Chapter IV: , VII (85)

"During the next few years [after the peace concluded at
Nuremberg] there was no open hostility between the two
religious parties. ... But there was dissension enough. In the
first place there was much disputation as to the meaning of
the articles concluded at Nuremberg. The catholic princes,
under the pretext that, if no man was to be disturbed for his
faith, or for things depending on faith, he was still amenable
for certain offences against the church, which were purely of a
civil nature, were eager that the imperial chamber should take
cognisance of future cases, at least, where protestants should
seek to invade the temporalities of the church. ... But
nothing was effected; the tribunal was too powerless to
enforce its decrees. In 1534, the protestants, in a public
assembly, renounced all obedience to the chamber; yet they did
not cease to appropriate to themselves the property of such
monasteries and churches as, by the conversion of catholics to
their faith--and that faith was continually progressive--lay
within their jurisdiction. We need scarcely observe, that the
prospect of spoliation was often the most powerful inducement
with the princes and nobles to change their religion. When
they, or the magistracy of any particular city, renounced the
faith hitherto established, the people were expected to follow
the example: the moment Lutheranism was established in its place,
the ancient faith was abolished; nobody was allowed to profess
it; and, with one common accord, all who had any prospect of
benefiting by the change threw themselves on the domains of
the expelled clergy. That the latter should complain before
the only tribunal where justice could be expected, was
natural; nor can we be surprised that the plunderers should
soon deny, in religious affairs, the jurisdiction of that
tribunal. From the departure of the emperor to the year 1538,
some hundreds of domains were thus seized, and some hundreds
of complaints addressed to him by parties who resolved to
interpret the articles of Nuremberg in their own way. The
protestants declared, in a letter to him, that their
consciences would not allow them to tolerate any papist in
their states. ... By espousing the cause of the exiled duke of
Wittemberg, they procured a powerful ally. ... But a greater
advantage was the union of the sacramentarians [the Swiss
reformers, who accepted the doctrine of Zwingli respecting the
purely symbolical significance of the commemoration of the
Lord's Supper--see SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1528-1531] with the
Lutherans. Of such a result, at the diet of Augsburg, there
was not the least hope; but Bucer, being deputed by the
imperial cities to ascertain whether a union might not be
effected, laboured so zealously at the task that it was
effected. He consented to modify some of his former opinions;
or at least to wrap them in language so equivocal that they
might mean anything or nothing at the pleasure of the holder.
The Swiss, indeed, especially those of Zurich, refused to
sanction the articles on which Luther and Bucer had agreed.
Still, by the union of all protestant Germany under the same
banners, much was gained. ... In the meantime, the dissensions
between the two great parties augmented from day to day. To
pacify them, Charles sent fruitless embassies. Roused by the
apparent danger, in 1538, the catholic princes formed, at
Nuremberg, a counter league to that of Smalcald [calling it
the Holy League]. ... The death of Luther's old enemy, George,
duke of Saxony [1539], transferred the dominion of that
prince's states into the hands of [his brother Henry] a
Lutheran. Henry, duke of Brunswick, was now the only great
secular prince in the north of Germany who adhered to the
Roman catholic faith. ... A truce was concluded at Frankfort,
in 1539; but it could not remove the existing animosity, which
was daily augmented. Both parties were in the wrong. ...
{1462}
At the close of 1540, Worms was the scene of a conference very
different from that where, 20 years before, Luther had been
proscribed. There was an interminable theological disputation.
... As little good resulted, Charles, who was hastening from
the Low Countries to his German dominions, evoked the affair
before a diet at Ratisbon, in April, 1541. ... The diet of
Ratisbon was well attended; and never did prince exert himself
more zealously than Charles to make peace between his angry
subjects. But ... all that could be obtained was, that things
should be suffered to remain in their present state until a
future diet or a general council. The reduction of Buda,
however, by the Turks, rendered king Ferdinand, his brother,
and the whole of Germany, eager for an immediate settlement of
the dispute. ... Hence the diet of Spires in 1542. If, in
regard to religion, nothing definitive was arranged, except
the selection of Trent as the place most suitable for a
general council, one good end was secured--supplies for the
war with the Turks. The campaign, however, which passed
without an action, was inglorious to the Germans, who appear
to have been in a lamentable state of discipline. Nor was the
public satisfaction much increased by the disputes of the
Smalcald league with Henry of Brunswick. The duke was angry
with his subjects of Brunswick and Breslau, who adhered to the
protestant league; and though he had reason enough to be
dissatisfied with both, nothing could be more vexatious than
his conduct towards them. In revenge, the league of Smalcald
sent 19,000 men into the field,--a formidable display of
protestant power!--and Henry was expelled from his hereditary
states, which were seized by the victors. He invoked the aid
of the imperial chamber, which cited the chiefs of the league;
but as, in 1538, the competency of that tribunal had been
denied in religious, so now it was denied in civil matters.
... The following years exhibit on both sides the same
jealousy, the same duplicity, often the same violence where
the mask was no longer required, with as many ineffectual
attempts to procure a union between them. ... The progress of
events continued to favour the reformers. They had already two
votes in the electoral college,--those of Saxony and Brandenburg;
they were now to have the preponderance; for the elector
palatine and Herman archbishop of Cologne abjured their
religion, thus placing at the command of the reformed party
four votes against three. But this numerical superiority did
not long remain. ... The pope excommunicated the archbishop,
deposed him from his dignity, and ordered the chapter to
proceed to a new election; and when Herman refused to obey,
Charles sent troops to expel him, and to install the
archbishop elect, Count Adolf of Nassau. Herman retired to his
patrimonial estates, where he died in the profession of the
reformed religion. These events mortified the members of the
Smalcald league; but they were soon partially consoled by the
capture of Henry duke of Brunswick [1546], who had the
temerity to collect troops and invade his patrimonial
dominions. Their success gave umbrage to the emperor. ... He
knew that the confederates had already 20,000 men under arms,
and that they were actively, however secretly, augmenting
their forces. His first care was to cause troops to be as
secretly collected in his hereditary states; his second, to
seduce, if possible, some leaders of the protestants. With
Maurice duke of Saxony he was soon successful; and eventually
with the two margraves of Brandenburg, who agreed to make
preparations for a campaign and join him at the proper moment.
... His convocation of the diet at Ratisbon [1546], which
after a vain parade ended in nothing, was only to hide his
real designs. As he began to throw off the mask, the reformed
theologians precipitately withdrew; and both parties took the
field, but not until they had each published a manifesto to
justify this extreme proceeding. In each there was much truth,
and more falsehood."

_S. A. Dunham,
History of the Germanic Empire,
book 3, chapter 2 (volume 3)._

GERMANY: A. D. 1542-1544.
War with Francis I. of France.
Battle of Cerisoles.
Treaty of Crespy.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1532-1547.

GERMANY: A. D. 1542-1563.
The beginning of the Roman Catholic reaction.
The Council of Trent.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1537-1563.

GERMANY: A. D. 1546-1552.
War of Charles against the Protestants.
The treachery of Maurice of Saxony.
The battle of Muhlberg.
The emperor's proposed "Interim" and its failure.
His reverse of fortune.
Protestantism triumphant.
The Treaty of Passau.

"Luther's death [which occurred in 1546] made no change in the
resolution which Charles had at last taken to crush the
Reformation in his German dominions by force of arms; on the
contrary, he was more than ever stimulated to carry out his
purpose by two occurrences: the adoption of the new religion
by one who was not only an Elector of the Empire, but one of
the chief prelates of the Church, the Prince-Archbishop of
Cologne. ... The other event that influenced him was the
refusal of the Protestants to accept as binding the decrees of
the Council of Trent, which was composed of scarcely any
members but a few Italian and Spanish prelates, and from which
they appealed to either a free general Council or a national
Council of the Empire; offering, at the same time, if Charles
should prefer it, to submit the whole question of religion to
a joint Commission, composed of divines of each party. These
remonstrances, however, the Emperor treated with contempt. He
had been for some time secretly raising troops in different
quarters; and, early in 1546, he made a fresh treaty with the
Pope, by which he bound himself instantly to commence warlike
operations, and which, though it had been negotiated, as a
secret treaty, Paul instantly published, to prevent any
retraction or delay on his part. War therefore now began,
though Charles professed to enter upon it, not for the purpose
of enforcing a particular religious belief on the recusants,
but for that of re-establishing the Imperial authority, which,
as he affirmed, many of the confederate princes had disowned.
Such a pretext he expected to sow disunion in the body, some
members of which were far from desirous to weaken the great
confederacy of the Empire: and, in effect, it did produce a
hesitation in their early steps that had the most important
consequences on the first campaign; for, in spite of the
length of time during which he had secretly been preparing for
war, when it came they were more ready than he. They at once
took the field with an army of 90,000 men and 120 guns, while
he, for the first few weeks after the declaration of war, had
hardly 10,000 men with him in Ratisbon. ...
{1463}
But the advantage of a single over a divided command was
perhaps never more clearly exemplified than in the first
operations of the two armies. He, as the weaker party, took up
a defensive position near Ingolstadt; but, though they
advanced within sight of his lines, they could not agree on
the mode of attack, or even on the prudence of attacking him
at all. ... At last, the confederates actually drew off, and
Charles, advancing, made himself master of many important
towns, which their irresolution alone had enabled him to
approach." Meanwhile the Emperor had won an important ally.
This was Duke Maurice, of the Albertine line of the House of
Saxony (see SAXONY: A. D. 1180-1553), to whom several
opportune deaths had given the ducal seat unexpectedly, in
1541, and whose ambition now hungered for the Electorate,
which was held by the other (the Ernestine) branch of the
family. He conceived the idea of profiting by the troubles of
the time to win possession of it. "With this view, though he
also was a Protestant, he tendered his services to the
Emperor, who, in spite of his youth, discerned in him a
promise of very superior capacity, gladly accepted his aid,
and promised to reward him with the territories which he
coveted. The advantages which Protestantism eventually derived
from Maurice's success has blinded some historians to the
infamy of the conduct by which he achieved it. ... The Elector
[John Frederick] was his [second] cousin; the Landgrave of
Hesse was his father-in-law. Pleading an unwillingness while
so young (he was barely 21) to engage in the war, he
volunteered to undertake the protection of his cousin's
dominions during his absence in the field. His offer was
thankfully accepted; but he was no sooner installed in his
charge than he began to negotiate with the enemy to invade the
territories which he had bound himself to protect. And on
receiving from Charles a copy of a decree, called the Ban of
the Empire, which had just been issued against both the
Elector and the Landgrave, he at once raised a force of his
own, with which he overran one portion of [the Elector's]
dominions, while a division of the Imperial army attacked the
rest; and he would probably have succeeded at once in subduing
the whole Electorate, had the main body of the Protestants
been able to maintain the war on the Danube." But Charles's
successes there brought about a suspension ol hostilities
which enabled the Elector to return and "chastise Maurice for
his treachery; to drive him not only from the towns and
districts which he had seized, but to strip him also of the
greater part of the territory which belonged to him by
inheritance." Charles was unable, at first, to give any
assistance to his ally. The Elector, however, who was the
worst of generals, so scattered his forces that when, "on the
23d of April [1547], Charles reached the Elbe and prepared to
attack him, he had no advantage over his assailant but that of
position. That indeed was very strong. He lay at Muhlberg, on
the right bank of the river, which at that point is 300 yards
wide and more than four feet deep, with a stream so rapid as
to render the passage, even for horsemen, a task of great
difficulty and danger." Against the remonstrances of his
ablest general, the Duke of Alva, Charles, favored by a heavy
fog, led his army across the river and boldly attacked. The
Ejector attempted to retreat, but his retreat became a rout.
Many fell, but many more were taken prisoners, including the
Elector and the Landgrave of Hesse. The victory was decisive
for the time, and Charles used it without moderation or
generosity. He declared a forfeiture of the whole Electorate
of Saxony by John Frederick, and conferred it upon the
treacherous Maurice; and, "though Maurice was son-in-law of
the Landgrave of Hesse, he stripped that prince of his
territories, and, by a device scarcely removed from the tricks
of a kidnapper, threw him also into prison." Charles seemed
now to be completely master of the situation in Germany, and
there was little opposition to his will in a diet which he
convened at Augsburg.

_C. D. Yonge,
Three Centuries of Modern History,
chapter 4._

"He opened the Diet of Augsburg (September 1, 1547), in the
hope of finally bringing about the union so long desired and
so frequently attempted, but which he despaired of effecting
through a council which the Protestants had rejected in
advance. ... By the famous 'Interim' of Augsburg--the joint
production of Julius von Pflug, Bishop of Naumberg; Michael
Helding, coadjutor of Mentz; and the wily and subtle John
Agricola, preacher to the Elector of Brandenburg--Protestants
were permitted to receive the Holy Eucharist under both kinds;
the Protestant clergy already married to retain their wives;
and a tacit approval given to the retention of property
already taken from the Church. This instrument was, from
beginning to end, a masterpiece of duplicity, and as such
satisfied no party. The Catholics of Germany, the Protestants,
and the Court of Rome, each took exception to it. ... Maurice,
the new Elector of Saxony, unwilling to give the Interim an
unconditional approval, consulted with a number of Protestant
theologians, headed by Melancthon, as to how far he might
accept its provisions with a safe conscience. In reply they
drew up what is known as the Leipsig Interim (1548), in which
they stated that questions of ritual and ceremony, and others
of minor importance, which they designated by the generic word
adiaphora, might be wholly overlooked; and even in points of a
strictly doctrinal character, they expressed themselves
favourable to concession and compromise. ... Such Lutheran
preachers as professed to be faithful followers of their
master, made a determined opposition to the 'Interim,' and
began a vigorous assault upon its adiaphoristic clauses. The
Anti-adiaphorists, as they were called, were headed by Flacius
Illyricus, who being an ardent disciple of Luther's, and
possessing somewhat of his courage and energy, repaired to
Magdeburg, whose bold citizens were as defiant of imperial
power as they were contemptuous of papal authority. But in
spite of this spirited opposition, the Interim was gradually
accepted by several Protestant countries and cities--a fact
which encouraged the emperor at the Diet of Augsburg, in 1550,
to make a final effort to have the Protestants attend the
sessions of the Council of Trent, again opened by Pope Julius
III. ... After a short delay, deputies from Brandenburg,
Würtemberg, and Saxony began to appear at Trent; and even the
Wittenberg theologians, headed by Melancthon, were already on
their way to the Council, when Maurice of Saxony, having
secured all the advantages he hoped to obtain by an alliance
with the Catholic party, and regardless of the obligations by
which he was bound, proceeded to betray both the emperor and
his country.
{1464}
Having received a commission to carry into effect the ban of
the empire passed upon Magdeburg, he was in a position to
assemble a large body of troops in Germany without exciting
suspicion, or revealing his ulterior purposes. Besides uniting
to himself, as confederates in his plot, John Albert, Duke of
Mecklenburg; Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg; and William,
Landgrave of Hesse, eldest son of Philip of Hesse, he entered
into a secret treaty (Oct. 5, 1551) with Henry II., King of
France, who, as was pretended, coming into Germany as the
saviour of the country, seized the cities of Metz, Toul, and
Verdun. Maurice also held out to Henry the prospect of
securing the imperial crown. Everything being in readiness for
action, Maurice advancing through Thuringia, seized the city
of Augsburg, and suddenly made his appearance before
Innspruck, whence the emperor, who lay sick of a severe attack
of the gout, was hastily conveyed on a litter, through the
passes of the mountains, to Villach, in Carinthia. While
Maurice was thus making himself master of Innspruck, the King
of the French was carrying out his part of the programme by
actively prosecuting the war in Lorraine. Charles V., now
destitute of the material resources necessary to carry on a
successful campaign against the combined armies of the French
king and the German princes, and despairing of putting an end
to the obstinate conflict by his personal endeavours, resolved
to re-establish, if possible, his waning power by peaceful
negotiations. To this end, he commissioned his brother
Ferdinand to conclude the Treaty of Passau (July 30, 1552),
which provided that Philip of Hesse should be set at liberty,
and gave pledges for the speedy settlement of all religious
and political differences by a Diet, to be summoned at an
early day. It further provided that neither the emperor nor
the Protestant princes should put any restraint upon freedom
of conscience, and that all questions arising in the interval
between the two parties should be referred for settlement to
an Imperial Commission, composed of an equal number of
Catholics and Protestants. In consequence of the war then
being carried on by the empire against France for the recovery
of the three bishoprics of Lorraine of which the French had
taken possession, the Diet did not convene until February 5,
1555."

_J. Alzog,
Manual of Universal Church History,
volume 3, pages 276-279._

ALSO IN:
_W. Robertson,
History of the Reign of Charles V.,
books 8-10 (volume 2-3)._

_L. von Ranke,
Civil Wars and Monarchy in France,
chapter 6._

_E. E. Crowe,
Cardinal Granvelle and Maurice of Saxony
(Eminent Foreign Statesmen, volume 1)._

_L. Häusser,
The Period of the Reformation,
chapters 15-17._

_G. P. Fisher,
History of the Reformation,
chapter 5._

_F. Kohlrausch,
History of Germany,
chapter 20._

GERMANY: A. D. 1547.
Pragmatic Sanction of Charles V., changing the relations of
the Netherland provinces to the Empire.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1547.

GERMANY: A. D. 1552-1561.
Battle of Sievershausen and death of Maurice.
The Religious Peace of Augsburg.
Abdication of Charles V.
Succession of Ferdinand I.
The halting of the Reformation and the rally of Catholic
resistance.

By the treaty of Passau, Maurice of Saxony bound himself to
defend the empire against the French and the Turks. "He
accordingly took the field against the latter, but with little
success, the imperial commander, Castaldo, contravening all
his efforts by plundering Hungary and drawing upon himself the
hatred of the people. Charles, meanwhile, marched against the
French, and, without hesitation, again deposed the corporative
governments reinstated by Maurice, on his way through
Augsburg, Ulm, Esslingen, etc. Metz, valiantly defended by the
Duke de Guise, was vainly besieged for some months, and the
Emperor was at length forced to retreat. The French were,
nevertheless, driven out of Italy. The aged emperor now sighed
for peace. Ferdinand, averse to open warfare, placed his hopes
on the imperceptible effect of a consistently pursued system
of suppression and Jesuitical obscurantism. Maurice was
answerable for the continuance of the peace, the terms of
which he had prescribed. ... Albert the Wild [of Brandenburg]
was the only one among the princes who was still desirous of
war. Indifferent to aught else, he marched at the head of some
thousand followers through central Germany, murdering and
plundering as he passed along, with the intent of once more
laying the Franconian and Saxon bishoprics waste in the name
of the gospel. The princes at length formed the Heidelberg
confederacy against this monster and the emperor put him under
the bann of the empire, which Maurice undertook to execute,
although he had been his old friend and companion in arms.
Albert was engaged in plundering the archbishopric of
Magdeburg, when Maurice came up with him at Sievershausen. A
murderous engagement took place (A. D. 1553). Three of the
princes of Brunswick were slain. Albert was severely wounded,
and Maurice fell at the moment when victory declared in his
favour, in the 33d year of his age, in the midst of his
promising career. ... Every obstacle was now removed, and a
peace, known as the religious peace of Augsburg, was concluded
by the diet held in that city, A. D. 1555. This peace was
naturally a mere political agreement provisionally entered
into by the princes for the benefit, not of religion, but of
themselves. Popular opinion was dumb, knights, burgesses, and
peasants bending in lowly submission to the mandate of their
sovereigns. By this treaty, branded in history as the most
lawless ever concerted in Germany, the principle 'cujus regio,
ejus religio,' the faith of the prince must be that of the
people, was laid down, By it not only all the Reformed
subjects of a Catholic prince were exposed to the utmost
cruelty and tyranny, but the religion of each separate country
was rendered dependent on the caprice of the reigning prince;
of this the Pfalz offered a sad example, the religion of the
people being thus four times arbitrarily changed. ... Freedom
of belief, confined to the immediate subjects of the empire,
for instance, to the reigning princes, the free nobility, and
the city councillors, was monopolized by at most 20,000
privileged persons. ... The false peace concluded at Augsburg
was immediately followed by Charles V. 's abdication of his
numerous crowns [see NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555]. He would
willingly have resigned that of the empire to his son Philip,
had not the Spanish education of that prince, his gloomy and
bigoted character, inspired the Germans with an aversion as
unconquerable as that with which he beheld them.
{1465}
Ferdinand had, moreover, gained the favour of the German
princes. Charles, nevertheless, influenced by affection
towards his son, bestowed upon him one of the finest of the
German provinces, the Netherlands, besides Spain, Milan,
Naples, and the West Indies (America). Ferdinand received the
rest of the German hereditary possessions of his house,
besides Bohemia and Hungary. ... Ferdinand I., opposed in his
hereditary provinces by a predominating Protestant party,
which he was compelled to tolerate, was politically
overbalanced by his nephew, Philip II., in Spain and Italy,
where Catholicism flourished. The preponderance of the Spanish
over the Austrian branch of the house of Habsburg exercised
the most pernicious influence on the whole of Germany, by
securing to the Catholics a support which rendered
reconciliation impossible. ... The religious disputes and
petty egotism of the several estates of the empire had utterly
stifled every sentiment of patriotism, and not a dissentient
voice was raised against the will of Charles V., which
bestowed the whole of the Netherlands, one of the finest of
the provinces of Germany, upon Spain, the division and
consequent weakening of the powerful house of Habsburg being
regarded by the princes with delight. At the same time that
the power of the Protestant party was shaken by the peace of
Augsburg, Cardinal Caraffa mounted the pontifical throne as
Paul IV., the first pope who, following the plan of the
Jesuits, abandoned the system of defence for that of attack.
The Reformation no sooner ceased to progress, than a
preventive movement began [see PAPACY: A. D. 1537-1563]. ...
Ferdinand I. was in a difficult position. Paul IV. refused to
acknowledge him on account of the peace concluded between him
and the Protestants, whom he was unable to oppose, and whose
tenets he refused to embrace, notwithstanding the expressed
wish of the majority of his subjects. Like his brother, he
intrigued and diplomatized until his Jesuitical confessor,
Bobadilla, and the new pope, Pius IV., again placed him on
good terms with Rome, A. D. 1559. ... Augustus, elector of
Saxony, the brother of Maurice, alarmed at the fresh alliance
between the emperor and pope, convoked a meeting of the
Protestant leaders at Naumberg. His fears were, however,
allayed by the peaceful proposals of the emperor (A. D. 1561).
... A last attempt to save the unity of the German church, in
the event of its separation from that of Rome, was made by
Ferdinand, who convoked the spiritual electoral princes, the
archbishops and bishops, for that purpose to Vienna, but the
consideration with which he was compelled to treat the pope
rendered his efforts weak and ineffectual. ... The
Protestants, blind to the unity and strength resulting from
the policy of the Catholics, weakened themselves more and more
by division."

_W. Menzel,
History of Germany,
sections 197-198 (volume 2)._

GERMANY: A. D. 1556-1558.
Abdication of the emperor, Charles V., and election of his
brother, Ferdinand.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555.

GERMANY: A. D. 1556-1609.
The degeneracy of the Reformation.
Internal hostilities of Protestantism.
Tolerant reigns of Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II.
Renewed persecution under Rudolf II.
The risings against him.
His cessions and abdications.

"Germany was externally at peace. When the peace was broken in
Protestant states, the Protestants themselves, that is, a part
of their divines, were the cause of' the disturbance. These
were 'frantic' Lutherans. The theologian Flacius, at Jena,
openly attacked Melancthon as a 'traitor to the church,' on
account of his strivings for peace. The religious
controversies in the bosom of the adherents of the Augsburg
Confession had been since Luther's death inflamed to madness
by a strict Lutheran party, by slaves of the letter, who raged
not only against the Zwinglian and Calvinistic reformations,
but against Melancthon and those who sympathized with him. The
theological pugilists disgraced Protestantism, and aroused such
a spirit of persecution that Melancthon died on the 19th of
April, 1560, 'weary and full of anxiety of soul about the
future of the Reformation and the German nation.' His
followers, 'Lutheran' preachers and professors, were
persecuted, banished, imprisoned, on account of suspicion of
being inclined to the 'Reformed' [Calvinistic] as
distinguished from 'Evangelical' views; prayers for the
'extirpation of heresy' were offered in the churches of
Saxony, and a medal struck 'to commemorate the victory of
Christ over the Devil and Reason,' that is, over Melancthon
and his moderate party. ... Each parson and professor held
himself to be a divinely inspired watchman of Zion, who had to
watch over purity of doctrine. ... The universal prevalence of
'trials for witchcraft' in Protestant districts, with their
chambers of torture and burnings at the stake, marked the new
priestcraft of Lutheran Protestantism in its debasement into a
dogmatizing church. This quickly degenerating Protestant Church
comprised a mass of separate churches, because the vanity and
selfishness of the court clergy at every court, and the
professors of every university, would have a church of their
own. ... Every misfortune to the 'Reformed' churches caused a
malevolent joy in the Lutheran camp, and every common measure
against the common enemy was rejected by the Lutheran clergy
from hatred to the 'Reformed.' ... The emperor Ferdinand I.
had long been convinced that some change was required in the
Church of Rome. As he wrote to his ambassador in Trent, 'If a
reform of the Church did not proceed from the Church herself,
he would undertake the charge of it in Germany.' He never
ceased to offer his mediation between the two religious
parties. He thought, and thought justly, that a compromise was
possible in Germany. ... The change which gradually took place
in the head and heart of Ferdinand had not extended to those
who sat in St. Peter's chair. Ferdinand I., to improve the
moral state of the old Church, insisted most strongly on the
abolition of the celibacy of the clergy; this the Pope
declared the most indispensable prop of the Papacy. As thus
his proposals came to naught, he attempted to introduce the
proposed reformation into his hereditary domains; but just as
he was beginning to be the Reformer of these provinces, death
removed him from the world, on the 25th of July, 1564. ... His
oldest son and successor, Maximilian II., ... was out and out
German. Growing up in the great movement of the time, the
Emperor Maximilian II. was warmly devoted to the new ideas. He
hated the Jesuits and the Papacy. ...
{1466}
He remained in the middle between Protestants and Catholics,'
but really above both. ... He favored the Reformation in his
Austrian dominions; at the very time when Philip II. of Spain,
the son of Charles V., had commenced the bloodiest persecution
against the Reformed Church in the Netherlands ... ; at the
very time when the French court, ruled and led by Jesuits, put
into execution the long-prepared conspiracy of St.
Bartholomew. ... He never ceased to call the kings of France
and Spain to gentleness and toleration. ... 'I have no power,'
said the emperor, 'over consciences, and may constrain no
man's faith.' The princes unanimously elected the son of
Maximilian as King of the Romans, and Max received another
gratification: he was elected king by the gallant nation of
the Poles. Thus the house of Austria was again powerfully
strengthened. Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, and Germany, united
under one ruler, formed a power which could meet Turkey and
Russia. The Turks and the Russians were pressing forward. The
Turkish wars, more than anything else, prevented Max from
carrying out his long-cherished plan and giving a constitution
to the empire and church of the Germans. He who towered high
above the Papal party and the miserable controversies of
Protestant divines, and whose clear mind saw what the times
required, would have had every qualification for such a task.
But in the midst of his great projects, Maximilian II. died,
in his 49th year, on the 12th of October, 1576; as emperor,
honest, mild and wise, and elevated above all religious
controversies to a degree that no prince has ever reached. He
had always been a rock of offence to the Catholic party. ...
But Rudolf [son of Maximilian II.], when he became emperor
[1576], surrounded by secret Jesuits who had been his teachers
and advisers, became the humblest slave of the order and let
it do what it would. Rudolf had been sent by his father for
the interests of his own house to the Spanish court; a
terrible punishment now followed this self-seeking. Rudolf
confirmed liberty of conscience only to the nobles, not to the
citizens or peasants. He forbade the two latter classes to
visit the Evangelical churches, he closed their schools,
ordered them to frequent Catholic churches, threatened
disobedience with banishment, and even in the case of nobles
he dismissed from his court charges all who were not strict
papists. The people of Vienna and Austria hated him for these
orders. ... Without any judicial investigation he threatened
free cities with 'execution.' Aix la Chapelle expelled his
troops. Gebhard, the elector of Cologne, married a Countess
von Mansfeld and went over to Protestantism. ... The
Protestants supported him badly; Lutherans and Calvinists were
at bitter feud with each other, and weakened themselves in the
struggle. ... It was a croaking of ravens, and a great field
of the dead was not far off. ... The Emperor Rudolf, ... on a
return journey from Rome, vowed to Our Lady of Loretto, 'his
Generalissima,' to extirpate heretics at the risk of his life.
In his hereditary estates he ordered all who were not papists
to leave the territory. Soon afterwards he pulled down the
Evangelical churches, and dispersed the citizens by arms. He
intended soon to begin the same proceedings in Hungary and
Bohemia; but in Hungary the nation rose in defence of its
liberty and faith. The receipt of the intelligence that the
Hungarian malcontents were progressing victoriously
produced--what there had been symptoms of before--insanity.
The members of the house of Austria assembled, and declared
'The Emperor Rudolf can be no longer head of the house,
because unfortunately it is too plain that his Roman Imperial
Majesty ... was not competent or fit to govern the kingdoms.'
The Archduke Matthias [eldest brother of Rudolf] was elected
head of the Austrian house [1606]. He collected an army of
20,000 men, and made known that he would depose the emperor
from the government of his hereditary domains. Rudolf's
Jesuitical flatterers had named him the 'Bohemian Solomon.' He
now, in terror, without drawing sword, ceded Hungary and Austria
to Matthias, and gave him also the government of Moravia.
Matthias guaranteed religious liberty to the Austrians. Rudolf
did the same to the Bohemians and Silesians by the 'Letters of
Majesty.' Rudolf, to escape deposition by Matthias, abdicated
the throne of Bohemia."

_W. Zimmerman,
Popular History of Germany,
book 5, chapter 2 (volume 4)._

ALSO IN:
_F. Kohlrausch,
History of Germany,
chapter 21._

GERMANY: A. D. 1608-1618.
The Evangelical Union and the Catholic League.
The Jülich-Cleve contest.
Troubles in Bohemia.
The beginning of the Thirty Years War.

"Many Protestants were alarmed by the attempts Rudolf had made
to put them down, and especially by his allowing the Duke of
Bavaria to seize the free city of Donauwörth, formerly a
Bavarian town, and make it Catholic. In 1608 a number of
Protestants joined together and formed, for ten years, a
league called The Union. Its formation was due chiefly to the
exertions of Prince Christian of Anhalt, who had busily
intrigued with Henry IV. of France; but its head was the
Elector Palatine. As the latter belonged to the Reformed
Church, the Lutherans for the most part treated the Union
coldly; and the Elector of Saxony would have nothing to do
with it. It soon had an opportunity of acting. Duke William of
Jülich, who held Jülich, Cleve, and other lands, died in 1609.
John Sigmund, Elector of Brandenburg, and the Palsgrave of
Neuberg, both members of the Union, claimed to be his heirs,
and took possession of his lands. The Emperor Rudolf sent his
brother, the Archduke Leopold, Bishop of Passau, to drive out
these princes. The Union thereupon formed an alliance with
Henry IV. of France [see FRANCE: A. D. 1599-1610], and, coming
to the aid of its members, scattered the forces of the
Archduke in 1610. The Catholics now took fright, and hastened
to form a League which should hold the Union in check. It was
formed for nine years, and the supreme command was given to
Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria. The death of Henry IV. took away
from the Union its chief source of strength, so that it shrank
from a general war. The two princes, however, who had given
rise to the quarrel, kept for a time the Jülich-Cleve
territory. In 1611 [1618] the power of the Elector of
Brandenburg was further increased by his succeeding to the
Duchy of Prussia. From this time East Prussia was always
joined to the Mark or Electorate of Brandenburg. It was now,
therefore, that the house of Brandenburg laid the foundations
of its future greatness. Matthias, in order to pacify the
Austrian States, granted them full religious liberty.
{1467}
In 1609 the Bohemian States also obtained from Rudolf a Royal
Charter, called 'The Letter of Majesty,' conceding to
nobility, knights and towns perfect freedom in religious
matters, and the right to build Protestant churches and
schools on their own and on the royal lands. Bohemia showed no
gratitude for this favour. Suspecting his designs, the
Bohemians even shut Rudolf up in his castle at Prague in 1611,
and asked Matthias to come to their aid. He did so, and seized
the supreme power. Next year Rudolf died. Matthias was crowned
at Frankfurt with great pomp, but he was no better fitted for
the throne than his brother. He was compelled to yield much to
the Protestants, yet favoured the Jesuits in their continued
efforts to convert Germany. His government was so feeble that
his brothers at length made him accept Ferdinand, Duke of
Styria, as his coadjutor. In 1617 Ferdinand was elected as
Rudolf's successor to the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, and
from this time all real power in the Habsburg possessions was
wielded by him. Ferdinand was a young man, but had already
given proof of great energy of character. ... The Protestants
looked forward with dread to his reign if he should receive
the Imperial crown. Styria had become almost wholly Lutheran.
When Ferdinand succeeded his father, he had driven out the
Protestant families, and made the land altogether Catholic. No
Catholic prince had ever shown himself more reckless as to the
means by which he served his church. The Protestants,
therefore, had good reason to fear that if he became Emperor
he would renew the policy of Charles V., and try to bring back
the old state of things, in which there was but one Church as
there was but one Empire. Events proved that these fears were
well founded. The last days of Matthias were very troubled.
Two Protestant churches were built in Bohemia, one in the
territory of the Archbishop of Prague, the other in that of
the Abbot of Braunau. These princes, with permission of the
Emperor, pulled down one of the churches and shut up the
other. The Protestants complained; but their appeal was met by
the reply that the Letter of Majesty did not permit them to
build churches on the lands of ecclesiastics. This answer
excited great indignation in Bohemia; and a rumour was got up
that it had not come from the Emperor, but had been written in
Prague. On May 23, 1618, a number of Protestants, headed by Count
Thurn, marched to the Council Hall of the Royal Castle, and
demanded to be told the real facts. When the councillors
hesitated, two of them, with the private secretary, were
seized and thrown out of the window.

See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1611-1618.

The Protestants then took possession of the Royal Castle,
drove the Jesuits out of Bohemia, and appointed a council of
thirty nobles to carry on the government." These events formed
the beginning of the "Thirty Years War."

_J. Sime,
History of Germany,
chapter 14._

"The Thirty Years' War was the last struggle which marked the
progress of the Reformation. This war, whose direction and
object were equally undetermined, may be divided into four
distinct portions, in which the Elector Palatine, Denmark,
Sweden, and France played in succession the principal part. It
became more and more complicated, until it spread over the
whole of Europe. It was prolonged indefinitely by various
causes.

I. The intimate union between the two branches of the house of
Austria and of the Catholic party--their opponents, on the
other hand, were not homogeneous.

II. The inaction of England, the tardy intervention of France,
the poverty of Denmark and Sweden, &c. The armies which took
part in the Thirty Years' War were no longer feudal militias,
they were permanent armies, although their sovereigns were
incapable of supporting them. They lived at the expense of the
countries which they laid waste. The ruined peasant turned
soldier and sold himself to the first comer."

_J. Michelet,
Summary of Modern History,
chapter 12._

ALSO IN:
_A. Gindely,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
chapters 1-3 (volume 1)._

_T. Carlyle,
History of Frederick the Great,
book 3, chapter 14 (volume 1)._

GERMANY: A. D. 1612.
Election of the Emperor Matthias.

GERMANY: A. D. 1618-1620.
The Thirty Years War: Hostilities in Bohemia precipitated by
Ferdinand.
His election to the imperial throne and his deposition in
Bohemia.
Acceptance of the Bohemian crown by Frederick, the Palatine
Elector.
His unsupported situation.
The Treaty of Ulm.

"The emperor was not a little disconcerted when he received
the news of what was passing [in Bohemia]. For whence could he
receive the aid necessary to put down these revolutionary acts
and restore order in Bohemia? Discontent, indeed, was scarcely
less formidably expressed even in his Austrian territories,
whilst in Hungary its demonstration was equally as serious.
Conciliation appeared to be the only means of preserving to
the house of Austria that important country, and even the
confessor and usual counsellor of the emperor, Cardinal
Klesel, the most zealous opponent of the Protestants, advised
that course. But such considerations were most strenuously
opposed by young Ferdinand. ... At his instigation, and that
of the other archdukes, backed by the pope, the pacific
Cardinal Klesel was unexpectedly arrested, and charged with a
variety of crimes. The intention was to remove him from the
presence of the old and weak emperor, who was now without
support, and obliged to resign all to the archdukes. From this
moment the impotency of the emperor was complete, and all
hopes of an amicable pacification of Bohemia lost. The
Bohemians, likewise, took to arms, and possessed themselves of
every city in their country as far as Budweis and Pilsen,
which were still occupied by the imperial troops. They
obtained assistance, quite unlooked for, in the person of one
who may be regarded as one of the most remarkable heroes of
that day. ... Count Ernest of Mansfield, a warrior from his
youth, was of a bold and enterprising spirit; he had already
encountered many dangers, and had just been raising some
troops for the Duke of Savoy against the Spaniards. The duke,
who now no longer required them, gave him permission to serve
in the cause of the Evangelical Union in Germany; and by that
body he was despatched with 3,000 men to Bohemia, as having
apparently received his appointment from that country. He
appeared there quite unexpectedly, and immediately took from
the imperial army the important city of Pilsen [November 21,
1618]. ... The Emperor Matthias died on the 10th of March,
1619 ... and the Bohemians, who acknowledged his sovereignty
while living, now resolved to renounce his successor
Ferdinand, whose hostile intentions were already too clearly
expressed. Ferdinand attained the throne under circumstances
the most perplexing.
{1468}
Bohemia in arms, and threatening Vienna itself with invasion;
Silesia and Moravia in alliance with them; Austria much
disposed to unite with them; Hungary by no means firmly
attached, and externally menaced by the Turks; besides which,
encountering in every direction the hatred of the Protestants,
against whom his zeal was undisguised. ... Count Thurn
advanced upon Vienna with a Bohemian army. ... He came before
Vienna, and his men fired, even upon the imperial castle
itself, where Ferdinand, surrounded by open and secret foes,
had taken up his quarters. He dared not leave his capital, for
by so doing Austria, and with it the preservation of the
empire itself, must have been sacrificed. But his enemies
looked upon him as lost; and they already spoke of confining
him in a convent, and educating his children in the Protestant
faith. ... Count Thurn was obliged soon to return to Bohemia,
as Prague was menaced by the armies of Austria, and Ferdinand
availed himself of this moment in order to undertake another
hazardous and daring project. ... He ... resolved to proceed
to Frankfort to attend the election of emperor. The spiritual
electors had been gained over; Saxony also adhered closely to
the house of Austria; Brandenburg was not unfriendly; hence
the opposition of the palatinate alone against him could
accomplish nothing; accordingly Ferdinand was unanimously
chosen emperor on the 28th of August, 1619." Just two days
previously, on the 26th of August, the Bohemians, at a general
assembly of the states, had formally deposed Ferdinand from
the kingship of their nation, and proceeded to elect another
king in his place. "The Catholics proposed the Duke of Savoy
and Maximilian of Bavaria, whilst, in the Protestant interest,
the Elector John George of Saxony, and Frederick V., of the
palatinate, were put forward. The latter obtained the
election, being a son-in-law of King James I. of England, from
whom they expected assistance, and who personally was regarded
as resolute, magnanimous, and generous. The incorporated
provinces of Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia supported the
election, and even the Catholic states of Bohemia pledged
their fidelity and obedience. Frederick was warned against
accepting so dangerous a crown by Saxony, Bavaria, and even by
his father-in-law; but his chaplain, Scultetus, and his own
consort, Elizabeth, who as the daughter of a king aspired to a
royal crown, persuaded him with all their influence to accept
it. Frederick was accordingly ruled by them, received the
regal dignity in Bohemia, and was crowned at Prague with great
pomp on the 25th of October, 1619. ... Ferdinand in returning
from Frankfort passed on to Munich, and there concluded with
the Duke of Bavaria that important treaty which secured to him
the possession of Bohemia. These two princes had been
companions in youth, and the Evangelical Union had by several
incautious proceedings irritated the duke. Maximilian
undertook the chief command in the cause of the Catholic
party, and stipulated with the house of Austria that he should
be indemnified for every outlay and loss incurred, to the
extent even, if necessary, of the surrender of the territories
of Austria itself into his hands. With Spain, also, the
emperor succeeded in forming an alliance, and the Spanish
general, Spinola, received orders to invade the countries of
the palatinate from the Netherlands. Subsequently the Elector
of Mentz arranged a convention at Mülhausen with the Elector
John George of Saxony, the Elector of Cologne, and the
Landgrave Lewis of Darmstadt, wherein it was determined to
render all possible assistance to the emperor for the
maintenance of his kingdom and the imperial dignity.
Frederick, the new Bohemian king, was now left with no other
auxiliary but the Evangelical Union; for the Transylvanian
prince, Bethlen Gabor, was, notwithstanding all his promises,
a very dubious and uncertain ally, whilst the troops he sent
into Moravia and Bohemia were not unlike a horde of savage
banditti. Meanwhile the union commenced its preparations for
war, as well as the league. The whole of Germany resembled a
grand depot for recruiting. Every eye was directed to the
Swabian district, where the two armies were to meet; there,
however, at Ulm, on the 3rd of July, 1620, they unexpectedly
entered into a compact, in which the forces of the union
engaged to lay down their arms, and both parties pledged each
other to preserve peace and tranquillity. The unionists felt
themselves too weak to maintain the contest, since Saxony was
now likewise against them, and Spinola threatened them from
the Netherlands. It was, however, a great advantage for the
emperor, that Bohemia was excluded from this treaty, for, now
the forces of the league were at liberty to aid him in
subjugating his royal adversary. Maximilian of Bavaria,
therefore, immediately took his departure, and on his war
reduced the states of Upper Austria to the obedience due to
Ferdinand, joined the imperial army, and made a spirited
attack upon Bohemia. On the other side, the Elector of Saxony
took possession of Lusatia in the name of the emperor."

_F. Kohlrausch,
History of Germany,
chapter 22._

ALSO IN:
_S. R. Gardiner,
History of England, 1603-1642,
chapters 29-32 (volume 3)._

_W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapters 46-48 (volume 2)._

_Miss Benger,
Memoirs of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia,
chapters 6-9 (volumes 1-2)._

GERMANY: A. D. 1620.
The Thirty Years War: Disappointment of the Bohemians in
their elected king.
Frederick's offensive Calvinism.
Defeat of his army before Prague.
Loss of Bohemian liberties.
Prostration of Protestantism.

"The defection of the Union accelerated the downfall of
Frederick; but its cordial support could scarcely have
hindered it. For the Bohemians had been disappointed in their
king, disappointed in the strength they had expected from him
through his connexions, equally disappointed in the man, and
in the hopes of protection and sympathy which they had
expected from him in the exercise of their religion. Within a
month of his coronation the metropolitan church was spoiled of
its images, the crucifix cut in pieces, the statues of the
saints cast out, broken, and burnt, the ornaments used in
divine service, and venerable in the eyes of Catholics and
Lutherans alike, scattered here and there, and turned upside
down with contempt and execration. These proceedings, which
were presumed, not without reason, to have the king's
authority--for during their enactment the court chaplain
addressed the people in praise of this purgation of the
temple--called forth loud complaints and increased the
disaffection which, more than any external force brought
against Frederick, produced his ruin.
{1469}
Early in November Maximilian appeared before Prague, and found
the Bohemians, under Christian van Anhalt, skilfully and
strongly posted on the Weissenberg [White Mountain] to offer
battle. The cautious Bucquoi would have declined the offer,
and attacked the city from another point; but an enthusiastic
friar who broke in upon the conference of the leaders, and,
exhibiting a mutilated image of the Virgin, reproached them
with their hesitation, put to flight all timid counsels. The
battle began at twelve o'clock. It was a Sunday, the octave of
the festival of All Saints [November 8, 1620]. ... In the
Catholic army Bucquoi was at the head of the Imperial
division. Tilly commanded in chief, and led the front to the
battle. He was received with a heavy fire; and for half an
hour the victory trembled in the balance: then the Hungarians,
who had been defeated by the Croats the day before, fled, and
all the efforts of the Duke of Saxe Weimar to rally them
proved fruitless. Soon the whole Bohemian army, Germans,
English, horse and foot, fled in disorder. One gallant little
band of Moravians only, under the Count of Thurn and the young
Count of Sehlick, maintained their position, and, with the
exception of their leaders, fell almost to a man. The battle
lasted only an hour; but the victory was not the less
complete. A hundred banners, ten guns, and a rich spoil fell
into the hands of the victors. Four thousand of the Bohemian
army, but scarcely as many hundreds of their opponents (if we
may believe their account), lay dead upon the field. ...
Frederick had returned from the army the day before, with the
intelligence that the Bavarians were only eight (English)
miles distant; but relying on the 28,000 men which he had to
cover his capital, he felt that night no uneasiness. ... He
had invited the English ambassadors to dine; and he remained
to entertain them. After dinner he mounted his horse to ride
to the Star Park; but before he could get out of the city
gate, he was met with the news of the total overthrow of his
army. His negotiations with Maximilian failing, or receiving
no answer, the next morning he prepared for flight. ...
Accompanied by his queen, Van Anhalt, the Prince of Hohenlohe,
and the Count of Thurn, he made a precipitate retreat from
Prague, leaving behind him the insignia of that monarchy which
he had not the wisdom to firmly establish, nor resolution to
defend to the last. It must be confessed, however, that his
position, after the defeat at Prague, was not altogether so
promising, and consequently his abandonment of his capital not
altogether so pusillanimous, as some have represented."

_B. Chapman,
History of Gustavus Adolphus,
chapter 5._