Читать книгу History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8) - J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - Страница 73

Table of Contents

THE emperor, having descended the Italian slopes of the Alps and crossed the north of Italy, arrived at Bologna on the 5th of December, 1532, somewhat annoyed at the escape of Duke Christopher, but not suspecting that it would lead to any serious consequences. This city, afterwards made famous by Guido, Domenichino, the two Caracci, and by Benedict XIV., one of the most distinguished popes of the eighteenth century, grew more animated every day. The pope had arrived there: princes, nobles, prelates, and courtiers filled its splendid palaces; a new world was in motion around the churches, the Asinelli, the fountain of Neptune, and the other monuments which adorn that ancient city. The emperor had desired a conference with the pope, with the intention of uniting closely with him, and through him with the other catholic princes, to act together against their two enemies, France and the Reformation. But Charles was mistaken if he thought to find himself alone with the pope at Bologna. He was to meet with opponents who would hold their own against him: a struggle was about to begin around Clement VII. between France and the empire. Francis I., who had just had a conference with Henry VIII., did not care, indeed, to meet Charles; but his place in Italy was to be supplied by men who would do his work better than he could do it himself. On the 4th of January, 1533, Cardinals de Tournon and de Gramont, sent by Francis to Clement to threaten him with a certain 'great injury' which he might have cause to regret for ever, arrived in this city. Would the presence of the two cardinals thwart Charles's plans?

=PLANS OF CHARLES V.=

The first point which the emperor desired to carry was the convocation of a general council. A grave man and always occupied with business, he possessed a soul greedy of dominion. Ferdinand and Isabella having founded their power in Spain by restoring that country to unity, he desired to do in central Europe what they had done in the peninsula, that is, unite it under his patronage, if not under his sceptre. And lo! Germany is suddenly broken in his hands and divided into two parts. Sad humiliation! When he had crossed the Alps, after Soliman's retreat, he had no longer that unlimited confidence in his genius and authority which he had felt two years before, when going to the diet of Augsburg. He had come from Spain to crush that new sect which thwarted the dreams of his ambition; and instead of crushing it, he had been forced to recognise it. After the retreat of the Turks, Charles found himself at the head of a numerous and triumphant army, and men asked one another if he would not fall upon the protestants with it; but the best soldiers of that army were protestant themselves. Other means must be resorted to in order to bring the schism to an end. He weighed everything carefully, and brought to this business that nice and calm attention which always distinguished him. Knowing that the result of an appeal to arms was uncertain, and that instead of restoring concord he might stir up a hatred that nothing could extinguish, he decided in favour of a council to restore unity, and made his demand to the pope at Bologna. But Clement VII. feared a council as much as Charles desired it. 'They would want to redress grievances,' he said to his confidants, 'and reform abuses, quite as much as to extirpate heresy.' Possessing great intelligence and rare ability, vain, cunning, false, and with no elevation of soul, Clement determined to put off this assembly indefinitely, although always promising it. While the emperor recognised the inefficiency of temporal arms, the pope felt still more keenly the inefficiency of spiritual arms. Each of these two personages distrusted the power of which he had most experience. The humble Gospel of the reformers intimidated both Church and Empire. Clement conferred on the subject with the Archbishop of Cortona, governor of Bologna, with the legate Campeggio, and with the nuncio Gambara: all agreed with him, and declared that to desire to bring back protestants to the Romish faith otherwise than by force was a very perilous enterprise.

=CLEMENT AGAINST A COUNCIL.=

As, however, neither the pope nor the emperor would give way, they desired a conference, at which each would endeavour to convince the other. A day, therefore, was appointed, and the two potentates met in the palace of Bologna. Charles represented to Clement, that 'a great number of catholics desired and demanded a council as necessary to destroy the heresy of Luther, which was gaining strength every day, and to suppress the numerous disorders that existed in the Church.'352 But the pope replied: 'If we assemble a council, and permit the protestants to be present and to question the doctrines sanctioned by the Church, they will attack them all, and numberless innovations will be the result. If, on the contrary, we do not allow them to speak, they will say that they are condemned unheard; they will leave the assembly, and the world will believe that we are in the wrong. As the protestants reject the decisions of past councils, how can we hope that they will respect the decisions of future councils? Do we not know their obstinacy? When we put forward the authority of the Church, do they not set the authority of Holy Scripture in its place? They will never acknowledge themselves defeated, which will be a great scandal. If the council decrees that the pope is above the council (which is the truth), the heretics will hold another, and will elect an anti-pope (Luther, perhaps). Sire, the remedy which you propose will give rise to greater evils than those which we have now to cure.'353

The papacy in the sixteenth century had fallen into a state of inertia. It was active enough as a political power; but as a spiritual power it was nothing. It had great pretensions still, as far as appearances went; but it was satisfied if certain preferences and a certain pomp were conceded to it. It was afraid of everything that possessed any vitality, and feared not only those it called heretics, but even an assembly consisting of prelates of the Roman Church. And while the papacy was thus affected with a general weakness as regards spiritual powers, the Reformation was full of vigour and of life. It was a young warrior attacking a decrepid veteran. Besides these general causes, there were private motives which added to Clement's inactivity; but these he kept to himself. When he was alone in his chamber, he called to mind that his birth was not legitimate; that the means he had used to obtain the popedom had not been irreproachable; and that he had often employed the resources of the Church for his own interest ... in waging a costly war, for instance. All this might be brought against him in a council, and endanger his position. But as his position was dearer to him than the unity of the Church, he would grant nothing, and so reduced Charles to despair by his evasions.

The hatred which the emperor bore to the pope was still further increased by the pontiff's resistance.354 In his anger he appealed to the cardinals. At first he succeeded, having brought powerful inducements into play, and a consistory decided in favour of the immediate convocation of a council. The alarmed Clement set to work to bring back the misguided cardinals, and he was successful; for a second consistory, held on the 20th of December, coincided with the pope. 'We cannot think of assembling a council,' said the sacred college, 'before we have reconciled all the christian princes.'355 The emperor openly expressed his dissatisfaction. Wait until Henry VIII., Francis I., and Charles V. are agreed ... as well put it off to the Greek calends! Clement endeavoured to pacify him. He would assemble it at a suitable time, he said; and then, as he feared that the Germans, on hearing of his refusal, would hold a national council, he sent off envoys to prevent it, at the same time hinting to the emperor that they were empowered to prepare that nation for a general council.356 Was Charles V. the pope's dupe? It is a doubtful point. Clement, an enthusiastic disciple of his fellow-countryman Machiavelli, was, conformably to the instructions of his master, supple and false, without conscience and without faith. But the emperor knew full well that such were the precepts of the illustrious Florentine.

=ITALIAN LEAGUE.=

For some time past Charles had been silently meditating another project which, he thought, could not fail to render him master of Italy. It was the formation of a defensive Italian league against Francis. He communicated his plan to the pope with the reserve and ability that characterised him, and set himself up as the defender of Rome. Clement, however, did not believe in his generosity, but on the contrary feared that this confederation would give him a master; nevertheless he appeared to be charmed with it. 'Yes!' he exclaimed, 'Italy must set itself against the ambition of France.' At the same time he informed the ambassador of Venice that he had said these things, not as being his own opinion, but the emperor's. 'Report this prudently to your lords,' he added.357 The pontiff had always two faces and two meanings.

In reality, he did not know what course to pursue. At one time he was ready to throw himself into Charles's arms and run the same chances with him; and then, on learning what had taken place at Boulogne and Calais, he trembled lest the King of France should throw off his obedience. These two terrible monarchs made a shuttlecock of the pope, and drove him to despair. But he remembered how Machiavelli had said, that the world is governed by two things—force and cunning; and leaving the former to the emperor, he took refuge in the latter. 'Accordingly Clement determined to move softly,' says Du Bellay, 'temporising, quibbling, waiting, and stopping to see what the French cardinals would bring him.' They arrived just at this critical moment. It was an ill-omened embassy for France, since no event of the sixteenth century did more to strengthen the dominion of intrigue, cowardice, debauchery, crime, and persecution in that country.

=THE FRENCH ENVOYS AND CLEMENT.=

Cardinal de Tournon, the most influential of the two ambassadors, was a skilful priest, devoted to the pope and popery, cruel, the accomplice of the Guises in after years, and all his life one of the greatest enemies of religious liberty. His colleague, Cardinal de Gramont, Bishop of Tarbes and afterwards Archbishop of Toulouse, was a more pliable diplomatist, and had been employed in England at the time of the dissolution of Henry's marriage with Catherine of Arragon. The first of these two men was the more hierarchical, the second the more politic; but both had the interests of their master Francis at heart. Their mission was difficult, and they had many a consultation about what was to be done. Tournon was ready to sacrifice everything, truth in the first place, in order to unite the king with the pope. 'It is to be feared,' he said to his colleague, 'that if we let the holy father know all the discontent of the two kings, we shall but increase his despair; and that the emperor, profiting by our threats, will gain him over and do with him as he likes, which would lead to the disturbance of christendom.' Instead of carrying out the Calais resolutions, Tournon and Gramont determined to put them aside. They thought that Francis I. was going wrong, and desired to be more royalist than the king himself. To win the pope from Charles V. and give him to Francis I. was the great work they resolved to attempt at Bologna. The emperor was there, and he was a stout antagonist; but the two priests were not deficient in skill. To save catholicism threatened in France, and to lay the kingdom at the pope's feet, was their aim. 'Let us carry out our instructions,' they said, 'by beginning with the last article. Instead of employing severity first and mildness last, we will do just the contrary.'358

The two cardinals having been received by the pontiff, paid him every mark of respect, and tried to make him understand that, for the good of the holy see, he ought to preserve the goodwill of the most christian king. They therefore proposed an interview with Francis, and even with the King of England, that prince being eager to put an end to the difficulties of the divorce. 'Finally,' they added, laying a slight stress upon the word, 'certain proposals, formerly put forward in the king's name, might be carried out.'359 —'These proposals,' says Du Bellay, 'would lead, it must be understood, to the great exaltation of the pope and his family.' The last argument was the decisive stroke which gained Clement VII.

Francis, even while desiring to throw off the Roman tutelage, wished to gain the support of the pope in order to humiliate Charles V. He had therefore revived a strange idea, which he had once already hinted at, without overcoming, however, the excessive repugnance which it caused him. But he saw that the moment was critical, and that, to ally himself with both Henry and Clement, he must make some great sacrifice. He had therefore sent a special ambassador to Bologna, to carry out a scheme which would fill all Europe with surprise: a deplorable combination which by uniting the pope, indissolubly as it appeared, to the interests of the Valois, was sooner or later to separate France from England, change the channel that divides them into a deep gulf, infuse Florentine blood into the blood of France, introduce the vilest Machiavellism into the hearts of her kings who boasted of their chivalrous spirit, check the spread of learning, turn back on their hinges the gates that were beginning to open to the sun, confine the people in darkness, and install an era of debauchery, persecution, and assassination both private and public.

The special ambassador charged with the execution of this scheme was John, Duke of Albany, qualified by his illustrious birth for transacting the great affair. Alexander Stuart, son of James II., King of Scotland, having been exiled by his eldest brother James III., had gone to France in 1485. His son John, the last Duke of Albany, attached himself to Louis XII., and followed him into Italy. Being recalled to Scotland, he was made regent of the kingdom in 1516, and again quitted his country to follow Francis I. into Lombardy. This royal personage, supported by Gramont and Tournon, was commissioned by the King of France to propose to the pope the marriage of his son Henry, Duke of Orleans, with a girl of fourteen, a relative of the popes, and who was named Catherine de Medici.

=CATHERINE DE MEDICI.=

Catherine was the daughter of Lorenzo II. de Medici, nephew of Leo X., and invested by his uncle in 1516 with the duchy of Urbino. Lorenzo, who had made himself hateful by his despotism, died the very year of his daughter's birth (1519). The duchy reverted to Leo X., and subsequently to its former masters the Della Rovera, and Catherine was left a portionless orphan. A marriage with this girl, descended from the rich merchants of Florence, was a strange alliance for the son of a king, and it was this that made Francis hesitate; but the desire of winning the pope's favour from his rival helped him at last to overcome his haughty disgust. Clement, who held (says Du Bellay) his family 'in singular esteem,' was transported with delight at the offer. A Medici on the throne of France!... He could not contain himself for joy. At the same time Francis intended to make a good bargain. He asked through the Duke of Albany, whose wife was Catherine's maternal aunt, that the pope should secure to his son Henry a fine Italian state composed of Parma, Florence, Pisa, Leghorn, Modena, Urbino, and Reggio; besides (said the secret articles) the duchy of Milan and the lordship of Genoa, which, added the French diplomatists, 'already belong to the future husband.' In order to fulfil these engagements the pope was to employ his influence, his negotiations, his money, and his soldiers. Clement said that the conditions were very reasonable.360 He knew perfectly well that he could not give these countries to his niece; but that was the least of his cares. The preceding year, when he was speaking to Charles's ambassador of the claims of Francis upon Italy, the Austrian diplomatist had said abruptly: 'The emperor will never yield either Milan or Genoa to the King of France.'—'Impossible, no doubt!' answered the pope, 'but could not they be promised to him?'361 ... The scion of the Medici brought to France neither Genoa nor Milan, nor Parma, nor Piacenza, nor Pisa, but in their stead she gave it the imbecile Francis II., the sanguinary Charles IX., the abominable Henry III., the infamous Duke of Anjou, and also that woman, at once so witty and dissolute, who became the wife of Henry IV., and in comparison with whom Messalina appears almost chaste. Four children of the Medici are among the monsters recorded in history, and they have been the disgrace and the misery of France.

=PROPOSALS OF MARRIAGE.=

The pope stalked proudly and haughtily through the halls of his palace, and gave everybody a most gracious reception. This good-luck, he thought, had come from heaven. Not only did it cover all his family with glory, but secured to him France and her king, whose reforming caprices began to make him uneasy; 'and then,' adds Du Bellay, 'he was very pleased at finding this loophole, to excuse himself to the emperor, who was pressing him so strongly to enter into the Italian league.'362 Nevertheless the pope stood in awe of Charles V., who seemed eager to set himself up for a second Constantine, and he appeared anxious and embarrassed.

Charles, whom nothing escaped, immediately remarked this, and thought to himself that some new wind had blown upon the pontiff. In order to find it out, he employed all the sagacity with which he was so eminently endowed. 'The emperor knew from the language and countenance of the holy father,' says Du Bellay, 'that he was less friendly towards him than before, and suspected whence the change proceeded.'363 Charles had heard something about this marriage some time before; but the ridiculous story had only amused him. The King of France unite himself with the merchants of Florence!... And Clement can believe this!... 'Hence Charles V., thinking,' as Du Bellay tells us, 'that the affair would never be carried out, had advised the pope to consent.'364

=HENRY'S OPINION OF THE MARRIAGE.=

Meanwhile Francis lost no time. He had commissioned Du Bellay, the diplomatist, to communicate his intentions to his good brother the King of England, who had a claim to this information, as he was godfather to the future Henry II.—worthy godfather, and worthy godson! The self-conceit of the Tudor was still more hurt than that of the Valois. He said to Lord Rochford, whom he despatched to the King of France: 'You will tell the Most Christian King, our very dear brother, the great pleasure that we enjoy every day by calling to mind the pure, earnest, and kind friendship he feels for us.'365 He added: 'Since our good brother has asked us, we are willing to declare, that truly (as we know how he himself considers it), having regard to the low estate and family from which the pope's niece is sprung, and to the most noble and most illustrious blood, ancestry, and royal house of France, from which descends our very dear and very beloved cousin and godson, the Duke of Orleans, the said marriage would be very ill-matched and unequal; and for this reason we are by no means of opinion that it ought to be concluded.'366 At the same time, after Henry had given his advice as a sovereign, he could not fail to consult his personal interests; and Rochford (Anne Boleyn's father) was to say to the King of France: 'If, however, by this means our brother should receive some great advantage, which should redound to the profit and honour both of himself and us; if the pope should do or concede anything to counterbalance and make up for the default of noble birth ... let him be pleased to inform us of it; he will find us very prompt to execute whatever shall be thought advisable, convenient, and opportune by him and us.'367 Henry, therefore, consented that Francis should deal with the pope about his godson: he only wished that he might be sold dear. His full restoration to the favour of the court of Rome after his marriage with Anne Boleyn was the price that he asked. And then the royal godfather, who was at heart the most papistical of kings, would have declared himself fully satisfied and the pope's most humble servant.

352 'Concilii, desiderati da molti, come necessarii per la eresia di Lutero, che ogni di ampliava e per molti discordini che sono nella chiesa.'—Guicciardini, Discorsi politici, Opere inedite, i. p. 388.

353 'Al contrario, remedio e piu pericoloso et poi partorire maggiori mali.'—Lettere di Principi, ii. p. 197. Du Bellay, Mémoires, pp. 183-185.

354 'Il papa con chi forse avea odio.'—Guicciardini, loc. cit.

355 Despatch of the Bishop of Auxerre, ambassador of France, dated December 24, 1532.

356 Instructions for the nuncio Rangoni. Pallavicini, liv. iii. ch. xiii.

357 Despatch of the Bishop of Auxerre, dated January 1, 1533.

358 Du Bellay, Mémoires, p. 177.

359 Du Bellay, Mémoires, p. 178.

360 The secret articles are in the Bibliothèque Impériale at Paris. MSS. Béthune, No. 8541, fol. 36. Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte, iii. p. 439.

361 Bucholz, ix. p. 101. Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte, iii. p. 439.

362 Du Bellay, Mémoires, p. 178.

363 Ibid. p. 179.

364 Ibid. p. 180.

365 Henry's instructions are in French. State Papers, vii. p. 423.

366 Ibid. p. 428.

367 Ibid.