Outlines of Universal History Part 33

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.--The grand achievement in maritime exploration in this age was the discovery of _America_ by _Christopher Columbus_, a native of _Genoa_. The conviction that India could be reached by sailing in a westerly direction took possession of his mind. Having sought in vain for the patronage of _John II_. of Portugal, and having sent his brother _Bartholomew_ to apply for aid from _Henry VII_. of England, he was at length furnished with three s.h.i.+ps by Queen _Isabella_ of Castile, to whom Granada had just submitted (1492). Columbus was to have the station of grand admiral and viceroy over the lands to be discovered, with a tenth part of the incomes to be drawn from them, and the rank of a n.o.bleman for himself and his posterity. The story of an open mutiny on his vessels does not rest on sufficient proof: that there were alarm and discontent among the sailors, may well be believed. On the 11th of October, _Columbus_ thought that he discovered a light in the distance. At two o'clock in the morning of Oct. 12, a sailor on the _Pinta_ espied the dim outline of the beach, and shouted, "Land, land!" It was an island called _Guanahani_, named by Columbus, in honor of Jesus, _San Salvador_. Its beauty and productiveness excited admiration; but neither here nor on the large islands of _Cuba_ (or _Juana_) and _Hayti_ (_Hispaniola_), which were discovered soon after, were there found the gold and precious stones which the navigators and their patrons at home so eagerly desired. _Columbus_ built a fort on the island of _Hispaniola_, and founded a colony. The name of _West Indies_ was applied to the new lands. _Columbus_ lived and died in the belief that the region which he discovered belonged to India. Of an intermediate continent, and of an ocean beyond it, he did not dream. The Pope granted to _Ferdinand_ and _Isabella_ all the newly discovered regions of America, from a line stretching one hundred leagues west of the _Azores_. Afterwards _Ferdinand_ allowed to the king of Portugal that the line should run three hundred and seventy, instead of one hundred, leagues west of these islands. In two subsequent voyages (1493-1496, 1498-1500), _Columbus_ discovered _Jamaica_ and the Little _Antilles_, the _Caribbean_ Islands, and finally the mainland at the mouths of the Orinoco (1498). In 1497 _John Cabot_, a Venetian captain living in England, while in quest of a north-west pa.s.sage to India, touched at _Cape Breton_, and followed the coast of _North America_ southward for a distance of nine hundred miles. Shortly after, _Amerigo Vespucci_, a Florentine, employed first by _Spain_ and then by _Portugal_, explored in several voyages the coast of _South America_. The circ.u.mstance that his full descriptions were published (1504) caused the name of _America_, first at the suggestion of the printer, to be attached to the new world.

LATER VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS.--On his return from his first voyage, _Columbus_ was received with distinguished honors by the Spanish sovereigns. But he suffered from plots caused by envy, both on the islands and at court. Once he was sent home in fetters by _Bobadilla_, a commissioner appointed by _Ferdinand_. He was exonerated from blame, but the promises which had been made to him were not fulfilled. A fourth voyage was not attended by the success in discovery which he had hoped for, and the last two years of his life were weary and sad. _Isabella_ had died; and in 1506 the great explorer, who with all his other virtues combined a sincere piety, followed her to the tomb.

THE PACIFIC.--The spirit of adventure, the hunger for wealth and especially for the precious metals, and zeal for the conversion of the heathen, were the motives which combined in different proportions to set on foot exploring and conquering expeditions to the unknown regions of the West. The exploration of the _North-American_ coast, begun by _John Cabot_ (perhaps also by his son), and the Portuguese _Cortereal_ (1501), continued from _Labrador_ to _Florida_. In 1513 _Balboa_, a Spaniard at _Darien_, fought his way to a height on the Isthmus of _Panama_, whence he descried the _Pacific Ocean_. Descending to the sh.o.r.e, and riding into the water up to his thighs, in the name of the king he took possession of the sea. In 1520 _Magellan_, a Portuguese captain, sailed round the southern cape of _America_, and over the ocean to which he gave the name of _Pacific_. He made his way to the _East Indies_, but was killed on one of the _Philippine Islands_, leaving it to his companions to finish the voyage around the globe. A little later the Spaniards added first _Mexico_, and then _Peru_, to their dominions.

CONQUEST OF MEXICO.--The Spanish conqueror of Mexico, the land of the _Aztecs_, was _Hernando Cortes_ (1485-1547). The princ.i.p.al king in that country was _Montezuma_, whose empire was extensive, with numerous cities, and with no inconsiderable advancement in arts and industry. From _Santiago_, in 1519, Cortes conducted an expedition composed of seven hundred Spaniards, founded _Vera Cruz_, where he left a small garrison, subdued the tribe of _Tlascalans_ who joined him, and was received by _Montezuma_ into the city of _Mexico_. _Cortes_ made him a prisoner in his own palace, and seized his capital. The firearms and the horses of the Spaniards struck the natives with dismay. Nevertheless, they made a stout resistance. To add to the difficulties of the shrewd and valiant leader, a Spanish force was sent from the West Indies, under _Narvaez_, to supplant him. This force he defeated, and captured their chief. In 1520 _Cortes_ gained over the Mexicans, at _Otumba_, a victory which was decisive in its consequences. The city of Mexico was _recaptured_ (1521); for _Montezuma_ had been slain by his own people, and the Spaniards driven out. _Guatimozin_, the new king, was taken prisoner and put to death, and the country was subdued. _Cortes_ put an end to the horrid religious rites of the Mexicans, which included human sacrifices. Becoming an object of jealousy and dread at home, he was recalled (1528). Afterwards he visited the peninsula of _California_, and ruled for a time in _Mexico_, but with diminished authority.

CONQUEST OF PERU.--The conquest of _Peru_ was effected by _Francisco Pizarro_, and _Almagro_, both illiterate adventurers, equally daring with _Cortes_, but more cruel and unscrupulous. The _Peruvians_ were of a mild character, prosperous, and not uncivilized, and without the savage religious system of the Mexicans. They had their walled cities and their s.p.a.cious temples. The empire of the _Incas_, as the rulers were called, was distracted by a civil war between two brothers, who shared the kingdom. _Pizarro_ captured one of them, _Atahualpa_, and basely put him to death after he had provided the ransom agreed upon, amounting to more than $17,500,000 in gold (1533). _Pizarro_ founded _Lima_, near the sea-coast (1535). _Almagro_ and _Pizarro_ fell out with each other, and the former was defeated and beheaded. The land and its inhabitants were allotted among the conquerors as the spoils of victory. The horrible oppression of the people excited insurrections. At length _Charles V._ sent out _Pedro de la Gasca_ as viceroy (1541), at a time when _Gonzalo Pizarro_, the last of the family, held sway. _Gonzalo_ perished on the gallows. _Gasca_ reduced the government to an orderly system.

THE AMAZON.--_Orellena_, an officer of _Pizarro_, in 1541 first descended the river _Amazon_ to the Atlantic. His fabulous descriptions of an imaginary _El Dorado_, whose capital with its dazzling treasures he pretended to have seen, inflamed other explorers, and prompted to new enterprises. The cupidity of the Spaniards, and their eagerness for knightly warfare, made the New World, with its floral beauty and mineral riches, a most enticing field for adventure. To devout missionaries, to the monastic orders especially, the new regions were not less inviting. They followed in the wake of the Spanish conquerors and viceroys.

REVIVAL OF LEARNING.--The stirring period of invention and of maritime discovery was also the period of "the revival of learning." Italy was the main center and source of this intellectual movement, which gradually spread over the other countries of Western Europe. There was a thirst for a wider range of study and of culture than the predominantly theological writings and training of the Middle Ages afforded. The minds of men turned for stimulus and nutriment to the ancient cla.s.sical authors. _Petrarch_, the Italian poet (1304-1374), did much to foster this new spirit. In the fifteenth century the more active intercourse with the Greek Church, and the efforts at union with it, helped to bring into Italy learned Greeks, like _Chrysoloras_ and _Bessarion_, and numerous ma.n.u.scripts of Greek authors. The fall of _Constantinople_ increased this influx of Greek learning. The new studies were fostered by the Italian princes, who vied with one another in their zeal for collecting the precious literary treasures of antiquity, and in the liberal patronage of the students of cla.s.sical literature. The ma.n.u.scripts of the Latin writers, preserved in the monasteries of the West, were likewise eagerly sought for. The most eminent of the patrons of learning were the _Medici_ of Florence. _Cosmo_ founded a library and a Platonic academy. All the writings of _Plato_ were translated by one of that philosopher's admiring disciples, _Marsilius Ficinus_. Dictionaries and grammars, versions and commentaries, for instruction in cla.s.sical learning, were multiplied. These, with the ancient poets, philosophers, and orators themselves, were diffused far and wide by means of the new art of printing, and from presses, of which the _Aldine_--that of _Aldus Minutius_--at _Venice_ was the most famous. "By the side of the Church, which had hitherto held the countries of the West together (though it was unable to do so much longer) there arose a new spiritual influence, which, spreading itself abroad from Italy, became the breath of life for all the more instructed minds in Europe."

CONTEST OF THE NEW AND THE OLD CULTURE.--In Germany, the new learning gained a firm foothold. But there, as elsewhere, the _Humanists_, as its devotees were called, had a battle to fight with the votaries of the mediaeval type of culture, who, largely on theological grounds, objected to the new culture, and were stigmatized as "obscurantists."

In Italy, the study of the ancient heathen writers had engendered, or at least been accompanied by, much religious skepticism and indifference. This, however, was not the case in Germany. But the champions of the scholastic method and system, in which logic and divinity, as handled by the schoolmen, were the princ.i.p.al thing, were strenuously averse to the linguistic and literary studies which threatened to supplant them. The advocates of the new studies derided the lack of learning, the barbarous style, and fine-spun distinctions of the schoolmen, who had once been the intellectual masters. The disciples of _Aristotle_ and of the schoolmen still had a strong hold in _Paris_, _Cologne_, and other universities. But certain universities, like _Tubingen_ and _Heidelberg_, let in the humanistic studies. In 1502 _Frederick_, the elector of Saxony, founded a university at _Wittenberg_, in which from the outset they were prominent. In _England_, the cause of learning found ardent encouragement, and had able representatives in such men as _Colet_, dean of St. Paul's, who founded St. Paul's School at his own expense; and in _Thomas More_, the author of _Utopia_, afterwards lord chancelor under _Henry VIII_.

REUCHLIN: ULRICH VON HUTTEN.--A leader of humanism in Germany was _John Reuchlin_ (1455-1522), an erudite scholar, who studied Greek at Paris and Basel, mingled with _Politian_, _Pica de Mirandola_, and other famous scholars at _Florence_, and wrote a Hebrew as well as a Greek grammar. This distinguished humanist became involved in a controversy with the _Dominicans_ of _Cologne_, who wished to burn all the Hebrew literature except the Old Testament. The Humanists all rallied in support of their chief, to whom heresy was imputed, and their success in this wide-spread conflict helped forward their cause. _Ulrich von Hutten_, one of the young knights who belonged to the literary school, and others of the same cla.s.s, made effective use, against their illiterate antagonists, of the weapons of satire and ridicule.

ERASMUS.--The prince of the Humanists was _Desiderius Erasmus_ (1467-1536). No literary man has ever enjoyed a wider fame during his own lifetime. He was not less resplendent for his wit than for his learning. Latin was then the vehicle of intercourse among the educated. In that tongue the books of _Erasmus_ were written, and they were eagerly read in all the civilized countries. He studied theology in _Paris_; lived for a number of years in _England_, where, in company with _More_ and _Colet_, he fostered the new studies; and finally took up his abode at _Basel_. In early youth, against his will, he had been for a while an inmate of a cloister. The idleness, ignorance, self-indulgence, and artificial austerities, which frequently belonged to the degenerate monasticism of the day, furnished him with engaging themes of satire. But in his _Praise of Folly_, and in his _Colloquies_, the two most diverting of his productions, he lashes the foibles and sins of many other cla.s.ses, among whom kings and popes are not spared. By such works as his editions of the Church Fathers, and his edition of the Greek Testament, as well as by his multifarious correspondence, he exerted a powerful influence in behalf of culture. If he incurred the hostility of the conservative Churchmen, he still adhered to the Roman communion, and won unbounded applause from the advocates of liberal studies and of practical religious reforms.

LITERATURE IN ITALY.--The first effect of the revival of letters in Italy was to check original production in literature. The charm of the ancient authors who were brought out of their tombs, the belles-lettres studies, and the criticism awakened by them, naturally had this effect for a time. Italy had two great authors in the vernacular, the poet _Ariosto_ (1474-1533), and _Machiavelli_: it had, besides, one famous historian, _Guicciardini_ (1482-1540).

RENAISSANCE OF ART.--This period was not simply an era of grand exploration and discovery, and of the new birth of letters: it was the brilliant dawn of a new era in art. Sculpture and painting broke loose from their subordination to Church architecture. Painting, especially, attained to a far richer development.

ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE.--In architecture and sculpture, the influence of the antique styles was potent. Under the auspices of _Brunelleschi_ (1377-1446), the _Pitti Palace_ and other edifices of a like kind had been erected at _Florence_. At _Rome, Bramante_ (who died in 1515), and, in particular, _Michael Angelo_ (1475-1564), who was a master in the three arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and a poet as well, were most influential. The great Florentine artist _Ghiberti_ (1378-1455), in the bronze gates of the Baptistery, exhibited the perfection of bas-relief. The highest power of _Michael Angelo_, as a sculptor, is seen in his statue of Moses at Rome, and in the sepulchers of Julian and Lorenzo de Medici at Florence. A student of his works, _Cellini_ (1500-1571) is one of the men of genius of that day, who, like his master, was eminently successful in different branches of art. In the same period, there were sculptors of high talent in Germany, especially at _Nuremberg_, where _Adam Kraft_ (1429-1507), and _Peter Vischer_ (1435-1529), whose skill is seen in the bronze tomb of _Sebaldus_, in the church of that saint, are the most eminent. After the death of _Michael Angelo_, in Italy there was a decline in the style of sculpture, which became less n.o.ble and more affected.

PAINTING IN ITALY.--The ancients had less influence on the schools of painting than on sculpture. In painting, as we have seen, _Giotto_ (1266-1337), a contemporary of the poet _Dante_, and _Cimabue_ (who died about 1302), had led the way. The art of perspective was mastered; and real life, more or less idealized, was the subject of delineation. In Italy, there arose various distinct styles or schools. The _Florentine_ school reached its height of attainment in the majestic works of _Michael Angelo_, the frescos of the Sistine Chapel at Rome. The _Roman_ school is best seen in the _stanzas_ of the Vatican, by _Raphael_ (1483-1520), and in the ideal harmony and beauty of his Madonnas. Prior to Michael Angelo and Raphael, there was the symbolic religious art of the _Umbrian_ painters. Of these, the chief was _Fra Angelico_ (1387-1455), the devout monk who transferred to the canvas the tenderness and fervor of his own gentle spirit. The _Venetian_ school, with its richness of color, has left splendid examples of its power in the portraits of _t.i.tian_ (1477-1576), the works of _Paul Veronese_ (who died in 1588), and the more pa.s.sionate products of the pencil of _Tintoretto_ (who died in 1594). The _Lombard_ school has for its representatives the older contemporary of _Raphael_, _Leonardo da Vinci_ (1452-1519), who combines perfection of outward form with deep spirituality, and by whom _The Last Supper_ was painted on the wall of the cloister at _Milan_; and _Correggio_ (1494-1534), whose play of tender sensibility, and skill in the contrasts of light and shade in color, are exhibited in _The Night_, or _Wors.h.i.+p of the Magi_ (at _Dresden_), and in his frescos at _Parma_. The school of _Bologna_, founded by the three _Caracci_, numbers in its ranks _Guido Rent_ (1575-1642), gifted with imagination and sensibility, and _Salvator Rosa_ (1615-1673), who depicted the more wild and somber aspects of nature and of life.

MICHAEL ANGELO AND RAPHAEL.--The two foremost names in the history of Italian art are _Michael Angelo_ and _Raphael_. "If there is one man who is a more striking representative of the Renaissance than any of his contemporaries, it is Michael Angelo. In him character is on a par with genius. His life of almost a century, and marvelously active, is spotless. As an artist, we can not believe that he can be surpa.s.sed. He unites in his wondrous individuality the two master faculties, which are, so to speak, the poles of human nature, whose combination in the same individual creates the sovereign greatness of the Tuscan school,--invention and judgment,--a vast and fiery imagination, directed by a method precise, firm, and safe." Raphael lacks the grandeur and the many-sided capacity of the great master by whom he was much influenced. Raphael "had a nature which converted every thing to beauty." He produced in a short life an astonis.h.i.+ng number of works of unequal merit; but to all of them he imparted a peculiar charm, derived from "an instinct for beauty, which was his true genius."

PAINTING IN THE NETHERLANDS.--In the Netherlands, a school of painting arose under the brothers _Van Eyck_ (1366-1426, 1386-1440). One of them, _John_, was the first artist to paint in oil. At a later day, a cla.s.s of painters, of whom _Rubens_ (1577-1640) is the most distinguished, followed more the track of the ancients and of the Italian school. These belonged to _Flanders_ and _Brabant_; while in _Holland_ a school sprang up of a more original and independent cast, in which genius of the highest order was manifested in the person of _Rembrandt_ (1607-1669), its most eminent master.

PAINTING IN GERMANY AND FRANCE.--In _Germany_, a school marked by peculiarities of its own was represented by _Hans Holbein_ (who died in 1543), and by _Albert Durer_ the Nuremberg artist (1471-1528). In Spain, _Murillo_ (1617-1682) combined inspiration with technical skill, and stands on a level with the renowned Italians. _Velasquez_ (1599-1660), an artist of extraordinary power, is most distinguished for his portraits. The French artists mostly followed the Italian styles. _Claude Lorraine_ (1600-1682) was the painter of landscapes that are luminous in sunlight and atmosphere. In England, the humorous _Hogarth_ (1697-1764) was much later.

MUSIC.--Music shared in the prosperity of the sister arts. The interest awakened in its improvement paved the way in _Italy_ for _Palestrina_ (1514-1594), whose genius and labors const.i.tute an epoch. In _Germany, Luther_ became one of the most efficient promoters of musical culture in connection with public wors.h.i.+p. The great German composers, _Bach_ (1685-1750) and _Handel_ (1685-1759), belong to a subsequent period: they are, however, in some degree the fruit of seed sown earlier.

LITERATURE.--For works on general history, see p. 16. For general histories of particular countries, see p. 359.

On Modern Times. Dyer's _History of Modern Europe_; Duruy's _History of Modern Times_ [1453-1789]; Lavisse et Rambaud, _Histoire Generale_, Vol. IV.; _The Cambridge Modern History_, Vol. I.: _The Renaissance_; Heeren, _Political System of Europe_; _Historical Treatises_ (1 vol.); Heeren u. Ukert, _Geschichte der europaisch. Staaten_ (76 vols. 1829 75); T. ARNOLD'S _Lectures on Modern History_; Michelet's _Modern History_ (1 vol.), Yonge's _Three Centuries of Modern History_.

On the Age of the Renaissance. Symonds's _Renaissance in Italy_ (5 vols.); BURCKHARDT'S _The Civilization of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy_ (2 vols.); REUMONT'S _Lorenzo de'

Medici_ (2 vols); Roscoe's _Life of Lorenzo de' Medici_; VILLARI'S _Machiavelli and his Times_; Machiavelli, _History of Florence_; Oliphant, _Makers of Florence: Dante', Giotto, Savonarola, and their city_ (1 vol.); Voigt, _Die Wiederbelebung des cla.s.sischen alterthums_ (1859); Lanzi, _History of Painting_ (3 vols.); Vasari, _Lives of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects_; Crowe and Cavalca.s.selle, _History of Painting in North Italy_ [1300-1500] (2 vols., 1871); Crowe, _Handbook of Painting: the German, Flemish and Dutch Schools_ (2 parts, 1874); Eastlake, _Handbook of Painting, the Italian Schools_ (based on _Kugler_, 2 parts, 1874); Crowe and Cavalca.s.selle, _Life of t.i.tian_ (2 vols.); _Ill.u.s.trated Biographies of the Great Artists_ (14 vols.); Mrs. Jameson, _Lives of Italian Painters_; Grimm, _Life of Michael Angelo_ (2 vols.); Crowe and Cavalca.s.selle, _Life and Works of Raphael_; Fergusson, _History of Modern Styles of Architecture_; RUGE'S _Geschichte d. Zeitalters d. Entdeckungen_ (1 vol. in Oncken's Series); GEIGER'S _Renaissance und Humanismus in Italien und Deutschland_ (1 vol. in Oncken's Series); Lives of Erasmus, by Le Clerc, Jortin, Knight, Burigny (2 vols.), Froude, Emerton, Drummond (2 vols.); Lives of Columbus, by Irving, Major (1847), Harrisse (1884), Markham (1892), Winsor; PRESCOTT'S _History of Ferdinand and Isabella, History of the Conquest of Mexico_, and _History of the Conquest of Peru_; Robertson, _History of America_; Beazly, _Dawn of Modern Geography_ (2 vols.); Fiske, _Discovery of America_ (2 vols.); Payne, _America_ (2 vols.); Scebohm's _Oxford Reformers_; Robinson and Rolfe, _Petrarch_; Creighton, _History of the Papacy during the Reformation_ (Vols. I.-IV.); Pastor, _History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages_ (3 vols.); Janssen, _History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages_ (8 vols.); Whitcomb, _Source Books of the Italian and German Renaissance_; Grant, _The French Monarchy_ (2 vols.); Johnson, _European History in the Sixteenth Century_.

PERIOD II. THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION. (1517-1648)

INTRODUCTION.

The general stir in men's minds, as indicated in the revival of learning and in remarkable inventions and discoveries, was equally manifest in great debates and changes in religion. One important element and fruit of the _Renaissance_ is here seen. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the nations of Western Europe were all united in one Church, of which the Pope was the acknowledged head. There were differences as to the extent of his proper authority; sects had sprung up at different times; and there had arisen leaders, like _Wickliffe_ and _Huss_, at war with the prevailing system. Ecclesiastical sedition, however, had been mostly quelled. Yet there existed a great amount of outspoken and latent discontent. First, complaints were loud against maladministration in Church affairs. There were extortions and other abuses that excited disaffection. Secondly, the authority exercised by the Pope was charged with being inconsistent with the rights of civil rulers and of national churches. Thirdly, disputes sprang up, both in regard to various practices deemed objectionable, like prayers for the dead, and the invocation of saints, and also concerning important doctrines, like the doctrine of the _ma.s.s_ or the Lord's Supper, and the part that belongs to faith in the Christian method of salvation. Out of this ferment arose what is called the Protestant Reformation. The _Teutonic_ nations generally broke off from the Church of Rome, and renounced their allegiance to the Pope. The _Latin_ or _Romanic nations_, for the most part, still adhered to him. As the common idea was that there should be uniformity of belief and wors.h.i.+p in a state, civil wars arose on the question which form of belief should dominate. _Germany_ was desolated for thirty years by a terrible struggle. Yet, in all the conflicts between kingdoms and states in this period, it was plain that political motives, or the desire of national aggrandizement, were commonly strong enough to override religious differences.

When there was some great interest of a political or dynastic sort at stake, those that differed in religion most widely would frequently a.s.sist one another. It is in this period that we see _Spain_, under _Charles V._ and _Philip II._, reach the acme of its power, and then sink into comparative weakness.

CHAPTER I. THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY, TO THE TREATY OF NUREMBERG (1517-1532).

BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION.--The Reformation began in _Germany_, where there was a great deal of discontent with the way in which the Church was governed and managed, and on account of the large amounts of money carried out of the country on various grounds for ecclesiastical uses at Rome. The leader of the movement, _Martin Luther_, was the son of a poor miner, and was born at _Eisleben_ in 1483. He was an Augustinian monk, and had been made professor of theology, and preacher at _Wittenberg_, by the Elector of Saxony, _Frederick the Wise_ (1508). Luther was a man of extraordinary intellectual powers, and a hard student, of a genial and joyous nature, yet not without a deep vein of reflection, tending even to melancholy. He had a strong will, and was vigorous and vehement in controversy. He had been afflicted with profound religious anxieties; but in the study of St. Paul and St. Augustine, and after much inward wrestling, he emerged from them into a state of mental peace. The immediate occasion of disturbance, the spark that kindled the flame, was the sale of indulgences in _Saxony_ by a Dominican monk named _Tetzel_. Indulgences were the remission, total or partial, of _penances_, and, in theory, always presupposed repentance; but, as the business was managed in Germany at that time, it amounted in the popular apprehension to a sale of absolution from guilt, or to the ransom of deceased friends from purgatory for money. These gross abuses were painful to sincere friends of religion. In 1517 _Luther_ posted on the door of the church at _Wittenberg_ his celebrated ninety-five theses. It was customary in those days for public debates to take place in universities, where, as in jousts and tournaments among knights, scholars offered to defend propositions in theology and philosophy against all comers. Such were the "theses" of Luther on indulgences. The public mind was in such a state that a great commotion was kindled by them. Conflict spread; and the name of _Luther_ became famous as a stanch antagonist of ecclesiastical abuses, and a fearless champion of reform. The _Elector_, a religious man, calm and cautious in his temper, was friendly to _Luther_, often sought to curb him, but stretched over him the s.h.i.+eld of his protection.

LUTHER AND LEO X.--Pope _Leo X;_ was of the house of _Medici_, the son of _Lorenzo_ the Magnificent. He had been made nominally a cardinal at the age of thirteen, and had advanced to the highest station in the Church. He was much absorbed in matters pertaining to learning and art, and in political affairs, and at first looked upon this Saxon disturbance as a mere squabble of monks. He attempted ineffectually to bring _Luther_ to submission and quietness, first through his legate _Cajetan_, a scholarly Italian, who met him at _Augsburg_ (1518), and then by a second messenger, _Milt.i.tz_ (1519), a Saxon by birth. A turning-point in Luther's course was a public _disputation_ at _Leipsic_, before Duke _George_; for _ducal_ Saxony was hostile to him. With Luther, on that occasion, was _Philip Melanchthon_, the young professor of Greek at _Wittenberg_, who was a great scholar, and a man of mild and amiable spirit. He became a very effective and noted auxiliary of the reformer, and acquired the honorary t.i.tle of "preceptor of Germany." In the Leipsic debate, when Luther was opposed by the Catholic champion _Eck_, and by others, his own views in opposition to the papacy became more distinct and decided. He soon disputed the right of the Pope to make laws, to canonize, etc., denied the doctrine of purgatory, and avowed his sympathy with _Huss_. He issued a stirring _Address to the Christian n.o.bles of the German Nation_. In 1520 he was excommunicated by the Pope, but the elector paid no regard to the papal bull. Luther himself went so far as publicly to burn it at the gates of the town, in the presence of an a.s.sembly of students and others gathered to witness the scene. Both parties had now taken the extreme step: there was now open war between them. _Jurists_, who were aggrieved by the interference of ecclesiastical with civil courts, supported _Luther_. So the _Humanists_ who had defended _Reuch-lin_, among whom were the youthful literary cla.s.s of which _Ulrich von Hutten_ was one, became his allies. Many among the inferior clergy and the monastic orders sympathized with him.

CONDITION OF GERMANY.--It was now for the _Empire_ to decide between _Luther_ and the _Pope_. The efforts to create a better political system under _Maximilian_ had proved in the main abortive. There was strife between the princes and the knights, as well as between princes and bishops. The cities complained bitterly of oppressive taxation and of lawless depredations. There was widespread disaffection, threatening open revolt, among the peasants.

_Maximilian_ had been thwarted politically by the popes. At first he was glad to hear of _Luther's_ rebellion. He said to _Frederick the Wise_, "Let the Wittenberg monk be taken good care of: we may some day want him." In the latter part of his reign his interests drew him nearer to Rome.

ELECTION OF CHARLES V.--On the death of _Maximilian_ (1519), as the Elector _Frederick_ would not take the imperial crown, there were two rival candidates,--_Francis I._, the king of France, and _Charles I._, of Spain, the grandson of _Maximilian_.

_Francis_ was a gallant and showy personage, but it was feared that he would be despotic; and the electors made choice of _Charles_. The extent of _Charles's_ hereditary dominions in Germany, and the greatness of his power, would make him, it was thought, the best defender of the empire against the Turks. The electors, at his choice, bound him in a "capitulation" to respect the authority of the _Diet_, and not to bring foreign troops into the country. _Charles_ was the inheritor of _Austria_ and the _Low Countries_, the crowns of _Castile_ and _Aragon_, of _Navarre_, of _Naples_ and _Sicily_, together with the territories of Spain in the _New World_; and now he was at the head of the Holy Roman Empire. The concentration of so much power in a single hand could not but provoke alarm in all other potentates. The great rival of _Charles_ was _Francis I._, and the main prize in the contest was dominion in Italy. Charles was a sagacious prince; from his Spanish education, strongly attached to the Roman-Catholic system, and, in virtue of the imperial office, the protector of the Church. Yet with him political considerations, during most of his life, were uppermost. He made the mistake of not appreciating the strength that lay in the convictions at the root of the Protestant movement. He over-estimated the power of political combinations.

DIET OF WORMS.--_Charles V._ first came into Germany in 1521, and met the Diet of the empire at _Worms_. There _Luther_ appeared under the protection of a safe-conduct. He manifested his wonted courage; and in the presence of the emperor, and of the august a.s.sembly, he refused to retract his opinions, planting himself on the authority of the Scriptures, and declining to submit to the verdicts of Pope or council. After he had left _Worms_, a sentence of outlawry was pa.s.sed against him. _Charles_ at that moment was bent on the re-conquest of _Milan_, which the French had taken; and the Pope was friendly to his undertaking, although _Leo X._ had been opposed to _Charles's_ election.

FRANCIS I.--_Francis I._ (1515-1547) aimed to complete the work begun by his predecessors, and to make the French monarchy absolute. By a _concordat_ with the Pope (1516), the choice of bishops and abbots was given into the king's hand, while the Pope was to receive the _annates_, or the first year's revenue of all such benefices. _Francis_ continued the practice of selling judicial places begun under _Louis XII._. He was bent on maintaining the unity of France, and, as a condition, the Catholic system. But he was always ready to help the Protestants in _Germany_ when he could thereby weaken _Charles_. For the same end, he was even ready to join hands with the Turk.

RIVALRY OF CHARLES AND FRANCIS.--Charles claimed the old imperial territories of _Milan_ and _Genoa_. He claimed, also, a portion of Southern France,--the _duchy of Burgundy_, which he did not allow that _Louis XI._ had the right to confiscate. _Francis_ claimed _Naples_ in virtue of the rights of the house of _Anjou_; also Spanish _Navarre_, which _Ferdinand of Aragon_ had seized, and the suzerainty of _Flanders_ and _Artois_. He had gained a brilliant victory over the _Swiss_ at the battle of _Marignano_, in 1515, and reconquered _Milan_. He concluded a treaty of peace with the _Swiss_,--the treaty of _Freiburg_ (1516), which gave to the king, in return for a yearly pension, the liberty to levy troops in Switzerland. This treaty continued until the French Revolution.

FIRST WAR OF CHARLES AND FRANCIS (1521-1526).--Hostilities between _Francis_ and _Charles_ commenced in _Italy_ in 1521. The French were driven from _Milan_ in 1522, which was again placed in the hands of _Francesco Sforza_; and the emperor was soon master of all Northern Italy. _England_ and the _Pope_ sided with _Charles_; and on the death of _Leo X._, a former tutor of the emperor was made his successor, under the name _Adrian VI._ (1522). The most eminent and the richest man in France, next to the king, _Charles of Bourbon_, constable of the kingdom, joined the enemies of _Francis_. He complained of grievances consequent on the enmity of _Louisa of Savoy_, the mother of the king, and attempted, with the aid of the emperor and _Henry VIII._, to create a kingdom for himself in South-eastern France. But the national spirit in France was too strong for such a scheme of dismemberment and foreign conquest to succeed, and all that _Charles_ gained in the end was one brave general. In the winter of 1524-25 _Francis_ crossed the Alps at the head of a brilliant army, and recaptured _Milan_; but he was defeated and taken prisoner at _Pavia_, and the French army was almost destroyed. _Charles_ was able to dictate terms to his captive. It was stipulated in the _Peace of Madrid_ (1526), that _Francis_ should renounce all claim to _Milan, Genoa_, and _Naples_, and to the suzerainty of _Flanders_ and _Artois_, cede the duchy of _Burgundy_, and deliver his sons as hostages, terms which could not be fulfilled.

LUTHER AT THE WARTBURG.--We have now to glance at the events in _Germany_ during the absence of _Charles V. Luther_, although under the ban of the empire, was in no immediate peril while he staid in _Saxony_. The elector, however, thought it prudent to place him in the castle of the _Wartburg_, where he could have a safe and quiet asylum. There he began his translation of the Bible, which, apart from its religious influence, from the vigor and racy quality of its style made an epoch in the literary history of the German people. It was a work of great labor. "The language used by Luther in both the Old and New Testaments did not exist before in so pure, powerful, and genuine a form." While _Luther_ was engaged in this work, a radical movement broke out at _Wittenberg_, of which _Carlstadt_, one of his supporters, was the princ.i.p.al leader. He was for carrying changes in wors.h.i.+p to such an extreme, and for introducing them so abruptly, that the greatest disorder was threatened. Against the wish of the elector, _Luther_ left his retreat, and by his discourses and personal presence quieted the disturbance.

PROGRESS AND REACTION.--No attempt was made to carry out the _Worms_ decree. The reason was that the influential cla.s.ses were so much in sympathy with _Luther's_ cause. The _Imperial Chamber_, which ruled in the emperor's absence, would do nothing against him. Its committee refused to carry out the decree; and a list of "one hundred grievances" was sent to Pope _Adrian VI._, of which the German nation had reason to complain (1523). Events, however, soon occurred that were unfavorable in their effect on the Lutheran movement. The knights banded together in large numbers, under _Franz van Sickingen_, and tried by force of arms to reduce the power of the princes. _Luther_ showed no favor to their plans and doings; but, as their leaders had applauded him, a reaction against innovations, including changes in doctrine, was the natural consequence. Pope _Adrian VI._ was earnestly desirous of practical reforms; but his successor, _Clement VII._ (1523-1534), was of the house of _Medici_, and a man of the world, like _Leo X._ An alliance was made by the Catholic princes and bishops of South Germany at _Ratisbon_ in 1524, to do away with certain abuses, but to prevent the spread of the new doctrine.

THE PEASANTS' WAR.--In 1524 a great revolt of the _peasants_ broke out, and the next year it became general. They were groaning under intolerable burdens of taxation, and other forms of oppression. They demanded liberty in church affairs, and for the preaching of the new doctrine, and release from feudal tyranny. _Luther_ felt and said that they were wronged grievously; but when they took up arms, he, and with him the great middle cla.s.s which he led, took sides strongly against them. The revolt was put down, and its authors inhumanly punished. For a time the peasants had wonderful success. _Napoleon_ wondered that _Charles V._ did not seize the occasion to make Germany a united empire. Then seemed to be a time when the princes could have been stripped of their power. One of the foremost leaders of the rebellion was _Thomas Munzer_. On the defeat of the peasants, he was captured and beheaded.

SECOND WAR BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS (1527-1529).--In the Peace of _Madrid, Charles_ and _Francis_ had agreed to proceed against the Turks and against the heretics. But, after the release of _Francis_, he repudiated the concessions before mentioned (p.

400), which were made, he alleged, under coercion; and with _Clement VII._ he formed a conspiracy against the emperor. The _Diet of Spires_, in 1526, decided to leave each of the component parts of the empire, until the meeting of a general council, to decide for itself as to the course to be taken in the matter of religion and in respect to the edict of _Worms_. In 1527 a German army, largely composed of Lutherans, led by Constable _Bourbon_ and _George Frundsberg_, stormed and captured _Rome_. The Pope made an alliance with _Henry VIII._ A French army under _Lautrec_ appeared at _Naples_, but it was so weakened by a fearful pestilence that it was easily destroyed. The _Pope_ concluded peace with _Charles_ in 1529. The emperor promised to exterminate heresy. In the Peace of _Cambray_, _Francis_ renounced his claims on _Italy_, _Flanders_, and _Artois_: Charles engaged for the present not to press his claims upon _Burgundy_, and set free the French princes.

TO THE PEACE OF NUREMBERG (1532).--The _Diet of Spires_ in 1529 reversed the policy of tacit toleration. It pa.s.sed an edict forbidding the progress of the Reformation in the states which had not accepted it, and allowing in the reformed states full liberty of wors.h.i.+p to the adherents of the old confession. The protest by the Lutheran princes and cities, against the decree of the Diet, gave the name of _Protestants_ to their party. The successful defense of _Vienna_ against an immense army of the Turks under _Soliman_ delivered _Charles_ for the moment from anxiety in that quarter. A theological controversy between the _Lutheran_ and the _Swiss_ reformers, on the _Lord's Supper_, made a division of feeling between them. A conference of the two parties at _Marburg_, in which _Luther_ and _Melanchthon_ met _Zwingli_ and his a.s.sociates, brought no agreement. Every thing was propitious for an effort at coercion; and this was resolved upon at the _Diet of Augsburg_ in 1530, where the emperor was present in person, and where _Melanchthon_ presented the celebrated Protestant _Confession_ of Faith. The threats against the Protestant princes induced them to form the _League of Smalcald_ for mutual defense. But it was found impracticable to carry out the measures of repression against the Lutherans. _Bavaria_ was jealous of the house of _Hapsburg_, and opposed to the plan of the emperor to make his brother, _Ferdinand_ of Austria, his successor. The _Turks_ under _Soliman_ were threatening. _France_ and _Denmark_ were ready to help the Protestants. Accordingly the Peace of _Nuremberg_ was concluded in 1532, in which religious affairs were to be left as they were, and both parties were to combine against the common enemy of Christendom.

CHAPTER II. THE REFORMATION IN TEUTONIC COUNTRIES: SWITZERLAND, DENMARK, SWEDEN, ENGLAND.

THE SWISS REFORMATION: ZWINGLI.--The founder of Protestantism in Switzerland was _Ulrich Zwingli_. He was born in 1484. His father was the leading man in a mountain village. The son, at _Vienna_ and at _Basel_, became a proficient in the humanist studies. He read the Greek authors and the Bible in the original. A curate first at _Glarus_, and then at _Einsiedeln_, he became pastor at _Zurich_. As early as 1518 he preached against the sale of indulgences. He was a scholarly man, bluff and kindly in his ways, and an impressive orator. The Swiss were corrupted by their employment as mercenary soldiers, hired by France, by the Pope, or by the emperor. Of the demoralizing influence of this practice, _Zwingli_ became deeply convinced; and his exertions as a Church reformer were mingled with a patriotic zeal for the moral and political regeneration of Switzerland. Mainly by his influence, _Zurich_ separated from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Constance, and became Protestant in 1524. The example of _Zurich_ was followed by _Berne_ (1528) and by _Basel_ (1529). _Zwingli_ agreed with _Luther_ on the two main points of the sole authority of the Scriptures, and the doctrine of salvation by faith alone; but on the _sacrament_ of the _Lord's Supper_ he went farther in his dissent from the Church of Rome. This made Luther and his followers stand aloof when cordial fellows.h.i.+p was proposed between the two parties.

CIVIL STRIFE: DEATH OF ZWINGLI.--The aim of _Zwingli_ was to establish a republican const.i.tution in the several cantons, and also in the confederation as a body, where the five Forest Cantons had an undue share of power. These adhered to the old Church. In _Berne_ the oligarchic party was supplanted by the republican, reforming party,--an event of decisive importance. As the irritation increased between the Forest Cantons and the cities, the former entered into a league with _Ferdinand_ of Austria, and the cities leaned for support on the German states in sympathy with their opinions. A treaty was made (1529), but each side accused the other of breaking it. At length war began: _Berne_ failed to come to the help of _Zurich_. Each city wished to be the metropolis of the reformed confederation. The forces of _Zurich_ were vanquished at _Cappel_, where _Zwingli_ himself, who was on the field in the capacity of a chaplain, was slain (1531). By the peace of _Cappel_ in 1531, Protestantism was not coerced, but a check was put upon its progress. Neither party was strong enough to subdue the other.