp.  947, 
949.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  any  law  more  unfavourable  to  the  inter- 
course between  nations.  Something  similar  to  it,  however,  may  be  found  in 
the  ancient  laws  of  every  kingdom  in  Europe.  With  respect  to  Italy,  see 
Murat.  Ant.  vol.  ii.  p.  14.    As  nations  advanced  in  improvement,  this  practice 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  679 

was  gradually  abolished.  It  is  no  small  disgrace  to  llic  French  jurisprudence 
that  this  barbarous,  inhospitable  custom  should  have  so  long  remained  among 
a  people  so  highly  civilized. 

The  confusion  and  outrage  which  abounded  under  a  feeble  form  of  govern- 
ment, incapable  of  framing  or  executing  salutary  laws,  rendered  the  communi- 
cation between  the  different  provinces  of  the  same  kingdom  extremely  dan- 
gerous. It  appears  from  a  letter  of  Lupus,  abbot  of  Ferrieres,  in  the  ninth 
century,  that  the  highways  were  so  much  infested  by  banditti,  that  it  was 
necessary  for  travellers  to  form  themselves  into  companies  or  caravans,  that 
they  might  be  safe  from  the  assaults  of  robbers.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Hist, 
vol.  vii.  p.  515.  The  numerous  regulations  jjublished  by  Charles  the  Bald  in 
the  same  century,  discover  the  frequency  of  these  disorders ;  and  such  acts  of 
violence  were  become  so  common,  that  by  many  they  were  hardly  considered  as 
criminal.  For  this  reason  the  inferior  judges,  called  "centcnarii,"  were 
required  to  take  an  oath  that  they  would  neither  commit  any  robbery  them- 
selves, nor  protect  such  as  were  guilty  of  that  crime.  Capitul.  edit.  Btduz, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  63,  08.  The  historians  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  give  pathetic 
descriptions  of  these  disorders.  Some  remarkable  passages  to  this  purpose  are 
collected  by  Mat.  Jo.  Beehr.  Rer.  Meeleb.  lib.  viii.  p.  003.  They  became  so 
frequent  and  audacious,  that  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  was  unable 
to  repress  them.  The  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  was  called  in  to  aid  it. 
Councils  were  held  with  great  solemnity,  the  bodies  of  the  saints  were  brought 
thither,  and,  in  presence  of  their  sacred  reliques,  anathemas  were  denounced 
against  robbers,  and  other  violators  of  the  public  peace.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des 
Hist.  torn.  X.  pp.  360,  431,  536.  One  of  these  forms  of  excommunication, 
issued  A.D.  988,  is  still  preserved,  and  is  so  singular,  and  composed  with 
eloquence  of  such  a  peculiar  kind,  that  it  will  not  perhaps  be  deemed  unworthy 
of  a  place  here.  After  the  usual  introduction,  and  mentioning  the  outrage 
which  gave  occasion  to  the  anathema,  it  runs  thus :  "  Obtenebrescant  oculi 
vestri,  qui  concupiveruut ;  arescant  manus,  qufe  rapuerutit ;  debilitentur  omnia 
membra,  qua;  adjuverunt.  Semper  laboretis,  nee  requiem  inveniatis,  fructuque 
vestri  laboris  privemini.  Formidetis,  et  paveatis,  a  facie  persequentis  et  non 
persequentis  hostis,  ut  tabescendo  defieiatis.  Sit  portio  vestra  cum  Juda  tra- 
ditore  Domini,  in  terra  mortis  et  tenebrarum  ;  donee  corda  vestra  ad  satisfac- 
tionem  plenam  convertantur. — Ne  cessent  a  vobis  hse,  maledictiones,  scelerum 
vestrorum  persecutrices,  quamdiu  permanebitis  in  peccato  pervasionis.  Amen, 
Fiat,  Fiat."  Bouquet,  ibid.  p.  517. 

[SO],  paffe  71. — With  respect  to  the  progress  of  commerce,  which  I  have 
described,  p.  60,  &c.,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  Italian  states  carried  on 
some  commerce  with  the  cities  of  tiie  Greek  empire  as  early  as  the  age 
of  Charlemagne,  and  imported  into  their  own  country  the  rich  commodities  of 
the  East.  Murat.  Antiq.  lial.  vol.  ii.  p.  882.  In  the  tenth  century  the  Vene- 
tians had  opened  a  trade  with  Alexandria  in  Egypt.  Ibid.  The  inhabitants  of 
Amalfi  and  Pisa  had  likewise  extended  their  trade  to  the  same  ports.  Murat. 
lb.  pp.  884,  885.  The  effects  of  the  crusades  in  increasing  the  wealth  and 
commerce  of  the  Italian  states,  and  particularly  that  which  they  carried  on  with 
the  East,  I  have  explained,  p.  22,  of  this  volume.  They  not  only  imported  the 
Indian  commodities  from  the  East,  but  established  manufactures  of  curious 

p  p  2 


580  PHOOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

fabric  iu  tlieir  own  country.     Several  of  iliese  are  enumerated  by  Muratori  in 
Lis  Dissertations  couceriiiag-  the  arts  and  the  weavuirj  of  the  middle  ages. 
Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  ii.  pp.  319,  399.     They  made  great  progress,  particularly  in  the 
manufacture  of  silk,  whieli  had  long  been  peculiar  to  the  eastern  provinces  of 
Asia.     Silk  stuffs  were  of  such  high  price  in  ancient  Rome,  that  only  a  few 
persons  of  the  first  rank  were  able  to  purchase  them.     Under  Aurelian,  a.d. 
270,  a  pound  of  silk  was  equal  in  value  to  a  pound  of  gold.     "  Absit  ut  auro 
fila  pensentur.     Libra  enim  auri  tunc  libra  serici  fuit."    Vopiscus  in  Aureliauo. 
Justinian,  in  the  sixth  century,  introduced  the  art  of  rearing  silk-worms  into 
Greece,  which  rendered  tiie  commodity  somewhat  more  plentiful,  though  still 
it  was  of  such  great  value  as  to  remain  an  article  of  luxury  or  magnificence, 
reserved  only  for  persons  of  the  first  order,  or  for  public  solemnities.   Roger  I., 
king  of  Sicily,  about  the  year  1130,  carried  off  a  number  of  artificers  in  the 
silk  trade  from  Athens,  and  settling  them  in  Palermo,  introduced  the  culture 
of  silk  into  his  kingdom,  from  which  it  was  commuuicated  to  other  parts  of 
Italy.     Giannon.  Hist,  of  Naples,  b.  xi.  c.  7.    This  seems  to  have  rendered  silk 
so  common,  that,  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  a  thousand  citizens 
of  Genoa  appeared  in  one  procession  clad  in  silk  robes.     Sugar  is  likewise  a 
production  of  the  East.     Some  plants  of  the  sugar-cane  were  brought  from 
Asia ;  and  the  fii'st  attempt  to  cultivate  them  iu  Sicily  was  made  about  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century.     From  thence  they  were  transplanted  into  the 
southern  provinces  of  Spain.     From  Spain  they  were  carried  to  the  Canary  and 
Madeira  isles,  and  at  length  into  the  New  World.     Ludovico  Guicciardini,  in 
enumerating  the  goods  imported  into  Antwerp  about  the  year  1500,  mentions 
the  sugar  which  they  received  from  Spain  and  Portugal  as  a  considerable 
article.     He  describes  that  sugar  as  the  product  of  the  Madeira  and  Canary 
Islands.  Descritt.  de'  Paesi  Bassi,  ])p.  ISO,  181.    The  sugar-cane  was  introduced 
into  the  West  Indies  before  that  time  ;  but  the  cultivation  of  it  was  not  so  im- 
proved or  so  extensive  as  to  furnish  an  article  of  much  consequence  in  commerce. 
In  the  middle  ages,  though  sugar  was  not  raised  in  such  quantities,  or  employed 
for  so  many  purposes,  as  to  become  one  of  the  connuon  necessaries  of  life,  it 
appears  to  have  been  a  considerable  article  in  the  commerce  of  the  Italian  states. 
These  various  commodities  with  which  the  Italians  furnished  the   other 
nations  of  Europe  procured  them  a  favourable  reception  in  every  kingdom. 
They  were  established  in  France  in  the  thirteenth  century  with  most  extensive 
immunities.     They  not  only  obtained  every  indulgence   favourable   to   their 
commerce,  but  personal  rights  and  privileges  were  granted  to  them,  which  the 
natives  of  the  kingdom  did  not  enjoy.     Ordon.  tom.  iv.  p.  6GS.     By  a  special 
proviso  they  were  exempted  from  the  "  droit  d'aubaine."   Ibid.  p.  G70.    As  the 
Lombards  (a  name  frequently  given  to  all  Italian  merchants  iu  many  parts  of 
Europe)  engrossed  the  trade  of  every  kingdom  iu  which  they  settled,  they 
became  masters  of  its  cash.     Money,  of  course,  was  in  their  hands  not  only  a 
sign  of  the  value  of  other  commodities,  but  became  an  object  of  commerce 
itself.     They  dealt  largely  as  bankers.     In  an  ordinance,  a.d.  1295,  we  find 
them  styled  mercatores  and  campsores.     They  carried  on  this  as  well  as  other 
branches  of  their  commerce  with  somewhat  of  that  rapacious  spirit  which  is 
natural  to  monopolizers  who  are  not  restrained  by  the  competition  of  rival 
traders.     An  absurd  opinion,  which  prevailed  in  the  middle  ages,  was,  how- 
ever, in  some  measure,  the  cause  of  their  exorbitant  demands,  and  may  be 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  581 

pleaded  in  apology  forj  them.     Trade  cannot  be  carried  on  with  advantage, 
unless  the  persons  who  lend  a  sum  of  money  arc  allowed  a  certain  prciiiiuni  for 
the  use  of  it,  as  a  compensation  for  tlic  risk  which  Ihcy  run  in  permitting 
another  to  traffic  with  tlicir  stock.     This  premium  is  fixed  by  law  in  all  com- 
mercial countries,  and  is  called  the  legal  interest  of  money.     But  the  fathers 
of  the  church  had  preposterously  applied  the  prohibitions  of  usury  in  Scripture 
to  the  payment  of  legal  interest,  and  condemned  it  as  a  sin.     The  schoolmen, 
misled  by  Aristotle,  whose  sentiments  they  followed  implicitly,  and  without 
examination,  adopted  the  same  error,  and  enforced  it.     Blackstone's  Commen- 
taries on  the  Laws  of  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  455.     Thus  the  Lombards  found 
themselves  engaged  in  a  traffic  which  was  everywhere  deemed  criminal  and 
odious.     They  were  liable  to  punishment  if  detected.    They  were  not  satisfied, 
therefore,  with  that  moderate  premium,  which  they  might  have  claimed  if  their 
trade  had  been  opeu  and  authorized  by  laM%     They  exacted  a  sum  proportional 
to  the  danger  and  infamy  of  a  discovery.     Accordingly,  we  find  that  it  was 
usual  for  them  to  demand  twenty  per  cent  for  the  use  of  money  in  the 
thirteenth  century.     Murat.  Antiq.  Ital.  vol.  i.  p.  S93.     About  the  beginning 
of  that  century  the  Countess  of  Glanders  was  obliged  to  borrow  money  in  order 
to  pay  her  husband's  ransom.     She  procured  the  sum  requisite  either  from 
Italian  merchants  or  from  Jews.    The  lowest  interest  which  she  paid  to  them 
was  above  twenty  per  cent,  and  some  of  them  exacted  near  thirty.     Martene 
and  Durand.  Thesaur.  Anecdotorum,  vol.  i.  p.  886.    In  the  fourteenth  century, 
A.D.  1311,  Philip  IV.  fixed  the  interest  whicli  mii^ht  be  legally  exacted  in  the 
fairs  of  Champagne  at  twenty  per  cent.     Ordon.  torn.  i.  p.  481.     The  interest 
of  money  in  Aragon  was  somewhat  lower.     James  I.,  a.d.  1242,  fixed  it  by 
law  at  eighteen  per  cent.     Petr.  de  Marca,  Marca  sive  Limes  Ilispan.  App. 
1433.    As  late  as  the  year  1490,  it  appears  that  the  interest  of  money  in 
Placentia  was  at  the  rate  of  forty  per  cent.    This  is  the  more  extraordinary, 
because  at  that  time  the  commerce  of  the  Italian  states  was  become  con- 
siderable.    Memorie  Storiche  de  Piacenza,  torn.  viii.  p.  104,     Piac.  1760.     It 
appears  from  Lud.  Guicciardini,  that  Charles  V.  had  fixed  the  rate  of  interest 
in  his  dominions  in  the  Low  Countries  at  twelve  per  cent,  and  at  the  time 
when  he  wrote,  about  the  year  1560,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  exact  more  than 
that  sum.     He  complains  of  this  as  exorbitant,  and  points  out  its  bad  eflects 
both  on  agriculture  and  commerce.     Descritt.  de'  Pacsi  Bassi,  p.  172.     This 
high  interest  of  money  is  alone  a  proof  that  the  profits  on  commerce  were 
exorbitant ;  and  that  it  was  not  carried  on  to  great  extent. — The  Lombards 
were  likewise  established  in  England  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  a  consider- 
able street  in  the  city  of  London  still  bears  their  name.     They  enjoyed  great 
privileges,  and  carried  on  an  extensive  commerce,  particularly  as  bankers. 
See  Anderson's  Chronol.  Deduction,  vol.  i.  pp.  137,  160,  204,  231,  where  the 
statutes  or  other  authorities  which  confirm  tliis  are  quoted.     But  the  chief 
mart  for  Italian  commodities  was  at  Bruges.     Navigation  was  then  so  imper- 
fect, that  to  sail  from  any  port  in  the  Baltic,  and  to  return  again,  was  a  voyage 
too  great  to  be  performed  in  one  summer.     For  that  reason,  a  magazine  or 
storehouse,  half-way  between  the  commercial  cities  in  the  north,  and  those  in 
Italy,  became  necessary.     Bruges  was  pitched  upon  as  the  most  convenient 
station.    That  choice  introduced  vast  wealth  into  the  Low  Countries.    Bruges 
was  at  ojice  the  staple  for  English  wool ;  for  the  woollen  and  linen  mauufac- 


582  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

tures  of  tlie  Netherlands ;  for  tlie  naval  stores  and  otlicr  bulky  commodities  of 
the  North ;  and  for  the  Indian  commodities  as  well  as  domestic  productions 
imported  by  the  Italian  states.  The  extent  of  its  commerce  in  Indian  goods 
with  Venice  alone  appears  from  one  fact.  In  the  year  1318,  five  Venetian 
galeasses  laden  with  Indian  commodities  arrived  at  Bruges,  in  order  to  dispose 
of  their  cargoes  at  the  fair.  These  galeasses  were  vessels  of  very  considerable 
burthen.  L.  Guic.  Descritt.  de'  Paesi  Bassi,  p.  174:.  Bruges  was  the  greatest 
emporium  in  all  Europe.  Many  proofs  of  tiiis  occur  in  the  historians  and 
records  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  But,  instead  of  multiplying 
quotations,  I  shall  refer  my  readers  to  Anderson,  vol.  i.  pp.  12,  137,  213,  246, 
&c.  The  nature  of  this  work  prevents  me  from  entering  into  any  more  minute 
detail,  but  there  are  some  detached  facts  which  give  a  high  idea  of  the  wealth 
both  of  the  Plemish  and  Italian  commercial  states.  The  duke  of  Brabant 
contracted  his  daughter  to  the  Black  Prince,  son  of  Edward  III.  of  England, 
A.D.  1339,  and  gave  her  a  portion  which  we  may  reckon  to  be  of  equal  value 
with  three  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  our  present  money.  Rymer's  Eccdera, 
vol.  V.  p.  113.  John  Galeazzo  Visconti,  duke  of  Milan,  concluded  a  treaty  of 
marriage  between  his  daughter  and  Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  Edward's  third 
son,  A.D.  1367,  and  granted  her  a  portion  equal  to  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds  of  our  present  money.  Rymer's  Ecedera,  vol.  vi.  p.  547.  These  exor- 
bitant sums,  so  far  exceeding  what  was  then  granted  by  the  most  powerful 
monarchs,  and  which  appear  extraordinary  even  in  the  present  age,  when  the 
wealth  of  Europe  is  so  much  increased,  must  have  arisen  from  the  riches  which 
flowed  into  those  countries  from  their  extensive  and  lucrative  commerce.  The 
first  source  of  wealth  to  the  towns  situated  on  the  Baltic  sea  seems  to  have 
been  the  herring  fishery ;  the  shoals  of  herrings  frequenting  at  that  time  the 
coasts  of  Sweden  and  Denmark,  in  the  same  manner  as  they  now  resort  to  the 
British  coasts.  The  effects  of  this  fishery  are  thus  described  by  an  author  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  Danes,  says  he,  who  were  formerly  clad  in  the 
poor  garb  of  sailors,  are  now  clothed  in  scarlet,  purple,  and  fine  linen.  Eor 
they  abound  with  wealth  flowing  from  their  annual  fishery  on  the  coast  of 
Schoneu;  so  that  all  nations  resort  to  them,  bringing  their  gold,  silver,  and 
precious  commodities,  that  they  may  purchase  herrings,  which  the  divine 
bounty  bestows  upon  them.  Arnoldus  Lubecensis  ap.  Conring.  de  Urbib. 
German.  §  87. 

The  Hanseatic  league  is  the  most  powerful  commercial  confederacy  known 
in  history.  Its  origin  towards  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  the  objects 
of  its  union,  are  described  by  Knipschildt,  Tractatus  Historico-Politico-Juridi- 
cus  de  Juribus  Civitat.  Imper.  lib.  i.  cap.  4.  Anderson  has  mentioned  the  chief 
facts  with  respect  to  their  commercial  progress,  the  extent  of  the  privileges 
which  they  obtained  in  different  countries,  their  successful  wars  with  several 
monarchs,  as  well  as  the  spirit  and  zeal  with  which  they  contended  for  those 
liberties  and  rights  without  which  it  is  impossible  to  carry  on  commerce  to 
advantage.  The  vigorous  efforts  of  a  society  of  merchants  attentive  only  to 
commercial  objects,  could  not  fail  of  diffusing  new  and  more  liberal  ideas 
concerning  justice  and  order  in  every  country  of  Europe  where  they  settled. 

In  England,  the  progress  of  commerce  was  extremely  slow ;  and  the  causes 
of  this  are  -obvious.  During  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,  England,  split  into  many 
petty  kingdoms,  which  were  perpetually  at  variance  with  each  other;  exposed 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  583 

to  the  fierce  incursions  of  tlic  Danes,  and  other  norllicru  pirates ;  and  sunk 
in  barbarity  and  ignorance,  was  in  no  condition  to  cultivate  commerce,  or  to 
pursue  any  system  of  useful  and  salutary  policy.  When  a  better  prospect 
began  to  open,  by  the  union  of  tlie  kingdom  under  one  monarch,  the  Normaa 
conquest  took  place.  This  occasioned  such  a  violent  sliock,  as  well  as  such  a 
sudden  and  total  revolution  of  property,  that  the  nation  did  not  recover  from 
it  during  several  rcipus.  ]3y  the  time  tliat  the  constitution  began  to  acrpiirc 
some  stability,  and  the  English  had  so  incorporated  witli  their  concpierors  as  to 
become  one  people,  the  nation  engaged  witli  no  less  ardour  than  imprudence  in 
support  of  the  pretensions  of  their  sovereigns  to  the  crown  of  France,  and 
long  wasted  its  vigour  and  genius  in  its  wild  efforts  to  conquer  that  kingdom. 
When  by  ill  success,  and  repeated  disappointments,  a  period  was  at  last  put  to 
this  fatal  frenzy,  and  the  nation,  beginning  to  enjoy  some  repose,  had  leisure 
to  breathe  and  to  gather  new  strength,  the  destructive  wars  between  the 
houses  of  York  and  Lancaster  broke  out,  and  involved  the  kingdom  in  the 
worst  of  all  calamities.  Thus,  besides  the  common  obstructions  of  commerce 
occasioned  by  the  nature  of  the  feudal  government,  and  the  state  of  manners 
during  the  middle  ages,  its  progress  in  England  was  retarded  by  i)eculiar 
causes.  Such  a  succession  of  events  adverse  to  the  commercial  spirit  was 
sufficient  to  have  checked  its  growth,  although  every  other  circumstance  had 
favoured  it.  The  English  were  accordingly  one  of  the  last  nations  in  Europe 
who  availed  themselves  of  those  commercial  advantages  which  were  natural  or 
peculiar  to  their  country.  Before  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  all  the  wool  of 
England,  except  a  small  quantity  wrought  into  coarse  cloths  for  home  con- 
sumption, was  sold  to  the  Flemings  or  Lombards,  and  manufactured  by  them. 
Though  Edward,  a.d.  132G,  began  to  allure  some  of  the  Flemish  weavers  to 
settle  in  England,  it  was  long  before  the  English  were  capable  of  fabricating 
cloth  for  foreign  markets,  and  the  export  of  unwrought  wool  still  continued 
to  be  the  chief  article  of  their  commerce.  Anderson,  passim.  All  foreign 
commodities  were  brought  into  England  by  the  Lombards  or  Ilanscatic 
merchants.  The  English  ports  were  frequented  by  ships  both  from  the  north 
and  south  of  Europe,  and  they  tamely  allowed  foreigners  to  reap  all  the  profits 
arising  from  the  supply  of  their  wants.  The  first  commercial  treaty  of  England 
on  record,  is  that  with  Haquin,  king  of  Norway,  a.d.  1217.  Anders,  vol.  i. 
p.  lOS.  But  the  English  did  not  venture  to  trade  in  their  own  ships  to  the 
Baltic  until  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Ibid.  p.  151.  It  was 
after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth,  before  they  sent  any  ship  into  the  Mediterra- 
nean. Ibid.  p.  177.  Nor  was  it  long  before  this  period  that  their  vessels  began 
to  visit  the  ports  of  Spain  or  Portugal.  But  though  I  have  pointed  out  the 
slow  progress  of  the  English  commerce  as  a  fact  little  attended  to,  and  yet 
meriting  consideration,  the  concourse  of  foreigners  to  the  ports  of  England, 
together  with  the  communication  among  all  the  different  countries  in  Europe, 
which  went  on  increasing  from  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  is  suffi- 
cient to  justify  all  the  observations  and  reasonings  in  the  text  concerning  the 
influence  of  commerce  on  the  state  of  manners  and  of  society. 

SJiY], page  132. — I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  the  precise  manner  in 
which  tli£  justiza  was  appointed.  Among  the  claims  of  the  junta  or  union 
formed  against  James  I.,  a.d.  1264,  this  was  one:  that  the  king  should  not 


584  PROOES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

nominate  any  pcvsou  to  be  jusliza,  without  the  consent  or  approbation  of  the 
ricos  hombres,  or  nobles.  Zurita,  Anales  de  Aragon,  vol.  i.  p.  180.  But  the 
king  in  his  answer  to  their  remonstrance  asserts,  "  that  it  was  established  by 
immemorial  practice,  and  was  conformable  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  that 
tlie  king,  in  virtue  of  his  royal  prerogative,  should  name  the  justiza."  Zurita, 
Ibid.  p.  181.  Blauca,  p.  G56.  Trom  another  passage  in  Zurita,  it  appears  tliat 
while  the  Aragonese  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  the  union^  i.  e.  the  power  of  con- 
federating against  their  sovereign  as  often  as  they  conceived  that  he  had 
violated  any  of  their  rights  and  immunities,  the  justiza  was  not  only  nominated 
by  the  king,  but  held  his  office  during  the  king's  pleasure.  Nor  was  this 
practice  attended  with  any  bad  effects,  as  the  privilege  of  the  union  was  a 
sufficient  and  effectual  check  to  any  abuse  of  the  royal  prerogative.  But  when 
the  privilege  of  the  union  was  abolished  as  dangerous  to  the  order  and  peace 
of  society,  it  was  agreed  that  tlie  justiza  should  continue  in  office  during  life. 
Several  kings,  however,  attempted  to  remove  justizas  who  were  obnoxious  to 
them,  and  they  sometimes  succeeded  in  the  attempt.  In  order  to  guard  against 
this  encroachment,  which  would  have  destroyed  the  intention  of  the  institution, 
and  have  rendered  the  justiza  the  dependent  and  tool  of  the  crown,  instead  of 
the  guardian  of  the  people,  a  law  was  enacted  in  the  cortes,  a.d.  1442,  ordain- 
ing that  the  justiza  should  continue  in  office  during  life,  and  should  not  be 
removed  from  it  unless  by  the  authority  of  the  cortes.  Fueros  y  Observancias  del 
Reyno  de  Arag.  lib.  i.  p.  22.  By  former  laws,  the  person  of  the  justiza  had 
been  declared  sacred,  and  he  was  responsible  only  to  the  cortes.  Ibid.  p.  15,  b. 
Zurita  and  Blanca,  who  both  published  their  histories  while  the  justiza  of 
Aragon  retained  the  full  exercise  of  his  privileges  and  jurisdiction,  have  neglected 
to  explain  several  circumstances  with  regard  to  the  office  of  that  respectable 
magistrate,  because  they  addressed  their  works  to  their  countrymen,  who  were 
well  acquainted  with  every  particular  concerning  the  functions  of  a  judge,  to 
whom  they  looked  up  as  to  the  guardian  of  their  liberties.  It  is  vain  to  con- 
sult the  later  historians  of  Spain,  about  any  point  with  respect  to  which  the 
excellent  historians  whom  I  have  named  are  silent.  The  ancient  constitution 
of  their  country  was  overturned,  and  despotism  established  on  the  ruin  of  its 
liberties,  when  the  writers  of  this  and  the  preceding  century  composed  their 
histories,  and  on  that  account  they  had  little  curiosity  to  know  the  nature  of 
those  institutions  to  which  their  ancestors  owed  the  enjoyment  of  freedom,  or 
they  were  afraid  to  describe  them  with  much  accuracy.  The  spirit  with  which 
Mariana,  his  continuator  Miniana,  and  Ferreras,  write  their  histories,  is  very 
different  from  that  of  the  two  historians  of  Aragon,  from  whom  I  have  taken 
my  account  of  the  constitution  of  that  kingdom. 

Two  circumstances  concerning  the  justiza,  besides  those  which  I  have  men- 
tioned in  the  next,  are  worthy  of  observation,  1.  None  of  the  ricos  hombres, 
or  noblemen  of  the  first  order,  could  be  appointed  justiza.  He  was  taken  out 
of  the  second  class  of  cavalleros,  who  seem  to  have  been  nearly  of  the  same 
condition  or  rank  with  gentlemen  or  commoners  in  Great  Britain.  Eueros  y 
Observane.  del  Beyno,  &c.  lib.  i.  p.  21,  b.  The  reason  was,  by  the  laws  of 
Ai"agon,  the  ricos  hombres  were  not  subject  to  capital  punishment ;  but  as  it 
was  necessary,  for  the  security  of  liberty,  that  the  justiza  should  be  accountable 
for  the  manner  in  which  he  executed  the  high  trust  reposed  in  him,  it  was  a 
powerful  restraint  upon  him  to  know  that  he  was  liable  to  be  punished  capitally. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  585 

Blanca,  pp.  657,  756.  Zuiita,  torn.  p.  ii.  229.  Tueros  y  Observane.  lib.  ix,  p.  182, 
b.  183.  It  appears,  too,  from  many  passages  in  Zurita,  tiiat  the  justiza  was 
appointed  to  check  the  domineering  and  oppressive  spirit  of  the  nobles,  as  well 
as  to  set  bounds  to  the  power  of  the  monarch,  and  therefore  he  was  chosen  from 
an  order  of  citizens  equally  interested  in  opposing  both. 

2.  A  magistrate  possessed  of  such  vast  powers  as  the  justiza,  might  have 
exercised  them  in  a  manner  pernicious  to  the  state,  if  he  himself  had  been 
subject  to  no  control.  A  constitutional  remedy  was  on  that  account  provided 
against  this  danger.  Seventeen  persons  were  chosen  by  lot  in  each  meeting  of 
the  cortes.  These  formed  a  tribunal,  called  the  court  of  inquisition  into  the 
oflSce  of  justiza.  This  court  met  at  three  stated  terms  in  each  year.  Every 
person  had  liberty  of  complaining  to  it  of  any  iniquity  or  neglect  of  duty  in 
the  justiza,  or  in  the  inferior  judges,  who  acted  in  his  name.  The  justiza  and 
his  deputies  were  called  to  answer  for  their  conduct.  The  members  of  the 
court  passed  sentence  by  ballot.  They  might  punish  by  degradation,  confisca- 
tion of  goods,  or  even  with  death.  The  law  which  erected  this  court,  and 
regulated  the  form  of  its  procedure,  was  enacted  a.d.  14G1.  Zurita,  Analcs, 
iv.  102  ;  Blanca,  Comment.  Rer.  Aragon.  p.  770.  Previous  to  this  period,  inquiry 
was  made  into  the  conduct  of  the  justiza,  though  not  with  the  same  formality. 
He  was,  from  the  first  institution  of  the  office,  subject  to  the  review  of  the 
cortes.  The  constant  dread  of  such  an  impartial  and  severe  inquiry  into  his 
behaviour,  was  a  powerful  motive  to  the  vigilant  and  faithful  discharge  of  his 
duty.  A  remarkable  instance  of  the  authority  of  the  justiza,  when  opposed  to 
that  of  the  king,  occurs  in  the  year  1386.  By  the  constitution  of  Aragon,  the 
eldest  son  or  heir  apparent  of  the  crown  possessed  considerable  power  and 
jurisdiction  in  the  kingdom.  Fueros  y  Observan.  del  Reyno  de  Arag.  lib.  i.  p. 
16.  Peter  IV.,  instigated  by  a  second  wife,  attempted  to  deprive  his  son  of 
this,  and  enjoined  his  subjects  to  yield  him  no  obedience.  The  prince  imme- 
diately applied  to  the  justiza;  "the  safeguard  and  defence,"  says  Zurita, 
"against  all  violence  and  oppression."  The  justiza  granted  him  the _^r?iia  de 
derecho,  the  effect  of  which  was,  that,  upon  his  giving  surety  to  appear  in  judg- 
ment, he  could  not  be  deprived  of  any  immunity  or  privilege  which  he 
possessed,  but  in  consequence  of  a  legal  trial  before  the  justiza,  and  of  a 
sentence  pronounced  by  him.  This  was  published  throughout  the  kingdom;  and 
notwithstanding  the  proclamation  in  contradiction  to  this  which  had  been 
issued  by  the  king,  the  prince  continued  in  the  exercise  of  all  his  rights,  and 
his  authority  was  universally  recognised.   Zurita,  Analcs  de  Aragon,  torn.  ii.  385. 

[32],  jiage  133. — I  have  been  induced,  by  the  concurring  testimony  of  many 
respectable  authors,  to  mention  this  as  the  constitutional  form  of  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  which  the  Aragonese  took  to  their  sovereigns.  I  must  acknowledge, 
however,  that  I  have  not  found  this  singular  oath  in  any  Spanish  author  whom 
I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  consulting.  It  is  mentioned  neither  by  Zurita, 
nor  Blanca,  nor  Argensola,  nor  Sayas,  who  were  all  historiographers  appointed 
by  the  cortes  of  Aragon  to  record  the  transactions  of  the  kingdom.  All  these 
writers  possess  a  merit  which  is  very  rare  among  historians.  They  are 
extremely  accurate  in  tracing  the  progress  of  the  laws  and  constitution  of  their 
country.  Their  silence  with  respect  to  this  creates  some  suspicion  concerning 
the  genuineness  of  the  oath.    But  as  it  is  mentioned  by  so  many  authors,  who 


586  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

produce  the  ancient  Spanish  words  in  which  it  is  expressed,  it  is  probable  that 
they  have  taken  it  from  some  writer  of  credit,  whose  works  have  not  fallen 
into  my  hands.  The  spirit  of  the  oath  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  genius  of 
the  Aragouese  constitution.  Since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition,  the 
learned  M.  Totze,  professor  of  history  at  Batzow,  in  the  duchy  of  Meckleu- 
burgli,  has  been  so  good  as  to  point  out  to  me  a  Spanish  author  of  great 
authority,  who  has  published  the  words  of  this  oath.  It  is  Antonio  Perez,  a 
native  of  Aragon,  secretary  to  Philip  II.  The  words  of  the  oath  are,  "Nos 
que  valemos  tanto  como  vos,  os  hazemos  nuestro  rey  y  seuor,  con  tal  que  nos 
guardeys  uuestros  fueros,  y  libertades,  y  si  No,  No."  Las  Obras  y  llelaciones 
de  Ant.  Perez.  8vo.  por  Juan  de  la  Planehe,  1031,  p.  143. 

The  privilege  of  union  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  preceding  note,  and 
alluded  to  in  the  text,  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  singular  which  could  take 
place  in  a  regular  government,  and  the  oath  that  I  have  quoted  expresses 
nothing  more  than  this  constitutional  privilege  entitled  the  Aragonese  to  per- 
form. If  the  king  or  his  mhiisters  violated  any  of  the  laws  or  immunities  of 
the  Aragonese,  and  did  not  grant  immediate  redress  in  consequence  of  their 
representations  and  remonstrances,  the  nobles  of  the  first  rank,  or  ricos  hombres 
de  natura,  y  de  mesnada,  the  equestrian  order,  or  the  nobility  of  the  second 
class,  called  hidalgos  y  infanciones,  together  with  the  magistrates  of  cities, 
might,  either  in  the  cortes,  or  in  a  voluntary  assembly,  join  in  union,  and 
binding  themselves  by  mutual  oaths  and  the  exchange  of  hostages  to  be  faith- 
ful to  each  other,  they  might  require  the  king,  in  the  name  and  by  the  autho- 
rity of  this  body  corporate,  to  grant  them  redress.  If  the  king  refused  to 
comply  with  their  request,  or  took  arms  in  order  to  oppose  them,  they  might, 
in  virtue  of  the  privilege  of  union,  instantly  withdraw  tlieir  allegiance  from  the 
king,  refuse  to  acknowledge  him  as  their  sovereign,  and  proceed  to  elect 
another  monarch ;  nor  did  they  incur  any  guilt,  or  become  liable  to  any  prose- 
cution on  that  account.  Blanca,  Com.  Rer.  Arag.  pp.  6G1,  669.  This  union  did 
not  resemble  the  confederacies  in  other  feudal  kingdoms.  It  was  a  constitu- 
tional association,  in  which  legal  privileges  were  vested;  which  issued  its 
mandates  uuder  a  common  seal,  and  proceeded  in  all  its  operations  by  regular 
and  ascertained  forms.  This  dangerous  right  was  not  only  claimed,  but 
exercised.  In  the  year  12S7,  the  Aragonese  formed  a  union  in  opposition  to 
Alfonso  III.,  and  obliged  that  king,  not  only  to  comply  with  their  demands, 
but  to  ratify  a  privilege  so  fatal  to  the  power  of  the  crown.  Zurita,  Anales, 
torn.  i.  p.  322.  In  the  year  1347,  a  union  was  formed  against  Peter  IV.  with 
equal  success,  and  a  new  ratification  of  the  privilege  was  extorted.  Zurita, 
torn.  ii.  p.  202.  But  soon  after,  the  king  having  defeated  the  leaders  of  the 
union  in  battle,  the  pi'ivilege  of  union  was  finally  abrogated  in  the  cortes,  and 
all  the  laws  or  records  which  contained  any  confirmation  of  it  were  cancelled 
or  destroyed.  The  king,  in  presence  of  the  cortes,  called  for  the  act  whereby 
he  had  ratified  the  union,  and  having  wounded  his  hand  with  his  poniard,  he 
held  it  above  the  record,  "that  privilege  (says  he)  which  has  been  so  fatal 
to  the  kingdom,  and  so  injurious  to  royalty,  should  be  effaced  with  the  blood 
of  a  king."  Zurita,  tom.  ii.  p.  229.  The  law  abolishing  the  union  is  pub- 
lished. Pueros  y  Observanc.  lib.  ix.  p.  178.  From  that  period,  the  justiza 
became  the  constitutional  guardian  of  public  liberty,  and  his  power  and  juris- 
diction occasioned  none  of  those  violent  convulsions  which  the  tumultuary 


PEOOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  587 

privilege  of  the  union  was  cipt  to  produce.  The  constitution  of  Aragon,  how- 
ever, still  remained  extremely  free.  One  source  of  this  liberty  arose  from  the 
early  admission  of  the  repi'esentatives  of  cities  into  the  cortes.  It  seems  pro- 
bable from  Zurita,  that  burgesses  were  constituent  members  of  the  cortes  from 
its  first  institution.  He  mentions  a  meeting  of  cortes,  a.d.  1133,  in  which  the 
procuradores  de  las  ciudades  y  villas  were  present.  Tom.  i.  p.  51.  This  is  the 
constitutional  language  in  which  their  presence  is  declared  in  the  cortes,  after 
the  journals  of  that  court  were  regularly  kept.  It  is  probable,  that  an  historian 
so  accurate  as  Zurita  would  not  liave  used  these  words,  if  he  had  not  taken 
them  from  some  authentic  record.  It  was  more  than  a  century  after  this 
period  before  the  representatives  of  cities  formed  a  constituent  part  in  the 
supreme  assemblies  of  the  other  European  nations.  The  free  spirit  of  the 
Aragonese  government  is  conspicuous  in  many  particulars.  The  cortes  not 
only  opposed  the  attempts  of  their  kings  to  increase  their  revenue,  or  to  extend 
their  prerogative,  but  they  claimed  rights  and  exercised  powers  which  will 
appear  extraordinary  even  in  a  country  accustomed  to  the  enjoyment  of  liberty. 
In  the  year  1286,  the  cortes  cbiimcd  the  privilege  of  naming  the  members  of 
the  king's  council,  and  tlie  officers  of  his  ho\isehold,  and  they  seem  to  have 
obtained  it  for  some  time.  Zurita,  tom.  i.  pp.  303,  307.  It  was  the  privilege  of 
the  cortes  to  name  the  officers  who  commanded  the  troops  raised  by  their 
authority.  This  seems  to  be  evident  from  a  passage  in  Zurita.  When  the 
cortes,  in  the  year  1503,  raised  a  body  of  troops  to  be  employed  in  Italy,  it 
passed  an  act  empowering  the  king  to  name  the  officers  who  should  command 
them,  Zurita,  tom.  v.  p.  274;  which  plainly  implies,  that  without  this  warrant 
it  did  not  belong  to  him  in  virtue  of  his  prerogative.  In  the  Pucros  y  Obser- 
vaucias  del  Reyno  de  Aragon,  two  general  declarations  of  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  the  Aragonese  are  published ;  the  one  in  the  reign  of  Pedro  I.,  a.d. 
1283,  and  the  other  in  that  of  James  II.,  a.d.  1325.  They  are  of  such  a 
length,  that  I  cannot  insert  them ;  but  it  is  evident  from  these,  that  not  only 
the  privileges  of  the  nobility,  but  the  rights  of  the  people,  personal  as  well  as 
political,  were,  at  that  period,  more  extensive  and  better  understood  than  in 
any  kingdom  in  Europe.  Lib.  i.  pp.  7,  9.  The  oath  by  which  the  king  bound 
himself  to  observe  those  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people,  was  very  solemn. 
Ibid.  p.  14,  b,  and  p.  15.  The  cortes  of  Aragon  discovered  not  only  the 
jealousy  and  vigilance  which  are  peculiar  to  free  states,  in  guarding  the  essen- 
tial parts  of  the  constitution,  but  they  were  scrupulously  attentive  to  observe 
the  most  minute  forms  and  ceremonies  to  which  they  were  accustomed.  Ac- 
cording to  the  established  laws  and  customs  of  Aragon,  no  foreigner  had  liberty 
to  enter  the  hall  in  which  the  cortes  assembled.  Ferdinand,  in  the  year  1481, 
appointed  liis  queen,  Isabella,  regent  of  the  kingdom,  while  he  was  absent 
during  the  course  of  the  campaign.  The  law  required  that  a  regent  should 
take  the  oath  of  fidelity  in  presence  of  the  cortes ;  but  as  Isabella  was  a 
foreigner,  before  she  could  be  admitted,  the  cortes  thought  it  necessary  to 
pass  an  act,  authorizing  the  serjeant-porter  to  open  the  door  of  the  hall,  and 
to  allow  her  to  enter :  "  so  attentive  were  they  (says  Zurita)  to  observe  their 
laws  and  forms,  even  such  as  may  seem  the  most  minute."     Tom.  iv.  p.  313. 

The  Aragonese  were  no  less  solicitous  to  procure  the  personal  rights  of  indi- 
viduals, than  to  maintain  the  freedom  of  the  constitution;  and  the  spirit  of 
their  statutes  with  respect  to  both  was  equally  liberal.     Two  facts  relative  to 


588  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

this  matter  merit  observation.  By  an  express  statute  iu  the  year  1335,  it  was 
declared  to  be  unlawful  to  put  any  native  Aragonese  to  the  torture.  If  he 
could  not  be  convicted  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  he  was  instantly  ab- 
solved. Zurita,  torn.  ii.  p.  66.  Zurita  records  the  regulation  with  the  satis- 
faction natural  to  an  historian,  when  he  contemplates  the  humanity  of  his 
countrymen.  He  compares  the  laws  of  Aragon  to  those  of  Rome,  as  both 
exempted  citizens  and  freemen  from  such  ignomiuous  and  cruel  treatment,  and 
Lad  recourse  to  it  only  in  the  trial  of  slaves.  Zurita  had  reason  to  bestow 
such  an  encomium  on  the  laws  of  his  country.  Torture  was  at  that  time  per- 
mitted by  the  laws  of  every  other  nation  in  Europe.  Even  in  England,  from 
which  the  mild  spirit  of  legislation  has  long  banished  it,  torture  was  not,  at 
that  time,  unknown.  Observations  on  the  Statutes,  chiefly  the  more  ancient, 
&c.,  p.  66. 

The  other  fact  shows  that  the  same  spirit  which  influenced  the  legislature 
prevailed  among  the  people.  In  the  year  14S5,  the  religious  zeal  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  prompted  them  to  introduce  the  inquisition  into  Aragon.  Though 
the  Aragonese  were  no  less  superstitiously  attached  than  the  other  Spaniards 
to  the  Roman  catholic  faith,  and  no  less  desirous  to  root  out  the  seeds  of 
eiTor  and  of  heresy  which  the  Jews  and  Moors  had  scattered,  yet  they  took 
arms  against  the  inquisitors,  murdered  the  chief  inquisitor,  and  long  opposed 
the  establishment  of  that  tribunal.  The  reason  which  they  gave  for  their 
conduct  was,  that  the  mode  of  trial  in  the  inquisition  was  inconsistent  with 
liberty.  The  criminal  was  not  confronted  with  the  witnesses,  he  was  not 
acquainted  with  what  they  deposed  against  him,  he  was  subjected  to  torture, 
and  the  goods  of  persons  condemned  were  confiscated.  Zurita,  Anales,  torn, 
iv.  p.  341. 

The  form  of  government  in  the  kingdom  of  Valencia,  and  principality  of 
Catalonia,  which  were  annexed  to  the  crown  of  Aragon,  was  likewise  extremely 
favourable  to  liberty.  The  Valencians  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  union  in  the 
same  manner  with  the  Aragonese.  But  they  had  no  magistrate  resembling 
the  justiza.  The  Catalonians  were  no  less  jealous  of  their  liberties  than  the 
two  other  nations,  and  no  less  bold  in  asserting  them.  But  it  is  not  necessary 
for  illustrating  the  following  history  to  enter  into  any  further  detail  concerning 
the  peculiarities  in  the  constitution  of  these  kingdoms. 

[^?>'],  page  134. — I  have  searched  in  vain  among  the  historians  of  Castile  for 
such  information  as  might  enable  me  to  trace  the  progress  of  laws  and  govern- 
ment in  Castile,  or  to  explain  the  nature  of  the  constitution  with  the  same 
degree  of  accuracy  wherewith  I  have  described  the  political  state  of  Aragon. 
It  is  manifest,  not  only  from  the  historians  of  Castile,  but  from  its  ancient 
laws,  particularly  the  fuero  juzgo,  that  its  monarchs  were  originally  elective. 
Ley.  pp.  2,  5,  8.  They  were  chosen  by  the  bishops,  the  nobility,  and  the  people ; 
ibid.  It  appears,  from  the  same  venerable  code  of  laws,  that  the  prerogative 
of  the  Castilian  monarchs  was  extremely  limited.  Villaldiego,  in  his  com- 
mentary on  the  fuero  juzgo,  produces  many  facts  and  authorities  in  confirma- 
tion of  both  these  particulars.  Dr.  Geddes,  who  was  well  acquainted  with 
Spanish  literature,  complains  that  he  could  find  no  author  who  gave  a  distinct 
account  of  the  cortes  or  supreme  assembly  of  the  nation,  or  who  described  the 
manner  iu  which  it  was  held,  or  mentioned  the  precise  number  of  members 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  589 

wlio  had  a  riglit  to  sit  in  it.  He  produces,  however,  from  Gil  Gonzales  d'Avila, 
who  published  a  history  of  Heury  II.,  the  writ  of  suniinous  to  the  town  of 
Abula,  requiring  it  to  choose  representatives  to  appear  in  the  cortes  which  he 
called  to  meet  a.d.  1390.  From  this  we  learn  that  prelates,  dukes,  marquises, 
the  masters  of  the  three  military  orders,  condes,  and  ricos  hombres,  were  re- 
quired to  attend.  These  composed  the  bodies  of  ecclesiastics  and  nobles, 
which  formed  two  members  of  the  legislature.  The  cities  which  sent  members 
to  that  meeting  of  (he  cortes  were  forty-eight.  The  number  of  representatives 
(for  the  cities  had  right  to  choose  more  or  fewer  according  to  their  respective 
dignity)  amounted  to  a  hundred  and  twenty-five.  Geddes,  Miscellaneous 
Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  331.  Zurita  having  occasion  to  mention  the  cortes  which  Ferdi- 
nand held  at  Toro,  a.d.  1505,  in  order  to  secure  for  himself  the  government  of 
Castile  after  the  death  of  Isabella,  records,  with  his  usual  accuracy',  the  names 
of  the  members  present,  and  of  the  cities  Mhich  they  represented.  From  that 
list  it  appears  that  only  eighteen  cities  had  deputies  in  this  assembly.  Anales 
de  Aragon,  torn.  vi.  p.  3.  What  was  the  occasion  of  this  great  difference  in 
the  number  of  cities  represented  in  these  two  meetings  of  the  cortes,  I  am 
unable  to  explain. 

[Zi"],  pat/c  Vi6. — A  great  part  of  the  territory  in  Spain  was  engrossed  by 
the  nobility.  L.  Marinffius  Siculus,  who  composed  his  treatise  De  Rebus  His- 
panise  during  the  reign  of  Charles  V.,  gives  a  catalogue  of  the  Spanish  nobility, 
together  with  a  yearly  rent  of  their  estates.  According  to  his  account,  which 
he  affirms  was  as  accurate  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  would  admit,  the  sum 
total  of  the  annual  revenue  of  their  lands  amovrnted  to  one  milh'on  four  hundred 
and  eighty-two  thousands  ducats.  If  we  make  allowance  for  the  great  differ- 
ence in  the  value  of  money  in  the  fifteenth  century  from  that  which  it  now 
bears,  and  consider  that  the  catalogue  of  Marina^us  includes  only  the  tilulados, 
or  nobUity  M'hose  families  were  distinguished  by  some  honorary  title,  their 
wealth  must  appear  very  great.  L.  Mariuseus,  ap.  Schott.  Script.  Hispan.  vol. 
i.  p.  323.  The  commons  of  Castile,  in  their  contests  with  the  crown,  which  I 
shall  hereafter  relate,  complain  of  the  extensive  property  of  the  nobility  as 
extremely  pernicious  to  the  kingdom.  In  one  of  their  manifestos  they  assert, 
that  from  Yalladolid  to  St.  Jago  in  Galicia,  which  was  a  hundred  leagues,  the 
crown  did  not  possess  more  than  three  villages.  All  the  rest  belonged  to  the 
nobility,  and  could  be  subjected  to  no  public  burden.  Sandov.  Vida  del  Em- 
perador  Carl.  Y.,  vol.  i.  p.  422.  It  appears  from  the  testimony  of  authors 
quoted  by  Bovadilla,  that  these  extensive  possessions  were  bestowed  upon  the 
ricos  hombres,  hidalgos,  and  cavalleros,  by  the  kings  of  Castile,  in  reward  for 
the  assistance  which  they  had  received  from  them  in  expelling  the  Moors. 
They  likewise  obtained  by  the  same  means  a  considerable  influence  in  the  cities, 
many  of  which  anciently  depended  upon  the  nobility,  Politica  para  Corregi- 
dores.    Arab.  1750,  fol.  vol.  i.  pp.  440,  442. 

[35],  pac/e  13S. — I  have  been  able  to  discover  nothing  certain,  as  I  observed 
Note  18,  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  communities  or  free  cities  in  Spain.  It 
is  probable,  that  as  soon  as  the  considerable  towns  were  recovered  from  the 
Moors,  the  inhabitants  who  fixed  their  residence  in  them,  being  persons  of 
distinction  and  credit,  had  all  the  privileges  of  municipal  government  and  juris- 


590  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

diction  conferred  upon  them.  Many  striking  proofs  occur  of  the  splendour, 
wealth,  and  power  of  the  Spanisli  cities.  Ilieronynius  Paulus  wrote  a  descrip- 
tion of  Barcelona  in  tiie  year  1491,  and  compares  the  dimensions  of  the  town 
to  that  of  Naples,  and  the  elegance  of  its  buildings,  the  variety  of  its  manufac- 
tures, and  the  extent  of  its  commerce,  to  Florence.  Hieron.  Paulus,  ap  Schott. 
Scrip.  Hisp.  vol.  ii.  p.  844.  Marinaius  describes  Toledo  as  a  large  and  popu- 
lous city.  A  great  number  of  its  inhabitants  were  persons  of  quality  and  of 
illustrious  rank.  Its  commerce  was  great.  It  carried  on  with  great  activity 
and  success  the  manufactures  of  silk  and  wool ;  and  the  number  of  inhabitants 
employed  in  these  two  branches  of  trade  amounted  nearly  to  ten  thousand. 
Marin,  ubi  supr.  p.  308.  "  I  know  no  city,"  says  he,  "  that  I  would  prefer  to 
Valladolid  for  elegance  and  splendour."  Ibid.  p.  312.  We  may  form  some 
estimate  of  its  populousness  from  the  following  circumstances.  The  citizens 
having  taken  arms  in  the  year  151G,  in  order  to  oppose  a  measure  concerted 
by  Cardinal  Ximenes,  they  mustered  in  the  city,  and  in  the  territory  which 
belonged  to  it,  thirty  thousand  fighting  men.  Saudov.  Vida  del  Emper.  Carl.  V., 
tom.  i.  p.  81.  The  manufactures  carried  on  in  the  towns  of  Spain  were  not 
intended  merely  for  home  consumption,  they  were  exported  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  their  commerce  was  a  considerable  source  of  wealth  to  the  inhabit- 
ants. The  maritime  laws  of  Barcelona  are  the  foundation  of  mercantile 
jurisprudence  in  modern  times,  as  the  Leges  Rhodise  were  among  the  ancients. 
All  the  commercial  states  in  Italy  adopted  these  laws,  and  regulated  their 
trade  according  to  them.  Saudi,  Storia  Civile  Veneziana,  vol.  ii.  p.  865.  It 
appears  from  several  ordinances  of  the  kings  of  France,  that  the  merchants  of 
Aragon  and  Castile  were  received  on  the  same  footing,  and  admitted  to  the 
same  privileges  with  those  of  Italy.  Ordonnances  des  Roys,  &c.  tom.  ii. 
p.  135,  tom.  iii.  pp.  166,  504,  635.  Cities  in  such  a  flourishing  state  became 
a  respectable  part  of  the  society,  and  were  entitled  to  a  considerable  share  in 
the  legislature.  The  magistrates  of  Barcelona  aspired  to  the  highest  honour 
a  Spanish  subject  can  enjoy, — that  of  being  covered  in  the  presence  of  their 
sovereign,  and  of  being  treated  as  grandees  of  the  kingdom.  Origin  de  la 
Dignidad  de  Grande  de  Castilla  por  Don  Alonso  Carillo.  Madr.  1657,  p.  18. 

[36],  jiaije  139. — The  military  order  of  St.  Jago,  the  most  honourable  and 
opulent  of  the  three  Spanish  orders,  was  instituted  about  the  year  1170,  The 
bull  of  confirmation  by  Alexander  III.  is  dated  a.d.  1176.  At  that  time  a 
considerable  part  of  Spain  still  remained  under  subjection  to  the  Moors,  and 
the  whole  country  was  much  exposed  to  depredations  not  only  of  the  enemy, 
but  of  banditti.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  an  institution,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  oppose  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  to  restrain  and  punish 
those  who  disturbed  the  public  peace,  should  be  extremely  popular,  and  meet 
with  general  encouragement.  The  w^ealth  and  power  of  the  order  became  so 
great,  that,  according  to  one  historian,  the  Grand  Master  of  St.  Jago  was  the 
person  in  Spain  of  greatest  power  and  dignity  next  to  the  king,  MX.  Anton, 
Nebrissensis,  ap.  Schott.  Scrip.  Hisp.  i.  812.  Another  historian  observes,  that 
the  order  possessed  everything  in  Castile  that  a  king  would  most  desire  to 
obtain,  Zurita,  Anales,  v.  22.  The  knights  took  the  vows  of  obedience,  of 
poverty,  and  of  conjugal  chastity.  By  the  former  they  were  bound  implicitly 
to  obey  the  commands  of  their  grand  master.    The  order  could  bring  into  the 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  59 J 

field  a  tliousand  men-at-arms.  ^El.  Ant.  Ncbriss.  p.  S13,  If,  as  we  liavc 
reason  to  believe,  these  nien-at-arnis  were  accompanied  as  was  usual  in  that 
age,  this  was  a  formidable  body  of  cavalry.  There  belonged  to  this  order  eigliiy- 
four  commanderies,  and  two  hundred  priories  and  other  benefices.  Disserta- 
tions sur  la  Chevalerie  par  Hon.  de  St.  Marie,  p.  202.  It  is  obvious  how 
formidable  to  his  sovereign  the  command  of  these  troop?,  the  administration 
of  such  revenues,  and  the  disposal  of  so  many  oflices,  must  have  rendered  a 
subject.  The  other  two  orders,  though  inferior  to  that  of  St.  Jago  in  power 
and  wealth,  were  nevertheless  very  considerable  fraternities.  "When  the  con- 
quest of  Gi'anada  deprived  the  knights  of  St.  Jago  of  those  enemies  against 
whom  their  zeal  was  originally  directed,  superstition  found  out  a  new  object, 
in  defence  of  which  they  engaged  to  employ  their  courage.  To  their  usual 
oath  they  added  the  following  clause  :  "  We  do  swear  to  believe,  to  maintain, 
and  to  contend  in  public  and  in  private,  that  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  Mother  of 
God,  our  Lady,  was  conceived  without  the  stain  of  original  sin."  This  addi- 
tion was  made  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Honore  de  St. 
Marie  Dissertations,  &c.  p.  263. — Nor  is  such  a  singular  engagement  peculiar 
to  the  order  of  St.  Jago.  The  members  of  the  second  military  order  in  Spain, 
that  of  Calatrava,  equally  zealous  to  employ  their  prowess  in  defence  of  the 
honours  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  have  likewise  professed  themselves  her  true 
knights.  Their  vow,  conceived  in  terms  more  theologically  accurate  than  that 
of  St.  Jago,  may  afford  some  amusement  to  an  English  reader,  "I  vow  to 
God,  to  the  grand  master,  and  to  you  who  here  represent  his  person,  that  now, 
and  for  ever,  I  will  maintain  and  contend,  that  the  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of 
God,  our  Lady,  was  conceived  without  original  sin,  and  never  incurred  the 
pollution  of  it ;  but  that  in  the  moment  of  her  happy  conception,  and  of  the 
union  of  her  soul  with  her  body,  the  Divine  grace  prevented  and  preserved  her 
from  original  guilt,  by  the  merits  of  the  passion  and  death  of  Christ,  our  llc- 
deemer,  her  future  Son,  foreseen  in  the  Divine  counsel,  by  which  she  was  truly 
redeemed,  and  by  a  more  noble  kind  of  redemption  than  any  of  the  children  of 
Adam.  In  the  belief  of  this  truth,  and  in  maintaining  the  honour  of  the  most 
Holy  Virgin,  through  the  strength  of  Almighty  God,  I  will  live  and  will  die." 
Definiciones  de  la  Orden.  de  Calatrava,  conforme  al  Capitulo  General  en  1G52, 
fol.  Madr.  1748,  p.  153.  Though  the  church  of  Rome  hath  prudently  avoided 
to  give  its  sanction  to  the  doctrine  of  the  immaculate  conception,  and  the  two 
great  monastic  orders  of  St.  Dominick  and  St.  Erancis  have  espoused  opposite 
opinions  concerning  it,  the  Spaniards  are  such  ardent  champions  for  the  honour 
of  the  Virgin,  that  when  the  present  king  of  Spain  instituted  a  new  military 
order  in  the  year  1771,  in  commemoration  of  the  birth  of  his  grandson,  he  put 
it  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  most  Holy  Mary  in  the  mystery  of 
her  immaculate  conception.  Constituciones  de  la  real  y  distinguida  Orden. 
Espaiiola  de  Carlos  III.  p.  7-  To  undertake  the  defence  of  the  Virgin  Mary's 
honour  had  such  a  resemblance  to  that  species  of  refined  gallantry,  which  was 
the  original  object  of  chivalry,  that  the  zeal  with  which  the  military  orders 
bound  themselves,  by  a  solenni  vow,  to  defend  it,  was  worthy  of  a  true  knight, 
in  those  ages  when  the  spirit  of  the  institution  subsisted  in  full  vigour.  But 
in  the  present  age  it  must  excite  some  surprise  to  see  the  institution  of  an 
illustrious  order  connected  with  a  doctrine  so  extravagant  and  destitute  of 
any  foundation  iu  Scripture. 


592  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

[^T\,page  142. — I  have  frequently  had  occasiou  to  take  notice  of  the  defects 
in  police  during  the  middle  ages,  occasioned  by  the  feebleness  of  government, 
and  the  want  of  proper  subordination  among  the  different  ranks  of  men.  I 
have  observed  in  a  former  note  that  tliis  greatly  interrupted  the  intercourse 
between  nations,  and  even  between  different  places  in  the  same  kingdom- 
The  descriptions  which  the  Spanish  historians  give  q^  the  frequency  of  rapine, 
murder,  and  every  act  of  violence,  in  all  the  provinces  of  Spain,  are  amazing, 
and  present  to  us  the  idea  of  a  society  but  little  removed  from  the  disorder 
and  turbulence  of  that  which  has  been  called  a  state  of  nature.  Zurita,  Anales 
de  Arag.  i.  175.  M\.  Ant.  Nebrissensis  Rer.  a  Terdin.  Gestar.  Hist.  ap. 
Schottum,  ii.  849.  Though  the  excess  of  these  disorders  rendered  the  institu- 
tion of  the  santa  henucuidad  necessary,  great  care  was  taken  at  first  to  avoid 
giving  any  offence  or  alarm  to  the  nobility.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  judges  of 
the  liermandad  was  expressly  confined  to  crimes  which  violated  the  public 
peace.  All  other  offences  were  left  to  the  cognizance  of  the  ordinary  judges. 
If  a  person  was  guilty  of  the  most  notorious  perjury,  in  any  trial  before  a 
judge  of  the  hermandad,  he  could  not  punish  him,  but  was  obliged  to  remit  the 
case  to  the  ordinary  judge  of  the  place.  Commentaria  in  Regias  Hispan. 
Constitut.  per  Alph.  de  Azevedo,  pars  v.  pp.  223,  &c.  fol.  Duaci,  p.l612.  Not- 
withstanding these  restrictions,  the  barons  were  early  sensible  how  much  the 
establishment  of  the  hermandad  woiild  encroach  on  their  jurisdiction.  In 
Castile  some  opposition  was  made  to  the  institution ;  but  Ferdinand  had  the 
address  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  constable  to  the  introduction  of  the 
hermandad  into  that  part  of  the  kingdom  where  his  estate  lay ;  and  by  that 
means,  as  well  as  the  popularity  of  the  institution,  he  surmounted  every 
obstacle  that  stood  in  its  way.  Jill.  Ant.  Nebrissen.  p.  851.  In  Aragou  the 
nobles  combined  against  it  with  great  spirit ;  and  Ferdinand,  though  he  sup- 
ported it  with  vigour,  was  obliged  to  make  some  concessions  in  order  to 
reconcile  them.  Zurita,  Anales  de  Arag.  iv.  356.  The  power  and  revenue  of 
the  hermandad  in  Castile  seem  to  have  been  very  great.  Ferdinand,  when 
preparing  for  the  war  against  the  Moors  of  Granada,  required  of  the  hermandad 
to  furnish  him  sixteen  thousand  beasts  of  burden,  together  with  eight 
thousand  men  to  conduct  them,  and  he  obtained  what  he  demanded.  EX. 
Ant.  Nebriss.  p.  SSI.  The  hermandad  has  been  found  to  be  of  so  much  use  in 
preserving  peace,  and  restraining  or  detecting  crimes,  that  it  is  still  continued 
in  Spain ;  but  as  it  is  no  longer  necessary  either  for  moderating  the  power  of 
the  nobility,  or  extending  that  of  the  crown,  the  vigour  and  authority  of  the 
institution  diminish  gradually. 

\_Z%\j)a(je  144. — Nothing  is  more  common  among  antiquaries,  and  there  is 
not  a  more  copious  source  of  error,  than  to  decide  concerning  the  institutions 
and  manners  of  past  ages,  by  the  forms  and  ideas  which  prevail  in  their  own 
times.  The  French  lawyers  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
having  found  their  sovereigns  in  possession  of  absolute  power,  seem  to  think 
it  a  duty  incumbent  on  them  to  maintain  that  such  unbounded  authority 
belonged  to  the  crown  in  every  period  of  their  monarchy.  "  The  government 
of  France,"  says  M.  de  Real,  very  gravely,  "  is  purely  monarchical  at  this  day, 
as  it  was  from  the  beginning.  Our  kings  were  absolute  originally,  as  they  are 
at  present."    Science  du  Gouvernemeut,  torn.  ii.  p.  31.    It  is  impossible,  how- 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  593 

evei',  to  conceive  two  states  of  civil  society  more  unlike  to  each  other  than 
that  of  the  French  nation  under  Clovis,  and  that  under  Louis  XV.  It  is 
evident  from  tlie  codes  of  laws  of  the  various  tribes  which  settled  in  Gaul  and 
the  countries  adjacent  to  it,  as -well  as  from  tlie  history  of  Gregory  of  Tours, 
and  other  early  annalists,  that  among  all  these  people  the  form  of  government 
was  extremely  rude  and  simple,  and  that  they  had  scarcely  begun  to  acquire 
the  first  rudiments  of  that  order  and  police  which  are  necessary  in  extensive 
societies.  The  king  or  leader  had  the  connnand  of  soldiers  or  companions,  who 
followed  his  standard  from  choice,  not  by  constraint.  I  have  produced  the 
clearest  evidence  of  this,  Note  6.  An  event  related  by  Gregory  of  Tours, 
lib.  4,  c.  14,  affords  the  most  striking  proof  of  the  dependence  of  the  early 
French  kings  on  the  sentiments  and  inclination  of  their  people.  Clotairc  I. 
having  marched  at  the  head  of  his  army,  in  the  year  553,  against  the  Saxons, 
that  people,  intimidated  at  his  approach,  sued  for  peace,  and  offered  to  pay  a 
large  sum  to  the  offended  monarch.  Clotaire  was  willing  to  close  with  what 
they  proposed.  But  his  army  insisted  to  be  led  forth  to  battle.  The  king 
employed  all  his  eloquence  to  persuade  them  to  accept  of  what  the  Saxons 
were  ready  to  pay.  The  Saxons,  in  order  to  soothe  them,  increased  their 
original  offer.  The  king  renewed  his  solicitations ;  but  the  army,  enraged, 
rushed  upon  the  king,  tore  his  tent  in  pieces,  dragged  hira  out  of  it,  and 
would  have  slain  him  on  the  spot,  if  he  had  not  consented  to  lead  them  instantly 
against  the  enemy. 

If  the  early  mouarchs  of  France  possessed  such  limited  authority,  even  while 
at  the  head  of  their  army,  their  prerogative  during  peace  will  be  found  to  be 
still  more  confined.  They  ascended  the  throne  not  by  any  hereditary  right,  but 
in  consequence  of  the  election  of  their  subjects.  In  order  to  avoid  an  unneces- 
sary number  of  quotations,  I  refer  my  readers  to  Hottomanni  Franco-Gallia, 
cap.  vi.  p.  47,  edit.  1573,  where  they  will  find  the  fullest  proof  of  this  from 
Gregory  of  Tours,  Amoinus,  and  the  most  authentic  historians  of  the  Mero- 
vingian kings.  The  effect  of  this  election  was  not  to  invest  them  with  absolute 
power.  Whatever  related  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  nation  was  submitted 
to  public  deliberation,  and  determined  by  the  suffrage  of  the  people,  in  the 
annual  assemblies,  called  "  les  champs  dc  Mars,"  and  "les  champs  do  Mai." 
These  assemblies  were  called  champs,  because,  according  to  the  custom  of  all 
the  barbarous  nations,  they  were  held  in  the  open  air,  in  some  plain  capable  of 
containing  the  vast  number  of  persons  who  had  a  right  to  be  present.  Jo.  Jac. 
Sorberus  de  Comitiis  veterura  Germanorum,  vol.  i.  §§  19,  &c.  They  were 
denominated  champs  de  Mars  and  de  Mai,  from  the  months  in  which  they  were 
held.  Every  freeman  seems  to  have  had  a  right  to  be  present  in  these 
assemblies.  Sorberus,  ibid.  §§  133,  &c.  The  ancient  annals  of  the  Franks 
describe  the  persons  who  were  present  in  the  assembly  held  a.d.  7S8,  in  these 
words:  "In  placito  Ingelheimeusi  conveniuut  pontifices,  majores,  minores^ 
sacerdotes,  reguli,  duces,  comites,  prfefecti,  cives,  oi)pidani."  Apud.  Sorber. 
§  304.  There  everything  that  concerned  the  happiness  of  their  country,  says 
an  ancient  historian,  everything  that  could  be  of  benefit  to  the  Franks,  was 
considered  and  enjoined.  Fredegarius,  ap.  Du  Cange,  Glossar.  voc.  Campus 
Martii.  Chlotharius  II.  describes  the  business,  and  acknowledges  the  authority 
of  these  assemblies.  "  They  are  called,"  says  he,  "  that  whatever  relates  to  the 
common  safety  may  be  considered  and  resolved  by  common  deliberation ;  and 
VOL.  I.  Q  U 


594  PEOOFS  AND  IliLUSTRATIONS. 

wliatevcr  they  determine,  to  that  I  will  conform."  Amoiims  de  Gest.  Franc, 
lib.  iv.  c.  i.  ap.  Bouqnet,  Recueil,  iii.  p.  110.  The  statutory  clauses,  or  words  of 
legislative  authority  in  the  decrees  issued  in  these  assemblies,  run  not  in  the 
name  of  the  king  alone.  "  We  have  treated,"  says  Childebert,  in  a  decree, 
A. D.  532,  in  tlie  assembly  of  March,  "together  with  our  nobles,  concerning 
some  affairs,  and  we  now  publish  the  conclusion,  that  it  may  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  all."  Childeb.  Decret.  ap.  Bouquet,  Recueil  des  Histor.  tom.  iv. 
p.  3.  "  We  have  agreed  together  with  our  vassals."  Ibid.  §  2.  "  It  is  agreed, 
in  the  assembly  in  which  we  were  all  united."  Ibid.  §  4.  The  Salic  laws,  the 
most  venerable  monument  of  French  jurisprudence,  were  enacted  in  the  same 
manner.  "Dictaverunt  Salicam  legem  proceres  ipsius  gentis,  qui  tunc  temporis 
apud  earn  erant  rectores.  Sunt  autem  electi  de  pluribus  viri  quatuor — qui 
per  tres  Mallos  convenientes,  omnes  causarum  origines  solieite  discurrendo, 
tractantes  de  singulis,  judicium  decreverunt  hoc  modo."  Prsef.  Leg.  Salic,  ap. 
Bouquet.  Ibid.  p.  122.  "Hoc  decretum  est  apud  regem  et  principes  ejus,  et 
apud  cunctum  populum  christianmn,  qui  intra  reguum  Merwingorum  eousis- 
tunt."  Ibid.  p.  124-.  Nay,  even  in  their  charters,  the  kings  of  the  first  race 
are  careful  to  specify  that  they  were  granted  with  the  consent  of  their  vassals. 
"  Ego  Childebertus,  rex,  una  cum  consensu  et  voluntate  Francorum,"  &c.  a.  d. 
558.  Bouquet,  ibid.  622.  "  Chlotharius  III.  una  cum  patribus  nostris, 
episcopis,  optimatibus,  cseterisque  palatii  nostri  ministris,"  a.  d.  601.  Ibid. 
618.  "  De  consensu  fidelium  nostrorum."  Mably,  Observ.  tom.  i.  p.  239.  The 
historians  likewise  describe  the  functions  of  the  king  in  the  national  assemblies 
in  such  terms  as  imply  that  his  authority  there  was  extremely  small,  and  that 
everything  depended  on  the  court  itself.  "  Ipse  rex  (says  the  author  of  Annales 
Francorum,  speaking  of  the  Field  of  March)  sedebat  in  sella  regia,  circum- 
stante  exercitu,  prsecipiebatque  is,  die  Ulo,  quicquid  a  Francis  decretum  erat." 
Bouquet,  Recueil,  tom.  ii.  p.  617. 

That  the  general  assemblies  exercised  supreme  jurisdiction  over  all  persons, 
and  with  respect  to  all  causes,  is  so  evident  as  to  stand  in  need  of  no  proof. 
The  trial  of  Bruuehaut,  a.  d.  613,  how  unjust  soever  the  sentence  against  her 
may  be,  as  related  by  Fredegarius,  Chron.  cap.  42  ;  Bouquet,  ibid.  430,  is  in 
itself  sufficient  proof  of  this.  The  notorious  violence  and  iniquity  of  the  sentence 
serve  to  demonstrate  the  extent  of  jurisdiction  which  this  assembly  possessed, 
as  a  prince  so  sanguinary  as  Clothaire  II.  thought  the  sanction  of  its  authority 
would  be  sufficient  to  justify  his  rigorous  treatment  of  the  mother  and  grand- 
mother of  so  many  kings. 

With  respect  to  conferring  donatives  on  the  prince,  we  may  observe,  that 
among  nations  whose  manners  and  political  institutions  are  simple,  the  public, 
as  well  as  individuals,  having  few  wants,  they  are  little  acquainted  with  taxes, 
and  free  uncivilized  tribes  disdain  to  submit  to  any  stated  imposition.  This 
was  remarkably  the  case  of  the  Germans,  and  of  all  the  various  people  that 
issued  from  that  country.  Tacitus  pronounces  two  tribes  not  to  be  of  German 
origin,  because  they  submitted  to  pay  taxes.  De  Morib.  Germ.  c.  43.  And 
speaking  of  another  tribe  according  to  the  ideas  prevalent  in  Germany,  he 
says,  "  They  were  not  degraded  by  the  imposition  of  taxes."  Ibid.  c.  29.  Upon 
the  settlement  of  the  Franks  in  Gaul  we  may  conclude,  that  while  elated  with 
the  consciousness  of  victory,  they  would  not  renounce  tiie  high-spirited  ideas  of 
their  ancestors,  or  voluntarily  submit  to  a  burden  which  they  regarded  as  a 


PROOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  595 

badge  of  servitiulc.  The  evidence  of  the  earliest  records  and  liistorians 
justifies  this  couclusiou.  M.  de  Montesquieu,  in  the  twelfth  and  subsequent 
chapters  of  the  thirteenth  book  of  I'Esprit  dcs  Loix,  and  ^M.  dc  Mal)ly, 
Observat.  sur  I'llist.  dc  France,  torn.  i.  p.  217,  liave  investigated  this  fact  with 
great  attention,  and  have  proved  clearly  that  the  property  of  freemen  among 
the  Franks  was  not  subject  to  any  stated  tax.  That  the  state  required  nothing 
from  persons  of  this  rank  but  military  service  at  their  own  expense,  and  tliat 
they  should  entertain  the  king  in  their  houses  when  he  was  upon  any  progress 
through  his  dominions,  or  his  officers  when  sent  on  any  public  employment, 
furnishing  them  with  carriages  and  horses.  Monarchs  subsisted  almost  entirely 
upon  the  revenues  of  their  own  domains,  and  upon  the  perquisites  arising  from 
the  administration  of  justice,  together  with  a  few  small  lines  and  forfeitures 
exacted  from  such  as  had  been  guilty  of  certain  trespasses.  It  is  foreign  from 
my  subject  to  enumerate  these.  The  reader  may  find  them  in  Observat.  dc 
M.  de  Mably,  vol.  i.  p.  267. 

When  any  extraordinary  aid  was  granted  by  freemen  to  their  sovereign  it 
was  purely  voluntary.  In  the  annual  assembly  of  March  or  May,  it  was  the 
custom  to  make  the  king  a  present  of  money,  of  horses  or  arms,  or  of  some 
other  thing  of  value.  This  was  an  ancient  custom,  and  derived  from  their 
ancestors  the  Germans.  "  Mos  est  civitatibus,  ultro  ac  viritim  conferre  prin- 
cipibus,  vel  armentorum,  vel  frugum,  quod  pro  honore  acceptuni,  etiam  neces- 
silatibus  subvenit."  Tacit,  de  Mor.  Germ.  c.  15.  These  gifts,  if  we  may 
form  a  judgment  concerning  them  from  the  general  terms  in  which  they  are 
mentioned  by  the  ancient  historians,  were  considerable,  and  made  no  small  part 
of  the  royal  revenue.  Many  passages  to  this  purpose  are  produced  by  M.  du 
Cange,  dissert,  iv.  sur  Joinville,  153.  Sometimes  a  conquered  people  specified 
the  gift  which  they  bound  themselves  to  pay  annually,  and  it  was  exacted  as  a 
debt  if  they  failed.  Auuales  Metenses,  ap.  Du  Cange,  ibid.  p.  155.  It  is 
probable  that  the  first  step  towards  taxation  was  to  ascertain  the  value  of  these 
gifts,  which  were  originally  gratuitous,  and  to  compel  the  people  to  pay  the 
sum  at  which  they  were  rated.  Still,  however,  some  memory  of  their  original 
was  preserved,  and  the  aids  granted  to  monarchs  in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe 
were  termed  henetolences  ax  free  gifts. 

.  The  kings  of  the  second  race  in  France  were  raised  to  the  throne  by  the 
election  of  the  people.  "  Pepinus  rex  pins,"  says  an  author  who  wrote  a  few 
years  after  the  transaction  which  he  records,  "per  authoritatem  papa;,  et 
unclionem  saucti  chrismatis  et  electionem  omnium  Francorum  in  regni  solio 
sublimatus  est."  Clausula  de  Pepiui  Consecratione,  ap.  Bouq.  liecueil  dcs 
Histor.  tom.  v.  p.  9.  At  the  same  time,  as  the  chief  men  of  the  nation  liad 
transferred  the  crown  from  one  family  to  another,  an  oath  was  exacted  of  them, 
that  they  should  maintain  on  the  throne  the  family  which  they  had  now  promoted ; 
"  ut  nunquam  de  alterius  lumbis  regeni  in  a;vo  prseiaumant  eligere."  Ibid, 
p.  10.  This  oatli  the  nation  faithfully  observed  duriug  a  considerable  space  of 
time.  The  posterity  of  Pepin  kept  possession  of  the  throne  ;  but  with  respect 
to  the  mamier  of  dividing  their  dominions  among  their  children,  princes  were 
obliged  to  consult  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation.  Thus  Pepin  himself,  a.  d. 
,768,  appointed  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Carlomannus,  to  reign  as  joint  sove- 
reigns ;  but  he  did  this,  "  una  cum  consensu  Francorum  et  proccrum  suorum 
seu  et  episcoporum,"  before  whom  he  laid  the  matter  in  their  general  assembly. 

aQ2 


596  PROOrS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Conventus  apud  Sanctum  Diouysium,  Capitular,  vol.  i.  p.  187.  This  destination 
the  French  confirmed  in  a  subsequent  assembly,  which  was  called  upon  the 
death  of  Pepin ;  for,  as  Eginhart  relates,  they  not  only  appointed  them  kings, 
but  by  their  authority  they  regulated  the  limits  of  their  respective  territories. 
Vita  Car.  Magni,  ap.  Bouquet,  Recueil,  torn.  v.  p.  90.  In  the  same  manner,  it 
was  by  the  authority  of  the  supreme  assemblies  that  any  dispute  which  arose 
among  the  descendants  of  the  royal  family  was  determined.  Charlemagne 
recognises  this  important  part  of  their  jurisdiction,  and  confirms  it  in  his  charter 
concerning  the  partition  of  liis  dominions ;  for  he  appoints,  that,  in  case  of  any 
uncertainty  with  respect  to  the  right  of  the  several  competitors,  he  whom  the 
people  shall  choose  shall  succeed  to  the  crown.    Capitular,  vol.  i.  p.  442. 

Under  the  second  race  of  kings,  the  assemblies  of  the  nation,  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  conventus,  malli,  placita,  were  regularly  assembled  once  a  year 
at  least,  and  frequently  twice  in  the  year.  One  of  the  most  valuable  monu- 
ments of  the  liistory  of  France  is  the  treatise  of  Hincmarus,  archbishop  of 
Pheims,  de  Ordinc  Palatii.  He  died  a.  d.  882,  only  sixty-eight  years  after 
Charlemagne,  and  he  relates  in  tliat  short  discourse  the  facts  which  were  com- 
municated to  him  by  Adalhardus,  a  minister  and  confidant  of  Charlemagne- 
From  him  we  learn  that  this  great  monarch  never  failed  to  hold  the  general 
assembly  of  his  subjects  every  year.  "In  quo  placito  generalitas  universorura 
majorum  tarn  clericorum  quam  laicorum  conveniebat."  Hincm.  Oper.  edit. 
Sirmondi,  vol.  ii.  c.  29,  p.  211.  In  these  assemblies,  matters  which  related  to 
the  general  safety  and  state  of  the  kingdom  were  always  discussed  before  they 
entered  upon  any  private  or  less  important  business.  Ibid.  c.  33,  p.  213.  His 
immediate  successors  imitated  his  example,  and  transacted  no  affair  of  import- 
ance without  the  advice  of  their  great  council. 

Under  the  second  race  of  kings,  the  genius  of  the  French  government  con- 
tinued to  be  in  a  good  measure  democratical.  The  nobles,  the  dignified  eccle- 
siastics, and  the  great  officers  of  the  crown,  were  not  the  only  members  of  the 
national  council ;  the  people,  or  the  whole  body  of  freemen,  either  in  person  or 
by  their  representatives,  had  a  right  to  be  present  in  it.  Hincmarus,  in 
describing  the  manner  of  holding  the  general  assemblies,  says  that  if  the 
weather  was  favourable  they  met  in  the  open  air  j  but  if  otherwise,  they  had 
different  apartments  allotted  to  them  ;  so  that  the  dignified  clergy  were  sepa- 
rated from  the  laity,  and  the  "eomites  vel  hujusmodi  principes  sibimet  lionori- 
ficabiliter  a  cailera  multitudiue  segregareutur."  Ibid.  c.  35,  p.  114.  Agobardus, 
archbishop  of  Lyons,  thus  describes  a  national  council  in  the  year  833,  wherein 
he  was  present.  "  Qui  ubique  conventus  extitit  ex  reverendissimis  episcopis, 
et  magnificentissimis  viris  illustribus,  collegio  quoque  abbatum  et  comitum, 
promiscuisque  rotatis  et  dignitatis  populo."  The  ccetera  mulUtndo  of  Hinc- 
marus is  the  same  with  the  fopulus  of  Agobardus,  and  both  describe  the 
inferior  order  of  freemen,  the  same  who  were  afterwards  known  in  France  by 
the  name  of  the  third  estate,  and  in  England  by  the  name  of  commons.  The 
people,  as  well  as  the  members  of  higher  dignity,  were  admitted  to  a  share  of 
the  legislative  power.  Thus,  by  a  law,  A. d.  803,  it  is  ordained,  "That  the 
question  shall  be  put  to  the  people  with  respect  to  every  new  law,  and  if  they 
shall  agree  to  it,  they  shall  confirm  it  by  their  signature."  Capit.  vol.  i.  p.  394, 
There  are  two  capitularia  which  convey  to  us  a  full  idea  of  the  part  which  the 
people  took  in  the  administration  of  government.    When  they  felt  the  weight 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  597 

of  any  grievance,  they  had  a  riglit  to  pctitiou  the  sovereign  for  redress. "  Oiio 
of  these  petitions,  in  which  Ihcy  desire  that  ecclesiastics  nn'ght  be  exempted 
from  bearing  arms,  and  from  serving  in  person  against  tlie  enemy,  is  still 
extant.     It  is   addressed  to  Charlemagne,  a.  d.  803,  and  expressed  in  such 
terms  as  could  have  been  nsed  only  by  men  conscious  of  liberty,  and  of  the 
extensive  privileges  which  they  possessed.     They  conclude  with  requiring  him 
to  grant  their  demand,  if  he  wished  that  they  should  any  longer  continue  faith- 
ful subjects  to  him.  That  great  monarch,  instead  of  being  offended  or  surprised 
at  the  boldness  of  their  petition,  received  it  in  a  most  gracious  manner,  and 
signitied  his  willingness  to  comply  with  it.     But,  sensible  that  he  himself  did 
not  possess  legislative  authority,  he  promises  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  next 
general  assembly,  that  such  things  as  were  of  common  concern  to  all  might 
be  there  considered  and  established  by  common  consent.     Capitul.  tom.  i. 
pp.  405 — 409.     As  the  people  by  their  petitions  brought  matters  to  be  pro- 
posed in  the  general  assembly,  we  Icaru  from  another  eapilidarc  the  form  in 
which  they  were  approved  there,  and  enacted  as  laws.     The  propositions  were 
read  aloud,  and  then  the  people  were  required  to  declare  whether  they  as- 
sented to  them  or  not.  They  signified  their  assent  by  crying  three  times,  "  We 
are  satisfied ;"  and  then  the  capitulare  was  confirmed  by  the  subscription  of  the 
monarch,  the  clergy,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  laity.     Capitul.  tom.  i.  p.  C27, 
A.  D.  822,     It  seems  probable  from  a  capitulare  of  Carolus  Calvus,  a.  d.  851, 
that  the  sovereign  could  not  refuse  his  assent  to  what  was  proposed  and  esta- 
blished by  his  subjects  in  the  general  assembly.     Tit.  ix.  §  6.     Capitul.  vol.  ii. 
p.  47.    It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  quotations  concerning  the  legislative 
power  of  the  national  assembly  of  France  under  the  second  race,  or  concerning 
its  right  to  determine  with  regard  to  peace  and  war.     The  uniform  style  of  the 
capitularia  is  an  abundant  confirmation  of  the  former.   The  reader  m  ho  desires 
any  further  information  with  respect  to  the  latter,  may  consult  Les  Origines 
ou  I'Ancien  Gouvernement  de  la  France,  <S:c.  tom.  iii.  pp.  87,  &g.     What  has 
been  said  with  respect  to  the  admission  of  the  people  or  their  representatives 
into  the  supreme  assembly  merits  attention,  not  only  in  tracing  the  progress 
of  the  French  government,  but  on  account  of  the  light  which  it  throws  upon  a 
similar  question  agitated  in  England,  concerning  the  time  when  the  commons 
became  part  of  the  legislative  body  in  that  kingdom. 

[39],  ^^/Y/e  145. — That  important  change  which  the  constitution  of  France 
underwent,  when  the  legislative  power  was  transferred  from  the  great  council 
of  the  nation  to  the  king,  has  been  explained  by  the  French  antiquaries  with 
less  care  than  they  bestow  in  illustrating  other  events  in  their  history.  For 
that  reason,  I  have  endeavoured  with  greater  attention  to  trace  the  steps  which 
led  to  this  memorable  revolution.  I  shall  here  add  some  particulars  which 
tend  to  throw  additional  light  upon  it.  The  Leges  SulictC,  the  Leges  Burguu- 
dionum,  and  other  codes  published  by  the  several  tribes  which  settled  in  Gaul, 
were  general  laws  extending  to  every  person,  to  every  province  and  district 
where  the  authority  of  those  tribes  was  acknowledged.  But  they  seem  to 
have  become  obsolete ;  and  the  reason  of  their  falling  into  disuse  is  very  obvious. 
Almost  the  whole  property  of  the  nation  was  allodial  when  these  laws  were 
framed.  But  when  the  feudal  institutions  became  general,  and  gave  rise  to 
an  infinite  variety  of  questions  peculiar  to  that  species  of  tenure,  the  ancient 


598  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

codes  were  of  no  use  in  deciding  with  regard  to  tliese,  because  they  could  not 
contain  regulations  applicable  to  cases  which  did  not  exist  at  the  time  when 
they  were  compiled.  This  considerable  change  in  the  nature  of  property  made 
it  necessary  to  publish  the  new  regulations  contained  in  the  eapihilaria.  Many 
of  these,  as  is  evident  from  the  perusal  of  them,  were  ])ublic  laws  extending  to 
the  whole  French  nation,  in  the  general  assembly  of  which  they  were  enacted. 
Tlie  weakness  of  the  greater  part  of  the  monarcbs  of  tlie  second  race,  and  the 
disorder  into  which  the  nation  was  thrown  by  the  depredations  of  the  Normans, 
encouraged  the  barons  to  usurp  an  independent  power  formerly  unknown  in 
Trance.  The  nature  and  extent  of  that  jurisdiction  which  they  assumed  I 
have  formerly  considered.  The  political  union  of  the  kingdom  was  at  an  end, 
its  ancient  constitution  was  dissolved,  and  only  a  feudal  relation  subsisted 
between  the  king  and  his  vassals.  Tlie  regal  jurisdiction  extended  no  further 
than  the  domains  of  the  crown.  Under  the  last  kings  of  the  second  race,  these 
were  reduced  almost  to  nothing.  Under  the  first  kings  of  tlie  third  race,  they 
comprehended  little  more  than  the  patrimonial  estate  of  Hugh  Capet,  which 
he  annexed  to  the  crown.  Even  with  this  accession,  they  continued  to  be  of 
small  extent.  Velly,  Hist,  de  France,  torn.  iii.  p.  32.  Many  of  the  most  con- 
siderable provinces  in  France  did  not  at  first  acknowledge  Hugh  Capet  as  a 
lawful  monarch.  There  are  still  extant  several  charters,  granted  during  the 
first  years  of  his  reign,  with  this  remarkable  clause  in  the  form  of  dating  the 
charter:  "Deo  regnante,  rege  expectante,  regnante  Domino  nostro  JesuChristo 
Francis  autem  contra  jus  regnum  usurpante  Ugonerege."  Bouquet,  Recueil, 
torn.  x.  p.  544.  A  monarch  whose  title  was  thus  openly  disputed,  was  not  in 
a  condition  to  assert  the  royal  jurisdiction,  or  to  limit  that  of  the  barons. 

All  these  circumstances  rendered  it  easy  for  the  barons  to  usurp  the  rights 
of  royalty  within  their  own  territories.  The  Capitularia  became  no  less  obso- 
lete than  the  ancient  laws ;  local  customs  were  everywhere  introduced,  and 
became  the  sole  rule  by  which  all  civil  transactions  were  conducted,  and  all 
causes  were  tried.  The  wonderful  ignorance  which  became  general  in  France 
during  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  contributed  to  the  introduction  of  cus- 
tomary law.  Few  persons,  except  ecclesiastics,  could  read ;  and  as  it  was  not 
in  the  power  of  such  illiterate  persons  to  have  recourse  to  written  laws,  either 
as  their  guide  in  business,  or  their  rule  in  administering  justice,  the  customary 
law,  the  knowledge  of  which  was  preserved  by  tradition,  universally  prevailed. 

During  this  period,  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation  seems  not  to  have 
been  called,  nor  to  have  once  exerted  its  legislative  authority.  Local  customs 
regulated  and  decided  everything.  A  striking  proof  of  this  occurs  in  tracing 
the  progress  of  the  French  jurisprudence.  The  last  of  the  Capitularia  collected 
by  M.  Baluze,  was  issued  in  the  year  921,  by  Charles  the  Simple.  A  hundred 
and  thirty  years  elapsed  from  that  period  to  the  publication  of  the  first  ordi- 
nance of  the  kings  of  the  third  race,  contained  in  the  great  collection  of 
M.  Lauriere ;  and  the  first  ordinance,  which  appears  to  be  an  act  of  legislation 
extending  to  the  whole  kingdom,  is  that  of  Philip  Augustus,  a.d.  1190.  Ordon. 
tom.  i.  pp.  1,  18.  During  that  long  period  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years, 
all  transactions  were  directed  by  local  customs,  and  no  addition  was  made  to 
the  statutory  law  of  France.  Tiie  ordinances,  previous  to  the  reign  of  Philip 
Augustus,  contain  regulations,  the  authority  of  which  did  not  extend  beyond 
the  kinsj's  domains. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  699 

Various  instances  occur  of  tlic  caution  witli  whicli  tlic  kint^s  of  France  vcn- 
lui-cd  at  first  to  exercise  legislative  authority.  M.  I'Ab.  dc  ]\[al)ly  produces  au 
ordinance  of  Philip  Augustus,  a.d.  1200,  concerning  the  Jews,  who  in  that  age 
wore  in  some  measure  the  property  of  the  lord  in  whose  territories  they  resided. 
But  it  is  rather  a  treaty  of  the  king  with  the  countess  of  Champagne,  and  the 
corapte  de  Dampierre,  than  au  act  of  royal  power;  and  the  regulations  in  it 
seem  to  be  established,  not  so  much  by  his  anthority,  as  by  their  consent. 
Observat.  sur  I'llist.  dc  France,  ii.  p.  355.  In  the  same  manner  an  ordinance 
of  Louis  VIII.  concerning  the  Jews,  a.d.  1223,  is  a  contract  between  the  king 
and  his  nobles,  with  respect  to  their  manuer  of  treating  that  unhappy  race  of 
men.  Ordon.  torn.  i.  p.  47.  The  Establissemens  of  St.  Louis,  though  well 
adapted  to  serve  as  general  laws  to  the  whole  kingdom,  were  not  published  as 
such,  but  only  as  a  complete  code  of  customary  law,  to  be  of  authority  within 
the  king's  domains.  The  wisdom,  the  equity,  and  the  order  conspicuous  in 
that  code  of  St.  Louis,  procured  it  a  favourable  reception  throughout  the 
kingdom.  The  veneration  due  to  the  virtues  and  good  intentions  of  its  author, 
contributed  not  a  little  to  reconcile  the  nation  to  that  legislative  authority 
which  the  king  began  to  assume.  Soon  after  the  reign  of  St.  Louis,  the  idea 
of  the  king's  possessing  supreme  legislative  power  became  common.  If,  says 
Beaumanoir,  the  king  makes  any  establishment  specially  for  his  own  domain, 
the  barons  may  nevertheless  adhere  to  their  ancient  customs  ;  but  if  the  esta- 
blishment be  general,  it  shall  be  current  throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  and 
we  ought  to  believe  that  such  establishments  are  made  with  mature  deliberation, 
and  for  the  general  good.  Const,  de  Beauvoisis,  c.  48,  p.  2C5.  Though  the 
kings  of  the  third  race  did  not  call  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation,  during 
the  long  period  from  Hugh  Cajiet  to  Philip  the  Fair,  yet  they  seem  to  have 
consulted  the  bishops  and  barons  who  happened  to  be  present  in  their  court,  with 
respect  to  any  new  law  which  they  published.  Examples  of  this  occur,  Ordon. 
torn.  i.  pp.  3  et  5.  TJiis  practice  seems  to  have  continued  as  late  as  the  reign 
of  St.  Louis,  when  the  legislative  authority  of  the  crown  was  well  established. 
Ordon.  torn.  i.  p.  58,  a.d.  1246.  This  attention  paid  to  the  barons  facilitated 
the  king's  acquiring  such  fuU  possession  of  the  legislative  power,  as  enabled 
them  afterwards  to  exercise  it  without  observing  that  formality. 

The  assemblies  distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  states-general  were  first 
called  A.D.  1302,  aud  were  held  occasionally  from  that  period  to  the  year  1614, 
since  which  time  they  have  not  been  summoned.  These  were  very  different 
from  the  ancient  assemblies  of  the  French  nation  under  the  kings  of  the  first 
and  second  race.  There  is  no  point  with  respect  to  which  the  French  anti- 
quaries are  more  generally  agreed,  than  in  maintainiug  that  the  states-general 
liad  no  suffrage  in  the  passing  of  laws,  and  possessed  no  proper  legislative 
jurisdiction.  The  whole  tenor  of  the  French  history  confirms  this  opinion. 
The  form  of  proceeding  in  the  states-general  was  this.  The  king  addressed 
himself,  at  opening  the  meeting,  to  the  whole  body  assembled  in  one  place,  and 
laid  before  them  the  affairs  on  account  of  which  he  had  summoned  them.  Then 
the  deputies  of  each  of  the  three  orders  of  nobles,  of  clergy,  and  of  the  third 
estate,  met  apart,  and  prepared  their  cahier,  or  memorial,  containing  their 
answer  to  the  propositions  which  had  been  made  to  them,  together  with  the 
representations  which  they  thought  proper  to  lay  before  the  king.  These 
answers  and  representations  were  considered  by  the  king  in  his  council,  and 


600  PROOPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

generally  gave  rise  to  an  ordinance.  These  ordinanecs  were  not  addressed  to 
the  tbree  estates  in  common.  Sometimes  the  king  addressed  an  ordinance  to 
each  of  the  estates  in  particular.  Sometimes  he  mentioned  the  assembly  of  the 
three  estates.  Sometimes  mention  is  made  only  of  the  assembly  of  that  estate 
to  which  the  ordinance  is  addressed.  Sometimes  no  mention  at  all  is  made  of 
the  assembly  of  estates,  which  suggested  the  propriety  of  enacting  the  law. 
Preface  au  torn.  iii.  des  Ordou.  p.  xx. 

Thus  the  states-general  had  only  the  privilege  of  advising  and  remonstrating ; 
the  legislative  authority  resided  in  the  king  alone. 

[  40  ],  page  149. — If  the  parliament  of  Paris  be  considered  only  as  the  supreme 
court  of  justice,  everything  relative  to  its  origin  and  jurisdiction  is  clear  and 
obvious.  It  is  the  ancient  court  of  the  king's  palace,  new  modelled,  rendered 
stationary,  and  invested  with  an  extensive  and  ascertained  jurisdiction.  The 
power  of  this  court,  while  employed  in  this  part  of  its  functions,  is  not  the 
object  of  present  consideration.  The  pretensions  of  the  parliament  to  control 
the  exercise  of  the  legislative  authority,  and  its  claim  of  a  right  to  interpose 
with  respect  to  public  affairs,  and  the  political  administration  of  the  kingdom, 
lead  to  inquiries  attended  with  great  diificulty.  As  the  ofHcers  and  members 
of  the  parliament  of  Paris  were  anciently  nominated  by  the  king,  were  paid 
by  him,  and  on  several  occasions  were  removed  by  him  at  pleasure  (Chronic. 
Scandaleuse  de  Louis  XL  chez  les  Mem.  de  Comines,  torn.  ii.  p.  51,  edit,  de 
M.  Leuglet  de  Fresnoy),  they  cannot  be  considered  as  representatives  of  the 
people,  nor  could  they  claim  any  share  in  the  legislative  power  as  acting  in 
their  name.  We  must  therefore  search  for  some  other  source  of  this  high 
privilege.  1.  The  parliament  was  originally  composed  of  the  most  eminent 
persons  in  the  kingdom.  The  peers  of  Prance,  ecclesiastics  of  the  highest 
order,  and  noblemen  of  illustrious  birth,  were  members  of  it,  to  whom  were 
added  some  clerks  and  councillors  learned  in  the  laws.  Pasquicr,  Pechcrches, 
pp.  44,  &c.  Encyclopedic,  torn.  xii.  art.  Parkmenty  pp.  3,  5.  A  court  thus 
constituted  was  properly  a  committee  of  the  states-general  of  the  kingdom,  and 
was  composed  of  those  barons  and /(^e/(?5  whom  the  kings  of  Prance  were  accus- 
tomed to  consult  with  regard  to  every  act  of  jurisdiction  or  legislative  authority. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  during  the  intervals  between  the  meetings  of  tlie 
states-general,  or  during  those  periods  when  that  assembly  was  not  called,  to 
consult  the  parliament,  to  lay  matters  of  public  concern  before  it,  and  to  obtain 
its  approbation  and  concurrence  before  any  ordinance  was  published,  to  which 
the  people  were  required  to  conform.  2.  Under  the  second  race  of  kings, 
every  new  law  was  reduced  into  proper  form  by  the  chancellor  of  the  kingdom, 
was  proposed  by  him  to  the  people,  and,  when  enacted,  was  committed  to  him 
to  be  kept  among  the  public  records,  that  he  might  'give  authentic  copies  of  it 
to  all  who  should  demand  them.  Hincm.  de  Ord.  Palat.  c.  16.  Capitul.  Car. 
Calv.  tit.  xiv.  §  11,  tit.  xxxiii.  The  chancellor  presided  in  the  parliament  of 
Paris  at  its  first  institution.  Encyclopedic,  torn.  iii.  art.  Chancelier,  p.  88.  It 
was,  therefore,  natural  for  the  king  to  continue  to  employ  him  in  his  ancient 
functions  of  framing,  taking  into  his  custody,  and  publishing  the  ordinances 
which  were  issued.  To  an  ancient  copy  of  the  Capitularia  of  Charlemagne  the 
following  words  are  subjoined  :  "  Anno  tertio  clementissimi  domini  nostri 
Caroli  August;,  sub  ipso  anno,  hrcc  facta  Capitula  sunt,  et  cousignata  Stephano 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  601 

comiti,  ut  hfcc  nianifesta  faccrct  Parisiis  niallo  publico,  ct  ilia  Icgcrc  faccrct 
coram  scabineis,  quod  ita  ct  fecit,  ct  oniucs  iu  uno  couscnscrunt,  quod  ipsi 
voluisscnt  observare  usque  iu  posterum,  etiam  omncs  scabinci,  cpiscopi,  abbates, 
comites,  nianu  propria  subter  signaverunt."  Bouquet,  Recucii,  torn.  v.  p.  G63. 
Malhis  signifies  not  only  the  public  assembly  of  the  nation,  but  the  court  of 
justice  held  by  the  comes,  or  missus  domiuieus.  Scabiiiei  were  the  judges,  or 
the  assessors  of  the  judges  iu  that  court.  Here,  then,  seems  to  be  a  very  early 
instance,  not  only  of  laws  being  published  in  a  court  of  justice,  but  of  their 
being  verified  or  confirmed  by  the  subscription  of  Ihc  judges.  If  this  was  the 
common  practice,  it  naturally  introduced  the  verifying  of  cdicl-s  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  Paris.  But  this  conjecture  I  propose  with  that  diflidcnee  which  I  have 
felt  in  all  my  reasonings  concerning  the  laws  and  institulions  of  foreign  nations, 
3.  This  supreme  court  of  justice  in  Prance  was  dignified  with  the  appellation 
of  parliament,  the  name  by  which  the  general  assembly  of  the  nation  was  dis- 
tinguished towards  the  close  of  the  second  race  of  kings ;  and  men,  both  in 
reasoning  and  in  conduct,  were  wonderfully  influenced  by  the  similarity  of 
names.  The  preserving  the  ancient  names  of  the  magistrates  established  while 
the  republican  government  subsisted  in  Rome,  enabled  Augustus  and  his 
successors  to  assume  new  powers  with  less  observation  and  greater  ease.  The 
bestowing  the  same  name  in  Prance  u])on  two  courts,  which  were  extremely 
different,  contributed  not  a  little  to  confound  their  jurisdictions  and  functions. 

All  these  circumstances  concurred  in  leading  the  kings  of  Prance  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  as  the  instrument  of  reconciling  tlic 
people  to  the  exercise  of  legislative  authority  by  the  crown.  The  Prench, 
accustomed  to  see  all  new  laws  examined  and  authorized  before  they  were  pub- 
lished, did  not  suflieiently  distinguish  between  the  effect  of  performing  this  iu 
the  national  assembly,  or  in  a  court  appointed  by  the  king.  But  as  that  court 
was  composed  of  respectable  members,  and  who  were  well  skilled  in  the  laAA  s 
of  their  country,  when  any  new  edict  received  its  sanction,  that  was  sufficient  to 
dispose  the  people  to  submit  to  it. 

When  the  practice  of  verifi/ing  and  registering  the  royal  edicts  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  Paris  became  common,  the  parliament  contended  that  this  was  necessary 
in  order  to  give  them  legal  authority.  It  was  established  as  a  fundamental 
maxim  in  Prench  jurisprudence,  that  no  law  could  be  published  in  any  other 
manner ;  that  without  this  formality  no  edict  or  ordinance  could  have  any 
effect ;  that  the  people  were  not  bound  to  obey  it,  and  ought  not  to  consider 
it  as  an  edict  or  ordinance  until  it  was  verified  in  the  supreme  court,  after  free 
deliberation.  Roche-flavin  dcs  Parlemeus  de  Prance,  4to.  Gen.  1621,  p.  921. 
The  parliament,  at  different  times,  hath,  with  great  fortitude  and  integrity, 
opposed  the  will  of  their  sovereigns ;  and,  notwithstanding  their  repeated  and 
peremptory  requisitions  and  commands,  hath  refused  to  verify  and  publish  such 
edicts  as  it  conceived  to  be  oppressive  to  the  people,  or  subversive  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  kingdom.  Roche-flavin  reckons  that  between  the  year  1502 
and  the  year  1589,  the  parliament  refused  to  verify  more  than  a  hundred  edicts 
of  the  kings.  Ibid.  p.  925.  Many  instances  of  the  spirit  and  constancy  with 
which  the  parliaments  of  Prance  opposed  pernicious  laws,  and  asserted  their 
own  privileges,  are  enumerated  by  Limnajus  iu  his  Notitire  Rcgni  Frnncia', 
lib.  i.  c.  9,  p.  224. 

But  the  power  of  the  parliament  to  maintain  and  defend  this  privilege,  bore 


602  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

no  proportion  to  its  importance,  or  to  the  courage  with  which  the  members 
iissertcd  it.  When  any  monarch  was  determined  that  an  edict  should  be  carried 
into  execution,  and  found  the  parliament  inflexibly  resolved  not  to  verify  or 
publish  it,  he  could  easily  supply  this  defect  by  the  plenitude  of  his  regal  power- 
lie  repaired  to  the  parliament  in  person,  he  took  possession  of  his  seat  of 
justice,  and  commanded  the  edict  to  be  read,  verified,  registered,  and  published 
in  his  presence.  Then,  according  to  another  maxim  of  French  law,  the  king 
himself  being  present,  neither  the  parliament,  nor  any  magistrate  whatever, 
can  exercise  any  authority,  or  perform  any  function.  "  Adveniente  principe, 
cessat  magistratus."  Roche-flavin,  ibid.  pp.  928,  929.  Encyclopedie,  tom.  ix. 
Art.  Lif.  de  Justice,  p.  581.  Roche-flavin  mentions  several  instances  of  kings 
who  actually  exerted  this  prerogative,  so  fatal  to  the  residue  of  the  rights  and 
liberties  transmitted  to  the  French  by  their  ancestors.  Pasquier  produces  some 
instances  of  the  same  kind.  Rech.  p.  61.  Limna;us  enumerates  many  other 
instances ;  but  the  length  to  whicli  this  note  has  swelled  prevents  me  from 
inserting  them  at  length,  though  they  tend  greatly  to  illustrate  this  important 
article  in  the  French  history,  p.  245.  Thus,  by  an  exertion  of  prerogative, 
which,  though  violent,  seems  to  be  constitutional,  and  is  justified  by  innume- 
rable precedents,  all  the  efforts  of  the  parliament  to  limit  and  control  the  king's 
legislative  authority  are  rendered  ineffectual. 

I  have  not  attempted  to  explain  the  constitution  or  jurisdiction  of  any  par- 
liament in  France  but  that  of  Paris.  All  of  them  are  formed  upon  the  model  of 
that  most  ancient  and  respectable  tribunal,  and  all  my  observations  concerning 
it  will  apply  with  full  force  to  them. 

[41],  ;3«j7(?  153. — The  humiliating  posture  in  which  a  great  emperor  implored 
absolution  is  an  event  so  singular,  that  the  words  in  which  Gregory  himself 
describes  it  merit  a  place  here,  and  convey  a  striking  picture  of  the  arrogance 
of  tliat  pontiff:  "  Per  triduum,  ante  portam  castri,  deposito  omni  regio  cultu, 
miserabiliter,  utpote  disealceatus,  et  laneis  indutus,  persistens,  non  prius  cum 
multo  fletu  apostolicse  miserationis  auxilium  et  consolationem  implorari  destitit, 
quam  omnes  qui  ibi  aderant,  et  ad  quos  rumor  ille  pervenit,  ad  tantam  pietatem, 
et  compassionis  misericordiam  movit,  ut  pro  eo  multis  precibus  et  lacrymis 
intercedentes,  omnes  quidem  insolitam  nostras  mentis  duritiera  mirarentur; 
nonnuUi  vero  in  nobis  non  apostolicse  sedis  gravitatem,  sed  quasi  tyrannicse 
feritatis  erudelitatem  esse  clamaruut."  Epist.  Gregor.  ap.  Memorie  della 
Contessa  Matilda  da  Fran.  Mar.  Fiorentiui.  Lucca,  1756,  vol.  i.  p.  174. 

[42],  page  161. — As  I  have  endeavoured  in  the  history  to  trace  the  various 
steps  in  the  progress  of  the  constitution  of  the  empire,  and  to  explain  the 
peculiarities  in  its  policy  very  fully,  it  is  not  necessary  to  add  much  by  way  of 
illustration.  What  appears  to  be  of  any  importance,  I  shall  range  under 
distinct  heads. 

1.  With  respect  to  the  power,  jurisdiction,  and  revenue  of  the  emperors. 
A  very  just  idea  of  these  maybe  formed  by  attending  to  the  view  which  Pfeffel 
gives  of  the  rights  of  the  emperors  at  two  different  periods.  The  first  at  the 
close  of  the  Saxon  race,  a.  D.  1024.  These,  according  to  his  enumeration,  were  the 
right  of  conferring  all  tiie  great  ecclesiastical  benefices  in  Germany ;  of  receiving 
the  revenues  of  them  during  a  vacancy ;  of  mortmain,  or  of  succeeding  to  the 
effects  of  ecclesiastics  who   died  intestate.     The   right  of  confirming  or  of 


PROOFS  AND  n.LTJSTRATIONS.  603 

auuulling  the  elections  of  the  popes.  The  right  of  assembling  couneils,  and  of 
appointing  them  to  decide  concerning  the  ad'airs  of  the  Ciiuich.  The  right  of 
conferring  the  title  of  king  upon  their  vassals.  The  right  of  granting  vacant 
fiefs.  The  right  of  receiving  the  revenues  of  the  empire,  whether  arising  from 
the  imperial  domains,  from  imposts  and  tolls,  from  gold  or  silver  mines,  from 
the  taxes  paid  by  the  Jews,  or  from  forfeitures.  The  right  of  governing  Italy 
as  its  proper  sovereigns.  The  riglit  of  erecting  free  cities,  and  of  estublishing 
fairs  in  them.  The  right  of  assembling  the  diets  of  the  empire,  and  of  fixing 
the  time  of  their  duration.  The  right  of  coining  money,  and  of  conferring  tiiat 
privilege  on  the  states  of  the  empire.  The  right  of  administering  both  high 
and  low  justice  witliin  the  territories  of  the  dilTerent  states.  Abrege,  p.  IGO. 
The  other  period  is  at  the  extinction  of  the  emperors  of  the  families  of 
Luxemburg  and  Bavaria,  A.  D.  1437.  According  to  the  same  author,  the 
imperial  prerogatives  at  that  time  were,  the  riglit  of  conferring  all  dignities  and 
titles,  except  the  ]n-ivilcge  of  being  a  state  of  the  empire.  The  right  of  preces 
primarue,  or  of  appointing  once  during  their  reign  a  dignitary  in  each  chapter 
or  religious  house.  The  right  of  granthig  dispensations  with  respect  to  the 
age  of  majority.  The  right  of  erecting  cities,  and  of  conferring  the  privilege  of 
coining  money.  The  right  of  calling  tlie  meetings  of  the  diet,  and  of  presiding 
in  them.  Abrege,  &c.  p.  507.  It  were  easy  to  show  that  M.  Pfellcl  is  well 
founded  in  all  these  assertions,  and  confirm  them  by  the  testimony  of  the  most 
respectable  authors.  In  the  one  period  the  emperors  appear  as  miglity  sove- 
reigns with  extensive  prerogatives  ;  in  the  other,  as  the  heads  of  a  confederacy 
with  very  limited  powers. 

The  revenues  of  the  emperors  decreased  still  more  than  their  authority.  The 
early  emperors,  and  particularly  those  of  the  Saxon  line,  besides  their  great 
patrimonial  or  hereditary  territories,  possessed  an  extensive  domain  both  in 
Italy  and  Germany,  which  belonged  to  them  as  emperors.  Italy  belonged  to 
the  emperors  as  their  proper  kingdom,  and  the  revenues  which  they  drew  from 
it  were  very  considerable.  The  first  alienations  of  the  imperial  revenue  were 
made  in  that  country.  The  Italian  cities  having  acquired  wealth,  and  aspiring 
at  independence,  purchased  their  liberty  from  different  emperors,  as  I  have 
observed.  Note  15.  The  sums  which  they  paid,  and  the  emperors  with  whom 
they  concluded  these  bargains,  are  mentioned  by  Gasp.  Kloekius  de  iErario, 
Norimb.  1671,  pp.  85,  &e.  Gharles  IV.  and  his  son  Wenecslaus  dissipated  all 
that  remained  of  the  Italian  branch  of  the  domain.  The  German  domain  lay 
chiefly  upon  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  was  under  the  government  of  the 
counts  palatine.  It  is  not  easy  to  mark  out  the  boundaries,  or  to  estimate  the 
value,  of  this  ancient  domain,  which  has  been  so  long  incorporated  with  the 
territories  of  different  princes.  Some  hints  with  respect  to  it  may  be  found 
in  the  glossary  of  Speidelius,  which  he  has  entitled  Speculum  Juridico-Philo- 
logico-Politieo-Historicum  Observationum,  &c.  Norim.  1073,  vol.  i.  pp.  679, 1045. 
A  more  full  account  of  it  is  given  by  Kloekius  de  ^Erario,  p.  84.  Besides 
this,  the  emperors  possessed  considerable  districts  of  land  lying  intermixed 
with  the  estates  of  the  dukes  and  barons.  They  were  accustomed  to  visit 
these  frequently,  and  drew  from  their  vassals  in  each  what  was  sufficient  to 
support  their  court  during  the  time  of  their  residence  among  tliem.  Annalistse, 
ap.  Struv.  tom.  i.  611.  A  great  part  of  tliese  detached  possessions  was  seized 
by  the  nobles  during  the  long  interregnum,  or  during  the  wars  occasioned  by 


604  PROOPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

tlie  contests  between  the  emperors  and  the  court  of  Rome.  At  the  same  time 
that  such  encroachments  were  made  on  the  fixed  or  territorial  property  of  the 
emperors,  they  were  robbed  almost  entirely  of  their  casual  revenues ;  the 
princes  and  barons  appropriating  to  themselves  taxes  and  duties  of  every  kind, 
which  had  usually  l)ccn  paid  to  tliem.  Pfcffel,  Abrege,  p.  374.  The  profuse 
and  inconsiderate  ambition  of  Charles  IV.  squandered  whatever  remained  of  the 
imperial  revenues  after  so  many  defalcations.  He,  in  the  year  1376,  in  order  to 
prevail  with  the  electors  to  choose  his  son  Wenceslaus  king  of  the  Romans, 
promised  each  of  them  a  hundred  thousand  crowns.  But  being  unable  to  pay 
so  large  a  sum,  and  eager  to  secui'e  the  election  to  his  son,  he  alienated  to  the 
three  ecclesiastical  electors,  and  to  the  count-palatine,  such  countries  as  still 
belonged  to  the  imperial  domain  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  likewise  made 
over  to  them  all  tlie  taxes  and  tolls  then  levied  by  the  emperors  in  that  district. 
Tritliemius,  and  the  author  of  the  Chronicle  of  Magdeburgh,  enumerate  the 
territories  and  taxes  which  were  thus  alienated,  and  represent  this  as  the  last 
and  fatal  blow  to  the  imperial  authority.  Struv.  Corp.  vol.  i.  p.  437.  From  that 
period  the  shreds  of  the  ancient  revenues  possessed  by  the  emperors  have  been 
so  inconsiderable,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  Spcidelius,  all  that  they  yield  would  be 
so  far  from  defraying  the  expense  of  supporting  their  household,  that  they 
would  not  pay  the  charge  of  maintaining  the  posts  established  in  the  empire. 
Speidelii  Speculum,  &c.  vol.  i.  p.  G80.  These  funds,  inconsiderable  as  they 
were,  continued  to  decrease.  Granvelle,  the  minister  of  Charles  V.,  asserted 
in  the  year  154G,  in  presence  of  several  of  the  German  princes,  that  his  master 
drew  no  money  at  all  from  the  empire.  Slcid.  History  of  the  Reformation, 
Lond.  1GS9,  p.  372.  The  same  is  the  case  at  present,  Traite  du  Droite 
Publique  de  I'Empire,  par  M.  le  Coq.  dc  Villeray,  p.  55.  Prom  the  reign  of 
Charles  IV.,  whom  Maximilian  called  the  "  pest  of  the  empire,"  the  emperors 
have  depended  entirely  on  their  hereditary  dominions  as  the  chief  and  almost 
the  only  source  of  their  power,  and  even  of  their  subsistence. 

2.  The  ancient  mode  of  electing  the  emperors,  and  the  various  changes 
which  it  underwent,  require  some  illustration.  The  imperial  crown  was  origi- 
nally attained  by  election,  as  well  as  those  of  most  monarchies  in  Europe.  Au 
opinion  long  prevailed  among  the  antiquaries  and  public  lawyers  of  Germany, 
that  the  right  of  choosing  the  emperors  was  vested  in  the  arclibishops  of 
Mentz,  Cologne,  and  Treves,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  the  duke  of  Saxony,  the 
marquis  of  Brandenburgli,  and  the  count-palatine  of  tlie  Rhine,  by  an  edict  of 
Otho  TIL,  conCrmed  by  Gregory  V.  about  the  year  99G.  But  the  whole  tenor 
of  history  contradicts  this  opinion.  It  appears  that,  from  the  earliest  period  in 
the  history  of  Germany,  the  person  Avho  was  to  reign  over  all  was  elected  by 
the  suffrage  of  all.  Thus  Conrad  I.  was  elected  by  all  the  people  of  the  Pranks, 
say  some  annalists ;  by  all  the  princes  and  chief  men,  say  others ;  by  all  the 
nations,  say  others.  See  their  words,  Struv.  Corp.  211.  Conringius  de  German. 
Imper.  Repub.  Acroamata  Sex.  Ebroduni,  1G54,  p.  103.  In  the  year  1024, 
posterior  to  the  supposed  regulations  of  Otho  III.,  Conrad  II.  was  elected  by 
all  the  chief  men,  and  his  election  was  approved  and  conGrmed  by  the  people, 
Struv.  Corp.  2S4.  At  the  election  of  Lotharius  II.,  a.d.  1125,  sixty  thousand 
persons  of  all  ranks  were  present.  He  was  named  by  the  chief  men,  and  their 
nomination  was  approved  by  the  people.  Struv.  ibid.  p.  357.  The  first  author 
who  mentions -the  seven  electors  is  Martiuus  Polonus,  who  flourished  in  the 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  605 

reign  of  Erederick  II.,  which  ended  a.d.  1250.  We  find  that  in  all  Ihc  ancient 
elections  to  whicli  I  have  referred,  tlie  princes  of  the  greatest  power  and 
authority  were  allowed  by  their  countrymen  to  name  the  person  whom  they 
wished  to  appoint  emperor,  and  the  people  approved  or  disapproved  of  their 
nomination.  This  privilege  of  voting  first  is  called  by  the  German  lawyers  the 
right  of  2^ra'ta.vatio».  PfelTei,  Abrcge,  p.  31G.  This  was  the  first  origin  of 
the  exclusive  right  which  the  electors  acquired.  The  electors  possessed  the 
most  extensive  territories  of  any  princes  iu  the  empire ;  all  the  great  oiriees  of 
the  state  were  in  their  hands  by  hereditary  right ;  as  soon  as  they  obtained  or 
engrossed  so  much  influence  in  the  election  as  to  be  allowed  the  right  of  pra;- 
taxation,  it  was  vain  to  oppose  their  will,  and  it  even  became  unnecessary  for 
the  inferior  ecclesiastics  and  barons  to  attend,  when  they  had  no  other  function 
but  that  of  confirming  the  deed  of  these  more  powerful  princes  by  their  assent. 
During  times  of  turbulence,  the  subordinate  members  of  the  Germanic  body 
could  not  resort  to  the  place  of  election  without  a  retinue  of  armed  vassals,  the 
expense  of  which  they  were  obliged  to  defray  out  of  their  own  revenues;  and 
finding  their  attendance  to  be  unnecessary,  they  were  unwilling  to  waste  them 
to  no  purpose.  The  rights  of  the  seven  electors  were  supported  by  all  tiie 
descendants  and  allies  of  their  powerful  families,  who  shared  in  the  splendour 
and  iniiuence  which  they  enjoyed  by  this  distinguishing  privilege.  I'fctfel, 
Abrege,  p.  37G.  The  seven  electors  were  considered  as  the  representatives  of 
all  the  orders  which  composed  the  highest  class  of  German  nobility.  There 
were  three  archbishops,  chancellors  of  the  three  great  districts  into  which  the 
empire  was  anciently  divided ;  one  king,  one  duke,  one  marquis,  and  one  count. 
All  these  circumstances  contributed  to  render  the  introduction  of  this  consider- 
able innovation  into  the  constitution  of  the  Germanic  body  extremely  easy. 
Everything  of  importance,  relating  to  this  branch  of  the  political  state  of  the 
empire,  is  well  illustrated  by  Onuphrius  Panvanius,  an  Augustinian  monk  of 
Verona,  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  His  treatise,  if  we  make  some 
allowance  for  that  partiality  which  he  expresses  in  favour  of  the  powers  which 
the  popes  claimed  in  the  empire,  has  the  merit  of  being  one  of  the  first  works 
in  which  a  controverted  point  in  history  is  examined  with  critical  precision, 
and  with  a  proper  attention  to  that  evidence  which  is  derived  from  records,  or 
the  testimony  of  contemporary  historians.  It  is  asserted  by  Goldastus  iu  his 
Politica  Imperialia,  p.  2.  , 

As  the  electors  have  engrossed  the  sole  right  of  choosing  the  emperors,  they 
liave  assumed  likewise  that  of  deposing  them.  This  high  power  the  electors 
have  not  only  presumed  to  claim,  but  have  ventured,  in  more  than  one  instance, 
to  exercise.  In  the  year  1298,  a  part  of  the  electors  deposed  Adolphus  of 
Nassau,  and  substituted  Albert  of  Austria  in  his  place.  The  reasons  on  which 
they  found  their  sentence,  show  that  this  deed  flowed  from  factious,  not  from 
public-spirited  motives.  Struv.  Corp.  vol.  i.  p.  540.  In  the  first  year  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  the  electors  deposed  Wenccslaus,  and  placed  the  imperial 
crown  on  the  head  of  Rupert,  elector  palatine.  The  act  of  deposition  is  still 
extant.  Goldasti  Constit.  vol.  i.  p.  379.  It  is  pronounced  in  the  name  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  electors,  and  confirmed  by  several  prelates  and  barons  of  the 
empire  who  were  present.  These  exertions  of  the  electoral  power  demonstrate 
that  the  imperial  authority  was  sunk  very  low. 


606  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The  other  privileges  of  the  electors,  and  the  rights  of  the  electoral  college, 
are  explaiued  by  the  writers  on  the  public  law  in  Germany. 

3.  With  respect  to  the  diets,  or  general  assemblies  of  the  empire,  it  would 
be  necessary,  if  my  object  were  to  write  a  particular  history  of  Germany,  to 
enter  into  a  minute  detail  concerning  the  forms  of  assembling  them,  the  persons 
who  have  right  to  be  present,  their  division  into  several  colleges  or  benches, 
the  objects  of  their  deliberation,  the  mode  in  which  they  carry  on  their  debates 
or  give  their  suffrages,  and  the  authority  of  their  decrees  or  recesses.  But  as 
my  only  object  is  to  give  the  outlines  of  the  constitution  of  the  German  empire, 
it  will  be  sufficient  to  observe,  that  originally  the  diets  of  the  empire  were 
exactly  the  same  with  the  assemblies  of  March  and  of  May,  held  by  tiie  kings 
of  Erance.  They  met,  at  least,  once  a-year.  Every  freeaian  had  a  right  to  be 
present.  They  were  assemblies,  in  which  a  monarch  deliberated  with  his  sub- 
jects concerning  their  common  interest.  Arumseus  de  Comitiis  Rom.  German. 
Imperii,  4to.  Jense,  1660,  cap.  7,  No.  20,  &c.  But  when  the  princes,  dignified 
ecclesiastics,  and  barons,  acquired  territorial  and  independent  jurisdiction,  the 
diet  became  an  assembly  of  the  separate  states,  which  formed  the  confederacy 
of  which  the  emperor  was  head.  While  the  constitution  of  the  empire  remained 
in  its  primitive  form,  attendance  on  the  diets  was  a  duty,  liiic  the  other  services 
due  from  feudal  subjects  to  their  sovereign,  wiiich  the  members  were  bound  to 
perform  in  person ;  and  if  any  member  who  had  a  right  to  be  present  in  the 
diet  neglected  to  attend  in  person,  he  not  only  lost  his  vote,  but  was  liable  to 
a  heavy  penalty.  Arumseus  de  Comit.  c.  5,  No.  40.  Whereas,  from  the  time 
that  the  members  of  the  diet  became  independent  states,  the  right  of  suffrage 
was  annexed  to  the  territory  or  dignity,  not  to  the  person.  The  members,  if 
they  could  not,  or  would  not,  attend  in  person,  might  send  their  deputies,  as 
princes  send  ambassadors,  and  they  were  entitled  to  exercise  all  the  rights 
belonging  to  their  constituents.  Ibid.  No.  12,  46,  49.  By  degrees,  and  upon 
the  same  principle  of  considering  the  diet  as  an  assembly  of  independent  states, 
in  which  each  confederate  had  the  right  of  suffrage,  if  any  member  possessed 
more  than  one  of  those  states  or  characters  which  entitle  to  a  seat  in  the  diet, 
he  was  allowed  a  proportional  number  of  suffrages.  Pfeffel,  Abrege,  622. 
From  the  same  cause,  the  imperial  cities,  as  soon  as  they  became  free,  and 
acquired  supreme  and  independent  jurisdiction  within  their  own  territories, 
were  received  as  members  of  the  diet.  The  powers  of  the  diet  extend  to  every- 
thing relative  to  the  common  concern  of  the  Germanic  body,  or  that  can  interest 
or  affect  it  as  a  confederacy.  The  diet  takes  no  cognizance  of  the  interior 
administration  in  the  different  states,  unless  that  happens  to  disturb  or  threaten 
the  general  safety. 

4.  With  respect  to  the  imperial  chamber,  the  jurisdiction  of  which  has  been 
the  great  source  of  order  and  tranquillity  in  Germany,  it  is  necessary  to  observe 
that  this  court  was  instituted  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  calamities  occasioned 
by  private  wars  in  Germany.  I  have  already  traced  the  rise  and  progress  of 
this  practice,  and  pointed  out  its  pernicious  effects  as  fully  as  their  extensive 
influence  during  the  middle  ages  required.  lu  Germany,  private  wars  seem  to 
have  been  more  frequent,  and  productive  of  worse  consequences,  than  in  the 
other  countries  of  Europe.  There  are  obvious  reasons  for  this.  The  nobility 
of  Germany  were  extremely  numerous,  and  the  causes  of  their  dissension  multi- 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  GO? 

plied  in  proportiou.  The  terriloriul  jurisdiction  which  the  German  nobles 
acquired,  was  more  complete  than  that  possessed  by  their  order  in  other 
nations.  They  became,  in  reality,  independent  powers,  and  they  clainu-d  all 
the  privileges  of  that  character.  The  long  interregnum,  from  a.d.  1250  to 
A.D.  1273,  accustomed  llicm  to  an  uncontrolled  licence,  and  led  them  to  forget 
that  subordination  which  is  necessary  in  order  to  maintain  public  tranquillity. 
At  the  time  when  the  other  monarchs  of  Europe  began  to  acquire  such  an 
increase  of  power  and  revenues  as  added  new  vigour  to  their  government,  the 
authority  and  revenues  of  the  emperors  continued  gradually  to  decline.  The 
diets  of  the  empire,  which  alone  had  authority  to  judge  between  such  mighty 
barons,  and  power  to  enforce  its  decisions,  met  very  seldom.  Conriiig.  Acroa- 
mata,  p.  231:.  The  diets,  when  they  did  assemble,  were  often  composed  of 
several  thousand  members.  Chronic.  Constant,  ap.  Struv.  Corp.  i.  p.  516,  and 
were  tumultuary  assemblies,  ill  qualified  to  decide  concerning  any  question  of 
right.  The  session  of  the  diet  continued  only  two  or  three  days;  Pfeil'el, 
AbregCj  p.  244 ;  so  that  they  had  no  time  to  hear  or  discuss  any  cause  that 
was  in  the  smallest  degree  intricate.  Thus  Germany  was  left,  in  some  measure, 
without  any  court  of  judicature  capable  of  deciding  the  contests  between  its  more 
powerful  members,  or  of  repressing  the  evils  occasioned  by  their  private  wars. 

All  the  expedients  which  were  employed  in  other  countries  of  Europe,  in 
order  to  restrain  this  practice,  and  which  I  have  described.  Note  21,  were 
tried  in  Germany  with  little  effect.  The  confederacies  of  the  nobles  and  of  the 
cities,  and  the  division  of  Germany  into  various  circles,  which  I  mentioned  in 
that  note,  were  found  likewise  insufficient.  As  a  last  remedy,  the  Germans  had 
recourse  to  arbiters,  whom  they  called  amtregce.  The  barons  and  states  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Germany  joined  in  conventions,  by  which  they  bound  themselves 
to  refer  all  controversies  that  might  arise  between  them  to  the  determination 
of  austregce,  and  to  submit  to  their  sentences  as  final.  These  arbiters  are  named 
sometimes  in  the  treaty  of  convention,  an  instance  of  which  occurs  in  Ludewig, 
Reliquae  Manuscr.  oranis  iEvi,  vol.  ii.  p.  212  ;  sometimes  they  were  chosen  by 
mutual  consent  upon  occasion  of  any  contest  that  arose ;  sometimes  they  were 
appointed  by  neutral  persons ;  and  sometimes  the  choice  was  left  to  be  decided 
by  lot.  Datt.  de  Pace  Publica  Imperii,  lib.  i.  cap.  27,  No.  60,  &c.  Sjieidelius, 
Speculum,  &c.  voc.  Austrag.  p.  95.  Upon  the  introduction  of  this  practice,  the 
public  tribunals  of  justice  became  in  a  great  measure  useless,  and  were  almost 
entirely  deserted. 

In  order  to  re-establish  the  authority  of  governmeni,  Maximilian  I.  instituted 
the  imperial  chamber  at  the  period  which  I  have  mentioned.  This  tribunal 
consisted  originally  of  a  president  who  was  always  a  nobleman  of  the  first  order, 
and  of  sixteen  judges.  The  president  was  appointed  by  the  emperor,  and  the 
judges,  partly  by  him,  and  partly  by  the  states,  accordirjg  to  forms  which  it  is 
unnecessary  to  describe.  A  sum  was  imposed,  with  their  own  consent,  on  the 
states  of  the  empire,  for  paying  the  salaries  of  the  judges  and  officers  in  this 
court.  The  imperial  chamber  was  established  first  at  Francfort  on  the  Maine. 
During  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  it  was  removed  to  Spires,  and  continued  in  that 
city  above  a  century  and  a  half.  It  is  now  fixed  at  Wetzlar.  This  court  takes 
cognizance  of  all  questions  concerning  civil  right  between  the  states  of  tiio 
empire,  and  passes  judgment  in  the  last  resort,  and  without  appeal.  To  it 
belongs  likewise  the  privilege  of  judging  in  criminal  causes,  which  may  be 


608  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

considered  as  connected  with  the  preservation  of  the  public  peace.     Pfeffel, 
Abrege,  p.  560. 

All  causes  relating  to  points  of  feudal  right  or  jurisdiction,  together  with 
such  as  respect  the  territories  which  hold  of  the  empire  in  Italy,  belong  properly 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  aulic  council.  This  tribunal  was  formed  upon  the 
model  of  the  ancient  court  of  the  palace  instituted  by  the  emperors  of  Germany. 
It  depended  not  upon  the  states  of  the  empire,  but  upon  the  emperor,  he  having 
the  right  of  appointing  at  pleasure  all  the  judges  of  whom  it  is  composed. 
IMaximilian,  in  order  to  procure  some  compensation  for  the  diminution  of  his 
authority,  by  the  powers  vested  in  the  imperial  chamber,  prevailed  on  the  diet, 
A.D.  1512,  to  give  its  consent  to  the  establishment  of  the  aulic  council.  Since 
that  time  it  has  been  a  great  object  of  policy  in  the  court  of  A^euna  to  extend 
the  jm-isdiction,  and  support  the  authority,  of  the  aulic  council,  and  to  circum- 
scribe and  weaken  those  of  the  imperial  chamber.  The  tedious  forms  and 
dilatory  proceedings  of  the  imperial  chamber  have  furnished  the  emperors  with 
pretexts  for  doing  so.  "Lites  Spiral,"  according  to  the  witticism  of  a  German 
lawyer,  "spirant,  sed  uunquam  espirant."  Such  delays  are  unavoidable  in  a 
court  composed  of  members  named  by  many  different  states  jealous  of  each 
other.  Whereas  the  judges  of  the  aulic  council,  depending  upou  one  master, 
and  being  responsible  to  him  alone,  are  more  vigorous  and  decisive.  Puffendorf 
dc  Statu  Imper.  German,  cap.  v.  §  20.  Pfeffel,  Abrege,  p.  581. 

[43],  j)affel(j2t. — The  description  which  I  have  given  of  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment is  conformable  to  the  accounts  of  the  most  intelligent  travellers  who  have 
visited  that  empire.  The  Count  de  Marsigli,  in  his  treatise  concerning  the 
military  state  of  the  Turkish  empire,  ch.  vi.,  and  the  author  of  Observations 
on  the  Religion,  Laws,  Government,  and  Manners  of  the  Turks,  published  at 
London,  17(38,  vol.  i.  p.  81,  differ  from  other  writers  who  have  described  the 
political  constitution  of  that  powerful  monarchy.  As  they  had  opportunity 
during  their  long  residence  in  Turkey,  to  observe  the  order  and  justice  conspi- 
cuous in  several  departments  of  administration,  they  seem  unwilling  to  admit 
that  it  should  be  denominated  a  despotism.  But  when  the  form  of  government 
in  any  country  is  represented  to  be  despotic,  this  does  not  suppose  that  the 
power  of  the  monarch  is  continually  exerted  in  acts  of  violence,  injustice,  and 
cruelty.  Under  political  constitutions  of  every  species,  unless  when  some 
frantic  tyrant  happens  to  hold  the  sceptre,  the  ordinary  administration  of 
government  must  be  conformable  to  the  principles  of  justice,  and  if  not  active 
in  promoting  the  welfare  of  the  people,  cannot  certainly  have  their  destruction 
for  its  object.  A  state,  in  which  the  sovereign  possesses  the  absolute  command 
of  a  vast  military  force,  together  with  the  disposal  of  an  extensive  revenue  ;  in 
which  the  people  have  no  privileges,  and  no  part  either  immediate  or  remote 
in  legislation  ;  in  which  there  is  no  body  of  hereditary  nobility,  jealous  of  their 
own  rights  and  distinctions,  to  stand  as  an  intermediate  order  between  the 
prince  and  the  people,  cannot  be  distinguished  by  any  name  but  that  of  a 
despotism.  The  restraints,  however,  which  I  have  mentioned,  arising  from  the 
capicidi/,  and  from  religion,  are  powerful.  But  they  are  not  such  as  change 
the  nature  or  denomination  of  the  government.  When  a  despotic  prince 
employs  an  armed  force  to  support  his  authority,  he  commits  the  supreme 
power  to  their  hands.    The  prsetoriaa  bauds  iu  Rome  dethroned,  murdered, 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  (309 

and  exalted  their  princes  in  tlic  same  wanton  manner  with  the  sokliery  of  tlic 
Porte  at  Constant  iuople.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  tlie  Roman  emperors 
have  been  considered  by  all  political  writers  as  possessing  despotic  power. 

The  author  of  Observations  on  the  Religion,  Laws,  Government,  and  Manners 
of  the  Turks,  in  a  preface  to  the  second  edition  of  his  work,  hath  made  some 
remarks  on  what  is  contained  in  this  note,  and  in  that  part  of  the  text  to  which 
it  refers.  It  is  with  dilBdence  I  set  my  opinion  in  opposition  to  that  of  a  person 
who  has  observed  the  government  of  the  Turks  with  attention,  and  has  described 
it  with  ability.  But  after  a  careful  review  of  the  subject,  to  me  the  Turkish 
government  still  appears  of  such  a  species  as  can  be  ranged  in  no  class  but 
that  to  which  political  writers  have  given  the  name  of  despotism.  There  is  not 
in  Turkey  any  constitutional  restraint  upon  the  will  of  the  sovereign,  or  any 
barrier  to  circumscribe  the  exercise  of  his  power,  but  the  two  which  I  have 
mentioned ;  one  afforded  by  religion,  the  principle  upon  which  the  authority  of 
the  sultan  is  founded,  the  other  by  the  array,  the  instrument  which  he  must 
employ  to  maintain  his  power.  The  author  represents  the  wlema,  or  body  of 
the  law,  as  an  intermediate  order  between  the  mona-ch  and  the  people.  Pref. 
p.  30.  But  whatever  restraint  the  authority  of  the  idema  may  impose  upon  the 
sovereign,  is  derived  from  religion.  The  moula/is,  out  of  whom  the  mufti  and 
other  chief  officers  of  the  law  must  be  chosen,  are  ecclesiastics.  It  is  as  iuter- 
preters  of  the  Koran  or  divine  will  that  they  are  objects  of  veneration.  The 
check,  then,  which  they  give  to  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power  is  not  different 
from  one  of  those  of  which  I  took  notice.  Indeed,  this  restraint  cannot  be 
very  considerable.  The  mufti,  who  is  the  head  of  the  order,  as  well  as  every 
inferior  officer  of  law,  is  named  by  the  sultan,  and  is  removable  at  his  pleasure. 
The  strange  means  employed  by  the  ^ilema  in  174G  to  obtain  the  dismission  of 
a  minister  whom  they  hated,  is  a  manifest  proof  that  they  possess  but  little 
constitutional  authority  which  can  serve  as  a  restraint  upon  the  will  of  the 
sovereign.  Observat.  p.  92,  of  2d  edit.  If  the  author's  idea  be  just,  it  is 
astonishing  that  the  dody  of  the  law  should  have  no  method  of  remonstrating 
against  the  errors  of  administration,  but  by  setting  fire  to  the  capital. 

The  author  seems  to  consider  the  capiculy,  or  soldiery  of  the  Porte,  neither 
as  formidable  instruments  of  the  sultan's  power,  nor  as  any  restraint  upon  the 
exercise  of  it.  His  reasons  for  this  opinion  are,  that  the  number  of  the  capiculy 
is  small  in  proportion  to  the  other  troops  which  compose  the  Turkish  armies, 
and  that  in  time  of  peace  they  are  undisciplined.  Pref.  2d  edit ,  pp.  23,  &c. 
But  the  troops  stationed  in  a  capital,  though  their  number  be  not  great,  are 
always  masters  of  the  sovereign's  person  and  power.  The  praitoriau  bands 
bore  no  proportion  to  the  legionary  troops  in  the  frontier  provinces.  The 
soldiery  of  the  Porte  are  more  numerous,  and  must  possess  power  of  the  same 
kind,  and  be  equally  formidable,  sometimes  to  the  sovereign,  and  oftener  to  the 
people.  However  much  the  discipline  of  the  janizaries  may  be  neglected  at 
present,  it  certainly  was  not  so  in  that  age  to  which  alone  my  description  of 
the  Turkish  government  applies.  The  author  observes,  Pref.  p.  29,  that  the 
janizaries  never  deposed  any  sultan  of  themselves,  but  that  some  form  of  law, 
true  or  false,  has  been  observed,  and  that  either  the  mufti,  or  some  other 
minister  of  religion,  has  announced  to  the  unhappy  prince  the  law  which  renders 
him  unworthy  of  the  throne.  Obscrv.  p.  102.  This  will  always  happen.  In 
every  revolution,  though  brought  about  by  military  power,  the  deeds  of  the 
VOL.  I.  R   R 


610  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

soldiery  must  be   confirmed  and  carried  into  execution  with  the  civil  and 
religious  formalities  peculiar  to  the  constitution. 

This  addiiion  to  the  note  may  serve  as  a  furllier  illustration  of  my  own  sen- 
timents, but  is  not  made  with  an  intention  of  entering  into  any  controversy 
with  the  author  of  Observations,  &c.,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  obliging 
terms  in  which  he  has  expressed  his  remarks  upon  what  I  had  advanced.  Happy 
•were  it  for  such  as  ventured  to  communicate  their  opinions  to  the  world,  if  every 
animadversion  upon  them  were  conveyed  with  the  same  candid  and  liberal  spirit. 
In  one  particular,  however,  he  seems  to  have  misapprehended  what  I  meant. 
Pref.  p.  17.  I  certainly  did  not  mention  his  or  Count  Marsigli's  long  residence 
in  Turkey,  as  a  circumstance  which  should  detract  from  the  weight  of  their 
authority.  I  took  notice  of  it,  in  justice  to  my  readers,  that  they  might  receive 
my  opinion  w'ith  distrust,  as  it  ditfered  from  that  of  persons  whose  means  of 
information  were  so  far  superior  to  mine. 

[44],/)tf^i?  164. — The  institution,  the  discipline,  and  privileges  of  the  jani- 
zaries are  described  by  all  the  authors  who  give  any  account  of  the  Turkish 
government.  The  manner  in  which  enthusiasm  was  employed  in  order  to  in- 
spire them  with  courage,  is  thus  related  by  Prince  Cantemir  :  "  When  Amurath 
I.  had  formed  them  into  a  body,  he  sent  them  to  Haji  Bektash,  a  Turkish  saint, 
famous  for  his  miracles  and  prophecies,  desiring  him  to  bestow  on  them  a  banner, 
to  pray  God  for  their  success,  and  to  give  them  a  name.  The  saint,  when  they 
apjieared  in  his  presence,  put  the  sleeve  of  his  gown  upon  one  of  their  heads, 
and  said.  Let  them  be  called  YengicJwri.  Let  their  countenance  be  ever  bright, 
their  hands  victorious,  their  sword  keen;  let  their  spear  always  hang  over  the 
heads  of  their  enemies,  and  wherever  they  go,  may  they  return  with  a  shining 
face."  History  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  p.  38.  The  number  of  janizaries,  at 
the  first  institution  of  the  body,  was  not  considerable.  Under  Solyman,  in  the 
year  1521,  they  amounted  to  twelve  thousand.  Since  that  time  their  number 
has  greatly  increased.  Marsigli,  Etat,  &c.  ch.  xvi.  p.  68.  Though  Solyman 
possessed  such  abilities  and  authority  as  to  restrain  this  formidable  body  within 
the  bounds  of  obedience,  yet  its  tendency  to  limit  the  power  of  the  sultans  was, 
even  in  that  age,  foreseen  by  sagacious  observers.  Nicolas  Daulphinois,  who 
accompanied  M.  d'Aramon,  ambassador  from  Henry  II.  of  Erauce  to  Solyman, 
published  an  account  of  his  travels ;  in  which  he  describes  and  celebrates  the 
discipline  of  the  janizaries,  but  at  the  same  time  predicts  that  they  would,  one 
day,  become  formidable  to  their  masters,  and  act  the  same  part  at  Constantinople 
as  the  prgetorian  bands  had  done  at  Rome.  Collection  of  Voyages  from  the 
Earl  of  Oxford's  library,  vol.  i.  p.  599. 

[  45  J,  page  166. — Solyman  the  Magnificent,  to  whom  the  Turkish  historians 
have  given  the  surname  of  caniini,  or  institutor  of  rules,  first  brought  the 
finances  and  military  establishment  of  the  Turkish  empire  into  a  regular  form. 
He  divided  the  military  force  into  the  capiculy,  or  soldiery  of  the  Porte,  which 
was  properly  the  standing  army,  and  serrataculy,  or  soldiers  appointed  to  guard 
the  frontiers.  The  chief  strength  of  the  latter  consisted  of  those  who  held 
timariots  and  ziams.  These  were  portions  of  land  granted  to  certain  persons 
for  life,  in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  military  fiefs  among  the  nations  of 
Europe,  in  return  for  which  military  service  was  performed.     Solyman,  in  his 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  611 

Canun-Name,  or  book  of  regulations,  fixed  witli  great  accuracy  the  cxlcut  of 
these  lands  in  each  province  of  liis  empire,  appoiuled  tlie  preeiic  number  of 
soldiers  each  person  who  held  a  tiniariot  or  a  ziam  should  bring  into  tiie  field, 
and  established  the  pav  which  they  should  receive  while  engaged  in  service. 
Count  Marsigli  and  Sir  Paul  Ryeaut  have  given  extracts  from  this  book  of  regu- 
lations, and  it  appears  that  the  ordinary  establishmeut  of  the  Turkish  army 
exceeded  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men.  When  these  were  added  to  the 
soldiery  of  the  Porte,  they  formed  a  military  power  greatly  superior  to  what 
any  Christian  state  could  command  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Marsigli,  Elat 
Militaire,  &c.  p.  136.  Rycaut's  State  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  book  iii.  ch.  ii. 
As  Solymau,  during  his  active  reign,  was  engaged  so  constantly  in  war,  that  his 
troops  were  always  in  the  field,  the  serratacidi/  became  almost  equal  to  the  jani- 
zaries themselves  in  discipline  and  valour. 

It  is  uot  surprising,  then,  that  the  authors  of  the  sixteenth  century  should 
represent  the  Turks  as  far  superior  to  the  Christians,  both  in  the  kno\vledgc 
and  in  the  practice  of  the  art  of  war.  Guicciardini  informs  us,  that  the  Italians 
learned  the  art  of  fortifying  towns  from  the  Turks.  Histor.  lib.  xv.  p.  2G6. 
Busbequius,  who  was  ambassador  from  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  to  Solyman,  and 
•who  had  opportunity  to  observe  the  state  both  of  the  Christian  aud  Turkish 
armies,  published  a  discourse  concerning  the  best  manner  of  carrying  on  war 
against  the  Turks,  in  which  he  points  out  at  great  length  the  immense  advan- 
tages which  the  infidels  possessed  with  respect  to  discipline  and  military 
improvements  of  every  kind.  Busbequii  Opera,  edit.  Elzevir,  p.  393,  &c.  The 
testimony  of  other  authors  might  be  added,  if  the  matter  were  in  any  degree 
doubtful. 

Before  I  conclude  these  Proofs  aud  Illustrations,  I  ought  to  explain  I  he  reason 
of  two  omissions  in  them ;  one  of  which  it  is  necessary  to  mention  on  my  own 
account,  the  other  to  obviate  an  objection  to  this  part  of  the  work. 

In  all  my  inquiries  and  disquisitions  concerning  the  progress  of  government, 
manners,  literature,  and  commerce,  during  the  middle  ages,  as  well  as  in  my 
delineations  of  the  political  constitution  of  the  different  states  of  Europe  at 
the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  I  have  uot  once  mentioned  M.  de  Voltaire, 
who,  in  his  Essui  sur  I'lUstoire  f/eiierale,  has  reviewed  the  same  period,  and  has 
treated  of  all  these  subjects.  This  does  not  proceed  from  iuattenliou  to  the 
works  of  that  extraordinary  man,  whose  genius,  no  less  enterprising  than  uni- 
versal, has  attempted  almost  every  different  species  of  literary  composition.  In 
many  of  these  he  excels.  In  all,  if  he  had  left  religion  untouched,  he  is  instruc- 
tive and  agreeable.  But  as  he  seldom  imitates  the  example  of  modern  historians 
in  citing  the  authors  from  whom  they  derived  their  information,  I  could  not,  with 
propriety,  appeal  to  his  authority  in  confirmation  of  any  doubtful  or  unknown 
fact.  I  have  often,  however,  followed  him  as  my  guide  in  these  researches  ; 
and  he  has  not  ouly  pointed  out  the  facts  with  respect  to  which  it  was  of  import- 
ance to  inquire,  but  the  conclusions  which  it  was  proper  to  draw  from  them. 
If  he  had,  at'  the  same  time,  mentioned  the  books  which  i-elate  these  particulars, 
a  great  part  of  my  labour  would  have  been  unnecessary,  and  many  of  his 
readers,  who  now  consider  him  only  as  an  entertaining  and  lively  writer,  would 
find  that  he  is  a  learned  and  well-informed  historian. 

As  to  the  other  omission,  every  intelligent  reader  must  have  observed,  that 


612  PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I  have  not  entered,  eitlier  in  tlie  liistorical  part  of  this  volume,  or  in  the  Proofs 
and  Illustrations,  into  the  same  detail  with  respect  to  the  ancient  laws  and  cus- 
toms of  the  British  kingdoms,  as  concerning  those  of  the  other  European  nations. 
As  the  capital  facts  with  regard  to  the  progress  of  government  and  manners  in 
their  own  country  are  known  to  most  of  my  readers,  such  a  detail  appeared  to 
me  to  be  less  essential.  Such  facts  and  observations,  however,  as  were  neces- 
sary towards  completing  my  design  in  this  part  of  the  work,  I  have  mentioned 
under  the  differcut  articles  which  are  the  subjects  of  my  discpiisitions.  The 
state  of  government  in  all  the  nations  of  Europe  having  been  nearly  the  same 
during  several  ages,  nothing  can  tend  more  to  illustrate  the  progress  of  the 
English  constitution  than  a  careful  inquiry  into  the  laws  and  customs  of  the 
kingdoms  on  the  continent.  This  source  of  information  has  been  too  much 
neglected  by  the  English  antiquaries  and  lawyers.  Filled  with  admiration  of 
that  happy  constitution  now  established  in  Great  Britain,  they  have  been  moi'e 
attentive  to  its  forms  and  principles  than  to  the  condition  and  ideas  of  remote 
times,  which  in  almost  every  particular  differ  from  the  present.  While  engaged 
in  perusing  the  laws,  charters,  and  early  historians  of  the  continental  kingdoms, 
I  have  often  been  led  to  think  that  an  attempt  to  illustrate  the  progress  of 
English  jurisprudence  and  policy,  by  a  comparison  with  those  of  other  kingdoms 
in  a  similar  situation,  would  be  of  great  utility,  and  might  throw  much  light  ou 
some  points  which  are  now  obscure,  and  decide  others,  which  have  been  long 
controverted. 


END    OF    VOL.  I. 


K.  CLAY,    PRINTER   BREAD   STREET    Hll/t. 


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