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=DU BELLAY'S PROJECTS.=

FRANCE, or at least the king and the influential men, appeared at this time to be veering towards a moderate Reform. Francis I. seemed to have some liking for his sister's religion; but there were other motives inclining him to entertain these ideas. Finding himself without allies in Europe, he endeavoured to gain the friendship of the protestants, hoping that with their help he would be in a condition to oppose the emperor and restore the French preponderance in Italy. One man in particular set himself the task of directing his country into a new path; this was William du Bellay, brother to the Bishop of Paris, and 'one of the greatest men France ever had,' says a catholic historian.243 A skilful, active, and prudent diplomatist, Du Bellay called to mind the memorable struggles that had formerly taken place between the popes and the kings of France; he believed that christendom was in a state of transition, and desired, as the Chancellor de l'Hôpital did in later years, that the new times should be marked with more liberty, and not with more servitude, as the Guises, the Valois, and the Bourbons would have wished. He went even farther: he thought that the sixteenth century would substitute for the papacy of the middle ages a form of christianity, catholic of course, but more in conformity with the ancient Scriptures and the modern requirements. From that hour his dominant idea, his chief business, was to unite catholic France to protestant Germany.

Having received the instructions of Francis I., Du Bellay left Honfleur, where the king was staying,244 on the 11th of March, 1532, and crossed the Rhine about the middle of April. At Schweinfurth-on-the-Maine, between Wurtzburg and Bamberg, he found an assembly composed of a few protestant princes on one side, and a few mediators on the other, among whom was the elector-archbishop of Mayence. As this brings us into Germany, it is necessary that we should take a glance at what had happened there since the great diet of Augsburg in 1530.245

The catholics and protestants had made up their minds at that time for a contest, and everything foreboded the bursting of the storm in the next spring (1531). There were, so to say, two contrary currents among the friends of the Reformation in Germany. One party (the men of prudence) wished that the evangelical states should seek powerful alliances and prepare to resist the emperor by force of arms; the other (the men of piety) called to mind that the Reformation had triumphed at Augsburg by faith, and added that from faith all its future triumphs were to be expected. These two parties had frequent meetings at Wittemberg, Torgau, and elsewhere. One man especially, with open countenance and firm look, whose lips seemed always ready to speak, made his clear and sonorous voice heard: this was Luther. 'To God alone,' he told the elector, 'belongs the government of the future; your Highness must therefore persevere in that faith and confidence in God which you have just displayed so gloriously at Augsburg.'246 But the jurists of Torgau were not entirely of that opinion, and they endeavoured to prove that their rights in the empire authorised the protestants to repel force by force. Luther was not to be shaken. 'If war breaks out,' he replied, 'I call God and the world to witness, that the Lutherans have in no wise provoked it; that they have never drawn the sword, never thrown men into prison, never burnt, killed, and pillaged, as their adversaries have done; and, in a word, that they have never sought anything but peace and quietness.'247 The politicians smiled at such enthusiasm, and said that in real life things must go on very differently. A conference was appointed for the consideration of what was to be done, and in the meanwhile great efforts were made to win over new allies to the protestant cause.

=ALLIANCE OF SMALCALD.=

On the 29th of March, 1531, the deputies of the protestant states met at Smalcald, in the electorate of Hesse. In the eyes of the peace party this was a place of evil omen: the town was fortified, and there were iron mines in the neighbourhood, from which arms have been manufactured and cannons founded. As the deputies proceeded to the castle of Wilhelmsburg, built on a hill near the town, they wore a mournful anxious look. They were disappointed in the hope they had entertained of seeing Denmark, Switzerland, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania join them. Nevertheless they did not hesitate, notwithstanding their weakness, to assert their rights against the power of Charles V. Nine princes and eleven cities entered into an alliance for six years 'to resist all who should try to constrain them to forsake the Word of God and the truth of Christ.'

This resolution was received with very different sentiments. Some said that it was an encroachment on the spirituality of the Church; others maintained that since liberty of conscience was a civil as well as a religious right, it ought to be upheld, if necessary, by force of arms. They soon went farther. Some persons proposed, with a view of making the alliance closer, to introduce into all the evangelical churches a perfect uniformity both of worship and ecclesiastical constitution; but energetic voices exclaimed that this would be an infringement of religious liberty under the pretence of upholding it. When the deputies met again at Frankfort, on the 4th of June, these generous men said boldly: 'We will maintain diversity for fear that uniformity should, sooner or later, lead to a kind of popery.' They understood that the inward unity of faith is better than the superficial unity of form.248

After various negotiations the evangelicals met at Schweinfurth to receive the proposals of their adversaries; and it was during this conference (April and May 1532) that the ambassador of the King of France arrived. When the protestants saw him appear, they were rather embarrassed; but still they received him with respect. He soon found out in what a critical position the men of the confession of Augsburg were placed. True, the mediators offered them peace, but it was on condition that they made no stipulations in favour of those who might embrace the Gospel hereafter. This proposal greatly irritated the Landgrave of Hesse, his chancellor Feig, and the other members of the conference. 'What!' exclaimed the Hessians, 'shall a barrier be raised between protestantism and popery, and no one be allowed to pass it?... No! the treaty of peace must equally protect those who now adhere to the confession of Augsburg and those who may hereafter do so.'—'It is an affair of conscience,' wrote the evangelical theologians, and Urban Regius in particular; 'this is a point to be given up on no account.'249 The electoral prince himself was resolved to adopt this line of conduct.

=LUTHER OPPOSES DIPLOMACY AND WAR.=

Luther was not at Schweinfurth, but he kept on the look-out for news. He spoke about the meeting to his friends; he attacked the schemes of the politicians; all these negotiations, stipulations, conventions, signatures, ratifications, and treaties in behalf of the Gospel annoyed him. When he learnt what they were going to do at Schweinfurth, he was dismayed. To presume to save the faith with protocols was almost blasphemous in his eyes! One of his powerful letters fell like a bomb-shell into the midst of the conference. 'When we were without any support,' he said, 'and entirely new in the empire, with struggles and combats all around us, the Gospel triumphed and truth was upheld, despite the enemies who wished to stifle them both. Why should not the Gospel triumph now with its own strength? Why should it be necessary to help it with our diplomacy and our treaties? Is not God as mighty now as then? Does the Almighty want us to vote the aid that we mean to give him in future by our human stipulations?'...

These words of Luther caused general consternation. People said to one another that 'the Doctor had been ill, and that he had consoled his friends by saying: "Do not be afraid; if I were to sink now, the papists would be too happy; therefore I shall not die." They added that his advice against treaties was no doubt a remnant of his fever; the great man is not quite right in his mind; the prince-electoral and the excellent chancellor Bruck wrote to the elector, who was in Saxony, that everybody was against Luther, who appeared to have no understanding of business.' But the reformer did not suffer himself to be checked; on the contrary, he begged the elector to write a sharp letter to his representatives. 'The princes and burgesses have embraced the Gospel at their own risk and peril,' he said, 'and in like manner every one must in future receive and profess it at his own expense.' At the same time he began to agitate Wittemberg, and drew up an opinion which Pomeranus signed with him. In it he said: 'I will never take upon my conscience to provoke the shedding of blood, even to maintain our articles of faith. It would be the best means of destroying the true doctrine, in the midst of the confusions of war.'250 The reformer thought that if the Lutherans and the Zwinglians, the Germans and the Swiss united, they would feel so strong, that they would assume the initiative and draw the sword—which he wished to avert by all means in his power.

=DU BELLAY'S OVERTURES.=

But the politicians were not more inclined to give way than the theologians. On the contrary, they made preparations for receiving the ambassador of France, in which, however, there was some difficulty. The diplomatist's arrival compromised them with the imperialists; they could not receive him in the assembly at Schweinfurth, since catholic princes would be present. The protestants therefore went a few miles off, to the little town of Königsberg in Franconia, between Coburg, Bamberg, and Schweinfurth. Here they formed themselves into a secret committee and received the ambassador. 'Most honoured lords,' said Du Bellay, 'the king my master begs you will excuse him for not having sent me to you sooner. That proceeds neither from negligence nor from want of affection, but because he desired to come to some understanding with the King of England, who also wishes to help you in your great enterprise. The negotiations are not yet ended; but my august master, desirous of avoiding longer delay, has commissioned me to say that you will find him ready to assist you. Yes, though he should do it alone; though his brother of England (which he does not believe) were to refuse; though the emperor should march his armies against you, the king will not abandon you. On the honour of a prince, he said. I have received ample powers to arrange with you about the share of the war expenses which his Majesty is ready to pay.'251

The circumstances were not favourable for the proposals of Francis I. The pacific ideas of Luther prevailed. The Elector of Saxony, who was then ill, desired to die in peace. He therefore sided with the reformer, and it was agreed to name in the act of alliance the princes and cities that had already adhered to the confession of Augsburg, and that they alone should be included in the league. These peaceful ideas of the protestants did not harmonise with the warlike ideas of King Francis. Du Bellay was not discouraged, and skilfully went upon another tack; while the Saxon diplomatists were compelled to yield to the will of their master, Du Bellay remarked a young prince, full of spirit and daring, who spared nobody and said aloud what he thought. This was the Landgrave of Hesse, who complained unceasingly either of Luther's advice, or of the resolution of the conference. 'The future will show,' he told everybody, 'whether they have acted wisely in this matter.' The minister of Francis I., who was of the landgrave's opinion, entered into communication with him.

An important question—the question of Wurtemberg—at that time occupied Germany. In 1512 Duke Ulrich, annoyed because he had not more influence in the Suabian league, had seceded from it, quarrelled with the emperor, thrown that prince's adherents into prison, burdened his subjects with oppressive taxes, and caused trouble in his own family. In consequence of all this, the emperor expelled him from his states in 1519 and 1520, and he took refuge in his principality of Montbéliard. It seemed that adversity had not been profitless to him. In 1524, when Farel went to preach the Reformation at Montbéliard, Ulrich (as we have seen252 ) defended religious liberty. When the emperor was at Augsburg in 1530, wishing to aggrandise the power of Austria, he had given the duchy of Wurtemberg to his brother Ferdinand, to the great indignation of the protestants, and especially of the landgrave. 'We must restore the legitimate sovereign in Wurtemberg,' said this young and energetic prince: 'that will take the duchy from the catholic party and give it to the protestants.' But all the negotiations undertaken with this view had failed. If, however, one of the great powers of Europe should take up the cause of the dukes of Wurtemberg, their restoration would be easier. Francis I. had not failed to see that he could checkmate the emperor here. 'As for the Duke of Wurtemberg,' said Du Bellay to the Königsberg conference, 'the king my lord will heartily undertake to serve him to the utmost of his power, without infringing the treaties.'253 The landgrave had taken note of these words, and their result was to establish the Reformation in a country which is distinguished by its fervent protestantism and its zeal in propagating the Gospel to the ends of the world.

=PEACE OF NUREMBERG.=

A mixed assembly of catholics and protestants having met at Nuremberg in the month of May, the protestants demanded a council in which everything should be decided 'according to the pure Word of God.' The members of the Romish party looked discontented: 'It is a captious, prejudiced, and anti-catholic condition,' they said. Yet, as the Turks were threatening the empire, it was necessary to make some concessions to the Reformation, in order to be in a condition to resist them. The violent fanatics represented to no purpose that Luther was not much better than Mahomet; peace was concluded at Nuremberg on the 23rd of July, 1532, and it was agreed that, while waiting for the next free and general council, the status quo should be preserved, and all Germans should exercise a sincere and christian friendship. This first religious peace cheered with its mild beams the last days of the elector John of Saxony. On the 14th of August, 1532, that venerable prince, whom even the imperialists styled 'the Father of the German land,' was struck with apoplexy. 'God help me!' he exclaimed, and immediately expired. 'Wisdom died with the elector Frederick,' said Luther, 'and piety with the elector John.'

Yet Du Bellay was always harassed by the desire of emancipating from Rome that France which the Medici, the Guises, the Valois, and afterwards the Bourbons, were about to surrender to her. He therefore increased his exertions among the protestants to induce them to accept the friendship, if not the alliance, of his master. But they had no great confidence in 'the Frenchman;' they were afraid that they would be surprised, deceived, and then abandoned by Francis; they 'shook with fear.' The ambassador was more urgent than ever; he accepted the conditions of the protestants, and the two parties signed a sort of agreement. Du Bellay returned to Francis I., who was then in Brittany, and the king having heard him, sent him instantly to England, to give Henry VIII. a full account of all his negotiations with the protestant princes.254

Thus politicians were intriguing on every side. In Germany, France, and England, the princes imagined that they could conquer by means of diplomacy; but far different were the forces by which the victory was to be gained. In the midst of all this activity of courts and cabinets, there was an inner and secret activity which stirred the human mind and excited in it a burning thirst, which the truth and the life of God alone could quench. Centuries before, as early as 1020, the revival had begun in Aquitaine, at Orleans, and on the Rhine. Men had proclaimed that christians 'ought to be filled with the Holy Ghost; that God would be with them, and would give them the treasures of his wisdom.'255 This inward movement had gone on growing from age to age. The Waldenses in the twelfth century, the purest portion of the Albigenses in the thirteenth, Wickliffe and the Lollards in the fourteenth, and John Huss and his followers in the fifteenth, are the heroes of this noble war. This christian life arose, increased, and spread; if it was extinguished in one country, it reappeared in another. The religious movement of the mind gained strength; the electricity was accumulated in the battery; the mine was charged, and the explosion was certain erelong. All this was being accomplished under the guidance of a sovereign commander. He applied the match in the sixteenth century by the hand of Luther; once more he sprang the mine by the powerful preaching of Calvin, Knox, and others. It was this that won the victory, and not diplomacy. However, we have not yet done with it.

=MEETING OF FRANCIS AND HENRY.=

At this time Francis I. was enraptured with Henry VIII., calling him his 'good brother' and 'perpetual ally.' Wearied of the pope and of the popedom, which appeared as if unable to shake off the tutelage of Charles V., the King of France saw Germany separating from Rome, and England doing the same, and Du Bellay was continually asking him why he would not conclude a triple alliance with these two powers? Such a coalition, formed in the name of the revival of learning and of reform in the Church, would certainly triumph over all the opposition made to it by ignorance and superstition. Francis I. had not made up his mind to break entirely with the pope, though he was resolved to unite with the pope's enemies. In order to conclude a close alliance with Henry, he chose the moment when that prince was most out of humour with the court of Rome. The articles were drawn up on the 23rd of June, 1532.256

The two kings were not content with making preparations only for the great campaign they meditated against the emperor and Rome: they determined to have an interview. On the 11th of October, 1532, the gallant Henry, accompanied by a brilliant court, crossed the Channel and arrived at Calais, at that time an English possession; while the elegant Francis, attended by his three sons and many of his nobles, arrived at Boulogne one or two days later. The great point with Francis was glory—a victory to be gained over Charles V.; the great point with Henry was to gratify his passions, and as Clement VII. thwarted him, he had a special grudge against the pope. With such hatreds and such intentions, it was easy for the two kings to come to an understanding.

Their first meeting was at Boulogne, in the abbot's palace, where they stayed four days under the same roof. Francis was inexhaustible in attentions to his guest; but the important part of their business was transacted in one of their closets, where these impetuous princes confided to each other their anger and their plans. The King of England gave vent to 'great complaints and grievances' against Clement VII. 'He wants to force me to go to Rome in person. If he means to institute an inquiry, let him send his proctors to England. Let us summon the pope (he added) to appear before a free council empowered to inquire into the abuses under which princes and people suffer so severely, and to reform them.'257

Francis, who also had 'goodwill to complain,' filled the abbot's palace with his grievances: 'I have need of the clergy-tenths (the tenth part of the Church revenues), in order that I may resist the Turk; but the holy father opposes my levying them. I have need of all the resources of my subjects; but the holy father is continually inventing new exactions, which transfer the money of my kingdom into the coffers of the popedom. He makes us pay annates, maintain pontifical officers at a great expense, and give large presents to prothonotaries, valets, chamberlains, ushers, and others. And what is the consequence? The clergy are poor; the ruined churches are not repaired; and the indigent lack food.... Most assuredly the Roman government is only a net to catch money. We must have a council.'258

The two princes resolved to 'take from the pope the obedience of their kingdoms,' as Guicciardini says.259 However, before resorting to extreme measures, Francis desired to begin with milder means, and Henry was forced to consent that France should forward his grievances to Rome.

=THE MASKED LADY.=

After living together for four days at Boulogne, Henry and Francis went to Calais, where the latter found his apartments hung with cloth of gold, embroidered with pearls and precious stones. At table, the viands were served on one hundred and seventy dishes of solid gold. Henry gave a grand masked ball, at which the King of France was considerably tantalised by a masked lady of very elegant manners with whom he danced. She spoke French like a Frenchwoman, abounded in wit and grace, and knew, in its most trifling details, all the scandal of the court of France. The king declared the lady to be charming, and her neck the prettiest he had ever seen. He little imagined then that this neck would one day be severed by the orders of Henry VIII. At the end of the dance, the King of England, with a smile, removed the lady's mask, and showed the features of Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke, who (it will be recollected) had been brought up at the court of the French king's sister.260

Pleasure did not make the two princes forget business. They were again closeted, and signed a treaty, in accordance with which they engaged to raise an army of 65,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry, intended apparently to act against the Turks.261 Du Bellay's policy was in the ascendant. 'The great king,' he said, 'is staggering from his obedience.'262

=FRANCIS THREATENS SEPARATION.=

Wishing to make a last effort before determining to break with the pope, Francis summoned Cardinals de Tournon and de Gramont, men devoted to his person, and said to them: 'You will go to the holy father and lay before him in confidence both our grievances and our dissatisfaction. You will tell him that we are determined to employ, as soon as may be advisable, all our alliances, public as well as private, to execute great things ... from which much damage may ensue and perpetual regret for the future. You will tell him that, in accord with other christian princes, we shall assemble a council without him, and that we shall forbid our subjects in future to send money to Rome. You will add—but as a secret and after taking the pope aside—that in case his holiness should think of censuring me and forcing me to go to Rome for absolution, I shall come, but so well attended that his holiness will be only too eager to grant it me....

'Let the pope consider well,' added the king, 'that the Germans, the Swiss League, and several other countries in Christendom, have separated from Rome. Let him understand that if two powerful kings like us should also secede, we should find many imitators, both Italians and others;263 and that, at the least, there would be a greater war in Europe than any known in time past.'264

Such were the proud words France sent to Rome. The two kings separated. A young prince, held captive by Charles V., gave them the first opportunity of acting together against both emperor and pope.

243 Le Grand, Hist. du Divorce de Henri VIII. i. p. 20.

244 'Ex oppido unde fluctu Lexoviorum.'—Rommel, Philippe le M. ii. p. 259.

245 History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, vol. iv. bk. xiv. ch. xii.

246 Lutheri Epp. iv. p. 201—Dec. 1530.

247 Warnung an seine lieben Deutschen. Lutheri Opp. lib. xx. p. 298.

248 Seckendorf, pp. 1174-1192, sqq.

249 Urban Regius to the Landgrave.

250 Lutheri Epp. iv. pp. 335, 337, 369, 372, sqq.

251 Du Bellay, Mémoires, pp. 168, 169, Paris, 1588. The historian is very well informed, especially on everything concerning his brother's missions.

252 Hist. of the Ref. of the Sixteenth Cent. vol. iii. bk. xii. chap. xi.

253 Du Bellay, Mémoires, pp. 171, 172.

254 Du Bellay, Mémoires, pp. 171, 172.

255 'Deus tibi comes nunquam deerit, in quo sapentiæ thesauri atque divitiarum consistunt.' See Ademarus, monk of Angoulême in 1029, Chronic. Gesta Synodi Aurelianensis, &c.

256 The articles are given in Herbert's Life of Henry VIII. p. 366, sqq. Du Bellay, Mémoires, p. 171.

257 Du Bellay, Mémoires, p. 173.

258 Du Bellay, Mémoires, pp. 173, 174.

259 Guicciardini, Hist. des Guerres d'Italie, ii. liv. xx. p. 893.

260 'The French king talked with the marchioness a space.'—Hall, p. 794.

261 Le Grand, Hist. du Divorce de Henri VIII. p. 238.

262 Brantôme, Mémoires, i. p. 235.

263 The words tant italiens que autres, are not in the speech delivered at Calais according to Du Bellay; but they are in the written instructions given to the two cardinals. Preuves des Libertés, p. 260.

264 Du Bellay, Mémoires, pp. 175, 176, sqq.