Читать книгу History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8) - J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - Страница 74

Table of Contents

WHEN the emperor was informed of these matters, he began to knit his brows. A flash of light revealed to him the ingenious plans of his rival, and he took immediate steps to prevent the dangerous union. Charles V., Francis I., Henry VIII., and the pope were all in commotion at the thought of this marriage, and little Catherine was the Briseis around whom met and contended the greatest powers of the world.

=DOUBTS INSINUATED BY CHARLES.=

At first the emperor endeavoured to instil into the pope's mind suspicions of the good faith of the King of France. That was no difficult matter. 'Clement dared not feel confident,' says Du Bellay, 'that the king really wished to do him such great honour.'368 —'The Orleans marriage would certainly be very honourable and advantageous,' said Charles V. and his ministers; 'but his holiness must not rely upon it; the king makes the proposal only with the intention of befooling him and using him to his own benefit.'369 And when the pope repeated the promises of Albany, Gramont, and Tournon, the ministers of Charles kept silence, and replied only by a slight smile. The blow had told. Clement, who always tried to deceive, was naturally inclined to believe that the king was doing the same.

When the emperor and the diplomatists saw that they had made a breach, they attempted a new assault. Charles asked the young lady's hand for Francis Sforza, Duke of Milan. This scheme was worthy of that exuberant genius which Charles always displayed in the invention of means calculated to secure the success of his policy. This union would, in fact, have the double advantage of wresting Catherine and the Milanese from France at one blow. Charles hinted to her uncle that he would do much better to accept for his young relative a real marriage than to run after a shadow. 'It is a great offer, and the match is a good one,' said Clement; 'but the other is so grand and so honourable for my house, regard being had to dignities, that I never could have hoped for such honour ... and so much progress has been made, that I cannot listen to any other proposal without offending the king.'370

Clement had become hard to please. If the Medici were the descendants of a merchant, the Sforzas came from a peasant, a leader of free troops, a condottiere. Clement looked down upon the Duke of Milan. 'Besides,' says Guiccardini, 'he burnt with desire to marry his niece to the second son of Francis I.'371 This is what he always came back to. Charles told him that Francis wanted, by this offer, to break up the Italian league, and when that was done, the marriage would be broken off too.372 But Clement maintained that the king was sincere in his offer. 'Good!' said the emperor to the pope; 'there is a very simple means of satisfying yourself on that point. Ask the two cardinals to procure immediately from France the powers necessary for settling the marriage contract. You will soon see whether his proposal is anything better than base money which they want to palm off upon you.'373

The emperor's remarks were not without their effect upon Clement: he was thoughtful and uneasy. The French ambassadors had been lavish of words, but there was nothing written: verba volant. The pope caught at the idea suggested by Charles. If the full powers do not arrive, the king's treachery is unveiled; if they arrive, the game is won. Clement asked for them. 'Nothing is more easy,' said Tournon and Gramont, who wrote to their master without delay.374

=THE KING'S HESITATION.=

Francis I. was startled when he received their despatch. His proposal was sincere, for he thought it necessary to his policy; but the remarks of Charles V. and Henry VIII. about the daughter of the Florentine merchant, and the astonishment of Europe, which unanimously protested against 'such great disparity of degree and condition,'375 had sunk into his mind. He, so proud of his blood and of his crown ... countenance a misalliance! He hesitated; he would only proceed slowly ... step by step ... and with a long interval after each.376 If Charles, who was impatient to return to Spain, should leave Italy without banding it against France ... then ... new facts, new counsel ... he would consider. But now he was driven to the wall: the question must be answered. Shall Catherine de Medici come and sit on the steps of the throne of St. Louis, or shall she remain in Italy? Shall she continue to receive abominable lessons from her relative Alexander de Medici, a detestable prince who exiled and imprisoned even the members of his own family, and confiscated their property, and was addicted to the most scandalous debauchery? ... or shall she come to France to put in practice those lessons among the people of her adoption? The king must make up his mind: the courier was waiting. One thing decided him. His old gaoler, the emperor, said that this marriage proposal was a trick. If Francis refused what the pope asked, Charles would triumph, and turn against him both pope and Italy. The king's ambition was stronger than his vanity, and coming to a desperate resolution, he had the full powers drawn up, signed, and sent off.377

They arrived at Bologna about the middle of February. Albany, Gramont, and Tournon carried them in triumph to the pope, who immediately communicated them to the emperor. The latter read the procuration, which contained 'an express clause for settling the marriage of the Duke of Orleans with the Duchess of Urbino,' and was greatly surprised.378 'You see,' said Clement, 'there is no hole by which he can creep out.' Charles could not believe it. 'The king has only sent this document for a show,' he said to Clement; 'if you press the ambassadors to go on and conclude the treaty, they will not listen to you.'379 A little while ago there had been nothing but words, and now there was only a piece of paper.... The new propositions were communicated to the duke and the two cardinals, who replied: 'We offer to stipulate forthwith the clauses, conditions, and settlements that are to be included in the contract.'380

=THE EMPEROR'S NEW MANŒUVRES.=

Clement breathed again, and believed in the star of the Medici. If that star had placed his ancestors the Florentine merchants at the head of their people, it might well raise Catherine, the niece of two popes, the daughter and grand-daughter of dukes, to the throne of France. He informed the emperor that everything was arranged, and that the terms of the contract were being drawn up. Clement's face beamed with joy. The emperor began to think the matter serious, 'and was astonished and vexed above all,' says Du Bellay, 'at the frustration of his plan, which was to excite the holy father against the king.' Charles saw that the impetuosity of Francis had been too much for his own slowness; but he knew how to retrace his steps, and the fecundity of his genius suggested a last means of breaking up 'this detestable cabal.'—'Since it is so,' he said, 'I require your holiness at least to include among the conditions of the contract now drawing up, the four articles agreed to between us, the first time you spoke to me of this marriage.' Clement appeared surprised, and asked what articles they were. 'You promised me,' said Charles, 'first that the king should bind himself to alter nothing in Italy; second, to confirm the treaties of Cambray and Madrid; third, to consent to a council; and fourth, to get the King of England to promise to make no innovations in his country until the matter of his divorce was settled at Rome.' The King of France would never agree to such conditions; the pope was dismayed. Would he be wrecked just as he had reached the harbour?—'I made no such promises,' he exclaimed eagerly. 'The holy father,' says Du Bellay, 'formally denied ever having heard of these matters.'381 The altercation between the two chiefs of christendom threatened to be violent. Which of them was the liar? Probably the pope had said something of the kind, but only for form's sake, in order to pacify Charles, and without any intention of keeping his promise. He was the first to recover his calmness; he detested the emperor, but he humoured him. 'You well know, Sire,' he said, 'that the profit and honour accorded by the king to my family in accepting my alliance, are so great, that it belongs to him and not to me to propose conditions.'382 He offered, however, to undertake that everything should remain in 'complete peace.' The emperor, a master in dissimulation, tried to conceal his vexation, but without success; this unlucky marriage baffled all his plans. Francis had been more cunning than himself.... Who would have thought it? The King of France had sacrificed the honour of his house, but he had conquered his rival. Confounded, annoyed, and dejected, Charles paced up and down with his long gloomy face, when an unexpected circumstance revived his hopes of completely embroiling the pope and the King of France.

We have witnessed the conferences that took place between Clement and Charles on the subject of a general council. The emperor had asked for one in order 'to bring back the heretics to union with the holy faith, and he observed that if it were not called, it was to be feared that the heretics would unite with the Turks; that they would fancy themselves authorised to lay hands upon the property of the Church, and would succeed in living in that liberty which they called evangelical, but which,' added Charles, 'is rather Mahometan, and would cause the ruin of christendom.'383 The pope, who thought much more of himself and of his family than of the Church, had rejected this demand. He had smiled at seeing the great potentate's zeal for the religious and evangelical question.... Clement never troubled himself about the Gospel: Machiavelli was the gospel of the Medici. They cherished it, and meditated on it day and night; they knew it by heart, and put it into admirable practice. Clement and Catherine were its most devoted followers and most illustrious heroes.

=A LAY COUNCIL PROPOSED.=

The policy of the King of France was quite as interested, but it was more frank and honest. Even while politically uniting with the pope, he did not mean to place himself ecclesiastically under his guardianship. He had, like Henry VIII., the intention of emancipating kings from the pontifical supremacy, and desired to make the secular instead of the papal element predominate in christian society. For many centuries the hierarchical power had held the first rank in Europe: it was time that it gave way to the political power. Francis, having come to a knowledge of the opposite opinions of the pope and the emperor touching the council, slipped between the two and enunciated a third, which filled the emperor with astonishment and the pontiff with alarm. It was one of the greatest, most original, and boldest conceptions of modern times: we recognise in it the genius of Du Bellay and the aspirations of a new era. 'It is true, as the holy father affirms,' said the King of France, 'that the assembling of a council has its dangers. On the other hand, the reasons of the emperor for convoking it are most worthy of consideration; for the affairs of religion are reduced to such a pass that, without a council, they will fall into inextricable confusion, and the consequence will be great evils and prejudice to the holy father and all christian princes. The pope is right, yet the emperor is not wrong; but here is a way of gratifying their wishes, and at the same time preventing all the dangers that threaten us.384 Let all the christian potentates, whatever be their particular doctrine (the King of England and the protestant princes of Germany and the other evangelical states, were therefore included), first communicate with one another on the subject, and then let each of them send to Rome as soon as possible ambassadors provided with ample powers to discuss and draw up by common accord all the points to be considered by the council. They shall have full liberty to bring forward anything that they imagine will be for the unity, welfare, and repose of christendom, the service of God, the suppression of vice, the extirpation of heresy, and the uniformity of our faith. No mention shall be made of the remonstrances of our holy father, or of the decisions of former councils; which would give many sovereigns an opportunity or an excuse for not attending.385 When the articles are thus drawn up by the representatives of the various states of christendom, each ambassador will take a duplicate of them to his court, and all will go to the council, at the time and place appointed by them, well instructed in what they will have to say. If those who have separated from the Roman Church agree with the others, they will in this way take the path of salvation. If they do not agree, at least they will not be able to deny that they have been deaf to reason, and refused the council which they had called for so loudly.'386

This is one of the most remarkable documents that we have met with in relation to the intercourse between France and Rome, and it has not attracted sufficient attention. In it Francis makes an immense stride. Convinced that the new times ought to tread in a new path, he inaugurates a great revolution. He emancipates the political power, so far as regards religious matters, and desires that it shall take precedence of the pontifical power in everything. If his idea had been carried out, great ecclesiastical questions would no longer have been decided in the Vatican, but in the cabinets of princes. This system, indeed, is not the true one, and yet a great step had been taken in the path of progress. A new principle was about to influence the destinies of the Church.

Up to this time the clerical element had reigned in it alone; but now the lay element claimed its place. The new society was unwilling that priests alone should govern christians, just as shepherds lead their flocks. But this system, we repeat, was not the true one. Christian questions ought not to be decided either by pope or prince, but by the ministers of the Church and its members, as of old in Jerusalem by the apostles, elders, and brethren.387 For this we have the authority of God's Word. That evangelical path is forbidden to the Roman-catholic Church; for it is afraid of every christian assembly where the opinions of believers are taken into account, and finds itself miserably condemned to oscillate perpetually between the two great powers—the pope and the king.

=THE LAY COUNCIL REJECTED.=

It was very near the end of February when the emperor received at Bologna this singular opinion of the French king. Having failed in his attempts to prevent the Orleans marriage, he was busy forming the Italian league, and preparing to leave for Spain. Charles instinctively felt the encroachment of modern times in this project of Du Bellay's. To deprive the pope and clergy of their exclusive and absolute authority would lead (he thought) to taking it away from kings also. It seemed to him that popery rendered liberty impossible not only in the Church but also among the people. Francis, or rather Du Bellay, had imagined that Charles would say (as one of his successors said388 ): 'My trade is to be a king,' and that he would grasp at the institution of a diplomatic papacy. But whether Charles wished to profit by this opportunity 'to fish up again' the pope who had plunged into French waters, or simply yielded to his Spanish catholic nature and the desire he felt for unlimited power, he rejected Francis's proposal. 'What!' he exclaimed, 'shall the ambassadors of christian kings and potentates lay down beforehand the points to be discussed in the council?... That would be depriving it of its authority by a single stroke. Whatever is to be discussed in the council ought to depend entirely on the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and not on the appetites of men.'389

=SECULARISATION OF THE POPEDOM.=

This answer vexed Francis considerably. His proposition failing, it became a weapon in the hands of his rival to destroy him. He therefore sought to justify himself. 'I cannot help being surprised,' he said, 'that, with a view to calumniate me, my opinion has been misrepresented to the emperor. Is it not more reasonable to have this business managed by ambassadors who can arrive speedily in Rome, than to wait for a council which at the soonest cannot meet within a year?... And as for everything depending upon the Holy Ghost, assuredly my proposal has been wickedly and malignantly interpreted; for as we shall send ambassadors guided by a sincere affection for the Church, is it not evident that this assembly cannot be without the Holy Ghost?'390 Thus the king, in defending himself, took shelter under the inspiration of his diplomatists. We may well admit that the Holy Ghost was less with the pope than with the king; but He was really with neither of them.

Thus for a moment the idea of Francis I. fell to the ground; it was premature, and only began to be realised in after days by the force of circumstances and in the order of time. It was in 1562, when the council which had been so much discussed, and which opened at Trent in 1545, met for the third time, that this new fashion was introduced into Roman catholicism. The prelates could not come to an understanding, the Italian deputies wishing to maintain everything, while the French and German deputies demanded important concessions with a view to a reconciliation between the princes and their subjects. There were struggles, jests, and quarrels: they came to blows in the streets. The majority of the council were angry because the Roman legates regularly delayed to give their opinions until the courier arrived from Rome. 'Their Inspiration,' said the French, who were always fond of a joke, 'their Inspiration comes to Trent in a portmanteau.' The meeting was about to be broken up, when the papacy, being obliged to choose between two evils, resolved to come to an understanding with the princes. The pope agreed that all important questions should be previously discussed in the secular courts, and the secondary questions be left to the council, provided that all proper respect was shown to the papacy. Rome triumphed within the walls of Trent, but she ceased to be a pure hierarchy. From that hour the political element has had the precedence, and the papacy has become more and more dependent on the secular power. The scheme of Francis I. has been partly realised. There remains, however, one step more to be taken. Instead of the interested decisions of kings, it is the sovereign and unchangeable Word of God which ought to be placed on the throne of the Church.

Charles V. hoped that the singular opinion of the King of France would incline Clement to enter into the Italian league; but the pope was not very susceptible in religious matters. Still, as the emperor was impatient, Clement resolved to give him this trifling satisfaction. Why should he refuse to enter into a league whose object was to exclude Francis I. from Italy? As at that very time he was signing secret articles by which he bound himself to give to France Parma, Piacenza, Urbino, Reggio, Leghorn, Pisa, Modena, and even Milan and Genoa, there was no reason why the worthy uncle of Catherine should not sign another treaty with Charles which stipulated exactly the contrary. Francis would not be alarmed at the pontiff's entering the league; he would understand that it was simply an honorary proceeding, a diplomatic measure. The marriage of the pope's niece caused the poor emperor so much annoyance, that he deserved at least this consolation. Besides, when the pope gave his signature to Charles V., he was doing (as he thought) a very honest thing, for he had not the least intention of keeping the solemn promises he had made to Francis.391

It was now the 28th of February, and the imperial equipage was ready: horses, mules, carriages, servants, officers, noblemen, were all waiting the moment of departure. The ships that were to convey the mighty Charles and his court to Spain were in the harbour of Genoa, ready to weigh anchor. This very day had been fixed for signing the act of the Italian league. The high and mighty contracting powers met in the palace of Bologna. The document was read aloud before the delegates of the princes and sovereigns of Italy included in it. Every one assented, the signatures were affixed, and Clement eagerly added his name, promising himself to sign another contract very shortly with the King of France.

=CARDINALS' HATS ASKED AND GIVEN.=

Everything seemed as if it would pass off in a regular way, without Charles allowing his vexation to break out. That prince, who knew so well how to restrain himself, raised a sensation, however, among the great personages around him. Addressing the pope, he demanded a cardinal's hat for three of his prelates: it was a trifling compliment (he thought) which Clement might well concede him; but the pope granted one hat only. The ambassador of France then came forward, and, on behalf of his master, demanded one for John, Bishop of Orleans and uncle of the Duke of Longueville, which was granted. Then the same ambassador, growing bolder, begged, on behalf of the King of England, a cardinal's hat for the Bishop of Winchester. This was too much for Charles. 'What! ask a favour for a king who has put away my aunt Catherine, who is quarrelling with the pope and rushing into schism!'... 'The emperor took this request,' says Du Bellay, 'in very bad part.'—'We can see clearly,' said Charles to those around him, 'that the affairs of these two kings are in the same scales; that one does not less for the other than for himself.' Then, throwing off his usual reserve, he openly expressed his disapprobation. 'This request of a hat for England,' said he, 'displeases me more than if the ambassador of France had asked four for his master.'392 The diplomatists there present could not turn away their eyes from that face, usually so placid, and now so suddenly animated; they were secretly delighted at seeing any feeling whatever, especially one of ill-humour, on the features of that powerful monarch, all whose words and actions were the result of cold reflection and calculated with the nicest art. But no one was so rejoiced as Hawkins, the English ambassador: 'The emperor departed from hence evil-contented,' he wrote to Henry forthwith, 'and satisfied in nothing that he came for. All he did was to renew an old league, lest he should be seen to have done nothing.'393 Charles was eager to leave the city where he had been duped by the pope and checkmated by the king, and already he repented having shown his displeasure. He descended the steps of the palace, threw himself into his carriage, and departed for Milan, where he had some business to settle before going to Genoa and Spain. It was, as we have said, Friday, the 28th of February.394

=MEETING OF FRANCIS AND CLEMENT.=

The pope remained ten days longer at Bologna. There was a talk of an interview between him and the King of France, to whom he had written with his own hand. The papal nuncio had proposed to the king that the emperor should be present also. 'Provided the King of England be the fourth,' answered Francis.395 'We should be unwilling, the King of England and I,' added he, 'to be present at the interview except with forces equal to those of the emperor, for fear of a surprise.... Now it might happen that, the escorts of these not very friendly princes being together, we should begin a war instead of ratifying a peace.'396 They accordingly fell back upon the conference of two, pending which the marriage should be completed. Nice was at first selected as the place of meeting; but the Duke of Savoy, who did not like to see the French at Nice, objected. 'Well, then,' said the pope, 'I will go to Antibes, to Fréjus, to Toulon, to Marseilles.' To ally himself with the family of France, he would have gone beyond the columns of Hercules. Francis, on his side, desired that the pope, who had waited for the emperor in Italy, should come and seek him in his own kingdom. The pope thus showed him greater honour than he had shown Charles—on which point he was very sensitive. Marseilles was agreed upon.

At last all was in proper train. The blood of the Valois and of the Medici was about to be united. The clauses, conditions, and conventions were all arranged. The marriage ceremony was to be magnificently celebrated in the city of the Phocæans. The pope was at the summit of happiness, and the bride's eyes sparkled with delight. The die was cast; Catherine de Medici would one day sit on the throne of France; the St. Bartholomew was in store for that noble country, the blood of martyrs would flow in torrents down the streets of Paris, and the rivers would roll through the provinces long and speechless trains of corpses, whose ghastly silence would cry aloud to heaven.

But that epoch was still remote; and just now Paris presented a very different spectacle. It is time to return thither.

368 Du Bellay, Mémoires, p. 179.

369 Ibid. p. 180.

370 Du Bellay, Mémoires, p. 180. Guicciardini, Wars of Italy, ii. bk. xvi. pp. 894-897.

371 Guicciardini, ibid.

372 'Cæsar arbitratus illud conjugium quasi per simulationem a rege oblatum.'—Pallavicini, Hist. Concil. Trid. lib. iii. cap. ii. p. 274.

373 'Adulterinam esse monetam qua rex ipsum commercari studebat.'—Ibid.

374 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 180. Pallavicini, ibid. Guicciardini, Wars of Italy, ii. p. 898.

375 Guicciardini, ii. p. 898.

376 'Quo fortasse magis dubitanter ac pedetentim processisset.'—Pallavicini, Hist. Concil. Trid. i. p. 274.

377 'Gallus explorato æmuli consilio, ut ipsum eluderet, eo statim properavit.'—Ibid. Du Bellay, Mémoires. Guicciardini, Wars of Italy.

378 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 182.

379 Ibid.

380 Ibid. Guicciardini. Pallavicini.

381 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 182.

382 Ibid. pp. 182, 183.

383 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 186.

384 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 185.

385 The protestant sovereigns.

386 Du Bellay, Mém. pp. 186, 187.

387 Acts xv. 23.

388 The Emperor Joseph II.

389 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 189.

390 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 187.

391 Guicciardini. Du Bellay.

392 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 189.

393 State Papers, vii. p. 439.

394 'The 28th the emperor departed from hens' (State Papers, viii. p. 438), 'and went to Milan' (p. 447).

395 Du Bellay, Mém. p. 189.

396 Ibid.